The escape pod was hauled into the station's docking bay. Upon exiting, goomeister saw his ship, Event Horizon , sitting there as though nothing had happened. His strategy worked! He went into the bar, collected some new crew members, and set out to confront the alien menace.

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Those who are blinded by the light shall stumble in the darkness...
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A Council Station Welcome

After endlessly wandering through corridors which all seem to curve back to the docking bay, the Voininan ambassador and his assistant finally find their way to the bar. A robowaiter pointedly ignores them, but they finally manage to attract its attention:
'Table for two, please.'
'I'm sorry, sir, they're all booked.'
The pair can see at least thirty empty tables.
'Until when?'
'Some time next century, sir.'
'Pah. I don't believe you. We'll take that one.'
They sit at a table. Robowaiters steadfastly refuse to attend to them until the assistant manages to lasso one with a device cunningly made from strips of tablecloth.
'We'll have a bottle of Voinian vodka, two glasses, and a look at the menu,' he growls at the trapped mechanoid. 'Fast, or you're nuts and bolts. Understand?'
'Ulp. Yes sir!'
The robowaiter returns with a bottle and some glasses. No menus.
'And the menus?'
'Sorry sir. They are highly classified. Cleared only for release to station personnel...'

------------------
I got this .sig file at insanely_great.com - don't even think about taunting me!

The nearby data terminal's red fisheye lens lights up, and a small apparatus slides out of the port. The apparatus emits a blinding glare, and the seats are coated with a fine layer of soot where the ambassador was sitting.
Tapeworm's voice emanates from the terminal to goomeister. "What should I do with their ship?"

------------------
I ask you to look both ways- for the road to the atom leads through the stars, and the road to the stars leads through the atom.

The alien battlecruiser approaches the station, still outside of the defensive batteries' range. The Event Horizon moved into a defensive position.
"Get a lock on that ship," goomeister ordered.
"Target locked. It should be on the edge of our EMP range," replied the tactical officer.
"Good. EMP that sucker, full power." A pale blue beam shot from the ship, instantly bringing the alien vessel to a halt.
"Helmsman, bring us close enough to use our tractor beam. Drag that thing within range of station's defense systems. And keep the EMP on it!" goomeister commanded.

Event Horizon 's victim was slowly dragged to the station for the kill. The ship did not fire back. Did it only have forward weapons, or was it waiting for the right time to strike.

------------------
Those who are blinded by the light shall stumble in the darkness...
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Captian LeGrenadier pondered the ships apparent unagressiveness, then suddenly realized what it might be doing. "A bomb" he said in his usual quiet sudden manner "that ship is carying a bomb which it will detonate when it gets close enough to the station. Unless we release it, I have a hunch we're all gonna die." He goes back to sitting quietly in the corner.

Just out of curiosity, where did the alien battlecruser come from? I thought the thret to the station was a rouge star. Oh well, alien battlecruser is good too.
------------------
"Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger."

(This message has been edited by Captian LeGrenadier (edited 01-13-2001).)

"It will never get close enough to the station," says Tapeworm. "Point the station's EL-35 antenna array at the ship, and transfer me. Soon you will see all the airlocks open, and you'll never have to worry about it again."

------------------
I ask you to look both ways- for the road to the atom leads through the stars, and the road to the stars leads through the atom.

The bomb theory presented a problem. If it was true, it could not be brought near the station. It could not be left there because it could take down the EH. (I'm getting tired of typing the full name) Firing upon the ship would risk detonating it anyway. Then goomeister had an idea.
"Get on that ship; boarding position. Slice open the hull," came the order.
"We can't! Our only weapons are the EMP and our Disruptor; the former doesn't do damage, and the latter is too dangerous," replied the tactical officer.
goomeister thought for a while. "Can our fuel probes work in reverse?"
A perplexed TO replied: "I think so. Why?"
"We'll fire a stream of fuel at the ship and ignite it. Hopefully, it'll melt right through."
"I like that idea. We're on it!"

------------------
Those who are blinded by the light shall stumble in the darkness...
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"No!" shout's ClD. "We don't know what that things carrying for fuel! Too risky to set it on fire!" I'm sending tapeworm out to reconfigure the ship's subsystems and bring it under our control. Hold your option open untill we find out if Ent. can operate on alien computer systems.

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"Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger."

(This message has been edited by Captian LeGrenadier (edited 01-13-2001).)

"Their computers are sentient. And polymorphic. It would take over you if you tried that stunt," goomeister said bluntly. He toyed with the hyper-dimensional stabilizer, thinking. He stared at the wiring, the energy fields, the crystal that vibrated ever so slightly when aligned properly...

"I've got it! We won't melt it, we won't board it, we won't take it over, we'll shake it apart! If we divert all of our energy into this crystal, it will vibrate. We'll use a stream of fuel to carry this vibration to the enemy ship. If we can get it to vibrate strongly enough, it will tear that SOB's hull apart!" he turned to his engineers. "Incorporate this with our fuel probe and allow us to divert all power to it. now!"

------------------
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Quote

Originally posted by goomeister:
**
"I've got it! We won't melt it, we won't board it, we won't take it over, we'll shake it apart! If we divert all of our energy into this crystal, it will vibrate. We'll use a stream of fuel to carry this vibration to the enemy ship. If we can get it to vibrate strongly enough, it will tear that SOB's hull apart!" he turned to his engineers. "Incorporate this with our fuel probe and allow us to divert all power to it. now!"
**

A nerd with a prickly face, thick glasses and a flipping voice comes in an gesticulates wildly. "Or better yet, we could rub rubber balloons on our heads to create a static charge, then throw the balloons at the gargantuan alien cruiser to transfer the
charge, and -- and -- and then, since the ship is weightless in space, we could just
fling it into the sun using a hand-held horseshoe magnet!"

-- Cinga

PS: I sure hope you guys are familiar with the term "sarcasm". :rolleyes:

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

Beep.
This is a test.
Repeat, only a test.
Beep.

(This message has been edited by Entropy (edited 01-15-2001).)

The stream of fuel strikes the alien vessel. At first, no one noticed any effect. But then, seams started to pull apart. Rivets fell out. Hull panels fell off. Hairline cracks became fissures became gaping holes. The EH ran out of fuel just as the ship lost most of its hull. The bomb was exposed.

"I want a vacuum-equipped boarding party assembled with at least two demolitions experts. Plant charges around the bomb and set them to fire on my signal. GO!!" ordered goomeister. The marine gear left behind by the UE forces in the invasion of Voinian space was very helpful in this endeavor. The marines quickly returned, handing goomeister a small handheld device with a single button.

The EH returned to the station. goomeister quickly attached the device to the station's comm arrays and directed them to the disabled wreck. His fingers lay poised over the large, red button.

------------------
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"YOU FOOL! DO YOU WANT TO KILL US ALL?" says Arada Pilot, sweat breaking out on his face. "If you detonate that bomb, it'll destroy everything within a parsec- including this station! We have to get rid of it some other way!"

------------------
I ask you to look both ways- for the road to the atom leads through the stars, and the road to the stars leads through the atom.

ok. so we can't detonate it, what about towing it somewhere? like one of the nebulas?
Nebulas are clouds of space dust and gases. The nebula would absord the concussion energy from the bomb.

or even better- do we have any mutual enemies? like the UE renegades? disguise the vessel as a space derelict, and tow it to one of our enemies' systems.... and hope they don't do the same thing....

------------------
The difference in
insantiy and ingenious is
measured just by success.

During the argument over the bomb, goomeister barely noticed the incoming transmission. It was from Xarnes! goomeister quickly opened hailing frequencies.
"This is Vice-Admiral Karra with priority one message for Council Station. Do you copy?" came the message.
"We copy, sir. What's this all-important message you've got for us?" goomeister replied.
"We've lost contact with Crescent Station."
"So? What does tha-" goomeister then realized the function of that outpost. It was to prevent invasion from...
Some ensign appeared out of nowhere. "Hypergate discovered at our present location. Origin appears to be in the Kade system. Expect enemy company in about 10 hours."

goomeister turned to the bar. "Boys, I hope you've learned something from last time 'cause we're doing it again."

------------------
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Hmmm...
Hypergate in Kade system...
Big ol' bomb just waiting to blow something up...
And a Miranu courier just detected entering system- scans report tractor beam on board...
Life is good.

------------------
I ask you to look both ways- for the road to the atom leads through the stars, and the road to the stars leads through the atom.

Captian LeGrenadier, being a menber of the council, is already making preperations for the appearance of the alien ships. "I need sombody to send a message to the UE government. They where able to add a second docking ring to Parren Station in just under 3 weeks thanks to standardized and interchangible components. The same principal could be applied to build a new crecent station. Meenwhile I have a plan, but it's risky. I need Tapeworm...

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"Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger."

"Will tapeworm even work? Like I said, their computers were sentient and polymorphic when Mac OS X was still in beta. We don't know how many advances they've made since then. We need good defensive positions, a big bomb, and a prayer or two," said goomeister. Within moments, he had a plan. 1 hour to recite the plan, about 4 hours to bring the bomb into place, and around 2 hours to get the defense fleets hidden around Gadzair's moons. That left one hour to contemplate what horrible death was in store for you. Time to get moving!

goomeister was able to haul the bomb near the hypergate with the help of passers-by in the system. The plan was clever: the first wave of ships would hit the bomb. The wreckage would hit the next wave, and so on. Also, goomeister had positioned the station's defense fleet so that once the invaders had cleared the minefield, they would not find the defenders and head directly towards the station. Perfect position for an ambush.

goomeister relayed his orders to the fleet: "Cut power to all unnecessary shipboard functions. We want to keep a low profile around our guests."

------------------
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"I will work."
"I am not a solely UE project. In fact, I was designed by the UE and Miranu working jointly, with the aid of Igadzra technologies obtained in a trade. Although I cannot take over polymorphic, sentient computers, I can take over ships' lower functions- like cutting the power and opening all the airlocks."

------------------
I ask you to look both ways- for the road to the atom leads through the stars, and the road to the stars leads through the atom.

"Here they come. Get ready!" shouted goomeister.

A large wave of ships emerged. One of them collided with the bomb, knocking the ships into the second wave. So progressed the domino effect. After a while, a few ships got past the wreckage. The survivors regrouped. Seeing no defenders in orbit, they headed directly for the station.

"Steady... now! Catch their flanks and get behind them. We'll pin them between our ships and the station's guns."

------------------
Those who are blinded by the light shall stumble in the darkness...
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