Hardslab put out the fires in the cockpit quickly, then he looked at Michael. He lay at the back of the cockpit, unconcious but alive. Suddenly three Kestrels hyperspaced into the system. Hardslab thought for a moment before hailing Evildrome again. "I thought I told you to..." Rick Hardslab cut him off. "I don't care what you told me! Now I'm a Pirate you insane idiot, now let me land!! I gotta tell you something that can't wait! Now give me permission to land!!!" he yelled into the comlink. The pirate paused for a moment. "Request granted Captain Scum, now hurry up before I change my mind!"

The screen went blank. Hardslab looked at his radar, it showed the three Pirate kestrels comming at him fast. Suddenly he remembered something, this scoutship was special, it had many addons from the Rebellion, including better speed and maneuverability. But so far his scoutship maneuvered just normally, but why? Hardslab suddenly looked at a button on the main panel, it read EXMS. He pushed it, nothing happened, but then Hardslab moved forward. The scoutship shot forward like a speeding bullet, leaving the Kestrels far behind. The shields suddenly started to regenerate faster. Hardslab thought the letters "EXMS" must stand for Extra Maneuverability and Shields! The scoutship raced forward towards Evildrome...

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

With the Kestrels far behind he raced into Evildrome. "You are clear to land you filthy animal." You land and are overwelmed with fights going on everywhere, constantly. Pirates are wandering around with both of their eyes gone. Their Cybernetics Eyewatcher is the only thing left to guide them with. The bar that you walk into is a very smelly bar. A pirate is in an argument about who accually killed U.S.S. Constitution. You get tired of this so you yell to them, "Fight it to the death scum boys." They both stop and glare at you.

"What are yah talkin' abut? You say that we should kill eachother over the U.S.S. Constitution? You better be out near the satelite Cromwell in 1 hour."

------------------
Your standing in line,
a very big line,
And you have a gun,
a Big Freaking Gun,
Gee now what do you do?

Note: not part of the story

Comon people, lets get some more entusiasm for this eh, like more then 4 authors would be a good start

------------------
If I fly the ship, shoot the guns, and work the hyperspace, what the hell does my crew do?

Hardslab quickly left the bar, fearing for his life. He looked around and somehow found a doctor for his co-pilot Michael. Suddenly Hardslab spotted a group of rough looking Pirates walking into another bar a little ways away. He also noticde that two of them were Redbeard the Pirate and Lars Magna, both famous Pirates. Rick walked into the bar they just entered. Hardslab saw them, sitting in a corner drinking happily. "Mind if I sit down?" he asked in a gruff voice. One Pirate growled but Lars made him shut up, then he turned to Hardslab. "Who are you?" he asked. "Captain Scumdog, now I need to tell you something," he replied. Lars nodded, getting a mean look from Redbeard. "Now," Lars asked him as Hardslab sat down. "What do ya want to tell us?"...

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

(This message has been edited by Captain Carnotaur (edited 07-22-2000).)

Everybody do not put any of those stupid

NOT PART OF STORY

It is getting annoying and messing up the story if you have a question just e-mail the person that wrote the part of the story that you don't get.

Kryptauros

------------------
Your standing in line,
a very big line,
And you have a gun,
a Big Freaking Gun,
Gee now what do you do?

Hardslab gulped, then told his story. After he was finished, Lars Magna just stared, then he stood. "Fellow Pirates! I have just gotton word that Blackbeard the Pirate is dead! We must avenge his death! TO YOUR SHIPS!!!" and with that a frenzy erupted in the bar. Pirates scrambled everywhere, racing towards their ships. Within minutes, a huge fleet of Pirate vessels had taken off from the planet.

Hardslab started to walk back to his scoutship, when all of a sudden three people jumped in front of him and grabed him. Hardslab punched the lead officer, sending him to ground. He then pushed away the other two and bolted for his scoutship. Two Pirate technicians and Michael, now wearing a bandage on his head and arm, were repairing it. As he raced forward, Hardslab yelled at Michael "Get the ship underway! Lets get out of here!" suddenly the two technicians pulled out proton guns and started firing at the three pursuers. All three were shot, but suddenly another four raced out from behind another building!

Hardslab was about to jump into the scoutship along with Michael when the engine section exploded. Hardslab turned and saw one of the pursuers carrying a neutron bazooka. Rick Hardslab turned towards the technicians. "Do you have a ship?"

"Yes," they replied, and started running towards a Clipper, parked on the other side of the spaceport. Rick and Michael jumped in, just as Rick's scoutship blew up from several more hits from a neutron bazooka. The two technicians jumped in, and soon the Clipper was exiting the atmosphere.

"Rick turned towards the technicians. "Why were they chasing us, and why were you protecting us?"

"Were Rebel opperatives. You were betrayed by the Confederation, they sent you on this mission to try to kill you. They sent those people down there and those Kestrels all to kill you. Fortunately we foiled their plan a bit. One of our Rebel cruisers was able to take out a few of their Kestrels. Okay, here we go!"

Rick turned towards space. Orbiting Evildrome were four Kestrels, and they weren't friendly.

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

"Hooo-boy! Would you look at that!", one of the rebel operatives exclaimed. "Seems they left some guard dogs up here to greet us!"
Hardslab looked out the front view at the Kestrels. "I never been much of a dog lover."
The rebel operative chuckled.
"You seem rather relaxed considering we have 4 Kestrels ready to tear us a new airhole just ahead.", Hardslab commented, slightly agitated.
"Awww...ain't nuthin' to slippin' past these boys if ya'll got the know how." The operative with a distinctive accent began flipping switches while his co-pilot solemnly looked ahead, calibrating the target sensors. He continued, "Basically Kestrels can't do much beyond sittin' an spinnin' while their turrets go blazing like ah' mornin' glory. They rely on Lightenings to go out and herd their targets into shootin' range. The trick is to make the Kestrels think the Lightenings' are actually intimidating you. That way they hold their position, confident you'll go where they want you to, then you can just glide on by while they're still sittin' on there asses."
"Jump path laid in.", the co-pilot interrupted.
The operative quickly looked over the navigation panels and nodded to his co-pilot.
"You make it sound so easy, as if they all fight the same way.", Hardslab said.
"You gotta' understand son, each ship has physical restrictions that dictate just how you're gonna' move them. That holds especially true if you're a tight assed confed captain, who worries more about losing his ship and having it taken out on his hide rather then use initiative and show some balls!"
The inertia dampeners whirred to life, and a sinking feeling fell into Hardslab's stomach. The Clipper cleared the atmosphere.
"Now hold onto yer' seats boys! I'm gonna' show you something they don't teach in flight school!"
Michael meekly grabbed the bottom of his seat, still feeling dizzy from the bump on his head he received on the Hermes. Hardslab just stared intently through the cockpit window, both in anticipation and overwhelming fear.
He'd stuck with this mission, despite all the hardships dealt to him for the past few weeks since he allowed himself to be wrapped up in all this, "Rebels verses The Confeds" crap, but now he was sick of it! Just what the Hell did the Confeds want with him anyway? Why would they set him up for a mission that had no apparent benefit for them, and resulted in his death?! It just didn't make sense!

Hardslab was pulled from his deep thoughts as the Clipper shook abruptly.

"Shields down to 86%", the co-pilot announced.
"Well, now we know they're awake! Get ready to dump some fuel into the afterburners. We're gonna' need a little juice to avoid the next barrage of missiles!"
The HUD radar showed five bogies on the Clipper's 6. Hardslab took a guess that those were the Lightening fighters ready to make their lives a bit more difficult. It was then something occurred to him:
"Just how the Hell do you plan to keep those Kestrels from chasing us while we're initiating hyperspace captain?"
The Rebel captain looked back for a second and winked. "Don't you worry about that. We got a plan! And the name is Robert." He turned back to the controls, "But my friends call me "Bob"."
The Kestrels were almost in firing range now. The proton turret's energy capcitators began glowing against the stealthy black hulls of the enemy ships. Captain Robert dived between the two flight leaders, firing off two sets of Javelin rockets. The rockets made a pathetic puff of an explosion against the slender bodies of the Frigates. The viewscreen began lighting up with flashes of proton bolts.
"Shields down to 52%!", the co-pilot yelled.
"Not to be a back seat flyer Bob...", Hardslab blurted out, "...but shouldn't we be flying OUT of range of the turrets?"
Captain Robert gritted his teeth, fighting to control the ship with each and every hit it received.
"No can do! I prefer... Proton bolts to ship seeking missiles...ANYDAY!"
The Clipper was beginning to show it's strain under the constant battering from the Kestrels.
"Captain, our shields are at 28% and dropping fast!", the co-pilot yelled again, this time with a bit more urgency then before.
Robert Made it past the flight leaders, and now had to sweep past the remaining two holding the back. He made a sharp pull to the left and hit the afterburners, quickly pulling out of the right side line of fire. The left Kestrel began furiously firing at the small but agile Clipper. The cockpit grew dim as energy systems began to shut down to compensate for shield power usage. Robert fired off a full volley of Javs towards the Kestrel. It was apparent it would do little to hurt the Frigate. Hardslab wondered about this, as Robert must have known that as well.
The Kestrel on the right side began to turn past the left flank. It was joining a formation in an attempt to box in the Clipper, but Robert quickly darted out to the side of the left ship, taking a final barrage of proton bolts and clearing the range of conflict.
Hardslab let out a sigh of relief. They managed to survive what would have surely been a suicide run if he were at the controls. He was suddenly feeling quite overwhelmed.
"Get the payload ready! Those dogs are gettin' ready to chase!" Robert exclaimed to his co-pilot.
Hardslab straightened back up. Payload? What payload? It was then he noticed the flashing red flip-switch on the weapon controls. Only one thing Hardslab knew that needed a safety switch like that! A Gravitic Megaton Space bomb!

The rear viewscreen displayed the 4 Kestrels settling into a chase formation, with the Lightening fighters joining escort by their sides. It became clear to Hardslab now that Robert fired the Javs to goad their enemies into taking a tighter formation.

"Slow us down... We need them to get in close and fast.", Robert directed.

The Kestrels gained speed and began to approach the small Clipper. The fighter escorts held in close formation to the Frigates, not leaving open any chance of another fly-by escape.

"Thats it...", muttered Captain Robert. "Just a little closer... NOW!"

The Bomb rack let out a dull clunk as the fat Charlie was released into space.

"Hold on!", Robert yelled. He punched the afterburner, and the Clipper took off with a powerful jolt to escape the impending blast of the bomb! Hardslab continued to watch the rear viewscreen not wanting to miss the fireworks.

The enemy couldn't maneuver away from the bomb in time. The lead Kestrel was the first to feel the blast. A fiery explosion engulfed the frigate, tearing off the entire bow and knocking the rear section for a loop. The shockwave spilled out, as the Lightening fighters were slammed against the shields and hull of their motherships. The port Kestrel lost half it's cargo section and probably a good part of it's engines. Only two the fighters were pushed far enough away to avoid total destruction.
Making a desperate move, the rear frigate attempted to dive down under it's devastatingly struck flight leader. It was a futile effort however, as the burning wreckage in front flipped backwards, crashing right on the top of the evading ship.

The Clipper finally slowed down. All four of the men looked out at the total carnage that had just ensued. There was little left of their pursuers. Two of the Kestrels were destroyed, while one burned and tilted into a spin and the other simply floated in dead space, lights flickering on and off. It appeared two of the Lightening fighters survived the explosion intact, but they were obviously disabled.

Hardslab's jaw had dropped at the sight. This was almost too unreal! Never, in a thousand years, did he ever think he'd be put in such a desperate situation, and come out of it virtually unscathed. Seeing the flaming wreckage through the viewscreen only confirmed one thing for Rick; his days as a simple freighter Captain had just ended...

------------------
"It came with a side of coleslaw, and I must say, it was quite reasonably priced."

(This message has been edited by SaintAndSinner (edited 07-27-2000).)

..."All right fellas," said Captain Robert. "Lets get outta here!" and he engaged the hyperspace engines. Only a few seconds passed to the crew, but in real time a day had just gone by. The clipper made a few more jumps before finally landing on Armstrong. Then, Hardslab got some interesting news from the Rebels on Kathoon. It read "New Britain has been taken. The Confeds are attempting to recapture it, but we have several large fleets of cruisers there, and so we won't have to worry about it. We've also captured some data on Confed ships and some other info when we took control of New Britain, along with the resistence there. We are planning to use this data to upgrade our ships quite soon. Over and Out."....

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

(This message has been edited by Captain Carnotaur (edited 07-28-2000).)

Very good part of story

"What kind of data do you think that they have Bob?" You ask him.
"I don't know but my guess would either be a weapon or some information about a secret base. That is mainly what those stupid Confeds have going. We have much more going on then that. Would you guys like to see something that no other civilian has seen?" Bob asks.
"Sure," you and Michael reply.
He pulls out a hologram projector and clicks a button.
"This thing that you see here is the newest addition to the Rebel fleet. The name that they are going to be calling it is the Commander."
You both gasp. The ship is massive. Bob goes on,"This baby has about 1000 shields at the max. The armor is extremely thick. 6 Proton cannons, 7 proton guns, 4 Mass
Drivers, 2 Heavy rocket Launchers and 30 rockets, and finally it is equiped with 4 torpedo launchers and 50 torpedos. There is no more space on this ship."
"How can you get 4 torpedo launchers?" You ask him.
"Remember that this ship is massive. One launcher on each wing." Bob replies.
"Where's the other two wings."

"They're cloaked."

------------------
Your standing in line,
a very big line,
And you have a gun,
a Big Freaking Gun,
Gee now what do you do?

-Switching back to first person-

You and Michael are amazed. Cloaked? You've heard stories about a mercenary captain using a cloak to infiltrate Terran Naval Yards, but that one was just a prototype. "What about the fuel expenditure?" Michael asks.

"The cloaking device we use on this ship is VERY big. It so big because it needs a very large generator to power it. With this generator, it doesn't take up any fuel."

Bob then hit another switch and another ship showed. It was smaller than a Rebel Destroyer, shorter, but it had bigger wings, it also had two smaller wings under the larger ones, and the front was more pointed. "This is a Rebel Frigate. It has one proton turret, 4 mass drivers, 3 heavy rocket launchers and 20 heavy rockets, it is also equipped with the new sparrow missiles. They fire and act like a normal javilen, but are bigger and cause over thirteen times the damage. This ships use is mainly being an interceptor, mainly because it's VERY fast for its size."

Suddenly alarms all over the spaceport start to wail. A voice booms over a spaceport communications system. "All Rebels to their ships, three Confed Cruisers have entered the system! Repeat, all Rebels to your ships!"

You look at Bob. "What are we supposed to do? Your Clipper can't do a thing!"

"Your right," said Bob looking around. "We'll take a Rebel frigate." As he and his co-pilot get up, you are very surprised. "A REBEL FRIGATE! They're in servive already!"

"Yes, but they've barely been sent anywhere, I'm lucky to have one!"

A few minutes later all four of you are in the bridge speeding towards the battle. Michael is at weapons control, Bob is in command, his co-pilot is scanner and shields. You are the pilot. Only four squadrons of Mantas and three Rebel destroyers are here to protect the planet.

Bob comes alongside one of the cruisers and hits it with four heavy rockets and a voley of weapons fire from his proton turret and mass drivers. The cruiser starts to fire its proton turrets and torpedoes. BANG! "Sir!" yells Bobs co-pilot. "Those protons just ate away 10% of our shields!"

"Full forward!" yells Bob.

The Rebel frigate leaps forward, zooming past and cruiser. Coming around, Bob orders all weapon to fire. Rockets and primary weapon fire smash into the cruiser, sending its shields down to 81%.

As the frigate passes under the cruiser, two torpedoes smash into the side of the vessel. "Side shields hit! Shields at 79%!" BANG! Another torpedo smashes into the rear section.

"Rear shields hit! They just damaged our engines, we'll have to reduce speed!" BANG! Another torpedo in the rear section. "That one just took one of our heavy rocket launchers offline, along with three heavy rockets. Shields at..." Bobs co-ilot is cut off by another deafening explosion. "Rear section hit several more times! Our shields are at 27, no 21%!"

Suddenly the entire vessel shakes as another three torpedoes blast the rest of the frigates shields away. Another two torpedoes slam into the vessel. "Our shields are gone! Fires on many decks! Hull breaches on decks 5, 9, and 11! Armor is at 79%! Uh no, our engines were just almost totally knocked out!"

Now the frigate could just barely move. As it turned around faceing the cruiser, three torpedoes sped towards it. "We won't survive those torpedoes!" yelled Michael.

But suddenly something blue flashes in front of the torpedoes, destroying them with laser fire. "WHAT IN BLAZES!?" Bob yells.

You realize its a corvette, but the gray areas of the hull have been painted dark grey. The corvette then streaks towards the enemy cruiser. Suddenly a blue beam spurts out from the front of the corvette. "Sir, Ion spike!" yells Bobs co-pilot.

"Ion energy spike!" yells Bob. "That could only mean a particle beam!"

"PARTICLE BEAM!" you exclaim as the beam makes contact with the Confed cruiser. The beam tears through it, quickly turning it to a burnt wreck.

"Sir," Michael reports. "We're being hailed by the corvette!"

Suddenly the screen changes from the battle to a picture of the bridge of the corvette. A person sits in the command chair and starts to speak. "Hello Rick Hardslab. I am Dash Riprock, and I work for the Rebellion."

Dash Riprock, that name seems familiar to you. As you think of what it could be, you suddenly remember! "Bob!" you wisper to Captain Bob. "I know who he is, he's..." you're cut off.

"If you don't know who I am, then I'll tell you: I destroyed the last alien cruiser!"....

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

(This message has been edited by Captain Carnotaur (edited 08-02-2000).)

"now im a pirate"

"get the particle beam on now!"

just them a ship comes out of hyper space and fired 20 missle his ship was alien fighter

just then they had a hail
"im am human i captured this ship i work for the rebelion my name is bj

(This message has been edited by sargeras2000 (edited 07-29-2000).)

-Not part of the story-

Huh? I don't exactly get this latest part of the story. Do we just ignore it?

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

--i like that idea, let's try to keep the story somewhat intelligible

--btw, i like the 3rd person past tense idea so i'll go back to that

"i'm back," riprock continued, "because services along these lines are in need again."

everyone in the frigate stared at the comm screen, not ready to jump to the obvious conclusion. hardslab thought back to his school days, he KNEW they had taught him all the aliens were gone.

as if reading hardslab's mind, riprock explained "all the aliens within the detection range of the humans were destroyed, but for some reason nobody ever thought about the fact that most species have home worlds and that we hadn't found theirs. recent technological advances, thanks largely to the rebels' research effort, have expanded our detection capabilities and allowed us to find alien planets. we aren't sure we've found their home planet, but we have found several planets occupied by them."

answering the question in everyone's mind, riprock said "we have been studying the aliens for some time now and we have found that we aren't the only species divided into warring factions. they apparently formed some alliance to attack us, but after they lost all the ships they sent here support for the war seems to have broken off and their alliance has broken.

"unfortunately, one faction seems to be rising to dominance, which would mean they would be able to attack us as one again. fragmented as we are, i don't know that we could survive another attack by such a powerful force. this is why i'm here. i was sent to recruit the best pilots i can find to join me in as small task force to perform surgical strikes deep within alien territory. you'll need some work, but i think i may have just found some of those pilots."

-Nice section Nighthawk

"You want me?" Hardslab asked.

"Yes, you and your buddies there. But before I tell you more, I have to do something first," replied Riprock.

His corvette, now identified as the Anaconda, quickly turned around and fired its particle beam again. The weapon tore through the front of one of the Confed cruisers, turning it into a twisted mass of metal. Then the corvette flew past both cruisers, launching 6 space bombs. The bombs blasted apart the two cruisers, nothing was left except for some ionized gas and space dust.

"Now," Riprock said. "We can talk"...

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

"We've got many things to discuss, first off I'll need to..." continued Riprock

Bob cut him off, "Perhaps we should continue this conversation over a drink. Besides, you never know who could be monitoring these subspace transmissions."

"Good idea," Replied Riprock, already turning his ship and hailing Armstrong flight command. Hardslab followed suit taking the limping frigate back down the planets gravity well and into a docking bay. As they landed a rebellion tech crew came scuttling up to the ship and began preperations for repairing it.

Rick, Michael, and Bob exited the ship to find a smilling Riprock waiting for them just outside. He led them off in search of a bar selling decent Arcturian Whiskey. The spaceport was bustling as it always does just after an attack, Traders hypering in and out of system carrying medical supplies, weapons, defense systems or anything else they think they can unload at a profit. Military staff running about ordering soldiers to guard posts and trying to keep the general populace calm, and of course the Children of the United Order (CUO), the modern day version of twentieth century's Hari Krishnas.

"Now as I was saying the aliens do appear to be split into factions very similar to the way our race is," Said Riprock as he led the group dodging and weaving through the crowds towards yet another bar, "and we've observed at least six discernable factions that are in the realm of our study. We've code named them based on ancient mythological animals to keep them straight, Hardslab are you listening," Riprock snapped as Rick was distracted by a particularly familiar looking CUO.

"Y-yes, six factions." Rick stuttered back.

"Okay just checking." Riprock continued. "As I was saying we have code named them. The six factions are, Tiamat, they seem to be the most technologically advanced of the group, thankfully they aren't the ones who are rising to power or we wouldn't stand a chance. They're the ones responsible for the alien cruisers we almost couldn't handle last time and by the time those cruisers arrived here they were old technology as far as that faction was concerned. Next we have the Pheonix faction, we named them that because they seem to be the oldest of the known factions, After that are the Cyclops faction and the Titan faction, not much is known about these two. The fifth is the Cerebrus faction. This is the most aggresive of the factions and they are the ones rising to power. Last is the Centaur faction, and I mentioned these last because they seem to be resisting the Cerebrus faction and even have on occasion seem to have let on that they know we are monitoring them. It's difficult to tell but we may have an ally amongst the aliens. Scientist are working around the clock to translate all the information we get back. Ah, here we are."

Riprock took them into a noisy bar full of drunken patrons and finds an empty table in the back away from most of the speakers from the live bozouki band onstage.

"Now the matter of ships, I've gotten permission from the Rebellion to issue ships to you based on your preference. Bob you of course may keep your frigate if you so choose and you are welcome to have as many of these hands aboard as your crew, But Hardslab your piloting skills seem more apt for single seat fighter, well armed and armored of course but... Ah, one Arcturian Whiskey please" Riprock interupted himself as an attractive waitress came up to the table. He motioned for the others to order as well.

Bob and Michael both ordered Deneban Rum. The waitress turned to Rick and smiled at him. Flustered for a second he immediately regained his compsure. "You wouldn't happen to have any gin from Evildrome, would you?" he inquired recalling the drink he had had on the pirate station.

"I think we just got some in, I'll have to check though." replied the waitress, "By the way my name is..."

------------------
All things are possible
except skiing through a
revolving door

..."Kristen and I..." she was cut off by a large explosion. The door the the bar blew open as several creatures jumped in. They were colored like alien cruisers, and as far as Hardslab could they had no eyes, they were just colored one patern all over. They shot a few Rebel officers before half running, half jumped towards Riprock and Hardslab. They were carry weapons that were also colored like alien cruisers, which fired blasts of energy and plasma that looked like a seeker drone.

As they bolted for Hardslab, Riprock picked up a large proton rifle and blasted one of them back a few feet, killing the creature. One of the creatures lept at Hardslab who ducked. The creature missed and slamed onto the table. Michael picked up a laser gun and killed the creature.

Hardslab, who had been looking at the dead alien turned around, only to be confronted by another hissin creature! But suddenly, the alien spoke.

"Youa human! Youhe willk dies!!" the creature said in an unusual form of english. Riprock and Bob turned towards the alien and fired. The creature was blown back four feet, before jumping back to its feet. Riprock fired again, sending the creature to the floor. It was dead.

Hardslab looked around, Michael and Bobs co-pilot were staring at the dead creature on the table, Riprock was looking at the dead creatures, and Kristen was nearby, her eyes wide.

"These are aliens," Riprock said, turning to Hardslab. All the people in the bar stared in awe. Aliens? They knew nothing about how the aliens still existed.

"They were so fast and quick!" Michael said, a bit jittey.

"Yes, these aliens seem to be extremely fast a quick. You know what this means Hardslab?" Riprock asked.

"What?" replied Rick Hardslab.

"They know we're after them."....

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

(This message has been edited by Captain Carnotaur (edited 09-20-2000).)

hardslab was shocked. "how can they possibly know that we're watching them?!"

riprock led him gently to the answer; "do you remember what i said about their factions? one raising to dominance, another technologically superior? sound at all familiar? perhaps the confederation and the rebellion? if our most technologically advanced faction can study them, what makes you think that theirs can't study us? they are far more advanced than we are, so it would stand to reason that their intel would be better than ours.

"we do, however, have one advantage. the distance between their space and ours is immense; even using hyperspace routes the trip takes several years. this creates a major technology gap in anything they send here. we, however, can circumvent this problem, and they don't know it."

questioning looks from everyone at the table directed riprock to continue; "as standard procedure, we use our cloaking devices on all of our major research projects. although we believe the tiamat, and possibly other factions, have the capability of defeating our cloaking technology, they cannot yet do this at extreme range. this means that they can't see any of our research projects until they are decloaked for testing. the project which will give us the advantage is still cloaked."

activating a small machine, which he later explained to be a hand-held cloaking device, riprock continued, "scientists have often theorized that there exist multiple universes. this brings up the possibility that there is area between them, a area in which space as we know it means nothing. we have recently discovered the latter part to be true, there is existence outside of the universe, provided you bring part of the universe with you. it's hard to explain, i don't fully understand it myself, but imagine the universe as a giant bubble with us inside. we have created a device which folds in a small part of the wall of this bubble to create a tiny bubble on the outside of the large one. a guidance system then, theoretically, puts the small bubble back onto the large one at a specific destination, allowing almost instantaneous travel over incredible distances. unfortunately, very specific conditions are required for any successful return to the universe. the only entry points which won't just destroy everything coming in are right in between huge gravity sources, such as stars or black holes. in other words, if it doesn't come out at the center of a binary or trinary system, it's either randomly dispersed or sucked into a black hole. this means the guidance system is the most important part, but if we test it before sending it in they'll be able to know we're coming. i know this makes it even more dangerous to come with me, so i'll understand if you don't want to come along. anyone who wants out can leave now; i won't think any less of you."

------------------
if tin whistles are made of tin, what's a fog horn made of?

...Suddenly Michael bent down over the dead alien lying on the floor. Examining it, and getting covered with some alien blood that was also colored like alien cruisers, he then looked in the aliens mouth. Hardslab looked on. He had been a doctor on Levo for about two years before signing buying his own shuttle. Although he was used to this, everyone else, except for Riprock, wasn't used to it.

Bob's eyes grew VERY wide, and his co-pilot looked quite green. Kristen, looking on with big eyes, screamed.

Finally Michael turned to Riprock and Hardslab. "We're in big trouble."

"What do you mean?" asked Riprock.

"This alien is only 17," Michael replied.

"WHAT!" yelled Riprock.

"But, but how?" Hardslab replied. "I thought these aliens couldn't get to us that fast! You said it would take several years! Unless these aliens mature much sooner than humans do..."

"No," Michael replied. "These aliens, according to what I know, are recruited for work on alien ships at around 17. If thats true, then these aliens must have a some way of getting here VERY quick."

"How do you know that?" Harslab and Riprock asked together.

"During the great war I was a doctor, like Hardslab. I analyzed alien corpses and studied their social behavior, though I wasn't able to learn much."

Riprock looked around at the aliens. "How old are the others?"

Michael checked all three. "The first one I checked is 17, this one is 21, and that one is 23."

"Then," Riprock replied. "We have to hurry"...

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

the men headed off rapidly to find a ship, but not before hardslab could get kristen's number. they came to a rapier which had been modified into a fast armed shuttle, strong enough to survive some shooting but small enough to make fast hyperspace jumps, and sped through only the prelaunch checks which were absolutely necessary. three hours of percieved time (6 days, to the rest of the universe) later hardslab finally relaxed as they jumped to palshife. his relief turned to panic, which quickly faded to confusion, as riprock entered another jump destination which none of ship's other occupants had ever seen.

eighteen hours later the modified rapier was marshalled into a secret base buried under the surface of a planet which was unknown to all but the handful of people who lived and worked there. the men left their ship to the line crew and made their way through a series of corridors to find a man waiting for them at a security checkpoint.

"my name is sergei markolov," he introduced himself. introductions circled the group, but few pleasantries were exchanged before markolov drove the topic of the conversation to the task at hand.

"you may or may not remember," he began, "but about 10 years ago there was a large debate over a system of instantaneous transport. the technology was quite simple: disassemble at one end, transmit the order in which the object was disassembled, reverse the process at the other end; but this rose ethical concerns among the fundamentalists. they wondered what would happen to the soul in something like that, i think they were afraid that we could use it to establish proof as to whether or not there even is a soul. anyway, with all the publications about that technology, it was very easy for the tiamat to learn from us how to create such a transport. as a completely technologist faction, they had no qualms about implementing the technology immediately. this technology, however has two major bugs. one: it requires a reciever with sufficient subatomic resources to assemble all matter being transported, so they probably won't be able to send anything too large. two: it is only as reliable as the communication between the transmitter and the reciever, so if we can jam their communication lines we can disrupt their recievers. our new technology is better than this in several ways: it takes place outside of this universe, so nothing inside it can affect the transport; it is actual transport as opposed to assembly, so there is no need for resources or a reciever; and most importantly, it is completely unknown to them. follow me and i'll show you what we have for this trip."

markolov led them through that and several other security checkpoints, as well as several lifts, until they came to a huge chamber very near the planet's center. the chamber held what looked like a fairly large ship, but it had no windows or weapons hardpoionts. "this," markolov explained, "is the prototype device. almost all of it is a power source for its cloaking device and for the generation of the huge gravity necessary to bend the universe in on itself. this device creates a bubble large enough for a large ship and a small escort fleet, which is what we plan to send through."

riprock turned to hardslab. "you and michael stay with sergei, he'll show you the new fighters the three of you will be piloting. i'm going to go show bob the new toy he and i get to show the aliens."

"what's that?" hardslab asked.

riprock answered, "the rebellion's biggest, strongest, and newest ship: the dreadnought."

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if tin whistles are made of tin, what's a fog horn made of?

Michael whistled as Riprock, Bob's co-pilot, and Bob walked off. Sergei showed Hardslab and Michael to another large hanger. Inside were three fighters that looked like Mantas. The only difference is that they were twice as big, had two guns in the front that looked like mass drivers, and they were also much longer and streched out.

"These," said Sergei turning to Hardslab and Michael. "Are Viper Attack Fighters. They are three times as better shielded than the Manta. However they also have an amazing regeneration system, which allows their shields to regenerate in seconds.

"We have also included two new weapons into this design. We have removed the swivel lasers, and replaced them with two new guns called the Laser Blaster. They are mainly small mass drivers that fire charged laser fire. Furthur down the wing are two proton pulse cannons, kinda like a swivel proton gun. Except the have twice the range, and are four times as powerful. We have also added all this with no changes to its maneuverability."

Sergei then told them that the proton pulse guns were now being installed, and that they would have to wait a hour for them to be finished. During that time Michael, Hardslab, and Sergei sat in a waiting room, with a window facing the hanger.

As Michael and Sergei discussed their past experiences, Hardslab tried to remember something. It had occured to him while Sergei was talking about how the aliens "couldn't send something to big". Suddenly, it occured to him.

Hardslab shot up. "WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!" he yelled.

"WHAT? What do you mean?" Sergei asked, startled.

"HOW DID THOSE ALIENS GET HERE?" Hardslab yelled again.

"You, you mean..." Michael started.

"YES! The alien must have come here using an alien fighter! And if thats true, we've got to find it!"

"How?" asked Michael.

"Hmmmmm," Sergei replied. "We could use some long range scanners set to pick up temporal distortions. The alien fighter would still be emiting a certain sub-space disturbance field caused by its trip here. QUICK! We've got to get moving!"

Sergei, Hardslab, and Michael raced out of the waiting room. Michael decided to stay and tell Riprock that Sergei and Hardslab were going off to find the alien fighter.

Sergei decided it would be best to travel in a Rebel destroyer. "Well," Hardslab said as he took to pilot seat and Sergei sat down in the command chair. "Here we go!"...

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