July 5, 2284.
NPO 776G2V-3-T4D, a planet in a system near the fringe
of the Nawlean Galaxy.
Earth.
The United Nations capitulates as nuclear war rages
furiously between the free world and the fiendish Odessa
Corps. The freedom fighters build Earth's first starships
and energy weapons, and they move out among the planets and
asteroids of the Sol System. The Odessa forces build their
own ships and take the bloody conflict out into space.
The freedom fighters start to call themselves the Star
Surfers' Revolutionary Alliance. The Odessa Corps
redesignates itself the Universal Confederate Aryan Nations.
Two weeks later, Contact.
The aliens introduce themselves as the Templari
Federation.
Michi Gan Ikaa: Love and Apocalypse
Nine hundred years later. . .
Bab-Hannu, first decimester of Our Founders' Year 249-999P.M.
Biko, the fourth planet in the Drakhanee System in
Michi Gan Ikaa Galaxy.
Biko is a well-known vacation and resort world popular
for its wonderful landscapes, colored rings, underground
lakes, and immense phosphorescent crystal cave cities. It is a resort for celebrities, artists of all kinds,
statespeople, starship designers, and anyone who likes to
have a good time in a beautiful place.
A tiny, sleek, rainbow-hued starship charges its
gravimetric warp engines in preparation to jump out of the
system. Suddenly, the sky is pierced by dozens, then
hundreds of enormous Cerenkov flashes. Hundreds of giant
ships explode out of warp and head directly for the planet.
Some are shaped like daggers, and others are triangle-shaped. The biggest by far is a monstrous sphere three
hundred kilometers across, emblazoned with four giant
Nawleanian letters: B. K. A. N. Buraan Konfederate Aryan
Nations.
"Enn See Five Omega dash Niner Six Niner Rainbow Flyer
to any and all Michi Gan Ikan ships. Biko of Drakhanee is
under attack! I repeat, Biko of Drakhanee is under attack!!
Over."
"MIG Galaxyship Vindicator F5 responding. Report what
you are observing. Over."
"F5, a fleet of Buraanian, Helkhaezean, and Sulpheuri
warships is closing on the planet FAST! And they have a
Buraanian Planet Killer with them! Thousands of civ ships
are attempting to escape. Oh Great Maker, the civs are
getting carved up and shot out of the sky by the smaller
ships. I'm patching a live feed of my gun cameras and sensor readings to you. Over."
"Get out of there! Repeat, get the hell out of there!
Over."
"They can't see my ship; I was able to activate its
stealth mode. Over."
"Roger, permission to stay granted--"
The transmission is cut off by a loud burst of static
as the planet killer rips into Biko, ironically securing its place in history.
"Great Michi Gan Ikaa! The planet killer is smashing a
hole through the planet!! THAT BASTARD JUST MURDERED AN
ENTIRE PLANET!! TWENTY BILLION INNOCENT CIVIS WERE ON THAT
ROCK!! The hatemongers just blew it up!"
As Biko disintegrates, the war armada jumps into warp
and vanishes. One ship releases a red and white metal
cylinder two seconds before it jumps. Rainbow Flyer sets out to intercept and retrieve it. Vindicator explodes out of warp several minutes later.
Twenty billion sentients perish in less than one minute on the murdered world of Biko. The same thing befalls thousands of worlds across Michi Gan Ikaa, Nawlean, Farnax, Chika Aki, Trakka Iis, Dija Kiri, and Tri Axxis Galaxies. The death count across the seven galaxies totals over one hundred trillion, by far the worst bloodbath on record.
One of the few survivors of Biko is the pilot of Rainbow Flyer, a nineteen-year-old boy named Dante Fox Trinakka.
Several days later, the Khan of Michi Gan Ikaa, Traal
Trinakka, delivers an IGNet address.
"To all citizens of our United Galaxies of Michi Gan
Ikaa, I am Traal Trinakka, your Great Khan. Our Dominion has been attacked, unprovoked, by the forces of the Buraan
Konfederate Aryan Nations, the National Socialist Helkhaezean Empire, and the Union of Sulpheuri Socialist
Republics. The Nawleanium Empire has suffered comparable
atrocities as well. The victims of the attacks were mostly
vacation worlds with utterly no tactical or strategic value. This irrational aggression has killed an estimated one hundred twenty-seven trillion sentients. Bab-Hannu twenty-ninth, two forty nine dash nine ninety nine will be
eternally known as the day our innocence was murdered by
bigotry, tyranny, and hate.
The Imperial Voters' Conference and the States' Voters' Conferences have unanimously ratified the declaration of war against the B.K.A.N., N.S.H.E., U.S.S.R., and whatever associates they have confederated with them. You will see shortly the entire log taken of what these racists did to Biko three days ago."
A replay of Rainbow Flyer's gun camera and sensor
recordings of the entire incident is broadcast. The
uncensored recordings total less than ten minutes long. What ensues is the message found in the cylinder at Biko's
shattered remains. Its image is of five very distinct
creatures: a somewhat disfigured pale-skinned Buraanian
human; a giant red and white Helkheazean crabspider; an
orange multilegged Sulpheuri skinwing bat; a tiny, wrinkled, pink Yehoban fetus queen; and a rangy reptilian with enormous black eyes.
The Buraanian speaks.
"Good day, Michi Gan Ikan and Nawleanian vermin. By the time you activate this notice, you will have been subject to Phase One of our Culture, Race, and Sexuality Extermination Policy, of which you are in extreme violation. I am Duke Hitler, Grand Fascist Wizard and supreme authoritarian of the Buraan Konfederate Aryan Nations. The sentients you see here with me represent the only species with the right to exist. Koodu Naker, a crabspider and Emperor of Helkhaez; Fram Kruzhnikoff, Premier of the Union of Sulpheuri Socialist Republics; UniCol Repro One, Queen of the National Socialist Tyranny of Yehoba; and Trokkla Tekutas, Lord of what you call `Rogue Elements.'
We have declared a Holy War against every individual,
nation, world, and species other than our own because we
maintain that exclusively our five species have the right to exist in the cosmos. We have also declared all of known
space; especially that under Michi Gan Ikan, Nawleanian,
Farnaxxian, Star Surfer Union, and allied rule officially
annexed as part of our territory, by decree of the Grand
Fascist Wizard. These states so named will now be considered defected provinces. Every individual of every sentient species that we should encounter will accordingly be systematically arrested, incarcerated, tortured, and
executed; with singular attention to those civilizations
that sinfully exercise advanced civil, psi, technological,
and sexual freedoms, powers, and abilities; primarily
egalitarianism, individual civil liberties, free speech,
telepathy, telekinesis, technomagic, witchcraft, paganism,
polygamy, public nudity, and homo- and bisexuality of any
kind, way, shape, or form. We will administer this policy by ANY means necessary, and we WILL NOT CEASE until we are the ONLY races left in the cosmos! The only way to arrest us is to completely kill off all five of our species; in short, commit genocide. We possess the technology, manpower, resources, warships, guns, bombs, nukes, determination, and above all, WE HAVE THE RIGHT!! IT IS GOD'S WILL!!"
The hate message having concluded, the Khan finishes
his speech.
"As you watched the recording of the murder of Biko and the various insults from Hitler, I signed the legal
declaration of war. I have also spoken to Emperor Taranyaz
of the Nawleanium Empire, Chancellor Kane of the Farnax
Syndicate, and several other leaders, and we have negotiated an alliance to crush their so-called `holy war' and restore peace to the cosmos.
A declaration of war is a macabre and hideous price to
pay for Michi Gan Ikaa's freedom, but these bloodthirsty
criminals have invited nothing less than a full-scale
Apocalypse, and by the Great Maker and His Karma, we shall
battle this menace to all freedom until the universe is free once again from Fascist persecution and tyranny. We will show these sadistic killers, with our own rain of terror, the utter Armageddon that will befall any who try to take a bite out of the United Galaxies of Michi Gan Ikaa!!"
Myriad viewers across the galaxies receive the newscast and are infuriated at the `holy war confederacy.'
The "Great Freedom War" is on. Millions of military
starships mobilize for the war effort, and millions of
civilian/paramilitary ships are refitted with weapons for
combat. A hundred thousand worlds build the supply of war
materiel.
At Michi Gan Ikaa Prime, a Dyson Sphere, thousands of
warships are manufactured each day in the tremendous
factories at the star cage, its nucleus and industrial center.
Meanwhile, near Dija Kiri, in a deep-space ship testing site known as Precinct X, an enormous black superweapon ship based on alien technology nears the final stages of testing.
Designated Black Star, it is the most technologically
advanced starship ever delivered by Michi Gan Ikaa's M.I.G.
Combat Starship Design Agency. At two hundred eleven
kilometers long, it is designed as a multimission combat
superiority planet/ship killer with carrier/mobile base and
close fire support capability. Now it will achieve another
mission...
Heke Hannu 33, 249©999, six decimesters later.
Mar Erro 4, a world in Nawlean Galaxy near the Star
Surfer Realm.
Dante Trinakka, aboard his heavily armed and modified
ship, Rainbow Flyer, works freelance as a bounty hunter and
mercenary, and regularly for the Michi Gan Ikan Intelligence Agency as an agent. He is returning home because he has just turned 20 a day ago, and today is his five `dec' anniversary with his gay boyfriend, Leonaki Taranyaz, the Imperial Nawleanian Crown Prince. "Leon", as Dante calls him, also happens to be the most desirable man in the entire Nawleanium Empire! Dante enjoys a comparable reputation among his fellow citizens back in the Dominion, as the United Galaxies of Michi Gan Ikaa is popularly nicknamed.
He is also looking for a bigger ship, since his mission objectives have started to cut deeply Rainbow Flyer's margin of capability, and he has outgrown the ship. However, it has served him well, and he has grown attached to the craft. So, he sets out in search of a new or used carrier. Since a good warship the size that he wants usually costs a few billion dukkars, and he has a twenty-trillion-dukkar bonus from his just getting paid for a spy job well done, he intends to invest in fighters, ordnance, and hot©rod modifications for the carrier. Little does he or Leon know that they will end up with bigger ships --a number of them- than they'd bargained for-- and Dante would keep his money!
And so Dante is traveling to the Taranyaz Imperial
Combat Starship Yards, Mar Erro Branch, to which Michi Gan
Ikaa has made a secret special delivery...
"Enn See Five Omega dash Niner Six Niner to Taranyaz
Starport, requesting Leonaki Taranyaz, over."
"Taranyaz Starport to Starflyer Niner Six Niner, Master Taranyaz will speak to you shortly, over."
A minute passes. Then, another voice with a delicate
oriental accent speaks...
"Taranyaz Starport, Leonaki Taranyaz speak-...
starflyer niner six niner omega... Rainbow Flyer...DANTE!!
You're back! I missed you so much!"
"Me too! A whole dec is waaay too long to be without
the one you love."
"You got that right, pretty boy!"
"I love you too, baby."*smack!*
"I love you too, but don't get all happy and pop your
top just yet, baby, `cause we're not even started!"
"Ooh!"
"Come on over to the station. Its been a while since I
got to see your pretty face, even longer since we got
together and got to, well, you know."
"Whoa..." Dante gets so excited that he almost crashes
into the dock bay!
The Taranyaz Imperial Combat Starship Yards Starport
itself is an enormous eight©spoked disk sixteen kilometers
in diameter. It is surrounded by thousands of heavily armed
state©of©the©art Nawleanian and Farnaxxian fighters,
gunships, and light, medium, and heavy cruisers. Several
hundred similarly equipped star destroyers and heavy
destroyers circle the planet in a much higher orbit.
Included among these is the far larger Black Star Apocalypse, the production prototype planet killer.
Rainbow Flyer alights with a soft tremble onto the deck of the bay directly before Leon's feet. Its boarding ramp unlatches and lowers. Dante steps off the ramp right into Leon's muscular embrace, and they start to kiss; a deep, wet, powerful kiss that lasts almost half an hour. Leon fondles Dante's smooth tawny skin, flowing black hair, and powerful rippling muscles as Dante caresses Leon's rainbow-striped mane and very muscular body.
"So, baby, how was Helkhaez?" Leon asks after the
makeout interlude."Any of those blasted bigots shoot at you
or anything?"
"Quite a few times, but only when I kept my stealth
mode off on purpose. I got every single one that fired a
shot at me. Plus, I got a ton of enemy defections and really good intell. I'll talk about it later on my new ship, if I buy one today. I was so good that I was given a twenty trill bonus AND a whole dec's leave, so I have a lot of time and money to get that new ship I've been wanting."
"Twenty trill?!? You could purchase my entire inventory with that kind of hot dice! Whatcha want?"
"Something big that I can use as a mobile fighter base. It should be able to take a lot of flak and dish it out with the best of 'em."
"Will do. How much you willing to pay for it? Ahh, screw the money, you just choose a ship and it's yours. It's your birthday present from me. Besides, today's our five dec anniversary."
"Oh, you're so sweet, Leon!"
"Thanks, you too! Let's go up to the big-ship orbital
yards and see if I have what you want."
Holding hands, Dante and Leon walk up Rainbow Flyer's
ramp as it starts to ascend off the deck. The ship levitates off and out into space. It then noses up directly away from the emerald and lapis planet below and rapidly accelerates toward a collection of shiny new star destroyers visible within a number of giant, gleaming drydock trusses. The massive Apocalypse decloaks and looms frighteningly ghostlike above the brilliant trusses like the shadow of death against the inky, star-dusted blackness of the void.
"Wow! Looka THAT boat! Whatever it is, that tub is
mine!" Dante caterwauls with a huge grin as he points at a
gigantic black shape.
"What? I don't see, oh wait a minute I see someth-,
what the hell? Holy hellfire! That thing is thirteen times
the size of the starport! I wonder if this is that `ghost'
that got Bruce and the rest of the station all bent out of
shape into such a hissy fit this morning. Ship, patch a feed of our sensors, cockpit logs, and cameras to the starport; display location of coordinates X007Y681Z978 for time index 716.47 Heke Hannu 33; close to and hold position at four thousand klicks from target; and direct a max intensity passive sensor sweep through those coordinates."
"What's that for?"
"Checking out a bad feeling."
The target coordinates coincide precisely with the
Apocalypse, just as Leon feared. Rainbow Flyer stops four
thousand kilometers away.
"Ohhh crap, exactly what I was thinking. These
coordinates correspond with `your' ghost ship. I'm not
getting a target lock or anything on sensors except a
silhouette scan and high-amplitude ultralow-frequency psi-tor waves. Other than that, it's virtually dead in space.
Whatever it's made of is completely absorbing all electromag and gravimetric radiation across the spectrum except point one percent optical. That's the ONLY indication we have that it's really there."
"That's unusual. The sensors on this ship are the most
advanced sensors MIG Tech has. They can effortlessly detect
and lock on to a cloaked Farnaxxian microdrone from high
warp a hundred thousand LEARS away even with full stealth
and jammers on. Plus I should be able to sense it on teep-scan easily from twenty times our distance. Something this big this close should stick out like a supernova! We should also be able to see right through it, too. You sure they're functioning right?"
"Fully operational. The silhouette d-base doesn't
recognize it, and I have never seen any ship with a
silhouette anywhere near this weird configuration, either. I certainly haven't seen such advanced stealth systems before on anything in known space. It is definitely not anything your gov or mine could build. Whatever that thing is, it's definitely alien, and it's giving me and the rest of the starport the creeps!"
"I would guess so. Psi-tor waves at point three hertz
will spook anything with a brain for billions of klicks in
all directions at the energy that thing is emitting. I
learned that at MIA HQ the day I started training as a spy.
Y'all lucky it popped up when everyone was already awake. I
also heard talk at MIA about a ton of alien ships and tech
we somehow got our hands on just before the war started.
Most is seemingly Star Surfer-type tech but far more
advanced; the rest is rogue tech similar to Michi Gan Ikan
Standard. Really weird stuff"
"Let's try an active multifrequency optical laser
burst, say, six-seventy up to four hundred nanos. That
should at least tell us something about how its hull is
constructed."
"I got a bad feelin' about this."
A crimson laser beam bolts out from Rainbow Flyer's
nose onto the hull of the Apocalypse. It scatters off
several translucent, hazy layers hardly off the "surface"
before being completely absorbed. Then, half a second later, the hull of the Apocalypse explodes with blinding white light and extreme heat like that of a giant nuclear
detonation, momentarily blinding Rainbow Flyer's sensors and scorching the bioskin membrane off its forward surfaces. The boys "hear" a deafening mindscream coming from the ship. The light then fades to a bright, iridescent yellow; then orange; then to a mean, fiery scarlet with jagged waves of orange, yellow, and white dancing across the ship's hull like flames. Then Apocalypse turns about until it directly faces Rainbow Flyer.
"I don't think that was such a good idea, either. Any
damage?" Leon asks.
"Ninety-six percent of the hull area sustained level
one thermal damage to the bioskin membrane, eighty-seven
percent level two, sixty-four percent level three, and
fifty-four percent completely destroyed. Estimated hull temp is at five hundred degrees. We got burned up really bad. Sensors and comm systems were disrupted but are still
online. Engines and weapons are totally KO'd. We're a
drifting space wreck." Dante remarks.
"I swear! I'm glad SOMEBODY is actually insane enough
to take it off my hands. I'm sorry I called you `insane',
but that ship has caused me nothin' but trouble with a
capital T ever since the friggin' thing popped outta
hyperspace!" Leon sounds off wrathfully. "What did that
laser burst tell us, besides teaching us `never fire a laser at a strange ship?'"
"The layers above the `event horizon' appear to be
bioplasma of a type far more advanced than anything ever
developed by MIG or NE or even FSS. The `event horizon'
itself seems to be some sort of organic bionawleanium
composite alloy that adapts instantly to its environment.
Basically, it's alive. The energy for the `incinerator burst' originated from beneath this layer and energized it for the burst. Estimated energy output was fifty thousand megaton equivalent. Looks exactly like something I was shown in an alien/advanced tech assimilation lab a couple weeks ago."
"Very neat trick. I wonder who thought of that cute
gambit. Oh, could you do me a favor and tell me what else
you saw in those labs before we find ourselves in worse
piles of . . . Uh oh."
"What is it?"
"What the hell?! Oh bloody helldemons, it's heading
right at us!!"
"Gravimetric warp engines have just come back online!"
"Full power to the warp engines! Get us OUTTA here!!"
Luminous pinkish orange force beams stab out from each
of Apocalypse's three forward weapon blades and strike the
maimed Rainbow Flyer, precluding its warp jump. Plasma
starts to flow down the beams to the wounded ship.
"This just isn't my day!" Leon bellows, as the ship
shudders from the force beams' impact. "Dante, shut down the warp engines; the planetfrippin' thing gotcha'd us. You sure YOU want it, or IT wants you?"
"I have no idea, but something weird is goin' on with
our plasma membrane. It's regenerating way too fast considering how much got burned off and how much trauma the
ship just endured. Our ghost ship just got friendly, and
it's healing the damage we took."
"Second piece of good news I caught all day."
"The first?"
"That you showed up."
"You're so sweet, Leon!"
"Oops, we're receiving a trans from the starport. Ship, holoscreen."
An image of a very panicked seventeen-year-old boy with curly blond hair and a swarthy tan materializes above a large projector installed in the floor behind the command
chair. Leon pivots the chair about to face the projector.
"Bruce!" Leon blurts. Before Leon can utter another
word, Bruce starts babbling anxiously.
"Leon, oh good you're alive, WHAT THE SCREAMIN'
HELLDEMONS IS THAT FRIGGIN' THING DOIN' TO YA? We thought
y'all were killed when that thing exploded, y'all gonna HIT
the FAN when the Emperor hears about THIS one, he is gonna
lock y'all up in the palace on N P for eternity,"
"Bruce."
"now you got me scramblin' ALL SIXTEEN friggin'
starfighter squadrons after y'all's asses"
"Bruce!"
"and now I have to deal with A HUNDRED AND SIXTY ravin'-mad spooked triggerhappy starfighter pilots--!"
"BRUCE!!!"
"Oh Leon! You scared me frippin' brickless!"
"Keep your masonry attached, spooky! We're okay! Send
out some tac drones and a few ship carcasses on the training range so the fighters have somethin' to shoot at and sharpen their slice-n-dice maneuver with, and tell them I'm sorry for getting them all riled up on red alert on their lunch break. Double mission bounty. Oh, I think they could also use a pep rally and a paid vacation, too. Okay?"
"Okay, Leon. Pleeease don't ever do something like this to me ever again," a sad-eyed Bruce pleads in his most
plaintive voice.
"Bruce, you really need a boyfriend, and I'm gonna get
you one. I promise."
"Thank you, Leon."
"I'm gonna be out of galaxy for a while, so you should
come along with me, okay?"
"Okay. I'll take a Razor up there in about ten
minutes. End trans."
The image dissolves into a blur and disappears. Leon
swings back around to the console.
"Oy, poor kid! He really needs a man!" Dante concedes.
"And I know the perfect guy for him, too."
"Who?"
"His name is Narric Mokkantiffa, callsign `Jerky Beef
Queen'. This is one royal badass. He lives in Dija Kiri on a modified Shadow star destroyer with his older sister Daria and her fighter jock girlfriends Galatea and Qatillia and her inventor boyfriend Robbakaz Tryll; callsigns
`Nutcracker,' `Hack-n-Slash,' `Qat Girl,' and `Mindscreamer.' He is nineteen years old, he is a bounty hunter, he is also a famous fighter ace --we all are--, he is one wild ball-buster in bed, and he parties as hard as the Great Maker Himself!! As I said, `Perfect!' Hahaha!!"
"Bruce is gonna have a royal fudge pile of fun with
this boy."
"Mmmmmm, fudge!"
"Good news number three, keep 'em comin'. Ha ha ha
ha!"
"What's so funny, sweetie?"
"I just thought about our little predicament. It's our
frickin' anniversary and what'er we doin'? We're in the grip of a potentially deadly alien `ghost ship' that could easily be a friggin' STAR KILLER, and we're goin' on about hooking up two of our crazy sidekicks! Oh Great Maker!"
"You're so cute when you sound off like that."
"And with you around, it's impossible to stay mad at
anything. Hold me."
"I love you, Leon."
"I love you, too."
Suddenly, an alarm goes off.
"Blow it to hell, what now?!" Leon roars.
"Cute timing! The ship's pulling us in with those
bloody tractor beams. Looks like we're gonna discover how
its insides look."
"Oh, THIS is peachy. This is the second worst day I've ever had in twenty-one years!! Your ship is such a charmer!"
"MY ship?!! I haven't even boarded the contraption yet, honey!"
"Boarded? I think the correct terminology for this situation is 'getting eaten alive', pretty boy!"
"At least it's black again instead of that blasted
scary fire color anymore."
The Apocalypse tractors Rainbow Flyer toward a
concealed landing bay at the forward edge of a massive
streamlined bulge beneath the base of the top wing. Rainbow
Flyer disappears into the event horizon. On the other side
of the "door" is a gigantic, brilliantly multicolored hangar bay large enough to swallow several starports the size of Taranyaz. Within are a dozen huge honeycomblike racks extending from floor to ceiling with thousands of fighters and gunships, and hundreds of light and medium cruisers of all types docked onto them.
"Wooooooooow!" Leon and Dante holler in unison.
"You know, I was just lookin' for a warpdrive love
shack big enough to make assteroid billboard bombs think
twice before they try to attack; oh wait a minute, they
can't think twice in a row anyway, oh well Hahahahaha!!"
Dante chortles.
"Look at all the fighters and destroyers on
those honeycombs! This thing came fully loaded!"
"And there is nothing in the galaxy that goes with a
free star killer than fighters, cruisers, and destroyers, except FREE fighters, cruisers, and destroyers!
"Guess you got a `star killer' load more than you
bargained for."
"Cute gag, loverboy!"
"Ooh, now you're makin' me wanna get nookie with you!"
"Mmmm, yeah!"
"Okay, okay, let's land this thing before we get each
other too sexed up to fly it!"
"Now it's really our ship, not mine. Not because of the board-to-own law (that's nothing), but because I love you this much.
"Oh Dante, I love you too."
how those ships got up there," Leon voices. "Anyway, you were saying something about `really good intell'"
"Oh yeah, well, the Buraanians and the rogues are
working on a gigantic planetkiller design called the
`Totalitarian Fascist Storm'; the Yehobans are trying to
create a bioweapon virus designed to turn anyone it infects
into a Yehoban; and the Helkhaezeans are planning to defect
to our side. The Buraanian testing site is near their
homeworld; you never want to go anywhere near that dark
place. Lots of space junk everywhere throughout the damn
system, and the planets' atmospheres are so polluted that
between the air and the meth refineries and weapon factories the planets are brown and black from space! I felt the cold fear of intense evil the whole time I was in their Karma-forsaken Fascist territory. Every system they colonize they rape it of its resources, exterminate its lifeforms and ecosystems, and pollute its space with deadly toxic waste so impenetrable that flying around without telepathy can be suicide. Then they abandon it when it no longer provides and turn it into one of their 'Konzentrationschlager' death camps."
"Great Maker, we really need to win this war. If we
don't, that's it for all life in the free universe!"
"It gets worse. I was actually on the Buraanian
homeworld. I landed at a place called Methamphetamine
Square, and it was hell beyond any attempt at description.
I'll just say that Hitler is inhumanly sadistic hate
incarnate. I'll show you a few photos of what I saw there
later."
"Let's go to the bridge right quick to see those
pictures, assuming this thing has one. Sorry to change the
subject, but I definitely get the feeling this ship is
alive, just like your ship's sensors reported."
"I can feel it, too. The entire ship is living, not
just its outer hull and brain core like a Michi Gan Ikan
ship, but every structure of it is living tissue."
"Now this is what I call a `bioweapon!'"
"Hahahahaha! Man, you can be so painfully funny at
times! I wonder what we're gonna name our ship."
"I was thinking either `Nawlean Vampire' or `Victory.'
What did you have in mind?"
"`Demon Wraith' or `Death Shadow.'"
"Of course we could just ask what it wants; after all,
this tub is alive. Something this big would have an extremely high degree of sentience, anyway. Well, here's the trans tube."
Dante and Leon walk into the trans tube pod as its
aperture dilates open. Then it closes at the instant they go completely through.
"Ship, bridge," Dante speaks. "Anyway, about that tech
lab stuff. I saw a bunch of really fantastic things the boys are doing with that alien tech. After all, Robbakaz works there. One thing that really got my attention was a weapon called an `antigluon disruptor pulse/beam gun.' I saw it being test©fired a few times, and this thing is a doozy. It completely annihilated every target it was fired at. Its energy pulse or beam would transmute whatever it hits into a huge explosion. I was also shown a few other cool weapons and ships while I was there. They even let me try out a cute little fighter prototype equipped with two sets of a weird ass-kicking thing they called a `rotary multimode rapidfire oscillating-antimatter slicer pulse-beam cannon system.' The name is a little long-winded, so the techs took to calling it the `slicer-dicer-shredder.' The slicer-dicer definitely lived up to its nickname. It would rip a huge hole right through whatever you're pointing it at, and the fighter was a real hoot to fly. This thing handles slick as satin and can run rings around anything. I flew the fighter out with Rob as my wingman, and used the 'shredder guns on a fully armed and operational Yehoban star destroyer that we filched from a shipyard. Our two tiny fighters alone busted that thing up into one ruptured duck! This little cutie has the most peculiar control system I ever saw or played around
with. The fighter actually plugs into your cybernetic
interface instead of having a biofeed or stick control, so
you only have to `will' the fighter to do something, and it
will literally execute any maneuver you will, no matter how
complicated, immediately and precisely; without any training whatsoever. You literally become one with the ship. It even had a nice cloak, and the shields were strong enough to stand up to the slicer beam from a dreadnought a thousand times its size! All I have to say is I would love to get my hands on one, better yet, two! Rob also snapped a few photos and scans around the lab for my trip around what they referred to as `Precinct X.'"
"That was cool! I'm wondering, was that fighter you
flew by any chance codenamed Venom?"
"Yes, it was. Why?"
"My dad, the Emperor, told me about a fighter the
Empire just developed, and he actually showed one to me a
week ago. He said it was a replacement for the old Razor
fighters." Leon shows Dante a hologram of the fighter in a
holosphere.
"That's it!" Dante exclaims. "That's the fighter I
sloshed that Yehoban star destroyer with. That thing's a little cutie!"
"It sure is, but not as cute as you are!"
"If I'm cute, then you're sexy!"
"Ooh, kiss me, cutie boy!"
"Mmmm. . ."
Dante and Leon touch their lips together and kiss as
they embrace and caress each other. Then they notice that
the aperture has opened.
On the other side is a very large circular chamber with a domed ceiling. Along the walls, mostly in the rear half of the chamber, are a number of alcoves with workstations inside. At the center of the command chamber is a cluster of chairs, three on a low pedestal. Another
compartment, longer and narrower, leads off from the stern
of the command chamber.
"Incoming ship detected, bearing three zero nine mark
zero zero two range one three six zero seven kilometers,
modified Razor class fighter, one Michi Gan Ikan humanoid cybernetic organism aboard, ETA one minute five one seconds," a voice states, as a giant holoimage of the
incoming projects onto the dome.
"Oh, here comes Bruce," Dante acknowledges.
"A little early, I think."
"Whoops, oh well. Ship, open a channel to that
Razor."
The image dissolves into a blur, then reforms into the
familiar face of Bruce.
"Hey, Bruce," Leon says. "We're okay, if that's what
you're wondering. Listen, shut down your drives, and we'll
scoop you up."
"Why? I can just fly in."
"That wouldn't be a good idea. First, you probably
wouldn't have any idea where the bays are on this thing --we didn't--; second, your sensors won't detect anything under the surface of the hull; and third, your teep scans won't work, either."
"Okay, Leon. I'm shutting down my drives now. See ya
whenever. End trans."
"Ship, target Razor, set intercept course for target, close to a thousand klicks, and tractor it into the upper launch bay," Leon commands.
"I've been wondering what the name and class of this
ship is ever since I first saw it half an hour ago. Ship,
state vessel manifest: name and class, commission date, and
origin of this vessel."
"MIG Galaxyship Apocalypse; Black Star class star killer; commissioned Heke Hannu three one; class developed at Precinct X, Michi Gan Ikaa Galaxy, with technology and assistance of the Templari Federation and the Star Surfer Union; entered production Qass Hannu zero one, two four nine dash nine nine nine; registered Pee Ess Kay See Three Psi Dash Zero Zero Three."
"Oh my Karma... whoa," a very surprised Dante barely
enunciates.
"What is it?"
Á` ` µ
this kind of technology right before the war started six
decimesters ago! Who could imagine we would have a planet
killer in production only four decimesters later?!? Holy
Michi Gan Ikaa!"
Á` ` µ
successfully completed," the ship states. "The humanoid is
presently telepathically searching for the trans tube,
without much success."
Á` ` µ
Á` ` µ
types, to the humanoid in the bay, and guide him to the
bridge," Leon orders, giggling.
Á` ` µ
to play around with on this thing. First, the basic
structure." Dante then sits down onto the middle chair on
the pedestal. A pro designated `CBNC outer
structure.' Another thick layer is denoted `Integrated
Electromagnetic©Gravimetric Shield/Cloak/Jammer Matrix and
Outer Plasma Incinerator Blast Energizer; rated blast radius
five million kilometers at thirty©five million exawatts.'
Above that is a very thick layer called the `Hi©adaptive
Biometallic Nawleanium Composite Alloy Matrix.' A fifth and
last layer is denoted `High©density Bioplasma Membrane.'
Á` ` µ
`electromagnetic', `gravimetric,' `nawleanium,' and
`bioplasma membrane.' Whatever all that other tehnobabble
meant, I have absolutely no idea. But it sounds pretty
impressive to have in a battle," Leon deadpans.
Á` ` µ
Á` ` µ
designated `Zeropoint Infinite Power Battery System.'
Á` ` µ
Á` ` µ
to build extremely powerful bombs out of old Star Surfer ZIP
batteries."
Á` ` µ
custom©build our own missiles and bombs with them when we
raid Fascist targets."
Á` ` µ
batteries, this ship most likely has a hell of a lot of
extra power behind whatever wacky weaponry or propulsion
systems it's packing. You won't have to worry about power
deficits or fuel of any kind whatsoever, because this ship
doesn't need any, and that means infinite range!"
Á` ` µ
Bruce asks.
Á` ` µ
only managed to find and plug himself into the most advanced
starship in ten million LEARS. Nothing to drop a thermonuke
over; it's powered only with Z juice."
Á` ` µ
Á` ` µ
Á` ` µ
drawls. The ship model appears again with six blade©shaped
structures bent directly aft united halfway out on the three
wings highlighted and denoted `Standard Propulsion System A:
Six Type I Tuned High©Performance Gravimetric Driverplanes;
each rated for thirty thousand G acceleration at three
trillion tons mass.' Another three blades are featured, one
extending back from the rear of each wing tip, and
designated `Standard Propulsion System B: Three Type I Tuned
High©Performance Gravimetric Maneuverplanes; each rated
twenty thousand G acceleration at three trillion tons mass.'
Then a third highlight emphasizes three blades extending
forward from around the ship's nose. These are labelled
`Standard Propulsion System C: Three Type III Tuned HighªPerformance Gravimetric Maneuverplanes; each rated twentyªfive thousand G at four trillion tons mass.'
Á` ` µ
one screamin' demon."
Á` ` µ
gravimetric engines; no other intergalactic I know of uses
or has ever used this distinctive driverplane design. I'm
surprised that I didn't recognize this ship as one of ours
when we were still ten thousand klicks away," Dante answers.
Á` ` µ
termed `Emergency Propulsion System: Three Vectorable
Fusion/Matter©Antimatter Reaction Jet Engines; each rated
for fifty G acceleration at three trillion tons mass.'
Á` ` µ
nothing unusual."
Á` ` µ
ship has to offer, judging by all the other cool crap
stuffed into this kickass boat."
Á` ` µ
highlighting two sets of three capsule©shaped elements deep
in the core of the ship. The forward set was denoted
`Special Propulsion System A: Hyperspace Phase Initiator
Batteries; each rated fifty million exawatts tachyon
hyperphase©shift flux at five hundred thousand kilometers
max phase radius.' The rear set is labelled `Special
Propulsion System B: Tesseract Distortion Conduit Generator
Engines; each rated ten million kilometers max aperture at
ten million LEARS max range.'
Á` ` µ
obvious. "This thing is jammed to the hilt with everything
but the kitchen nanovat."
Á` ` µ
life, and I've gone on some really insane jalopies claiming
to be spaceships along the way, but this wacky contraption
really takes the cake!" Bruce giggles.
Á` ` µ
Á` ` µ
and ears it, or we, have," Dante says.
Á` ` µ
arranged symmetrically around the nose and six areas
adjacent to the bases of the wings on the wing©root bulges,Ô
two to each wing©root bulge. The wing©root areas are
identified `Sensor System A: Radio©Frequency©to©X©Ray
Electromagnetic Imaging Compound Phased Array; rated point
zero zero one arc©seconds resolution at twenty nanoseconds
flash response time at point zero zero two lux.' The
protuberances are identified `Sensor System B: RadioªFrequency©to©X©ray Electromagnetic Targeting Imaging
Compound Phased Array; rated point zero zero zero two arcªseconds resolution at one nanosecond flash response time at
point zero zero one lux.'
Á` ` µ
