Elsewhere, in the borderline territories between Phylydion and Salrilian space, the captain of the Phylydion Kiojea-class Heavy Battlecruiser known as the Conqueror sat in front of his private comminication console in his quarters. A Salrilian was on the other end, speaking.
"You have done well, agent 11245. You have recieved command of one of the Phylydion Imperium's newest and most powerful classes of ships. Its main weapons and other technology could turn the tide of war for them, if they build them in large numbers. If we, however, got hold of this technology, we could counter it easily. Your instructions are to take your ship to the following coordinates," he listed the coordinates, "and wait for us to pick you up. We may well already be there. If the crew mutinies to prevent you from handing the ship over, simply activate the personal shield we gave you. It will hold out until we get there. But, first make sure your weapons are disabled, in case a crewer decides to go against your orders."
"I hear and obey, commander. I will meet you at the rendezvous point in three standard hours. Out."
"Out."
The double-agent captain turned around, satisfied, only to come face to face with a micro flare pistol. The Phylydion holding the pistol spoke.
"I am Garrion Retoe, PhylSec operative in charge of counter-defection on this ship. I was secretly assigned here three months ago as an ensign. You are charged with high treason against the Phylydion Imperium and found guilty. The penalty is death."
Before the captain could offer his alibi, agent Retoe pulled the trigger.

-Three hours later-

Captain J'krashe of the Salrilian carrier Salrilian Endurance stood on the bridge, waiting and smiling. What may have been the Phylydions' only hope was about to come under Salrilian microscopes. Along with his carrier, a pair of gunships waited at the random point in space. He looked at the chrono and saw that it was just about time. "Is all ready?" He asked his first officer.
"Aye, sir. Our tugs will pick the ship up minutes after it arrives, and then we can get out of here."
"Excellent."
At last the moment came. A multi-colored flash filled the screen as the battlecruiser dropped out of Omni space. Omni space drive, too, was a technology the Salrilians would have to look into. "Lieutenant, prepare the tugs."
"Yes, sir." For a few seconds, everything was as normal, but then the Lieutenant paled, or the Salrilian equivalent. "Sir, they're powering up their shields. I detect other energy fluxxes also, perhaps weapons being brought online!"
"WHAT?!" The captain stared in horror as the ship came about and brought its weapons to bear on the carrier.
"Sir, they're firing!" A bright colored ball appeared and moved towards the carrier.
"Evasive!" The carrier started to maneuver, but was caught at its midsection by the shell, which sent reverberations throughout the vessel.
"Shields at 60%! They're firing again! Our gunships are moving in to attack them..." The gunships strafed the battlecruiser, and as they moved away they were targeted and fired upon by the battlecruiser's flare bolt turrets. A second shot hit the carrier, downing its shields. One gunship attacked the battlecruiser from the front and was destroyed by the compression guns. The other was disabled by the turrets and hung dead in space. The carrier started to go into hyperspace, the engines warming up.
And exactly when it did, the Conqueror fired for the last time. The projectile caught the carrier directly on the stern, and debris flew through hyperspace.
Garrion Retoe sat back in his chair. "Good work, all of you. Let's reel in that gunship and get back to Dominus system."
The Conqueror engaged Omni drive and headed to the capitol world.

The Barbarossa was running, fast. She had her engines past the redile, and was barely keeping ahead of the pursueing Sals. Her turrets were doing their best to keep the sal fighters at a safe distance, but every few moments, the ship would shudder from the Sal guns. Captain Pharris was in his seat, his harness straining to keep him in the seat as Helm put the ship through the gut wrenching evasive manouvers. The ship bucked again, and Pharris saw the shields go down another 7%.

"ECM! Range!" the captain strained his voice over the scream of the engines

"The Fighters are already on top of us, capitol ships are inside of seventy klicks, and closing!"

The captain cursed under his breath. His console showed the engine nozzles were 700 degrees past their rated maximum, the shields were running at just over 70%

"Engineering, how long can we keep this up?"

"We're past the threshold already, I give us another minute before one of them goes."

With no cloaking device, weakened shields and an engine on the verge of failure, there were very few options left.

"Cut the engine power, Helm bring us about, Tac, tell all stations that we are weapons hot!"

The Barbarossa swung around, and burned back towards the approaching fleet. Just as it was about to enter weapons range, conn called out

"Incoming transmission! video and audio, from the flagship!"

"Put it at my station"

One of the monitors near Pharris's seat suddenly displayed a familiar salrian face

"Slug you double crossing bastard! When I'm done with your fleet, I'll cut your slimy ass open and I'-"

"Shut up and do as I say or the entire sal navy will be upon us both!"

"What the hell does that mean?"

"Concentrate your fire on the flag ship, close on us, and I will do the rest!"

The screen went back to status readouts. The Barbarossa had just entered weapon range. A decision was needed.

"Close on the Flagship, All stations open fire!"

As the Barbarossa closed in, a tractor beam flew out and grabbed it sharply.

"It's hauling us in sir!' Hekm began to struggle against the beam

"Let it pull us! all stations hold your fire!"

The Massive sal ship Hauled the Barbarossa towards the hangar bay, at which point it dumped out several hundred tons of mangled metal from a cargo bay, and the Escort ships began to make the second largest fireworks display in Sal history.

At the Barbarossa engaged it's docking clamps on the side of the carrier, the cloaking field enveloped it, and the Sal fleet(heavy one Human ship) dissapeared into hyperspace.

Slug reappeared on Pharris's screen.

"Good work. you didn't need to attack me with such fury, you nearly wrecked my shields! anyway, you are safe, for now. We will extend a docking collar so you can come aboard. Sorry about the docking situation, we couldn't fit you into any of our hangars at this moment. Come aboard, we need to talk.

"I'll be right there" Captain Pharris checked the magazine in his pistol, then made his way to the docking bay.

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

Mag had managed to disable the Rogue, but he'd damaged it very heavily. It would be in repair docks for several months. Meanwhile, he'd be using the stolen gunship, which was proving to be almost as useful. He'd never realized just how useful a stealth shield could be. He hadn't modified the gunship, as he was only using it for a temporary amount of time. Right now, he was trying to get some revenge on Slug. The repairs would be expensive, and he didn't think selling the gunship would even pay them off. He also had to pay the various droids on the bridge a salary. They threatened to go on strike in the middle of battles if he didn't, and he needed a crew to fly a gunship. In short, his financial situation didn't look good.
"Sir, sir, I've found something on the SS Barbarossa!"

"What?"

"A ship matching her description was in the Salril system, and was destroyed by a strange Salrillian fleet that immediately left the system and dissapeared."

"Do you have any idea where they might have dissapeared to?"

"No, sir."

"Very well. I'm setting a course to Cantharan space. Everybody needs some easy jobs, once in a while." (Mag was piloting as well as commanding)

"Yes, sir. They certainly do."

The gunship dropped out of hyperspace, oriented itself towards Cantharis, and jumped into hyperspace again. It would be a five day trip. In the Rogue, it would be around ten days, due to the limited number of jump-links it could get into, but the Salrillians had invented technology to temporarily create jump-links for as long as they were needed. They could go directly to wherever they wanted.

"Tell me if anything important happens," said Mag. He made his way to his quarters.

------------------
"I can ail what cures you."

The Salrilian Fleet, accompanied by the now fully repaired Barberosa, waited, cloaked, behind the moon of Remus Beta in the Audemedon system. Slug sat in his captain's chair but Pharris stood. Occasionally an orange blur would come close to the fleet: a shudder of fright would pass down Pharris' spine in fear the Audemedons would find them.

"You have my ship, you have my cooperation now, Slug. How in the name of hell did you, a Salrilian outcast, manage to make one fifth of the Imperial Navy defect to you?"

Slug looked up from the console, those red eyes staring disapprovingly at Pharris. "Well, now we're out of the breach I think it is safe to tell you. Before Sargatanus' coup d'état, I was the Grand Admiral of the Salrilian Stellar Navy. I was a prince. We offered the galaxy order and peace with the ring."

Pharris stared at Slug blankly. "English, please."

"After my disasterous defeat, the Salrilian Government turned it's back on me. Once one of the most powerfull men in the galaxy, I was now an outcast. Exiled from the homeworld and shamed at every Salrilian Planet I sought refuge. But only the government turned it's back on me. Many of my loyal Captains and Rear Admirals from the battle are still in the Stellar Navy, and so you see......." Slug struggled to find the phrase, "I still have friends in high places."

Pharris was unimpressed. "So what do you plan on doing with this fleet at your fingertips? Losing it to-" With a blur Slug pounced on Pharris, holding several blades to his neck.

Slug was pissed.

"I beleive there is a saying on Earth you humans have: Don't shoot the nuclear warheads."

"You don't scare me, Salrilian." Pharris grumbled through his teeth. "Every one of your factions has died. The Salrilian Confederacy at the ring battle, The Gaitori Isolationists in the massacre at Dramis, the 'Elasi', now your fleet. You're history, Slug. You're going the way of the old."

"Guards, take Pharris to his ship and tow him to Axis. Let the Audemedons determine his fate."

"Engineering, get that reactor up to full, we're gonna need full power real soon!"

Captain Pharris picked himself up on the floor. He turned around just in time to curse at the Salrian Guards through the closing airlock door. This time, he dialed the bridge on his communicator, and began running to the turbolift.

"Aye sir, this is X, what's up?"

"They're going to tow us out into the Axis, Get us out of here, Now!"

"On it."

The communicator clicked off, and the captain jumped into the lift, and pounded the button for the bridge. Halfway there, he was thrown from his feet as the ship surged. the doors opened, and he stumbled out onto the bridge, hearing the engines powering up hard.

"What was that!?"

"We tried to make a break for it, one of the carriers caught us with a tractor beam, We're struggling, but it isn't doing much." The XO was flustered, the carrier was quickly growing larger and larger in the bay windows.

Engineering called out as several alert lights lit up on the station.

"The Engines are passing the redline, emergency shutdown in twenty seconds..."

The Captain slid into his seat

"Cut the Engines. Red alert, if you please."

As klaxons sounded and the lights turned red, he grabbed the handset and keyed the mic

"All hands, clear for action. Get psyched men, we're taking on Auds again."

He hung up the mic and watched on his monitors as all the stations checked in. Within fourty five seconds, the ship had been cleared for action. Everything from Sick Bay to the engineering response teams were on standby, Weapons were being powered up and loaded. Targeting radars and gunnery control centers were checked and readied. The Barbarossa was ready to fight.

"ECM, what escorts does this thing have? Nav, where are we headed?"

"I count ten or fifeteen cloak signatures, most of them are gunboats or cruisers... I think... Those are just the one's I can see though, could be more... I can't tell..."

Nav spun in his chair, his face pale.

"The carrier is towing us straight to the Axis..."

The odds were bad either way... would fifeteen gunboats and a Sal carrier be any better than the Aud defence fleet? Probably.

"How far out are we?"

Nav reported back

"under five minutes now..."

"All hands, prepare to open fire on the carrier. Lock torpedoes three and four on the Tractor beam Emitter. Helm, evasive manouevers, try and keep the Sals from running... Open Fire!"

The ship Shuddered hard from the rapport of all the guns firing at once. The missile batterries, turrets and railguns were laying down an incredible ammount of fire on the Carrier. The Carrier began to return fire, but the Barbarossa didn't pause. In under a minute, the Carrier deactivated the tractor beam to put some distance between it and the Barbarossa, if only to better aim its weapons. As the escorts decloaked and began to approach the Barbarossa, she engaged her engines and began to manouver sharply through the ships, firing continuously. The damaged carrier returned under the cover of the other Sal ships, and began to fire. The Barbarrossa moved to get out of range, firing its torpedoes and missiles at the carrier, all the while concentrating railguns and plasma bolts on the gunboats and cruisers. Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, the Audemedon defence fleet came out of lightspeed, to investigate the action taking place. They stumbled right into the middle of the small Sal task force. as they pinged the transponders, they discovered that the ships were part of the defected fleet of Admiral Slug. Without hesitation, they opened fire on the Sal ships. In the confusion, the Barbarrossa slipped out of the fray, and made a break for lightspeed.

"We're almost clear, only three cruisers are still on us. The rest are dealing with the Auds."

ECM was watching his monitors, enjoying the magnificent clash of military might going on in the Barbarossa's wake.

"Good work, Helm. Engineering, give me a damage report."

" The shields are fried, we have a slow leak in sector six on deck three. I have the sector locked down, and one of the teams is working to put a patch on it. the shields will be back up in another ten minutes, if we're lucky. Other than that, we came off pretty easy"

"Excellent. Tac, deal with those ships. Nav, find us a nice place to hide around here. Comm, Draft a message to Slug..."

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

(This message has been edited by Captain Pharris (edited 10-09-2000).)

Walking out of the backroom in the bar with the now-red orb tucked under his arm, Sundered Angel stopped suddenly, a frown on his face. He looked over to Cicion.

"There's some kind of disturbance going on. I'm receiving ripples that I have not felt for some time... it looks like Darkk is active again. Inform the High Octicon if you will- I have business to attend to."

Sundered Angel put the orb away, scanning the bar with a piercing blue gaze, looking for a likely candidate.

------------------
Sundered Angel ,
The One and Only

Ares Webboard Moderator, and all-around Nice Guy

Flames, dancing. Salrilians, slithering, taunting. Hello Verad, you're one of usssssss. Ussssssss. Sargatanus laughs, words dripping sarcasm. You were defeated by Sundered Angel? I can't have that. You're one of mine. Mine. Flames, dancing. The empire, standing alone against the dark tide of the Axis. Homeworld, falling. Marching, marching. Fighting. Flames, dancing. Killing, killing for the glory of the Axis. Killing, killing for Sargatanus, the master. Master. Fighting, killing, destroying, burning. Faces of fear, the homeworld in ruins, still fighting, killing. Sister, crying. Crying. Must kill, kill for Sargatanus. Must kill!

"NO!" shouted Verad, leaping from his bed to his feet, sweat running glistening on every surface of his body. He was awake for once. It felt as though he had been in a nightmare for years. But this waking terror of realization was far more fearsome. He raised his hand to his forehead to wipe the sweat. The sharp, hard thud of the metal of his altered skeleton causing another chill. The metal in his bones; the bits of polymer in his veins; the silicon chips and calculations in his nerves; the almost ceramic feel of his toughened skin; all a grim reminder of what he had become: a machine! His pride in his Taeskorship, the respect of his peers and community, the love of his family, all these thoughts crumbled with this stark reality. He began to shiver, barely holding back tears. The sweat felt colder than anything he had ever felt before. How did he become so twisted? So tainted? So wicked? So-

He heard the sounds of slithering outside, and one of his aides entered.

"Are you well, Ausssspex?"

Regaining his composure, Verad glared at the Salrilian. "No, Car Sut, I am not well. But that is irrelevant. Who gave you permission to enter my quarters?"

"Ausssssspex Verad, you-"

"Get out you miserable worm!"

"Yesssssss, of coursssse..." the aide said, leaving as fast as it could. The door clicked shut behind it, and Verad sat down on his bed, sweat cooling. How could he have been so stupid? Working for Sargatanus all this time, against his own people! He had to get away, to end this madness somehow. Why had it taken him so long to realise?

Verad sat there for hours, plans slowing forming in the depths of his mind...

------------------
Verad
Ex-Taeskor and
Salrilian Auspex

(This message has been edited by Verad (edited 10-10-2000).)

Darkk entered the second gravetic pocket of his search. He could feel something, close by, but wasn't sure what. At least no Sals this time.

Suddenly a radio signal peaked amont the ones fed into his brain through the StormBreaker 's unplink.

"-lug. <static> He-- us. We've l--t -ll s--tem-. St--k in a sys--- w--- sub-warp inhabitants."

The last part was clear enough, and what the speaker wanted and who he wanted it from was obvious.

Slug had lead the defense of the ring, but Darkk had been the diversion, taking on 3 full fleets in a seemingly futile battle that bought enough time to damage the ring severely. His losses had been massive (only 2 ships made it out), but they weren't Slug's fault.

Slug was now against the Sals, and not against Darkk, so he would aid Slug's fleet. Just a little.

The search could wait some.

He felt an odd tingle and wondered what it was as he approched in the jumpstream.

"No time for that now, I have to work on first contact procedures.

I never did it before either.
"I know.
Think this will delay the search much?
"Of course not. I'll give them some spares
Those Phylydians think they're so special with their omnispace, but a nice, modified jumpstream does just as well.
"They certainly did a number on the fleet. But with no guiding will, my fleet just fell apart.

------------------
Me: You ******* IDIOTS!! That planet was INHABITED!!!
Them: Ooops
Me: Let's resume this disscussion at the admiralty court near airlock 13.
(immediatly following the first disrupter missle test)

As he entered the system, the native set off their alarms. A group of ships surrounded StormBreaker and armed their weapons.

Darkk marveled at how brave the captains were, standing by to engage a ship several thousand times the size of theirs, armed with who knows what, capable of who knows what.

Reaching out, Darkk felt one of the comm technicians tring to memorize a simple com format they used. In 30 seconds he was appearing on their screen, speaking their language.

"Greatings. I am Darkk, of the species Nijayas. I am here to aid the fleet that arrived
"earlier.
Native: We won't allow you free reign in that ship. We request you dock it at one of our stations for inspection. How did you learn our language anyway?
"You're out of your league. I thought you were bold, but you're seeming somewhat stupid. My
"ship will not be inspected by your friends - or anyone. As for your language, I can read
"minds. All my species can.
N: I don't trust mind readers.
"I'm not here to steal anything. I don't think you have much of anything I want anyway.
"I'm just here to get Slug's fleet back to him.
N: They are in quarantine. We only let them out to transmit, but we don't care about that.
" They were asking for help. I have come to provide a jumpstream to neutral space.
N: Jumpstream?!?!?
" FTL transit.
N: We would like to trade for that. I'll transfer you to our Minister of State
MS: Greetings, out-of-systemer.
" Greatings. I am here to take Slug's fleet back to him. Put me in touch with its leader.
" ONLY then will we talk.
MS: I cannot...
" Then connect me to someone who can. I'm in a hurry here.
MS: I've been given authorization. I'll connect you now.

(Slug, I think you or Sargatanus should do the next part.)

------------------
Me: You ******* IDIOTS!! That planet was INHABITED!!!
Them: Ooops
Me: Let's resume this disscussion at the admiralty court near airlock 13.
(immediatly following the first disrupter missle test)

The screen went blank for a few moments, then a Cantharan in a somwhat dingy military uniform appeared. "I am Captain Dem Thet, acting commanding officer of the Elasi. It is goos to meet you, Darkk; I have heard many things about you. Furthermore, it's good to know that we can leave this place. We've been cooped up in this quarentine for nearly two months!"
Darkk nodded slightly. "That sounds like appropriate paranoia for an unexpected first contact. Though I can't say the same about their military conduct."
The Cantharan let out a slight laugh. "They gave you the same welcome I assume?"
"Indeed they did. I'm not sure whether to call them increadibley brave, or more increadibley stupid."
"It's amazing! They know no fear; they presume all enemies, no matter their size, an equal."
"What else do you know about them?"
"Not much. There is a rather large language barrier. We have one Nijaya crewmen, but his telepathy isn't that of a highclassmen, and communication has been difficult. However, we do know some."
"Like?"
"They are called the Arliacians. They inhabit only this system. Until we showed up, they had no clue that there was any life in the universe besides on their planet. That's about all we have that is concrete."
"Nothing else?"
"Bits and peices from the rare one of them that isn't avoiding us like a plague. Uh... they are omnivorous, have just recently established a world-nation and global language, they have a republic-type government structure, they cherish science but regard that which they have not achieved to be nothing more than fantasy, and their religion is based largely on myth and the worship of two strange artifacts."
Darkk was about to respond when the native he communicated with earlier appeared on the channel again. "Traveler, you have been granted permission to meet with your associates. Please proceed to the followign coordinates and await instructions."

------------------
Throughout their history these "unenlightened" beings have continually opposed and fought abuses of power wrought by their own bretheren. We, as the prophets would do well to learn from these Humans.
-Final statement of the Salrilian reformist Sirthis shortly before his execution.

Diplomat: You will meet with the one of your species first. We will listen.

Darkk came into the room. He could feel the guards ready to stun him if he even breathed funny. Of course, they had their own definition of funny, so it was narrow going. Darkk exuded a wave of relaxation that made the guards less suspicious, as he sat down.

Nijayas: You look familiar...
" I'm Darkk.
N: FLEET ADMIRAL DARKK?!?!?!?
" Well, after the crisis I haven't really got a rank.
N: Horrible, wasn't it. Entire royal family dead, curse the b-------ds. I tried to get revenge, die in a glorious battle, but before we fireballed we landed here.
" Say, aren't you Leutenant Hett, the coordinator of the palace fighter defenses?
Hett: Yah, saw you alot. I used that trick with the towers you showed me, but we couldn't do it right...
" The Emperor was already dead.
H: What?
" Without him, our coordination and resolve falls apart. Mine did in the other universe. I
" was cut off, and lost much confidence. I don't think even the Emporer knew his real role,
" that it was the instincts of his family, and that was the reason democracy never worked
" for us.
" However my own power was able to substitute for his, and kept me going. I'm even stronger
" than him, I was but was too modest to admit it, but now I'm the strongest EVER. The
" StormBreaker 's exotic matter/fluctuation reactor delivers power directly to me.
H: Amazing.
" Yah. Watch this.
(a feeling of calm spreads across Hett's face)
H: I feel like I did in the glory days.
" Your mind is just like it was then. Linked and supported.
H: Are you doing this just to me...
" Of course. I'm not going to turn it up until I'm in charge.
H: How could you possibly get in charge?
" You will see. I'll leave you with Slug for now, as my liason. Everything you see, I will.
" Farewell.
H: Farewell.

Now to talk to Captain Dem Thet...

(your turn Slug/Sargatanus)

------------------
Me: You ******* IDIOTS!! That planet was INHABITED!!!
Them: Ooops
Me: Let's resume this disscussion at the admiralty court near airlock 13.
(immediatly following the first disrupter missle test)

"Still no sign of the Barbarossa." An ensign screamed over the rumbling of the ship, now taking the brunt of the Audemedon Attack.

"We just lost another ship!" On the viewscreen a gunship exploded violently.

Slug sprung into action. "Helm, take us to a thirty-degree yaw and recall all fighters. Have the fleet stand down and send the following transmission on my mark...." Slug keyed in an alphanumeric sequence on his pad.

"Sir, are you nuts?!! They'll rip us to shreds!"

"I still have some tricks up my sleeve from before the Ring Battle." He transmitted the sequence. The Audemedon ships hesitated briefely, then proceeded to ignore each other's presence! "Nineteen degree yaw, engage." Slug's carrier spun about to face the Audemedon Battlecruisers, in response they all shifted to the blind spot of the Salrilian ship, forgetting that nearly every other ship in the Audemedon fleet was also proceeding there!

They all collided and crumpled together and in a briliant flash their hulls fused together, turning them all into a single chunk of metal. "Helm warp one engage!"

Hours later, in his quarters aboard the Urban , Slug took the free time to catch up on some human literature. That is the question- "Condition Black! Admiral to the bridge!" Annoyed at the computer, Slug punched on his comm unit.

"Captain, what the hell is going on?"

"Sir, we're receiving a coded transmission. Specifically, you're receiving a coded transmission."

"What's with the alert?!"

"S-s-sir, this might behard to beleive, but...." The Captain looked uneasy "It's from an Elasi fleet! What dealings would you have with these Elasi barbarians?!"

Slug nearly choked on his ale. "Forward the message to my quarters."

"There's not much to forward, it says: ' We've emerged from the wormhole. Our Stellar map says we're in the Arlaician Sector, the inhabintants seem friendly, unless... ' The transmission is garbled from there on. Sir, why are the Elasi pirates trying to contact us?!"

"Old...missing friends. Set a course for Arlaicia, maximum fold. Inform me the moment we arrive there." Once again, the Salrilian fleet entered omnispace.

Slug was grinning widely. This was all working out quite nicely for him. For his plans.

"Soon, Sargatanus, very soon."

------------------
Good laws are produced by extremely bad manners.
-Alduran Pirate Captain Macrobius
StarLance

" Glad to see you saw things my way, envoy.
Envoy: Yes, Darkk, we will trust you to get them off our hands.
" Here's the formulae you wanted. If you're scientists can't pull a working hyperdrive from
" Error free data and the best equations I know of, it'll surprise me.
E: They've already started on a FTL radio. They wouldn't until you gave them one to try.
" Then here's some disks with the currently accepted protocal of the UGPA. The humans know alot about quickly building a society to intersteller, so talk to them.
E: Do you want the comm system back.
" Nah, keep it, I don't use that one anymore. I've got a more powerful model installed on
" the ship right now.

As Darkk left to continue his search, he recalled the ancient artifacts.

" Oh, can you tell me any about those two artifacts?
E: THE HOLY TREASURES?!?
" Yes. I've heard of something similar, somewhere, on other planets. Objects of great power.
E: Just goes to show we have the truth
" (sarcasm) OK (/sarcasm)
E: Why did you say that funny?
" No important reason. I'm leaving now. Don't enquire after me, I'll be too busy.
E: Fare thee well, traveler.

Darkk now left for real to continue his (url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/webboard/Forum11/HTML/000107.html")search(/url).
------------------
Me: You ******* IDIOTS!! That planet was INHABITED!!!
Them: Ooops
Me: Let's resume this disscussion at the admiralty court near airlock 13.
(immediatly following the first disrupter missle test)

(This message has been edited by Fleet Admiral Darkk (edited 10-10-2000).)

"Sir, Slug's Fleet just left the system, looks like they're in a hurry..."

Captain Pharris was immediately looking over ECM's shoulder at the long range sensors. He saw the tremendous omni fold ripping across space.

"Where are they headed?"

"Way out to the middle of nowhere sir, I intercepted an encoded message, can't cipher it, but these guys shipped out as soon as they got it."

"Engineering, is there any way we could keep up with them?"

"Not really, the omnidrive rips through space much faster than our Hyperspace engines can take us."

"Jump gates?"

"None that would let us through sir, all the nearby ones are hostile."

"****, how long can you track them?"

"another minute and they'll be way past our long range sensors."

"Follow them as fast as we can. We'll lose them eventually, but I want to know where they're headed."

The Barbarossa engaged its hyperdrive, in hot pursuit of the Sal fleet. keeping its cloaking field on, just in case.

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

"Sir, sir!" said the little Audemedon droid.

"What is it?"

"I used my old Audemedon links to get into the Axis' databanks. A fleet with IFFs matching those of Slug's fleets was in a battle in a remote Audemedon system! A human frigate was also detected in the battle, with a matching description as the Barbarossa! Both the fleet and the Barbarossa dissapeared into omni-space and hyperspace, though."

"Do you have any idea where they might be headed?"

"I got into the Oracular Network, and it's predictions, so far, are just that they're going to either UNS or Phylydion space."

"Monitor UNS and Phylydion news stations with extra care, then."

"Yes, sir!" said the droid, right before it scuttled off.

"Getting closer..." muttered Mag.

------------------
"You can get much further with kind words and a loaded gun than you can with kind words alone."
- Al Capone

Shaking. Tremendous shaking. The Barberosa had been in Hyperspace for nearly a day, aching to keep pace with the Salrilian Fleet. Shaking. Tremendous shaking.

"S-sir! I don't know how long we can keep up with this. These omniwaves will tear us apart if we don't back off soon."

"How far off?" Pharris responded through the turbulence.

"A lot farther off than our sensors can reach. Obviously it's important, or else the Salrilians wouldn't be omnifolding at this speed."

"Huh?"

"The wave has caused three moons to explode under the pressure, and a comet to lose it's orbit."

Pharris stared off into space. "No.... not even a Salrilian fleet is capable of generating that much power. There must be something more increadible in omnispace generating it."

"Get a lock. Whatever it is-"

"Captain, I read three more fleets in pursuit of Slug.... There's a power buildup reading from Slug's fleet. What do you know of omnispace?"

"A buildup?"

"Chronomatter readings off the chart...."

Pharris gasped. "Get us out of Hyperspace now!!!"

There a huge jolt. The lights on the bridge went out. A massive shockwave rippled through omnispace, penetrating all the way into hyperspace, knocking the Barbarossa to a dead halt. Several power capacitors blew in the engineering section, Hull breaches and casualty reports were coming in from all over the ship! Helms burst into flames, their circuits overloaded with the energy surge from the dead capacitors. The Barbarosa was knocked dead in space.

The emergency systems took a few minutes to kick in. "Engineering," Pharris gasped into the comm, "report!"

"We are at the edge of Known Space.... core is offline, cloak is fried, all major systems offline. Power down."

"What the hell happenned?!"

"He knew he was being followed... by the other fleets. He's managed to fry everything in an 8-lightyear radius...."

"And those pursuing fleets will detect us and get us."

"No. I have several smaller ripples in the omnispacial plane. Those fleets have been annihilated."

"But..." Pharris stuttered, "Why weren't we destroyed too?"

"We were insulated in hyperspace, we only took a fraction of that shockwave."

"So he's dead. Slug is finished, isn't he?"

"Only if those dots on my sensors are bugs on the screen. ETA, 6 minutes."

"Uh oh."

The Powered Bodysuits used by the EVA troopers were huge and bulky, but they were heavily armoured, and the powered suit increased the wearer's strength twentyfold, as well as providing a stable platform for a huge array of weaponry. There were only sixteen of them on board, but every crewmember had a standard issue armoured pressure suit, which was capable of stopping most small arms fire. There was a large variaty in the weapons issued, everything from Chainguns to Fusion Rifles to Concussion Rifles to Grenade Launchers. The crew immediately divided into squads, and set up defences at key junctions and entrance points. With the current condition of the Barbarossa's Hull, and a catastrophic hull breach a very real risk, the pressure suits were a very necessary precaution.

"We are weapons cold, repeat, do not fire until fired upon."

the captain clicked his radio off, and opened the outer airlock door, watching the huge fleet settle into Normal space just under seventy kilometers off. The cruisers quickly established a perimeter, and one of the carriers Cruised confidently towards the Barbarossa.

Just then, the XO called out over the comlink:

"Captain, you had better get up here, you'll want to see this!"

(This message has been edited by Captain Pharris (edited 10-11-2000).)

That's funny, I don't remember the Phylydions giving the Salrilians Omni drive technology.

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-Traek Cicion of the Taeskor

"Never tell me the odds!"
-Han Solo

"Then we'll do it real quiet-like."
-Han Solo

That's what the Oracular Network is for...

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"You can get much further with kind words and a loaded gun than you can with kind words alone."
- Al Capone

Quote

Originally posted by Taeskor Cicion:
**That's funny, I don't remember the Phylydions giving the Salrilians Omni drive technology.
**

But this is no ordinary Salrilian Fleet. It's a group of rogue admirals who were under my command at the Ring Battle who defected from Sargatanus to my side....

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Good laws are produced by extremely bad manners.
-Alduran Pirate Captain Macrobius
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