Perneas walked along the empty corridors to the med chamber. The Meson superiors had asked him about his strange refusal to accept the Meson command during the negotiations where the Meson fleet came a hairsbreadth of blasting the Vylae one. Perneas had his individuality to thank for that, an individuality that was growing with every stride he took.

_Perneas, we have analyzed your implant, and there is nothing wrong. You humans seem to have a natural resistance to telepathy, jarring it's signals. This is unforeseen. Eventually, your implant will be too orderful for you, and a conflict will emerge in your mind. We have determined the only winner of such a conflict would be the implant, but the long struggle would debilitate you. We have decided to remove the implant's control visors.

What will happen? I do not want to leave the Meson consciousness.

You won't, only your implant will not bar your individuality any more than it does. Essentially you will become like you were before the implant was constructed. A human with access though to the Mesonic consciousness. Without the implant enforcing order on your mind, I do not believe you will be capable of offensive telepathy or fast-thought. You will still be able to sense minds though and react slightly faster than a normal human. You will also retain some of your intelligence.

A hard bargain.

It is so. You're decision to help the Vylae turned out to be right. Cloaked observation craft has started observing Vylae culture and they seem to be very much like you in their moral definition of good and evil. We value your independant judgement.

What will I do now?

We will provide you with a Mesonic battlecruiser, WKZE - 1/26. We have renamed it 'the Levkindl.'

It is a fitting name._

Perneas walked out onto the ship. It was huge, but only a small part of it was devoted to living space. Huge powercells and gnereators hung in it's expansiveness, powering fighter-drones and an incredible weapon: the Deacon cannon.

He departed for Sol.

(This message has been edited by Count Altair El Alemein (edited 07-21-2001).)

(well I figured that since the Ishimans havn't instigated any sort of attack in the last several hundred years, and since the Naraad ship was still within Union Space, it was unescorted. Or, conversely, the HVC placed its hyperspace pulse expertly enough to only knock one ship out of Ether(then disable it and flee before the others arrived). I know how annoying it is when someone messes with your treasured creation for the sake of their plot, but bear with me.)

Pharris tried to sit up, but could not. His muscles were too weak to obey his orders. Suddenly, but gently, the bed began to rise, folding into a less reclined position, so that Pharris could see the huge beetle that hovered at the foot of the bed. It pulsed as ist spoke, its voice seeming to shake its was out from within Pharris' skull as much as it seemed to come from across the room.

"Naarad is glad to see that you are awake and concious. Naarad wishes to know your operational status."

Pharris remembered. The procedure, the conditioning, the preparations for his new position! He sat up excitedly, but was forced to slump down again. With great effort,he breathed:

"Was it successful? Will I recieve my command?"

"The procedure was only nominally successful. It was ambitious in its undertaking, but with your gifts, we were confident that it would proceed with great effectiveness. Unfortunately, even a receptive human mind does not seem to be able to integrate correctly with that of a purely artificial construct."

Pharris was crushed. They meant that he was not going to get his ship or his command. He would be lucky if they didn't just send him back to being XO of some stinkpot border patrol vessel. A wave of sadness rushed over him, just as he noticed the scarab's broad, back start to change color. Immedeately, he began to feel better, somehow knowing that this was not the case. He recieved the intuition just before the beetle spoke again, in that voice that echoed almost painfully through his skull.

"While the experiment was unsuccessful, Naarad was pleased to find that such a mind can be integrated into biological circuits. Thus, until Naarad has reconfigured your vessel to allow you to interface, you will be connected to Naarad. Naarad will use this opportunity to study the human mind, as well as to test the durability and capabilities of the link we have formed. Then you will be connected with your vessel. However, until then, you will be moved to a location where Naraad will have complete control of your surroundings. That is all. You may return to your rest."

Pharris felt strangely compelled to do so.

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

Darkk pirouetted in the large hall, over the heads of the ESF officers. He couldn't help himself, spacer Vylae took any opportunity to strech their wings after being cooped up inside their ships. Ahhh, it felt good. He finally convinced himself to land and begin the presentation. He was making the officers nervious. He "sat" next to Admiral Murda, head of Neptune command, and the ESF's cheif intelligence officer. The Directorate had done a rush-approval of the alliance with the ESF, and they would have to try and trust each other.

"Welcome to our presentation. I've been asked to brief all of you on the ships of my area, in case we see them in combat. Ok, let's start.

"These blue ships are the forces of the S'pht. They're peaceful and friendly to all who don't attack them, and slightly more advanced than us, but few in number due to their recent emergence from Pfhor enslavement.

"These grey and red ships are the Pfhor vessles. They're brutal slavers, and tried to enslave our local human nation many times, and enslaved the S'pht for a very long time.

"These chrome-like ships are of a very reclusive race that is commonly believed to be the Jjaro, but we are unsure, as they never make any contact whatsoever, with the exception of occasionally shooting. They're immensely powerful, and can take out entire fleets at whim. They are, fortunatly, very rare, and not disposed to shooting first.

"These massive metal-grey constructs are the ships of the Nar. Despite their size, they are quite weak and poorly armed, and they fly like you think something this size would. They are very hard to destroy, however, as some of their ships approach the size of whole planets.

"These grey and green ships are our local humans' ships. They are politically unaligned and weak, but numerous. We have very good relations with them.

"This last set of ships is the Nebulons. Nebulons are nomad scavengers, living mostly in space, occasionally taking over a primative planet for slave labor and resources that can't be gotten easily in the void. They're extremely vicious, highly unpopular, and decidedly poorly equiped, but surpisingly numerous for such a furtive race."

Admiral Murda now spoke "We have loaded full data on these ships into the simulators for you to use. Please get cracking when we're done. We've also loaded the same data onto your battlecomps."

Darkk continued "Although the data we gave Murda makes this detailed presentation redundant, we're doing this now so you may ask me any questions you might have when I'm done.

"This here is a S'pht..."

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

(Darkk, I logged on to GR just after you left! Don't do that!)

The Levkindl glided into the Sol system, it's presense undectected by the regiments of scanning buoys all over ESF space. Perneas didn't want to cause a huge uproar, but did want his appearance to be a surprise. The Meson had instructed him to make an offer to the ESF. Protection. Now that the Naarad had enough provocation to declare war on such an inferior race as humanity, the only thing that lay between the destruction of the ESF was an offer of alliance from the Meson. If it wasn't for the Vylae, the ESF would surely have accepted.

He decloaked in a high Earth orbit. If those railgun platforms suddenly decided he was hostile, his trip back to Kitehain would proceed sooner than expected. It was unlikely they could harm his ship anyway.

He opened a channel to Neptune Command, ignoring the flurry of transmissions and threats.

'This is captain Perneas, I've been relocated in my new Meson Battlecruiser the Levkindl. Sorry about my abrupt introduction, but I'm here to make you an offer. An offer of alliance.'

Darkk watched Perneas from behind Io. Nice ship...
Darkk wondered if Perneas could detect him. Human wing-wiggle code had been one of the info pieces Murda had given him. Darkk began to roll his ship slightly.
"P... E... R... N... E... A... S... _... I... S... _... A... _ W... O... R... T... H... L... E... S... S... _... P... I... L... E... _... O... F..."

"That's enough, Darkk."
"Ah, you can see me after all."
"Yes, dangit."
"That's a nice ship there."
"What do you want?"
"I wanted to see if you could see me."
"Well, I can. I've got to talk to the high command now."

(If you want, I'll post more later.)

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

Perneas watched the bird disappear off the comm-screen. Murda was signalling him now.

'Captain Perneas. What a surprise.'

'And so it should be. I have returned to make you an offer of alliance.'

'I heard. But since we last met, you were part of the ESF.' She unconsciously scowled.

'I am now an ambassador, and part of the Meson collective.' He said stolidly.

'Oh? They assimilated you did they?'

'The Meson are a super advanced race that could destroy humanity without any effort of will. I have been instructed to offer you an alliance. If you are allied with the Meson, the Naarad can pose no threat to you.'

Perneas knew this wasn't the whole truth. If the Meson allied with the ESF, they would also be allying with the Union. In truth, the ESF would be no better off than if the Naarad hadn't existed. Worse in fact.

'Maybe so.'

She went off screen for a couple of seconds. Perneas couldn't mind read at this distance, but he knew trouble when he saw it.

She returned to the screen.

'Perneas, you are surrounded by ESF warships and they all have there sights set on you. I suggest you surrender.'

'I will not madam.'

'Then I will make you surrender.'

Suddenly ships all over Sol space hurtled towards the Meson battleship. Railguns spewed fire into it's shields, while the Vylae ships sat motionless.

Perneas made no response, but simply sat there, absorbing the fire.

The shields over the Meson ship flickered and spat out kinetic bursts of power. The rails fired at it harmlessly flew off, rebounding. Nuclear delivery platforms thundered, and explosions reigned over nearby space. Neutron missiles fell, not in packs, but giant cascades, as it an avalanche had been unleashed.

Captain Perneas' signal began to break-up.

5 minutes passed.

Suddenly the bombardment ceased.

'Captain?'

'Admiral Murda?'

'We're willing to talk.'

Officer Bob awoke with a start, and leaped from his bunk. The klaxon was ringing code blue, which meant he was about to be sent out. He slid quickly into his suit, activating it as he made the final adjustments. It rapidly folded up around him, sealing him within his protective armoured case. Without thinking of grabbing his weapons, he ran to the terminal to see what the mission briefing was. He touched the symbol in the center of the screen, but the familiar green text was now yellow. All he had time to read was "I need your skills, so you're coming with me." before he dissapeared, reappearing in a small, dark room what seemed like an instant later. Around him, a large pile of weapons and ammunition appeared, along with a purple shield energy recharger. Bob scooped them up. A vweritable arsenal: two Magnums, a Zeus Class Fusion pistol, two shotguns, a missile launcher, an assault rifle and a flamethrower. He switched the fusion pistol from "off" to "safe", dropping it in its holster while it achieved fusion, threw the flamethrower and assault rifle onto his back and spun the magnums on his fingers while he took in his surroundings. He instantly recognized the decor: Vylae. Bob hated the Vylae. With a passion. S'phit were too weak to arouse emotion, hunters were too familiar. Jjarro were just plain scary, but the Vylae, he hated them, them and their huge dark aviaries where they would wait and swoop down out of nowhere, guns(or worse, claws) blazing. He saw a terminal and activated it. The same yellow writing.

"I am actually surprised that you survived that teleport insertion. Not only was it the longest I have ever attempted, but it was also aimed at a craft with very powerful shielding. I suppose Durandal wasn't exaggerating his boasts about your luck. But that is not critical at this juncture. I borrowed you because I have noone in my own employ who can perform the services I need, and you are reputedly the best. Well, in any case, you are now abord a Vylae dreadnought very near the Sol system. This ship is interfering with my plans for this region and the people in it. Now, we cannot have that, can we?. I suppose you have already guessed what your job is. These maps show the locations of the shield generator coils. Destroy a few of them so that I can insert a larger force to help you finish off this ship. I should work fast if I were you, the Vylae know you're on board, and it won't be long before they pinpoint your exact location, so get moving. Good luck, oh, and please don't die, I didn't really ask before taking you, and I fear Durandal would be most upset with me if I killed his most promising young fighter."

And with that the terminal went back to the Vylae screen. Bob paused for a moment, then opened the door and stepped out into the corridor, magnums ready. At least it was a corridor, he thought, and not one of those atriums. at least the damn vultures couldn't fly too well in the corridors. And with that, he began moving cautiously down the hallway.

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

(This message has been edited by Captain Pharris (edited 08-08-2001).)

Bob found that the fusion pistol worked wonders on the vultures. The superheated plasma only had to pass near one of them to melt their feathers and sear their flesh, or, if he was lucky, set the poor bastard avian ablaze. That was usually enough to stop them. His only worry was that they might soon activate their boarding drones. The battleroids, as they were called were really scary, Tau Ceti had been all but destroyed by them. Bob had heard of entire squads of marines ripped to shreds when a battleroid came out of nowhere and opened up on them. Not even juggernauts did that to marines. NOTHING did that to marines-except, apparantly, Vylae Battleroids.

Not that he was scared, per se. He figured that he could stay clear of them if they came after him, but they were pretty high on his list of problems as he wandered alone through a huge, hostile ship, populated almost entirely by huge, evil, pointy, flying vulture- birds.

The corridors were confusing, even with his overlay map to help guide him. They seemed to twist and turn back onto themselves, or they opened up onto huge open areas. Exactly the kind of spaces he did not want to have to traverse. They were either there instead of lifts between levels, or they were roosts and mess areas. Bob didn't care, he wasn't going to go out there and fight a hundred angry birds out in the open where they could swoop and dive and kill him. Unfortunately, he had too. He could see no other way to reach the second shield generator. He only needed to disable another two before a section of the shield would be weak enough for the teleporters to penetrate, but they had to be close to eachother, and that meant he had to go through the damn aviary, or whatever it was.

He looked back at the door that had closed behind him, then forward at the blast door he had fusion pistoled his way through into the atrium. At least they didn't seem all that eager to come into the tight corridor to get him, so that was good, unfortunately, he couldn't tell how many birds were waiting in the atrium on his motion sensor; he counted seven or eight, but that was a very small number for such a large space, so many more could be holding still, and he'd be damned if he was going to stick his head out there and look around. So, he did what any smart soldier would do: He yelled.

"What's the matter peckerheads, can't take care of one lone humanoid? What are you waiting for, your machinated mercs? can't finish me off without help from the falsies? Pigeon toed freaks, come and get me!"

a dozen more traces appeared as the birds flexed or ruffled their feathers in anger, but he still thought there might be more. He shouldered his MA-75b and fired a grenade round. several dozen more startled traces appeared on the motion sensor. Bob could handle 20 birds. He tossed out a few flashbangs and smoke charges, pulled out his flamethrower and stepped into the open, hist TOZT-7 backback unit spraying the sticky, hyperoxidized, flaming liquid in long, sweeping arcs to keep the birds back. In his other hand he held one of his combat shotguns, nothing is better than a ten guage for bird hunting, he smiled to himself as he shot into the huge open space, dodgeing the incoming energy bolts. Flaming, riddled bird carcasses began to fall around him, Bob would have laughed out loud if it wasn't for the disconcerting whine of a several powerful machines approaching at high speed. He immediately dropped his shotgun in its holster and pulled out his fusion pistol, clicking the trigger back into charge mode. The whine cut through the squaking and commotion like a knife. He was ready.

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

(This message has been edited by Captain Pharris (edited 08-08-2001).)

(We didn't get Tau Ceti, we didn't even know it existed until it didn't. Ah well.)

Bob could vaugely recall where he'd heard that before. He remebered that the last time he heard it, he was picking pieces of his friends out his hair for weeks. Oh shi...
A Vylae battleroid slided around the corner like a baseball player scoring a home run, pointing a fully charged wave motion cannon directy at Bob.

Bob dived out of the "aviary" just as a wall of blue swirling energy flooded through it, sending pieces of the birds he'd brought down slamming into Bob, even though he was behind a corner.

"Hey intruder - Vice Admiral Darkk asked me to ask you to stop messing up the decor on his flagship - oh, and to stop the whole 'sabatoge' thing while you're at it."
Bob's mind raced - she was a battleroid alright, orange hair, glowing yellow eyes.
"Come on out. If you be a good boy and come out now, we'll send you back to Durandal without too much damage."

"Define 'too much'!"

"Nothing fatal, most of your limbs still atached. If you don't come out soon, all you'll get is a wave-motion stomach-pumping when I shove this gun down your throat and fire."
Bob considered for a few seconds and decided he didn't like either option.

"How about option 3: I splatter you all over the floor!"
Bob lept out and fired both missles in his SPNKr launcher, then ducked back until the shrapnal stopped bouncing, and checked his shields. Even an INDIRECT hit from that dang wave motion cannon had cost him half his shielding - a direct hit now would be very bad. He hoped the missles had got that battleroid. Vylae ones were even scarrier than UESC ones.

Bob peered cautiously into the atrium. As the smoke cleared, he was horrified to find the battleroid standing right where she had been last time, a small layer of ash giving her corpse-pale face some color, a scorced outline of her in the far wall.

"You know what's funny, intruder?"

"I don't think it's very funny."

"My shield wasn't even up."

Bob's jaw was hanging open. 2 missles. With no shields. He had no idea those battleroids were this tough. "I'm running outa patience over here." Bob would give the bitch something to be haughty about.

"Eat plasma!" Bob shouted as he dived out of cover, firing his fully-charged plasma bolt and a few standard bolts before landing behind the other side of the atrium door. He once again peeked out to observe the damage.

The battleroid was still standing there. Admittedy, the left shoulder of her uniform was on fire, but she blotted that out with her right hand. "OK, I'm gonna raise my shields and come over there."

Bob ran the other direction, hoping for an opportunity to lay a trap. "You are SUCH a disappointment. Will you work for ANYONE who'll give you a nice gun?" Bob remebered that voice... Leela, the nice AI on the Marathon. Bob felt the Vylae teleporters kicking in - but his guns didn't seem to be coming with him.

"What the heck put you on the Vylae's side?"

"Simple, really. For one thing, they reactivated me. For another, they let me stay, in return for a few favors once in awhile. Not as if they could kick me out even if they DID try to."

"Where am I going?"

"Back to Durandal. He doesn't like people taking custody of his fave tools, and I still feel a little kinship with him. These Vylae have some nice teleporters. Have a safe journey."

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

Captain Perneas was shuttled instead of Earth to Neptune Command, which was located in high earth orbit, along with Jupiter Command, and the newly constructed Mercury Command. He did not feel worried, and besides, did he not carry a personal force-shield?

Admiral Murda was being ferried up there as well, it would be an interesting conversation.

-------

'Morning admiral'

Perneas climbed out of his shuttle to the not-smiling faces of a team of marines and the admiral. She nodded at him.

'I don't suppose' She said, 'If I ordered my marines to grab you, they would, in fact, pull it off?'

'Unfortunate is it not?' Said Perneas sweetly.

'Well in that case, to business. I have assembled all the admirals of rank and President Molex.'

'Very commendable timing.'

They strode down the corridor, flanked by a dozen guards. Eventually, a large room was visible. They went inside. Perneas could see the admiral's, Admiral DuPont, Naccali, Lanar, Dagashvalli, everyone.

'Good morning gentlemen.'

Admiral Murda went and sat down in her seat.

Molex was the first to begin.

'I hear some sort of bizarre offer of alliance from Murda? Is this true? And if it is, are you not an ESF captain?'

'It is true that I have made on offer of alliance on the part of the Meson, but I am no longer an ESF captain. Though I never handed in my resignation, I will do so now.'

Captain Perneas tore off the silver-red armband and presented it to Admiral DuPont. There was something of a hush, an absence of noise.

'I am Meson now, Meson in my ways of thought, Human in my body. I have been converted.'

'So the rumours are true?' Says Naccali. 'You are no longer wholly human?'

'They are true.'

"So why would they want a Vylae Dreadnought destroyed? Espescially one in the Sol System, it seems kindof odd to me, I mean what would a Vylae ship want with Earth anyway?"

"Not odd, simply different and unfamiliar. We have both been away too long to understand fully the events taking place there. However, events in and around the Sol system take a slightly lower priority to me, when I have my marines transported out of their bunks and into combat by unknown forces. I am espescially interested by the fact that this foe was able to penetrate both the Vylae shields and my own with his teleporter. I will stay on my guard. As the proverb goes "once a horse escapes the pasture, the farmer will keep the gates locked."

Do not worry. I'll be watching out for you. In the mean time, rest. After I've done some peeking about, I may have a few jobs lined up for you."

The terminal went back to the Durandal icon, and Officer Bob lay back down on his bed. He didn't mind being in the dark about everything, it was Standard Operating Procedure for a soldier in the employ of an all powerful AI. He lay back, trying not to think about it as he went to sleep.

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

Trinv once again ripped an exit hole from the fourth dimension and corkscrewed through the empty system.

"So Enre, what's out there waiting to kill us this time?"

"Nothing yet, but we're supposed to be 100% for this one, so give me a good circle at FTL. I'll see what's around."

fourty five minutes later, the ship finished its orbit of the system, anf Enre gave it the ok, only after verifying the signals from all the sensor bouys. Trinv forwarded it to the command, and immediately, an assault transport appeared, releaseing a small, dark craft. it immidiately wheeled and turned on its engines, as if it had just released a dangerous creature from a cage and was fleeing before the beast realized that its cage was unlocked. The ATR went straight back into the jumpgate with the ISN 91547775 immidiately behind it.

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

Pharris felt extremely happy-exausted, but happy. Thirty consecutive hours of the most extreme battle situations he had ever pictured in his most hypothetical imaginary scenarios had been tested upon him and his fleet, and he had passed each one with flying colors. Unfortunately, Naraad was not about to let him sleep yet, they needed to know about the limits of his capability, so they drove him on, slowly increaseing the difficulty of the situation, so that even as he became more fatigued, the demands were ever increasing, pushing him both physically and mentally towards an edge that they knew must exist, one that had to be found before he could be trusted with the new flagship.

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

Wizr waited patiently, meditating. Images floated in his mind, thousands or millions of small scraps of information, each one searching for a connection, some other fact that the concious mind had overlooked or not considered. A fact alone is nothing more than that. Two facts together is an opportunity, which is exactly what Wizr waited for, and exactly what he was exploiting right this moment: Opportunity.

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

Admiral Dulles paced on the bridge of his flagship, the USS Atlantis. It was a stretch to call it 'his.' Certainly it was under his command, but he did not captain it. It was but one of three others in the new Union Third Fleet, to which more and more of his time was being given. As they moved further and further from the Union frontier, their supply lines were growing long and strained. Fortunately he had seen no combat in the last few days, but one more large engagement and he'd be critically low on ammunition. And even with his guns, he was not much use if he didn't have enough fuel to manoever with. It seemed silly to him that the Union denied his requests for supplies, even when he sen the third fleet supply wing home to procure them!. They had the area behind them secured, in fact most of his auxilliary ships were parked on planets in their wake, waiting for the fleet's auxilliary carrier to be repaired. What surprised him most was that it wasn't political reaction to his sudden promotion; the other Admirals had similar complaints, but he knew for a fact that there was no shortage, he had seen stockpiled weapons and gear and spare parts at staging areas, where was all of it going to? All five fleets were out at sea, with supply ships in the rear being refused supplies that were sitting at home in abundance. It was entirely unlike the Union Navy Command, which prided itself on its freedom from such beureaucratic bumbles. Dulles just hoped that whatever reason they had was a good one.

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

Captain Perneas sat conversing with the Admirals. Little did they know, he was also conversing with the Meson through his telepathic link.

'So,' Said Molex Reeves with a minimum of throat-clearing, 'I take it the Meson are well-versed in weapons technology, and could easily crush the ESF in no time. Yet, this begs the question, why would they offer an alliance at all? If they can simply swat us out of the way like so many insects, then why not do just that?'

Captain Perneas considered his reply carefully. He had not been entirely honest in this conference when he said the Meson were 'all-powerful.'

'To answer that question to the full, I would need to convey the political, military, and religious dealings of the Ormeda galaxy for the past 6 billion years. As none of you have a telepathic link, this is impossible. Won't you accept the Meson might be altruistic in their ways?'

'Quite frankly no' Cut in Admiral DuPont indignantly. 'We've seen Meson fight the Naarad, and you just told us the Meson are allied with the Naarad. What kind of alliance is that?'

Captain Perneas felt annoyed by the persistant difficulties the somewhat mysterious past the Meson had had with the Naarad. He waited for an answer from his own inside sources.

'Once again Admiral DuPont, you ask for a full explanation on the machinations of the Ormeda galaxy, something I cannot give in moments. If you want the simplest answer, it is that relations between Meson and Naarad are degrading very rapidly.'

'So they're about to slug it out with each other?' Asked Murda.

'It's a possibility, especially if you ally with the Meson.'

Admiral DuPont stood up.

'I think I've heard enough' he said. 'Our friend has just explained the truth of this entire matter. The Meson want to use humanity as a convenient military base for the conquest of these Naarad. All this talk of altruism and diplomatic kindness is... is...' Unable to come to a suitable adjective, he stormed out of the room.

Molex Reeves coughed politely.

'I apologise for the Admiral's conduct. He should not have done that.'

'No, wait a minute.' Said Naccali, his brow furrowed in thought. 'He did have a point there.'

There were murmerings of agreement. Perneas readied himself for the next stage of his explanation. Now he had them ready.

'To start off, the Meson is not the only superpower in the galaxy with abilities to crush vast swathes out of primitive races like humanity. Also, it is rather naive to think that humans have only been encountered, and encountered, by alien races in the past 150 million years of your evolution. To start with, the Meson discovered intelligent life on Earth 75,375 years B.C.'

There were some uneasy stirrings on the council table. The demure head of the science officer looked up.

'What?' She said.

'What the Meson did with this knowledge is not entirely clear to me, but I have reason to believe they left the system and cataloged it for future reconnaisance trips. In all likelihood the primitive beings on the planet's surface would not evolve the intelligence necessary to first, build up a scientific culture, and secondly, survive the 3 stages of a developing species.

'However, the Human race of beings did do this, and began to expand aggressively out into space - space that was fiercely contested by 4 highly advanced alien species.'

'So why didn't humanity encounter any of these races? Why weren't we destroyed?' Interrupted the science officer, now deeply involved in the conversation.

'The fighting was mainly concentrated along the Som boundary, ironically this parallels the Union/ESF boundary you know today. But even so, you're space overlapped that of a very powerful alien faction, which had claimed dominance over the area from almost the beginning of the conflict. Doubtless they knew of your existence inside the Sol system. Why they never contacted you is a complete mystery, even to us.

'The Technon were an extremely strange race. They were, machinated. Not organic, and yet, exhibited none of the properties one can expect in an artificial intelligence. The space in that sector was thoroughly valuable, and none of the races would relinquish control of it. The only reason the battle ended, was basically because it had to end.

'An extremely strong etheric wave originating near Sol spread out in a 100 light year radius and cut off all ether travel to the fleets of the aliens. All travel except of course the Technon, who were presumed to have triggered the device. They systematically wiped the alien bases, installed small scale etheric disrupters along the Som boundary, and retreated into their newly conquered space.

'Soon afterwards, they left their space for the Technon homeworld at the other end of the galaxy. The reason they gave was that they had been defeated by an extremely powerful alien race, - a race more powerful even than them. Ether devices were eventually built by the Duthul, Meson and Naarad, and sent scouts into the 'virgin' territories. When the scouts failed to return, they thought they had encountered a vastly superior race. Huge fleets were stationed along the Som boundary in preparation for a massive incursion of alien warships.

'This never happened, though the Zirzacht managed to establish a base inside the Som boundary, owing to a gap in the ether prevention systems. What they observed was extraordinary. A single race of beings, with very primitive technology, still playing around with the most crude of stardrives. Soon afterwards, the space along the Som boundary was conquered by the Naarad. We established bases there as well, with the onset of our alliance.'

There was a vast silence in the room.

'Now sadly our alliance must come to an end. There is no superpower here, no alien race with technology sufficient to wipe out all ether travel in a hundred light years.' Perneas seemed to sigh. 'Just another primitive race.'

'So you can see humans, your fate has been the fate of circumstances. Now, you must make your decisions. Without the Meson to aid you, humanity will become another footnote in a long history of violence towards primitive species by more advanced ones.'

Mag's little fleet dropped out of hyperspace. He sighed. "Sensors, do you detect any vessels or signs of habitation or anything like that?" This had been the routine for weeks. Drop out of hyperspace, check for civilization, wait for the fuel scoops to refuel the ship, and enter hyperspace for the next system. He was tired of it. There was no way anything was out here.
Kathleen seemed to be in doubt. "Mag, I - I'm actually detecting a pair of small vessels heading towards us."
"You'd better not be joking."
"Seriously, two ships are heading for us."
Sam spoke up. "Sir, one of them is sending a message."
"Finally, we're getting something. Put the message on."
"Aye, sir."

----------
Incoming Transmission Recieved
Source: Unidentified Vessel
This is Lieutenant Lydon, of the ESF patrol craft Paradise. Identify yourself and your business here.
----------

"Sam, send a message back. Have it read: This is Captain Steelglass of the independant torpedo cr-"
The Palyos Astromining-hired mercenary behind him grunted.
"Sorry, forgot. Have it read: This is Captain Steelglass of the Palyos Astromining torpedo cruiser Rift. We are here on a mission to establish trade with foreign governments and corporations."

"Message sent." And a bit later later, "Another message has been recieved."

----------
Incoming Transmission Recieved
Source: ESF Patrol Craft Paradise
Roger. You'll want to take that up with our government, based to the north-west, on a planet named Earth in the Sol System.
----------

This heavily confused Mag, and the entire crew. The Sol System was back in the region of space where they'd come from. It was where Sol Shipyards, the famous company behind the Eluder fighters and Stalker battleships, was based from. This was strange. He thought of an idea that explained it, and said it out loud to the crew. "They probably just ended up naming the system the same thing in a coincidence. Come on, let's head out."
"Aye, sir."

------------------
"Whoever said that the pen is mightier than the sword was on something."
(url="http://"http://www.MSPlugDevelopment.n3.net")My Ares Website(/url)
Plug reviews are appreciated...

The council ushered Perneas out of the chamber, while it's members deliberated the decision. Perneas did not care overmuch for the eventual outcome, his strongest difficulty was going to be weakening the ESF. The easiest way to do this was through the chain-of-command, and during the conference, Perneas had been performing some delicate modifying of many of the minds present. Admiral DuPont, he had taken away his capacity for self-control, and increased his dislike for Molex Reeves and Perneas. Molex, he had taken away his subjectivity, and inserted paranoia towards the Jupiter Command forces. Murda, he had changed nothing, except make her a little more intelligent and despising of her male lessers. With any luck, these divisions would cause the ESF to falter in the face of the Union and Naarad onslaught. With no allies as yet, they would have to accept the Meson. Perneas was sure the Vylae would be kept from helping the ESF too much by the Naarad.

He waited for the outcome with patience.

'This is absolutely ridiculous.' Said DuPont, as he sat down again in his familiar seat. 'Humanity has never had to start relying on alien influence, and the ESF especially. Why should we accept an alliance we neither need nor want? The Vylae will be perfectly good as allies, and I don't hold the same pessimism of our ablities that President Reeves has.'

'What? Are you saying you can hold off an advanced alien species like the Naarad? All by yourself? What are you, crazy?' Shouted Molex at DuPont.

Murda shook her head at their idiocy, couldn't they see the best way out of this was unity?

'The council has come to it's decision.'

Perneas was escorted back into the chamber. Admiral DuPont was there, which somewhat surprised Perneas. Ahh well, he could already tell what it would be.

Molex stood up.

'The council does not believe a union with the Meson is necessary at this time, especially considering the very small amount of information we must have on you, and the vast amount you must have on us. Though we do not wish to offend the Mesonic species, it is our duty, to the ESF, and above all, Humanity, that we do not subject ourselves to such a weighted alliance. No doubt, the ESF and Meson have much to be gained by a peaceful co-existence and trade, and - '

Perneas let the words drone around him like so much irrelevant buzzing. He reported his failure to the Meson, and received this in reply:

Relations between Meson and Naarad have strained to the point of war. Return to the cloaked Meson base along the borderline.

He made his acceptance speech, announced the general goodwill and benevolence of the Meson, and then left for his ship.

------------------
There are only 3 kinds of people, those who can count, and those who can't.

(nice to have you back mag...i was kinda wondering if you'd got lost in space or something ;))

Piemur was standing on the bridge while the unidentified vessels were escorting them to the planet. Wondering what was going on, Piemur finally decided to take some action...
"Sensors, scan ahead and give me exact comparisons on the system ahead and Sol...I mean our Sol. And at the same time, scan those ships and compare them to current and previous specs of ships in the ESF. I have a funny feeling..."
"Sir, sensors are giving exact matches on both the system and the ships...however, the ships are outdated by about 20 years. And the atmospheric analysis on, err, "Earth" are the same as what happened exactly 18 years ago. Remember the catastrophic storms in Bangladesh? And the severe drought that brought china's population down to that of middle Africa? Well, they're happening down there. And the planetary alignment is the same. It could be one of three impossible situations: 1) We went back in time and ended up near true Earth. 2) This is truly a freak alien planet that happens to be exactly the same as Earth, or 3) We are near true Earth, and it is for some reason having the same weather patterns."
Piemur thought a moment and replied softly almost to himself, "How about: 4) We have encountered a very advanced alien race that is examining our planet and has made a duplicate of it as well as the ships. Perhaps to make us feel more welcome...or maybe just to bring our defences down so they can catch us off guard."
Helm shivered, "Now thats a pleasant thought, but if they're so advanced, then they don't even have to catch us off guard. They'll probably just blow us to bits without even trying."
Piemur gave a reassured sigh, "Well, thats a relief. So much for my theory. Hmm...maybe they have gotten our records out of our ships and are sending data to our sensors and fooling them. Now that seems a little more realistic. Then they could blow us away or lead us to a trap."
"C'mon cap'n! You dont have to be so melodramatic. I mean, it could be one of those first 3 theories you know." helm cried exasperated, then apologetically, " Err...sorry cap'n"
"It's OK, just nerves you know...you start thinking up so many ways they could be hostile that you forget they could be friendly. Open a channel with Sol and find out what happened. Wait! Belay that order! Open a secure channel, full encryption, with the Rift and see what Mag thinks about all this...I hope its something positive. " he turned to the merc behind him, "How about you? What do you think about all this?"
Caught off guard, the kid (Piemur knew he was new at being a mercenary by the way he stood, he'd seen professional mercs before. that was probably why the company sent him with the SA.SC.Pern-3 , Piemur was being underestimated...or maybe not...) blushed and stammered "Well...I...err...dunno whats up. It seems that we are truly heading towards Earth, but its a past Earth, and it...umm...well, its a past Earth."
Piemur grunted sarcastically, "Well, thanks for that helpful information. Like, that will really help us a lot. :rolleyes: Okay, open up that channel already..."
Then to himself, he muttered, " I sure hope Mag has something more than that to tell..."

------------------
Captain of the SA.SC.Pern
SA.SC.Pern=Shadowcat Alliance, Star Commander, Home port
Shadowcat Alliance = merchant clan
Star Commander = rank in clan

Quote

Originally posted by Piemur1:
**-snip-
**

Actually the ESF doesn't exist where we come from. Although I suppose you could design this so we're being deceived. The ESF is, from what I gather, where Darkk and them are, and I'm trying to get in on their storyline.

------------------
"Whoever said that the pen is mightier than the sword was on something."
(url="http://"http://www.MSPlugDevelopment.n3.net")My Ares Website(/url)
Plug reviews are appreciated...

Captain Perneas was headed for the asteroid belt. His ship's shields were down, but that didn't matter. He was cruising with his ship cloaked from view.

The asteroid belt was rather dense for it's kind. Over 12,000 kilometres wide and countless kilometres long (orbiting the entire system actually), it was quite a site to be seen. Perneas knew that navigating that asteroid belt for a single cloaked station would be a nightmare, but he could sense the telepathic minds on that station, letting him home in on them.

He arrived at the station, and received instructions to open shuttle bays. Shuttles flew in, some of them fighters, most of them carrying Mesonic Wardrones. He sent a query, and received a matter of fact reply:

Earth is under attack from the Naarad.

The telepaths voice had kept itself carefully neutral from disclosing the composites of the Naarad force. Perneas sent a further enquiry:

What is the attacking force's size?

There was a delay.

Understand, that when your neural redistributor was removed, it left you prey to some very human like frailties. If we told you, your decision making faculties might be impaired.

I know where my loyalties lie. Further requisite at this time.

There was another long pause.

_Approximately 1000 Naarad capital ships.

_Perneas felt a sickening, panicky feeling in his stomach, but he held his emotionless state. _

When did this attack begin?_

5 minutes ago.

Perneas could detect no Meson spying vessels in Sol, how could they possibly...

_You knew about it all along!

Yes. Earth will be destroyed, and along with it, most of the ESF fleet._

Perneas disengaged from the station.

Set course for Sol. He commanded the ship.

On the borders of ESF/Union space, a single station lay. One of many shared by both sides, these border posts could detect most of what the enemy did and relay it back to HQ. Such information proved invaluable, warning of wars, of buildups, of internal conflicts...

'Sir?' Union of Worlds military fleet ensign Polan Trevicle broke upon his superiors reverie.

'What now?' Lieutenant Hector sat up excitedly.

'Look at it sir, look at it!' The ensign hurredly handed Hector the electron-pad. Symbols flashed across it's screen. The lieutenant was no stranger to their meaning.

'But they're heading in our... Oh my god...'

------------------
There are only 3 kinds of people: those who can count, and those who can't.

(This message has been edited by Joveia (edited 08-28-2001).)

Pharris was back in his element. Within his ship, he felt invincible, for the USS Anderson was invincible. It was huge, and it had weapons so powerful that even the most advanced races trembled at the thought of their use. Not that he felt that their use was necessary, Pharris knew when a threat was worth more than an attack, a principle which he was using at this very moment, with a large fleet of Naarad allies aiding the Union Sixth fleet in its conquest of Earth. Conquest was a key word, Pharris loved the homeworld, even though he had never seen it with his own eyes. He didn’t care about the Federation Scum who populated it, he would never harm mother Earth, and so, while the ESF was in great peril at this moment, Earth was not. Or so Admiral Mark Pharris thought as he led his ships into battle.

Admiral Dulles was dining with his Captains aboard the USS Xerxes, at her captain’s invitation. The food was excellent, and everyone was enjoying the release from the pressures of fighting a war with extremely limited supplies. Things were going well, and the stewards were just clearing away the fish course when the first officer of the Xerxes walked in and whispered something to the Captain, and then presented Dulles with a printed message. A distress call.

He read it, and then stood. Gentlemen, I regret to inform you that unknown forces are attacking one of our border posts in the rear. As the nearest strike force of any magnitude with enough fuel to reach them, we must respond. You should do well to return to your ships, the fleet moves to ether in ten minutes. I shall remain here, and use the USS Xerxes as my command vessel. Good luck, Gentlemen, and good evening.

As the captains hurried out, Dulles raised the Atlantis over his radio, and had his command staff to come over, including the fleet’s intelligence officer. Dulles had clearance to know what the attacker was, but he needed to speak to the intelligence officer before he could reveal the information to his captains, regardless of how it would improve their chances in a fight.

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

Perneas headed at full speed towards Earth.

What are you doing??? Demanded the Meson. If any emotion could be ascribed to their thought, it would be confused indignation.

I'm going to help save Earth.

Earth is not in danger. Turn back now.

No.

The Mesonic minds reeled from this revelation. Not turn back? Not obey the orders of the collective? It was a thought terrifying to behold. To them, Perneas was fast becoming a cancer to the Meson minds. And what do you do with cancers? Convert them back into cells, or kill them outright.

Meson tried to reason with him.

Your ship will not be able to withstand the Naarad assault. This was clear fact. His ship would be torn to pieces.

Perneas didn't know why he was even doing this. It was totally illogical. Nothing he could do would save Earth. Save Earth? Just like the Meson said, everything in the collective, everything they knew about the Naarad (and they probably knew about that Naarad itself) indicated Earth would be spared. But something told Perneas this would not be the case.

5 minutes until ether is aborted. The computer informed him.

He could already identify most of the Naarad capital ships. Within 10 minutes of arriving, they had wiped out almost all the human defenders around the planet. Now, they enfolded Earth. An immovable ring of death that was slowly encircling the last remnants of the defenders. What a calamity.

But the ESF still fought on. Ships, called from distant worlds and distant outposts, arrived at spontaneously. Sometimes only one ship, sometimes several. They were each annihilated with methodical accuracy.

The Naarad were waiting for something... But what?

Bor Reinz, Councillor-governor of the Union of Worlds, sat in his chair, going through the reports he had just received from his admirals.

'Interesting.' He leaned forward on his chair. 'This is obviously not the work of the ESF. Gentlemen, I am not well disposed towards people who give me reports and tell me they have no idea what is going on. Admiral Treeves, give me an opinion.'

Admiral Treeves shifted uncomfortably in his black-satin chair. His blonde-almost white hair was a mess, his uniform unbuttoned at the waste, and his eyes, for once, looked worried.

'Sir, the Meson.'

'Hmm...' Bors shifted through the papers on his desk. At last he seemed satisfied. He picked up a small manilla folder, albino white, and tipped it's contents on an empty spot on the circular table. One thin sheet of paper slid out.

He picked it up, and said sardonically: 'My intelligence indicates the following. No doubt you have all read the files in detail, but the sparse information should present no difficulty to your attention spans.'

He cleared his throat: 'Species name: Meson. May have attacked Omega Centauri. Possible relationship with the Naarad.'

The 3 admiral's around the table shifted uneasily. Admiral Treeves, commander of the 1st fleet, Admiral Green, commander of the 2nd fleet, and Admiral Khanachet, commander of the 3rd fleet.

'Well well well, what do we do know? Repulse there invasion of course!' He stood up, and began:

'Since the founding of the Union of Worlds, our forces have never been defeated' the Admirals winced collectively at this blatant lie, 'I do not want this to suddenly change, because an upstart alien power thinks it can reduce the Human race to the point of surrender and intimidation. Wherever there is an enemy, we will fight it. Even if we have to give up everything, we will still repulse the invaders, and we will still retain our honour!'

'Since our observing posts have been destroyed, we can no longer see into ESF territory, but, by God, we will build more! And this temporary setback, will not become anything more than it is. A setback!'

'Treeves and Green, you will defend the Union. Khanachet, you will seek out this invader and do battle with it. Our other admiral's will continue the war against the ESF! And when we are victorious, we shall turn our full attention to this new menace.'

He was standing now, and the Admirals, stood with him.

'Dismissed.'

------------------
There are only 3 kinds of people: those who can count, and those who can't.