(The rules are simple: If you want to participate, all you have to know is how to press 'post')

_The galaxy is at war. Union ships striking from the heart of Union space have circumvented the defenses of the Earth Sol Federation, and for the second time in a millenia, Earth is threatened. With deadly new allies, the Union and Naarad swarm over the defenses of Magestic 3... the first in a long series of colonies to be destroyed. During the battle, Captain Perneas was captured by a Naarad carrier. Before Darkk could rescue him, he was taken on board the Naarad's greatest ship, the Dreadnought CX 88. Forced to retreat, the Vylae and remaining ESF captains left him for dead.

Captain Pharris, the distuinguished Executive Officer of the cruiser, Xerxes, has had his capabilities recognised by Technon/Naarad, and requisitioned for conditioning as admiral of a major union fleet...

Undergoing conditioning of his own, Perneas fights with his overlords, desperately trying to stem a developing situation..._

'Get up.' A voice broke through the everpresent darkness enfolding 'Captain' Perneas mind. He knew the drill. Without waiting for the stun prod, he jumped out of his bed, and saluted smartly.

Then he realised something was wrong. His usual captors were shaped differently.

'Is your name William Perneas, former ESF captain?' The figure's voice was harsh and metallic. Even the naarad had better translators than this.

'Negative.' Perneas replied. 'We are Naarad.'

A sigh seemed to escape the 'lips?' of the alien.

'You're no good to me conditioned. If you answer the same way again, I will shoot you.'

A cylindrical object was faintly visible in the alien's hand.

'Incorrect syntax.' Captain Perneas had no will to say anything else. Hadn't he been speaking like this for a million years?

'Is your name William Perneas? Are you a former ESF captain? I must warn you, answer me 'Naarad' and I will terminate your life.'

'We...' Perneas felt something surge within him. With typical Naarad precision, he isolated this emotion and studied, in the heartbeat of a second. It was an urge... to survive. 'I...' He croaked. His programming was useless to him in situations like this? What was he supposed to do? He checked himself against his core programming. He was deviating sharply from his assigned emotional structure. In order to analyse this further, he made an enquiry into Input/Output Memory. The answer he was given was an affirmative.

'I am Captain Perneas. I am William Perneas.' He answered stolidly.

The alien lowered his gun, but did not drop it.

'You don't sound too sure. But this is sufficient. Come with me.'

He grabbed Perneas by the neck. Perneas reacted immediately, grabbing it, trying to tear it off. He began to see spots. Suddenly the hold loosened. An equally hard pressure was applied to his shoulder blades. He tested the grip. It was as hard as a steel clamp, and slightly damp.

'My apologies, your physiology is unknown to me.' Said the being. Perneas could make out a faintly humanoid shape, but there were... bulges... as if someone didn't quite know who to make a human being.

He sent an inquiry to Input/Output Memory. The answer was: follow him.

Perneas began walking briskly beside the alien. These corridors were faintly familiar to him... he had been here before he could tell.

Suddenly warning bells began to cry in his head. He began yelling incorrectly.

'AGghhieieeiiiii!' A hand clamped over his mouth.

'You are conditioned! Even so, we might be able to do something for you. Cry out again, and I will disable your vocal chords.

Perneas got the impression the alien was telling the truth.

He continued walking until the alien being stopped sharply. He sniffed the air, or atleast moved his head in a vaguely humanoid fashion. He pushed Perneas onto the floor, and his cylindrical 'gun' began to glow yellow. The hallway suddenly turned bright red. Flinching, the alien clutched his head.

Why are the corridors red? Sent Perneas an inquiry to Input/Output Memory. Someone has powered up a submatter weapon, he received as a reply. What should I do? He asked. I will relay this to Naarad. Came the response.

Only a second passed before he received an answer from Override Directive: Run back down the corridor.

He got up, but was unable to break the grip of the alien. He pointed the gun straight at Perneas.

'If you have to run, follow me. I will shoot you rather than let them have you.' It said.

Perneas began running alongside the alien. It's strides were long and elongated, hardly human at all. They were also very fast. Perneas reached him a little out of breath. They had come to an elevator.

It opened, and 4 similar aliens stood there, weapons glowing. They looked at each other in a pensive way, and Perneas could tell through his cybernetic implant that they were communiating via a telepathic link. They reached a decision. Perneas was hauled into the elevator, and 2 aliens got out to make room. It began going up, and the aliens left behind started firing at something out of sight.

He was left with 3 aliens. The elevator stopped at a huge open space.

Hold on, thought Perneas. I've seen this somewhere before.

A white ship, that looked like a beached whale, (what's a beached whale look like? He thought) and the aliens hurried him towards it. The elevator's door shut, but the elevator next to it opened it's doors. Inside it were 5 Naarad soldiers, weapons cocked.

A very fast communication passed between the 2 alien groups, lasting a fraction of a second. Then they opened fire on one another.

For a split, Perneas felt as if he was being hurled out of a window, then he perceived some sort of glow surrounding the whole world. Inside an energy shield, he and the alien ran the last distance towards the ship. As Perneas was pulled in, he saw the shield on the alien falter and flash. He turned towards the Naarad soldiers, about 40 now, and took out his gun. Then shot himself in the head.

Then there was darkness.

Darkk looked down the spire all the way to the bottom.
He estimated its height at about 3 km. The Vylae homeworld was a large planet, but with low density, giving it about .87 times the gravity the humans prefered, which he guessed was that of their homeworld. The difference wasn't nearly large enough to make a Vylae uncomfortable on human ships, as fleet training includes planets about four times the gravity of the human homeworld's.

Darkk looked at Volvox, standing to his right. "Darkk, you did a good job there. I doubt even I could have pulled it off better under those conditions. I hereby make perminant your provisional rank. Congradulations, Vice Admiral Darkk!"

Darkk supressed a mild twinge as the rank pip adhered to his neck skin. The Vylae take serious efforts to prevent imposture, and it is quite difficult to safely adhere things to one's neck. He looked down at the gold insignia on his green and grey uniform. He could get used to this. It was nice to brethe the rich Oxygen-Argon atmosphere of his home planet. He thought he could almost see his old rookery, where he lived as a child. Ah well. Duty is eternal, as the old proverb goes.

The first task for the new Vice Admiral would be to lead a convoy to return the survivors of Magestic to the ESF. Darkk knew this meant Sol - it was the only place that could take in this many. He also knew this could be an "incident". That was diplomat-talk for "might start a f***ing big war." He knew he would have to hand it carefully. Volvox wanted him to take 20-30 freighters into a heavily defended, paranoid system that probably had no clue what a Vylae was, and was probably in a xenophobic fit thanks to the Naarad.

They didn't expect much, did they?

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Admiral Murda of ESF Neptune command sipped her coffee while watching the monitors. The Naarad wouldn't take Sol by surprise, no way in heck. DuPont had left to inspect the defenses on Centauri, and she had been handed over responsibility for the primary defense of Sol. Still, the Naarad wouldn't push this far - even robots and drones have supply lines. Except... There. A big streak on the monitor. 4 ships. One gargantuan, extrordinarily long and thin, one just large, and two more kinda small. They didn't match any know ships, except...

Yes. The mid-sized one was definatly the ship Perneas had shown her, the on the Vylae called "Darkk" piloted. She'd ask questions BEFORE shooting. She put the fleet in a good position to intercept, and ordered them not to fire until ordered to or fired upon.

The bogies translated from whatever form of ftl travel the Vylae used to realspace right in front of her formation. A transmission line opened from the "Dreadnought" to Neptune Command.

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Darkk considered the woman who answered his call. She had the rank pips of an ESF Admiral, but looked a little young for the role. He remebered Perneas listing the ESF Admirals to him, when Darkk had asked a few questions on the way from their first meeting. He had said "Murda" with a slight twinge of hope, the way all sentient beings with genders refer to attractive memebers of the opposite gender. A subliminal thing, but certainly there. Darkk had done a research paper on it in officer's academy. He considered the eye tensions, the way her red hair was combed. Most of all, he considered the subtle facial assymetry.

He didn't know humans very well, but he figured this would be an "attractive" female. Also, he detected that Perneas thought Murda was a kind person, and this female appeared kind. This was probably Murda.

"Greetings, Admiral Murda. I am Vice Admiral Darkk of the Vylae Defense Forces. I helped defend Majestic 3, along with the presumably late Captain Perneas. I would like to return the survivors I was able to retrieve from the planet to you. They do not wish to stay with us, for reasons I can very much understand. I would like you to let us give them back."

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Murda considered Darkk's request. Scans indicated the long ship was actually composed of many segments, and that they contained thousands of living humans. On the other hand, she had heard reports from some of the captains who escaped Magestic 3 that Vylae used some human agents. Of course, that was an awfully large number...

"If you can't give me docking clerance anywhere, just give me a nice big field to teleport them into. That might be a little less comfortable, but it would get me out of your way quickly."

Murda's heart skipped a beat. Teleporters - this could change the entire way war is fought. The Vylae could overrun an entire fleet simply by doing flyby teleports. Nobody expects a bording party when there's nothing near you, and NOBODY expects them to start in the center of the ship - or maybe the bridge, or her command pit. She tried hard to conceal her emotions.

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Darkk watched the subtle change in the face shading and eye muscle tension in the Admiral's face. She was almost certainly shaken to her core. He figured that they'd heard of his teleporters, but he guessed they hadn't. She was a strong person though, and bore this shock quite well for a human.

Darkk considered his next move carefully. He'd tipped his hand too soon. "Vice Admiral Darkk, I believed I misjudged your good intentions. I'll let your ships dock at Neptune transfer station. I hope your docking rings are compatable."

Darkk now had his turn to be stunned. She apparently was even less prepaired for teleporters than he had thought, and had decided to let him do what he wanted as she didn't think she could stop him. Darkk realized this human was good at her job. The transport train began to split into seperate ships, and they headed for the station to await their turn to unload.

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Murda hurriedly messaged the president for an emergency confrence.
This was almost as major as the Naarad!
Teleporters - this was serious.

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

Captain Perneas stared at the bright lights for eternity. He couldn't remember why he was here, and couldn't feel most of his body. In truth, he didn't really care. He just sat there, in the white room. He might have been blind, but all he could see was white light.

After an eternity, darkness descended. Slowly, the room faded from it's whiteness. Down and down into the lower regions of the colour spectrum. He started to feel his limbs again. It felt wierd, as though he had never used them before.

Eventually, he found himself facing what looked vaguely like a Earth dolphin. It stared at him for a while, and he stared back.

It turned around and looked at something out of sight. Perneas tried to analyze if it was communicating telepathically, but found he couldn't. His cybernetic implant was gone.

'Where am I?' Said Perneas.

The alien continued studying a monitor.

Then it walked over to Perneas once again.

'Do you remember your name?' It asked in perfect english, but with accents on the wrong letters.

'No.' He did remember something... but it was a faint outline, nothing more.

'You killed yourself with an subetheric cannon.' It said. 'Do you remember that?'

'No I don't.'

'Good.' It answered.

The man on the operating table stared at it in astonishment.

'It will make your reconditioning easier.'

Darkk sat in his ship, watching the freighters dock and unload. Murda was probably consulting with her superiors and/or advisors. What she was consulting on, Darkk couldn't tell. It might be a contingency plan to make his teleporters useless, but he doubted they could do that very quickly. It might be an offer of alliance, but Darkk had no authority to agree - only a Joint Session of the Board of Directors and the Board of Reagents with the Fleet Admiral present could make such an important decision. He sighed, and watched the docking on the monitors. He considered sending one of the human crew of his ship in to see if they could find out what was going on, but decided it was too much like spying.

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Murda had finally contacted Reeves.
"What is it, Admiral? I told you I was rather busy."
"Sir, you remeber the Vylae, correct?"
"Yes."
"A small group of them arrived here to offload some refugees from Magestic 3..."
"I fail to see why that's important enough to bother me!"
"...and offered to teleport them in so as not to waste docking space."
"Teleport? You have to be kidding..."
"No sir. I debriefed some of the survivors, and they confirmed they were teleported off the planet by the Vylae. A few of them were Union prisoners, who claimed the Vylae forced them to surrender by teleporting assualt teams inside their ships."
"What?!?!? That's impossible."
"Encepholograph readings indicate the witnesses were not hallucinating or lying."
"Are the Vylae on our side or not?"
"They appear to be, although we are uncertain of their motives, and they have made no formal proposals of alliance."
"Make one! Teleporters would give us a tremendous edge over the Union. We need all the allies we can get."
"Terms?"
"Anything reasonable. Up to a full 5% of our annual budget."
"Yes sir."

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Darkk watched the last transport finished, and prepaired the fold request for the Warpship hanging 200 AU off the heliopause of the system.
Then Murda came back on the comm system.
"Vice Admiral Darkk of the Vylae, the Earth Sol Federation would like to gain your people as allies. We wish to make formal arrangements."
"I'm terribly sorry, but that's outside my authority. You'd need to talk to the Board of Directors, the Board of Reagents, or the Fleet Admiral. I can make a slightly more limited, but perhaps equally helpful deal. If you could give us the location of the Union's primary research installation, we would stage an all-out raid on it."
"Why are you so interested in raiding them?"
"Some of our top scientists were kidnapped by them, including the developer of the Energy Shell Cannon. We fear they might build one of their own. Here's a film of it in action."

Darkk loaded the Hirgon campaign ending and sent it to Murda. When her image returned to the screen, she looked pale and shaken.

"Darkk, we know they have a base on Karmak 3, sending coordinates. Please eliminate the possability of the Union building a weapon like this."
"Thank you very much. I will relay your proposal of Alliance to the Reagents. If they want to consider it, they will request you attend the session where they hear the proposal."

Darkk's fleet turned and exited through the fold.

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

Perneas stared at the Meson. The Meson stared back.

'It is time for the final operation in your conditioning. When you will join our racial consciousness.'

Perneas said nothing. The room was full of Meson, perhaps a 300. He was in the middle, a chair was their, and the Device.

Though there were many Meson, and Perneas was naked, he felt no fear.

The Meson layed the device down on the table, and Perneas gave instructions to mind to enter a semi-conscious state. Unlike the forceful conditioning of the Naarad, the Meson conditioning could only occur when the subject was truly willing to join the consciousness of the Meson. The primary motivation's for the Naarad consciousness were fear, hate, despair and rage. The primary motivations for the Meson were love, friendship, self-sacrifice and an emotion which humans didn't have, but the Meson described as 'Rekechate.'

The incision was made, the cybernetic implant lowered into Perneas' skull.

All Perneas felt was empty. Then he began to see double. Now there were 2 captain Perneas, he didn't know where he was, perhaps he was nowhere. Then his vision split, and there for 4. Each one looking at the other, saying nothing. Then split, 16, split 32, split 64. Everywhere there were captain Perneas, all exactly the same, all looking at each other. Split, split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split split.

Captain Perneas saw himself with billions upon billions of identical copies, all aware of every other copy. If he wanted, he could think the thoughts of that one over there, or this one over here. There was no difference between them.

He awoke off his comatose state, and became aware of new information in his brain. The Meson opposite him had flagged his mind 'Are you all right?' Underlying ths was a vague hint of concern. Perneas was not able to sense the Meson around him. 'When you strong enough,' A voice wrote in a kind of language, 'You will be able to sense further away. The electronic implant can communicate across lightyears with enough power. It is a derivative of devices used for us to maintain contact with homeworld.'

'Acknowledged. Everything is as it should be.' Perneas paused for a moment. 'I will begin work on the creation of the Light Cruiser copies immediately.'

(Sorry for saying I was laughing at the end of our last game. I was laughing at your "Kanly" comments, not your performance. I almost let you win the second one, I figured I didn't have a chance at many points.)

Darkk watched his troops storm through the facility. It was a minor installation, with computer equipment outdated even by Union standards, and did not have information the Vylae prisoners. Darkk's men gathered up various items that looked saleable for shipment to the merchant groups. Darkk fluttered slowly over the scene of the carnage, moving his head from side to side to take in the totality of the carnage.

The Union had rigged some hasty anti-teleporter measures, but they paled in comparison to even what Nebulon ships used, and his teams were well prepaired for them. His troops had slaughtered everything without wings that didn't have orange hair. He noted he'd have to reprimand them for their brutality - 10% of this week's pay would be deducted as a fine. Suddenly, a female scientist on the floor moved.

Darkk hurriedly called over a medic. The scientist was taken back to the ship for questioning.

"Uhh..." The scientist slowly regained consciousness in the interrogation chair after being oblivious to some major surgery performed 2 hours ago. Fortunaly, Fast-Heal™ worked on humans too.
" You murdering filthy crows! You killed everyone without even thinking! We never even attacked you!" she spat.
"The third part is definatly incorrect. Your government's troops have attacked us before."
"Liar! We only are after the Earth Sol Federation! We'll be after you once high command hears about this!"
"They already are. We gave considerable aide to the ESF in several battles, in retribution for attacks on our science vessles."
"What would we need your science for? We've got our own labs. I bet we can match any technology you have!"
"Teleporters?"
"What!"
"How do you think we got in so fast?"
"Maybe in 20 years..."
"But we know full well what you want - you want the energy shell cannon."
"Energy shell cannon?"
"Very large weapon of mass destruction, only used once. I witnessed it. I wouldn't want it in human hands. You're all right most of the time, but you can never be trusted with too much power."
"You monsters..."
"That's all very well. Now, have you heard of a Dr. Eylla?"
"A little. She's supposed to be a captured ESF scientist, who's being observed at an undesclosed location."
"Actually, she's a Vylae scientist. Now, where is the main research center for the Union?"
"You want some more fun, huh? I'm not talking."
"Very well, we'll try the 'comfy chair'."

Darkk lead the prisoner, a Dr. Lillian DeGreves by her nametag, into a room. In it were 2 overstuffed armchairs with floral print. They appeared to be identical.
"Now, here's the first part. You choose which one you sit in. I'll sit in the other."

DeGreves too a chair, and Darkk perched awkwardly in the other.
"So, how's this supposed to get information out of me?"
"That's something we can't reveal in advance. You'll know soone enough."

DeGreves looked at the chair. It seemed like an innocent armchair. She hurriedly scanned it for nearly invisable needles, but saw none. She checked it for electroprobes, neurocables, and other interrogation devices she was familliar with but saw none.

Darkk regarded the scientist with a confident 'smirk' on his face. The victim will go crazy trying to figure out how the chair would inflict pain on them. The pain was all in their minds. If the interviewer was good, the subject would simply snap under the stress. The technique was only used on those familiar with interregation procedures, as it depended on that knowledge for its terror.
"Did I mention that this has never failed me? Everyone eventually snaps. It might take awhile though. I once had to sit with a pfhor captain for 2 weeks."

Darkk watched her get more and more nervious. She kept expecting something to happen. Any second now...
"All right, I'll tell you. You couldn't take them on anyway. It's Trenker 2C."
"Thank you for your cooperation. Put her on one of the shuttles we captured, and have a foldship send it to the nearest Union system."

(Note - The chairs are just chairs. The torture is inflicted by the victim's mind, with assistance from the interigator.)

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Formerly-Rampant Human-Coded AI

(You apologised. Now I feel silly for almost taking you off the beta list. Lol comfy chair reference :))

'The construction is complete task leader.' Said the Meson through Perneas' mind.

Perneas said nothing, but gazed at it lovingly.

With his consciousness absorbed and part of the Meson, he not only gained the knowledge, but mental tricks that a 5 billion year old race evolves over time. He was at absolute peace with himself, nor did he feel proud at the fact he was more mentally advanced than any human in the history of mankind.

The ship looked exactly like the Prometheus, even down the to the scratch mark on the 'r' and the broken coffee machine next to Communications. One of the first things he did when he became a Meson was download all his knowledge from over 30 years in the ESF into a computer. The only sketchy bits were how the Stardrive worked and an obscure part of the engineering section. Throughout his career, captain Perneas had seen nearly every square centimetre of the magnificient vessel.

'I think the Stardrive might give away our part in it's construction. Even with our deliberate destruction of it's use, it still operates at a finer gradient than your old one.' Concern was there. Concern for Captain Perneas. He had not felt as loved by the Meson as he had been as a human for many years.

'That the Naarad worked on it is a convenient alibi. It is finished, and I will depart.'

Captain Perneas had actually dressed himself for the occasion. His suit was ripped, he had increased his metabolic rate so he was sweating like a pig (and had been in preparation for many days) and his hair was a mess. He needed a shave and, probably, a shower.

Mounting the ladder, he entered the ship and did not turn back.

'Our tech teams are nowhere near figuring out teleportation, if it does exist.' The science teams had been skeptical of the Vylae magic right from the start, and it took the actual use of the teleporters to show them that it did exist. Now that darkk had been away for some time, they were beginning to believe it was a kind of trick of the senses.

Admiral Murda was about to reply 'Have you got any other failures I should know about?' when men came running down the corridor. She knew there faces, they were Earth's ether detection officers. The first line of detection that the ESF had to offer against another Earth Scare.. or worse.

'Admiral, we're picking up an incoming ship, a light cruiser!' Said one of them breathlessly.

'So? I expect there are quite alot of light cruisers between here and the border.' She said, not a little annoyed. If anyone, Colonel Marqui should be dealing with this.

'It is the Prometheus, if you remember, you asked me - ' But Murda was running back down the hall already. The men ran to keep up.

'Open a line to the president, the Vylae are going to get one huge amount of cash for this.' Said Murda. This was almost enough to brighten up the report that the Union fleet was becoming more active around the Border.

'Uhh Admiral, there are no Vylae or whatever, there are just a light cruiser, is, sorry, is just the Prometheus. It was broadcasting a distress call practically from right from the edge.'

'What? So where did it come from?' Admiral Murda asked astounded. 'If he was captured near Magestic, then why in blazes would he trudge all the way across ESF space to arrive off the side of the galaxy, and moreover, do it without detection?'

'I don't know, but he's been asking for you for ages, and Colonel Marqui agreed you should be notified.'

'Put it on.' Admiral Murda massaged her tired eyes. This had better be including a good explanation.

Captain Perneas' ruined face and torn suit appeared over the receiver. He seemed to be gasping for breath.

'Cap - captain... Perneas... Ad- mira... l... Murd-a... I es - sc-aped.. ca-nnot re--ch con- plea- se res-cue m-e.' And he collapsed.

Darkk felt the message arrive through his interface. It came from the Reagents - it had to be important.
"Vice Admiral Darkk. The humans have sent us their proposal of alliance you told us to expect. We shall consider it at the next general meeting. Another, odder piece of news has come though. Captain Perneas has mysteriously returned, and is acting very odd. We want you to go and look at him. He might have some data on these "Naarad". They recently sent a long-range raider group at us, but we were able to take them down with minimal losses."
Darkk immediatly ordered a fold to Sol.

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Darkk looked at Perneas. He certainly seemed to be normal, but a trifle odd. Darkk considered that hardships can dramatically reshape a man's personality, and tried to put it out of his mind. But it wouldn't go away. Perneas told Darkk about his escape from the Naarad. It certainly seemed exciting - his crew and he had broken out of their cells and fough their way back to their ship. Only Perneas had made it, but he managed to barely fly the ship home. Darkk couldn't put away the feelings of wrongness. Time to try a subtle test.
"How'd the picomechanical servos do on the trip back?"
"Great, they opened and closed well within toler..."
Darkk watched Perneas's expression grow vacant.
Total facial relaxation - humans CAN NOT DO THAT.
Darkk's suspicions had been irrevicably confirmed.
"Uhh, sorry there. Naarad tried to condition me. I guess some of it took hold."
"I see. We can do conditioning removal, if you wish."
Perneas froze for a split second again.
"No thank you. I might remeber something useful this way."
"As you wish."

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Formerly-Rampant Human-Coded AI

Captain Perneas was alarmed. He walked down the corridor, escorted by 2 military policemen, to his quarters and some much needed rest. Much needed indeed. Although he had the knowledge of a billion year old race, this body had not been sufficiently trained. He found his stupid mistake alarming. Although the Vylae were not human, he had been able to read some of the brain waves emanating from Darkk. It indicated surprise, or suprise-like response. Very light, but noticeable. He knows... thought Perneas. He knows.

He got into the room and shut the door behind. Since the room was no doubt being monitored he simulated human actions... getting some beverages from the fridge, eating at the table, and finally lying down to sleep.

He had a long day ahead of him tomorrow.

'Ahh captain.' Admiral Murda took off her stylish admiral's hat and sat on the bed. Captan Perneas sensed her mind waves from the corridor far away, and had ample time to prepare.

'How are you feeling today?' She radiated concern for him, and not a little vague suspicion. Perneas wondered whether darkk had told the ESF about his duplicity, but knew that was impossible.

'As well as one might hope. I look forward to resuming my duties today, sir.' He said, simulating a slightly embarrased male with an urge to get away from here.

'Ahh, very good. I have requisitioned a new crew for the Prometheus. I expect Admiral DuPont will arrive soon and he will be eager to see you. Don't worry, this time I won't send you to the Frontlines. Admiral Lanar will be commanding an ESF escort fleet for Darkk's forces, a political gesture mostly. You will be there as well.'

She turned and walked to the door, then turned around.

'Oh and captain? We analyzed the Perneas' stardrive, it seems to be a little... different. Good day.'

She walked out.

(This message has been edited by Count Altair El Alemein (edited 07-12-2001).)

Darkk watched the ESF honor escort around him.
His eyes followed the Prometheus carefully. He wondered what had happened to Perneas - or if it was Perneas at all. He probably should tell the humans about that.

"This is Admiral Lanar here. If it's all right with you, I'd like to see the interior of your vessle. Think you could beam me over?"
Darkk snickered. The humans wanted some proof of the teleportation system. They might as well get it. "Very well. Just hold real still."
Lanar popped into existance behind Darkk.
"Whoa. That is an interesting system."
"Yes, it is. It's a very old technology, probably found in a Jjaro archeological site. The version that can penitrate nonhardened shields is somewhat new, and is only used on carriers and transports."
"This ship has a shielding system, doesn't it?"
"Indeed. It is rather lightly armored, though."
"Sure did a number on the Naarad."
"That was a fairly close fight, they are a formidable foe."
"Hmm. Have any food over here?"
"Unless you eat 2 decimeter long live beetles, not really. Even the humans who work for us learned to eat them."
"Uhh, I'l pass."

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Darkk sat down, tired after showing Lanar through the ship. Dreadnoughts are large enough for some sections to be traverseable by flying, and carrying a human is not easy, even in 0.25 gees. His comm beeped. Neptune command, it said.
"Hello Darkk. This is Murda. We'd like to talk to you about your contact Perneas."
"You think he's acting odd, and want an opinion on him. I'd start by questioning the appropriatness of the term 'Perneas' - perhaps 'the lifeform formerly known as Perneas' would be more appropriate."
"We noticed his stardrive had been replaced, which seemed suspicious. You... think he's been mind controled?"
"No. He has only simulations of many of a human's normal emotional complement. It would take massive amounts of brain damage to do that."
"Medical exams check him out as fine."
"This means major portions of his brain were replaced."
"By what?"
"I don't... One moment - somebody's trying to hack the line..."
"Perneas?"
"Yes... He just jumped!"
"It appears he's heading for Trenton Alpha. It's a frontline colony."
"Our stardrives are very fast. We can catch him there."

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

Trenton Alpha loomed on the viewscreen as Darkk's forces slowed to a stop. The human fleet had been brought with, and Perneas couldn't possibly escape.
"Perneas, hold it right there. You can't get away, now hold still and surrender and I won't hurt you too much."
Darkk fired his phased beam, and cut a firey swath directly in front of the Prometheus's nose.
"Surrender. Now."

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

Perneas watched Darkk on the holoviewer, and at the same time he watched the phased beam cut through the space in front of the Prometheus. His crew trembled, but Perneas kept his gun fixed on the officer who had first objected to jumping to Trenton Alpha. Nearby, lay 2 bodies of the security men who had foolishly agreed with his erstwhile officer, now clutching his thumb and biting in terror. They had all seen how 'Perneas' had dealt with the short mutiny.

'Keep her steady, straight at the planet.' He said.

The first officer regained enough of his courage to yell 'Don't listen to him! He's a trait-' The pistol in Perneas' hands beeped violently. The man shut up.

'Captain Perneas, your ship is hopelessly outgunned. I have authority from the ESF to annihilate you.'

Captain Perneas made some quick calculations. He would need more time - darkk's ship could destroy his.

'Do not stop the ship, open a channel to darkk.' He ordered.

'Hello Darkk.' Captain Perneas dropped all pretenses at being human; his face was a blank mask.

'I thought I'd see you here trying to stop me Darkk. You could never guess at my motives, I serve another power now.'

'Evidently. You're a traitor.' Replied Darkk. 'Stop now or be annihilated.'

'See those 2 naarad ship in orbit around the Trenton station? One attack initiated by us will be enough to begin a war.'

'You're patently insane Perneas. We're already at war with them, and why would you want one anyway? The ESF would be annihilated.' He said. Admiral Lanar looked slightly alarmed.

'They only came because you appeared!' Spat Perneas angrily. 'You initiated combat, their attack was more of a defense!'

'A defense against whom? Who's side are you on anyway Perneas?' He turned away. 'Fire on the Perneas' engines.' Said darkk.

The thin yellow line intersected the space between Perneas' ship and the Vylae one. When it hit the Prometheus ship, a beautiful semi-circle could be seen. It sparkled for a moment and then faded into transparency.

'That isn't naarad technology in case you were wondering.' Said Perneas. 'Nothing in the world can stop us from firing on that Naarad ship now. And when we do, you had better prepare. For they are coming for your ships as well.'

The Station was only a few thousand kilometres away.

'Begin firing the Neutron missiles, target the blue ship only!' He pointed the gun at targeting. 'Anyone who disobeys my orders will be killed immediately. Do it!'

Neutron missiles shot out of the launchers, targeting the Naarad ships. Though no doubt aware, they did not move out of the way, or even raise their shields. They seemed to welcome it. When about 10 shots had landed, it raised shields instantly. So did all the rest.

'Set target for these coordinates!'. The Naarad ships jumped into ether and came out about 50 kilometres from Prometheus' hull. Then Prometheus jumped. Towards the waiting Meson fleet.

------------------
------------------------
"War? I'd better go and get the washing in!"

(This message has been edited by Count Altair El Alemein (edited 07-15-2001).)

"By the plumes of the great ones!"
Darkk watched the Prometheus depart at a rate astounding for a vessle using that mode of faster-than-light travel.
Ah well. The Naarad units here are powerful, but they had low shields and were seriously outnumbered.
"Human forces stay back. The phase beams and pseadomatter can handle this."
The weapons lashed out, and the 2 assualt units boiled away.
Time to pursue Prometheus. Immediatly.
"Darkk to all forces. Perneas has been replaced or subverted by an unknown alien intelligence. It's not Naarad, but it's not anything I'm familiar with. We will follow him. We're still faster."

Darkk's forces turned and followed this "Perneas".

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

The Ishýman HVC rolled lazýly, conservýng fuel for ýts manoeverýng thrusters by ýgnorýng ýts attýtude as ýt spun lazly ýn ýts stealth fýeld through the ýnterference of a nebula, downloadýng the sensor data from sýxteen long range probes that were hýdden throughout human occupýed space. In four hours, the shýp took ýn about fýfty terrabytes of sensor data from the last ten days, then the ISN 9154775 engaged ýts hyperdrýve and was gone, bound for the Ishýman Border.

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

Wizr was displeased with what he saw. The Naraad were takeing a greater and greater role in the Union's activities, which unnerved him greatly. The mass readings in the more remote systems was growing, indicating an almost tenfold increase in the number of ships in dock, despite the fact that the majority of the Navy was in space, secureing the newly acquired ESF border worlds. This was not really any of Wizr's bussiness, but for the two hundred odd years since he had finally and permanently reestablished the Humans on Earth, they had been a sort of pet project for him, even after they had crushed the Cantharaan and Salrillian opposition in the spiral arm and turned to fighting themselves. Since then, the Ishimans had politely kept their mouths shut, but kept a caeful eye on their
neighbors, lest they turn to conquest once again.

Fortunately, the Humans had been busy with this civil war of theirs for a long time, and ignorant of the affairs in the rest of the spiral arm. But now with the interference of two greater powers from distant corners, it seemed as though everybody wanted a stake in the Humans, a veritable cold-war conflict was brewing between Vylae and Naraad, and it was happening right in Wizr's back yard. Needless to say, he was not pleased with the course of events as they were developing, but that was all the more encouragement for the bout of unconstitutional acts that he was about to commit.

Wizr picked up his pda and called up a flight roster for the next ten days. He then called the Trey'sh of the Intellegence Committee for the latest data from human space. In a few hours, everything would be ready.

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

(Ahh, I see you've found an internet cafe with english type keyboards :). Just as a side note, the ESF and Union have nothing to do with the Ishiman who do not exist, nor any other races from Ares in SETR. But, this is a flexible RPG, and from now on that is fact. The Naarad would be about equal to the Audemedon in Ares, the Meson would be Eleejeetian+, and the ESF/Union would be about Human/Sal level.)

Perneas raced ahead of the Vylae fleet, trying to coax them further and further. But the Vylae were gaining. And gaining quickly.

He kept his gun pinned on the navigation officers this time. The fluctuations in their mind patterns indicated some sort of rebellious act would be precipitated soon. Perneas had a 76% chance of suppressing it. The real danger would be if they all reached for their energy weapons. He couldn't perform a Mindshut on all of them, and their naivety trying to probably take hold of him and confine him, would be their undoing. He waited patiently.

'We'll be in range of the coordinates you mentioned in 6 minutes sir. The time till the Vylae vessel reaches us will be about 6 minutes.'

She glanced nervously at the security officer nearest Perneas. His eyes flickered to another security officer up the ramp slightly. He could detect their readiness, their anticipation. An abrupt yell 'The Captain is a traitor!' Went up over the bridge at once. Perneas felt the 2 officers approach him. What occurred happened too fast for the beleagured minds of the crew to register.

Perneas brought his arm back and smashed the head of the nearby officer as he reached, still unaware of what was happening. At such a speed, the blow smashed into his cranium, killing him instantly. Perneas reached out and grabbed his waist as a shield, reaching for the energy gun inside the holster. The other officer was just reaching for his own, when a bolt of energy zapped towards him and blew a hole in is chest.

Perneas flicked the weapon to light, and systematically shot down 12 of his former crewman reaching for their own guns. The whole thing took about 3 seconds.

They stared at him.

'Second navigation officer Parkers will now take control of Navigation. Steer her straight at my coordinates.'

They obeyed him.

He waited in silence for 5 minutes to elapse. His scanners began showing energy signatures on an extremely wide band, almost off the screen. Only 3 energy signatures were being detected, but he knew from Meson tactics that the larger ships were linking their power to the smaller ones, creating a vast network of shields. This would mean probably 30 ships were there. He reached out for contact with the Meson.

Perneas? Report

I have committed an act of war against the Naarad ships in dock around Trenton. They have been destroyed by the Vylae. The Vylae are following me. I fear they will beam aboard soldiers when we exit ether.

We will overlap shields with your vessel. Our vessel shield strength is probably enough to resist most of the incoming soldiers, with that large enough chance of failure, I do not think they would dare. Our soldiers are ready to repel borders.

_And the Vylae ships themselves?

They will be destroyed, all of them._

Perneas could detect the reasoning behind this. With the Naarad and Meson at war with the Vylae, they could weaken them enough to steal their technology and perhaps destroy their race. He objected to it.

The Vylae would make useful allies against the other races.

They are too far away to be stung by the effects of Polarisation. I doubt they would commit themselves to that kind of war.

_If they could be lured into it...

We shall see._

Perneas deactivated his stardrive and waited for the energy shield to enclose the ship. The Vylae vessel was not far behind, dropping out of ether only a thousand kilometres distant.

(My idea is that this is happening long after ares, and that some time ago, the humans kicked the sals and Cantharaans around, then decided to fight eachother. THen they formed the Union and the ESF and SETR started. Is that ok? BTW, Trinv is a big wasp like insectoid, Anton is a human and Enre is ishiman.)

The Klaxon sounded, but Trinv was already locked into his seat. He crammed the rest of his energy bar into his mouth and slapped his helmet on as he set the ships engines to crash start. There was an intense rumbling as Anton jumped over the center console to land in his gravity couch. He hit the red button, and the seat molded itself around him while Enre slid into his seat and checked his WSO and RIO consoles. Trinv asked for the greenlight, and the flight crew responded affirmative. Simit, the flight engineer gave the all clear from the rear, and Trinv gave his go to the launch commander, who peomptly released the clamps and blasted open the outer doors. In seconds, the ISN 9154775 was clear of the Station. The computer had already downloaded their mission, and had lined up their waypoints in the computer. Trinv only had to glance them over and sigh at the heading "SAR" before he hit execute and his HVC tore itself a comfortable hole in space and proceeded to fall through it into hyperspace, zipping it closed behind it.

Anton just had time to start bitching about the prospect of a boring SAR mission when a new briefing came up. It was encrypted, which boded well for action.

Enre decrypted it and opened it up, reading aloud:

"
Your Mission has been changed. You are now performing a standard training operation. The scenarion you will be acting out is as follows:

An unknown alien ship is traversing the system you are about to enter at ether. You are to pull it from ether and disable it, while doing as little damage to the ship and its crew as possible. As soon as it is disabled, ISN 8395606 will generate a zeroping jumpstream, through which a rescue craft will be inserted to recover the disabled vessel. You are to defend the rescue craft, and accompany it through the jumpstream. ISN 8395606 will be providing a heavy jamming field in system for the duration of the mission, but you will be responsable for ensureing that no transmissions leave the system. You will be useing live weapons, as will the enemy. Good luck. -The management."

"Oooh!" said Trinv, happily. "Thank goodness for STO's, eh Anton?"

"Yeah, its a good thing they make us spend a four hour shift on high alert in the cat, just in case we need to go and get some training..." he replied, his voice dripping with irony.

Enre only set to work priming the ships weapons for combat.

In a few more seconds, the ship had torn its way out of hyperspace and was chargeing its engines for an energy pulse to knock its prey out of Ether.

The computer spat out the numbers for the intercept, and Trinv simply let it run the intercept, up until the Hyperspace engine pulsed, and what he instantly recognized to be a Naraad ship exploded violently out of Ether. He hit the FTL drive and was on top of it, blasting it with his homing pulses. In a few seconds, its already destabilized shields collapsed, and it didn't take many Neewo beams to immobilize it. The instant its power readings dropped, a jumpsream terminated right on top of it, spitting out an Assault Transport that quickly grappled the ship and hauled it through the gate. Trinv watched then followed, and instantly appeared near one of the gate rings of the ISN 8395606, in some distant backwater starbase. The ATR pilot radioed a thank you, and Trinv figured it was safe to jump for home. He hailed the gateship for a lift, and it instantly grabbed him and flung him towards his home base. The next thing he knew he was cruising back towards the docking bay on Omisha Station, waiting for clearance to land, and wondering which intelligence officer would be waiting in the landing bay to debrief them.

(I took some liscence and pushed Ishiman technology a little more, figureing somethings must have changed in the last few hundred years since the Ares.)

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

(Standard military naarad ships (fighters, assault units, etc...) never travel alone. Instead, the Naarad make use of thousands of tiny probes for observing traffic in Polarisation (i.e. all of known space) areas. That ship can be a large-scale ether capable probe. Unfortunately, such probes are automated to self-destruct if they see an enemy converging on it, and EMPing it has no effect, as the circuits for the self-destruct are duplicated biologically and electrically. I suppose if the newo beam displayed EMP charasterics and did heavy radiation, it would work. Agghh, this next part really needs darkk. I'm going to type a little behind the scenes story)

Bor Reinz tilted the drink about 30 degrees, but no further. He savoured the blueiish int it offered the world as he gazed through it. Making no use of it, he put it down on the desk. He was always displaying these kinds of acts of self-control.

'So, we lose one fleet and gain another. Meanwhile, our all-powerful allies get whooped by aliens. The situation is bleak, gentlemen.'

They were crowded into the small room which was about 5 metres long and 3 metres wide. It had oak panelled doors, and a tasteful chandelier. The walls were about 5 metres thick, and patrolled by his best security men. There real location was under the mantle of Beurasaj itself, a hundred kilometres below the surface. There was a hint of dust in the air.

'I agree councillor. On the other hand, we have proven our superiority over Federation forces, and toasted a couple of their frontline colonies. Were it not for those aliens, we would have delivered a stunning victory.'

'I agree with you their, councillor Terym. On the other hand, nothing can disguise the defeat of the n... of our allies. We're in unknown territory there. Could it be we allied ourselves with a weak alien faction?'

'Possibly, but.. our allies reserouces are huge. They control a vast amount of space I've heard.'

'Don't they, but are losing control of it.'

Bor Reinz and everyone else was surprised by this comment. How could a mere Secondary Councillor know what happened in uncharted and unexplored space?

'I have proof here.'

He offered to insert a holodisk into the centre of the table. Bor Reinz, waved in a motion of compliance. Very soon, they were watching the 3-D vision of a planet.

'I obtained this coutesy of a broadcast received by one of our listening posts. This entire event was recorded from the perspective of the attacker, and we have no way of knowing whether the event actually occurred. There is no proof that it did occur, but it looks very realistic to me.'

The planet began to increase in size, as the ship(s?) moved closer. Hundreds of tiny Naarad fighters rushed out to meet them, and the larger ships were soon to follow. Stargates activated all over the system, spilling huge carriers and small assault units. There were quite alot of defenders when a minutes had elapsed. The formed up in a vanguard against the camera.

A blue fireball raced across the screen, over the camera, and hurried across the still sizable distance between the 2 fleets. Then lots of fireballs came, this time from other areas out of sight. The entire screen was soon abuzz with a traffic-like fireball display, racing out ahead. The Naarad fleet, still approaching at almost sublight speeds, decided to forgo their normal attacking tactic and jumped right into combat. The camera panned around to face the naarad ships as they came, 3 fighter squadrons winging in and dropping a huge amount of plasma against the ship. Instead of hitting the camera, it hit an invisble energy shield which cackled in tandom with the bursts. The fighters were hit with blue fireball after blue fireball as they tried to get through. There was another attack that became visible after a moment. In the absence of a blue fireball, one of the naarad ships blew up seemingly for no reason. This effect became more pronounced as the fireballs started becoming rare and invisible shots rained out on the ships.

There was still the matter of the larger ships. Not being able to see behind the craft, they could see a giant piece of debris float across the screen. It looked like it was off a naarad carrier, one of the dorsal ends.

More reinforcements were spilling into the system, from the stargate. The entire place was full of blue ships. The men in the room watching it gasped as the camera panned around. There were thousands of white ships. In what should have been a seething mass of blue flies there were only twisted bits of wreckage and glowing aftershocks. No one could see the ruins of a white ship, though one spat electricity rather violently. Then the camera turned off.

'Interesting gentlemen' said Bor Reinz. 'Most interesting.'

Darkk watched the unknown fleet carefully. These were better than Naarad ships, and they decidedly outnumbered Darkk's forces. There were almost 300, and only capital ships were visable at this range. Darkk hoped he was out of their sensor range. Those billions of Vylae Credits had better have been worth something. He considered silently. Then he accessed Fleet Information.

"Darkk calling."
"Please state the nature of the inquiry."
"I'm observing a large, possibly hostile fleet from an alien race unknown to me. I'd like any information you have on them." Darkk sent his data.
"We have very little. 2 months ago, an automated explorer pod tried to send them a standard unicode 'we come in peace' message. They blew it up. No other information exists."
"Thank you."

Darkk considered. These people apparently were the type that wanted to make the first move. He'd have to do something clever.

"Mr. Darkk," the human commander asked, "why are we sitting out here. I can see the Prometheus on our screen. We could go and..."
"Apparently, you cannot see the 300 unknown capital ships surrounding him."
"No, I don't think I can. I'll get closer so I can get a better..."
"NO! The only info I can get on them is they really, really don't like to be approached."
"Was this learned through painful and bitter experience?"
"Not that painful, it was just a automated drone. I'll think about our next move."

Darkk hit on something. They didn't think he could see them, or maybe couldn't even see him. He withdrew 237 gigameters from the unknowns and prepaired a little show.

"Warpship 0125, this is Vice Admiral Darkk, commander of this volume."
"We read you sir. Standing by."
"I've got a pretty unusual request. Could you pick up a Naarad Carrier in a fold and drop it here."
"Point to point direct is possible even for something that size, but sir? An ENEMY ship?"
"Yeah, I said it's unusual. Just put one here."
"Yes sir. Sensors have a nearby Naarad colony... There's one, I can see its warp signature. Sending..."

"Darkk to all ships! Heavy ships prepair to focus fire on the following coordinates. Light ships get well back. We've got an incoming."

The ships charged and locked their weapons. 3... 2... 1... 0! The very confused Naarad carrier dropped out into a veritable wall of projectiles and was blasted to bits. Darkk noted the distinctive radiation spike of a Naarad carrier going up. The signal should be very easy to spot over even 619 gigameters, the distance to the unknown fleet.

Darkk watched the unknown ships reenter sensor range, heading straight for him. He'd caught their attention - hopefully in a good way.

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

Perneas and his crew waited. His crew for his captain's command. The captain for other less obvious ones. They had been waiting in space, sitting more like it, for a while.

_What is the status of the Vylae ships?

They appear to be holding position. I/we/Meson are considering warping in and destroying them.

There intentions are peaceful if they have not advanced.

Their intentions are irrelevant. With such an advanced race, we must assume they are hostile.

_Something about this response struck Perneas as being a little strange, yet he was Meson.

_Why must we assume they are hostile?

They are advanced. They pose a threat to the Meson. They must be destroyed.

_Perneas was getting some distinctly human vibes here. Actually doubting the correctness of the Meson.

_Is it not possible that an advanced race could be an ally?

No. No allies. No peace. There can be no peace. We must destroy to survive.

I question the correctness of that decision, Meson.

You may not be fully integrated into the Mesonic consciousness. We will take an interest in this when the fleet is destroyed. Until then, obey.

_Perneas felt worry in his abdomen.

'Sir, something just happened!'

'What?'

'I picked up a huge energy spike. Like a ship just got destroyed.'

'Any details?'

'I'm matching it with known ships.'

Perneas waited. It was possible the Naarad had decided to attack the Vylae. This would be quite like them, after suffereing such a recent defeat.

'It doesn't match any records... oh wait a sec... it does. A Naarad carrier's destruction sequence matches it closely.'

'Where?'

Before Perneas could receive a reply, he received one from the Meson.

_Perneas, your friends have just pulled of a rather inventive manouevre. They brought a Naarad carrier in using warping technology and destroyed it. This could be proof of their good intentions, or a threat.

I believe it is good intention. They specifically chose a Naarad carrier because they had recently fought naarad, instead of choosing a Mesonic or Union one. This indicates they are willing to fight by our side against a common foe.

If what you say is true, this changes everything. A possible ally in the time of Polarisation... We have decided to activate first contact.

_Perneas saw a probe shoot out of a large Mesonic carrier and travel towards the Vylae fleet. It sent them one message, then self-destructed.

From accessing the controls on his Meson input/output functions, Perneas could see what the message said.

'We are the Meson. Our civilisation has spanned the entire history of the galaxy. We have sensed your civilisation newly risen. We have decided to make you our ally. May we fight together against the darkness between the stars.'

Usually for primitive worlds but it would do.

(This message has been edited by Count Altair El Alemein (edited 07-21-2001).)

Darkk opened a channel to Perneas.
He allowed it.

"Darkk, it has been awhile."
"Well, your friends seem to not mind me too much. You can stop pretending to be human."
"I am still mostly human."
"Fine, you can be human if you want to. So, the Meson would like us to help with the Naarad, eh?"
"That's the important part of it. As you're somewhat beaurocratic, I'll ask them to send you something more detailed."
"Ok. I'm guessing they'll be contacting us again when they want help against the Naarad."
"Yes, of course."

Darkk listened to the stream through his implants. The Directorate liked this, as the Naarad had started a campaign against them. Uggh. The Naarad had ships of almost Vylae level, and a distressingly large number of them. Darkk was glad he had allies.

Darkk turned once more to Perneas.
"Could your friends give me a strategic assessment of the Naarad?"
"Yes, I've 'asked' them to give it to you. They agree, as you will do a nice job of destroying Naarad ships."
"Thank you. Are you going to stay there, or go back to human space?"
"I'll stay here, but my ship will go back."
"Understood, we'll be in touch."
"Be seeing you."

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Formerly-Rampant Human-Coded AI