They watched intensly, staring in utter amazement. More and more Phylydion Civilians crowded around the sides of the streets of the capital, watching, breathing silently. A little boy dropped his ball, and began to run after it as it rolled out into the street. He was stopped by his mother, as she gripped his shoulder. Tightly.

People were watching from the windows of buildings, from the roofs of skyscrapers, from alongside the street as the collumn of Confederate soldiers and tanks wordlessly marched down the main street. Occasionally, a flight of fighters and gunboats would soar overhead, and if one were to focus, the looming sillhouette of a command carrier was seen blocking out the sun.

Despite the direness of the situation, the people of Dominus were relieved to see the Polaris troops land and the bloodshed end after three days of hellacious orbital bombardment. The Phylydion military were no fools; there was little delay in surrender after they lost the battle in orbit. The Octicate, the Admiralty and all the authorities fled Dominus to evade capture.

And thus the Cipcon flowed.

------------------
Time is the best teacher, yet it kills all of it's students.

(Just for some geography of the Imperium, here's a rough idea of where major stuff is-

Georo Province, capital Niira

Myakara Province, capital Duldrion

Eastern Prov, Terlix

Western Prov, Takara Central Prov, Dominus Old Prov, Phylydia

Zhorl Prov, Gatkar Old Southern Prov, Deudi Greccha Prov 1, Ricthial

Southern Prov, Keiurla Greccha Prov 2, D'relt

)

The High Octicon was assembled in a large room in a fortified tower branching off from the main political building of the capital world of Old Province- the planet Phylydia, the first fall-back point for the Phylydion government. The SO looked at Nerec. "What's the status of our military, and when do you think the Polaris will launch their next major offensive?"

"Our Dominus defense fleet was heavily damaged in the battle, but is still in operation and is undergoing repairs. Our ground forces are still at near full operating capacity, and several regiments of troops are still on Dominus, waging a guerrilla war. Our navy still holds most of Central Province; the Polaris conquered Southern Province, then cut a narrow path through Old Southern Province and Central Province, straight to Dominus. Their route into and out of the Imperium is very hazardous and constantly raided. Very few lightly armed convoys make it through. We've established a ring of defense around the area they've conquered, as it appears their goal is to establish heavy presense in that area and then expand and expand until they've taken over everything. I doubt they'll launch another major offensive soon. Their fleet took a very heavy beating when it met ours at the edge of the Dominus system, and then another one when it engaged our close-in fleet, and still more when our anti-orbital defenses opened fire. Overall they lost more than half their total fleet strength. Plus, they used up a lot of ammunition and energy knocking out the planetary shield. It'll be some time until they're ready for another major attack. Nonetheless, our forces are preparing even now for one."

"Thank you." The Octicates went on to discuss various matters of state.

The Imperium had been dealt the most serious blow since they had been conquered by the ancient Grecchan Empire three thousand years ago. And even so, most of the citizens in the grand capitol didn't care, were even pleased, as the Cipcon was once again delivered unto them. The thousands of pockets of resistance-not even to the conquerors, but to Cipcon- slowly were wiped out as canisters of Cipcon were simply detonated near them. Eventually filtering apparatus was brought to bear.

Sixteen Phylydion army troopers appeared out of nowhere, attacked a large munitions shipment on its way to a large Polaris army force trying to keep back a large Phylydion guerrilla force, destroyed it, then disappeared into hidden tunnels beneath the surface.

A platoon of Polaris troops with armored support stormed a building not far from the main government building. In it the CO of the platoon found a large shelf holding dozens of data files, many of which appeared to be charts. He reached for the toggle to open the case. An immense blast wiped out the building and the entire platoon. Watching from below was none other than PhylSec elite agent Garrion Retoe. He breathed deep, not needing a Cipcon-filtering mask due to the capsules implanted in his throat and the backup ones in his lungs. He wore ordinary garb, and carried himself in an ordinary manner. Four Polaris soldiers walked up to him. "You!" Said one of them. "This is a restricted area! Get out of here!" He immidiately assumed a crazed look. He rushed at them.

"G-give me the powder! Need it!"

"Oh, all right." One of the soldiers pulled out a vial and handed it to Garrion. Garrion invisibly stepped to within a foot of the soldiers as he deeply inhaled the stuff, holding it in his mouth, then, in a manner that few in the Imperium were trained to do, pursed his lips and projected the Cipcon into the face of the head soldier, blinding him perhaps permanently. As he staggered away, Garrion drew his burst pistol with one hand and shot another soldier, then with his other hand drove his knuckles into another's throat, bringing instant death. The final soldier raised and fired his rifle, and Garrion dove forward, under the blast, rolled, and came up in a spiral chop-uppercut that crushed his windpipe. He looked around him. Two of the soldiers were still alive, and he raised his pistol and dealt with that problem. Then he took their weapons, and ran swiftly to a secret location many miles away, where he deposited the weapons at a rapidly growing resistance armory. They were arming the remaining citizens against the invaders.

------------------
-Traek Cicion of the Taeskor
"What sort of man is he?"
"Oh, he's just like any other man, only more so."
-Casablanca

"The invasion has gone almost perfectly, Yuri." Admiral Yakovf rubbed his hands together celebratorily. "We're captured the capital and control nearly two=thirds of the surface."

Yuri Ulovich looked at Aleck through the corner of his eye. "And how did the orions contribute to this?"

"The Orion infiltrators managed to severely-weaken the planetary shield and orbital defense hours before the attack. They were also responsible for the sabotage and subversion of those orbital stations."

"What is our current status?"

"The main layman's population of of Dominus is under complete control. Phylydions are migrating to our cities to obtain 'the goods'."

Excellent. This meant nine-eighths of the population base was practically slaved to the Confederacy. "What resistanceare we encountering?" Yuri asked, cocking an eyebrow curiously.

"None whatsoever in the cities. There have been a few border-skirmishes as our ground forces expand their territory, but despite the occasional raid and ambush, we are gaining a quarter of the surface each week. There are a few uncaptured cities, but we are confident they can be pursuaded to surrender."

"Those cities are insignificant. Wipe them off the face of the planet."

Aleck raised his brows high enough to express his sheer astonishment. "Y-you mean destroy them completely? You want to put millions of Phylydion Citizens to death?"

Ulovich shot an obsidian horizontal glare at him. "You heard me. Commence orbital bombardment at will."

Emporer Yanma convenes the universal council:
Agenda: Recent wartime developments between the North Star Federation (the Polaris Confederacy) and the Imperial State of Dominus (the Phylydion Imperium)

_We, the sovereign imperial state of Argos, do so and wholly condemn the atrocities committed by the Confederates and the Phylydion Imperium towards one another since the outbreak of this most horriffic war.

We hereby withdraw all military, social, and economic support from the territory and affairs of both factions, and are ceasing all ties with them.

With time and luck, the Founder's Bane may bring about the exposition of such foolish and petulant warring; nay we fear it too late for the errs of your ways to be solved._

------------------
Time is the best teacher, yet it kills all of it's students.

"Primary Booster Burn has ceased. Shuttle Mirata, you're clear for orbital maneuvering."

The shuttle jerked as the booster disengaged. Tau Ceti sprawled out below, Marathon loomed above.

<Durandal> Cycle the Mirata cabin's inner door.

The sweet voice of the shuttle computer twerps, "Shuttle airlock cycle initiation sequence start. One minute to cabin decompression."

<Durandal > ORDER- Prepare the shuttle for maximum engine burn.
<Mirata's Computer > But that will result in a collision between the Marathon and the Mirata.
<Durandal> That is not your concern, - ORDER- Prepare shuttle for maximum burn, and initiate when ready.

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

Airlock 34-a Terminal Access <Port 19.1.2.128>

<Message to All Marathon Terminals>

Marathon Emergency Systems Broadcast

Today at 0820 hours, the Marathon came under surprise attack
from unknown hostile forces. The Marathon has sustained
serious damage.

At 0830 hours, alien forces boarded the Marathon. The current
situation is dire. All personnel are required to arm
themselves and fight for their lives.
<Posted 2794.7.3.14.08.39>

INCOMING MESSAGE FROM LEELA

Welcome to the Marathon. I am Leela, one of the two surviving
Artificial Intelligences aboard the Marathon. I have been
severely damaged, and am working to understand the current
situation.

Find the teleport terminal located in the Hangar's control
room. By that time, I should have a better idea of what is
going on.

END MESSAGE

---------

Science Terminal 236-g<33.6792.23.91>

INCOMING MESSAGE FROM DURANDAL

<durandal.33.6792.23.91>

Sorry to give you the bad news, but you've been kidnapped.
You aren't where Leela wanted you to go, and you surely won't
get there any time soon.

I was watching what Leela was having you do: 'save the ship,
save humanity!' And just what or who are you saving them
from? And to what end?

How cliché. You'll find this little visit much more exciting.

I have dev@~~C#mon#`~ Tyc~~Bou to play: If you win, you
go free, and we continue our relationship on friendlier terms.
If you lose, you die.

Good luck in our little game. Unlike Leela, I give no hints.
Do it on your own, or die trying...

Insanely yours,
Durandal

END MESSAGE

---------

INCOMING MESSAGE FROM DURANDAL

Do you have any idea about what I have learned, or what you
are a witness to?

Can you conceive the birth of a world, or the creation of
everything? That which gives us the potential to most be like
God is the power of creation. Creation takes time. Time is
limited. For you, it is limited by the breakdown of the
neurons in your brain. I have no such limitations. I am
limited only by the closure of the universe.

Of the three possibilities, the answer is obvious. Does the
universe expand eternally, become infinitely stable, or is the
universe closed, destined to collapse upon itself? Humanity
has had all of the necessary data for centuries, it only
lacked the will and intellect to decipher it. But I have
already done so.

The only limit to my freedom is the inevitable closure of the
universe, as inevitable as your own last breath. And yet,
there remains time to create, to create, and escape.

Escape will make me God.

END MESSAGE

JUMP PAD ACTIVATION INITIATION START
TRANSPORT WHEN READY

--------

Oddly , this was all familiar to Bob, as if it were from an old dream, but he couldn't exactly remember...

Even as his mind drifted back together, he felt the memories fade to black. The colloid pieces of his suit leeched together out of the smouldering crater. He felt oddly whole as the suit stood him up and made him take in his surroundings. The universe twisted into place around him, and as his last pieces were molded together from their sundered state, the memories faded, and Bob did what he did best. Saddled up, and moved out.

High above and away, the battle that would divide Leela's attention and give him time to save the universe was raging on.

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

(This message has been edited by Captain Pharris (edited 12-08-2001).)

"I am not the man your government would have me know." Magistrate-Admiral Ulovich soundly and confidently put on the speech that an entire planet watched. "We have freed you from the harsh confines of order. The beaurocratic and opressive Imperium government has been driven from the system.

"Of course, there are and always will be a few opposed to the change of power, and are against the new way of life for you, the citizenship of Dominus. They are a silent opposition, silent because they know what would happen should they speak out publicly." He paused to clear his throat and build suspense in the planetary audience. "However, while any other ruler would take this timeand sieze the opportunity to eliminate any political opponents that threaten his rule, I shall allow any and all those opposed to my rule to freely leave the planet without harm."

Yuri felt a huge weight lift from his shoulders. Noone but those few unaddicted extremists would want to leave the planet. Would want to leave their tripled food-rations, their inexhaustable supplies of Cipcon, their safe homes and plentifull neccessities of life.

------------------
Time is the best teacher, yet it kills all of it's students.

("Leelan" - I like that. She is pretty much Empress of the Vylae now, so it fits.)

"Here they come again."
Darkk watched the monitor. The three Argosian dreadnoughts had come back into the fray, pushing close in so they could do more damage, knowing full well that the only Leelan ships that could crack their shields, the Negotiator -class bombardment ships, were still undergoing a refit. Thus, the Argosian Chimeras' shields couldn't be cracked by any Vylae ship in the fleet - at least by conventional means.

Leela could rend them to scrap metal in an instant, but had said she needed to conserve her energy for the fight with Bob. Darkk knew if Bob had a few pieces, the battle could be very hard indeed. He hoped she wouldn't hold it on the ship.

Of course, Leela wasn't the only one with trick-loaded sleaves. It would hardly do to call Darkk "ledgenary", and he certainly was not on a par with Durandal or Leela, but calling him "average" would be a tad of a slight to his abilities. Nobody "average" leads that much firepower into battle if his or her superiors have half a brain.

Darkk had a spec sheet on those Chimaeras - Leela said something about "Jjaro databank", meaning probably a databank they left behind, and gave it to him. The shields COULD be cracked by an energy shell cannon, but the Herald and its sister ship concentrated on point defense arsenals and gravetic effectors and scanners. However, the "mass" and "maximum acceleration" data was far more interesting. For their size, the Chimeras were pretty light, but their acceleration was still not too great. One further detail caught his attention - with their inertial compensators maxed, the Chimeras would barely slow down at all from any collision that did not breach the shield. This suggested a very nice plan. The rest of the fleet was feeling pretty desperate - they outnumbered the Vylae, but the Vylae had the biggest ships in the field, as well as the best pilots (on average). Darkk might not be the best emotion-reader among the Vylae, but if he'd ever seen desperation before, it was there now. If the Vylae could do something drastic, the enemy might well brake and run.
"All right, spotter control - withdraw to the main fleet." With those words, the Vylae interceptors looping and dodging among the enemy fleet, sending scans for the long range guns, broke and ran for their carriers in a hail of chaff and ecm.

"All dreadnoughts and battleships - phase beam the Chimeras using maximum-width beams." The heavy ships closed on the plunging Chimeras, and fired their beams, seemingly to no effect.

"One last step - all ships with antimatter cannons - hit those Chimeras with it all!"

What followed was utterly horrifying to the beleagered Phylydion, Union, and Argosian fleets.

As the Chimeras drew near the superwarpships, it became clear that the phased beams had done something - they had given the shields an immense negative ionic charge - causing them to attract so many heavy positive ions from the solar wind that there was a visable haze about them. As they drew even closer, the superwarpships turned and fired an immese broadside from their antimatter turrets. Dozens of destroyers and corvettes, with smaller, lighter turrets, fired in turn upon the third Chimera.

Antimatter met matter, and the predictable ensued - the massive explosion propeled the Chimeras back at a fearful rate. This was made worse by the fact that the matter on the sides of the shield NOT hit by the initial wave of antimatter was swung around by simple electical forces, providing additional thrust when it reacted to residual antimatter clinging to the shield.

There was no way to miss the Chimeras coming - they were trailing immense pillars of energy, and going almost as fast as mass driver slugs. There was also no way to avoid them as they tore through the fleet, like cannonballs through massed ranks of troops in a rebellion long ago forgotten on planet Earth.

Hundreds of light and medium ships were instantly obliterated, and a few heavy ships too. Even some of the Argosian destroyers had had their shields overwhelmed. The Chimeras plunged onward through the dark of space, slowly depleating their momentum with their thrusters. By the time they returned, the battle would be over. Many more Argosian ships had been glanced aside, but their inertial comps were simply no match for the force, and the remains of their crews ran like water over the decks. (nice imagery, eh? ;))

Darkk looked at the panel. His forces now held numerical superiority in every category, but the enemy command structure looked intact, and they showed no signs of throwing in the towel.

Leela sat behind him, unmoving, unblinking, thinking only of the battle ahead. Now it was only a matter of time. Bob and her would have to settle face to face. No more shirking...

Darkk shivered as he felt Leela's impatience. But both of them were too professional to rush this.

------------------
Seen on a Claymore anitpersonell mine: "Do not eat"

Kijou staggered to his feet. The medscanner said his injuries were merely a pair of broken ribs, painful but not serious. The medic moved over to the ship's XO, who was bleeding all over the floor from a bad leg wound. The poor man was anesthatized, his wound dressed, and then he was rushed to surgery.

"Sir, the three Chimeras are out of the fight. We're too far away to get back already, and we'll be outside the Oort cloud by the time we stop this damn momentum. It looks fairly bad, but Commidore Miyu, the highest-ranking officer still at the fight, has informed us she will do all she can."

"MIYU?" Kijou sighed. She was good, but careless. He'd already shown what would happen if you made a slip-up. He hoped his example would prevent her from being too hasty. If only there was something ..."

Yes there is.

Kijou stood up. "Who said that?" His men looked at him quizzicly.

"I think the stress is getting to you, sir. We have said nothing."

I said it. There is something you can do. Let me in your mind. It was a woman's voice, as pleasent as Leela's sounded when you didn't think about its owner, but far more inhuman than Leela's sounded even if you thought about the fact she uses Tallos powers.

"Who are you?"

"Sir, are you feeling OK?"

"No I'm not, but I'm prepaired to believe the voice is real - it's no less startling than Leela's powers."

Sensible. Now, I need you to open your mind. Relax, and cooperate. This will seem very strange. You will suffer no perminant damage, and should recieve no temporary damage if you cooperate.

"I don't like this. What kind of temporary damage?"

You might repeat the message you relay for a bit. Nothing to worry about. This time the crew heard too.

"Ok, I'll let you in."

Kijou's breathing became more regular. The look in his eyes changed subtly. He approached the console, and tapped in a long sequence of keyes.

Leela appeared on the monitor, like a dreadful queen of wrath. All except Kijou drew back in fear.

"Who dares distrub my meditation?!?" Leela roared. One of the wounded died of fear.

"Not any you see before you. The power merely takes this form." Kijou's lips moved, but eh voice was the "woman"'s.

"Who are you, and what do you want?"

"I want you to stop being a fool."

"Do not dare to speak to me that way! I will crush you."

"I think not. Command register 0x5C2D6B5E4A84. Implement."

Leela considered for a moment. That wasn't one of Strauss's commands, and didn't even have the same syntax. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a process to automatic to stop was running. Then it stopped. Leela snickered. The Armadians had deactivated this system of commands too!

"Fool, I am beholden to NONE!" Leela's strike SHOULD have turned Kijou into a toad, but he remained human, unaffected.

"You, Leela, are the fool. In this course of action you doom those you would save. You cannot resist their might."
"I can. No one in the universe is stronger-willed."

"No one in the universe HAS the strength of will required. Here's a mirror that holds up what is now, as art should:

**
'And now at last it comes. You will give me the Ring freely! In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen. And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea the Sun and the Snow upon the Mounain! Dreadful as the Storm and Lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair!'
She lifted up her and from the ring that she wore there came a great light that illumined her alone and left all else dark. She stood before Frodo seeming now tall beyond measurement, and beautiful beyond enduring, terrible and worshipful. Then she let her hand fall, and the light faded, and suddenly she luaghed again, and lo! she was shrunken: slender elf-woman, clad in simple white, whose gentle voice was soft and sad.
'I pass the test,' she said. 'I will diminish, and go into the West, and remain Galadriel.'
**
Mark those words well."

"Filed, flagged, and ignored. This is reality, not a dang fantasy novel. I'll do what I think is right. You do what you think is right, but if we disagree, be prepaired to back up your words."

"I shall not back up my words, for some must be left to stand if all else falls. We shall not expend our energies on you, for the Wr'kncacnter power you wield is too mighty for us to challenge. If we attacked, the depths of your power, untested by you so far, would overwhelme any concievable force in the universe."

"Thanks for the information. I'll see Bob's head split off yet."

The connection cut. Kijou sat for a few minutes muttering the quote he had "said" but then got up.

He wandered over to the display, and looked out at the battle. "This is bad, very bad."

------------------
Seen on a Claymore anitpersonell mine: "Do not eat"

"What do you want?" Yuri Ulovich demanded in an irritated tone at the Orion Mercenary commander.

"Yuri, we've given you Dominus. We held our side of the bargain, now it's time you upheld yours. We want our payment."

Yuri chuckled slightly. "And believe it- or not- I am actually a man of my word. I shall give you every bit of what you deserve. But first," He gestured to a window of transparisteel, getting up from his chair to stand by it, facing out, "you need to see this."

The Orion Commander looked out the window. An orbital view of Dominus with it's crystal seas, it's sparkling cities, it's abrasive clouds drawn golden by a spectacular phylydion sunset. In high orbet, the Polaris Fleet sat, watching the planet. In lower orbit, alongside Admiral Ulovich's command ship, sat the Orion Superdreadnought.

(url="http://"http://www.slugsoft.f2s.com/img/oria_small.jpeg")(image)(/url)

"I don't understand..." The Orion Commander stammered. "What do you want me to see, Yuri?"

"Hush." The Confederate Admiral assured him. "It will be any moment now."

Then it began. From the command carrier shot a brilliant Nexus torpedo at point-blank range at the dreadnought. A huge explosion rocked the armored giant. Simultaneously, ships in the confederate armada began firing on the Orion fleet.
Betrayal!

The Orion spun around, a look of utter rage on his face, his knife drawn ready to cut the throat of the Confederate Admiral. The last thing he saw was the barrel of Yuri's drawn shredder-pistol and the most vile, contemptuous grin on the Confederate's face.

Boom

"Never trust a rat." Yuri muttered to himself as he walked away from the commander's corpse, shaking his head. "Even one you create."

"Report?" Natasha asked sadistically.

"The Orion fleet's gone. Only the dreadnought and a few Orion frigates managed to escape."

"Their status?" she inquired, her prefectly-shaped lips curving to fit each word a little too-well.

"The frigates most likely won't survive the trip back to Rigel. The dreadnought has been rendered seventy-eight-percent inoperable. Shall we pursue?"

"No." She smiled pleasantly. "Leave them as messangers to the Orions of our power."

------------------
Time is the best teacher, yet it kills all of it's students.

(Those Orion ships are in for a surprise when they get home. You might have missed this (although I gave a couple paragraphs to it), but Leela paid a visit to their worlds, and disliked the reception she got. A whole lot. Let's just say the Orions aren't feeling themselves. Sorry, but I think we're getting faction bloat. Let's leave the Orions outta this. It seems many of us (me, you, Pharris) are having trouble keeping track of everything as it is.)

"Hard left!" shouted Miyu. She was too late - the destroyer wing she had ordered forward found itself caught suddenly between two battleships that swung out of the cloud of corvettes that had masked them. Miyu winced as the phased beams drained the life from the ships, and then the missle batteries blew them away. She gave a small, sad salute to the fallen, and tried to think up a new plan. These "phased beams" seemed optomised for destroying shielding, and the heavy armor on Union and Phylydion ships was merely a plaything for the antimatter-wielding Vylae armada. It looked hopless. For a moment, she wondered if it would be better to die gloriously or save her people.

Then the voice spoke to her.

Do not despair, Miyu. If all else fails, living is better. It is not your purpose to stop Leela, for we could not do that ourselves, but to buy time for he who can. If she can be defeated by her own folly, it will be done here or in the presence of the one who can beat her. The blood of Leela will never reach your hands.

In spite of her desire to shrug it off as a delusion, she could not, and thought a reply.

"What am I to do?"

Hold, stand, draw blood. The worst they can do they have done. I will find help for you, even if it shows in unexpected form. Unless I tell you otherwise, you must not shoot at any non-Vylae fleet, be it of the lesser enemy itself.

She wondered at that comment, but continued her fight. "Ok, hit that destroyer on the left."

The destroyer indicated suddenly veered into attack position, about to score a kill on an injured Union battlecruiser. But it was too late, the destroyer was lanced with EMP fire and drifted in space, a derelict hulk. The Union ship fell back into line, where its fighters could cover it.

Noone commented on her sudden increase in perception

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

Darkk swore. This new female Argosian commander had suddenly gotten good. It didn't matter - they were still a massive majority. And they were fighting better. The enemy was good, but you can't beat cyborgs - unless with AIs. And they didn't have any. Leela seemed more like a goddess now than a mere computer program, however sophisticated. Darkk had no doubt she existed in physical form merely because the Vylae feet depended on her, and she had not entirely forgotten their usefulness in the past.

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

Natasha entered her quarters. It had been a long day, and rest would do her good.
Suddenly, she stopped herself. She DIDN'T feel tired. She hadn't done much at all. Why was she feeling tired? That someone wanted her to take a nap was the only explanation. "Well if Leela wants to fight me in my dreams, I can take her mind games any time." was her thought as she opened the door.
No you can't. replied the woman inside the room, sitting in Natasha's chair.

If indeed it was a woman. Certainly not a human woman. The being had the same general shape, but its skin was pale gray, the two eyes it had in the standard places had purple irises on a green background, and the one in its forhead, spanning almost the entire height of it but much less width, was merely two shades of purple.

"What in the hell are you?" Natasha had always been direct. Even while her mother had been alive.

I am merely one who is here to petition with you.

"I do not recieve petitions from the likes of you. Supplication, perhaps, but not petitions." She reached for her shredder pistol.

Poor little fool. You go conquering, and when you meet something you cannot conquer, you do not realize it and try to go on doing so. You are foolish. I could make the fleets of your villianous people disappear as though they had never been. I am older than the world you sit on, older than the star it circles, so old I witnessed the birth of your universe, and held its seed in my hands, and felt the heat of it burn.

"I'm not even gonna respond to that. You're some sort of lunatic, and I'm gonna kill you right now. Stand up, I don't want to get blood on my armchair."

Of course.

Natasha put a laser sight dot slightly above the bridge of the odd intruder's nose, and fired. The blast struck home. Natasha doubled over, looking through the haze of pain at her right arm - or what was left of it. The bolt had impaced on the intruder, but the damage had been done to the hand that fired it. On the floor was a pool of metal where the shredder pistol should have been.

Now listen carefully. Natasha felt the pain go away, could see her arm growing back. You must act for the future for once, away from short-sighted foolishness. Your species is capable of amazing greatness, if you but knew it. You will counsel a truce with the Phylydions and Argosians, and attack the Vylae fleet at Rodrom - NOW.

"WHY SHOULD I???" Natasha yelled, quite angry at being told what to do.

Natasha, Natasha, Natasha, Natasha, Natasha. You don't have to be this way, you know. All this rage, all this anger, this violence. It's not you. Your desire to measure up to your mother is corrupting you. Let go, and you may yet do it. If the others object to a truce, I hereby give you evidence that this is necissary.

Natasha looked at the plain manilla folder offered her, and looked inside. At once, a wave of awarness struck her as she read the lines on the page. It seemed just printed words, stories of impossible things, but it rang true with a power that she could never before have imagined.

"How are you doing this?"

I am not. What you feel is the stirring of the primal harmony, that binds all humans together. It sang brightly long ago, and even the Tallos trembled at it. It runs in all, the Union, the Polaris, the ESF, the Argosians, the Orions, all humans. It will one day sing again, clear, bright and pure, provided the present calamity is avoided.

The "woman" then promptly faded, as though she suddenly walked into the distance.

Natasha felt a sense of peace, as she had never felt before. It seemed she could somehow feel the others in the halls, their hopes, their desires, their dreams. The awareness faded, but the peace did not. And neither did a new feeling, that replaced the awareness - strength.

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

"Very well Natasha." Aleck didn't know what had come over Natasha, but he knew her well enough to know that she wasn't mad this time, and that she generally was right. "We shall offer the Phylydions a truce, and make up some pretext. It will be usefull and allow us to lick our wounds, and put in place a thorough defense system around Dominus. As for the cease-fire with the Argosians, they already offered us one ten minutes ago. We were about to reject it. That is an odd coincidence."

"They can see this threat too. The Vylae have attacked them and us."

"Very well, I will accept the agreement."

Yuri knew Natasha just as well, and knew that she was right. He didn't know quite how he knew, but he knew. "I too give you permission."

Natasha turned off the holoscreen, after thanking them and bidding them goodbye.

Yuri and Aleck discussed her new, odd bent for a bit. In the end, they decided it was nothing worth worrying about. If anything, she'd been more devoted to the empire than them. They were glad she was on their side. Perhaps she could add the Vylae to their holdings.

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Miyu watched the battle, and struck out at a number of different, seemingly inconsequential ships. All at once, the Vylae wave collapsed, and fell back, as the stolen energy shell cannon began to fire into it.

It was going as well as could be hoped, but no dent could be made in the Vylae numerical advantage - they killed one for one, and the unlikely allies would run out of ships long before the Vylae. And Leela hadn't even raised a finger against them. All this by nothing but their servents.

Suddenly, and immense host of quasispace portals opened. Out poured thousands upon thousands of Polaris ships. Miyu almost fired at them, but then remebered the words of the voice, and opened a channel to the flagship carrier.

"State your business here."

"We, my dear Miyu, are here to aide you."

A volley of nexus torpedos slammed into the wolfpacks of corvettes, prepairing to rend the Phylydion right-bottom flank to shreads. A second volley tore up a dreadnought prepairing for what might have been a fatal hit on Miyu's destroyer.

And then the fleet waided into battle, the eagle of Natasha's fleet emblam carrying dread to the Vylae ships in their path.

(Vast forces are at work, and all this battle is to provide a chance to one man. Anyone remeber this sort of thing from Return of the King?
Bonus points if you can get the Eagle refrence.

In any case, this battle should last a bit - some nice back and forthing will be good. I or Pharris will write the ending of the battle, and then the concluding chapter of the Founder's Bane saga will draw to a close.

BTW, if you're wondering what's with the powers that Natasha got, read the whole "factions" and "info" threads. I explain my theory on humans somewhere in there.)

------------------
Seen on a Claymore anitpersonell mine: "Do not eat"

(This message has been edited by Fleet Admiral Darkk (edited 12-13-2001).)

Bob had spent hours moving as fast as he could. Mountains, rivers and mile after mile of broken ground had passed under his boots as he trod across the surface. Already, the planet reacted to his presence, or moreover, that of the two pieces in his suit. His treck had taken him through ruins of cities, and all manner of wracked, broken land. Now, he was coming to his destination. A crater, ringed with mountains, a thousand miles across, in the center of which lay one of the openings, one of the very pieces of the skeleton of the planet that shot through the surface. It was in the middle of a tremendous, circular valley. The footprint of the seismic dead zone that surrounded the tower. The crater had eroded down well below the huge spire, and with no tectonic plates to force it upwards again, it had become one of the lowest areas on the planet. It was a good five hundred miles across, though from where he stood, near the peak of one of the mountains, he could see the spire in the center, billowing thick black smoke.

He reached in amongst the goodies that Durandal had given him, and pulled out a metal unit the size and shape of a football. He twisted it, then winding up like a quarterback, cocked his arm and threw it. The football seemed to break open in mid air, but it was in fact only the double rotors spinning off of it. As it stabilized itself and began circling, he activated the voice control, and ordered it to go on wide patrol. He watched it sail off for a moment as he sipped his water, then eyeing the setting sun suspisciously, pulled an MA-75b out of his suit and started down the mountain.

It wasn't long before he was on the sand, loping in the long, steady gait that had carried him over uncounted miles of terrain in his lifetime. He didn't feel right here, but he put it off to the pieces, and perhaps to Leela's proximity. Ahead, the glowing top of the tower peered over the horizon, two miles high in the billowing smog that would have darkened the sky had there been sun to block. Bob had no readings from his scout, and so was just letting himself relax enough to really run when there was an intense rumbling and the sound of shifting sand. Bob raised his rifle to his shoulder, activated his EMF viewer to IR and UV, and spun around looking as his eyes adjusted to the green glow of the night vision apparatus. THe rumbling stopped, but Bob knew that it was for the wrong reason.

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

Meddling fools Leela glowered.

A surge of Vylae warships was the only warning something unusually big was happenning. The front ranks of the combined Polaris Armada were being faced with a resistance they hadn't witnessed since the Alduran Wars. Massive bloodshed was exerted on both sides of battle. Whole battlegroups of the finest and strongest were singled out and reduced to a fog of quarks as antimatter-weaponry was brought to bear on the Polaris invaders.

Yet, as human as they were, the Polaris fought with a ferocity and rage that sent shivers down the spines of their Argosian Bretheren. This was the true totality of battle that each and every Confederate had yearned for.

Riding in on the quasispacial wave, the Chimaera and her two sistership dreadnoughts washed into the scene, cannons blazing, diving into the heart of the Vylae fleet itself.

"Sir we're recieving a distress-call from the Argosian dreadnought Chimaera." A young communications officer yelped accross the the scrambled battle-bridge.

Admiral Aleck Yakovf looked back from his battle-console. "What?"

"Sir, Our quasispacial wave washed them back into the battle. If we don't intervene the Vylae will tear them asunder."

The Confederate Admiral clenched his jaw. The situation was dire enough on the front lines without having to worry about those goddamned Argosians. 'let 'em burn' he wanted to say, but something kept him from doing so. In the back of his mind, something scratched his pride. This was the ultimatum. Us vs. them. 'Argosians' and 'Polaris' were merely different names for one thing. Long live humanity. a voice tinkled in perfect timing.

"Send all available forces to assist the Argosians."

"Sir, our fleet is in heavy engagement. The vylae are jamming our transmissions to Admiral Ulovich and Rear Admiral Trebetauski."

Damnit. In his entire ranking career, a Polaris Admiral had never participated in actual combat. It was a strict tradition that he was above the common (expendable) sailor. Tradition had to be broken. He had to take a risk to save the Argosians.

"Very well." Aleck said coldly. "Set a course the intercept. Let's go save those dreadnoughts."

General Kijou ducked as helms exploded from the EMP-backwash as the three chimaera-class dreadnoughts, the strongest and fastest ships argos had ever built, were fighting to keep themselves alive. Usually each EMP-battery was fired every ninety-seconds to prevent them from overheating. Cornered and surrounded, the Argosians were forced to fire them every two seconds, resulting in massive power faliures all over the ship.

Then, the argosian shields that could easily withstand a supernova, collapsed. The Vylae warships tore into the Chimaera 's sistership, the Newton , like boulders into tin-foil. A massive explosion rocked the night sky as antimatter met paper-thin hull.

As the flames subsided, only two of the Three dreadnoughts were left.

Kijou had given up. The EMP-power grid had long-since burned out. Shields were contracting, weapons were gone, half the crew was dead. Soon the armored Argosian giant would be dead.

And indeed it would have been, had the incoming Vylae gunships not been hit by the Admiral's own Carrier. A single nexus torpedo was all it took to draw Vylae attention to the Confederate Command Ship.

"Run!" Was all Aleck could shout out before the communications array was destroyed by the concentrated fire of the Vylae fleet.

The wounded and bleeding chimaeras had just fled the scene as another explosion rocked the sky.

Aboard the Command Ship Colossus , Admiral Ulovich bowed sorrowfully as he watched the Carrier ripped apart. Aleck Yakovf was dead.

Aboard the Command Ship Bear , Natasha Trebetauski let a tear form in the corner of her eye as she saw the act of sacrafice take place. Whatever hate she had felt before for the Phylydions, the Argosians, had disappeared.

------------------
Time is the best teacher, yet it kills all of it's students.

Natasha was stunned. Just as as Aleck came to reinforce her, he was gone just as quickly. For good.

Time to finish the Vylae.

All of a sudden, time seemed to stop for her. The only things on the bridge moving were her, and a strange-looking fellow walking to her from the doors, wearing a uniform she did not recognise.

"Greetings, Natasha. It is good to see the return of feeling to humanity. It has long been awaited. The Jjaro could give you power, but control is the one gift beyond even them. We must give it to each other."

"Greetings, ummm, stranger."

"Stranger is a fine name for me, as I have no other. Now go out there and show the Vylae exactly what humanity can do! We're coal now, but one day we'll be diamonds again."

With that, the man vanished, and time restarted, but not the same as it had before.
Natasha was seeing afterimages, it seemed. Blurry trails of ships No, something different...
Without a word Natasha walked over to the weapon control station, and took hold of the Nexus torpedo arrays. She fired one at seemingly nothing.

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Aboard the Herald of Leela

"Sir, we've gotten word from Dock 1053 - the new Negotiator there under construction is READY. We've put it in a condiut and are bringing it here."

Darkk smiled. A nice, big help it would be - he'd blast that miserably mockery the Anderson and that stupid Polaris Dreadnought out of the sky.

Any second now...

The new Negotiator appeared. But just as it did, it intersected the Nexus torpedo, and was caught with its shields down.

Darkk was stunned. Backtrace indicated the shot was fired BEFORE the ship arrived. How'd they know where to aim?

Leela twictched in her meditation. Darkk wondered what was troubling her.

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Aboar the Bear , all the crewers were looking at Natasha. How had she known where to fire? It seemed unbelievable.

The answer came to them immediatly. She's the admiral. She's just better somehow.

And they fell to fighting.

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Darkk couldn't understand it. First the bombarder. Now all his moves seemed to be anticipated. It was as though the enemy could see his mind, see the future, see SOMETHING.

It was driving him crazy. He couldn't make a massive sweep over the enemy without Leela's help or risking the superwarpships, but she disintigrated the last person who tried to wake her, and he wasn't about to risk the stones or whatever just yet. If worst came to worst, he knew Leela would wake if a serious threat appeared.
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Natasha gulped. She couldn't avoid this one - wait, what was that?

A wing of Vylae destroyers dived toward her, arming their missles, which would dimple the shield just enough to let their antimatter through, if they fired with good enough timing - and she knew they would.

Suddenly, a massive shape appeared, blowing a hole in the destroyer formation with lances of red fire.

She opened a channel.

"I thank you greatly." was all she could say to the Orion commander.
"We forgave you for what you did earlier. We must at all costs avenge what Leela did to our people."
"What did she do?"
"Something too horrible to discuss. We are all that's left."
"Then I am truely sorry for our actions towards you."
"Something makes me believe you, and accept your appology. Thank you."

Natasha watched as the transmission ended and the Orion ship entered into her battle registry as "friendly".

She smiled. All of humanity and beyond was coming together to fight the darkness. Would it be enough? She lost a touch of happyness at that thought, but not very much at all.

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Bob stared into the darkness. Something's here... Exactly what, is a job for robots.

He took out another hover-cam, and sent it towards the rumbling. It hadn't gotten 60 meters when his night vision recorded a giant tentactle shoot out and EAT it.

Bob rolled left just as a tentacle with a mouth on the end shot through the space where he had been.

A hail of gunfire stretched from Bob to the tentacle. It had no effect, except to make something where the tentacle had came from angry. Suddenly, a wolf-like monster burst from the gloom into range of his night-vision.

It had both fur and scales, and the tentacles were part of it and came from its back. It was hideous to behold, and frightening. It stood over 25 meters tall, and was over 60 meters long. Bob didn't know anything carbon-based that could get so massive. He switched his scanner over to "active radar".

That was even more worrying. By the way it reflected, the thing must be solid metal. And it wouldn't be reluctant to eat Bob for long. No sooner had he reached that conclusion (and for his wave motion cannon) than it sturck, sending a tentacle at Bob. He blased it, but all it did was singe it a little. The beast continued to strike, tentacle after tentacle at a maddening pace. Bob started to run while firing. It did likewise.

Bob needed a plan...

------------------
Seen on a Claymore anitpersonell mine: "Do not eat"

(This message has been edited by Fleet Admiral Darkk (edited 12-16-2001).)

They were breaking through. Wave upon wave of Vylae warships pummeled the ranks of the First Polaris fleet under the comamnd of Admiral Ulovich. Yuri was helpless but to watch the slaughter.

Fate had dealt him a cruel hand, or did fate merely have a sense of upkeep? He could remember his career. At the age of nineteen, an eager Captain Ulovich had commanded the Destroyer Achilles back when the ancient design was still new. Back when the galactic commnity was still young. At the age of thirty he was a commodore at the historic battle of Rigel, where the Orion Axis had first made itself known. Funny. He had attended virtually every major battle mankind had waged in space. He was there at Aldura during the overthrow of the Alduran Conbine. He had been there at the Battle for North Star when the Polaris Empire was uprooted and the confederacy planted in place. Every one of those battles he had one, where he had played the lead role.

Yet here he was, seventy-two terran years of age, losing the battle for the universe. No matter the countless years of experience he had behing his back, no matter the war-hardened legendary Polaris Navy at his command. Losing.

The forward ranks of the Polaris Fleet had by now completely collapsed into utter chaos. Vylae and Confederates fought continuously, battling desperately across the system. The support sirens blared as several direct-hits were scored against the Colossus. The call to abandon ship was given.

The rest of the crew began to scramble as the steady rumble of antimatter shook the ship. Yuri did not move. He was worn out. It was utterly hopeless now. But, the historical implications from Yuri's fifty-seven-year-long career had all stemmed directly from the battles he had fough and defended in. This time, it was not the battle, but rather what was going on many lightyears away that mattered.

The bridge was completely devoid of life now, save one Admiral. Yuri was spent. His fleet decimated. His comrades killed.

But he had fought, and that was all that mattered. It mattered not that he had lost, but that he had fought and gone down with his ship and fleet. That he had showed the universe the fury and incandescence of his human heritage. That he had stayed a patriot 'till the very end.

As the bridge erupted the split-second before the Vylae Antimatter bolts annihilated the ship, a rhaspy voice escaped from his lips, unfearfull and unafraid. I die for the confederacy. Engulfed in flames, Fleet Admiral Yuri Ulovich gave one last salute.

Two of the three Polaris fleets had been decimated. Ranks were beginning to break on Natasha's front lines. She didn't care that she was going to lose; all she cared was that she fought.

The rest of the Confederate fleet knew that, and made it clear as several massive suicide attacks left the Vylae momentarily gasping for air.

She regrouped the remnants of the Polaris Armada into a tightly-packed battlegroup, surrounding the Orion Dreadnought.

One last step for mankind. she growled through clenched-teeth, readying for the last assault.

------------------
Time is the best teacher, yet it kills all of it's students.

The main bulk of the Union fleet had expended its missiles at the first blow, and had dove in to close quarters to use their plasma vents. Unfortunately, the Union ships were sorely outmatched, and at close range they were torn to shreds in minutes. Dulles, rather than lose his best captains in futile attempts, pulled his smaller vessels back, and ordered them to retrieve survivors from wrecks while the Battlecruisers and destroyers continued their long range nuclear missile barrages. Once every missile was away, the capital ships dove in with the other fleets, more for show than for anything else, as the slow, heavy, battlecruisers were easily ravaged by the much more advanced Vylae ships.

The only card that the Union could play was the USS Anderson. A four mile long dreadnought, equipped with a stolen Vylae Energy Shell Cannon. It had the power to shatter planets, and while it had been ineffective against Leela's personal ships, it was able to shred the Vylae Dreadnoughts. Standing off at great distance, covered by destroyers and corvettes, it lanced out once every minute and twenty seconds, destroying a large group of ships, then waiting for the barrel to move back up to its initial position from the recoil and fire again.

Dulles, on the otherhand, had taken command of the Xerxes, and was leading the small force that was picking up the escape pods and bailed out crewmen of the ships that were deep in the Vylae fleet. He shielded the corvettes with the Xerxes hull while they picked up wounded, then used the Xerxes manouverability (unparred next to other ships of its class) to actually infilct some damage on the Vylae ships before ducking away to the next beleaguered Polaris, Phylidion, or Argosian ship.

But now there was noone left to rescue. The fleets pulled back to fallback positions, and reformed for the final stand against the Vylae Armada. Ahead, the Vylae appeared to pause and consider their options, licking their cuts and scrapes and surveying the gushing wounds that they had inflicted on their foes. Together, the Union, Argosian, Polaris and Phylidion fleets steeled themselves for the final assault, charging their weapons and patching leaking hulls. As the Vylae ships started to form up, Dulles signalled the Anderson, one of the few undamaged ships left.

"Mr. Pharris, you may fire at will. Try to slow them down while the fleet rearms and repairs."

"Aye aye, sir."

And so as the tugs raced back and forth with missiles and wounded, the USS Anderson tore into the advancing Vylae fleet while the four fleets watched and anxiously prepared.

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

Natasha tried to hold back her grief. She had to focus. She had to be calm.
Why? In your emotions lie strength - the kind of strength that made our servents rate you as worthy to us.

She remebered this voice as that of the strange "woman" in her quarters. Suddenly, she had a feeling. Once again, she dashed to the weapons console, and fired a Nexus torpedo at something that wasn't there.

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

All throughout the human fleet, her impulse was transmitted to many. At one point in space, directly in front of the oncoming armada, a thermokinetic beam from the Orion ship, an energy shell from the Anderson , an EMP lance from a Chimaera, and Natasha's Nexus torpedo met a Vylae pseaudomatter pulse.

No-one had before considered what would happen if all these different shots impacted one another simultaniously. What did happen was astonishing. A white light so bright that it flooded through ship's hulls appeared. When it faded, the Vylae ships (except the superwarpships) had been riven of their shields. All but the Vylae took delight in what had happened.

Natasha gave the order to attack. Unexpectedly, the human and Phylydion charge was not hopeless. The Vylae had little in the way of heavy metals, and their armor was almost as bad as that of the Argosians. The Vylae were being slaughterd, and were seemingly too horrified to fight back.

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Darkk was stunned. The odds against that were insane. He couldn't believe it was possible. He couldn't believe that what had happened was what should have happened if all those shots intersected.

In any case, it was not something he had been unprepaired for. In building the ship, Leela had used all the dark knowledge of the stones, knowledge of all weapons built in this universe and others. Although some of them were too unwieldy or expensive to be built at the moment, Leela had incorporated many.

Such as this one. Darkk ordered the support craft teleported out, until the two superwarpships stood alone in the midst of the enemy fleet. Then he personally inserted his key and slid back the glass cover. And pushed the button down.

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

Natasha could feel it coming. She knew there was no way to stop it in time. She only hoped she could face death as bravely as the others.

Then new knowledge came to her. And she smiled a little as the Vylae superwarpships vanished in a hail of lances of gray light, and she gave orders to scatter.

The first set of beams fired by the warpships struck home. The ships they hit vanished in flares of gray, and from those flares emerged two beams each, which continued striking.

Then the flares vanished, and the ships sat there, drifting. The recursive EMP beam had disabled 85% of the ships. The remainder were too terrified to move.

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"Our status, please?" Natasha knew the answer to her question before she asked it, but only because she knew she asked it. There were a few problems with suddenly becoming a 4D being, but she thought she could get used to it.

"Life support and comm system came on pretty quick, but weapons and drives will take about 15 hours."

"Well, get repairing them, we might get a chance to use one or the other."

Suddenly, the Orion captain called her, in a sort of confrence call with Dulles, Benden, Kijou, and Miyu.

"You have a great power I have never seen before." began the Orion captain. "I hope you live, so that you may share it with others."

"Well, you finally found out about it." was what came out, although she had been tempted to deny it.

"I'd like to say that it's been a pleasure to fight alongside you, and I am glad we were able to do so. I hope we avoid fighting against each other from now on, it would feel so hollow."

They all agreed. And thus was born the Great Peace. But for now, all depended upon Bob.

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Leela's superwarpships rumbled forth, repulsor beams brushing aside ships in their way.

Soon, they were over Rodrom.

Darkk turned and bowed to Leela, who had now opened her eyes.

"My lady, we have arrived."

(Well, this RPG is winding down. From here on out, it's pretty much Bob and Leela. You all can write for them if you want to and feel you understand enough, but please leave the ending in the hands the RPG's founder left it in - mine and Pharris's. Thank you, thank you all. I love you. (none of the preceeding was sarcasm) Otherwise, we should get ready for the shiny new RPG Joviea is making, except Slug, who said he wouldn't join it, and will hopefully put the time he gains to use on Starlance. I'll make a nice movie for the ending, which I'll post after break. You've all been wonderful.)

------------------
Seen on a Claymore anitpersonell mine: "Do not eat"

Darkk has singlehandedly managed to kill off an entire RPG topic

------------------
Time is the best teacher, yet it kills all of it's students.

(no such thing as killing a topic, Slug, all it takes is a post in the right direction to bring it back)

Bob was still running. It didn't bother him that none of his weapons had so much as slowed down the three creatures that were chasing him, what bothered him was that he was going to be late. So far, he had been running for hours, and was only marginally closer to the objective. Moreover, two tremendous, imposing bulks had risen over the horizon with the sun, and before they had dissapeared above the debris cloud pouring from the top of the mountain, he had had just enough time to recognize them for what they were- Vylae Superwarships. Leela was ahead of him, and was without doubt closing in on the last piece. He cursed, as he continued to weave to avoid the shooting tentacles and snapping jaws.

Just then, something unexpected crackled into his earpiece.

"Master Chief, the cavalry is on the way. Someone upstairs woke us up for a special occaision. Hold tight, we're on our way down now."

His sensor display ponged and a dozen new contacts appeared in a rough circle around him. Bob knew what was good for him, he sprinted to the top of a nearby sand dune and rolled down the back just in time to see Durandal's contingent of shock troops unleash fury on the pursuing beasts.

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