Chapter 5: Clean Up
"It's... it's the, it's..." the helmsman sputtered.
"The Metalites!!!" Admiral Cramge yelled. "I, I thought they were all destroyed by now!!"
"Probably a few of them survived, so they went into hiding long enough to rebuild their forces. They must have a base somewhere nearby," Mark said.
"You mean in this system or Vorg territory?" asked a young Rogue ensign.
"No, probably where the Retaliators are. By the way, I haven't heard anything more about or from those guys recently. What happened?" Mark asked.
Admiral Cramge smiled. "Oh, I think its probably because the Rogue and the Vorna sent them a rather large threat."
Mark suppressed a chuckle. "How, how powerful are Metalite ships?" Mark asked.
"Pretty strong, their ships are better than ours. So that's why I really think we should get out of here. They have more ships than we do, so I don't think we have a good chance. Don't you?"
Mark agreed, and so did Lewis, who was still on his destroyer. And they decided that just in time also. As the Metalites got into range of the Rogue and Rebel ships, Mark's fleet hyperspaced out.
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Matthew Derrk, Vigrov Jaket, and Luke Aeorg were study sensor readouts of Artrust, its moon, and the subspace distortions when two Vorg ran into the room.
"Captain Qkari? What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost!" Vigrov exclaimed after looking at one of the two Vorg.
"Well, I have same bad news and some more bad news," replied the captain, trying to keep calm. Captain Qkari had a problem with being panicky, unlike most of his race.
"What is it?" Admiral Aeorg asked.
"Well, the Rogue and Rebels destroyed Gamba today."
Vigrovs eyes nearly popped out of his head.
"Second, our scouts reported that after the battle, the Rogue and Rebels ran into a Metalite fleet! Since the Metalites outmatched their fleet, Admiral Cramge left, oops..."
Now Vigrov looked like HE had seen a ghost.
"Uh, Vigrov, are you okay?" Matthew and Admiral Aeorg both asked.
"You see sir," said the other Vorg that was standing beside Captain Qkari, "Vigrov hates Admiral Revzan Cramge. Cramge usually outwits Vigrov in any hide-and-seek battle, and once Admiral Cramge and Vigrov even got into a fight, when they were both soldiers in their governments army. Anyway, Cramge won, Vigrov just got away with his life. Vigrov goes pale every time someone mentions Cramge."
Finally Vigrov became calm again. "Captain Qkari, you are dismissed now. You too, lieutenant."
The captain and the lieutenant quickly left.
"You okay, Vigrov?" Matthew asked.
"Yes, I'm okay. Well, we now have a very large problem, Admiral Aeorg. Now that Gamba is destroyed, we won't be able to produce nearly enough weapons for our many campaigns. Could the Confederation ship us some supplies?"
"Well, you'd have to send us the designs for your weapons and such..." the admiral started.
"Don't worry, we'll give you those. Other than that, can your factories handle it?" Vigrov asked.
"I'm pretty sure we could. We are now working on building a dozen more weapons plants, so I think we can do it."
"Very well, now, back to our discussion about getting past those subspace distortions."
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Daniel Ramer was pacing around a small room on Rogue Prime (the new homeworld of the Rogue). In the room, about the size of an average bedroom, were Jim Gatman and Mark James.
"Shouldn't he be here by now?" Daniel asked.
"Don't worry," Jim said in a slow, calm way.
"Okay, but he's almost an hour late! One quick meeting shouldn't take that long! It was supposed to be almost over when we got here, 55 minutes ago!" Daniel said rather impatiently.
Suddenly the door opened and Admiral Cramge stepped in. "Sorry I'm late, the meeting took a bit longer than expected, and then I had to go to another quick briefing."
"What was the briefing for?" asked Mark.
"The Metalites attacked us, the Crasluug, Vorg, and Kitex today."
Jim, who was drinking a glass of water, nearly gagged.
"What were the outcomes of the battles?" Mark asked.
"The Metalites destroyed one of our bases on the border. They also destroyed two other bases on the Crasluug border, as well as more than three dozen warships. During the attack on the Vorg they lost over a dozen ships, but the Metalites also suffered heavy losses."
"What about the Metalites attacking the Vrona?" Jim asked.
Cramge made a thumbs down.
"Oh, I see," replied Jim.
"The Metalite attack force was totally destroyed, not a ship left. The two unusual things are that the Metalite attack force was larger than usual, almost five dozen ships, and the other unusual thing is that they attacked a small Vorna colony, and yet they still lost," said Admiral Cramge.
Suddenly a small beeper on Cramge's belt started beeping rapidly. He picked it up and looked at it intently. After a minute Cramge put it down.
"Our intelligence reports that the reason the Metalites lost is because the Vorna have a large fleet in the area, nearly a hundred ships. Our scout vessels also report that right after the Metalite attack, the Vorna fleet left."
"Where are they going?" asked Mark.
"You mean 'Where are they now'. That fleet went directly towards Retaliator HQ, or what was Retaliator HQ. That fleet wiped out nearly all Retaliator vessels, which were all concentrated at that point, all 273 of them. The other 100 ships are out patrolling uninhabited space, what they call their territory. Anyway, we've got a scout on the planet, and he is to send us an video update soon."
Cramge then called in an assistant and he quickly adjusted the holo-vid to the secret frequency. Suddenly a picture appeared. It was fuzzy, but easily readable. The secret agent was discussed as a Vorna, so he could roam around without being noticed.
The screen showed what looked like what must once have been a huge base. Parts of ships and corpses littered the scene. Vorna were running here and there, trying to find something that they could salvage.
Blasters, rifles, supplies, and hovertrucks were scattered here and there, though most of them were too badly damaged to be salvaged. The agent then started to move forward, entering the landing pad area. Huge holes had been blown in it, and all 37 hangers that bordered it had been collapsed, except for two which survived.
Mark could make out the remains of several Retaliator clippers, and a few hull fragments from their corvettes.
The people in the room suddenly heard the secret agent speaking.
"The Vorna timed their plan so that they would attack on a weekend, when the Retaliator personnel would not be expecting an attack."
The agent then moved into one of the two surviving hangers. Inside the massive one he went into was a scorched and badly damaged Retaliator Kestrel.
The agent then moved towards the main complex. As he maneuvered around several large craters he spoke again.
"The control tower was vaporized by a Vorna plasma bomb. The rest of the base was also flattened."
The scene was of utter destruction. Trucks, supplies, corps, and fragments of ships were everywhere. Soon the agent got into a Vorna air transport and they took off towards Retaliator HQ.
As the transport flew over the land, Mark could see craters for miles around. Obviously the Vorna wanted to be as thorough as possible.
The transport passed over a few more bases, one of which was now just one big crater. The agent explained that it had been a weapons storage facility.
Soon the transport approached Retaliator HQ. What had once been a huge base, the size of an average city, with tall skyscrapers and huge buildings, was now a scene of destruction and death. The agent then explained that the Retaliator death toll was now at 10 million.
Soon the transport landed on the landing pad of the HQ's huge spaceport. The scene was the same as with the other spaceport, except there was much more bodies and wreckage.
Suddenly the screen got more fuzzy, and the agent spoke again.
"I'm going to have to end this transmission now. Over and out."
And with that the screen went blank.
"Well, now that that's done, I want to discuss something with you. Its about the Argus system. We must recaptur at least one planet there if we are going to succeed in claiming Artrust," said Admiral Cramge.
"I have a plan that will buy us some time," reported Jim.
Admiral Cramge turned to him. "You do?"
"Yes, and its a simple one too. If you and the Rebellion make raids on the Argus system, that will buy us some time to think up a plan for taking control of one of the planets there. Zeus I for example. Its near the edge of the system so its vulnerable."
"How many planets ARE there in the Argus system?" Daniel asked.
"Zeus I and Zeus II, Lamau, Argus II, Argus I and Torawian, Artrust and Atrust, Atlas II, Argus VI and Argus VII, Argus III, Mag I and Mag II and Argus IV, Cahem, Argus VIV, Argus VIII and Atlasian, Raje Ma and its moons Trok II, Trok, Argus V and Raje, and there are also Rock I with Rock II and Rock III, and finally Atlas III with Atlas IV and Atlas V. Thirty stellar objects, with 15 planets and 15 moons."
"Wow," replied Daniel.
"Yikes," Jim said, startled.
"Yes, now back to the main subject. Jim, I think your idea is a good one, I'll put it into effect immediately. There is another matter though, one that might just give us a planet to use," said Admiral Cramge.
"What?" Mark asked.
"The Kitex. They're not know for making allies, and they are actually a bit xenophobic against "carbon-based life forms", but just a few days ago a small scouting fleet was attacked by the Crasluug. They were loosing until six Kitex war battleships approached. The scouting fleet thought they were doomed, but the Kitex vessels ignored them, and quickly destroyed the attacking Crasluug vessels. Then they left. Do you think they're thinking about helping us?" Cramge asked.
"Maybe, they might be thinking that if they can have two more allies, they'll be able to get rid of the other aliens in this system. They might also reason that since there is 30 planets in the system, they would be more than enough for Rebels, Rogue, and the Kitex. And there is one other thing. They may need our help in getting to Artrust. What technology do the Rogue have that the Kitex don't?" Mark asked.
"They have many more and better technologies than we do, but we have better subspace technologies, and we also know a bit more about sub space," replied Cramge.
"See! That's it! Since you have better technology and know-how, they might want it, and so they've decided that becoming an ally with you is much better than stealing it from you."
"You really think so?" Daniel asked.
"I'm really don't know. They may, and they may not want to become our allies," Mark replied, shrugging.
"Admiral Cramge," Jim asked suddenly. "Do the Metalites leave ion trails?"
"No, their engines actually pull on the fabric of subspace. The only way to follow them is to look for micro subspace distortions... I see what you're getting at! You think we could follow the Metalites starting at the Gamba system?"
"I was actually thinking of following them starting from a more recently visited location. When was the last Metalite attack?" Jim asked.
Admiral Cramge's beeper went off again. After glancing at it, Cramge turned to Jim. "About five seconds ago."
"WHAT!?" everyone yelled.
"The Metalites just attacked the Crasluug a few seconds ago, one of our scouts just detected them entering the system. They're fighting as we speak. Also, another one of our scouts also detected another Metalite fleet approaching the Crasluug. They'll arrive in six days. I'll quickly put together a fleet, but it won't be a very big one. I need one of you to go get more ships."
"I will," volunteered Mark.
"Okay, when you find some more ships, come immediately to our location. I'll activate a beacon you can follow. Now lets go!"
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Soon Mark was in a Barracuda screaming away from Rogue Prime. He could see the fleet Admiral Revzan Cramge was gathering. Mark hit the hyper-select button and quickly selected a system. Mark then engaged into hyperspace. One day seemed like half an hour as he zipped right to the Rogue border using an artificially constructed hyperlink.
Although artificially created, it was very stable. It was also the only known artificial hyperlink in existence. It had been created as part of a testing program for a new technology. Although it was tried over a dozen times, only this one succeeded.
A half hour and one hyperlink later Mark was in another system right outside the Rogue border. As Mark was decided which system to go to, the enemy ship alarm suddenly went off.
Mark spun around and looked at the radar. It showed three small enemy targets approaching.
Quickly Mark armed his laser bolt guns, which he had helped create, and armed a missile. Turning around, he saw three defenders approaching. These guys are nuts, whoever they are Mark thought.
He fired his missile and the smooth projectile shot forward. As Mark increased the speed the missile smashed into one of the defenders, who broke up immediately.
The other two fighters charged, firing their laser cannons. Mark fired his laser bolt gun and quickly chewed the two fighters to pieces. Wait a second Mark said to himself That was too easy. He quickly scanned his radar.
Suddenly three more dots appeared. All were defenders. Mark immediately increased speed and charged the incoming squadron. His laser bolt guns quickly chewed another two fighters to pieces. But as he was making another run at them, another target appeared. This time it was a clipper.
Without warning a stray laser bolt hit the forward cockpit shields. The Barracuda shuddered, and Mark armed another missile. As he and the defenders flew past each other, several javelin rockets hit Marks small craft.
"Warning! Shields down to 78 Percent," chimed the computer.
Mark swung around and fired his missile at the clipper. It smashed head on into the enemy vessel, and the cockpit and nose area were engulfed in a fireball.
"Warning! Two more enemy vessels detected! Class: Clipper!"
Mark turned and saw a dozen javelin rockets speeding towards him. As they hit, sparks flew out of the hyperspace control panel.
"Warning! Warning! Hyperspace engines hit! Minor Damage!"
Mark armed his last two missiles and fired. The projectiles blew off the wing from one of the clippers and scorched the hull. As the vessel drifted away, Mark targeted the remaining clipper.
He didn't have a chance to fire because the vessel returned fire with a few javelin rockets and some proton bolts. The rockets missed but the proton bolts hit the rear shields. Suddenly two defenders screeched down and fired several laser bolts. As they smashed into the Barracuda's rear and center shields, the hyperspace control panel blew up. As a few glass fragments and sparks flew everywhere, the Barracuda veered off course, just missing an oncoming defender, guns blazing.
Mark suddenly heard the computer voice again. "WARNING! WARNING! Hyperspace engines hit! Hyperspace engines disabled!! Vessel incapable of hyperspace!"
Mark suddenly realized these were assassins! The Confederation probably sent these guys over here to kill me!
Suddenly the Barracuda shook again, and sparks flew from the targeting panel.
"Warning! Left shields destroyed! Targeting system damaged!"
Mark realized he had to escape somehow. Not knowing exactly where he was heading, Mark's Barracuda sped forward. Although he was faster than the clipper, the defenders could still catch him.
Suddenly one more target appeared in front of him, and closing fast. It was a Lightning. As Mark watched, the enemy fighter armed a heavy rocket, and then fired it.
Without warning a green torpedo shot of out nowhere and hit the heavy rocket, detonating it. The Lightning turned and was pulverized by an electric beam of energy, which looked like a lightning bolt.
The other defenders turned and caught only a glimpse of their attacker before they were blasted into space dust. Mark turned his Barracuda around and saw who the attacking vessels were; The Kitex.
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Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! blared the sensor control panel.
"Admiral Cramge!" Jim shouted, looking at the control panel, "I think I'm detecting the Metalites trail!"
Admiral Cramge, Daniel Ramer, and Jim Gatman had arrived in the Kjarilai system just half an hour ago. Daniel had persuaded Cramge to use his ship, the R.S.S. Trinidad, as their fleets lead ship. It had taken a minute and some ingenuity to install the subspace scanners but it was worth it. Jim had just detected where the Metalites had gone.
"Set a course following the Metalite trail," Admiral Cramge ordered.
The large fleet followed the trail to the border of the system, then hyperspaced into a nearby system. After a few more jumps, the fleet finally reached uninhabited space.
"I thought they would set up a base here," Daniel remarked to himself.
"What do you mean?" Cramge asked.
"I thought the Metalites would set up a base in the uninhabited sector that separates us from you. One reason is that no one goes there, second is that it's mostly unexplored. A perfect place to hide."
"Sir, the trail ends here," Jim reported suddenly.
"WHAT? How can that be? Is there any planets in this system?" asked Cramge.
"Two, but one of them is too hostile, the Metalites couldn't have set up a base there."
"Scan the other planet for life forms," ordered Admiral Cramge.
"No life signs."
"WHAT!?!"
"I think I know why," Daniel said suddenly.
"Yes," Jim replied.
"Metalites aren't a life form."
Everyone was silent for a moment. All eyes were on Daniel.
"Oops," Cramge said. "I forgot about the design of Metalites. I guess I was too used to the Kitex and how they are partially organic."
"Scan for energy signatures," Daniel ordered.
"I found them! The Metalites have a base on the second planet! There are about 1,000 of ?em!" Jim exclaimed.
"Only 1,000?" Cramge asked, puzzled. "I thought there would be more."
"I think I know where the others are," Jim said, pointing to then radar screen.
On it were displayed 80 Metalite vessels.
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Mark counted two Kitex war battleships, a dozen fighters and a few frigates. He wasn't sure whether or not they would attack him.
The clipper had by that time caught up and instantly charged the incoming Kitex vessels. It never stood a chance. Before the pilot could move a muscle the last clipper was vaporized.
Mark started to turn around but then realized the Kitex didn't seem to want to fight. The fighters sped towards Mark and quickly got into an escorting position. One of the war battleships moved forward and then hovered over Mark.
The fighter bay doors opened and a message appeared on the targeting control panel: Go inside.
Mark decided to obey and maneuvered his little craft into one of two fighter bays. As he got out, the other fighters entered as well and landed beside him. The doors were closed and the area was pressurized.
As Mark got out he realized something strange. Why would the Kitex pressurize their fighter bay? They don't breath oxygen or need any air pressure, only in the repair bay, where a Kitex organic and non-organic components were fixed.
Suddenly a Kitex, with two formidably armed guards came towards Mark. "Mark C. James?" the lead Kitex asked.
"Yes, I'm him," Mark replied.
"I am Kovakd 1107. I am a representative of the Kitex," said Kovakd in a half robotic, half human, voice.
"Yes," Mark said.
"The Kitex government wishes to seek an alliance between the Rogue Order, Rebellion, and Kitex."
Chapter 6: Enlightenment
As soon as Admiral Revzan Cramge saw the huge Metalite fleet he turned rather pale. "Heh, I remember when I was in a situation like this during the Metalite/Rogue War."
"You fought in the war between the Metalites and the Rogue?" Daniel asked.
"Yes, I was actually a soldier, but I had to command a fleet when the admiral commanding it was killed," Admiral Cramge replied.
"What happened?" Jim asked.
"We won, but lost all but two of our vessels, which were both on the verge of disintegrating completely."
"Uh-oh."
"Well, even though they do outnumber us slightly, I think that we still stand a pretty good chance. Mark might arrive soon with reinforcements. We'll have to attack," Admiral Cramge said. "Call all ships, prepare for battle!"
As the Rogue and Rebel fleet moved into position, the Metalite defense fleet attacked. Although the Metalites surprised Daniel and Admiral Cramge, their fleet quickly recovered and fought back ferociously.
Suddenly a Metalite torpedo flew at Admiral Cramge's ship, the R.O.S. Rover. The vessel duck and the torpedo fleet strait into an already damaged Rebel cruiser.
"Get away from that cruiser!" Daniel yelled.
As the Rover pulled away, the front section of the Rebel cruiser exploded. The huge fireball engulfed the entire front section all the way up to the Manta docking ring. Shortly thereafter the engine section and docking ring exploded, sending debris and flames everywhere.
Admiral Cramge maneuvered his marauder around ships and debris and ambushed a three Metalite frigates. The frigates quickly spun around but were pounded by the marauders weapons. One frigate suddenly went up in flames and the other two tried to retreat. Admiral Cramge ordered several marauders to follow it and then turned back towards the main battle.
Admiral Cramge then let Daniel take over for a minute. He wasted no time in coming to the aid of a Rebel cruiser being attacked by several Metalite warships. Daniel vaporized a Metalite warship by hitting its reactor core and turned towards another Metalite vessel.
Suddenly there was a flash of green and the crew of the Rover were thrown to the ground. The lights went off for a moment but then came on. Daniel got up and spun around to ask Jim what had happened when suddenly the entire area where Jim sat was suddenly engulfed in flames!
He and another Rogue quickly snatched up fire extinguishers and ran towards Jim, his muscular figure sprawled out on the floor, alongside two other Rogue.
"Jim!" Daniel yelled.
"Huh..." Jim moaned. He stirred, then got up groggily.
"You okay?" Daniel asked.
"Fine, the control panel next to me exploded. The guy who was standing next to it got the worst part of the explosion," Jim replied, looking at one of the two Rogue who had been hit by the explosion. He was in bad shape, but a Rogue medic said he was going to be okay, and quickly took him to the sick bay.
Daniel turned towards Admiral Cramge. "What was that green flash?" he asked.
"A Metalite cruiser. They have a plasma burst weapon which is highly dangerous. It envelopes ships and does considerable damage to its hull and shields," the alien replied, looking at the view screen. "Only it doesn't seem to work very well on Vorna and Kitex ships. We don't know why, though."
Suddenly a report came through on the com system that Mark had disappeared. After that another report came in from one of Admiral Cramge's ships in the system that the Rogue and Rebels were not winning.
"Do you think we should leave, admiral?" Jim asked.
"Leave? Well, maybe, I'm not sure..." Admiral Cramge was cut short by an ensign who spun around from his control panel. He was the sensor officer.
"The Kitex!" he screamed. "They just arrived! Thirty-five or so ships, and closing fast!"
"The Kitex!!" Cramge yelled. "How did they find this place! Where they following us?"
"I don't think so!" Jim yelled. He suddenly turned around and face Daniel and Cramge. "They're passing overhead!"
Daniel closed his eyes, expecting a sudden jolt. Nothing came. Daniel opened his eyes again and looked at the view screen. On it was the Kitex fleet attacking the Metalite defense force.
"What, what happened?" Daniel sputtered.
"I don't, er, know. The Kitex just flew over us and started attacking the Metalites," replied Admiral Cramge.
Daniel looked and saw Jim standing next to Admiral Cramge, his face was pale.
"Admiral, the Kitex fleet is hailing us," reported a Rogue lieutenant.
The screen switched views from the battle to the bridge of the lead Kitex War Battleship. Jim gulped and Daniel gasped when they saw who was on the bridge standing next to the Kitex captain; Mark James.
"Mark! What are YOU doing there?" Jim exclaimed.
"Why? What's so wrong about being on one of your allies vessels," Mark replied calmly.
Jim, Cramge, and Daniel just stared.
"I can tell what your thinking. Yes, the Kitex offered an alliance between the three of us. And, my ideas were correct about why the Kitex wanted to be our allies. Oh, and Admiral Cramge, we notified the Rebels and Rogue about our new allies," Mark said.
"Congratulations Mark. You just got us a free planet in the Argus system, and you've also saved our fleet. Thanks," Admiral Cramge said, smiling.
"Your welcome, but before we get into the details of this new alliance, lets finish off the Metalites," Mark replied.
It didn't take long. The Kitex were a nice match for the Metalites, and with the help of Cramge's fleet, the Metalite defense force was quickly destroyed. However, like the last time the Metalites were finished off, a few ships escaped, much to the disgust of Admiral Cramge.
After the defense fleet was destroyed, the Kitex bombard the Metalite base on the surface. After an hour of constant heavy bombardment, the Kitex reported that it would be safe to land. However they cautioned that some Metalites might still be left, and they said to have everyone carry side arms and all important personnel to be escorted.
Daniel, Jim, and Cramge met Mark and the lead Kitex captain (Kovakd 1107) on the surface near what had been the main Metalite base. The Kitex explained that there was also over one dozen other smaller bases scattered all over the planet, and that his men would take care of any surviving Metalites.
Jim was carrying a Darkstar Munitions .41 Proton Rifle, Daniel was carrying a Browning .42 Automatic Neutron pistol hidden in a shoulder holster, and Admiral Cramge was carrying a Rouge Tigor .30 Disintegrator Pistol. Mark and Kovakd were carrying KA-58 .40 Contained Anti-Matter Automatic Assault Rifles.
"Okay, we're here, now what do we do?" Daniel asked.
"Captain Gatman and Captain Ramer can go with company B, they're going to a base near here, and we think there may be something valuable there, so I need a human to go with them," Kovakd said. "Admiral Cramge, you and Captain James can come with me."
As Daniel and Jim walked off with company B, Kovakd led Mark and Cramge to the Metalites main base. Once they entered the area, Kovakd met with another group of Kitex soldiers, all carrying KA-58s. Kovakd and the other Kitex then led Mark and Cramge to a nearby building which was still mostly intact.
"This was the main complex for this base. Inside we hope is a Metalite computer core that contained all the data in the base. If it is intact, we can salvage the data," Kovakd explained.
Mark, Cramge, and the Kitex began searching through the debris. It was hard work. Even though the building was the most intact building in the base, it was still very unstable. The Kitex had to erect 13 structural stabilizers in order for Admiral Cramge to get to the top floor.
"Find anything?" Mark yelled to Admiral Cramge on the second floor.
"No!" Cramge called back. "I'm helping a Kitex erect some more stabilizers for this floor. I had intended to go up to the third floor, but it's to badly damaged."
Mark rummaged around through the debris some more. He found it interesting the way the building had been designed. There were no chairs, no fabric, no carpet, no paper, and no living quarters. Mark found it quite interesting, though he didn't want to live like the Metalites.
After a while Mark and Cramge had gotten a bit discouraged. They had found nothing useful, and they couldn't find the computer core. Mark hoped it hadn't been destroyed. Mark decided the only thing they could do was just keep looking.
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Lewis Steele sat in a briefing room on Turin V. He had been called back to Rebel space to brief Admiral Christopher Davies on the situation. Right now he was waiting for Davies to even show up. So far, he was almost half an hour late.
Suddenly the door opened and Davies walked in. "Sorry I'm late captain, some Confed hired assassins tried to nail me in the Persephone system."
Lewis quickened briefed the admiral on what had happened, leaving out none of the details. Admiral Davies listened in astonishment, but then he startled Lewis.
"Mark James just reported that the Kitex offered an alliance between them, the Rogue, and us."
Lewis gasped. "The Kitex? Wow! A lot of things must've happened since I left."
"Yes, a lot of things did. The Metalites came back," Admiral Davies began. Lewis gasped again. Davies then filled Lewis in on the things that had happened.
"And now Lewis," Admiral Davies said. "I want to give you an extremely important assignment. For the past month, we've had a secret agent on Earth gathering important data on fleet movements, assassination attempts, new weapons, and so on. Well, the agent thinks that the Confeds are onto her, and so we've agreed to pull her out. However, we need someone really daring."
"So ya want, me?" Lewis asked hesitantly.
"Yup, you. From what I've heard from Mark, you're daring and smart, just the person we need."
"How am I gonna get onto Earth?"
"We've arranged for you to be transported their by a person named Dash Riprock," Admiral Davies said.
"Dash Riprock? You mean the guy who helped us kill those two alien cruisers?" Lewis asked, a smile on his face.
"Yup, its him."
"Yeah! I always wanted to meet him, now I got the chance! Now back to the main mission, where is this secret agent and what his or her name?"
"She's will be at the London Intergalactic Spaceport, and her name is Karen James, she's Marks daughter," Davies replied.
"Marks daughter? Yeah, yeah I did hear Mark say somethin about her liking to work as a secret agent. So all I have to do is go in, get Karen, then get out without being killed?" Lewis asked
"Exactly. You'll leave in six days. Once Dash Riprock gets here, you go immediately."
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Judah Hassid stood in the bridge of his cruiser the R.S.S. Horizon. He had left Clotho Prime a couple days before on orders from Admiral Davies to take control of New Britain. Davies hoped that by chiseling out a portion of Confed space, it would weaken them, and force them to spend more time of defending their space than hiring assassins and making offensives.
The plan was that first Daniel Ramer would take control of the Polaris system. Then Judah was to take control of the Rigel system. Daniel was supposed to take control of the Matar system before Judah attacked Rigel, but he had been delayed because of the discovery of the Rogue and the other alien races.
Now Judah was waiting on the outskirts of the Rigel system, waiting for the order from Polaris to go ahead and attack New Britain.
"Sir!" suddenly yelled the com officer, "Transmission coming in from Polaris, audio only!"
"Play it," Judah ordered.
The lieutenant pushed a button and the message began playing. "Captain Judah Hassid, this is Admiral Davies. The Confeds know about you! Their sending a fleet to meet you! Get out of there!" The message abruptly crackled then ceased.
"What happened?" Judah asked.
"Interference," the com officer replied.
Suddenly as if on cue a Confed fleet hyperspaced into the system. Judah was not impressed by it. It contained only two cruisers, half a dozen frigates, a few gunboats, and several squadrons of Patrol ships. Judah's fleet was over seven times the size of it.
The Confeds realized this far to late. Instantly they were pounded by the opposing Rebel fleet. The superior number of Mantas against the Patrol ships and gunboats gave the Mantas a huge advantage. The tiny Rebel fighters swooped at enemy vessels in small groups of four or five, their swivel lasers wreaking havoc on the helpless Confed vessels.
"Helm, move in towards the lead Confed cruiser!" Judah ordered.
The R.S.S. Horizon moved forward, covered by two squadrons of Mantas. Without warning two Confed frigates charged the Horizon head on. The Mantas immediately went into action. Surprising the frigates, their swivel lasers pounded the slow vessels. The left pylon of one of the frigates suddenly exploded. The vessel careened out of control for a moment, then exploded in a brilliant fireball. The other frigate tried to turn back, but was blown apart by two heavy rockets from the Horizon.
Then Judah saw the lead Confed cruiser. It was guarded only by a few frigates and gunboats, but it would still be hard destroying it. Judah ordered three Rebel destroyers to cover him and then speeded forward.
Proton bolts and missiles flew between the lead Confed ship and Judah's vessel. Judah fired several heavy rockets into one enemy frigate, causing it to burst into flames.
Suddenly three heavy rockets zoomed towards the Horizon. Judah quickly maneuvered his Rebel cruiser out of the way, and the rockets speeded past him. After switching to rear view on the viewscreen, Judah saw the three heavy rockets smash into a Confed frigate. The engine section of the vessel was engulfed in a large explosion. As the explosion cleared, the large vessel was hit by two torpedoes. The collision sent the ship drifting fast towards the lead Confed ship.
The lead vessel noticed the Confed frigate too late. Another torpedo hit the stricken craft and it careened into the Confed cruiser. The frigate imploded, annihilating the enemy cruisers shields. As wreckage slammed into the lead vessel, it burst into flames. Seconds later, the entire vessel exploded in one violent fireball.
Judah quickly surveyed the surrounding area. The last of the Confed fleet was quickly destroyed, and now Judah had to take over New Britain. Unfortunately Judah realized that the defense fleet had been alerted. It would be hard to take New Britain over with the defense fleet waiting for him. Suddenly, Judah had an idea. He and his fleet would hyperspace out of the system, going towards Matar. Once there, he would quickly ask any Rebel ship there (if any) to come with him. Then he would return to Rigel. By the time he returned he would have the advantage. If he got there quick enough, he might even be able to destroy a lot of the defense fleet on the ground. Judah decided to go ahead with it.
He quickly gathered his fleet together and hyperspaced out of the system. Once arriving in the Matar system, Judah got lucky. A fleet of two destroyers and three squadrons of Mantas were there, making a raid on the system. They gratefully joined Judah and the large fleet hyperspaced back into the Rigel system.
Judah's idea worked. The defense fleet had been recalled, and there were only Confed merchant ships in the area. Judah sent some of his Mantas to deal with the merchant ships then screamed towards New Britain. His fleet immediately opened fire with torpedoes, missiles, and heavy rockets on the planet. Judah quickly got reports that over two dozen ships had been destroyed or too damaged to fly.
Suddenly a heavy rocket came up from the planet and hit the Horizon head on. As Judah got back into his chair he realized it was the defense fleet.
"Order all Mantas to intercept the incoming defense fleet! Try to catch them in the atmosphere!" Judah ordered.
The Mantas speeded down into the atmosphere to intercept the incoming enemy vessels. After several minutes, the defense fleet, still being pestered by the Mantas, reached Judahs fleet. They were met by a wall of proton and laser fire. Instantly three Confed frigates exploded.
The Confed ships tried to fight back, but the Rebel fleet was too strong. One by one the Confed ships were destroyed. Judah ordered some ships to move around the Confeds. Before they knew what was happening, the defense fleet was surrounded. Pounded by intense weapons fire, the entire defense fleet was soon destroyed.
Judah then had most of his cruisers land on New Britain. He had loaded the troops onto these cruisers, because landing ships were too weak to get to Rigel. Also, having the landing ships come with the fleet was also a bit to risky, because they would have been the defense fleets main target.
Soon, New Britain was mostly in the Rebellions hands. Although a quarter of the planet had still yet to be controlled, Judah was confident the Rebellion would not loose New Britain.
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"Hey Admiral Cramge! I found something!" Mark James yelled.
Admiral Cramge, Kovakd, and two other Kitex soldiers quickly arrived and looked at where Mark was pointing. They all saw a heavy metal door, scorched but intact.
"I think this building has a basement. Why didn't we think of this before? Oh well, can you get this open, Kovakd?" Mark asked.
"Yes. We can," Kovakd replied and leveled his KA-58 at the door. The other two Kitex did the same. Mark and Admiral Cramge stepped out of the way.
"Fire," Kovakd ordered, and pressed the trigger of his KA-58. Three strings of anti-matter bolts shot forward and collided with the door. There was a sudden small explosion and a flurry of sparks. Kovakd and his soldiers ceased firing, and so Mark stepped forward to inspect the door.
The entire center of the door had been vaporized, and the jagged edges of the remains of the door were red hot. After waiting a minute for the wreckage to cool and to set up some stabilizers; then Mark, Cramge, Kovakd and two of his soldiers went into the basement.
Although the basement was large, it mostly contained Metalite cargo; weapons, supplies, metal, parts, and so on. Suddenly one of the two Kitex soldiers called for Kovakd.
When Kovakd, Mark, and Cramge got to the Kitex soldier, they saw what he called about. Sitting in front of them was a Metalite computer core. Admiral Cramge walked over to a control panel on the Metalite core and pushed a few buttons.
"Yes! This is exactly what we wanted!" he exclaimed. "This Metalite computer core contains all the bases files and records. Quick, lets get it out of here!"
It took over an hour, but they did it. First the Kitex completely demolished what remained of the actual building. Then they brought in a hover-bulldozer and cleared away the wreckage. After that the ceiling of the basement was destroyed to allow the computer core to leave the its place. Then the core was hoisted up, put on a frigate, and brought to the lead Kitex War Battleship, the K.C.S. Automatic.
Soon Mark and Kovakd were analyzing the thousands of gigabytes of Metalite data. Admiral Cramge had to go back to his ship. Suddenly, Mark found something that interested both him and Kovakd.
"Look here," Mark said, pointing to an opened Metalite file. "Apparently the Metalite plan was to build up there base, until they were able to fight a full fledged war, but unfortunately they underestimated the Rogue's skill in subspace technologies. Anyway, after they started attacking everyone, they would try to take control of the Argus system.
"It says they thought the Crasluug and Thinkers would be the easiest to drive out. The Rebels the next easiest. The Vorg and Rogue the second hardest, and then the Kitex the hardest.
"The Metalites would then try to get past the subspace distortions surround Artrust and its entire orbit. And it... says... here... they... found a... way."
Marks mouth dropped open, and his eyes grew wide. "It says to look, look in... folder 1.032.77 Tachyon Burst." Mark quickly found the file and opened it. "I think we are going to pay a visit to Artrust," he said while looking at the folder.
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Zooooom! Bang! Daniel Ramer's fleet hyperspaced into the Aalaar system, just one jump away from Sirgil. Daniel was forced to leave Admiral Cramge and Mark because of Admiral Davies plan to capture Matar. It had been delayed because of the discovery of the Rogue. Now Daniel was trying to get back to Turin V as fast as he could. New Britain had been captured. Now the Confeds knew that Matar was vulnerable. At that moment Daniel knew that a battle was probably being fought in the Matar system. The Rebels tried to create a blockade, but it had failed. Now all they could do was make lots of attacks on the system.
Suddenly klaxons and alarms all over Daniel's ship began to sound. "Report!" Daniel asked.
"Large Confed fleet entering system! Coordinates 11507 mark, Sector 527!" the sensor officer yelled back.
"What is it made up of?" Daniel asked.
"Nine Confed cruisers, thirty-two Confed frigates, and over sixteen squadrons of gunboats and patrol ships!"
Daniel knew that he was outnumbered. Although his Rebel destroyers and his few Barracudas easily outmatched their closest competitors (the Confed frigate, gunboat, and patrol ship) the Confed cruisers outgunned every single ship in his fleet, including his own ship, the Magellan.
Daniel decided he wouldn't attack them head on. He would scatter their fleet by sending his in all directions. His Barracudas would make quick hit and run attacks on the enemies fighters. By using the superior maneuverability of his ships, he stood a better chance of winning.
Daniel's fleet did as planned. The Rebel ships scattered, forcing the Confed fleet to scatter as well. Barracudas and Mantas swooped close in on Confed vessels, firing their laser weapons, then speeding away. Daniel's destroyers charged a Confed frigate or cruiser, fired dozens of rockets and torpedoes, they turned and ran away full speed.
However the Confeds realized what Daniel was doing. Quickly the enemy vessels grouped together. Now whenever a Rebel ship tried to make a quick hit-and-run attack, the Confed fleet pounded it. Daniel then realized that he would have to attack the Confeds head on. So he ordered all of his ships to regroup, then charged into the Confed fleet, causing much chaos.
The Rebel fleet charged, and the Confeds replied with a flurry of weapons fire. The two fleets clashed. Torpedoes and missiles blew apart ship after ship. The Rebel Barracudas laser bolt gun tore through masses of gunboats and patrol ships. The massive Confed cruisers blasted apart Rebel destroyers left and right. It was total chaos.
Suddenly a large piece of wreckage hit the Magellan. Daniel and the crew were thrown to their feet. Daniel got up with the help of Jim Gatman. As he sat back in his chair, the Magellan shook again.
Daniel saw a Confed cruiser firing torpedoes at him. Daniel order the Magellan to go full throttle forward. As the enemy cruiser came closer, Daniel fired half a dozen rockets strait into the enemy cruisers bridge section. The shields held, but were blasted all the way back to 19%.
All of a sudden the R.S.S. Reaper, a Rebel cruiser, came alongside the Magellan. The two cruisers came about and charged the Confed cruiser again. This time four heavy rockets and a few missiles turned the cruiser into a burnt out wreck.
The Reaper then reported that Daniel was loosing too many ships. The Confeds were hurting them too badly. Daniel thought about it, then decided to leave.
He quickly regrouped his fleet and started away from the Confeds. Then to Daniel's delight they followed him. He hailed the R.S.S. Blast. He knew that "The Blast" (as many Rebel captains called Captain Steve Hickmans vessel) would work just fine in a situation like this one.
Captain Steve Hickman responded immediately. "Yes," he said eagerly. Daniel knew what Steve was thinking.
"Launch ten surprise packages," Daniel said in a calm voice.
"You mean the whole shipment?" Steve replied.
"Yes, all of it."
"Oookay! Lets give those ?feds a surprise!" Steve said.
The viewscreen switched back to the pursuing Confed fleet. Daniel saw "The Blast" at the very end of the Rebel fleet. Then he saw ten dark objects float away from the Rebel destroyer.
The small objects floated into the midst of the Confed fleet; then exploded. Captain Hickmans destroyer was notorious for always carrying ten space bombs that he used when being pursued. Steve called them "surprise packages". However the Confeds never seemed to catch on.
The explosions from the ten space bombs shook the entire enemy fleet and knocked everyone on board those ships closer to the blast nearly senseless. The ships closest to the explosion were instantly vaporized. The rest were highly damaged or somehow escaped the blast.
After seeing that he had done his job, Daniel's fleet hyperspaced out.
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Admiral Revzan Cramge was sitting at his desk on Rogue Prime, reading some tactical reports on the Argus system when suddenly Mark James and Kovakd 1107 barged in. By the look on Marks face Cramge knew he was excited about something.
"What is it Mark?" Admiral Cramge asked.
Mark place three sheets of paper on Cramge's desk. "Apparently the Metalites were working on a way onto Artrust as well. They, and now we, know how," Mark said.
Admiral Cramges eyes bulged out.
"The process works by first building a torpedo like object that weighs six tons. Then building a Metalte tachyon generator and a special type of Metalite tachyon power storage battery. You then have to use the tachyon generator to fill up the tachyon battery. Once filled, that battery has enough energy to completely power a large city for over 1,200 years. You then put the battery inside the torpedo like beacon. Then fire four of these beacons at the subspace distortions directly surrounding Artrust.
"Once they hit them, they will explode, sending a massive supercharged tachyon burst in all directions, and it will get to be the size of Luna. The tachyon energy will absorb the subspace distortions energy. Then the tachyon bust will collapse, and annihilate itself. After that, we will have a passage directly to Artrust. Those documents contain the full amount of data."
Admiral Cramge, eyes still bulging, quickly looked over the data. After quickly scanning it, he looked back at Kovakd and Mark. "How fast can these be built?" he asked.
"They can be built within four days," Kovakd replied in his half human/half robotic voice.
"Start on it now. I'll start on getting together a large fleet. Kovakd, you and Mark must to the same. We cannot allow the Vorg, Confeds, Thinkers, Vorna, or Crasluug to get on Atrust or Artrust."
(This message has been edited by moderator (edited 04-15-2003).)
