Quote
Originally posted by Shade:
**
to:House of Jama
fr:Saraine
re:"Old History"
To Mamajama of the Mercenary House of Jama; I wish to speak to you. Your past and that of one of the other Seraphim seem entangled; I need to know how, and why.
Note that this message is sent strictly without the authirisation of the full Seraphim.
Ciao,
-Saraine
Raven's sensors intercepted the message. Saying nothing to her researchers, she ordered the Angel's Shadow , her Archangel Battlecruiser, prepped for launch, and went to intercept Mamajama before she arrived
**
Mamajama, in the Foster's Revenge , was searching the Himgro system for signs of the alien scout. Finally, sensors picked up a small, fast moving ship with an unknown transponder code. Scans could not penetrate the hull. Turo, on ops, said, "The scout has an unusual sub-space energy field emission. It also has another unknown energy field around the vessel itself.
"Hail them on all frequencies", ordered Mamajama.
There was no immediate response. Then, twenty five more scouts appeared in the system, and sent out a message requesting information about the race and history of any listeners.
"I don't like this," said Mamajama. "Baret, send off a subspace transmit to Admiral Benden. Tell him about these weird scouts, and ask him what, if anything, he wants me to tell them about the Miranu. "
To the scouts she sent out only:
"We hear you, and are deciding what we may safely tell you. It would help if you told us your race and your history, first."
Then Baret, her communications officer, signalled her of an incoming "private and personal" transmission. It was the message from Saraine about Raven.
The titular head of the House of Jama paused, deep in thought, and then told her crew that she would answer this transmission in her own quarters. She wrote:
Saraine,
It's been many years since I've seen you or the Dark Angels. We last met in battle in the Adzgari system, where I was commanding a mercenary force, hired by the Miranu to avenge Miranu losses incurred during the battle for the Rock. My mission was to control Suicide Warships, initially aimed at the planet Adzgari, then re-routed to destroy the Adzgari moons. Raven, who was my dearest friend back then, was working with you on ship designs, and I didn't tell her of my mission. How could I? The Dark Angels were allied with the Adzgari. So...I followed orders from my employer, Admiral Benden, and yes, the Suicide Warships, filled with antimatter, rammed into the moons. Ten billion Adzgari citizens died, and no one has entirely trusted the Miranu since.
I suppose I am fortunate that there is no galactic "War Crimes Tribunal", for surely I, Admiral Benden, and the others who created that unholy mission would all be found guilty. I find myself guilty. I should not have accepted the job. In my own defense, my belief was that only one Suicide Warship would be used, as a warning, on a sparsely populated area of the planet. Then they were re-routed to the moons. With two of the three moons destroyed, volcanos erupted and tides on the planet Adzgari grew into killer tsunamis that drowned coastal cities..
I have nightmares about those ten billion Adzgari men and women and children, waking from sleep to the sky raining fire, or drowning in an ocean suddenly overhead. Those that survived that found that their planet turned icy cold and airless, so they froze and suffocated to death. I dream of that time, and the screams of the children. And then I wake.
And I remember that I was a mercenary soldier, doing a job that kept my own people on Poch healthy and safe, that paid very well and kept my own planet's economy afloat, and I manage to put away the nightmares for another day. Sometimes, I even see my people, who have had twenty years of almost-peace, instead of the daily terror of Renegade and Adzgari raids, and I see my son grown to manhood, with his wife expecting a baby soon, and I'm glad that I did what I did.
But, Saraine, Raven doesn't see it that way. She sees it as a personal betrayal, that I didn't tell her about the Suicide Warship mission, and she sees me as a war criminal. And she has never forgiven me, and I despair that she ever will. She was always more sensitive
than me. I was the practical one. We had good times, back in the day, got into all kinds of scrapes and adventures. Ah, the renegade bar stories of Mamajama and Raven! But those days are long gone.
I'm sorry that her obsession with the past is impacting her work for you today. I'm sorry for everything. I doubt if there's anything I can do (other than spending the rest of my life in jail, to satisfy Raven), but if there is, don't hesitate to call.
Mamajama
PS. I will come to the Angel's lair. Perhaps we can discuss this further. Perhaps Raven will even agree to meet with me. Expect me soon.
------------------
"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny...'"
--Isaac Asimov
(edited to concur with prior Wave of Destruction scenario)
(This message has been edited by mamajama (edited 03-09-2002).)
Make it like 1/4 or 1/5. Sorry to bother you. 