STGOD 4 Game Thread

[admiral_danielsben]

"Several vessels are approaching... appear to be destroyer-size craft."

"Hail them. Also, raise shields, just in case they are hostile."

"Hmm... that's odd. No lifesigns."

"They could be piloted by some sort of non-carbon-based life-form we are unfamiliar with... or they could be automated defense drones. Keep superdrive (OOC: my FTLdrive's kewl name) on standby. Also, standby to send a message packet to HQ."

"You have entered the Overseer's realm. State the reason for your intrusion." Spoke a voice without ire or annoyance.

Focused EM scans swept over the ship's hull.

"We were exploring this sector when we found your base largely by accident. We apologize for any intrusion."

[SirNitram]

"We were exploring this sector when we found your base largely by accident. We apologize for any intrusion."

"Your trespass will be forgiven providing you to not cause destruction of Constructs. You are permitted to continue as you will." The Destroyers were gently backing off, apparently concluding these humans weren't conspirators.

[admiral_danielsben]

"We were exploring this sector when we found your base largely by accident. We apologize for any intrusion."

"Your trespass will be forgiven providing you to not cause destruction of Constructs. You are permitted to continue as you will." The Destroyers were gently backing off, apparently concluding these humans weren't conspirators.

"Understood. We will return to our original course, and avoid your installation."

The captain said "Whew" afterwards.

[speaker-to-trolls]

Firsthold city
Lastport
United Protectorates

The diplomatic shuttle carrying Kitsek Red-ear descended and set down on the mountaintop spaceport of the United Protectorates capital. Kitsek descended the ramp, resplendant in the dark scarlet of the Itsilian diplomatic core, behind him came his bodyguards, aides, and general staff. "So, the castle of the giants..." he mused to himself, remembering an old story he had been told as a child. He glanced at his staff, and again congratulated himself for having the foresight not to bring any auxiliaries along, he couldn't have had them blundering about, wide eyed in wonder at the thought of humans running themselves. Kitsek already knew humans could run themselves, the Confederacy had already had encounters with pirates, marauders and slavers, most of whom were human, but most Montezumans didn't know that, best to keep it that way, he decided.
A squad of Protectorates marines approached them, they really were like something out of mythology. Armoured titans...
"Ambassador" the captain nodded toward him, "this way to the embassy". They followed the soldiers past the grandiose images depicted on the walls, great monsters, ancient battles and cultural heroes, and into the subterranean corridors of the city itself.

Once they reached the embassy Kitsek nodded approvingly, the Protectorates had done reasonably well in adhering to the parameters given to them. He sat and began to type out his report to the cabinet.

[frigidmagi]

Lord Protector Sir Joshua Mattews raised his sword having just scored a touch with it. The sword in question was no rapier. Being instead a mock up of a vibro sword. Long and heavy, something an anicent knight or samurai would approve of. Joshua held it in one hand quite easily. The dojo, has it was called traditional was stark and bare compared to the normal craving of a United Protectrate room. Just the standard 4 cravings over the 4 doors.

His oppotent, his uncle Fleet Admiral Andersen humfed, sucking in air. He must have slowed down with age he thought looking over at the young man, who had scored on him with viper like speed. He raised his own sword in slaute has they perpared to go again. However the next round was not to be.

"Sirs, the ambassador from the Confederation is here." Spoke a Man-At-Arms. He was one of 10 lining the walls. A Mattews was never unguarded.

"Already? Well send him a message that I'd like to meet with him, say in an hour and half." Annouced the Lord Protector, lowering his sword in signal of an end to the match. Fleet Admiral Andersen lowered his own in return.

"Confederation? That's the small aliens right? Not sure I like the idea of treating with them, nephew. They treat humans questionably and they're communist to boot." He said.

"I'm sure if we lean on them a little they'll losen the yoke on their humans. And while they're are communist, they're not the red menace in the old stories. We need allies Uncle and I'll deal with anyone that not has bad as the machine of the Hajr. Deal with the Dire Bear at the door now, the frost wolf in the fields later right?" Replied Joshua as he turnned to go, he needed a shower and a change before the meeting.

[speaker-to-trolls]

Lord Protector Sir Joshua Mattews raised his sword having just scored a touch with it. The sword in question was no rapier. Being instead a mock up of a vibro sword. Long and heavy, something an anicent knight or samurai would approve of. Joshua held it in one hand quite easily. The dojo, has it was called traditional was stark and bare compared to the normal craving of a United Protectrate room. Just the standard 4 cravings over the 4 doors.

His oppotent, his uncle Fleet Admiral Andersen humfed, sucking in air. He must have slowed down with age he thought looking over at the young man, who had scored on him with viper like speed. He raised his own sword in slaute has they perpared to go again. However the next round was not to be.

"Sirs, the ambassador from the Confederation is here." Spoke a Man-At-Arms. He was one of 10 lining the walls. A Mattews was never unguarded.

"Already? Well send him a message that I'd like to meet with him, say in an hour and half." Annouced the Lord Protector, lowering his sword in signal of an end to the match. Fleet Admiral Andersen lowered his own in return.

"Confederation? That's the small aliens right? Not sure I like the idea of treating with them, nephew. They treat humans questionably and they're communist to boot." He said.

"I'm sure if we lean on them a little they'll losen the yoke on their humans. And while they're are communist, they're not the red menace in the old stories. We need allies Uncle and I'll deal with anyone that not has bad as the machine of the Hajr. Deal with the Dire Bear at the door now, the frost wolf in the fields later right?" Replied Joshua as he turnned to go, he needed a shower and a change before the meeting.

One hour and a half later Kitsek walked toward the entrance to the Protectors office. Behind him were three Tersinin fighting machines and six Jekin marines.
A Man-at-arms stopped him "no weapons are aloud into the Lord Protectors office", he eyed the ambassadors escort. "They'll have to stay outside". For a second Kitsek felt a twinge of fear about going into the Protectors office, probably full of armed humans, alone, but it was only for a second. He was a diplomat, and he had learnt to fear humans as little as was possible. "But of course" he turned to his guards "wait for me here, understood?". He turned again and followed the man into the Protectors office.

[frigidmagi]

One hour and a half later Kitsek walked toward the entrance to the Protectors office. Behind him were three Tersinin fighting machines and six Jekin marines.
A Man-at-arms stopped him "no weapons are aloud into the Lord Protectors office", he eyed the ambassadors escort. "They'll have to stay outside". For a second Kitsek felt a twinge of fear about going into the Protectors office, probably full of armed humans, alone, but it was only for a second. He was a diplomat, and he had learnt to fear humans as little as was possible. "But of course" he turned to his guards "wait for me here, understood?". He turned again and followed the man into the Protectors office.

"Ambassador Kitsek, welcome to The United Protectrates. I trust your journey was a pleasent one? Is the embessey sufficent for your needs?" The Lord Protector asked. He was firmly seated behind his wooden desk. In front of the desk sat a another chair clearly designed for the ambassador, it was raised so that he would be at eye level with the human ruler. Made of a dark wood it was beautifully craved.

"I hope your not offended but I thought it would better if I wasn't looming over you like some orge. You may stand if you prefer?"

[speaker-to-trolls]

Kitsek looked at the chair. Well, that was... unusual. He felt a little angry at the idea Would it be better to have him looking down at you all the time or to stand on his desk like some kind of pixie he smiled mentally, congratulating himself on remembering something so trivial about human culture and mythology.
He climbed up into the chair, he wished it didn't make him feel quite so much like a child all for the greater good, Kitsek he remended himself, running the confederacys tired mantra through his mind again as he did whenever he was in an unpleasant situation. Over the years it had become less and less meaningful.
"The embassy is very much to my liking, it is almost exactly how I would have wished it, in fact. And do not worry about the chair, I can see the use of it, even if it is somewhat unnerving. So, what have you brought me here to discuss?".

[Bugsby]

Combine intel was buzzing. Inquiries into the operations of the BIC aside, new reports coming in from Overseer space were causing a lot of commotion. The intelligence officers and analysts were working overtime to process all the information that was coming through, but the results were heartening.

The most important bit of information was the dialogue the machines had conducted three days ago with the Ousters on board the mechanical world. Transcripts of the conversation littered the office, and many maps showed the huge red sweep of territory that the Overseer claimed.

Intel officer Turak Suroth glared at the fragment of recording that he had been told to deal with. The Main Programmer was stating its reasons for the attack on Earth. It indicated a list of several important dignitaries all killed in the Rape, listing them as targets in the attack because of hostile reactions given at the Alpha Prime conference. The logic made sense, but something was not right about this. A sudden though hit him, and Turak closed the window on his console where he had been working on the Overseer recording, and, after several minutes of searching through data, came up with another recording. This one had been made by the silent Combine agent who had gone to the Alpha Prime conference. He had gone unnoticed by many and had not spoken a word, but his job had been to record the conference in his entirety. As he accessed the file, the walls of his small office faded, and he found himself in the middle of the Alpha Prime conference. The holo-recording had captured every aspect of the room, and the playback was now able to replicate the conference in its entirety.

Turak watched intently as the different ambassadors entered and began their talks. The conversations, all about the Goa'uld issues, seemed so important back then, but only two months later were entirely irrelevant. But Turak was not listening to the words, we was watching the ambassadors. The Overseer's spider drone was the last to arrive in the conference room. The reaction to the enterance were mixed, some were apathetic, some curious. Turak paused the playback and looked around. No one of Monacora, Ravenlock, or the Veithans was in the room at the conference. They had simply not arrived. Turak quickly shut off the recording and went to the other that he had been working on, the conversation with the Programmer.

"Conspirators. A word in your own language. Those who conspire. Is this too complex?" The red eye seemed to lessen it's penetrating stare. "I will simplify. The Arcanists allowed us diplomatic contact and appraised us of those individuals who were openly fearful of the Overseer's arrival at the diplomatic summit some time ago. They had been planning in secret.. That is, conspiring.. To ensure the destruction of the Overseer. As any rational being would, the Overseer dealt with them by assaulting them on Terra when they were clustered."

Turak skipped ahead in the conversation a bit.

The Master Programmer began rattling off names. "Magdilyn Hyrt, a major member of the Veithan government. Jon Cameron, director of intelligence and shadow leder of the Ravenlock,Freeman Jon Nobunaga, leader of the Floater Cluster of Inisha.." The names continued to rattle on. Many Monarcorans were implicated as well, on all levels of government.

"You will notice these individuals were successfully terminated.

Turak leaned back in his chair, grinning at what he saw. The Overseer claimed to be targeting those who had expressed hostility at Alpha Prime, but none of the targets were present at Alpha Prime to express hostility! If anyone, Monacora, Ravenlock, the Veithans, the Floaters, had reacted negatively, it would have been in private. And the Overseer claimed this intel came from the Arcanists? Turak had to laugh at that. If there was one thing the Arcanists had lacked, it had been a strong intelligence service. And besides, all of these mations, particularly the floaters, had particularly icy negotiations with the Arcanists at this time. They were hardly liable to tell the mages their deep feelings about the machines.

Only one conclusion could be drawn from all of this: the machines lied. Not only that, but the deception was subtle and elaborate. To his knowledge, no one else had discovered this lie yet. Turak just shook his head. Not only were the machines liars, they were damned good at it too, and very manipulative. After hearing the machines talk, people were ready to attack each other, not the Overseer. This cast a whole new light on everything, from the discovery of Ouster clusters in Overseer constructs to the attack on the Arcanists several weeks ago. But now we are onto them...

Turak quickly drafted a memo that he sent to all the Combine Intel officers:
"Machines suspected deceitful. Anticipate attempts at misidrection in all areas, consider mechanical intel hostile."

[Alyrium Denryle]

Farpoint Conference

The Varathraxian representative finally chose to speak

"The Burden f proof lies in those that make the claim. The mechanoids have made a claim to a vast section of space, and claim to have many fleets. However, I can also claim to have an invisable incorporeal dragon that levitates and produces invisible heatless fire in my garage. That does not make my claim true.

We must investigate the truthfullness of their claims before we can commit forces. To do otherwise is to take the existence of such an enemy on faith and from a governmental and militry standpoint that is paranoid, foolish and flat out stupid. We cannot make policy decisions based upon unproven worst-case scenarios, we mucst make them based upon cold hard facts.

[Stormbringer]

Third Space Lord Moncrief just rolled his eyes and sighed. Leave it to the Draconians to treat intelligence gathering and prisoner interogation as if it were a goddamned debated. The more he heard about them the less he cared for their attitudes; perhaps it was they seemed all to uncomfortably like the Durandalian smug superiority, the same cluelessness too.

"With all due respect, I would remind you that this is not an intellectual debate. This Overseer is not engaging in some debate my dear dumb lizard, they are engaged in a genocidal war with us. At the very least we have to take seriously the notion that the Overseer does outnumber and outproduce us. We have precious little intelligence and we might as well listen to the information we have instead of demanding proof like it was some silly debate!"

[Alyrium Denryle]

"With all due respect, I would remind you that this is not an intellectual debate. This Overseer is not engaging in some debate my dear dumb lizard, they are engaged in a genocidal war with us. At the very least we have to take seriously the notion that the Overseer does outnumber and outproduce us. We have precious little intelligence and we might as well listen to the information we have instead of demanding proof like it was some silly debate!"

"No it is not n intellectual debate. However, we are dealing with the commitment of massive amounts of resources. Ships, men, weapons, food. All I am saying is that it is foolish to commit such massive resources, whch would deplete what we would need to defend out own territory from everything from pirates, to more mechanoids, when we have no credible evidence to suggest that they have that massive an industrial base. If they do in fact have a industrial base that massive, it is foolish to leave our home systems, for no other reason than because they will simply outlast us in a prolonged war. No, anyone can claim to have that kind of industrial base, we must work on what we actually know, and not make policy dcisions on the say so of a source that is suspect.

I would appreciate it if you did not call me a 'dumb lizard' I am not stupid, and am ot genetically related to the things you call 'lizards' "

[Stormbringer]

"Frankly, I don't give a damn whether you appreciate them or not. Nor do I much give a damn what manner of creature sired you. The fact that you wish to simply ignore the machine problem until they prove they exist seems to me to be a policy of sheer idiocy. One does not deal with a threat simply by doing nothing. Action is required and more than that a real commitment, not just play acting."

[Straha]

"No it is not n intellectual debate. However, we are dealing with the commitment of massive amounts of resources. Ships, men, weapons, food. All I am saying is that it is foolish to commit such massive resources, whch would deplete what we would need to defend out own territory from everything from pirates, to more mechanoids, when we have no credible evidence to suggest that they have that massive an industrial base. If they do in fact have a industrial base that massive, it is foolish to leave our home systems, for no other reason than because they will simply outlast us in a prolonged war. No, anyone can claim to have that kind of industrial base, we must work on what we actually know, and not make policy dcisions on the say so of a source that is suspect.

I would appreciate it if you did not call me a 'dumb lizard' I am not stupid, and am ot genetically related to the things you call 'lizards' "

"I have a question for you. Suppose we are wrong, and there is no huge numerical superiority but we sent the fleets anyway? The result would be that we find some systems of his, definetly, and merely waste time. But, suppose we delay, wait, gather more intelligence and the enemy attacks with superior force, the result there is death. It is best to be overly cautious then to be optimistic or slothful."

[InnocentBystander]

"No it is not n intellectual debate. However, we are dealing with the commitment of massive amounts of resources. Ships, men, weapons, food. All I am saying is that it is foolish to commit such massive resources, whch would deplete what we would need to defend out own territory from everything from pirates, to more mechanoids, when we have no credible evidence to suggest that they have that massive an industrial base. If they do in fact have a industrial base that massive, it is foolish to leave our home systems, for no other reason than because they will simply outlast us in a prolonged war. No, anyone can claim to have that kind of industrial base, we must work on what we actually know, and not make policy dcisions on the say so of a source that is suspect.

I would appreciate it if you did not call me a 'dumb lizard' I am not stupid, and am ot genetically related to the things you call 'lizards' "

"I have a question for you. Suppose we are wrong, and there is no huge numerical superiority but we sent the fleets anyway? The result would be that we find some systems of his, definetly, and merely waste time. But, suppose we delay, wait, gather more intelligence and the enemy attacks with superior force, the result there is death. It is best to be overly cautious then to be optimistic or slothful."

"It is not such a simple matter of sending our fleets ships require supplies, manpower, raw materials. It would be impossible to provide any such fleet with the proper resources." the rear admiral halted for a moment to consider the situation. "However, there is an alternative."

"Suppose, if you will, a fleet is built to be self sustaining. Able to stop at systems explored by our probe fleets and quickly mine and process local natural resources to provide the fleet with an ample supply of resources. And sufficient cloning facilities to maintain sufficient crew." he considered the numbers.

"If each nation were to devote a certain amount of resources to such a project, a self-sustaining exploratory fleet could be nearly finished by the time our long range probes begin reaching their destinations. If we find insufficient evidence to deploy such a fleet, it can simply be integrated into the builder's navy, and if the threat exists, it can be deployed promptly to go off and wage war with the machines, if only delaying their coming until we can better prepare ourselves."

[admiral_danielsben]

Something was very much going on. Signal intelligence had reported that a large number of forces were arrayed against a race known as the 'Overseer'. An exploration ship had, in fact, discovered an outpost of the Overseer, and were told not to destroy anything or be destroyed in turn. He knew only a hanful of facts about the overseer:

1. Their ships are not manned by carbon-based life-forms. They are either mechanical, non-carbon-based, or simply a race which uses drone ships and automated hails.
2. They are hated by many powers in the galaxy, including many potential allies.
3. They are connected with the downfall of an 'Arcane Empire'.

Realizing that there were other powers who knew more about this than the Union, he decided to contact the United Protecterates, the power with which the Union had the best relations with.

Method of transmission (secure channel to Union embassy in UP, message delivered by hand to office of UP Lord-Protector).
To: United Protecterates
From: The Union

The President of the Union requests a meeting between himself with a senior government official (preferably the Lord-Protector) of the United Protecterates. It involves a race we recently encountered in the trailing arm.

[Bugsby]

"Machines suspected deceitful. Anticipate attempts at misidrection in all areas, consider mechanical intel hostile."

The memo circulated quickly. To many it was old news. The machines had long since been suspected of deception. But in some cases it caused slight shifts in thinking, mainly where analysis of the projected mechanical holdings came in.

Soon, new reports came into Combine inteligence, reports from the Harleys deployed to scout the systems the Overseer claimed it held. One hundred of the closest systems had been scouted, with the single escort coming out of FTL far outside the system, geting close enough to perform basic long-range scans, and then leaving. Some of the scouts may have been detected, but none were engaged. The results were interesting. Most of the systems probed had nothing in them. Less than a dozen systems had any mechanical presence out of the over one hundred systems searched. Again, the Overseer had lied. The maps around the Combine intel office were changed. The area the Overseer clalimed to hold was no longer highlighted in red, but a light yellow, with only the identified systems put in red. No clear pattern was emerging yet, but there was something out there...

The Harleys would arrive back at the fleet rendesvous several hours later to refuel. The intel offices had that much time to find a pattern, identify likely targets, and prepare orders for the scouts. The staff jumped to it.

Meanwhile, this new intel was sent via ansible to the conference being held about the Overseer. Not all data was sent, yet, but soon all nations involved in the hunt learned which systems the overseer did indeed control out of the many that it claimed. An impossibly long list still remained of possible Overseer systems, but that list would be narrowed soon.

[Thirdfain]

"If each nation were to devote a certain amount of resources to such a project, a self-sustaining exploratory fleet could be nearly finished by the time our long range probes begin reaching their destinations. If we find insufficient evidence to deploy such a fleet, it can simply be integrated into the builder's navy, and if the threat exists, it can be deployed promptly to go off and wage war with the machines, if only delaying their coming until we can better prepare ourselves."

Jerac shook his head, eyes lowered in the Ouster sign of negation.

"Foolishness. You would have us waste our resources on this plan? The Hajr will continue expanding it's void-based forces as it has. No money or time will be wasted on this. Supply chains can be run over long distances; the success of the Hajr despite our distance from our origin-systems is proof enough. Waste no metal or time building these... abominations. Other methods can be found to supply war-fleets engaged with the Machine."

"As for you, Bondman lizard- I did not catch your name." He rumbled. "Your foolishness is surprising. Even if the Overseer, as it says, was menaced by some shadow-conspiracy-" At this, his face cracked into a bemused smile, an effect not unlike continental drift; "Between the Floaters and the Veithans, it is still necessary to destroy it."

"Observe it's actions. Even if it speaks truth, which I doubt, then it is a threat to our growth- it responded to this small threat with the clensing of a world. Unacceptable. It is a dangerous, unpredictable beast which must be put down. Like all things unpredictable, it should be destroyed, for the safety of all our people."

[Straha]

"It is not such a simple matter of sending our fleets ships require supplies, manpower, raw materials. It would be impossible to provide any such fleet with the proper resources." the rear admiral halted for a moment to consider the situation. "However, there is an alternative."

"Suppose, if you will, a fleet is built to be self sustaining. Able to stop at systems explored by our probe fleets and quickly mine and process local natural resources to provide the fleet with an ample supply of resources. And sufficient cloning facilities to maintain sufficient crew." he considered the numbers.

"If each nation were to devote a certain amount of resources to such a project, a self-sustaining exploratory fleet could be nearly finished by the time our long range probes begin reaching their destinations. If we find insufficient evidence to deploy such a fleet, it can simply be integrated into the builder's navy, and if the threat exists, it can be deployed promptly to go off and wage war with the machines, if only delaying their coming until we can better prepare ourselves."

"No. We need to act now, not after we can build up a massive fleet. What we had the idea of doing was bringing along a few factory ships, ships like some major corporations have, and a few of the Gladshiem planet miners, if they'll let us use them, and use them to keep an assault going for relativley long forays."

[Alyrium Denryle]

"Frankly, I don't give a damn whether you appreciate them or not. Nor do I much give a damn what manner of creature sired you. The fact that you wish to simply ignore the machine problem until they prove they exist seems to me to be a policy of sheer idiocy. One does not deal with a threat simply by doing nothing. Action is required and more than that a real commitment, not just play acting."

I never said ignore the threat. Nor did I ever say we were commited to helping you. I will come out and say right now that it is not out of any form of "humanitarian" spirit that my government sends ships to your aid at all. I am here representing the interests of my government and the people who hold sovereignty over it. And that body politic in turn is protecting its own interests.

I am here because those mechanods do pose a threat to my nation and its people, and the fact that my government has sent me at all shows that we are commited to fighting them to defend against the threat they pose.

However, if you think that we will be pulled into a war that never ends, trying to find an enemy that , probably has several orders of magnitude fewer ships and territory than it claims, wasting time, money, men, and resources in the process; you are mistakenly foolish you daft hairy chimp. And no, I dont give a damn how offended you are, or what mangy creature sired you.

"I have a question for you. Suppose we are wrong, and there is no huge numerical superiority but we sent the fleets anyway? The result would be that we find some systems of his, definetly, and merely waste time. But, suppose we delay, wait, gather more intelligence and the enemy attacks with superior force, the result there is death. It is best to be overly cautious then to be optimistic or slothful."

Ok, suppose you are wrong, and you probably are. We send fleets. And the probability of randomly finding any of his territry with said fleets is negligable. Especially if none of those locations given are real. We waste much, and leave our people vulnerable to attack from multiple enemies as diverse as pirates and rogue nations.

So, they are then allowed to build forces. So what? They will be building forces while we search for them. with fleets. Massive nets of long range sensor probes are the way to do it, not use fleets in a wild goose chase.

"Suppose, if you will, a fleet is built to be self sustaining. Able to stop at systems explored by our probe fleets and quickly mine and process local natural resources to provide the fleet with an ample supply of resources. And sufficient cloning facilities to maintain sufficient crew." he considered the numbers.

"If each nation were to devote a certain amount of resources to such a project, a self-sustaining exploratory fleet could be nearly finished by the time our long range probes begin reaching their destinations. If we find insufficient evidence to deploy such a fleet, it can simply be integrated into the builder's navy, and if the threat exists, it can be deployed promptly to go off and wage war with the machines, if only delaying their coming until we can better prepare ourselves."

And how effective would these ships be if they are ot dedicated military vessels?

[Thirdfain]

Jerac shrugged.

"IF you want to leave this problem alone, I have no use for you. The Hajr will support the Unification regardless of your position, and our ships will fight. Fell your freedom, and enjoy it. Do not expect my battle-siblings to risk their potential on your account. If you will not send vessels to the Unification, then Hajr ships will not come to your aid should the Machines chose you next. I think this is fair- if you lack the sense to find strength in numbers, then you will be culled as you please."

[Alyrium Denryle]

"I never said we would not send ships into combat, but we will not send ships on a wild goosechase accross the galaxy for an indefinite period of time. Our ships will aid you when you can give us a location, or at least narrow this list of coordinates down with sensor probes."

[Thirdfain]

"I never said we would not send ships into combat, but we will not send ships on a wild goosechase accross the galaxy for an indefinite period of time. Our ships will aid you when you can give us a location, or at least narrow this list of coordinates down with sensor probes."

"I seem to recall, Bondman, that that is precisely what we are planning! Perhaps you should have reviewed the files for the first meeting before arriving here. They are available even on Eketrina- I am certain you would have read them.

In any situation, Bondman, we need our fleets working together, adn that will be costly- in fuel, parts, and time. We must deploy Unification vessels together, along the borders, to work on coordination and to be ready when word does come from the scouts."

[Straha]

"I have a question for you. Suppose we are wrong, and there is no huge numerical superiority but we sent the fleets anyway? The result would be that we find some systems of his, definetly, and merely waste time. But, suppose we delay, wait, gather more intelligence and the enemy attacks with superior force, the result there is death. It is best to be overly cautious then to be optimistic or slothful."

Ok, suppose you are wrong, and you probably are. We send fleets. And the probability of randomly finding any of his territry with said fleets is negligable. Especially if none of those locations given are real. We waste much, and leave our people vulnerable to attack from multiple enemies as diverse as pirates and rogue nations.

So, they are then allowed to build forces. So what? They will be building forces while we search for them. with fleets. Massive nets of long range sensor probes are the way to do it, not use fleets in a wild goose chase.

"You miss the point. Suppose you are wrong, suppose they are that numerous, suppose they can crush us to a pulp, after listening to your advice and not deploying the fleets. Can you rectify that mistake? Now suppose you are right, and we deploy the fleets and we nothing. Can you redeploy the fleets or pull them back to fight less important threats? Yes, unless you feel that a threat that has leveled planets and killed billions is not a threat?"

[Dahak]

"It is not such a simple matter of sending our fleets ships require supplies, manpower, raw materials. It would be impossible to provide any such fleet with the proper resources." the rear admiral halted for a moment to consider the situation. "However, there is an alternative."

"Suppose, if you will, a fleet is built to be self sustaining. Able to stop at systems explored by our probe fleets and quickly mine and process local natural resources to provide the fleet with an ample supply of resources. And sufficient cloning facilities to maintain sufficient crew." he considered the numbers.

"If each nation were to devote a certain amount of resources to such a project, a self-sustaining exploratory fleet could be nearly finished by the time our long range probes begin reaching their destinations. If we find insufficient evidence to deploy such a fleet, it can simply be integrated into the builder's navy, and if the threat exists, it can be deployed promptly to go off and wage war with the machines, if only delaying their coming until we can better prepare ourselves."

"No. We need to act now, not after we can build up a massive fleet. What we had the idea of doing was bringing along a few factory ships, ships like some major corporations have, and a few of the Gladshiem planet miners, if they'll let us use them, and use them to keep an assault going for relativley long forays."

"As I already said, we are willing to offer some of our industrial might, which means we would be willing to allow one or two of our mining ships to accompany you."
Her mood darkened slightly as she turned towards the Baleoran officer.
"We certainly won't throw away useful resources for such a 'exploration fleet'. We are willing to assist with some limited shipping of ours, which would be more effective..."