(I'm (i)not(/i) taking stuff from other places)

It had been on the newswebs everywhere throughout known space. The United Earth Confederacy had been born.

The UNS navy had submitted to the UEC, the Ishiman and Elejeetian fleets had recalled all support, seeing as the situation had remedied itself. But that was not the major reason Chairman Levt was proud when he delivered his speech of coronation.

For the first time in it's history, all of mankind had united as a single power. No dissidents, no usurpers rose to challenge the conent authority of the United Earth Confederacy.

Levt beheld the massive festivities being held. The huge parades on which he was the crowning part of. Trumpeting fanfare, cheering, ribbins and confetti. Bands playing, triumphant armies marching, colorful banners, and Levt waving to the ecstatic liberated people, smiling broadly.

A Legion of troops marched in front of him, brandishing their polished guns and also smiling, glad to be home. Home. At last.

Jerry breathed in through his nose, taking the wholesome smalls he hadn't smelled for years. Real Earth air. Squadrons of gleaming fighters flew over the city, detonating flares and fireworks in their wake.

The whole entourage was now nearing it's target: An Audemedon Ion Cannon, fully intact, built on the ruins of the Golden Gate. A DEF and UNS flag were draped over it, burning. The last remaining trace that the Audemedons were ever on Earth. They stopped and the crowd surged forward to watch the demonstration take place.

Jackson Spann walked forward, a slightly saddenned expression on his face, and handed Jerry the remote, shooting him a sour look that would pierce rock. Levt simply smiled back as he took the control.

He held it high and pressed it. For moment nothign happenned. The millions of people went dead silent. Soon a slight rumble could be heard. It quickly rose in pitch and the Ion cannon shook violently. Then, a brilliant yellow beam shot through the clouds, focused needle-thin. It impacted and with a silent roar, atomized the Ion Cannon.

The crowd exploded into cheer and singing as their victory was made final. Celebration flowed through the streets of San Fransisco like a torrent, sweeping up all in it's path in happiness and contentness. The torrent was not contained to San Fransisco, nor even the planet. Every human in the galaxy felt an air of smugness, of superiority. No Longer would humanity be pushed around by alien powers. No longer would they be treated like dirt. They were now part of the second or third most powerfull race in the galaxy.

And nothing could stop that.

However in the back of Levt's mind, he could not help but worry of Darkk's fleet. Amidst the final moments of the Liberation, a single unauthorized Heavy Destroyer was tracked leaving high Earth orbit....

------------------
Never put all your ranking officers in a shuttle.

Quote

Originally posted by Slug:
**(I'm (i)not(/i) taking stuff from other places)
**

I thought the gunboats looked a bit extremely like Orcas from C&C; origional.

------------------
"I am the supreme dictator of the universe, it's just that nobody knows about it yet."
"Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow."

(sorry Spamo, too late)
(Poo. Oh well. Slug, finish this please. I'm having a devil of a time portraying Levt's character.)

Spamo stood in Levt's office.
"I'm glad you're not forcing me to resign my commission Jerry. But to appoint yourself the lead of the UEC? Isn't that a bit much?"

"I don't see how Spann. I've made this government, and I'm going to protect it." Levt stood and picked up his mug of coffee. "It wouldn't be good to let alien influence back into our lives."

Spamo shook his head. "Levt, your alien influences won't attack earth anymore. Dammit, we've got to be neighborly to them or we WILL get swarmed under. I won't let the UHC become another Cantharan Empire."

Levt puffed up with indignity. "How dare you compare the UEC to a pack of snakes like the Cantharans!?"

"The UHC can make this Galaxy a place that's a lot more peaceable, or it will be an force that will conquer and destroy in the name of righteousness. The same ideals that the Cantharans had before the Ares war."

"I don't believe you're saying this Spann. They're not human. You can't trust them."

"Can't I? I've made friends with the Gaitori. Industrial geniuses. The Ishimans and the Obiards made it possible for the UNS to open the holes in the Salrillian force holding Earth."

"We still shouldn't trust them."

Spamo stood also. "Levt. The UEC is yours creation, but it is also now mine as much as I loathe its creation. Do not ruin it."

(This message has been edited by Slug (edited 02-14-2001).)

(This message has been edited by El Spamo (edited 02-15-2001).)

(This message has been edited by El Spamo (edited 02-15-2001).)

"Dit! Dit! Dit! Dit! Dit! Dit! Dit! Dit! Dit! Dit! Dit! Dit! Dit! Dit! Dit! Dit! Dit! Dit! Dit! Dit! Dit! Dit!"
"William, calm down."
"I don't like Levt. He's OK with a fleet, he's got some good propaganda skills, but I don't like him being in charge. He's too emotional. Too hotheaded."
"C'mon. His record indicates he's an excelent leader..."
"I'd bet money he'll screw up in 4 years. Big, empire-toppling screw up."
"You're just mad you lost."
"Well, that too. Doesn't seem too honorable, eh?"
"We'll be through the asteroid field in 20 minutes. He can't come here, so relax, we can stay here for quite awhile."

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

(Note: for those of you who forgot her, Biz is an Ishiman who serves as chief accountant and home base commander.)

"Welcome back!" Biz shouted.
"I trust you recieved the comm about my sister?"
"So, this is the one you were willing to risk so much for. I am glad you found her."
"I trust you heard about the UEC?"
"Yes. Most distressing."
"That's an nderstatement."
"Glad to see your over the boarder raids were so successful. We certainly have some profit from this."
"That's not anywhere near the top of my concerns."
"Right, this Levt guy wants you very dead."
"I was thinking. We have a great deal in common, maybe we could work something out. I'll call him and see if we can avoid a messy final showdown."

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

(This message has been edited by Fleet Admiral Darkk (edited 02-14-2001).)

(This message has been edited by Fleet Admiral Darkk (edited 02-14-2001).)

Well Jack, I guess this is the end. I hope you understand, the Legislature will not bend on this issue. If even the UNS has molded with the UEC, then there is nothing more I can do. I know for a fact that you can't possibly believe their racist dogma, but I suppose that there were other concerns that weighed upon your decision. If the UEC continues treating foreigners as it has, I could forsee the Legislature severing diplomatic and economic ties, so I may not be able to see you again. I must say, it was a pleasure working with you. I wish you the best of luck.

Thank you, Trey'sh Faris eck Vaenar Maletena-Wizr, out.

He turned off the vidlink, and sent the message. It was over. The Legislature had cut aid, and forbidden the Reestablishment Commitee from continueing relations with the new UEC.

(Will post more, must run)

------------------
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."

INCOMING MESSAGE
SOURCE: Relay/Deep Space Probe UEC 146
RELAYED TRANSMISSION
FROM: Ob-ka sector

EMERGENCY REPORT

Unusual levels of pirate activity detected on planetsurface. Ship debris and troop transports detected.

Enemy (pirates?) amassing troops on surface. Incoming hostile ships. Laserfire detec-

TRANSMISSION INTERRUPTED

------------------
Never put all your ranking officers in a shuttle.

(ie: you can continue your Ob-Ka plot now)

------------------
Never put all your ranking officers in a shuttle.

(very few people used Ob-Ka, not even me. 8 Lightnings can continue it, but I won't)

------------------
-=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

As the Flamewave neared the large vessel, Mag and his crew felt more and more uneasy. Several large turrets on top of it began swivelling in Mag's direction.

"Be ready to get us out of here, ensign," Mag said to the Gaitori pilot.

"Aye, sir."

The turrets were now pointing directly at them, and Mag could see down their barrels. A brief green flash in each barrel, and several pulses shot at the Flamewave.

The Flamewave's engines came fully to life and spewed fire as they thrusted to dodge the shots. Their afterburner was going full blast, and one of the gunboats behind them spun out of control as it caught a large gout of flame. The Flamewave pulled up and to starboard, and the three shots from the capitol ship barely missed its underside. One of the shots hit another gunboat behind them, which immediately burst into a cloud of flames and debris.

"Get us out of here!" yelled the scanner operator to the pilot. He was staring at the screen. "There are twelve of those gunboats headed this way!"

The Flamewave shot over the top of the capitol ship, and began to pull away when the twelve gunboats dropped out of superlight behind them. A volley of missiles was fired, which they managed to dodge most of. A UEC transport that they had been heading towards caught most of the rest of the missiles, and became hot expanding gas and tons of debris.

"Ensign, engage the superlight boosters, get us to those jumpgate modules."

"Aye, sir." The ensign held a control. The superlight boosters powered up, then made a loud groaning noise as the ship was rocked. They did not go to superlight speeds.

"Sir," said the damage control officer, "it looks like they're jamming superlight boosters! If we keep using them, they'll detonate in short order."

"Shut them down, and get ready to dodge the next salvo of missiles!" Mag couldn't help but yell. This was even exciting for a droid.

"Yes, sir." The Flamewave rotated, then the pilot blasted the engines again, and shot them off to the side. The missiles shortly passed right through where they had been.

"Which vessel is doing the jamming?"

"I don't know, sir. Scan for anything with type 3 energy readings coming off of it heavy."

"Sir, I have one ship. It's at 3 o'clock and 8 o'clock."

"Get us heading for it."

"Aye, sir."

The ship rotated to the left and down, and a ship was on the center of their screen. A large ship with a complex array of broadcasting equipment on top. The Flamewave shot for it, dodging several more missiles on the way.

"Fire a salvo of our own missiles at the source of the type 3 radiation."

Four concussion missiles streaked off to the ship, and impacted around the base of a large sattelite dish that was pointed at them. The dish was blown off the vessel, and began drifting towards them.

"Did that do it?"

"Aye, sir, the jamming is gone."

"Get us out of here."

The superlight boosters began charging. Time slowed to a sickening pace, like a crawl, but the thing doing the crawling did not particularly want to go where they were going. The boosters charged, the dislodged sattelite dish and the Flamewave came closer. The superlight boosters charged more, and the ship and the dish got closer. The superlight boosters were nearly finished charging, the Flamewave would collide with the dish in extremely short order.

Then, the crew was pulled backwards as a loud whoosh resounded throughout the ship, and the Flamewave went to superlight. The gunboats, however, had been busy firing at the Flamewave, and had not been trying to get to superlight. Their most recent salvo of missiles impacted on the dish, and it was engulfed in fire. They began slowing down, as they weren't sure that the dish was destroyed.

They didn't have much of a chance to slow down before they shot into the firey clouds. The captains of the ships around the dish held their breath as they waited. Suddenly, they came out the other side, flaming and bent out of shape. They each burst into fireballs after drifting for a bit. One of them crashed into a capitol ship, blackening its armor in one spot.

The Flamewave dissapeared through a jumpgate.

------------------
"I am the supreme dictator of the universe, it's just that nobody knows about it yet."
"Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow."

Levt looked down his nose at the report. "Did they see the Vengeance?"

"No sir, but they nearly destroyed the transport carrying the Chrono Core's subassembalies."

"Let's be glad they didn't." Levt turned around in his swivel chair. "I want the construction to go as smoothly as possible."

"Yes sir!"

"Oh, and another thing."

"Yes?"

"Have the men who designed those missile guidance systems flogged." Levt said jokingly.

The captain grinned and left the room, leaving Levt alone, brooding in his thoughts.

------------------
Never put all your ranking officers in a shuttle.

"We will need to handle 2 threats at once," the first Salrilian said.
"What is the Oracle's prediction?" the second asked.
"Audemed isn't going to attack for at least 120 cycles. More than enough time to deal with the human scum."
"This Levt is most interesting."
"We have found something to use against him..."

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

_
Reinitialization 56%
Core neural pathways 78% responsive
Memory at 97%
Cell structure renormalization at 35%
_

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

_
Reinitialization 100%
Core neural pathways 100% responsive
Memory at 100%
Cell structure renormalization at 100%

Beginning reset... ETR 15hrs...
_

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

"I'm concerned. What makes you think she won't do what Pharris did?"
"This time we didn't bother with drugs, brainwashing, or amnesia and just planted transducter nodes. Any actions treasonous to us aren't leaving the primary imaginative loop - that includes choosing to do nothing."
"Has the Oracular Network simulated this?"
"Only 2 simulations out of 15978318, each spanning her remaining natural life, indicated a possiblity of unassisted disobedience. Neither case was serious."
"That is sufficient. We will watch her carefully, and run continuous simulations. No rebellion, or there will be repurcussions..."
"I understand."

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

_
Reset completed
Subject resting comfortably
Continuing sedation
Downloading informational database
Command links check out
Initiating wakeup in
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
_

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

The Flamewave was coming in to dock with a human trading post on the border of the Free Trade Zone.

"Sir, something's happening in Quasispace near here."

"Oh?"

"I don't know what it is. I've never seen anything like this before."

"Describe it."

"I don't know. There are patterns to it, movement and shifting this way and that. It's ve-"

Two Quasispace gates opened in front of the Flamewave, and two UEC ships rocketed through. One of them fired a missile at the Flamewave. The missile travelled at incredible speeds, and hit before the crew had registered the situation. Instead of putting a large hole in the Flamewave, it detonated with an EMP. The Flamewave drifted. The other UEC ship got a tractor lock, and they exited through a Quasispace gate.

-----------------
(SOL SYSTEM, 2 HOURS LATER)

The Flamewave and it's captor ships came in, and Mag began using his infrared vision, as the Flamewave's sensors had been knocked out by the EMP. They were being towed towards a gigantic station.

It was about ten kilometers long. Gigantic. As they neared it, an equally gigantic set of heavy-duty doors on one side opened, and they were towed into a still equally gigantic "room". One of the walls was another set of gigantic doors. They were taken in, and then their captors left.

An engineering pod came up to them and got their computers back online. A message appeared on the Flamewave's screen:

Welcome, Flamewave, to our little test. In a few minutes, those doors will open, and the Vengeance will come after you. Your job is to survive for as long as possible, as this is a test to see if it lives up to its reputation. Do not worry, previous test subjects have survived for about thirty seconds. You'll be seeing the disrupter cannons, as the chronokinetic cannon is not online yet.

The doors slowly opened, and Mag's crew began breathing unevenly. A colossal ship was revealed. Larger than a Gateship, and this appeared to be designed for combat, not movement. A bright green glow formed on one of its three wings. Mag didn't even have to give the order; the piloting officer shot out of the way just as a green beam shot for them.

The beam missed, and part of the inside of the main door became liquid for a few seconds before cooling off.

"Keep dodging those beams!" Mag yelled.

"Aye sir, I had no intention of stopping," the pilot yelled back. Another disrupter beam missed slightly above them.

After about four more beams missed, a pack of the Gunboats came down from the "ceiling" and began firing at them from the other side. They were forced to move towards the Vengeance in the process of dodging the Gunboats' missiles. Another disrupter shot, and their shields were grazed.

"Shields are down to 17%!" yelled the maintinence officer. "Another one of those blasts and we're toast, sir!"

They were nearing the Vengeance, and the Gunboats stopped. The disrupter blasts were getting closer, the decreased range was making it easier for the UEC gunners. Soon, they were right in front of the Vengeance. It was a blind spot. The Veangeance turned at a speed that Mag had never seen any ships anywhere near that large turn at. As its side showed, and the uncompleted frame near the back, Mag had an idea.

"Ensign, fly us back there, behind the disrupter cannons."

"Aye, sir. Let's hope they can't fire backwards!"

As the Flamewave got behind a disrupter cannon, Mag and the rest of the crew was thankful that they couldn't fire backwards. Then, the six X-19 Gunboats superlighted near them, and the door closed, shutting them in tightly with the Veangance and six gunboats.

A salvo of missiles was fired at them, and the pilot immediately dodged the missiles in the only direction he could - inside the Vengeance. Lots of extra frame and metal were around them, and they continued down a tunnel formed by uncompleted ship. The gunboats pursued, but didn't fire, as they didn't want to damage the interior of the ship.

"Sir, should I fire?"

"Negative, if we fire, they won't hesitate to kill us to stop us from doing damage."

"Aye, sir."

Around a corner, they came up on the power generator, and the end of the tunnel. They stopped. The Gunboats blocked the exit. Another message:

Attention Mag Steelglass: Get within 300 meters of the gunboats NOW. You have thirty seconds to comply before they open fire.

Mag knew what they wanted them to be so close for. Accurate firing of their missiles. They were done with their test.

"Sir, shall we comply?"

"Negative. Sensors, what do you have?"

"Well, there's a fuel line that goes near the power core, and leads all the way outside of the ship. If we could get the fuel to detonate, it would create a passage for us."

"Can one salvo of our concussion missiles get it to go off?"

"No, sir."

"What if we detonate the power core?"

"Sir, we're at low shielding, I don't know if we'd be able to survive that," piped in the damage control officer. The shields had risen above 17%, but were still very low.

"Well, we're definately not going to survive if we don't try it. Reroute all available power to the shields, brace for impact, and prepare to fire one salvo of concussion missiles at the power core."

"Yessir."

Sirens began going off all throughout the ship, and the X-19 Gunboats came closer.

"Sir, the Gunboats are supplying fresh power to their missile launchers."

"Fire!" Mag yelled. Four concussion missiles streaked off to the power core. A giant explosion resulted, and Mag lost sight of the ships' screen as he was thrown to the back wall. When he got up, his bridge crew was battered, bruised, and scraped, but nothing too serious.

"Damage control, what still works?"

"Engines, sensors, and life support is working but failing. I suggest we get the crew into space suits and get out of here. "

"Right. All crew, get in pressure suits. Get us out of here, helm. Sensors, what have you got on the gunboats?"

"All six are disabled, their life support systems are failing."

"Helm, bring us closer to them, let's get their pilots to safety and tow them out with cables."

"Aye, sir."

The Flamewave turned away from the empty shell that had been the power generator, and the crew prepared to pick up the pilots from the gunboats.

------------------
"I am the supreme dictator of the universe, it's just that nobody knows about it yet."
"Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow."

Admiral Jerry Levt stood straight, his left hand cupping his right fist behind his back, staring at the stars in the direction the test subjects had fled. Many of his peers had considered the test a dismal faliure. The Chrono Cor had been destroyed, a large section of the Vengeance had been disabled and the shipyard had been ripped wide open. It would take months to fix the damage, and a full year to continue construction.

However, Levt considered the test to be the biggest success the UEC had ever made. And rightfully so. Soon, word was spreading throughout the galaxy of the doings of the UEC, of the massive construction taking place somewhere near Mars.

UEC ships had been terrorizing the Cantharan border, even managing to hold back the thick swath of the Gaitori fleet, eager for a closer look.

Meanwhile, back on Salril, the prophets could only weep, knowing full well that the humans were fulfilling the ancient prophecy.

------------------
Never put all your ranking officers in a shuttle.

Spamo strode angrily into Levt's office. One of the security guards outside tried to stop him, but he brushed him aside like an annoying bug. Levt looked up as the door opened and a furious looking Admiral Spann entered.

"Slug, what the hell are you up to?"

"Speak respectfully to your superior officer Spann!"

"Very well then, High Commander Levt. I demand an explanation." Spamo turned to the gaping security officer. "You, out." The officer scuttled out the door.

Levt glared at Spann. "An explanation for what? And explain yourself for barging into my office."

Spann glared back and threw a folder on the table. Levt opened the folder, and inside were several pictures of a large station, a few with small ships being pulled toward a docking bay, and one last one with a part of the station bubbled and burned.

"That sir are recon pictures taken of a station built out near Mars. I looked into the funding funneled towards the project. All tags have been labelled "top secret" and no description could be found. Now what I want to know, is why a massive station like that has been built, funding funneled from other vital areas and no explanation given on records. What's more, reports have been made of several private starships in the vicinity of the station have been taken inside. None have come out."

Levt stared at the pictures for a moment and then back up at Spann. "I don't have to explain myself to you. That station is part of scientific research vital to the survival of the UEC."

"The UEC is more than surviving Levt. The depradations you've made in Cantharan space are hideous. And your constant refusal to make any sort of peaceful relations with non-human races is foolish. The Gaitori have made..."

"ENOUGH Spann! You're constant whining and snivelling about 'making peace' with those aliens is getting on my nerves. If you approach me one more time about that I will have you court-martialed."

Spamo stood like a statue as Levt unleashed his dressing-down. Finally, he was finished.

"I understand completly sir. My interests lie soley in the best interests of humanity. Our ideas on making that so differ. I will not bring it up again in heat. But I must ask you, alienating ourselves from the rest of the galaxy will be worse than anything we've done before."

"No Spann. It would be better than anything we've done before. I am giving you one last chance Spann. I won't have your insubordination any more. The only reason you're still here is because you're tactical genius is too valuable to waste. Don't make me have to throw that away."

Admiral Jackson Spann saluted and left Levt's office. Levt turned and sat back down.
Damn you Spann. Why won't you see things the way they are? I know what's good for humanity. I have to make you see that or kill you trying.
Levt's monitor bleeped at him as another document arrived for him to read through. Slug got back to work.

<><><><><><><>

Spamo stood on the bridge of the Mariposa. The crew had been freshly changed out. Nearly all of the crew were the originals of the Mariposa. As the ship moved towards the Sol jumpgate, Spann's first officer leaned over to him.

"You're still sure you're going to go through with this?"

"Yes Johann. There were no other options left."

Johann nodded and then sat back. "I am with you then Admiral. To the death."

"Excellent. Time to push the big red button."

The comm system chirped. "This is Jumpgate SHC-00115 hailing Mariposa. Prepare for transit in 2 minutes."

Two minutes later, the swirling jumpgate appeared and the Mariposa moved through. Before it entered, a tiny signal flashed out from the warship. It bounced off a couple of sattelites and into a communication nexus. The signal activated small bits of code in the system, which then sent a set of preset commands to most of the UEC ships and stations. Command level orders caused many ship systems to shut down and delete themselves. Some were stopped before total loss was made, but many ships suffered near total computer loss. As the Mariposa entered the jumpgate, the coordinates set in the computer changed, and then deleted themselves. The Mariposa was gone, along with it Admiral Spann.

Somewhere at the other end of the Jumpgate

The Mariposa fell from the scintillating gate and into deep space. A large nebula and asteroid field drifted nearby.

"This is the starship Mariposa hailing Darkklight Enterprises. Darkklight Enterprises, this is the starship Mariposa. Darkk, it's Spann, pick up the comm."

(Ahh, the joys of military command codes. Levt's gonna have an aneurism. :D)

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

Levt clenched his jaw at the report as he heard the news: Nearly a quarter of the fleet had been knocked out of commision for at least a few days. Many of those that suffered the computer meltdown had been on patrol in deep space, and now drifted helplessly as their commanders tried to reboot from hard.

His fists became like stone and at one point, he was ready to destroy something. He closed his eyes, counted to seven, then sat down with hardly a break in his complexion.

"Sir we've been recieving political statements like this from all over Confederate space. Spann's act of sabotage was the latest."

"Very well." Levt said, a hint of emotion in his stone-cold voice. "Send four Battleships to hunt down the Rebel. I'll prepare my speech." Jerry was distressed. Spann you could have had it all. You did have it all. And you had to destroy it all over a difference of views. I thought more of you, Spann.

------------------
Never put all your ranking officers in a shuttle.

"Glad to see you here Spann. Welcome to the Sanatarium Asteroid
Field. It's named that because if you enter of your own free will, you belong in one. Unless, of course, you know some tricks."
"According to all charts, that belt is unnavigable. How do you get in?"
"This."
Downloading DEF Asteroid Navigator v1.25
"You wrote a program that can navigate the field?"
"Yeah, it took a lot of work, and I lost quite a few drones testing it."
"You sure this is safe?"
"Heck, I even DOGFIGHT in here with it. It's safe. We even managed to get a multi-km superfreighter through."
"Where in heck do you keep it?"
"You'll see. Now open it and select 'DEF homebase'."
"Roger."

The Mariposa shot forward, weaving alarmingly close to the asteroids, dodging through gaps, occasionally shooting ones that might collide.
So it continued for 15 nerve-wracking minutes. Spamo shut down the viewscreens at last, as the computer was far too audacious even for him. At some points a dull thudding could be heard as smaller asteroids glanced off the shields, or the ship scraped a larger one.

"How much longer will this take?"
"You're through the field for the most part. Set it for base entry."
"Uhh, Darkk, this thing can barely land on a 1g world, that's a 3g world..."
"Only at the surface. As you get lower and there starts to be mass above you pulling up, and gravity decreases. At the landing site, it's 0.3g."
"That fissure over there that we're heading towards..."
"...is really deep, thanks to the way the planet formed. No time for explanations, come on in. We need to talk a great deal."

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

Captain Brandon Sackler entered the High Commander's office. Part of him said that he should be nervous, but he was still overjoyed at the news. It had barely been two months, and much of Earth was just beginning to feel the touch of the new government that had taken hold of the populated areas. The resistance, once a military orgainization was now useing its tremendous communication networks to provide humanitarian aid to the remote places on the planet's surface.

After all of his efforts, over fourty years spent in the underground, Sackler was overjoyed at the thought of liberation, and he was about to meet the man responsable, High Commander Gerald Levt. The guard checked his pad, and signaled the others to let him through. His traditional "Wet Navy" dress uniform starkly contrasted that of the new Terran Space Navy's, and he fekt awkward as he entered the Commanders office and stood at attention.

The chair spun around as the door swished open, and Jerry Levt stood up and walked around his desk to greet the latest addition to the UEC Military.

"Good Morning, Captain Sackler, It's so good to meet you at last, I've heard a lot about your exploits with the Resistance movement."

Sackler smiled

"What sort of exploits?"

"Calcutta and Los Angeles come to mind, though there are probably countless others that my intel people missed, it was a long occupation."

"It was..."

"If only those cowardly rodents hadn't left us to rot, we could have stopped them. I tell you, Captain, these aliens are not to be trusted. We are alone in this galaxy, we must fend for ourselves. We can't let any of these despicable aliens try and manipulate us again. I will not allow it."

"I couldn't agree more, Commander. Even the Ishimans abandoned us in our hour of need. They are not to be trusted."

"Listen to me Sackler, I will be blunt. Your command skills are legendary on Earth. The resistance that you coordinated succeeded in undermiming Cantharaan control for three decades. You are exactly the type of commander I need to head my fleets. I am offering you a comission as an admiral in the Terran Space Navy. It is very different from submarine warfare, but that is not why I want you. I want you for the aura you carry. I want you to give our men the same passion that allowed the Resistance to remain strong in the most dire circumstances. You will have the top advisors and aides, and you will be at the head of one of the most powerful strike fleets in the galaxy. Together, we shall bring glory to the Terran Space Navy."

There was a silence as Sackler stood in shock.

"Well, Captain, do you accept?"

"I would be honored to."

(This message has been edited by Trey'sh Maletena Wizr (edited 02-20-2001).)

ATTENTION FELLOW CITIZENS OF THE UNITED EARTH CONFEDERACY

Click (url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/slug1337/speech/index.html")here(/url) (1.04 MB total)

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Never put all your ranking officers in a shuttle.

"This is bad Darkk. Very bad."

Spamo read over the propaganda given out by the UEC. Slug was nothing if not devious.

"He's pulling the wool over the eyes of millions, because his xenophobic mind won't accept anyone thinking differently."

Darkk nodded. Spann's ship was docked outside of the huge base-planetoid deep within the nebula.

"There's not much we can do as far as counter-propaganda. I don't have the resources, nor the credibility. He's got all the cards where that's concerned."

"Then we'll have to hit him where he doesn't hold them all. Dammit Will, we can't let this madman run the galaxy." Spamo brought his fist down on the table, knocking over an empty cup of coffee.

"Easy there Jack. Don't bust my table."

Spann rubbed his bruised hand and continued. "I know that there's plenty of men that would follow me. The Mariposa is a shipful of loyal men. And there are hundreds if not thousands more that KNOW that that Slug is wrong. When I left, there was a small rash of 'resignations' from the UEC fleet. Let's make rounding them up our first priority."

Darkk raised an eyebrow. "This isn't the days of the Ares Jack. A pack of determined liberators won't take down that behemoth. We don't have the Ishimans behind us anymore."

Spann grinned broadly. "Who says the Ishimans are the only ones that can help?"

William Darkk sat puzzled for a moment, before Spann's meaning struck home.
"No, you couldn't mean to..."

"Precisely. This time, the galaxy WILL be united. We ALL have a common foe indeed."

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Ne Cede Malis Sed Contra Audientor Ito

"...either that or sensor ghosts." Sarah was saying as Spamo walked in. She and Darkk looked up from the square table in the war room.

"What's up?" Spamo said with curiosity.

"We've been tracking a large Salrilian fleet deep in Audemedon space. Apparently they're running a rather successfull invasion. Three Audemedon patrols were annihilated this morning before they could send word off to Axis of the invasion."

"But," Will continued from his sister, "We've found something disturbing here. The Salrilians are on a genocidal rampage against both the Audemedons and the Gaitori."

"What?"

"The Declaration of war was announced this morning. Cantharis is doing it's best to sabotage and undermine all three factions. Do you see what we've done, Spamo?"

Spamo breathed in in steps and clenched his eyes. "The UEC has started a major galactic civil war. They're using their enemy's enemies to break them apart. Meanwhile they just sit there and when at last Cantharis, Salril, Axis, and Gaitor are worn out and weak, BAM! Then the UEC rolls in and slaughters all four factions!"

"We know that, Spamo. There is the other thing we find more disturbing. The Salrilian fleet is commanded by one they call sam'Levt."

The room went Silent as Spamo brewed his thoughts. A heavy sense of foreboding came over him. Bad news always came in sets of three."

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Never put all your ranking officers in a shuttle.