Pharris and Audemed didn't need reports to know the Salrillians were coming. In captureing the simlab that had once controlled Audemed, they now had acess to a large database of Salrillian history and technology, and were analysing it thoroughly. Audemed could feel the ships drop their connections, and he knew the progress that was being made by the invaders. Not that it mattered. His forces were concentrated around six planets, and any direct attempt against one them would be suicide. The Salrillians could careen around in deep space and uninhabited systems all they liked, but Audemed had locked down his jumpgates, and was generating subspace interference. Noone would enter one of his key systems without a lot of trouble, and how long they survived in system was another matter entirely, and Audemed had a surprise in preparation for the Salrillians.

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

(Uhh, Spamo, my base is INSIDE a rather large but not-too-solid (deep rifts) planet, near the core to take advantage of the lower gravity.)

(Oracular Council HQ, Salril)
"sam'Levt is generating results, but we need to strike a decisive blow..."
"I thought we had agreed never to use that in the normal conduct of war..."
"This is NOT normal war. Humanity must not fulfil the prophecy!"
"They already have!"
"Not yet. They have not deployed it."
"Can we have them ready in time?"
"3 will be ready in a few days."
"I cannot believe we are actually doing this. After the Boondan War, we agreed..."
"THE ORACULAR NETWORK HAS PREDICTED OUR FALL IF WE DO NOT IMPLEMENT THIS!!"
"My appologies. I will instruct sam'Levt in their use..."

(Slug: there has to be SOME threat to the UEC.)

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

Sackler stood on the bridge of his flagship, the UES Atlantis, Huge bay windows allowed him to survey the Fleet that surrounded him. Two Battleships flanked the Atlantis as it proceeded towards the jumpgate. He watched as the captain took the ship towards the swirling gate. Ahead, several gunships and destroyers dove into the swirls, followed by the two Battleships. The Atlantis entered the gate, anbegan speeding through the jumpstream to catch the rest of the fleet. Sackler paused for a few minutes to savor the brilliant colors outside the windows, then turned and walked back to the CIC to arrange with the Scouts that had discovered their target.

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

Trey'sh Maletena Wizr sat back in his chair, and relaxed for a moment, preparing for his meditation. Just as he reached to turn his monitor off, it ponged with an arriveing message. He sighed, and checked the sender.

He sat bolt upright and initiated the vidlink. Myrk's face appeared on the screen.

"Thank goodness! I thought you might have started meditating already. Still at 1600 hours, on the dot as always."

Wizr just smiled for a moment in disbelief.

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

Allistair Stanley felt the harness holding him tightly as the small dropship dove into the atmosphere. At around eighty thousand feet, he felt the G load drop down to normal, and the rear doors opened, revealing a gaping, pitch black sky. He activated his night-vision filter on his helmet visor and clipped onto the static line. The drop master gave a thumbs up. When the entire squad returned it, he released the harnesses, and one by one, the six men dissapeared into the night of an alien world.

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

Six hours later, Wizr was walking with his two Gaath bodyguards, and the second best mixed cruiser flight crew in the Ishiman Stellar Protectorate towards a type 12 security clearance hangar in the Reestablishment Commitee's Transport Pool. The guards watched Wizr and the pilots go through the four point Identity check, and admitted them to the Hangar. There stood a single Ishiman Heavy Cruiser.

But it was no ordinary HVC. It was the latest Special Service model, type C. Long ranged, and loaded with Insa Pulses, Nevo beams, and a stealth field, it was made for dangerous assignments like the one Wizr was about to undertake. As the Pilots started their checklist, the Engineer prepped the reactor, and began arrangeing a covert jump with the local jumpgate. He waited for cleareance, thanked the Gate-master, and waited for the Pilots to clear for launch. Wizr settled into one of the chairs in the cramped passenger compartment, and felt the harness pull him in. He closed his eyes and began meditating. He hated flying.

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

Sackler's Armada dropped slowly out of the gate, and slowly proceeded towards the rendezvous point with the scouting party. The Huge fleet slowed to a halt on the outskirts of a tremendous asteroid field. The scout ships docked, and their crews came aboard to brief their commander on the nature of their target.

Levt sat in his chair, crafted of solid Vincenium. It was as thin as tin foil yet could easily support the weight of forty men. Ah the splendors of the UEC. They were crafting their best armor replacements out of it. Granted it was still nothing compared to the designs he was given - How the hell could Alexi have squeezed a ship into an atom? Still it was some of the strongest stuff out there, and-

His attention was disrupted as one of his advisors entered the chamber. Quietly he said "Majesty, one of our scout patrols, Cerberus Squadron, has failed to check into port. We fear something major is brewing up to the south. Should any more news of their fate surface you will be told."

Levt's brow folded and he bent his head to face the young man. "Private, what ships made up Cerberus Squadron?"

"5 destroyers, an X-19 squadron and four of our older X-5s"

- - - - -

The five fleets both approached the contested planet. From the Solar side came the Gaitori Swarm, to the lunar side was the Salrilian Battlegroup, from the Galactic South the UEC detatchment, and in orbit, defending the hapless planet, the Cantharan Fleet brewed and prepared for a battle that would shape history.

The Battle of Cantharis.

------------------
It's all fair and good to say everybody's equal, everyone's innocent untill proven guilty, but as the UNS learned so painfully at the end of the Audemedon Wars, there are those who will take advantage of that system and bring massive destruction upon others.
-High Commander Gerald Z. Levt
United Earth Confederacy

(I'm back after a week of skiing. Now that I've read everything...

1. I assume the fifth fleet was the Auds? They probably came from the outside :),
2. That post is days old...)

~Now I have to think what I want the Obiards to do.
~Please note that ? is u in circus, i in pencil, etc.

---Incoming Broadcast---
Praetor U'velar Tve'l (uh-VAY-larr t?-VEL-?):
Years ago we fought a war with the Gaitori for control of the Free Trade Zone. Their incompetent hands forced its dilapidation and general disrespect for its boundaries. Now there is another threat to it. The newly formed United Earth Confederation has begun a policy of xenophobia.

There is no doubt to the Zone's threat now.

The Bazi'de'niz have given us sanction, the G'eto'ri have given us cooperation.
(Load booing sounds across Oben (Obish spelling))
We fight a war for all. Not for us anymore. It is a Galactic war.
------------------------

As the crews of the Th'riha'n, Th'esare, and their Escorts received the message, there was both rejoicing and agony. Obain would again have the chance to control the Free Trade zone, and the battle would undoubtedly have great honor for those involved.

The agony was this: They had received combat orders. A preemptive strike was to be made, at the throat of the enemy. And it was to be at Sol. With no aid.

(Fun, fun fun. But no one's supposed to know this, OK? It's a coded transmission, and no one knows where we are to intercept it.)

------------------
-=MoC 94:19=-
"Cheaters don't really win, and winners don't really cheat. Unless you're talking politics." -Durandal
"Fate protects fools, children, and ships named Enterprise." -Riker to Bridge Crew

(Can't be the Auds, here's why:)

Audemed and Pharris had retreated to the seven backwater Audemedon systems, a tight cluster on the edge of Salrillian Space. They let the Salrillian battlegroup close, putting up token resistance at key systems, hiding their true strength, pulling the Salrillian ships closer in, extending them in their urgent drive to eliminate the central Audemedon core cluster on the ancient Grolk world, Axis.

They closed now, even as Pharris was inserted into his new home. A huge vessel battlestation. Two four sided pyramids attatched at the bases. Bristleing with trazer emitters and missile tubes. Deep inside six miles of armour, and thousands isolated redundant systems there was the only pressureized compartment in the ship. Two Audemedon attendants lowered Pharris into his gravity couch. There was no artificial gravity, but the liquid filled seat molded to his body, and thus supported, he could survive G loads of over twenty Gs easily. He was finally in place, and the attendant drones plugged him in, and sealed the Harness. As the high bandwidth connection began to make up for the lag in data transmissions, Pharris smiled. His enemies were near.

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

Sackler had met with the scouts and his advisors, and after an extensive examination of the asteroid field, had chosen their point of attack. Sackler issued the orders from the CIC of his flagship, and watched on monitors as the fleet formed up around him. The fleet hung close to the three battleships that would be covering for them. As information tickers tagged each ship with a green "go ahead" light, Sackler issued the order

"Engage"

The Three battleships followed their course carefully, and the gunnery control stations were relayed targets. The turrets began to spray their concussive shells, deflecting asteroids. Slowly, the fleet left the safety of open space, and entered the cramped confines of the asteroid field

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

Allistair Stanley checked his watch. 4 hours till the fleet came in to dust him off. He had spent seven hours crawling to his hooch, and seven more scopeing the orbital defence gun, looking at the security points, checking the patrol areas and the guard details. He had it down. He keyed the mic in his helmet, and raised his squad leader.

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

The jumpstream spat the HVC out into the edge of the asteroid field. The pilot yelled over his shoulder, towards the back of the ship.

"Namad, Hegoy, get up here! Everyone else, buckle up. We're in for a ride."

The Copilot and the RIO ran to the cockpit and slid into their seats. The RIO powered up the scanners and began a sensor sweep of the field.

"I got a nice wide open channel off point-nine six. Looks too good to be true, I'm plugging in the coords, go for it."

Wizr strapped in tightly, looking up the aisle from the cre cabin, he could see the huge asteroids out the cockpit windows, and feel the Elejeetian Onas Pulse gun shreik as it cleared a path for the Cruiser.

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

As the Salrillians came out of the jumpstream into Axis, they knew what to expect, the defence fleets were the exact strength predicted, in the exact place predicted. Audemed had not changed. They closed on the planet, readying their weapons. Suddenly, one of the tremendous ourbital mineing platforms broke apart, and there was something that had not appeared in any of their simulations. A twelve mile across diamond approached the Fleet of the Prophets, who halted, not ready to engage an adversary about which they had no Data. It closed rapidly, a large fleet detatching from it as it raced towards the Salrillian fleet. The sals retreated towards the jumpstream, only to see it waver and collapse. The Audemedon Battlestation was nearly on top of them. The Sal fleet turned to face it, chargeing their weapons.

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

Sackler was pleased with the results. He had been very skepticle of the idea that his ships would be able to penetrate an asteroid field of this density. Seventeen hours and not a single asteroid had damaged them. The deflector shields easily stopped the smaller asteroids, and concussive shells fromt he turreted guns stopped tose too fast to manoever around. Sackler was about to relinquish the CIC and end the shift when the ship's Collision alarm sounded, and he was thrown from his feet by the ship manoevering hard. Just as he had regained his senses, the lights flickered and the ship shuddered with a resounding explosion.

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

"YEEEEEEHA!"

The Pilot had obviously served with Humans. Wizr clenched his hands on his armrests, and closed his eyes hard. The ship bucked and turned, wrenching his stomache. He opened his eyes to see what was happening long enough to see a large asteroid impact one of the UEC battleships. The Nevo beams knocked out its power momentarily, and then the cruiser dissapeared into its stealth field, and the pilot drove it deeper into the Asteroid field. Hoping to maintain stealth, the pilot was no longer useing his Onas gun to clear a path. Wizr sat deep in his chair as he spun the cruiser through the maze of asteroids at blinding speed.

He swallowed hard, and grabbed the headset. He typed in the acess code, and hailed Myrk at the DEF base. He had some important news.

------------------
Faris eck Vaenar Maletena-Wizr, Trey'ish of the Ishiman reestablishment comittee.
"I don't think I'm alone when I say that I'd like to see more and more planets fall under the ruthless domination of our solar system."

"What kind of reading?" Bizz asked.
"It's a theta scatter, consistent with an asteroid impact on a shielded target," the sensor opp replied. "Some of it might have been onas and newoo activity - never know at this range."
"Well, that's it then. Run a sensor focus and send a copy of the results to Mr. Darkk."
"Yes ma'am."

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

Myrk was sitting alone in his quarters. He hated going out. William Darkk and his sister are bloody psychopaths as far as he's concerned. They're too violent and unpredictable. Also, Darkk had been unusually inquisitive about his work with Wizr. Myrk hadn't told him anything even morally shaky, but Darkk was beginning to act like those people in movies about amnesiacs, that know all about the person's life but don't want to tell them.

The pad beeped. Myrk was stunned as he read the message - Wizr had come for him. He didn't know how he had made it so far in the belt, but from the looks of things he had made it through a good bit of it. If only he could reach the base safely. If he'd made it this far, it was pretty likely.

He'd better let Darkk know - Wizr would need landing clearence and guidance.

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

"Right, Spamo. We'll have to have a backup base ready. If you found me, I know Levt isn't far behind. It'll be hard for him to do much here, but he's got numbers and firepower." William Darkk had been discussing plans with his sister and Spamo. Now he might need those plans.

"Sir, there's been an impact on a shield in the asteroid field."
"What?"
"Sensor focus indicates 3 UEC battleships and some other vessles. There's also a cloaked Ishiman ship - cruiser class, according to our sensors - coming right at us."
"Activate the thrusters on the seaker asteroids, and target them on the battleships. Activate the guns in the entry rift, set them to 'engage all unknown'..."

"WAIT!" cried Myrk.
"Oh?"
"Wizr's coming on a cloaked cruiser."
"The old politician himself, I see. Certainly in character for one so ... fearless. Set the turrets to 'engage UEC'."

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

Wizr and his ship plummeted through the asteroid field, a never-ending river of rock flying by the window whenever Wizr looked up. Suddenly, the comm chirped.
"This is DEF ground control. Transmitting landing guidence. Do not deviate from supplied flight path for your own good."
"Should we follow their instructions boss?" shouted the pilot.
"Yes. Darkk's a friend of ours."

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

When Wizr arrived, the base was running in high gear. Pilots, crew, and officers were scurrying to their ships. William was in the center of a large group of officers giving them last minute instructions. Bizz and Sarah were supervising the loading of a great deal of equipment into the Escapade. As he got off Bizz and Myrk rushed up to greet him.

"Trey'ish Wizr. Darkk told me to request to fly out with you. He wanted me to go to Ishima with you, and talk about a business deal. The others will rendevous with us there." Bizz said.
"I don't know..." Wizr began.
"I'll give you the software to navigate these blasted asteroids," she replied "besides, we've got a great deal to talk about."
Wizr and Myrk whispered together for a bit, and then agreed.

Behind them, Wind of Blades and the rest of the DEF fleet had begun their plasma-rocket climbs up the shaft, accompanied by the Mariposa. The Escapade was warming up its engines as some final massive prefab base sections were loaded into it - Darkk had gotten almost 85% of his equipment into it.

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

"Admiral Sackler" piped an ensign.
"Yes?"
"There's been a high-focus scan directed at us. Also, we've detected plasma engines similar to the type used by the former UNS being run at full blast. Readings indicate multiple planetary launches. They're on to us."
"I see."

(Pharris, please take it from here)

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

The entire cavern seemed to be shaking itself to pieces as Wizr approached Darkk, standing by the Wind of Blades. Above him, he could reckognize a UNS Carrier floating near the entrance to the launch tube. It pivoted into position, and the auxilliary booster rockets attatched by Darkk's engineers powered the hulking carrier up the launch tube and out into space. Next, the Mammoth Escapade moved into place and prepared to make its ascent.

"Hello Mr. Darkk, It's a pleasure to meet you in person. I've heard a lot about you."

Wizr yelled to be heard over the roar of engines and the engine wash that was pounding the flight deck.

"Spamo has said a thing or two about you, too."

"I understand that time is short, but I wanted to thank you for keeping my Trey'eck. The gesture is greatly appreciated."

"It was no problem, we have bigger things to look out for. The last readings from the sensor sweep give the UEC fleet a two hour ETA. We should both leave. Here, give these disks to your pilot, they should make getting out much easier. We can talk once we're out of here, but we must hurry."

"Very well, I'll see you in orbit. Once again, Thank you!"

The roar grew even louder, and both covered their ears as the Escapade hurtled upwards. Darkk ran back to what was left of his base one last time, while Wizr handed the disks to the flight crew. He strapped in next to Myrk and Bizz, and the Ishiman cruiser quickly rocketed past the huge superfreighter, and was quickly followed by Wind of Blades. As they joined the convoy of ships already gearing up to leave, a tremendous plume of flame rose from the huge precipice that had once housed the main base of the DEF.

------------------
Faris eck Vaenar Maletena-Wizr, Trey'ish of the Ishiman reestablishment comittee.
"I don't think I'm alone when I say that I'd like to see more and more planets fall under the ruthless domination of our solar system."

It had taken hours for the UEC fleet to reach the planet. Where manouverability had failed, sheer firepower was needed to blast a way through the Asteroids. Sackler stood on the bridge of the Command Ship UEC Bourgeois. He watched the tiny burnt-out planet get larger as they approached.

"Sir We're detecting multiple weapon emplacements powering up on the surface."

Sackler grinned. The perfect test of ability for these Battleships. "Fire artillery batteries 1 & 4." The ship jolted slightly as a pair of flares simultaneously darted out from the Bourgeois , falling towards the planetsurface. They entered the thick choking clouds, and soon a large flash was seen.

"Planet-to-space emplacement one has been destroyed."

"Let's hope there were casualties." Sackler grinned again. "Prepare to fire all batteries to their assigned targets. Ready the fleet for when we flush out the DEF."

------------------
It's all fair and good to say everybody's equal, everyone's innocent untill proven guilty, but as the UNS learned so painfully at the end of the Audemedon Wars, there are those who will take advantage of that system and bring massive destruction upon others.
-High Commander Gerald Z. Levt
United Earth Confederacy

"Sucker." Darkk whispered quietly.
The UEC fleet was firing on the automated batteries, unaware of the fact that the base they were protecting had been dismantled and what was immobile destroyed.
"Should we leave them with some reminders boss?" asked the sensor opp.
"Yeah. Have the main fleet follow Wizr and Sarah out, I'll give them something to remeber us by."

Wind of Blades accelerated towards the orbiting fleet, dodging and skirting the asteroids as though they would move out of the way of their own accord.

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

"Sir, one Human HVD incoming!" one of Sackler's aides shouted.
"What can it do to us? Shoot it down." Sackler had read the specs - his ships should be able to kill it before it caused significant damage.

But things didn't go according to plan. Darkk dodged and whirled, concentrating firepower onto one of the large battleships, destroying it with one of his last photopulse shots.

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

"Well boss, what do we do now?"
" Escapade will link up with us, then stop over in Ishima for some shopping and leave. The carriers will go to Hydrae Beta, they'd arouse too much suspicion."
Darkk superlighted out to the jumpgate, and was gone.

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

"Only one ship down, thank goodness."
"Yeah, but that was a battleship. Levt will not like this."
"It's ok - you take losses now and then."
"Let's go down there and see what they left..."

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

Sackler watched the Transport dive into the Planet's atmosphere. It casually dropped into the landing shaft that lead down to what was left of Darkk's Base. He was not pleased. Already, salvage crews were swarming over the hulk of the UES Lalende, trying to rescue the hundreds of crewmembers sealed inside the pressureized compartments deep within the ship. A salvage might have been possible, if not for the cursed asteroids.

The same asteroids that had stopped his ships from chaseing down the traitor and giving him the slow painful death he deserved. Even now, in the relative safety of the upper atmosphere, his ships were still having to dodge occasional meteors that plummeted into the atmosphere. He only hoped the marines would bring up something worthwhile from the base.

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

Wizr had called in the Excapade, and was haveing the intelligence commitee prepare false registration for the ship, and forged documents for its crew. He was also arrangeing for Sarah Darkk to visit a few of the large engineering schools on Ishima. However, those were relatively easy. He had to get some of his aides working to cook up evidence from the Salrillian Simlab that had supposably held Myrk all this time.

As Wizr wrote messages furiously, the Ishiman Heavy cruiser sped along near the Mariposa and the rest of the DEF ships while the Darkk Asteroid Navigator took them through the maze and out to safety

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

The ATR made a pass over the wrecked flight deck, sweeping it for threats. It then proceeded to touch down on the charred concrete. The two teams split up, and began searcheing the area. Lieutenant Harrison lead his six man element through the four storage hangars that had been collapsed, and towards the control tower.

It had been thoroughly cleaned out, and was teetering on the verge of collapse.Finally, the team approached the Elevator shafts that lead up to the main base, several thousand feet above. They had been thoroughly caved in by the blast high above. The team tried to shift the rubble, but to no avail, suddenly, the second squad leader's voice crackled over the intercom.

"Umm... Harris, this is Mike. You'd better come see this. We're out on the tarmack. follow the redline in."

Harris could hear him chuckleing to himself as he 'rogered' and started moveing out. They found to the other team in a circle with several other humans, staring at several Salrillians who had been gagged and bound with large red ribbons. Lt. Mike rose was holding a card, which he passed to Harris.

"A few souveniers from the simlabs: To Levt with love,

-William Darkk"

------------------
Faris eck Vaenar Maletena-Wizr, Trey'ish of the Ishiman reestablishment comittee.
"I don't think I'm alone when I say that I'd like to see more and more planets fall under the ruthless domination of our solar system."

(This message has been edited by Trey'sh Maletena Wizr (edited 02-26-2001).)

_He was running down the burning hallway, carrying the limp body of his wife, a large and bloody gash down her face. There was weapons fire all around him as UNS Marines locked in mortal combat with the Audemedon EVA Drones and the Salrilian troopers who slid and slithered into the interior of the ship. Screaming, burning, explosions, he looked at the marines to find skeletons with pistols, shooting at the Audemedons, who were on fire like spiders under a magnifying glass.

He tripped and dropped his wife, a large piece of steel fell on him, and he clawed at it helplessly trying to free himself to get to his wife. A Salrilian slid into view, not noticing the man, and gutted his wife; a lesson in human anatomy right in the midst of battle! The man opened his mouth with the intent to shout curses, but no sound came out! Screaming, swirling, dizzying whirlpool of fire and brimstone...._

Levt woke up from the dream in a cold sweat. A memory that had always brought him to tears, yet each night he was forced to relive it. And each night he lived it and played it, hoping that each time he could save Samantha. And each night she died like she had a year ago aboard the Chimaera.

And each night Levt would scream a thousand curses to the heartless unemotional Salrilians, who toyed with human lives like a child would with a beetle. Running cruel and inhumane experiments on them, then tossing them aside after they were done.

But in the back of his mind, Levt felt something strange. A nagging feeling about the distant star of HP-51626A. He pulled at his memory for the system's significance. Then he remembered and a tear welled up in his eye. It was his wife's grave lay. Something was calling him to that system.

He punched the comm set on his bedside table. "Commander Pitts."

A tired voice answered back. The commander on night-shift was doing his best, though, to sound composed. "Yes Admiral?"

"Prep the main fleet, we leave in three hours."

------------------
It's all fair and good to say everybody's equal, everyone's innocent untill proven guilty, but as the UNS learned so painfully at the end of the Audemedon Wars, there are those who will take advantage of that system and bring massive destruction upon others.
-High Commander Gerald Z. Levt
United Earth Confederacy

(Sorry I haven't posted. It's been an incredibly busy week for me. )

The Mariposa escorted the carriers in the the Hydrae Beta system. The powerful jamming equipment installed on the battleship kept it and the ships hidden. Secrecy was important here, especially after the UEC raid on Darkk's old base. Spann recalled the harrowing flight out, with a pair of gunboats chasing after that put no small scare into the pilots of the ships. Poor piloting of the gunboats lead to collisions with large lumps of rock.

Levt's letting his pilot training slip. I'd never had let pilots like that fly.
A wry grin passed Spann's face. He took every chance he could to nitpick Levt's forces. It kept him hopeful.

"Sir, your shuttle is ready. You should leave soon, Darkk is expecting you shortly."

"Thank you. Warm up the engines, I'll board now."

Spamo walked off the bridge of the Mariposa and to the small shuttle docked. The craft jetted away from the battleship on a course that would take Spamo to a meeting with Darkk. There they would plan the next move against Levt.

(Ambiguous, yes. It'll get better once I'm back in the loop.)

------------------
Ne Cede Malis Sed Contra Audientor Ito

William loved Ishima. The bright lights, the bustling orbital traffic, the giant stations, the great food, the heavy industry, the great shopping, the grand universities...
He knew his sister would like Ishima too. Wind of Blades and the other light combat ships were hidden deep within the massive bulk of the Escapade.

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

"So, Wizr, do we have a deal?" said Bizz.
"Let's see. I get together the things on this list. Darkklight Entrepenurial Federation pays me for them plus extra. I get you access to some stuff at Ishima National University. You pay me."
"That's the gist of it."
"I'll see what I can do..."

(more tomorrow)

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

The HP-51626A system seemed the quake. There was a massive flash and a ripple as normal space took hold where the brief rupture was. The large UEC fleet emerged with a slight shudder from quasispace, folding directly into low orbit over the blackened and scarred planet.

Levt had once been on a UNS archeological team here before the Ares War. Apparently, many milleniae ago an advanced civilisation had inhabited the planet, and indeed a good number of others, however some sort of nuclear war had wiped them all out, leaving nothing but smoldering ruins and a radioactive ring circling the planet.

The perfect hiding spot for an Audemedon Base: High mineral concentrations, no corrosive atmospheres or hydrospheres left (boiled off into space), and a cold-core. Levt knew it. The sudden arrival of the powered UEC fleet, readied and aimed for orbital bombardment, had caught the Audemedon homeguard completely by surprise, and in the four minutes it took for the Audemedon Computer core to power up the planetary defenses, there were no longer any planetary defenses to power up.

Troop transports containing elite UEC Marines landed on the outskirts of the base, as the Rapid-Deployment-System-Satelites launched by the fleet began their cybernetic assault on the Audemedon Computer Mainframe. In minutes the frame had been hacked and the defense shield surrounding the base was deactivated. Squadrons of fighters scoured the Planetary surface, dropping advance charge bombs on the perimeter, and the marines poured into the base. Fifteen minutes of sniping and shooting were all that were needed for the remnants of the Audemedon Base computer to run it's surrender subroutines.

The Audemedon drones all throughout the base ran those subroutines: falling onto their backs, folding their robotic legs inwards, and deactivating. A single shuttle touched down in the openyard in the center of the base. Inform all squad leaders that the Admiral's shuttle has arrived.

- - - - -

Levt and his ministers were touring the grounds, observing the Audemedon Drones who had once been fighting against the humans, but now were self-reprogrammed to serve under their new masters. The captured drones would prove most useful to the UEC, and were being bolted onto the outsides of the troop transports for their transportation to the fleet.

"The Audemedon Core Unit has erased itself and all Audemedon forces in the system have reverted to our control, Admiral, including a group of their space-fighter drones."

"Good work commander. Have we searched the area for anything important?"

"All but the power core have been searched and salvaged."

"Good. Return to the command ship." Levt motioned to a collumn of marines. "You and you, come with me." They began walking into the tunnel to the base's underground power core.

------------------
It's all fair and good to say everybody's equal, everyone's innocent untill proven guilty, but as the UNS learned so painfully at the end of the Audemedon Wars, there are those who will take advantage of that system and bring massive destruction upon others.
-High Commander Gerald Z. Levt
United Earth Confederacy

The tunnel was dark and cold. Aside from the occasional scurrying of zerbilite larvae, the planet's only feral lifeformes, the footsteps of the marines and technicians echoed loudly and alone. At the head of the marine collumn, Jerry Levt stepped silently. He looked somewhat out of place with his battle vest on and gauss rifle in hand, yet he bravely strode ahead into the darkness at a pace that the marines had to hurry to keep up with.

Finally they reached a fork at the end of the tunnel, where two hallways had been dug and constructed for maintainence drones to pass into the power core. They halted. Levt pointed to the engineers and the frontmost marines "Proceed to the terminal junction, the rest of you: scout and secure to Power Core for orbital extraction." The company split down the two halls, leaving Levt alone.

He stood there and stared at the wall ahead of him, examining the etchings in the wall. Milleniae old, those scratchings were all that remained of the Civilisation that inhabited the planet. From the herdmaster's scripts of Ishima to the traditional tribal weapons of the Cantharan Chiefs, Levt had always been fascinated in archaeology of other races. It helped him learn more of his enemies and how they thought. It was dead silent. Levt began to feel nervous.

"Your report Captain?" He yelled down the hall, expecting a reply from his chief of marines. None came. "Squad leader, report!" He yelled again, more irritated this time. Still there was no reply. Suddenly the laser torch Levt was holding was knocked from his hand by a blast! Now there was a laser torch fused to the wall next to Levt, a slight violet glow where the rock was still hot!

He turned around and whipped out his rifle, pointing into the darkness. "Gllllllad you could joinnnnnn us." A femenine robotic voice echoed throughout the cavern, and a quintet of tall Audemedon legs stepped into the light the fused laser-torch cast upon the ground.

"What?" Jerry exclaimed. "Surrender or I will shred you, drone." He meant it too. His rifle could blast through sheet-rock, if needed.

"What manners are those?" The Audemedon said in a cackly voice. "You wouldn't shoot me, would you?" The Audemedon stepped fully into the light and Levt gasped in horror at the sight of the human head and torso bolted onto the Audemedon quintapod.

But it was not the sight that disturbed Levt, for he had seen many members of his crew assimilated in such manner during the Audemedon War. It was the identity. "Samantha what have they done to you?!"

"Samantha I was, Samantha I am no more. I am Audemedon unit 7694 magistrate sam'Levt." A look of helplessness was in her eyes, yet her voice lavished the words that made Jerry suffer emotionally. She fired a metal bolt from her skull, dislodging the Gauss rifle from his hand,and lept on him, a robotic knee firmly planted on his chest. He could only Lie there, panting in shock.

"Please...." he stammered as she raised her metal scythe-like blades above his neck. "Samantha...." She only grinned, enjoying watching him squirm, at least on the outside. Sweat and tears poured from Jerry as he gazed up at his imminent death in the eyes. She brought the blades down hard. "Samantha I love you." The blades stopped, hovering a hair's breadth above Jerry's throat, digging ever-so-slightly into his flesh.

Somewhere deep inside her, a scrap of humanity had taken hold. Her face twisted into one of sorrow and dispair. She gazed into Jerry's eyes and her jaw shook. The robotized human voice stammered out. "k-k-k.... kill.....meeeeeeee." She begged him, fighting her programmed instincts to butcher the hated Admiral, fighting with all the good and humanity left in her. "please." she begged, straining to restrain herself, as the battle deep inside of her waged: her human side versus the machine.

Jerry reached for the pinned Rifle and dislodged it from the wall, jabbing the barrel at the underside of her jaw. "No... I can't."

"You must....." She pleaded, but then her eyes glazed over and her facial expression changed from that of love to one of extreme anger and hatred as the machine side finally reaffirmed itslef "....dieeeeee...." The robotic voice droned. The blades raised again and began their descent. Jerry pulled the trigger.

- - - - -

There were bullets and blood sprayed on the wall, and a bloodsoaked Admiral stood up and emitted a howl of anguish, which quickly turned into a shriek of hatred for the cold-hearted Salrilians that had forced him to do this. Pure hatred.

The Salrilians had intended for Audemedon unit 7694 magistrate sam'Levt to be the Assassin that would kill the enemy Admiral. But they had done much worse than kill him. They had hurt him. They forced him to spend the rest of his life with the knowledge that he had killed his own beloved wife.

The Salrilians had hurt Levt emotionally. And Levt swore that day that he would exterminate every last one of them for it.

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It's all fair and good to say everybody's equal, everyone's innocent untill proven guilty, but as the UNS learned so painfully at the end of the Audemedon Wars, there are those who will take advantage of that system and bring massive destruction upon others.
-High Commander Gerald Z. Levt
United Earth Confederacy

(I think a Jumpgate is a path through quasispace. As for not paying attention, he's going to pay for it now :))

4 hours after the UEC main fleet left Sol, an intruding fleet chose to make their entrance. Halfway between Io and Ganymede, 29 ships appeared and almost instantaneously vanished.

-------

"Commander, sensor readings indicate a jumpgate opening in Jovian orbits."
"Dispatch two squardons of X-19s. Nothing could get in here that they wouldn't take care of."
"Dispatching..."

-------

The cloaked fleet began hyperlighting towards Mars, flying past the two X-19 squardons. Noticing, the Gunboats altered course. Finally settling on the other side of the station, the escorts decloaked, and set off their holograms, recloaking.

-------

"My god, there must be 50 of 'em! Call in a capital fleet!"

-------

As the X-19s began engaging the apparent "escorts," the actual ships brought to bear on the station again. All simultaneously fired and set back into hyperlight.

A faint shimmer was seen in the orbit of Jupiter.

(You realy must be more careful about what you do with a main fleet, Slug)

------------------
-=MoC 94:19=-
"Cheaters don't really win, and winners don't really cheat. Unless you're talking politics." -Durandal
"Fate protects fools, children, and ships named Enterprise." -Riker to Bridge Crew
(This message has been edited by Pallas Athene (edited 11-27-2830).)

The meager patrol forces in Sol were easily dodged and soon the Obish Escort Cruiser Squadron was in orbit over Mars. They engaged the Battlestation with nimbleness and deception, as both the automated and manned defenses were fooled as hundreds of escorts seemed to appear and disappear after firing their rounds.

Massive amounts of firepower were being poured into the attacking enemy "Fleet", but the shredder bolts grabbed only empty space. Pulses of protomatter seemed to come fron nowhere as the real escorts lowered their stealth fields briefly to loose their salvos, then engaged them before the automated defenses were able to lock on.

The strike was going well. Too well. The escorts found themselves running out of ammunition, and their energy reserves were reaching critical levels. One by one they broke off formation and began their return to Obain.

The battlestation had sustained a massive amount of damage. Whole sections of plating had been blown off here and there, the command dome and all the defenders within were annihilated, and the defensive emplacements were choked with debris. Over half of the station was completely inoperable, and the outer hull would remain smouldering fiercly for days to come.

Try as they had, the Escorts had been unable to breach the hull and inflict their flame onto the soft and vulnerable object the huge exoskeloten had been constructed to protect.

However, along with the considerable damage they had inflicted on Levt's shipyard, the Obish Squadron had discovered their key to the defeat of the UEC. The human capital world was undefended and vulnerable. The Alien Alliances would be pleased to know this.

------------------
It's all fair and good to say everybody's equal, everyone's innocent untill proven guilty, but as the UNS learned so painfully at the end of the Audemedon Wars, there are those who will take advantage of that system and bring massive destruction upon others.
-High Commander Gerald Z. Levt
United Earth Confederacy

(I was wondering how you would take that. That's a satisfying resolve)

------------------
-=MoC 94:19=-
"Cheaters don't really win, and winners don't really cheat. Unless you're talking politics." -Durandal
"Fate protects fools, children, and ships named Enterprise." -Riker to Bridge Crew
(This message has been edited by Pallas Athene (edited 11-27-2830).)