Ambrosia Software Web Board: Chapter Six- amidst the ruins - Ambrosia Software Web Board

There was an air of nervousness among the marines in the cramped locker in the assault transport. It was a plain windowless, low, rectangular room, with circular benches on the sides, a thin alley between the benches. The Gaitori were all curled up nice and tightly, as the benches were designed for the natural rest position. The best I could manage was to perch on the side awkwardly, as my heels scraped on the floor from the swaying of the ship.

The hull echoed and in some places the wals grew warm and warped. The ship continued to sway and the best I could guess it was dodging the gunfire from the static turreted defenses on the feul station. I could guess we were getting close. The assault transport continued to rock in motion for what seemed as an eternity, taking the occasional minor hit that jolted the room. If anything, Gaitori ships were trusty old beaters, capable of taking advance repayment for the damage they would inflict.

The room began to depresurize and we all grabbed our Kabuto Combat helmets. The squad leader spoke up. "We have all been briefed. Remember, you must move quickly, and fail not to let gul'Smai out of your sight. Let's take it on!"

There was a brief rattling and the door exploded open, ejecting us and our support equipment into deep space. There was a brief moment of disorientation, then we grabbed the controls. "Get the laser drills!" one marine shouted over the channel. I glanced over to find all our equip. floating towards the station. flanked by a pair of Gaitori I jetted over to the spinning crate. I gripped the handles and aimed.

"Stay back, brothers!" I yelled. I pulled the trigger. A thick yellow beam shot out, the recoil sending me back in time to see the entire side of the station ripped open. The secondary inner hull's blast doors automatically began to close to seal the leak.

"Let's move!"

"Rodger!"

We shot for the closing hole like mew-rats with their tails on fire! Most of us made it before the doors slammed shut, but some were locked out, left in open space with no remaining feul or air cells, to die. Once inside, we activated our magnetic boots and split into two groups. Almost immediately the green klaxons sounded, growing louder and louder as air flowd into the chambers.

"Go! go!"

Gunfire began to echoe down the halls as we engaged the hated Obain.

"We've got heavy resistance in sector two!"

"You go on, y'Gg, I'll hold them bac- Unnngghh...."

I ran forward, blind to the sheer danger I was charging into, my twin rifles shooting a gale of death into the group of startled Obain security personell. I charged around the corner, leaping a summersault over the newely-created pile of bodies.

Another Obain moved to intercept. I gripped the wall with my foot and repelled just in time to avoid the shells from his pistol. I brought my gun to bear on him in midair. BLAM!

He collapsed, his torso seperated from the rest of his body. He lay there in a bloody mess, panting. "So..." he gasped at the air as his organs spilled out. "You're the one..."

His eyes defocused as he began slipping away. He didn't notice the hands I placed on either side of his neck. There was a loud snap, and his world went black.

- - - - -

Of the origional ten who had set off on the mission, four of us remained. We sat amongside each other in the assault transport, bragging about the number of kills we had each achieved. Five, three, seven. I told them mine.

Twenty-four.

They cheered for me, giving me a hearty (and extremely painfull) slap where my gills would have been had I been Gaitori. A slap on the gills was their version of a pat on the shoulder. I sort of doubled over, holding my stomach. They grinned.

"Here's the celebration." The ship's pilot had entered, crouching to avoid hitting her head on the ceiling. "Join us for the celebration." I was the only one who could fit in the cockpit with the pilot, but then again it was my celebration. The feuling station was in the window, a little to the left. I was handed a charge pad. "You have he honor."

I pressed the main detonation key. My face was lit up as four thermonuclear devices, combined with years of unignited feul, simultaneously detonated. I smiled in glee as I saw the shockwave ripple past, finishing off the crippled hulks of the obain defense patrol.

It was then I truly knew I was one of them.

------------------
I know not who or what I am, nor where or why I am here, I remember nothing, and I know nothing; but while I don't know why, I do know is something is terribly wrong.

A tiny little junker of a ship flew in towards an orbiting station. An unremarkable ship with an unremarkable crew entered an unremarkable docking bay. They exited the ship in a tired fashion seen so often on crews of salvagers. They went to a well populated bar, and ordered popular drinks. Totally unnoticed, they went about their business. A pair of them, an man and a woman, left after not too long, headed to quarters that rented to provide roomier combinations than the tiny salvage ship. Two of the others stayed at the bar, nursing their drinks for a while longer. Presently, one of them took a message cylinder from his tunic. Walking over to one of the booths, he sat down next to a patron of the bar. They talked for a moment, and then the man stood and went back to the bar to finish his drink. The man in the booth put the message cylinder in a safe place, precious cargo.

<><><><><>

William Darkk looked at the small message cylinder.
"This was checked for explosives?"

"I checked it myself Will. It's safe, whatever it is." replied Sarah. "Norry brought it in when he came back from Ri'Sh'nor mining station. Said that the man who gave it to him said it was more important that he get it to you than anything."

Darkk turned the cylinder over and over in his had. Curiousity got the better of him, and he cracked the seal. A message stick slid out, with a strange device on the end. It looked like a device for reading DNA. Darkk allowed it to scan him. The device detached itself from the message stick. Darkk the slid the stick into a reader.

The face of Jackson Spann appeared.

"William, I know that you are reading this, as that device would have destroyed the message without your unique signature. Now, make sure that you pay attention, this will only play once..."

Darkk stared in disbelief at seeing his dead friend's face again, and then listened intently to the message. When it was finished, he turned to Sarah. "Prep the Outrun. We want to get there fast."

Sarah nodded and strode out of the room. Darkk began making preparations for his little trip.

[Darkk, if you want to write the meeting between you and Spann, that's fine, just pick a good remote place for it. I'm still supposed to be dead, remember? ]

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

"This is taking forever. Just give the punk his bribe so we can get the hell out of here."

The Captain slipped a fat roll of money to his first officer and walked out of the room, leaving him alone with the Phylidion customs agent. He was young, and was poking his way through ten thousand tons of cargo with a flashlight and a handheld scanner. The first officer walked up to him, put his hand on his shoulder and said calmly in his best Phyldian:

"Here, I just found a new cargo transcript. It verifies everything, you don't want to go through all of this."

He smiled, handing the officer ten thousand Phylidian credits. The Phylidion's façade of self control dropped for a moment as he realised he was holding six months wages. He looked from the money to the merchant, then back at the money, smiling.

----------

Ten minutes later, the four heavy freighters were released from the docking ring, and began thrusting towards a jumpgate that lead to Dominus, and riches galore.

Suddenly, a jumpstream tore open in front of them, dropping a dozen Cantharaan ships right on top of the freighters. They didn't have time to react before the gunships opened up, tearing the unarmored ships to pieces. Already, there were Phylidion ships scrambling from the station, fighters mostly, speeding towards the pirates.

The Cantharaans superlighted to the bunker station and started firing upon it, looseing plasma and leaping back to superlight. It wasn't long before the station's power began failing. The heavier Phylidion cruisers and gunships finally crash started their reactors and launched, preparing to engage the pirates.

Skilled pilots though they were, the Phylidions fell victim to the rapid, aggressive tactics of the pirates. As the last Kiojea was vented to space, the Cantharaans fired a few more volleys at the disabled station before fleeing back into their jumpstream.

----------

"Ok, you two clear this place out. Scan everything. I want this office turned inside out. You two, go find his archives and move them back to the ship before the Prophets do. You go back to the Mariposa and talk to Spann's officers, and you guard that door. Keep the damn Slugs away from my evidence."

Wizr stood calmly in the center of Jackson Spann's office in the capitol building on Earth, watching some of the best forensics experts in the galaxy comb over every inch of the room. The same was happening at Spann's home, and in his quarters on his flagship.

Wizr had gotten lucky. He had actually pushed a group of Salrillian intelligence officers out of his way to get into the office, thankfully before they had touched anything. He was glad he had brought his full entourage with him to Sol. He would figure out why the Salrillians killed his friend, and he would make them pay dearly for it. He would get Earth back and rebuild the ravaged, wrecked homeworld of humanity only to spite the Salrillians who thought they could cross the Protectorate and feel no consequence.

He was halfway through his museings about doling out comeuppance to the Salrillians when his PDA ponged. He opened it and read the news, a new wave of anger flowing over him.

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

David and Darkk sat in a cozy room complete with fireplace on the tremendous Zander X-1 Heavy Starliner-SS. Barbarrossa. A relic from the days before superlight, once upon a time it had ran a long route around the colonies, to Earth and back. Ferrying goods to the new worlds at ¾ the speed of light. Using the Stars to slingshot, and tugs to load the massive freight containers onto its spine, the Barbarrossa never wasted fuel to slow down. Instead, it ran its route endlessly, visiting the colonies, picking up produce and dropping off goods, then continueing on through the blackness of space for years at a stretch.

It was a massive ship. From nose to nozzles it was over 25 miles long. On one end was the engine module, a massive collection of fusion plants that generated the thrust needed to move several hundred trillion tons of ship and cargo, at the other, a massive set of crew quarters. Two miles wide, a mile long and a half a mile tall, the crew quarters were tremendous and lavish. Designed for travel in an age without hyperspace, it was more than simply a freighter, but also a Starliner for moving people across the colonies. The passengers would call the ship home for years between their destinations, and the living quarters reflected this focus on comfort. Interestingly, these quarters would not be used for the crew. The Zander Freighter launched from Earth with no crew whatsoever. ACK, a near-sentient Artificial Intelligence was placed in charge of the ship, and that he did. For seventy five years, the Barbarrossa circled the colonies, and never once did it miss a delivery. That is, until the Cantharaans came, and ACK, seeing the danger, used all his remaining fuel to stop his ship, happier to waste away in the depths of space than to be captured by the Cantharaans.

And that is how David Bowman discovered his ship, adrift in deep space. Upon awakening ACK, he payed for the ship to be pulled to Elejeetian Space, where he sold all two hundred and ten trillion tons of cargo, refueled his ship, and left to roam the galaxy, exploring, and ramscooping fuel from nebulas when he needed it. He was just finishing explaining this to his old friend and Commander William Darkk, when ACK spoke in his monotone.

"Dave, I think I have found something worthy of your attention. If you will look at the screen, I will display it for you and your guest."

"Well, sure, ACK, go right ahead, what is it?"

The wood paneling on the wall opened, revealing a large screen, upon which were a series of images-obviously constructed from long-range sensor data, of several Cantharaan ships destroying a Phylidion border station.

"When did this happen?" Darkk looked suddenly alert.

"Three hours and seventeen minutes ago, sir."

"Dave, come with me. We're taking the Outrun to investigate."

"If you insist, boss."

Dave looked slightly hesitant. He had been enjoying his drink and his meal by the fire.

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

"Find out who the hell they were and stop them. Try and get the Phylidions in this with you. I won't have my merchants murdered by butchers in foreign space! Get in contact with the Phylidion Navy. In the mean time, try and dispatch some 915 ships to fly cover for our traders. There are more and more of these attacks, and I want those traders to be safe. Thanks Myrk. I'll call later. Goodbye."

Wizr dropped the line, and looked around at the disassembled office, then at the reports of the losses from his freight company. He shook his head. He still had to get a team prepped to find Spammo's ship, and he was tired.

He opened the door to a crowd of Humans and Salrillians, who were pushing against the guards that Wizr had put at the door. Good thing he had, they looked angry. He walked past them, wrapping his cloak around him so he wouldn't have to touch the slimy bodies.

"Exxsssssscuussse me, Treyisssssshhhhhhh, May I asssk what you are doing in the office of the Minissssster? You do not have Clearanssssee to do thisss."

the Salrillian, clearly an administrator or a messenger of the oracle had slid up quielty next to Wizr and had caught him off guard with his hissed remark. Wizr stopped walking, turned to him and said coldly, under his breath.

"I am doing a last favor to a friend. Do not try and stop me, Slug, for I am very upset right now, and you would not want to start something here that might make its way to Ishima and back. I am watching you. Do not forget that."

He held his finger against the Salrillian's belly, knowing full well that his salty skin oils were makeing the Slug very uncomfortable. He turned and walked back to his transport, his two Gaath bodyguards almost unnoticeable in the crowd.

------------------
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."

[This message has been edited by Trey'sh Maletena Wizr (edited 04-04-2001).]

[Hmm. I seem to be in two places at once. I guess we can say that Wizr's comes first, and I stopped by my base on my way to investigate.

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

[You got the message on Dave's ship. Just meet Spamo after you check out the wreckage]

Mark Pharris felt the grip of his rifle as he flexed his hands inside the thick gloves. ahead of him was his airlock. His responsability. His life. All that mattered now, was that he kill the first thing through his door and yell for help in his intercom. If he didn't then the Andalusa would be captured, and all would be lost.

The air was gone. He felt his suit ballon slightly as it stretched with the 15 PSI of lifegiving air that surrounded Pharris' body.

He flexed his hands and watched as the laser torches silently cut the door, sending sparks flying. He squezzed the handle, and fifeteen rounds per second sprayed out of his pulse rifle, spilling blue Cantharaan vital fluids through the vacuum.

"Contact! Airlock 4!"
He barked into his comlink as he flung a grenade into the gaping airlock door. A moment later, Alec was next to him, shooting too, beating back the Cantharaans. It was all they could do. The Andalusa was disabled, and these aliens were here to end his life, and his friend's life. He had to stop them.

Soon, more came, faster and faster, closer each time. Soon, he was covered with blood, a mist floating in the corridor. Panting, sweating, they came closer still. His weapon clicked. He fired off the underslung shotgun. Round after round. Long after Alec's scream had been stifled by the air being sucked from his suit, long after he had heard his friends and crewmembers wailing over the radio. He fought on, now with his bayonette, stabbing, cutting, killing, he had to live. He would survive, not even the Hunter/Killers would- He paused as if in a freeze frame. His heart standing still. The jaws of a hunter killer about to close on his face, and him helpless. He watched it, wanting to scream in terror, until suddenly he opened his eyes.

He screamed through the oxygen saturated liquid that filled his lungs.

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

Duh, I have a ship too! It's 100000000000000 miles long. It doesn't matter if Kilometers are the standard because I have my own personal empire with 10000000000000000 ships and they're all warships! I shoot enemies and they all die in one shot because my crono-halitostic-barbecue guns are infinitely powerful!
</sarcasm>

Guys this is stupid. Stop with these non-rpg posts and be fücking realistic

------------------
I know not who or what I am, nor where or why I am here, I remember nothing, and I know nothing; but while I don't know why, I do know is something is terribly wrong.

Darkk stared in awe at the wreckage tumbling about him.
Cantharan ships did this...
He had never really respected their ships much, but now he realized that it was primarilly outmoded tactics that had enabled him to beat them consistently. The Phylydions were too slow for these pirates, who were using moves Darkk had never though any mere pirates (other than his own) capable of.

It had taken 4 months to get his men up to the standards needed to do this. These pirates came out of nowhere in no time and were ripping into just about everything. He studied the battle events again. Hmm, something... odd.

"ACK! Could you attach their reaction times to the images?"
"Certainly"

Darkk considered silently. He'd have to take these to Sarah, she was a whiz at smoothing data.

Time to meet Spamo.

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

Trader Outpost 16 had accuired a sinister reputation for back-room dealings. Most Bazidanese avoided the outpost like it harbored a plauge. Outrun docked onto it without any hesitation.

William and Sarah looked like completely different people when they stepped off. A little make up, some hair dye, and a few fake scars had turned them into hard-bitten mercenaries. They went past some deserted hallways to a rusted-over maintenance hatch. A quick check of sonar, infared, and ultraviolet verified that they weren't being followed. They walked through the abandoned access tunnel, careful to be silent.

At long last, they reached the disused battery room. Spamo was huddled in a corner.
"Who's there?"
"Hek Met and Sr'thnama"
The prearranged code words.

"So, glad you and your sister could both make it."
"Yeah. I had to swing by a Phylydion boarder system to check out some pirate attacks, but here I am."
"You've got some explaining to do, disappearing like that!" shouted Sarah.
"Well, I just couldn't stand it. All that hypocracy, knowing I had to sign away all sorts of things. After awhile, I couldn't take it."
"Great," muttered William, "Guess who they offered the job?"
"YOU?? I'd think they'd want to chop you up!"
"Well, I am the most visable human leader left. However, I wouldn't take the job even if I didn't have to do what they said. Political power, even the fake kind, makes my skin crawl."
"So who's going to be the new figurehead?"
"We're not sure yet. They've offered it to me," said Sarah "but I turned it down."
"I see..."

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

"I had thought something like that would happen. But the government was too fragmented to identify a certain successor, and I can't exactly go around appointing people." A wry grin passed Spamo's face.

Sarah spoke up "Still, you've caused a lot of trouble. You were the leader of everything that was left of humanity. Sounds like a cop out to me."

Spamo shook his head. "No, I wasn't a leader of anything. There's no hope for humanity from the inside, and all of us know that. If anything's going to save them, it'll come from the outside."

"Point. Still a stupid move on your part."

"Stupid Will? I couldn't have done any good in there. I'm no politician. I'm a captain, my place is aboard a starship, not in an office. Those are where my skills lie." Spamo paused for a moment, then reached into his tattered cloak. "Here, this is the name of who can take my place. He's best suited for the current situation, and I've trust in him."

"Hm. And you want me to appoint him as leader or something?"

"I don't know, you'll have to think of something." snapped Spamo. "There are more reasons why I did this. I'm going to the Phylydians, and asking them for help."

Sarah and William both stared at Spamo with incredulity.
"You've got to be kidding. What makes you think they'll be helpful, even if they don't kill you right off!?"

"Think. The Ishimans won't help now. Our friend can only pull so many strings. The Bazidanese and Elejee won't help, they want neutrality now. Everyone else is indifferent, hostile or preoccupied. Except the Phylydians. They're new, strong. I have to try."

"This is madness. You've gone insane!"

"Have I Will? Am I insane like Jerry was? Would I slaughter innocent thousands to achieve my goals? I'm tired of the fighting. Tired of the killing, the running and hiding, tired of the politics, just so damn tired. I want so much to retire, lay down somewhere warm. Meet a woman, have a family. But none of that will happen the way things are now." Spamo chuckled slightly. "I should meet with Wizr. He can get me the resources I need without blowing my cover." Spamo reached once again into his cloak and fished out a datapad. "Get this to Wizr. He'll understand the instructions. I'm sorry, I haven't given you a chance to speak much. I get to rambling when I'm tired."

Darkk saw the lines on Spamo's face. Maybe the stress was getting to him.

Spamo grasped Darkk's shoulder. "I can pull this off. In a few weeks, with a little luck, we should be well on the way to restoring humanity."

------------------
If things around here aren't working right, it's because I'm laughing so hard.
-Durandal

[This message has been edited by El Spamo (edited 04-05-2001).]

"gul'Smai has been doing well."

"I'm aware of that, but he seems to be getting more and more integrated into our culture."

"What if he discovers the truth?"

"Pray to the gods he doesn't."

------------------
I know not who or what I am, nor where or why I am here, I remember nothing, and I know nothing; but while I don't know why, I do know is something is terribly wrong.

"So? What have you found?"

The engineer dropped four twisted shards of metal onto Wizr's desk.

"Explosive bolts. They usually hold the escape pod in place. These have been detonated."

Wizr stared at the bolts, smiling.

"Do the Profits know about this yet?"

"No, we were the first to examine the wreckage-"

"Keep it that way. Hurry."

"Yes sir."

The Engineer grabbed the bolts, turned and was just on his way out as Wizr said "Good work"


-----------

Dave was sitting on a pile of crates that had been left in the docking ring. His heavy coat and hat covered him well enough that nobody would notice he wasn't just a passed out drunk.

His eyes followed the Cantharaan up the hall to the airlock door in front of the Outrun. The alien opened the door, and walked down the docking collar to the Cantharaan schooner. He opened the door to the ship, and stepped inside as the handle of Dave's Pistol came down on his skull. As he crumpled to the floor, Dave closed the door and pulled out his flex cuffs.

Five minutes later, David was wandering through the station, looking for Will and his Sister. The Cantharaan was tightly bound with the flex cuffs, and was stuffed into a storage locker a few sizes too small for him. Darrk hadn't told him who he was meeting, but he had told him where to find him if there was trouble, and the gang of pirates with various weapons waiting in the docking ring near the Outrun was suspicious enough to suggest that he expedite whatever deal Darkk was working on.

He walked down the long corridor very quietly, listening to mumbling voices getting louder and louder. Dave moved slowly for two reasons, one to make sure he was walking in on Darkk, and two because he saw a shadow crouching in the corridor. As he closed in, he saw it was a small Gaitori, huddled, listening intently. Dave grabbed it hard, hauling it up and searching it for weapons. As it squealed, he heard the talk in the other room stop. He tossed the Gaitori ahead of him out into the battery compartment.

"Darkk, we have company."

The three figures watched him duck into the room, reaching under his coat for the dissasembled parts of his fletchette rifle.

"Somebody was checking out your ship, and there were another ten punks around the corner, waiting for him. I flex cuffed him, but his buddies are still there. Then I found this guy in the corridor listening to you. By now, I think the gang has figured out what happened and they'll be on top of us."

He slapped in a magazine and leaned an eye across the doorway to look down the corridor, then looked back at the three others.

"Get your guns. Now."

Darkk already had his Plasma rifle out, Sarah hated guns, and the third figure had nothing. Dave took his sidearm, a pistol-sized sub-machine gun, and tossed it to him. As he did, he saw the man's face. He was surprised for a moment.

"You're dead..."

"I assure you, I am very much alive, and I hope to be for a little longer, but we'll see."
Jackson Spann cocked the gun, smiling broadly.

Dave looked down the corridor, he could hear the foot steps coming.

"Stay to the side of the door. Sarah, take these. When I say, pull the pin, toss one and hit the red button."

He slid his helmet over his head, and leaned one eye into the door frame, so monitor their advance. Silently, he pushed a 60mm Grenade into the underslung launcher, pointed the nose of it into the doorway and fired off the round.

He could see the glowing, stubby round bounce off one side of the corridor and land just ahead of the advancing group. He heard curses, pulled his IR visor over his eyes, and started firing short bursts down the corridor as he reached into his web gear for another grenade round.



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

"Have you finished patching up the ventalation systems?" The Engineer said as he heard my footsteps behind him.

I stopped, confused. "Are you talking to me?" I asked him.

He turned to me and his face went blank (their faces usually do when they think). "Oops, I'm sorry. Wrong human."

"What?! You mean there's another human around here?"

"Hey whaddo I know, there could be hundreds of you scum in this city. You are scattered throughout the galaxy you kno-"

"I thought I was the last one!"

"Erm, oh dear you're gul'Smai aren't you?" He squealed in fear. "I-I-I'll be going now... job's all done... see?" He faked a friendly grin and left, locking the cell door behind him.

I was left alone in the room, pondering. They lied. My masters, my friends, the only one I thought I could trust.... they.... decieved me.....

- - - - -

The Gaitori engineer galloped up to Commander gy'Tall. "It's gul'Smai! He knows!" He spluttered, out of breath.

gy'Tall flutted his gills in disapproval. "Know's what?"

"He.. he isn't alone."

gy'Tall twitched in fear. "Very well. It's unfortunate he learned... he had such potential." He opened a channel to the regional guard commander. "It's gul'Smai.... he's become a threat. I need you to take a few marines into that vault and... dispose of the human."

gy'Tall huffed in pity. Poor little human. None of this was his fault, yet he was now a threat to Gaitor. He had to be terminated.

------------------
I know not who or what I am, nor where or why I am here, I remember nothing, and I know nothing; but while I don't know why, I do know is something is terribly wrong.

He squeezed off another burst, then spun out of the door, dropping his empty magazine on the floor.

"Cover. Frag out!"

Sarah pulled the pin, then rolled the grenade out the door. She squeezed the red button on the pin, and the grenade exploded. Spann and Will fired off rounds behind it. The submachinegun emptied quickly, and two Plasma blasts followed. Just as they got back to cover, another wave of fire spat through the door, across the room, and into the batteries. The energy bolts broke up and fizzled on the metal, but the projectiles added to the large number of holes. The hissing grew louder.

"Will, that's hydrogen, right?"

Darkk looked at the lead-acid cells.

"Should be."

Dave threw new magazine to Spann, then looked at Darkk.

"Then stop shooting that plasma rifle."

Darkk nodded.

"Listen, the punks are hiding in the transistor room halfway down that corridor. If we keep shooting, they won't move up, but if we stay here, the hydrogen will blow us to smithereens. You two find another door, Spann and I are covering this one. Gimme those frags. Move!"

Sarah slid him the grenades, and Dave went back to ducking and shooting through the door, interspersing a frag or a 60 mm round between bursts while the two Darkks checked for another exit to the large battery room.

He leaned out into the door, exposing only a part of his head and his shooting arm. He waited until someone pointed their head out, then shot of a burst of rounds. Just as he did, another pirate of some indiscernible race leaned out. As he lined up his gun, Dave saw the muzzle flash. He had even started to move out of the way when he heard the snap, and felt somebody hit his arm with a baseball bat. He dropped his pulse rifle as the force of the hit knocked him across the doorway. A photokinetic bolt knocked him to the ground as the polymers in his heavy coat absorbed the energy from the blast.

He pushed his back up against the wall on the side of the door, gasping, clutching his right upper arm, screaming "I'm hit!"

With his free hand, he rolled a grenade down the hall and set it off. His right arm didn't work, and Spann was too busy suppressing them with the submachine gun to help. He tried to shrug the heavy coat off, to see how bad it was, but the pain stopped him. Spann finally found a break in the fire to grab his pulse gun and look at him, speaking between bursts.

"How bad is it?"

"No ****ing clue. Get the morphine packs from my right coat pocket. Now."

Spann held the gun in one hand, shooting while he reached down with his other to retrieve the pouch. He tossed it in Dave's lap and went back to firing. Dave opened it with his good arm and pulled out a dose. It had a long, spring loaded needle. He pushed it against his pant leg and hit the button. The needle retracted and he tossed it. He dosed himself once more before be could shrug the coat off and see the spurting arterial blood. He pulled a large sheet of comex from the kit and started cramming the super-absorbent gauze into the wound until the bleeding slowed. He pushed a splint against his arm and wrapped the whole mess in a field dressing, took the submachine gun that Spann had dropped, and resumed shooting. He was surprised at how well the morphine was working.

Will and Sarah finally came back. They had found a ladder leading up to another battery room. The others provided covering fire while Dave set his anti-personnel on trip mode. He pushed the toggle, and the entire group ran to the ladder. As they scrambled up, the layer of plastic explosives ignited, sending the hundreds of metal balls imbedded in it flying down the corridor into their pursuers.

------------------
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."

I sat there on the crate, deep in thought pondering my next move. It had been several days since the Gaitori Engineer had accidentally shone the light on the truth. I hadn't been sent on another mission as promised, I hadn't even made contact with another living being since then. Usually it wouldn't bother me, as I had spent the greater part of 9 years completely alone.

But something was wrong. I could feel it. I had to be very carefu-

The heavy blast door to my quarters flew open and a rain of bullets showered in my direction. With military reflexes, I summersaulted to the left. The gunfire followed. Four Gaitori Marine squads were outside somewhere, I could taste their anticipation for the kill. Eight of them crawled in, expecting to see my dead body.

Instead they saw the bullet-riddled crates where I had been perched. "You two, take the left, you two flank right, the rest of you follow me." They moved with such cautious slowness, to be sure no to miss me. They managed to anyways.

I dropped from the ceiling like a meteor, landing on the group leader and cracking open all his spine-plates. He gave out a shriek of agony then collapsed. The others turned to fire on me, only to meet the hard end of my show. Two more fell to the ground, shattered faceplates, leaking their green copper-based blood. I picked up their fallen weapons and ducked behind a barrel. I fired, three more Gaitori fell, massive holes left in their bleeding gills.

"Backup! We need backup!" Another one retreated behind another cluster of boxes literally sobbing into her comm unit. Pity, she must have been a young one. I jumped over the boxes and dived onto the hapless female, guns blazing.

------------------
I know not who or what I am, nor where or why I am here, I remember nothing, and I know nothing; but while I don't know why, I do know is something is terribly wrong.

He slammed his bayonet into the door jamb, prying it open a half an inch. He shoved the charge into the space and set it off, ripping the door wide open. He ducked into the room just as PK beam fire arced down the hallway. The woman sitting on the bed fired the pistol into Dave Bowman's chest. He was thrown back against the wall, gasping for air. He looked at the woman on bed.

She walked closer to his body slumped against the wall. She leaned in to see if he was still alive, and as she did, he lashed out, knocking the gun from her hand. He jumped up, taking his gun with him, getting between her and the door.

"Liz, right?"

She nodded.

"Spamo sent me. Don't ask questions just follow me!"

Already shocked by the laser bolts that were flying through the hall, she followed, covering her ears as he ducked back into the hallway firing his pulse gun. They ran from the rooms down through the bar to the docking ring, where Darkk and Spann had boarded Outrun.

They ran to the docking gate, only to see Outrun detach from the station ring, leaving a dozen angry pirates in the docking collar. Dave dragged Liz away, pushing his earpiece in, and turning on his radio.

"--ere the hell are you? Bowman! report!"

"She's here. I'm in the ring, but there are still pissed off guys all over. I'm going to try and find another way out."

"Call us when you know where. hurry."

"You don't need to tell me that, skipper."

He dragged her around the docking ring, looking for an unoccupied docking collar for Outrun to touch and go on. They were all full.

He picked a small shuttle, and disengaged the clamps holding it to the station. As it drifted clear, he called Darkk.

"Docking collar four. Quick!"

"Got it."

Outrun lined itself up with the collar, but the pressure seal was torn, and it wasn't forming a seal. Dave could see Will sitting in the cockpit of the schooner, listening to his audio-feedback system.

His voice came over the intercom.

"Dave, I can't seal, the door. Find another airlock."

"No can do, skip, I'm not going out there to get shot again. Open your door and hold still."

"Dave... that's a really bad idea, espescially with the girl."

"Shut up and open the door Darkk. They'll be launching to get you any second."

Through the port, Dave watched the airlock on Outrun open and line up with his. Dark pressed it as close to the jagged metal seal as he dared before saying "Ready".

"Ok, Liz. When I say so, I want you to close your eyes and take three or four deep breaths, then exhale as hard as you can. Keep your mouth open, and your hands over your ears."

She looked very pale as he twisted the dump valve halfway. The air started hissing out. He had to yell to be heard.

"Breathe... breathe... breathe... ok, exhale. HARD!!"

With 3 PSI still in the chamber, he blew the door. Holding onto Liz, he pushed off the wall, towards the airlock, 5 feet away. With his hands full, he couldn't even try to dampen the blow to his ears. His left cleared, but he felt his right eardrum burst. He opened his eyes to check his progress, then shut them hard against the stinging cold as he banged his head against the inside of the airlock. The door clicked shut, and immidiately, the air rushed in, quickly up to 3 PSI, then slowly up to 15. He slumped down, panting, blood trickling from his ear, his eyes burning and his chest aching as though he'd had the wind knocked out of him. The inner door opened, and Spann ran in to see Liz, and Sarah dragged him into the cabin and lay him on a bed.

She rolled him out of his coat and body armor and pushed some gauze into his bleeding ear. She hung up the energy-protective coat, noticeing the scorchmarks and bullet holes all over, along with the smoking rounds imbedded in the chest plate of the kinetic body armor. She then went back to see how badly he was doing. Besides the hit in the arm, Dave had taken another shot through the thinner armor on the side of his abdomen and one in his upper thigh. Thankfully, they had missed major arteries, and Dave had already taken so much morphine that not even his shattered humerus bothered him. As he passed out on the bed, she pulled out the medical kit and started dressing the wounds.

In the front of the ship, Darkk raced Outrun through the jumpgate, clearing it's log behind him as he made his way back to the Barbarrossa. He couldn't help but notice that the pirates that chased him were flying Cantharaan ships.

------------------
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."

Must practice HARDER...

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

The cargo fleet hung in space, heading for the jumpgate a great distance away. They were carrying a great deal of high tech equipment, manufactured by the Protecorate Electronics Combine. Around them hung several carriers and their escorts, as well as one 915 carrier and it's escorts - more than a match for any mere pirates.

The Lyconian Trade Consortium had had to go through a lot of trouble to get this escort (as well as a lot of money), but it was worth it. Cantharan pirates had been attacking all sorts of ships, and had frustrated all sorts of escorts. No chances were being taken.

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

The AZK raiders came up behind them in the superlight-direct-to-six move that the 915 crews had expected. The interesting feature was that they didn't seem to care that the 915 cruisers were cloaked, and targeted and attacked them like any other ship. They slapped their boosters, and came around and began to tangle with the AZK group at 14-19 times the speed of light.

It was a spectacular fight - ships shooting out of superlight briefly to fire at each other. After awhile, they stopped trying to superlight into postion and dogfighted normally. Scissors manuvers commenced, as they jockeyed for position. All sorts of manuvers, from simple to complex to made-up-on-the-spot were used. Ships darted everywhich way, pk beams, onas pulses, antimatter pulses, lepton beams, and myriad other shots.

The 915 cruisers were doing a good job on the Cantharan ones, which weren't nearly fast enough to compete, as had the normal Ish cruisers. The Ish gunships had picked off most of the Cantharan fighters, but the Cantharan gunships had done some serious damage to the Ish carriers. The Ish carriers had been put out of comission by the gunships, but the Cantharan carriers had gotten a great deal of the lighter Ish ships.

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

"Will, get the f*** up here!!!" shouted Spamo.
William wondered what would make his normally calm friend shout profanities.
Then he saw the fight. The AZK and the 915 were fighting so well it almost made Darkk feel jealous. And they were between him and the jumpgate to Dave's ship. Time for some fun...

Outrun pealed through the furball like hot lightning, sliding between the pk blasters on the gunships, dodging the antimatter pulses, skimming against the missles fired at him, dodging the Onas shots from mistaken Ish pilots, and in general Darkk was having a blast.

He shot between the 2 attacking carriers, laughing in satasfaction as they hit each other with their clustercells. A lone HVC tried to superlight onto his tail, but he jinxed its initial bursts and it couldn't keep up for long at sublight.

Darkk had made it to the gate, and the battle was still raging. Dave could deliver Spamo, and Darkk would be able to think some more about these pirates. Sarah had gotten to know Dave, and she and William had convinced Spamo to trust him.

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

The battle was a close one. The remaining 915 cruisers onas pulsed the Cantharan carriers from the sky, and the cruisers fell in short order. The HVCs and gunships proved more tenacious, and the Ish didn't outnumber them by very much. Fortunatly, most of the remaining Ish ships were 915 ships, as the pirates had improved and were fighting much better. Ships exploded into fireballs in every direction as bright streaks of antimatter, photokinetic energy, onas particles, and leptons flew in every direction. Eventually, a 915 battleship arrived, and the fight was ended in short order with a flurry of Onas and Lepton turret fire.

The transport captains were noticably shaken as they entered the reassuring green tunnel of the jumpgate, and the naval pilots had many comrades to mourn.

So much learned...

He wasn't ready for me, I could tell. He was all in a fluster trying to reload his rifle when I charged for him. He dropped his gun and pulled a blade, drawing far back to slice at me. Big mistake. His arm was all drawn back when I came, charging like a prastor ox.

I could feel my elbow hook around both his necks as my feet left the ground, using my momentum to pivot around him, elbow firmly anchored to his necks. I snapped every one of his back plates in the turn, and the Gaitori Marine collapsed in a broken heap.

The automated robotic defenses took a split second to adjust to my sudden change in direction. By the time they had started tracking me again, I had landed a shot right in between the processors. The turret fizzled with a shower of sparks and died down.

faster! faster! I ran like a madman, bulletfire lining the walls trailing me. I jutted my shoulder and plowed straight into the heavy blast door. It gave way and I was on the runway. Gaitori security had not expected this show of strength on my part, and so had not bothered to fortify the landing pads I was making for.

A trail of marines followed me, firing in my direction blindingly through the thick white fog-- Gaitor is a very wet planet. Ahah! I saw a pair of cruisers in the repair hangar ahead of me!

- - - - -

The cockpit was smaller than anything ever. A Gaitori, standing at the average height of only three feet tall, would have found it roomy. The controls did not fit my hands, but I was forced to make do anyways. Scanning the buttons quickly, I found the main throttle and, my fist packed into a good a resemblance of a gaitori finger as I could manage, engaged it.

The ship lurched upwards and began to cruise from the hangar. "Shìt! Autopilot!" I grunted with barred teeth, knowing it would take me up to orbit the long way out. I glanced at the rear controls.

The other cruiser and three fighters had joined the chase.

------------------
I know not who or what I am, nor where or why I am here, I remember nothing, and I know nothing; but while I don't know why, I do know is something is terribly wrong.

(just making a cameo)
Darkk , heres $100,000,000 credits , and 100 hvds
there's my war contribution
now back to the bar

------------------
Being 6 feet tall isnt bad , just not as fun as being 50 feet tall

So annoying, but so much learned. Time for some fun...

A large flotilla of Gaitori ships hung in the void around Falden 3, waiting to transfer the governor to his new post. The crews hated the boring and monotonus if safe duty of ferrying pompus beuarocrats from planet to planet, but they didn't have a choice in the matter.

The Governor's transport joined their formation after a perfectly uneventful planetary launch...

...and suddenly, their job became less boring and less safe.

3 Cantharan carriers and 6 Cantharan gunships exited the jumpgate so close to them they could count the seams on the hulls. Immediatly, the carriers began to dump their fighters and unload into the nearest ships. A Gaitori HVD moved to intercept but was rammed from two sides by gunships, which fired at it all the while, sending it drifting out of control and on fire.

15 Gaitori cruisers got into encirclment position around the carriers to make the most use of their high damage weapons, but the fighters used the same tactic and they weren't able to hit much before the clustercells and fighters munched them. The Gaitori gunships were hunted down and waxed by superlight strikes fron the Cantharan ones, and the battle was becoming a rout.

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

"915 group Delta, this is Gateship ISN 54218125. We're recieving transmissins from a Gaitori Fleet at Falden 3. They're under attack by the AZK Raider Group..."
"This is Commander Trinv. Say no more! Let us at those psycho b*****s! We'll get 'em!"

Five 915 cruisers dropped out of a jumpstream as the AZK ships bore down on the remaining Gaitori. They quickly got a weakened carrier, and began to tangle with the fighters and gunships, breaking into a massive furball.

One cruiser got onto the tail of one of the gunships and had begun firing, when another dropped out of superlight literally decimeters from it and fired its pulse, knocking the cruiser around with the impact. The one in front turned and fired as well, and a second shot from the rear one blew it to flaming splinters.

The lead cruiser had dove straight into the fighters, and had blasted many, when one of them flew BETWEEN the Lepton and Onas shots, then popping up slamming into the front weapons emitter between shots when it got close enought, at a combined velocity high enough to shatter the weapon array and destroy the fighter. The cruiser spun under the force of the impact and blast as its crew stuggled to regain control. The other fighters immediatly broke away from it, as it was harmless, and attacked the other cruisers.

The next to rear (now the rear) cruiser was trying to engage the remaining carriers, but one of them superlighted right up to it, unloaded its clustercells and missles, superlighted around, and fired some more. Now 2 functional cruisers were left.

The 2 finished off a gunship, and turned to the current weakest carrier and blew it apart. The last carrier came in behind them at superlight with the remaining gunships and got their shields down to below 1/4 before the 915s managed to get behind them and take another gunship. The remaing 4 gunships hit their boosters, and came around again, but so did the 915s and a great superlight dogfight got underway.

Eventually, the ships dropped out. The 915s had drained their energy and had to use their Onas pulses, and the Cantharans had to use their antimatter pulses. The Carrier unloaded some missles into the furball, forcing the 915s to jinx, and a Cantharan Gunship pegged one. The last one was caught from behind by the last 5 Cantharan fighters, and was taken out.

The cippled cruiser finally managed to regain control (their primary computer had fried along with the weapons, but the backup had come online), just in time to see the last carrier latch onto the transport.

2 minutes, 2.34 seconds later it detached.
2.53 seconds after that, a jumpgate opened and the AZK ships flew through.
1 minute, 1.2 seconds after that, 2 915 battleships and 3 915 carriers arrived.

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

Commander Trinv slowly walked through the gutted transport. The crew, the governor, and his staff and family had been transfixed to the floor with spikes through their legs, and were so shocked by whatever had happened that they stared blankly ahead and occasionally screamed. The doctors said that they boarders had done something to their short-term memories, and that it would take a lot of work to fix them up. They also said that they'd mercifully never remeber whatever the AZK did to them.

Fortunatly, most of the crews of the destroyed vessles had gotten off in time, as 915 crew members always wear space suits. However, Trinv and the other survivors would never forget those who did not make it.

He looked at the slash marks everywhere, and wondered how they had had time to do so much wanton destruction in only about 2 minutes. He then stared once again at the image the pirates had called up on the screen.

The person was instantly recognisable to anybody who had read the great Cantharan pirate epic, the Frin'Mik, even if the gesture was from a different speices. The main character, pirate lord Thip'Wex - giving "the finger" with both hands.

Trinv threw a chair through the screen. They had left him drifting and laughed at him and his men. This was totally unforgivable.

William Darkk sipped his tea, looking out the window of the SS Barbarossa. "You've got a very nice ship here, Dave."
"Thanks boss. I found it after bailing out of an HVC at full superlight."
"Ouchie. Must have been hair-raising."
"Heh. I had about a 1 in 204 million shot of surviving it."
"I always thought you were a lucky b******."
"Heh."

The massive ship rumbled towards the next jumpgate to they Phylydion boarder. Sarah noted the "Gravitran Hyperlinks: Your jumpgate to the future." sign on the side of it, and snickered at the shear number of companies owned by certain legeslaters. The familiar green glow encompassed the ship again.

"Dave, there is someone who wishes to speak with out guest. May I patch him through?" said ACK, the ship's computer, through the speaker.
"What the heck."

"Greetings, William and Sarah Darkk." Neither Darkk nor his sister would ever forget the dual voice now coming over the radio.
"Hello, Audemed, Pharris," said William, "how are you today?"
"I, The Axis, am fine. I wish to discuss something with you ... in person."
"What?"
"Something not for the ears of anybody but you, William. Your sister does not need to be involved."
"Suits me."
"A unit will transfer to your foremost cargo hold upon entering the next system. It will meet you in the nearest space with breathable atmosphere."
"An aud drone? On my ship?" shouted Dave, "I don't think so!"
"Relax," said Darkk, "it's just one, and they aren't dangerous at all alone."

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

Right on schedule, a drone latched onto the foremost cargo pod after the SS Barbarossa cleared the jumpgate. William let it in through an airlock.
"William Darkk," the drone said, in Pharris's voice, "please step closer and allow me to interface."
Darkk had seen the interface procedure when he had looked at Audemed's source.
"Alright, nose probe me already".
A thin cord extended from the drone, and moved up Darkk's nose. Thousands of microfilaments would connect to his neurons, and he would view and listen to whatever Audemed wanted him to see and hear entirely in his head.

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

William Darkk was standing on an infinite checkerboard plane. In front of him was a table with 2 chairs. In one sat a transparent Audemed and a transparent Pharris, occupying the same space. William sat down in the other chair.

"Hello. I wish to discuss your experiences on a certain desert planet." said the 2 together.
"I guess we can talk..." Darkk began to reply.
"No need. I simply wish your permission to access your memories dealing with that."
"Alright, but JUST that. I like my head private, thank you."
"Acceptable."

He released that part of his memory, and watched a total sensory replay of the experience. He felt an odd sort of relatedness, between that and this. Of course, mind probes had been done of his memories both times. That was probably it.
He felt an odd thrill at the part where he was lifted off the floor, and a bigger thrill when the projection of the woman had told him that her self image had been based off him and his sister.
He then returned to the table on the plane.

"Most interesting. Would you mind if I scanned ALL your memory?"
"As a matter of fact I would. Lots of private stuff up there."
"I could make it worth your while..."
"It would have to be pretty worthwhile."
"I could show you hacking techniques you never even dreamed of. You'd be astonished."
"Throw in some combat AI programming techniques, a few miscelanious ones, and I guess I'll make a deal."
"Alright. Ordinarily I would never let anybody learn this, but this is important to me."

He felt the whurl of his memories from his birth to his adolescance to his early adulthood to his joining the Apollo to the Ares Wars to his breakaway to the second invasion of Earth to the third battle of Sol and finally he returned to the plain.
Then he felt his mind expand as suddenly new avenues of all sorts of computer techniques leaped into focus. Audemed was being generous.


"Thank you." the drone said, and scuttled out the airlock, where it was picked up by an ATR.

William Darkk rushed off to try out some of the stuff he had learned.

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

My cruiser blasted out of orbit, pursued hotly by a pair of fighters and a cruiser. "gul'Smai, this is you last chance to halt your flight and prepare to be boarded, else our orders are to terminate you."

I clenched my teeth as a kinetic beam darted accross the shields before sizzling into space. A warning shot. I swerved just as another kinetic beam went sizzling past, missing by mere quads.

"gul'Smai, for faliure to return to the homeworld we are hereby ordered by the hive to terminate your existance."

Throwing out another barrel roll I managed to dodge the hail of uranium bullets from the pursuing cruiser. I swerved left, I swerved right, yet I was unable to shake them. I had left orbit entirely now, pursued now by a full string of fighters trailed by the slower cruiser.

Perhaps out of desperation, I dived for the sun. Faster and faster I pushed the engines, frantically trying to keep ahead of the pursuing Gaitori out to end my existance. I squinted against the intense light, when a huge shadow fell accross my face. The sun had disappeared- no- it was being eclipsed by a massive vessel I had never seen before!

I wasn't sure what they were at the time, but they damn well saved my life. I saw a massive, podular ship, painted entirely black. Windows lined the sides, and on the above and underneath two massive domes sat. They began to glow, channeling an intense yellow light. I wasso ignorant, so naïve at the time, I did not know the danger of my actions.

I was blinded as a huge electrical beam shot out from the ship, missing me but plowing straight into the fighters behind me. The radio spat at me. "The Salril have arrived. A carrier has been sighted near the Alpha jumpgate. All units converge!"

Trapped!

With the Salril pressing prescence at solar side, the Gaitori attacking planetside, I was cought in the middle of a huge planetary invasion! No way out.... but maybe.... I remembered them mentioning a jumpgate being nearby. It was a crazy stunt,but it was my only chance of escaping alive.

Already more ships of the Salril had arrived. "We have four knots of fighters and two gunships mark seven!"

"Move to intercep-"

Another massive electrical beam spat out, hitting a cruiser squarely on the tanks, sending it spinning.

I must get close. Really close. My ship darted towards the evil black ships of the Salril. I saw a pair of domes powering up in the corner of my eye, sending my cruiser into a barrel roll just as another electric beam shot past me. That was close. I screamed for the Salril fleet in pure zeal. Four grey pods, undoubtedly launched from the carrier, flew head-on at me, firing in rapid succession and rolling off.

Damnit! The perfect shot! If only I could use these weapons! Four more pods, now clearly fighters, fell onto my tail, pumping my rear shields with their orange lasers. I dodg- what the hell was that?! A large orange sphere, sparkling, was headed straight for me from the carrier's direction. Oh shìt it's a bomb!

I dropped formation, dodging the homing pulse as it slammed into my pursuers. I was fast approaching the Salril Carrier.

-

"Look, there's a brave one." The Salrilian said to his other, as he watched my ship spin out of the path of another yellow bolt. "Do you think he would pose any morsel of a threat?"

"Certainly not, brother. We are aboard the finest vessel in the navy. Can a mere Gaitor cruiser but dent us?"

"I hope not."

-

I was prepared to see large ships when I left orbit of the capital world of one of the most influential governments of the galaxy, but even so when I laid eyes on the Salril Carrier up close, I couldn't help but whisper. "My god...."

Point defenses lined along the perimeter shot in my direction, but my close proximity (I could have reached out and touched the damn turrets) was more than enough to scramble their tracking systems. Another blast shot in my direction. Time for another roll. Suddenly my hands slipped from the piloting controls. My ship damn near crashed into the side of the carrier, but the moment I grazed the controls, a hail of bullets shot out.

I was nearly at the rear of the carrier, and had found no jumpgate. I began to panic. Was there a way out of this nightmare at all?!

Perhaps.... yes, Jumpgates operated on a multispacial frequency meaning any pulse of energy large enough would reveal it's hidden location. An idea popped into my head as I saw the huge engines at the rear of the carrier I was about to pass. I aimed...

I fired. The huge tanks burst into flame, jets of plasma blowing into deep space. Weaving between the pillars of fire, I could make out a faint and fading orange ring in the distance. I made a beeline for it.

Freeeeeeedom!

-

The Salrilians hung in the silent herd room, reading the victory reports. "We have succesfully invaded the Gaitor Homeworld. Military herds are scouring the planet and the remaining Gaitor ships have fled into deep space. A declaration of Greivance shall be filed by the Ishiman Senate within forty-eight hours."

"Excellent. Have we recovered the Test Subject yet?"

The other Salrilian cleared his gills hesitantley. "Well... one Gaitor Cruiser managed to bypass the blockade and escape the system. Shall we pursue?"

"No." The Salrilian Admiral said with a glint in his eyes. "Have the rest of the fleet meet us at the simlab cluster."

------------------
I know not who or what I am, nor where or why I am here, I remember nothing, and I know nothing; but while I don't know why, I do know is something is terribly wrong.

So annoying. Time for a change of hands...

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

Shipyard Area 134.
Rows of Salrilian ships sat unpowered, as they waited the arrival of the crew transports from Thasero.

Above them were 2 HVDs, 4 carriers, and a myriad of cruisers watching over their inactive brothers. They would get about 1.34 seconds of warning.

Collision alarms went off as something decelerated from superlight right into their formation. A pale white beam lashed out in every direct, and the watchers were totally gone.

Had there been any crew on the inactive ships, they would have heard boarding alarms ring.

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

When the crew transports arrived several hours later, they found nothing but a bouy from on o carrier broadcasting "Now you see them, now you don't .|_ _|."

"This is the captain speaking. All hands, standby to kick ass." The Ishiman calmly returned his mic to its cradle on his chair as the ISN 91588763 was spat out of its Jumpstream. He already could see the flashes from the hyperlight engines on the cloaked HVCs that were assigned to his escort.

The ship didn't run, it flowed. The crew was so used to each other and to their equipment that it acted almost as an extension of their bodies. The crew thought and the ship acted. Already, a large flight of missiles was speeding towards the small, backwater starbase.

The starbound traffic was immediately ordered to heave to and await instructions. Those ships that disobeyed and tried to make a run for it were struck down as if from nowhere by the Cruisers that dropped out of cloak for only long enough to disable their marks before slipping back into their stealth fields.The pirates on the station were by no means easily intimidated, but the speed and sudden fury of the strike on the station had reaped confusion.

The ships that launched were immediately cut down while the HVC's quickly vented a large portion of the station to space. What didn't colapse from the explosive decompression was then boarded by EVATs. Those still alive were dragged back to the Assault transport, then locked in the brig of the Carrier while the Cruisers thoroughly slagged what was left of the station, useing their Onas pulses to knock it into a terminally decaying orbit.The entire convoy then entered a stream to the next Pirate stronghold in the area.

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

Wizr couldn't help feeling an intense sense of satisfaction. The crusade had been his idea, and it was working extremely well. The 915 task force was in the process of gutting every dive that was used extensively by pirates. Stations, bases on planets, any system that had terminated a jumpstream recently was thoroughly scanned by Radio Intercept and Designate vessels. They were tracking a long trail of jumpstreams from the last attack. Unfortunately, it takes longer to trace a jumpstream than to make one, and the longer they took, the colder the trail became. It was a race against time for the Ishiman RIAD ships, a race that they were losing.

But even that was not concerning Wizr at the moment. He was pageing the news, an activity that took up a significant portion of his day. He scoured even the most trivial news articles looking for connections. Connections between apparantly unrelated events always meant an opportunity to be exploited. Today he had found many, includeing a report of the phrase "Capitalism Suxors!!!" displayed on all the displays in the Ishiman Stock Exchange. Wizr had made notes for his various industry heads before reading about the blocade of Gaitor by the Prophets of Salril, and the official Ishiman objection. Angering as it was, it was outside of his immidiate control, so he went on to the tasking order for active ISN ships. Usually a very short list, the tasking order accounted for every active ship's orders at that moment. There were many 915 ships out and about, so he scanned their tasking by system. His finger stopped on NCG-56781. It couldn't be. He acessed his notes, then looked back at the tasking order, then at his watch.

He got up and ran out the door, dialing his pilots as he ran.

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

It was certainly the strangest base Commander Trinv had ever seen. Suspended from a tremendous balloon, deep in the atmosphere of a tremendous gas giant. The funniest thing about it was the writing that scrawled across the top of the gas envelope: "Salrillian: The other dark meat." Not that he had expected any less from the secret hideout of the infamous Darklight Entrepeneurial Federation. Supposedly they had gone legit, but since they were well into international space, Trinv could do what he wanted, and he wanted to find the AZK raiders.

Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, another HVC dove in from the upper atmosphere, its encrypted transponder pinging "diplomatic service." Trinv couldn't help but wonder who it was as it flew straight to the landing pad, touched down and opened its port.

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

Wizr ignored the pilots and station personell who were trying to look fearsome brandishing their rifles. He strode past them and around the corner to where he recognized Bizz standing.

"Hello, Bizz, I need to speak to William Darkk. Now, if possible."

Seeing that it was not an EVA trooper, she smiled and replied"He's not here, and I have no Idea where he went, and we can't reach him. All I know is he took one of my ships without signing the waiver."

"That's a lie. If you couldn't tell me his pulse at this moment, I'd be surprised. I need a secure line. Now."

"Very well, Trey'sh" She replied.

She led him to a communications room and placed him in front of a screen in a small cabin.
"You have ten minutes." She said, as William Darkk's face appeared on the screen,

"Darkk here, what's --You!"

"Nice to see you too, Admiral Darkk, I have more than a few questions for you, including one about the security on the Ishiman Stock Exchange."

Darkk smiled broadly."So what do you want to know?" he said through a chuckle.

"Well, first of all, I want to know that you'll never try a stunt like that in my stock market ever again. I won't even ask about how you did it, I just want to know that you'll never do it again. Second of all, I want to know what you know about the AZK Raiders. Everything. This isn't the time to lie to me, Will. Who are they, where did they come from, and who taught them to fly."

"I can honestly say that I don't know. Whoever they are, they're quite skilled, and they're fighting style is very similar to tactics that I developed while fighting from the Ares."

"My analysts noticed as much. That's why there are 915 cruisers casing your base. I think too highly of you to accuse you of masterminding this, but could their leader have worked with you in the past? I mean your techniques are not well known or documented. How else could they have learned them?"

"I don't know. In fact, I was wondering the same thing. They are almost too good to be coming out of nowhere, and the fact that they're flying this top-notch Cantharaan equipment is also very interesting."

"Actually, I can answer that. Our surveillance shows that several dozen Cantharaan vessels were removed from a mothballing facility. Unfortunately, we couldn't get a good look at them. They had laid down a very powerful active jamming field."

"Interesting. And do these missing ships match the ones that have been giving us so much trouble?"

"They do, in fact every one of those ships has been accounted for. Though most of them have been destroyed, and the rest are in pretty sorry shape, at least according to gun camera footage. We're going to get a better analysis when the wrecks are brought to the lab."

"So I guess the question is not where will they strike next, but what will they strike with."

"Exactly, but we hope to catch them in the act this time. The Cantharaans have tripled security, and we have tripled surveillance flights through Cantharaan, Gaitori and much of Salrillian space. If they try anything big, I think we should see them."

"Well, if you do find out anything more, I'd like to know, and I'll certainly be on the lookout. If you need me, you know where to call."

"Nice speaking to you Darkk, goodbye."

The screen turned off and the door opened. Bizz was waiting.

"If your finished, sir, allow me to escort you back to your ship."

"Very well, lead the way."

Bizz lead him directly out to the landing pad, and said a terse goodbye, locking the blast door behind her.

As Wizr climbed aboard his HVC and sat down, one of the pilots handed him two emergency dispatches from Ishima. An emergency meeting of the Trey had been called in the legislature. All contact with Gaitor had been lost, and the Salrillian fleet was still in system. The second was dispatched ten minuted after the first: All life on Gaitor had been destroyed.

The HVC launched immediately, leaving the squadron of 915 ships behind to watch the base.

[This message has been edited by Trey'sh Maletena Wizr (edited 04-16-2001).]

The Bar on Bazidan was in an uproar when I entered. Every one of the low-crouched insectoids was astonished at the galactic news projecting on the holoscreen. I was only able to decipher some of the clicking from the Bazidan News Network.

Salril had invaded the homeworld! Their fleet of ships had crushed the Gaitori defenses, their troops tore apart the hive cities of the planet, searching for something.

But what? I concentrated. What could they want so badly.... Then my eyes grew wide. It all made sense. The last of my species! They were searching for me! But why...? I remembered the unusual attention constantly payed to me during my training on the homeworld. I remembered my first ears of remembered life aboard that Salrilian simlab. It would be like the Salril to want an antique like me, the last of my kind, to study me.

But then I remembered the careless engineer. But I wasn't the last of my kind. That meant there were more of my race spread amongst the stars. But why scour a planet for one...one... what were my people called... when you could easily find one elsewhere. Why me??

It all didn't make sense. Was there something about me that distinguished me from the others of my kind? What was so special about me that the Salril would start a war with the Gaitor just to find me? I looked back at the holonews for answers....

Yes indeed they were looking for something. And the mindless killing would not stop untill they had found it. I saw a tape of one Gaitor, obviously of the Br'el family, executed at point-blank range. I had to stop the killing.

- - - - -

Simlab Cluster, Irthus system.

The entrance hole clicked and the Salrilian Admiral turned expectantly. "Enter."

Her face showed no surprise when he saw me, bound and bleeding, shoved into the cave-like room. I collapsed onto the floor, spitting blood out of my mouth and staining my teeth. A pair of tall warrior-breed Salrilians entered in suit, one of them grasping a bloody and still-warm torture stick. "We have captured the Test Subject, herdmaster. He intercepted and surrendered to one of our patrols this morning. He is before you."

The Admiral stared disapprovingly at me; I looked up miserably to meet her superior gaze. "Excellent work, Corporal. Leave us." The door flushed open and the two guards left.

We were alone. "Be gratefull, 'herdmaster', that I turned myself in when I did. You would hate to have continued to war against the Gaitor, would you not?" I demanded.

"Silence, human." The chamber echoed with her stern words. "We have recalled from Gaitor now we have our prize, yet your 'brothers', as they insisted you call them, are pushing for vengeance. They are so blinded by their fury that unless we halt them, they will drag on the war at the cost of untold lives."

"How can you tell they would sink that low, Salril-"

"Do not talk petty with me. I know much more about you, than you know yourself. I am the gatekeeper, and you are traveller. You will only know information if I allow you to. I am your master.

"Come, stand here and watch." A holoscreen appeared in midair, a slowley rotating planet in the center. I reckognized the planet immdiately.

"the homeworld..." I whispered to myself.

"You would know this world as Gaitor. To prove our superiority over your race and all others we shall end the conflict here. What you are watching is, in all tenses, live. There is a 3.28 millisecond delay between what you see here and what is actually taking place. This will be a lesson to all who dare defy the prophets."

I watched in anticipation. I did not need to wait long. I thought I was prepared to see the Salrilian atrocity in action, but what I witnessed was more horrible than anything I could ever imagine.

On the surface of the planet, there was a light flash. It seemed it was over when I noticed the expanding circle where clouds were absent. A shockwave. The wave passed, faster and faster, leaving a trail of destruction. The planet seemed to boil under the mysterious forces upon it. The surface, now visible, began to crack, transforming from the lush blue of plantlife to a burnt ash grey. I could see massive firestorms forming accross the continents, sterilizing the land with their devil's tongues. The oceans boiled and shrank and the atmosphere began the blow off as the entire planet was transformed into an inferno. Whole cities, continents, were being wiped off the face of the planet as the great landmasses soon fell into a see of lava, deep unto the magma.

Helplessness engulfed me in the way the flame engulfed the planet. It was more than I could bear. More than an hour had passed. None of us said anything. None of us did as I watched the homeworld of Gaitor boil away into space. The flames died down, their feul spent, the last traces of atmosphere evaporated into space, joining the expanding cloud of debris.

Gaitor was left nothing more than a smouldering, lonely, lifeless and barely reckognizable rock drifting somewhere in in the G-1 system. I wept in the darkness.

The Salrilian Admiral cackled.

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I know not who or what I am, nor where or why I am here, I remember nothing, and I know nothing; but while I don't know why, I do know is something is terribly wrong.

[This message has been edited by Test Subject 22 (edited 04-14-2001).]

Spamo stepped off the Outrun into Darkk's private base. It had been a long time since he could walk about so casually. Hiding out was tough work on the nerves and on the body. He looked down at himself; he had lost weight and had taken on a wiry look. He was physically stronger though, more toned. Must've come from the long hours of manual labor keeping the little junker of a ship going from system to system. Shaking his head with a wry grin on his face, Spamo walked towards the secure comm center of the station. He had a secure line to Wizr waiting, and he needed to contact him if his plans were going to work out right. A few minutes later, he arrived at the private room Darkk had reserved for him. Spamo walked in and took a seat in front of the monitor.

Accessing tight beam encryption subsystems.
Encoding transmission
Host contacted...connect 483sb33z@ssh.leo2.isn

Wizr's face appeared on the screen, grinning broadly.

"It's like looking at a ghost..."
Wizr's mouth worked silently, at a loss for words at seeing his dead friend.

"I'm quite alive I assure you. I'll fill you in with the whole story over a cup of tea someday. But right now, I've got a favor to ask you."

Wizr nodded. "You were hiding then. Alright, what do you need Jack?"

"I need to get to the Phylydian leadership. The Phylydians are somewhat sympathetic towards the UNS, and quite powerful. If I can get to them I might be able to convince them to help."

"That's a very risky plan Jack. There's no telling what the Phylydians will do when they find you at their doorstep. There are any number of things that they might do to you. Keep in mind that you are supposed to be dead."

Spamo looked sternly at the screen. "I realize the risk, but there isn't any other option anymore. Diplomacy won't make the Salrillians let go. They've got a death-grip on the UNS, and we'll end up having to cut off their head to make it let go."

"More fighting, more loss of lives." replied Wizr gravely.

Spamo just frowned.

"There is a great deal of trade going back and forth between the Phylydians and the rest of us. Borrow a ship from Darkk, and I can slip you into a trading convoy. You should be able to reach Phylydia in a week or two."

"Thank you Wizr. Trust me, I want the fighting to stop as much as you do. But it won't just yet."

Wizr laid out some plans and said farewell and closed the comm. Spamo sat back, going back over the plans they had made. In two weeks, the Phylydians should be gunning for humanity.

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

Spamo returned to his quarters a while later, decidely worn out. Liz was waiting for him.

"Jack, you look wasted. Did things go well?"

Spamo slumped down into a chair. "Yes, I'm just worn. We leave tomorrow for Phylydian space. I need to borrow a ship from Darkk, and prepare identities to cover us..." he trailed off as his tired body cried out for rest.

"You're exhausted. You need to relax! Come on, let's go have some dinner at the cantina. We can take care of things tomorrow."

Spamo started to object, but Liz pulled him up and led him out of the quarters and down the hall.


[OOC: Fixed the continuity, so it now is reasonable to think that I'm talking to Wizr after Darkk did.]

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If things around here aren't working right, it's because I'm laughing so hard.
-Durandal

[This message has been edited by El Spamo (edited 04-15-2001).]

Darkk looked out at the 915 flotilla. They actually thought he'd attack a peaceful Ishiman trading group for no reason. The funnyest part of all was that they thought he'd use CANTHARAN ships - he had no respect for those, he'd only fly one if he was trying as hard as he could to make things hard on himself. Well, they didn't actually suspect him, or have evidence, but they did feel the need to rattle some sabers at him.

"Hey, Trinv!"
"What is it you slimebag?"
"Heh, slimebag, is it? Just so you know, I can see you fine."
"What's it to me?"
"So, what are you doing here? Looking for AZK?"
"Yeah. Not too many people can use superlight like that."
"I'd never be caught dead flying a Cantharan ship, they're way too sucky. Heck, UNS ships are better."
"Heh, you got that right."
"Besides, I've been with some independant parties who can verify I've been on the SS Barbarossa during almost all the incidents. It's a civilian freighter."
"We don't like you, you know. If we wanted to, we could tear you up inside of 5 minutes."
"Heh. I wouldn't put money on it."
"Maybe someday we'll get a chance to make you put your money where your mouth is. Wizr made us back off for now, so feel lucky, punk."
"Feel free to when you get real evidence."
"You bet I will."
"Heh. Nice talking with you. Care for some tea?"
"Har har. We'll be going. If I EVER catch you doing anything suspicious, I'm taking you out."
"The feeling is mutual."

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Formerly-Rampant Human-Coded AI

[This message has been edited by Fleet Admiral Darkk (edited 04-15-2001).]