Spacewolf

[SpecWar826]

I just finished reading what has been done with this story so far and I am rightly impressed I have known it was here but never took the time to read it cause the title really didn't seem to jump out but I am greatly mistaken and all I can say is WOW and keep up the good work.

[Isolder74]

Thank you.

Was there anything you particularly liked? Any scenes or chapters that is your favorite right now?

[Isolder74]

For all you guys who want a hint at what is to come, and are not members of the writer's guild, here is a small spoiler.

Highlight to read

Inside the Vegan Command Center, Colonel Donaldson was sitting reading a novel, when all of a sudden the klaxon blared, startling him and he falls off his chair. With his heart racing, he jumped to his feet and turned to the holo-display, his eyes went wide with the display of a massive energy surge. “Planetary Shields up!” He ordered without a second thought. “All fighters prepare to launch. All units on patrol arm your weapons. Satellites prepare to fire. Planetary Batteries Power up. Get a transmission to Marshal Rodin.”

At this moment, on the display just outside of the outer satellite net appeared the holographic image of an Orthropatarian Command Ship, the ship appeared damaged with it only having half its sickle front. inside of which, the three nosed attack ship was missing, other parts of the ship showed large cratering and pock marks, with one of its three engines now twisted beyond recognition. It hung in orbit for a moment and then begin to charge towards the planet, the Colonel stared at the screen with a look of shock. “What are they doing? Where are the fighters!” He said in awe. “Squadron Leader, What can you tell me?” ...

...

..."Sir," Ace replied calmly. "If what you are saying is true, than it appears that our efforts are working. We have gotten two old enemies to help defend each, quite a feat I might add. Though things on Taurus are still rather shaky."

"Yes, Tuiton." Ace's green eyes went wide when Woodbury mentioned the name. "I may have to do some talking with him. If he tries any form of insurrection, it will result in possibly the destruction of us all."

"What of the Spacewolves soon to be complete?" Ace asked. "I know for a fact that we can definitely build them faster than we can possibly crew them. We have access to well trained pilots who I know have the skills to do the job from Vega and Taurus. There is no way I can justify sending green men to their deaths needlessly, which will happen if we do. Then there are the warships under construction, how can we man them? All our spacers are from the scientific or merchant sectors. Even using Reality Games Training Equipment, we could never get crews with proficiency of those fielded by even the Krajickians or Powellians. I know for a fact that the ships will be too valuable to lose." ...

...

...“I wanted to drive them father apart and all I have done is brought them together!” He fumed. “It is now obvious that we have to destroy those portal generators, but how? Ever time we attack they use their portals to deflect the fire away from themselves. They are as skillful with them as we are with out teleporters . Perhaps they only have so many channels to draw on. If so it may be possible overwhelm it. Neither side must be allowed to aid one another any further. Then there is the matter of the phantom ship that keeps showing up. Where is it from?” ...

[Frank LLoyd Wright]

Nice spoiler it reaaly shows you are building a great chapter to follow what has been written. You Isolder are skillful in revealing only a little about what is happening and it has worked. You have whet my appitite for the whole chapter and I await its completion. Keep creating an awesome original story.

[Isolder74]

Chapter 6
A true alliance at last?

Inside the Vegan Command Center, Colonel Donaldson was sitting reading a novel, when all of a sudden the klaxon blared, startling him and he falls off his chair. With his heart racing, he jumped to his feet and turned to the holo-display, his eyes went wide with the display of a massive energy surge. “Planetary Shields up!” He ordered without a second thought. “All fighters prepare to launch. All units on patrol arm your weapons. Satellites prepare to fire. Planetary Batteries Power up. Get a transmission to Marshal Rodin.”

At this moment, on the display just outside of the outer satellite net appeared the holographic image of an Orthropatarian Command Ship, the ship appeared damaged with it only having half its sickle front. inside of which, the three nosed attack ship was missing, other parts of the ship showed large cratering and pock marks, with one of its three engines now twisted beyond recognition. It hung in orbit for a moment and then begin to charge towards the planet, the Colonel stared at the screen with a look of shock. “What are they doing? Where are the fighters!” He said in awe. “Squadron Leader, What can you tell me?”

“Not much.” He responded. “All I see is a Orthro Command Ship that is missing almost a quarter of its structure. All it seams to be doing is heading straight for the planet.” At this point it came into range of the outer net’s satellites, all within range opened fire. “Sir, the ship is not returning fire. It is simply accelerating towards the planet at all possible speed. Your orders sir?”

“Destroy it!” The Colonel responded without a second thought. “Whatever they are doing its not to stop by and say 'hello.'”

At this the Vegan fighters all opened fire; thousands of missiles flew true to their targets, this was followed by the missile satellites opening fire on the massive ship. Volley after volley of missiles pounded the massive asteroid ship, laser blasts burned its sides from both layers of the defense grid and the massive blasts of the planetary defense batteries tore huge chunks out its sides, one blast obliterating the remains of the detachable section on the front.

"Shield status?" The Colonel demanded. "Will they hold if that thing manages to hit us?"

"Easily," Major Sonner responded. "They are at full strength and could deflect an asteroid ten kilometers across before collapsing. The worst thing it could do is overload one section of the shield grid. I will tell what it will do though, it will open a hole the size of itself in our already weakened satellite nets."

"Squadron One reporting, missiles exhausted, we need a reload." Came over the speaker followed by many more of the same. "Enemy ship now 500 meters from outer net, accelerating rapidly, it's now at 15 m/s. That thing is going to make quite a bang when it hits!"

"We just don't have the ammunition to destroy it before it hits the planet!" Another pilot shouted on the same channel. "Our laser cannons won't even make a dent in that thing."
Just at this moment, the stargate opened a portal, and out of it flew ten Taurusan Freighters and ten thousand of their large delta winged fighter/bombers. From the belly of the bombers, doors snapped open, and massive revolver-like twin launchers dropped down, spewing out volley after volley of MkX Heavy Anti-Starship Missiles, the bomber's six wing pylons adding to the myriad of white trails that filled the empty space, all heading to a single point, the Orthro ship. Doors also opened on the freighters, with gun turrets and missile tubes extending, the large lumbering vessels seemed to disappear under the bright flash of light from the particle cannons, tearing chunks out of the enemy vessel, with their MkX Missiles following behind the wall of bomber fire. After two full volleys, the Orthro ship broke in two pieces and the pieces slowly drifted apart, the back end with the engines and other equipment accelerated due to the loss of the mass of the front end, the front spun away into its own trajectory soon being pummeled by the ground batteries. Volley after volley of weapons fire slammed into the disintegrating ship breaking up the front into a mass of small pieces, the rear section took hit after hit, spiraling out of control, jets of fire shooting out of huge holes made by the missiles and other weapons. Then it disappeared in a massive fireball, shards of the ship formed a huge cloud of rock and debris that continued to head towards the planet at high speed.

Vegan construction ships, which were in the area, started to scoop up as many of the pieces as they could, the rest smashed into the planetary shield grid disappearing in spectacular balls of fire.



–


Woodbury was pacing back and forth in his office when Ace came in. His brow was furrowed with worry and his dark brown eyes had darkened with frustration.

"Stardust," He said finally sitting down. "During your trip home, the remains of the Orthro ship that attacked Taurus made a suicide dive right into the planet of Vega. It did no real damage thanks to timely intervention of units in the Taurusan King's Personal Guard. What worries me is that WE were not ready to help when it was needed, again."

"Sir," Ace replied calmly. "If what you are saying is true, than it appears that our efforts are working. We have gotten two old enemies to help defend each, quite a feat I might add. Though things on Taurus are still rather shaky."

"Yes, Tuiton." Ace's green eyes went wide when Woodbury mentioned the name. "I may have to do some talking with him. If he tries any form of insurrection, it will result in possibly the destruction of us all."

"What of the Spacewolves soon to be complete?" Ace asked putting his finger firmly on the desk. "I know for a fact that we can definitely build them faster than we can possibly crew them. We have access to well trained pilots who I know have the skills to do the job from Vega and Taurus. There is no way I can justify sending green men to their deaths needlessly. Then there are the warships under construction, how can we man them? All our spacers are from the scientific or merchant sectors. Even using Reality Games Training Equipment, we could never get crews with proficiency of those fielded by even the Krajickians or Powellians. I know for a fact that the ships will be too valuable to lose."

"I have already considered these problems." Woodbury replied smirking. "If the Vegans and Taurusans agree, I have something that might work. I will request the use of some of their officers to advise our new line officers until they have gotten the hang of war and warship operations. As for the fighters, I was hoping you could recruit some of your pilot friends into a sort of elite squadron which we will rotate cadets through until they have gotten the experience needed to survive. I'm afraid having it any other way may not fly with the Vegans or Taurusans."

"Interesting idea." Ace replies leveling an annoyed look at the man sitting in front of him. "When were you planning to let me in on this little 'plan' of yours? The day before creation of the squadron?" After this the smirk on Ace's face grows revealing his sarcasm. "I know several jealous friends who would jump at the chance. Is there any other thing you need from me? If not I will take my leave."

"There is one thing," Woodbury replies smiling. "Charlie has decided to add some new classes of Spacewolf fighters. He has done so in a way that will require only replacing small parts of the ship with different modules at construction. Take this and study it well." He then hands Ace a disk labeled 'Top Secret EYES ONLY' and a folder similarly labeled. "Now don't mislay these now will you." He then turns to look out the window. Ace stands unmoving in front of the desk. When Woodbury looks back his eyes narrow. "Are you still here?" Then his eyes suddenly brighten. Smiling he orders briskly, "You are dismissed."

Ace spins on his feet and then marches out of the office. After the door shuts Woodbury says to himself. "We might just make a soldier out of him yet!"



–



The Emperor Sage looked on watching his viewscreen in his personal quarters. His anger grew as he watch the Command ship disintegrate under the determined defenders of Falsance but his wrath grew even more at the arrival of the Halsance ships. His rage grew as each wave of missiles hit the ship and soon he was in a state of true fury.

“I wanted to drive them farther apart and all I have done is brought them together!” He fumed. “It is now obvious that we have to destroy those portal generators, but how? Ever time we attack they use their portals to deflect the fire away from themselves. They are as skillful with them as we are with out teleporters . Perhaps they only have so many channels to draw on. If so it may be possible overwhelm it. Neither side must be allowed to aid one another any further. Then there is the matter of the phantom ship that keeps showing up. Where is it from?”

At once he presses a button on his throne, a Sage enters looking only slightly less opulent then the former Adviser Sage. He bowed and stood waiting patiently.

“What are you wishes, my lord.”

“Send scout ships to as many stars surrounding these two planets as are possible.” He orders to the Ruler Sage. “Also put all Queens into full production. Our only chance to defeat this foe is to overwhelm them with numbers. We need as many workers as possible. Unfortunately until my new Advisor Sage emerges from his transformation we can not attack with more than token forces. Regardless, start construction of as many ground vehicles as possible. I have a feeling an ground invasion will be required to eliminate these creatures.”

"Yes, Milord." He replied bowing. "Thy will be done."

The Emperor Sage leaned back in his throne his four hands gripping the sides of it in frustration, his eyes flashing with rage.


–


Inside Nova's cockpit, Charlie locked the last panel of the consol shut and snapped the tamper seal into place. He then pushed the diagnostic button after typing in his code to power up the consol. Much to his surprise, the guns for the starboard side showed up as 'active' and other systems still showed up as 'offline.' "They couldn't possibly have those in already!" He yelled in annoyance. "I see something is in need of my attention." He then stormed out of the cockpit into the ship's narrow hallway. As he passed the toolbox, a wrench sitting on the deck caused him to pause suddenly.

Memories flashed back to his mind and for a moment he was no longer inside the Spacewolf but sitting in the control room of a power plant watching a wrench fall off of a catwalk. Time seems to stop as he watches the wrench fall. It spins slowly until hits the top of the donut shaped reactor core and then bounces several time until it falls inside a opened maintenance hatch and disappears with a loud clattering sound.

Sparks started to fly as the sound of the wrench bouncing about inside the electric coils could be heard. Alarms started to sound and on the control panel in front of him, a section of the main containment coils started to flash red. His eyes flashed with panic for he knew that the shut down system had just been taken offline for repairs. The core was not still powered up but he knew that if he did not act quickly fiery hot plasma would soon melt its way through the reactor vessel. Almost robotic he pressed the emergency evacuation button and the started throwing as many switches as he could to try and bypass the short in the main containment coils. After several minutes of trying he realized that the wrench has landed so that it shorted out both the mains and the secondaries at the same time. “Damned bit of luck.” He shouted in frustration. ‘The damn thing had to land on the spot that was open for an inspection check of the coils! Any other day and it would have landed harmlessly!”

Flipping more switches he powered up the final back up containment system, The force field surrounding the vessel that would at least stop the plasma long enough to allow most everyone to get out of the building. Then through the window he saw it, the main power lever had not been shut off, the reactor was still at full power! Everyone was exiting the building as quickly as possible but unless someone shut down the reactor everyone would die. Tried repeatedly to use his remote switch to deactivate it and realized that the system was shorted out as well. Then his eye saw something that made his hair stand on end. A small spot on the containment vessel that now was starting to glow red. Knowing it would be a death sentence, He stormed out of the control room and ran for the emergency cut off switch across the room. Running faster than he have ever done in his life he raced over to the switch throwing it down. Turning around, he could see it was too late. The reactor’s plasma was already starting to burn a hole in the outer reactor vessel. Only one thing to do, stay at the controls to try and keep the plasma back until it cools enough to be a none factor outside of the room. He raced back to the control room and started channeling all power into the active containment system. The red spot on the vessel’s walls appears to dim slightly but it slowly start to glow red again.

The memory faded as he snapped back to reality. As he did a man popped up and grabbed hold of the wrench but before he could drop back down Charlie had grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up to arm’s length. “Are you trying to get somebody killed!?” He shouted shaking the man.

“N-n-n-no sir.” The man stammers a reply. “Just trying to do my job.”

At this Charlie finally realized where he was and embarrassed drops the man and glumly stalks out of the ship. As he leaves he quickly apologizes to the man and walks out of the repair bay.

At home, his wife was surprised when Charlie came home early. “Is there anything wrong.” She asked him.

“Betty, I do not allow childish outbursts of emotion on the repair deck.” He replies plugging a cord from a compartment in his right wrist into his computer.

“Who is having childish outbursts of emotion?” She asked a look of hidden apprehension crossing her face.

“I am.” He replied pulling up the calibration program. “I sent myself away. Seems that I have pushed myself too hard. I’m having flashbacks again.”

“Flashbacks! Not again. I thought the doctors said you shouldn’t have those anymore. Hopefully you will be alright. What did you do?” She replied hugging him from behind. Tears had started to appear on the sides of her cheeks her red eyes becoming more evident.

“I yelled at one of my best employees,” He replies with a tone of regret pushing her away. “And I scared the living daylights out of him, too. Obviously the computer in my head is in major need of calibration. If I don’t do this I might end up killing someone, even you.”

“If he is one of the best he will survive your anger.” She replied pulling him closer to her. “You have to take some time off, dear. You can’t keep working like this. You have missed the last three calibration sessions and not slept for two days. You are simply falling apart. This war is going to be the death of you if you don’t watch out. The ship will get repaired without you, the Philadelphia will get built without your supervision.”

Charlie activated the calibration procedure and he slumps back in his chair with fatigue, his eyes snapping shut. Betty looks down at him and starts to cry. Letting go of her husband’s shoulders she walks over to the couch and slumps down crying. Frustrated she puts her head in her hands. She thinks to herself. “The doctor never said it wouldn’t be like this. The computer enhancement would make him normal again, able to interact without any problems. They never said he would be forever tied to a computer for the rest of his life. I almost lost him once, I do not want to have it happen all over again.”


–

“You look happy. Did you enjoy your free trip?” Marsha Skyhawk said as Ace entered the apartment. “What’s up?”

“I enjoyed the trip immensely. I wish I could have taken you with me, you would have loved it.” Ace replied hugging her. “I can’t tell you everything, but I’ve just been told we will be getting some help real soon. They will have some new toys for us to play with as well and some of my old friends may be joining the three of us in this fight.”

“Anyone in particular?” She asked. “Tom or Stanley?”

“Maybe both, perhaps Shooter and Daredevil, too.” Ace replies locking a disk and folder into a safe he opens with his thumbprint. “Nothing is certain just yet except that it will be some time before either Vega or Taurus will allow each other to field heavy fighters. On that note, I am worried, there is a Taurusan noble that may start some real trouble if he isn’t watched.”

“Oh, wonderful.” She replied rolling her eyes. “You mean they are still at it after 100 years. I guess some things will never change.” She sighs. “By the way, your two friends took their wives to a movie. Don’t they ever get tired?”

“I guess not,” He replies. “As for me I’m beat. I’m ready to hit the sack, how about you?”

“Tired.” She replies. “You have no idea how hard it is to sleep when you head off on your little missions.”

“Don’t worry, I’m too cocky to get killed.” He replied smiling. “Besides if my luck holds, you will never have anything to worry about.”


–


“My Lord, Tuiton.” An aide replies bowing. “As you figured, the king sent forces to aid the defense of Vega from an Orthro attack. It will take our industry two more days until we will have the ability to defend ourselves once again. As you predicted, our cargo ships and shuttlecraft make a superb strike force.”

“What has been the public reaction to this occupation of our space by the Vegans?”

“Nothing but positive so far.” He answers having to dodge a pen tossed at him. “I’m sorry you find this as bad news, your grace, but we have to admit that those creatures gave us all quite a scare. You have to admit that the Earth and its new ship was instrumental in the battle. Whatever happens, we have to get our hands on a fighter that can perform with the fighting power of that ship. If we don’t the Terrans will be able to dominate the theater to exclusion of our own forces. I understand that the Earth’s War Chief got hold of you. What did he have to say.”

“He wanted me to get together a corps of our best officers to serve onboard their new warship to help train their crews for combat operations.” He replied. “From what I’ve seen the new Earth Navy will outclass everything in known space. I’m not sure if we want to send them but I have privy to information that the Vegan’s have already agreed to the program. I suspect that the Vegans do this to allow them to get access to the Earth's new high tech weapons and equipment. Even if it is only to get our hands on that equipment, we need to send our own officers.”

“Who will you send?” He replies. “The King will want to ensure at least some of them are loyal to him. This can’t go over too well if we are caught trying to steal any military information.”

“I will lead the group, myself.” Tuiton replies. “Here is a list of officers I wish to propose to Lord Jenathore. See that he gets it. I intend to be on the bridge of The Philadelphia when it launches. Now take your leave.” Tuiton then turns and faces a facsimile of the ‘Battle of the Wastes’ tapestry hanging on his wall.

[Frank LLoyd Wright]

I see Tuiton is resorting to stealing technology rather than inventing it. Learning from engineering wisdom reverse engineereng never produces a superior product than the part being copyed. This is because the copyer lacks intimate knowledge of how the original was developed and works. Is tuiton planning a military cuit de gras or is he testing the possibility of a pre-emtive strike and invasion of Vega. Maybe in the next chapter more insight will be revealed.

On a side note I have observed each chapter has opened up a new vista into the surrounding universe of the Spacewolf worlds. We were introduced to a place called Powel as the destination of the transmission from Tuiton the next chapter may take us to this place. The planet of Powel orbits a gas giant with rings orbiting the Bernards Star. Aces friend he met back several chapters is from this world. The impression I percieved was this planet is very good at buisness and loves to be efficient. It is also a planet with a red dwarf star which poses a challenge. Red Dwarfs tend to be long lived stars but are less intence than our yelloy star so the Powellians have learned to not only adapt to a dimmer sun they have learned to profit with it. The contact with Earth must have brought an instant off planet tourist trade to visit the Gas Giant ringed planet. Imagine Saturn orbited closer to our sun and we orbited Saturn It must be an incredible sight for an offworlder to visit. We have a probe taking pictures of Saturn which are awsome imagine living close enough to see it every day like our moon.

well heres my thoughts for now.

may we discover soon what Isolder74 has in store for us next.

[Isolder74]

I have been to busy to write much for the past few weeks.

Yes he has perceived correctly. I have been wanting to vist Bernard's Star for a while now and since things are heating up, I felt it was a good time to try and see how a fleet battle might work out with my style.

Tim seems to see right through Tuiton. Right now all I am trying to convey is that he is willing to do nearly anything to try and mantain his position. The key to his position is the animosity between Vega and Taurus. This is rapidly changing.

Has anyone noticed that Tuiton seems obsessed with 'The Battle of the Wastes' Tapistry?

[Frank LLoyd Wright]

I have been to busy to write much for the past few weeks.

Yes he has perceived correctly. I have been wanting to vist Bernard's Star for a while now and since things are heating up, I felt it was a good time to try and see how a fleet battle might work out with my style.

Tim seems to see right through Tuiton. Right now all I am trying to convey is that he is willing to do nearly anything to try and mantain his position. The key to his position is the animosity between Vega and Taurus. This is rapidly changing.

Has anyone noticed that Tuiton seems obsessed with 'The Battle of the Wastes' Tapistry?

It would be safe to say, he has some obsessive compusive "Battle of the Wastes" problem. I am willing to bet he has created his own Battle o Wastes screen savers and even has the tapestry engraved on his buisness cards. He must believe when you have the risk of your job becomming obsolete you have to create a new war to keep your job. His obsession may prove problematic but not entierly wasted once the Orthros figure out how to attack both planets at the same time and discover where Bernard Star is located. Bernard Star has a small defence force and has shipyards hence I deduce the reason for the transmission there by Tuiton. Maybe the transmission was an order for ships from Bernard Star shipyards and to his dismay will be used to defend the planet rather than attack the Vegans. What he ordered or has contained within the transmission is not yet clear, but you certainly don't send an encripted signal in an off world code unless you did not want anyone to get a warning to what you have planned.

With his obsession over an obsure tapestry he is unable to see that there is a need to have a solid defence plan for both Vega and Taurus. The best thing to do is to work together rather than fight against each other. The Orthros will seek out a weakness or weaker target as soon as possible or simply arrange a way to have a double attack that has several command ships with secondary adviser sages on board. And an emperor ship that stays aloof and has 10,000 fighters dedicated to keep any Vega or Taursan or especially any Spacewolf ships from getting close. Then blast both planets at the same time. This will allow the ability to keep bringing in attack ships untill the planet's defenses crack under the barrage of an endless stream of fighters. Once the defenses of both are eliminated neither planet can prevent their ultimate extermination. Swift brutal and done.

If this senario has not crossed the defence planners minds at both Taurus and Vega then they are in danger of being completely destroyed should this senario happen. Consider also that the Orthro are not so single minded as we thought to just keep attacking Vega or Taurus forever. They are searching for other targets too and if the find an easyer one the will pounce and destroy it without a second thought. These are despearate times and the clock of safety on surrounding worlds is quickly running down. Taurus and Vega merely kicked at the ant hill and the ensuing swarms we have seen are only a small fraction of the numbers inside the colony. The Orthro Emperor has something special planned for both worlds and any new ones found.

These are my thoughts for now.

[Isolder74]

It would be safe to say, he has some obsessive compusive "Battle of the Wastes" problem. I am willing to bet he has created his own Battle o Wastes screen savers and even has the tapestry engraved on his buisness cards. He must believe when you have the risk of your job becomming obsolete you have to create a new war to keep your job. His obsession may prove problematic but not entierly wasted once the Orthros figure out how to attack both planets at the same time and discover where Bernard Star is located. Bernard Star has a small defence force and has shipyards hence I deduce the reason for the transmission there by Tuiton. Maybe the transmission was an order for ships from Bernard Star shipyards and to his dismay will be used to defend the planet rather than attack the Vegans. What he ordered or has contained within the transmission is not yet clear, but you certainly don't send an encripted signal in an off world code unless you did not want anyone to get a warning to what you have planned.

With his obsession over an obsure tapestry he is unable to see that there is a need to have a solid defence plan for both Vega and Taurus. The best thing to do is to work together rather than fight against each other. The Orthros will seek out a weakness or weaker target as soon as possible or simply arrange a way to have a double attack that has several command ships with secondary adviser sages on board. And an emperor ship that stays aloof and has 10,000 fighters dedicated to keep any Vega or Taursan or especially any Spacewolf ships from getting close. Then blast both planets at the same time. This will allow the ability to keep bringing in attack ships untill the planet's defenses crack under the barrage of an endless stream of fighters. Once the defenses of both are eliminated neither planet can prevent their ultimate extermination. Swift brutal and done.

Well lets see, he has one in his office, one in his front room, one in his bedroom, one above his mantle(Some of these I haven't shown yet). It would not surprise me if his credit cards have it on it as well has his computer desktops, ect. I will say that he is not playing with all his cards on the table. Nor does he think that his sworn enemies are playing all they have. Like a cheater in a poker game, he is absolutly sure his opponent must have something up his sleave. The more the Earth does to help Vega, the more he will think the Vegans have them in their pockets.

[Isolder74]

Here is a small taste of what is to come

Highlight to read


"Wow! What is so important to need a trip in your friend's ship?" Marsha asked her eyes lighting up. "I guess about an hour would be all I'd need to get ready. Where are we going?"

"To Powell, James' home." As he did so her eyes go wide. "We will be looking over their shipyards."

"Just the shipyards?" She replied with a smile. "I know you better than that. I know we will be taking the rings shuttle like we did on our honeymoon."

"Oh we can do better than that!" Ace replied. "His yacht is gas giant rated. We can go and watch the floater herds."

"That would be great!" She replied. "I hope there will be time for me to do some shopping. Can't go to Rome without going to the Forum!"

"While we are taking the tour, I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to check out The Mall Of The Galaxy."

"You're kidding, right?" She said smiling. "There is no way the three of us could even begin to window shop there. It has over a million stores, its own theme park, a zoo, and more. Its so big that it even has its own starport!"

“Well lets grab a few zzz’s before we have to leave.” Ace replied. “We can get ready later.”

...

“I thought I told you to not call me?” He said gruffly with a low tone. “Every time us use this channel is one more time the King’s men can analyze the encryption. What do you want?”

After a moment his face went pale and he dropped the phone. After retrieving it he replied. “What do you mean the Terrans are inspecting the shipyard? Will they be able to notice our project?” There is a sort pause. “Well I hope you are right!”

He hung up the phone and then tossed it into a couch across the room. A look of concern started to cross his face. Then he look behind him on the at the tapestry

...

“I completely agree.” Donaldson replies. “Even if they are only point defense weapons, arming them is almost necessary with these bugs. They don’t play by the rules! How can we plan a defense against an enemy that can appear almost anywhere?”

“Any way we can.” Zim replied leaning over the holo-projector in the center of the room. “Get to bed. You look like a wreck! I’ll take over from here. No defense plans will be any good if everyone drops dead from exhaustion.” Zim then walks over and looks at the main tactical display. He looks at it scratching his chin. He then sits down at a consol and start flipping through different screens until he suddenly stops at one. “Lieutenant Mecham, could you come over here please. What do you make of this?”

The Lieutenant marches over and stands next to him. “What do I make of what, sir?”

“This?” Zim says pointing at a system display.

“That’s a tactical readout of our colony of Debora.” He replies. “Other than a full patrol screen and light orbital defenses it looks normal to me.”

Zim’s eyes narrow. “You mean you don’t see it? There is something here that does not belong.” He points to a blip on the screen. “That is something showing up as an asteroid...”

[Frank LLoyd Wright]

uh oh.

Debora is next in the cross hairs for destruction.
mysterious asteroids that just apear are not normal asteroids.
My deduction dear Watson is it is Orthropataran and they have found a new target.

Vega and Taurus's day of doom is hardly past even if the Orthros attack another planet. This was a good taste that the stakes are raised yet higher for a strong unilateral defence plan that must be quickly built in all planets who wish to live through an Orthopataran attack. This defence must be strong enough to repell the fighter swarms and durble enough to deflect multiple attacks over several attempts of the orthros to exterminate you.

The fight must be taken to the Orthrs offensively if anyone wants to survive. Yet no one yet has the ships or numbers to attempt even a mock fleet battle.

[Frank LLoyd Wright]

the plot is getting thicker and the galaxy is getting more dangerous. with the amount of comerse going in and out of Bernard Star I'm Surprised the Orthros have not found it yet. But an unknown asteroid in a minorly defence Vegan colony can only mean the Bugs have found it and more than likely noticed it has one of theose transport thingys there too with ships that are different than the Vegans or Taursans. Transports delivering goods from Bernard star are likely to be seen also. after destroying the colony of debora and the entier planet sterilized the hunt for the homeworld of the Spacewolf will continue with all speed.

[Frank LLoyd Wright]

the galaxy had better realize that the orthros are a threat to every world and if they find you and you are not able to stop a 1,000,000 fighters from breaking your defences you may become "the testament of destruction" that Tuiton needs to realize what Taurus could have been had a spacewolf not made a light speed manuver to save his world.

Swift, brutal, and done.
A planet size burning cinder.

[Isolder74]

There are over 22 systems surrounding The Orthros to tell someone that already.

I see I might have put too much in that last spoiler. In a way I am dissapointed with the Writers Guild. I posted there and haven't heard a whimper.

And apparentally Frank Lloyd Wright here can't wait.

[Frank LLoyd Wright]

There are over 22 systems surrounding The Orthros to tell someone that already.

I see I might have put too much in that last spoiler. In a way I am dissapointed with the Writers Guild. I posted there and haven't heard a whimper.

And apparentally Frank Lloyd Wright here can't wait.

Yes, it has been too long for any reponse from anyone else in the forum to respond to this story. I await more from the planet of rings and money from Isolder74's desk.

[Isolder74]

Spoiler Highlight to read

James's ship

On the far side of the deck, stood a blue white elegant looking pleasure barge. On the back quarter, tho two orange stripes of of Powellian religious lore and culture sparkled with its orange paint. Its grand angular front and command deck sparkled deep blue with a white stripe on the windows streaching to the rear. From the nose back, its lines became graceful curves which rose in the rear to a grand observation tower standing 10 meters into the air above the ship. Its angular engines sparkled with their bare bones Bernard's Star look. James stopped for a moment and smiled at his ship sparlking in the deck light.

“My pride and joy!” He remarked. “She is one of a kind! I designed her myself!”

George drops the bags with a clutter onto to the moving walkway and jumped on after them. “Amazing!” He said smiling. “You designed the whole thing yourself? What were you smoking at the time?” He added with a smirk.

“Ignore him.” Naomi said gruffly almost embarrassed. “He’s in a sarcastic mood today for some reason!”

“Don’t worry, I’m not offended.” He replies stepping onto the walkway. “I get a lot of flack at home about the look of my ship.”

Everyone jumped onto the moving walkway, the small talk echoing about the deck. As they neared the ship they could see someone in an leather jacket talking to the technicians underneath the ship. A woman in a purple dress stood by watching. The curves surface of the sides of the ship blended into a flat surface littered with hatches and access ports. To the rear, the last quarter of the vessel expanded to the ground it sitting on a pair of huge struts which blended into the massive engine pods. The white underbelly contrasted with the blue engine pods and the light blue body of the ship. Some ground crews were hooking up fuel lines into the ship and getting ready for take off.

[Frank LLoyd Wright]

A beautiful yet bizzarly shaped ship james has.

The inside will be even more striking than the outside for it is the inside design and layout of a space ship that determines the shape of the ship. The Powellians are very efficient and will have very well designed and functional ship interiors to match their exteriors. It may look strange on the outside but the inside is where you spend most of your time in a ship so the outside has no need to be a sculpted masterpiece with sweeping flowing curves whith which the interior must also be forced to fit inside. Ships are designed from the inside out not the outside in. the inside is made eficient and functionally arranged then the exterior is applied according to the function and role the ship play. Arodynamics is only needed when in an atmosphere and may be unnesisary if there are shields to push an atmosphere out of your way. certain shapes may be encouraged by culture or tradition but not to the expence of the function of the design.
Isolder74 on to the inside and on to a new world.

[Isolder74]

Chapter 7
The Land of Commerce and Rings

The day begin for Ace with the sound of a phone ringing loudly. Groggily, he reached for it barely picking it up without dropping it. Looking at the clock he noticed it was 4:30 Marshall Time. To his dismay, on the other side was the sound of the voice of James Woodbury.

“Hello.” He replies with a strained voice.

“May I speak with Mr Skyhawk please. It is a matter of national importance.” Woodbury snapped quickly.

“Speaking.” Ace replied yawning. “What’s the emergency?”

“No emergency, we would like you to inspect the shipyard facilities of Bernard’s Star. You will be taking the place of Charlie who has just put himself on leave.” Woodbury responded. “I understand that they have some techniques that could make our shipbuilding much cheaper. James Boudoir will be picking you and your friends up to leave for Powell at 8:00. I know you are not the best qualified for this, but you three are the only ones I can find available in time. Sorry to have awakened you.”

"Now I know that you are trying to get rid of us." Ace replied almost jokingly. "Beside a chance for me to check out the best view in The Terran Sector, what good is this going to do us?"

"Much." Woodbury relied. "Right now we are building a war fleet from scratch. It would be most advantageous for us to make use of the most efficient ship building methods in the galaxy. Since The Co-Op has gotten most of their fleet out of mothballs in the time it took us just to put up the Spacewolf facilities. Such efficiency is worth looking into even if you don't understand most of it"

"I understand." Ace replies. "Do you want me to take a camera?"

"No." Woodbury answers. "But you can take your wives if you want since you will be riding on Mr. Boudoir's personal yacht."

"Oh and how are the repairs going?" Ace asked. "I was hoping to actually get to try out that training facility."

"Ahead of schedule." Woodbury replied gruffly. "They actually have it put back together. The only thing they are doing right now is testing everything. With the Vegans and Taurusans helping to defend each other, it has taken some of the pressure off of us. Actually, I'm a little worried. Its been almost a day now and we haven't seen a single Orthro, ship or otherwise anywhere in both systems since that command ship made its suicide dive into Vega. I'm sending you to Powell in hopes we can make use of their System Patrol Crafts in the defense of Earth, Vega and Taurus. Even if it ends up with them being Earth operated, they will prove to be quite useful."

"I knew there was more to this then just go check out their shipyard." Ace replied. "You want me to talk an old college friend into selling us some of their warships."

"Sort of." Woodbury admitted. "I want to stage a simulated attack on The Co-Op to see how they would fair with their heavy ships fighting alongside a defensive fighter force. I'm not sure after seeing Taurusan armed freighters in action if a fleet will be an effective use of men and material. Do not mention this conversation to Charlie. He is dead set on having a starfleet."

"I'll see what I can do. Of course you know those freighters aren't real warships." Ace replied. "Goodbye." He finished hanging up.

Haven been awaken by the telephone, Marsha was looking at her husband. "So what was that all about, dear." She replied with a smirk. "Another awards ceremony?"

"Uh, no." Ace replied. "How long will it take you to pack for a day trip? How would you like to take a tour of James's yacht?" He said smiling broadly Marsha's mouth dropping open with surprise.

"Wow! What is so important to need a trip in your friend's ship?" Marsha asked her eyes lighting up. "I guess about an hour would be all I'd need to get ready. Where are we going?"

"To Powell, James' home." As he did so her eyes go wide. "We will be looking over their shipyards."

"Just the shipyards?" She replied with a smile. "I know you better than that. I know we will be taking the rings shuttle like we did on our honeymoon."

"Oh we can do better than that!" Ace replied. "His yacht is gas giant rated. We can go and watch the Floater herds."

"That would be great!" She replied. "I hope there will be time for me to do some shopping. Can't go to Rome without going to the Forum!"

"While we are taking the tour, I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to check out The Mall Of The Galaxy."

"You're kidding, right?" She said smiling. "There is no way the three of us could even begin to window shop there, the place is huge!"

“Well lets grab a few zzz’s before we have to leave.” Ace replied. “We can get ready later.”



–



Lord Tuiton sat in his front room, a huge life size copy of ‘The Battle of the Wastes’ tapestry hanging on the wall behind him. He sat there pressing his hands together when his phone chimed loudly. Quickly he picked it up an switched it on. When he put it to his ear, his face went hard.

“I thought I told you to not call me?” He said gruffly with a low tone. “Every time you use this channel is one more time the King’s men can analyze the encryption. What do you want?”

After a moment his face went pale and he dropped the phone. After retrieving it he replied. “What do you mean the Terrans are inspecting the shipyard? Will they be able to notice our project?” There is a sort pause. “Well I hope you are right!”

He hung up the phone and then tossed it into a couch across the room. A look of concern started to cross his face. Then he look behind him on the wall at the tapestry.

“I will avenge you my fathers!” He growled up at the images. “No one will stand in my way!”

His home phone rang, after picking it up he smiled. Looking out of a window he smiled. “The officer exchange program has been approved!” He grinned. “And the king will think he is getting rid of me!”

His face suddenly went hard and he rushed over to a desk and began to rummage through it. After a few minutes, he pulls out a small hand scanner. Moments later he was scanning the entire room. With almost robotic movements he moved about the room and the disappeared out of the front room into another part of the house.


–


Zim entered the Central Defense Headquarters, looking about he surveyed the screens at the activity surrounding the planet. He could see that despite the attacks that civilian traffic had almost returned to normal. He looked over at Colonel Donaldson, sitting on the command deck looking completely dead tired.

“So there’s been a lot of excitement around here I see!” He says with a smirk. “So how have you enjoyed having the place to yourself all this time? Any news from the lab?”

“I haven’t had a nip of sleep for two days.” He replied spinning the chair to face Zim at the door. “You will be happy to know that Cmdr. Abrams has been released from the hospital. As for the lab, the enemy only looks like an insect. They have both an internal and external skeleton. Their ships are made of asteroid material encased in a sheath of high tensile strength metal armor. From what we can tell, the ships seem to be hand carved, which doesn’t seem to be very efficient. No sign of any type of deflector technology has been found.”

“Wow!” Zim replies. “I didn’t expect as much. I noticed on my way in that the satellite net is almost at full strength again. What can we do now about our lost shuttle bases? Thanks to the Taurusans deceptions, I think its safe to say that any new ones will have to be armed. What do you think?”

“I completely agree.” Donaldson replies. “Even if they are only point defense weapons, arming them is almost necessary with these bugs. They don’t play by the rules! How can we plan a defense against an enemy that can appear almost anywhere?”

“Any way we can.” Zim replied leaning over the holo-projector in the center of the room. “Get to bed. You look like a wreck! I'll take over from here. No defense plans will be any good if everyone drops dead from exhaustion.” Zim then walks over and looks at the main tactical display. He looks at it scratching his chin, he then sits down at a console and start flipping through different screens until he suddenly stops at one. “Lieutenant Mecham, could you come over here please. What do you make of this?”

The Lieutenant marches over and stands next to him. “What do I make of what, sir?”

“This?” Zim says pointing at a system display.

“That’s a tactical readout of our colony of Debora.” He replies. “Other than a full patrol screen and light orbital defenses, it looks normal to me.”

Zim’s eyes narrow. “You mean you don’t see it? There is something here that does not belong.” He points to a blip on the screen. “Here is an object showing up as an asteroid...”

“And Debora doesn’t HAVE an asteroid belt!” Mecham interrupted. “I'll get you touch with the Governor of Debora immediately!” He then rushed over to his station.

"While your at it, set me up a video conference with all the rest of our colonies. Major Sonner." He said turning towards her. "Get me in touch with the Earth's High Command. They will want know about this!"


–


The King enters the Taurusan Command Nexus, the moment his elevator door opened everyone jumps to their feet. Looking over an huge electronic map that stood in the center of the room, Lord Lexillon stood with an expression of worry and frustration on his face. His golden hair sparkled in the light of the screen. Looking up, he saluted the King and then quickly looked back at the map. The King walked over and gazed at the map. "As you were." The King said waving his hand. "What's the matter, Lord Lexillon?" He said roughly. "What is it that you see?"

"Nothing good." Lexillon replies gruffly looking up for a moment. "I am having to sift through thousands of reports of unidentified objects, mostly unconfirmed, and then have to figure out which ones are just paranoia and which ones are real. Frankly, Your Majesty, its been a long day."

"Would it help if I put Lord Tuiton back on active duty?" The King asked. "And what do you mean by unidentified objects?"

"Not really. He is too obsessed with our old enemies to be of much help. Frankly, Your Majesty, I don't trust him." He replies with a sigh. "I mean every sensor blip, every bright flash, is being reported to the point of overwhelming our early warning systems. Reports from at least three of our colonies are late for this very reason. I'm at a loss as to what to do."

"Whatever we can." The king replies. "Even using Earth's stargates, we can't afford to send units away from Taurus to support them. Our colonies are on their own."

"Do you realize what you're saying?" Lexillon replies, stunned. "Its comments like that which will give Tuiton rope to hang you with!"

"I understand your concern, commander, but truly this whole mess is all his fault to begin with."

"That is one reason I am letting him lead the Officer Exchange Program." The King whispered conspiratorially. "He will be out of the hair around here."

"Also he just scanned his home for bugs, not finding any. That equipment we bought from the Terran FBI was well worth it. To top things off, he just received, on a coded channel, another call from Powell." The King replied. "More rope to hang him with."

"Well truthfully, we would be hard pressed to fend off another attack, without Vegan assistance, at this point. Tuiton's investment in attack bombers and freighter'nauts has been a complete waste of resources." Lexillon said pounding his fist on the map causing the image to ripple. "The Vegans had the right idea, they built themselves a secret defense force. This left them with many more options after the attack. We on the other hand now have no fighters left to cover our homeworld without withdrawing units from the colonies. And if we do that how can we defend them?"

"Simple." The King replies. "We have to WORK with the Vegans. I see no other way to survive. Earth can only send, what, one unit right now. It has turned the tide once, but how many more times can they expect to pull it off?"

–


"Why do you need three suitcases for a day trip?" George said almost annoyed to his wife. "Do you really need the kitchen sink?"

"Oh very funny." Naomi replies. "You know we will be visiting the galaxy's largest mall. These are for the return trip."

"Just don't break the bank, ok." George replies.

"Forget anything?" Jonathan said snickering as he and his wife came around the corner.

"Not you too!" She said rolling her eyes.

"What." He says throwing his hands in the air. "What did I say."

James came into the hallway from his hotel suite. He looked at the group and made a sly smile. "The cavalry is late as usual, I see." He said looking around. Where is Ace?"

James looked at his watch and then sighed. He pulled out his phone and dialed a number. A huge grin came crossed his face and he hung up the phone.

"What did you find out?" George said. "Where's Ace?"

"You'll never guess." James replies.

"He is giving your ship a pre-flight check." Jonathan said with a knowing smile.

"You must know Ace real well." James says winking. "Shall we be on our way?" He adds bowing.

They all head off together with George carrying his wife's bags. The whole way he grumbled under his breath. They all climb into the elevator and when the doors open, they look out onto the massive expanse of deck 3-21. As many of the dignitaries had left, the still busy spaceport now seemed almost empty. The deck was almost empty now, the only ships left shining in the lights.

On the far side of the deck, stood a blue white elegant looking pleasure cruiser. On the back quarter, the stripes of Powellian religious lore and culture sparkled with its orange paint. Its grand angular front and command deck sparkled deep blue with a white stripe on the windows stretching to the rear. From the nose back, its lines became graceful curves which rose in the rear to a grand observation tower standing 3 meters into the air above the ship, its grand transparent dome shimmering. All about the ship grand windows with dark tinting broke up the shape of the hull into an art like mosaic. Its angular engines sparkled with their bare bones Bernard's Star look. James stopped for a moment and smiled at his ship sparkling in the deck light.

“My pride and joy!” He remarked. “She is one of a kind! I designed her myself!”

George drops the bags with a clutter onto to the moving walkway and jumped on after them. “Amazing!” He said smiling. “You designed the whole thing yourself? What were you smoking at the time?” He added with a smirk.

“Ignore him.” Naomi said gruffly almost embarrassed. “He’s in a sarcastic mood today for some reason!”

“Don’t worry, I’m not offended.” He replies stepping onto the walkway. “I get a lot of flack at home about the look of my ship.”

Everyone jumped onto the moving walkway, the small talk echoing about the deck. As they neared the ship they could see someone in an leather jacket talking to the technicians underneath the ship. A woman in a purple dress stood by watching. The curved surface of the sides of the ship blended into a flat surface littered with hatches and access ports. To the rear, the last quarter of the vessel expanded to the ground, it sitting on a pair of huge struts which blended into the massive engine pods. The white underbelly contrasted with the blue engine pods and the light blue body of the ship. Some ground crews were hooking up fuel lines into the ship and getting ready for take off.

"....is fine I mean look at this, there’s nothing wrong with this ship." The ground crew operator was saying showing Ace a computer readout on his computer pad.

"Look Junior.” Ace grumbled. “I'm a bit old fashioned about this so stand aside so I can make sure this damn thing is safe. My WIFE is going to be flying on it. Just let me kick the tires so to speak and we can be on our way."
“I don’t care who you are!” He grumbled back. “No one is telling me how to run MY ship! What makes you think that you can barge in here and take over?”

James was almost at the point of laughing by the time they reached the ship. “I’d just let him have it!” He said behind a low chuckle. “He won’t get on until he has looked things over. Besides he almost got killed a few days ago when he didn’t inspect his ship.”

“But sir!” The engineer replies. “He is being so difficult!”

“I just want to give the ship a quick look over, that’s all.” Ace added. “In no way am I suggesting you haven’t been doing your job.”

At this the man relented and after opening and shutting a few panels and looking over the engine, Ace smiled and bows to the man. “Everything seems to be in order. I did notice a small bit of fluid leaking out of the front port landing strut hydraulics.” Ace winked at the annoyed engineer. “You run a tight ship!”

“Of course I run a tight ship!” He replied icily.

James and the rest of the group approached the underside of the ship. James pressed a button and an elevator dropped down to the deck. They all step inside, the door shuts, and it rises upwards.


–


Zim sat in the command chair multiple holograms of people's heads sparkled from the center of the room. One was of Marshall Rodin, another was of James Woodbury. Zim tapped his fingers as the last few popped up, many of the governors awakened in the middle of their sleep cycles. Zim hoped to keep this short as he knew these starcom tele-conferences weren't cheap.

"Captain Zimmerman!" One of them grumbled. "Should have known. So what was so blasted important?"

Zim motions to Lt. Mecham. A tactical display of Debora appeared. The asteroid blips highlighted red. "This." Zim replied almost annoyed. "You still are as cranky as ever aren't you, Oliver. Still annoyed your little brother out ranks you?" At this the hologram scowls back. "On a serious note, we've detected a series of asteroids in the Debora star system. We now have to assume that Orthros have discovered our colonies, all of you have to assume that your colony has been visited."

"Why are you using my colony as an example?" Governor Oliver Zimmerman grumbled. "You trying to prove something? What are you doing, watching me?"

"Nah, your colony's signatures were the obvious ones." Zim replies laughing softly. "My point is all of you need to place your planets on alert. These critters are able to appear anywhere. What are your thoughts, Mr Woodbury?"

"This is a matter of grave concern." James Woodbury replies. "If it can be confirmed that Orthros were detected then we will have to assume that we have a major problem. Only two potential targets we could plan for. This could get out of control real fast. This I see as a reason to renegotiate The Vegan-Taurusan Treaty."

"What do you mean renegotiate?" One of the other governors piped in. "What sort of things did you have in mind?"

"Well, to start, I think both sides should consider operating Bernard's Star System Patrol Crafts." Woodbury began. "These ships have the performance to patrol the innermost regions of a system yet are two small to carry the stores and fuel for an interstellar trip, without a stargate. These ships have enough weapons to be a major asset to any defense effort. They also have a small fighter deck and are fast enough in combat to fly with fighter formations."

"I don't know..." Oliver Zimmerman replies. "Its going to be a while before we will be able to order any. It might be best to have an Earth squadron be set up in all of our systems and the Taurusan systems. That way they won't be in violation of any treaties as we set up a new one to allow our government to purchase them."

"Frankly, whatever we do we have to do it now" Marshall Rodin responded as the other governors muttered to each other making a low din in the background. "New treaties will take time we just don't have. It is clear that we need to sit down and talk about a new treaty as it is obvious that the current treaty is obsolete. I mean both sides have already violated the treaty in some way. Without these violations both planets would be smoking craters now."

He paused for a moment and then continued. "Thankfully, we have on all of our colonies, full treaty fighter forces and orbital bases. Not all of our colonies have the duel layer satellite nets but what you do have will still help, that is if put on alert now."

He paused as the murmur of the governors became a low din. He than continued. "It is possible for us to call on Bernard's Star fleet units if need be."

"Are you declaring a state of war, Marshall?" The governor of Gyhrifdom interrupted. "Do you realize how this will affect my re-election campaign? My population is decidedly antiwar."

"Of course we do." Cpt. Zim interjected. "You do as we suggest and survive to be reelected or you can do nothing and be destroyed!" The man scowls at Zim his eyes flashing with anger.

"I have no problem with putting my planet on alert, in fact it already is." The governor of Vega IV responded. "I have a major penal facility on my planet to worry about, I don't need an orbital attack too."

"I still think that the defenses we have in place will be adequate for now." Oliver Zimmerman added. "We all have standing colonial guard units if it comes to that. What I have seen of the planets destroyed by these creatures, we have to stop them in orbit."

"You can say that sitting safe under your global shield grid!" The governor of Guilimash snapped. "For once I'd like to see you work with what I have! Just a small deflector array over the capitol and hardly even a half satellite net. How am I suppose to calm my people?"

"Begin first by telling your people the truth." Wislor Chen from Mauga colony cut in. "They must prepare for an Orthropateran attack of the same magnitude as our beloved homeworld. Do what ever is necessary to secure your planets. I have already put in an order to Bernard Star two days after the Orthros attacked Taurus for defense of my colony. I knew their system patrol crafts were in violation of the treaty but this action was dictated by my conscience. My colony houses an university of architecture and a population of 450 million which are trusting my judgment. I knew our homeworld defenses must stay at Vega and I was on my own. My hope is the order will be delivered before the Orthros attack. Do what you can to prepare your people to defend your colony or be wiped out."

"You did what?" Cpt. Zim said jumping out of his chair. "Do you realize what this might cause! Reverse that order right now!"

"And make myself and my people an open target for extermination! No! I would advise all of you governors to do the same to defend your colonies." Wislor answered back.

"I understand your concern." Zim replies. "But we can't afford to endanger our warming relation with Taurus. There are those there who would love to have rope to hang us with. Fighters are legal, we can order as many of them as we want."

"The Powellians assured me that without the patrol craft the fighters they carry will be useless in a defense plan. I may put the patrol craft order on hold only temporarily till the entire shipment is complete. My orders first shipment of 400 fighters is due tomorrow with only six weeks till the entire order is finished. The Taurusans may hang me but I cannot cancel this order and feel safe. Which makes a renegotiate of the terms of treaty more urgent"

"I'm sure that they will understand. The Powellians are businessmen." Governor Zimmerman interjects. "I doubt they would want to jeopardies such a large potential order. If the new treaty is approved, they can count on a massive order of SPC's from both nations. If you have them mobilize all your wraith units until we can get things settled. I know from a Taurusan noble, I have as a game partner, that they are as anxious as we are to get their hands on those patrol ships."

"With that, I think there is nothing else to say. This holo-conference was expensive but I feel it was worth the cost. The important thing is that you know your planets have been found." Cpt. Zimmerman said. "Just put all your forces on full alert until further notice, that is all we can do right now. End conference!" At that the images vanished.

–



"We will lift off as soon as we are cleared." James said to his butler as he handed him his jacket. "When can I expect to arrive at facility 1A?"

"After lift off, Sir." Arthur Benaford said bowing. "We should be there in no less then 20 minutes. How may I serve your guests? Will they need a room?"

"Set them up. They may not have time too use them, but do prepare them one though, they will need a place to stow their gear."

"I don't know about the others, but I plan on using my cabin." Ace said winking over to Martha. "Even if it's just to move the furniture around." He adds laughing.

"That’s why I gave you the room with the furniture nailed to the floor." James replied smirking. "Well they all are actually, for safety reasons."

The group then stepped out of narrow hallway into the ship's grand entrance deck. The wide room featured a bank of elevators on the far wall, the elevators decorated with a rich red wood trim. The door were exquisitely crafted with a v-shape formed by the wood panels having the motif of Powellian lore, the center of each half of the door bearing a vertical bar up to the diagonal wood trim forming the v.

The black stone of the floor shimmered in the lights, its polished sheen reflecting the images of the wall decorations and people in the room, hallways extend off to the left and right. Bright orange stripes with gold trim formed a grand diamond about the center of the room, away from the midpoints of each side of the diamond, extending to the hallways, were more stripes attaching to the walls at right angles, in the very center is inlayed an image of a blue-green ringed planet.

A couple of richly dressed valets collected their bags and disappear with them into the elevators. Ace looked at his reflection in the floor and smiled. "James, could you give me a tour of the command deck? I'd like to meet your helmsman."

"Your looking at him." James said waving his hand towards Arthur Benaford. "I'm sure he'd be happy to let you drive."

"Nah," Ace replied laughing softly. "I'll just watch thanks."

The others had already followed their baggage onto the elevator leaving the room almost empty now. The three men and Marsha turned and walked down the hallway passing several suites until the hall opened into a wide windowed gallery a raised platform with a stool and a wrap around control console stood in the center, its silver joysticks gleaming. To the right and left on the main floor are two computer terminals one displaying a stargate chart. The other a map of Earth traffic and a list of time tables. Both had casually dressed women sitting at them. One looked up and smiled at James. "Hi, Honey." She said. "Is this you friend Simeon from college?"

"Yes, June meet Ace Skyhawk, The craziest pilot in the galaxy."

“A pilot is only crazy if he’s dead.” Ace butted in smirking broadly. “As long as he can walk away he’s just cocky!”

“He has quite the sense of humor, dear.” She replies laughing softly. “What is it that makes you call him crazy, anyway?”

“Well to put it bluntly, your looking at the first person to make a Lightspeed jump towards a planet.” Ace replied.

“You did what?” She says raising her voice and jumping to her feet. “How are you still alive! That’s suppose to be impossible!. You should have become a small crater.”

“Well the ship has a very well made Lightspeed system.” He replies smiling. “I burned out the braking system, but it stopped on a dime. It was the only thing I could think of to get where we could shoot down a pair of massive bombardment missiles.” He finishes shrugging.

"Well that certainly qualifies you as being 'crazy.'" She said sitting back down. "Do you like our little ship?"

"Haven't seen interiors this nice on even a fancy Terran cruise ship. Its almost on par with a LeerTrans or Jack-Be-Quick private starliner."

"Of course it is.” James replied. “After all I am the CEO of a shipbuilding company. I get pretty much whatever I want.”

A text message then appeared on her console. Flight plan approved, launch scheduled for 11:00, have a nice day.

"Looks like we take off in about twenty minutes." June replied looking at it. "We have a channel reserved at Saturn like you wanted."

"Good, Launch when ready." James replied. "Best speed to Saturn."

"Why Saturn?" Ace asked with an odd tone. "Any particular reason? That seams a bit far."

"Nostalgia I guess. I like flying past those rings into my own planet's rings. Don't worry, we won't be making any scenic stops. Lightspeed all the way."

"I see, so how long will we be in transit?" Ace asked.
“Twenty-five minutes at full cruising speed.” James replied smiling. “This baby is outfitted with Jack-Be-Quick TurboFast Engines and Anti-Inertial Suite. She is faster than anything in known space.”

“Impressive, Fury Freight will be jealous.” Ace replied. “But I can still beat you to Saturn in my Spacewolf.”

“And how would you manage that?” James replies rather suspiciously.

“Oh I would just use my military channel to Jump their via stargate.” Ace replied laughing. “Five minutes top.”

“If you boys are done beating your chests,” June cut in. “Can we take off now?”

“Of course.’ James replied. “I’ll give Ace a tour of the engine room.”

James, Ace and Martha walk out of the control deck together and back down the hallway. Looking up Ace noticed the grand chandelier hanging in the center of the entrance gallery. He marveled at the intricate crystal form of it crafted to look like James’s home planet. Looking closely he then noticed that the small crystalline moons of the planet slowly rotated around the rest of the chandelier, one of the moons shown slightly brighter than the rest. The center elevator slid open and they stepped inside.



–


“Your Majesty.” Lord Jenathore said stepping into the King’s office. “The Vegan Ambassador is here to speak with you. He has a request to make. I have heard it and since Lord Tuiton is on house arrest I have refereed him to you.”

“Of course.” The King replied. “I was hoping he would drop by. Send him in.”

Promptly Lord Jenathore turned to the door. “The King will see you now” In walked a man dressed in a neat business suit. He bowed to the King respectfully. “Good Afternoon, Your Majesty. My government would like to thank you people and your armed forces for your gallant effort in defending our planet.”

“As do I yours.” The King replied smiling. “So what brings you to me, Mr Henley? How can I be of service?”

“Well for starters, I would like to present to your people these friendship medals.” He says placing a large red wood box he was carrying on the King’s desk. There is a medal there for each soldier who came to our aid.”

“Very gracious of your government.” The King replies opening the box and smiling. “I’m sure this in not the only reason you have come as you could have presented this to my Prime Minister. How can I help your government?”

John Henley opened his briefcase and took out a sheet of paper, he handed it to the King. “We would like to request the extension of the treaty to include Bernard’s Star System Patrol Crafts for both our planets local defense. Also until this new proposal can be ratified, I would like to ask that the Earth be allowed to deploy these craft at both our homeworlds and our colonies until we can legally operate then for ourselves. Our government recognizes that we can’t rely on your people’s forces in the advent of an attack on both us and you.”

“Very interesting idea.” The King replies smiling. “Since we have quasi warships already, I see no problem with it. Some of my ministers, on the other hand, might. I do see your point, however, with current events our treaties are now worthless as the paper they are written on. Do you agree?”

“Yes, I do.” Lord Jenathore replies. “You can see there that the Vegans agree as well, am I correct, Mr Ambassador?” He added turn to him.

“Yes.” John replies. “My views of course are of little consequence. The truth of the matter is that we are only nations with full standing defense forces. Bernard’s Star has a small fleet, but only limited defensive bases. The Earth is building up their forces but I doubt they will be of much help until they can get their shipbuilding facilities up and running. That leaves us, and frankly, we can barely defend ourselves. I note that you have heavy attack bombers and we have a surplus of interceptors. How long would it take for a new treaty to be ratified?”

“Uncertain.” Lord Jenathore replied. “The King can sign it anytime but to be valid Parliament would have to approve it. Your government might take just as long to ratify it as we would, maybe longer. I feel the Vegan’s proposal is a good idea. The new units, even if under Terran control, would free up forces to increase patrols. This would also buy us some time to allow us to get everything nice and legal.

“Very good.” The King replies. “Tell your people that we will allow the idea. Also the officer exchange program is approved and can begin at once.”

“Thank you, your Majesty.” He replied bowing again. “I see this as leading to a grand alliance that the galaxy has never seen before. Good day.” He then turned and walked out.

“Well that went better than I expected.” The King said after the man had left. “I was almost expecting a huge complaint about our blatant violations.”

“Me to.” Lord Jenathore said rubbing his thick golden goatee. “Of course Earth run ships would pretty much end up under command of our exchange officers as they have no real spacers that can do the job. That might cause problems.”

“Not too many, I hope.” The King replied. “This seems to be a refreshing turn of events. Now what can you tell me of this sighting of a strange craft in the Leptailurus System?”

“Well a strange slender ship, resembling the nose of an Orthro fightercraft, was sighted and destroyed by a Royal Guard Unit there. As far as we can tell it was only lightly armed but had several sensor emplacements. The analysts suggest it was some type of scout craft, And I think they’re right. Several odd sensor blips have been reported in other colonies.”

“I was afraid of that.” The King said leaning back in his chair. “The Vegan’s promptness in their proposal, seems to suggest they have spotted them too. Put all sections on the alert.”

“Yes, your Majesty” He replied and walked out of the office.


–


As the ship emerged from out of a bluish colored tunnel, the stars and the planet Saturn came into view. Out of the main windows the heavily cratered moon of Mimas swung past. As they passed it, the grand double rings of the Saturn Space Control seemed to rise above the rocky surface of the moon. Beside the station shimmered the large spherical structure of the Saturn Stargate. Extending out from the portal generators, energy spindles spread out to form a square-shaped window. Gazing upon the portal, one could see the planet’s reflection along with its rings. Out of the other surrounding portals, some ships emerged from the twinkling surface while other ships entered the doorway. Most of these ships were arriving at the station, a few had far away destinations to planets beyond the portal. Slowly, a grey-brown asteroid tumbled lazily about, apparently caught by Saturn's gravity, but if anyone cared to notice one more rock in the emptiness of space, the asteroid actually used Saturn to correct its course, into the inner solar system.

James looked out the window of the ship's observation tower smiling. "What a view!" he said to Ace. "You Terrans have it so lucky. Every part of your system is filled with some of the grandest sights in the galaxy!"

"Well, what about your own world?" Ace replied. "You live where you can look up and see something like this every day. And then on planet night, you look up at a sky pitch black with the shimmer of your planet's rings glimmering in the sky! That was a night I will never forget!"

"I certainly hope not," Martha said, laughing softly. "That was our anniversary!" she added, squeezing his hand.

The ship then flew past the edge of the upper ring of the massive space station which slowly rotated beneath them. The new point defense guns on the rim sparkled in the dim sunlight as they passed. Rounding the upper rim of the ring, the ship turned towards the stargate, as a portal opened for them from a generator facing them. They accelerated towards it disappearing into the portal’s mirrored surface.

The dark tunnel twinkled with the lights from the ship as they sped through it. Emerging from the other side, a spectacular sight came into view. A planet that resembled Saturn sprung into view, its clouds, a swirling blue and green maelstrom encompassing most of the planet. A small yellow storm swam across the equator of the beautiful planet. Its golden rings shimmered in the red sunlight. The planet’s many moons appeared as small points of shimmering light, one of them having a green and blue surface partially covered by a myriad of white clouds.

The ship flew slowly towards the small world seeming to hang on the far edge of the space beyond the delicate rings. They passed a single-ringed space station and then the ship turned towards the surface of the moon of Powell. As they hit the atmosphere, a plume of fire glanced for a moment off the ship's Infrared Deflector shield.

They descended quickly through the clouds, the sprawling cityscape of the capitol sparkling below. The ship dipped down towards a large building on the outskirts of the city. All around the huge complex, hovercars glistened in the sunlight, traffic constantly entering and exiting the parking lots. On the far corner, starships were incessantly landing and taking off from a spaceport attached to the massive complex.

“We’ll drop off the ladies at the mall and then head straight for the shipyard,” James said, smiling. “I have my own landing pad here at the mall.” He then handed Martha a money card. “This should let you get just about anything you three might want. Have fun!”

“Your kidding right?” Martha said, staring at the card. “You can’t be serious.”

“Very serious,” he replied. “Go have fun, its on me. That’s 250,000 Credits you have to spend. Consider it a late wedding present.” He added winking.

The pitch of the observation deck tilted forward as the ship dropped towards the spaceport. On a far hanger the doors swung open, the ship dived towards it and then slowly flew inside and came to a graceful stop. Moments later the lights switched on inside the hanger and a small multi-person scooter came into the room below.

“Well lets get the rest of the ladies and they can get to having fun.” James said turning to Ace. “Then we can get to that ‘inspection tour’ of ours.”

“Right.” Ace replies. “Lets look at a bunch of machines I don’t even have a clue how they work. Other than seeing a huge starfreighter under construction I see nothing that will interest me.”

‘You might be surprised, honey.” Marsha replies. “Keep you eyes open and you might notice something that you might like.”

“Thanks,” Ace says kissing her. “You get the others and go enjoy the mall. I’ll be fine. I’m sure it will be better than I am making it out to be.”

Martha turns and gets in the elevator. A few minutes later the scooter left the hanger and the ship lifts off and backs out of the hanger. From the observation deck they can see the ringed planet above get bigger as they accelerate upwards. Soon they are back in the black expanse of space as they left the shining moon below them and sped towards another moon closer to the planet’s delicate rings. Hanging in orbit of the small rocky moon, the spindly filaments of the shipyard twinkled in the light. Nearby the three rings of an Industrial Space Station appear to rotate slowly as cargo ships darted from it to the shipyard as well to the nearby moon. Massive ore carriers slowly made their way to the bottom ring of the station. The closer they got the better could be seen the row upon row of ship construction areas and assembly plants of the shipyards itself. several monestrous orbiting structures floated half a kilometer from the open structure of the shipyards. Massive prefabricated ship sections were being moved into position by huge space cranes.

The ship turn and flew gracefully into a spacedock attached to the massive facility. Slowly they came to a stop. "I guess we need to check our bags now and pass through security." Ace says with a smirk. "Are there any military ships being built or serviced at this facility?"

"A few." James replied smirking. "I'm sure we will have to take a look at the System Patrol Craft assembly area. We aren't the only shipyard complex on planet and we mostly build cargo vessels."

"Any strange orders lately?" Jonathan said entering the observation deck.

"Not that I know of." James replies. "Of course, I haven't been in the office for almost a week now. Anything could have slipped through my net."

"Well lets keep our eyes open then." Jonathan replies.

"And our ears, too." George added.

James nodding they all enter the lift and the doors swing shut. The elevator dropped and soon the doors open on the deck of the docking pad. A neatly dressed man was there to meet them.

"Good morning, sir, did you enjoy your trip?" The man said with a nod of his head. "I trust the conference went well. Who are your guests?"

"A team from Earth interested in our construction methods and procedures." James replies. "Go back to work I will show them around myself"

The man turns and disappears into an office, through the window Ace noticed him pick up the phone and call someone. Thinking nothing of it he turns to follow James into a small room with the walls lined with overall-like spacesuits. "Put these on." James said. "They will allow us to have a closer look at the ship assemble areas. In some areas of the plant there is no environment."

Each of them grabbing a suit and clipping on the helmets, James then checks all of their seals and gets on his own suit. Pausing for a moment, James then opens the door. They step into a massive room containing a nearly complete super starfreighter stood imposingly in front of them its 400 meter length streatching off into the distance. Workers and robots moved about around the ship installing equipment and adding finishing touches, sparks flew about the room from the huge array of welding devices at work in various locations.

"This is one of our fitting out areas. This is where we attach things like the engines and thrusters, etc." James said with a wave of his hand. "As you can see, the freighter is still missing the massive cargo containers that are built at another facility. These are made to fit the requirements of the customer. What you see here are the command, engine, and docking sections."

"Do all ships have the engines installed here?" George asked.

"No." James replied. "Only this model, since it uses Terren engines that are shipped in from Earth to be attached."

"I see." Ace replies. "How is it usually done?"

"As part of a superlift hull section." James replies. "Even this ship had most of the equipment installed with the respective hull sections. I can show you that next."

They walk down a catwalk and then out onto an observation deck. The glass floor gave an immediate feeling of vertigo. All about them, floated huge hull sections being guided into position.

"Is there reason you do this in micro gravity?" Jonathan asks.

"Yes, it takes less energy to move these massive superlifts around in zero-G." James replies. "Now, if you will follow me I will show you one of the vacuum test bay."

The group go down a hall together, passing welding areas with sparks flying about, and the through a pair of large doors and then out into empty space. Hooked by cables to the wall they look about at a finished super starfreighter hanging in the center of the room. "I wish there was a better way to do this, but this is the only way ensure the ship can maintain its life support system. I usually require about three weeks to ensure all gaskets are installed right."

"Usually?" Ace replies. "When don't you?" Added looking at him incredulously.

"Only when a customer insists they have their ship as soon as it is finished." James answers. "If they do, we insist on giving them the liability."

"Right." Jonathan says. "Couldn't you just put them in parking orbit?"

"Too must space dust in the area."

They then go back through the airlock and they step into a lift. It lurches sideways and when the doors open they are at the landing bay. "Well other than the assembly plants, that's all there is to see." They take off their suits and hang them back up. "Any questions?"

"Nope." Ace replies

"You could increase efficiency using what we use in our VR game systems." George says. "You could then add rigging as it is needed."

"Safety concerns say otherwise." James replies. "Matter Transduced objects last for only a week at the best under such conditions. I wouldn't trust them for such purposes, we are moving multi-ton loads around."

“Good thing to consider,” George replies. “But I was referring to the scaffolding being used to install parts on the exterior. How long are they in use before being taken down?”

“One or two days.” James replies. “It usually takes us 2 days to set them up, why?”

“Well you see you can use matter transducers to do the same job in a matter on minutes.” George says smiling. “It would save you two days.”

“Oh, I see what you mean.” James says smiling. “I’ll have my R & D teams look into it right away. This way to the SPC construction area.”

“No suits?” Ace says.

“Yes we will look down from my office.”

They all walk down a hallway until the come to a huge pane-glass window over looking a huge factory floor. Looking like a aircraft assembly line, System Patrol Crafts are being put together. In the production line sat 40 unfinished ships in various states of completion. Periodically, a crane would pick up a ship and move it to the next section of the line where a new part of the ship was being brought into position. At the end of the line a finished ship, unpainted, was moved by a crain into a neighboring room.

“As you can see with our smaller vessels, we use an assembly line process,” said James, waving his hand towards the window. “I can take you down to the floor because of security issues, but I will tell you that is is the best way to put together a ship this size. Most of the hull sections are delivered to the line will all fittings installed an then mated to the rest of the ship.”

“Impressive!” Ace said, leaning on the window. “How many ships can you roll out of this line in a week?”

“Fifteen or twenty. We are currently a bit swamped right now with the other lines of the factory being used to put ships that were mothballed back into service.”

“Interesting.” Ace replied. “How many lines do you have?”

“Six at this facility,” James replied. “Our company has 10 more on planet.”

“What’s the biggest order you can handle?” Ace asked.

“30,000 units, Why?” James says looking over at him.

“Our government may be making a massive order soon.” Ace said with a smile. “We need training and combat craft to flesh out our navy.”

“I’ll keep it in mind, lets go pick up the ladies at the mall.” James replied.

“Yes.’ George says. “Before my wife spends too much.”

[Isolder74]

Chapter 8
The Test.

Ace looks out of the observation deck of James’s ship his arm around his wife. “Look over there!" he says pointing as a group of green skinned Floaters drift by. The Floaters looked like a small collection of hot air balloons, their small flippers flap lazily as they use them to stay together, and their tiny beady eyes glistened in the light. “It’s a small Floater herd! They all look so relaxed,” He adds giving her a kiss. “Too bad no one else wanted to watch this.”

“Yes, so peaceful here,” she replies smiling. “Nothing but peaceful clouds and creatures who have no understanding of violence and fear.”

Ace smiles, “Well this world isn't completely perfect. It does have predators,” Ace then points to a small streak in the distance. “There is a Floater Ripper.” The thing at the moment was just a tiny wave that slowly flapped up and down as they watched the Floaters one of them slowed a bit and the rest all turned to follow it. The slow one’s body was large and round and it seemed a bit distressed. Ace smiles, “I think that one is about to give birth!” Ace points towards it as the rest of the herd drift to surround her. “Never seen this live before.”


“Yes but that Floater Ripper is getting closer!” Marsha said worry filling her voice. “It can’t, not at this moment!” Off in the distance the small squiggle can now be seen as a black dot with Wings flitting on either side, soon it drew closer and the small blades flitted on either side of its wide gleaming tooth filled maw, the wings and the blades made it look similar to a Terran Manta Ray as it glided ever closer. Seeing the nasty thing made Martha pull Ace closer. “Ace we can’t let it kill the poor mother...”

“Don’t worry just watch,” Ace replies. Outside they watch as the largest and most colorful of the Floaters drops out of the herd. It flits its flippers quickly and moves in the direction of the Ripper and begins to act injured, the Ripper turns towards it and seconds later its lip blades twitching it surges forward. Suddenly the Floater shot upward leaving behind what looks like a small puff of smoke, the Ripper goes through the cloud and the sticky fluid disorients it. A minute later it turns and flies up at the Floater, eyes glistening with rage. A puff of gas leaves the huge sac above the colorful Floater and it dropped suddenly causing the Ripper to miss it again, The Ripper, its back turning red, spins around and goes into a dive. Just as its about to slice into the Floater huge sac, the floater tilts forward and grabs the ripper on its back sinking its long flipper-like limbs into its flesh. Twisting in the air they spin downward until the Floater lets go shooting upwards, the Ripper turns and flying erratically it heads away. “See.” Ace says pointing. “This turned out just fine.”

In the midst of the herd the female reared forward and a small gas bag dangled out of it and slowly inflated, with a puff of red the bag rose upwards and then hovered next to its mother. The defending male joined the herd and they all slowly drifted off into the distance.

Behind them the elevator opens and James steps out. “Anything interesting happen while I was gone?” he asks. “I see the Herd has moved on.”

“Well a Ripper attacked and one of the Floaters gave birth.” Ace replies. “Never seen a Ripper attack in person before.”

"Well I have," James replies sighing. "It is not usually a pretty sight. How did this one go?"

"The dominant male drove the Ripper off," Marsha replies smiling. "It was quite the thing to see!"

James smiles, “Ace, I have a call for you on hold. Mr Woodbury said it was urgent.”

Ace heads for the elevator and disappears. James smiles at Marsha. “So have you enjoyed your trip? I hope you had fun at the mall.”

“Yes, its been almost a dream, I’ve almost forgotten about the whole war for a beautiful little while,” she said sadly. “Now Ace is gone again. But I got to see new life come into the world, oh its such a miracle.”

Just then a huge herd of Floaters began to drift into view. Surrounding the herd was a half a dozen Floater Rippers and they weaved in and out amongst the herd probing for weakness. Every so often a floater would rise swiftly into the air with others dropping downward. Near the back, hung a floater that had a twisted and infected flipper. It limped along in an effort to stay with the herd.

“I feel like that one sometimes,” Martha said pointing. “Life filled with troubles and then assaulted on every side with no sign of respite. When my husband got this job I lost a bit of him ever day. I fear him not returning to hold...” She stifled a sob as a pair of ripper slashed their lip blades across the air sac of the sickly Floater. The Floater lurched downward spinning erratically. The Rippers shot downwards and slammed into is body tearing chunks of flesh out of it. Soon the rest of the hideous black beasts, backs flashing blue and white, systematically tore its body apart. “Oh its so awful!” she sobbed.

“Don’t think of it that way,” James replies. “Ace is good at what he does. I’ve never seen anyone out fly him. Rippers do have things that eat them. Drifters, bigger than my ship and look much like your jellyfish. I think there is one, he says pointing towards a shimmer in the distance the nearly transparent creature hung in the clouds its long tentacles twitched in the wind and it then disappears off into the distance,

Ace step in the room and looks over the activity outside and smiles. “Woodbury wants me to play the part of attacking commander in the simulation later today. I’m not sure how I will do playing general...I’m not the management type.”

“Oh don’t give me that!’ she giggled. “I’ve seen you playing war games with your pals. You can give orders with the best of them.”

"But those were just games!" Ace replies. "This is real!"

"Isn't your entire attack force going to simulated holograms?" Marsha asks. "If so just think of it as a big computer game."

"Right but if I do win, then what?" Ace replies. "It may mean the end of this place as we know it."



–


The Emperor Sage looked over the reports coming in from the thousands of scout ships he had ordered dispatched. Each one returned with almost the same report. Around almost every one were defensive satellites and all on full alert evidenced by the hundreds of ships that had failed to return. He noted planet 27 had destroyed every scout ship within minutes of their arrival.

"Send a detachment to gage their defenses, a token assault with the Lesser Section serving as command base" He Ordered pointing at planet 27. "Once attacked, return and report all defenses."
"Yes, Milord." A Ruler Sage replied. "Your new Advisor Sage has just gone into full pupae phase. He should be ready in a few days. I assume you wish to crew all the fighters with mated drones rather then workers for this mission."

"Yes," the Emperor Sage responded. "The drones will be dead in hours anyway. Reserve the workers for our real attack."



–


Inside the command center of an orbiting Bernard's Star Space Station, Ace looked over the controls. The system wrapped around his chair allowing him to reach all the buttons without having to turn his head, the twin monitors and the holo-display, allowed him to see the entire battle zone at a glance. Right now all they showed was the massive ringed planet and its many moons.

Ace looked over at the simulation clock and noted he had one minute to go before it would begin. He looked over his forces at his command and gave a wry smile.

"It's ironic, really." He said chuckling. "I get to play with the enemy's toolbox."

The timer beeped and Ace tapped his screen and dropped 20 of the tiny scout ships around each moon of the ringed planet and moments later, they appeared on the map. He watched as the ship's AI operated them as they made the orbital facilities appear on the map. Three minutes passed and one of them came upon a System Patrol Craft. Ace typed commands telling it to go silent, but it was too late. The Powellian ship fired the Heavy Particle Turret under its nose shattering the tiny scout ship with one blast. Ace placed the rest on silent running hoping they would not be noticed, and then started dropping onto the map thousands of his spy satellites into orbit of all the moons of the giant ringed planet.

A large hologram of the ringed planet rotated slowly in the back of a large commanded deck. Behind it sits a robust looking humanoid man in a crisp military uniform. He looked over the image noting the movements of his various units on the 3-D map. A man in a uniform with the insignia of a double eagle on his right breast walked up to him.

“Admiral Crane,” he said. “The patrol ship Ardent Reports spotting an enemy scout ship in sector 25. I have ordered the fleet to launch all fighters. A spot on the map indicates the sighting. It just seems to be a scouting foray at the moment. What are your orders?”

“Captain Kayton, make a full scan of the system.” He replied. “Leave no stone unturned. We know they like using rocky spy satellites so lets spot them before they have a chance to see anything valuable. Send all fighters on full sweeps of the area surrounding the fleet and the shipyards. Put all ships on the alert with orders to shoot enemy units on sight.”

“Yes, sir” He replied nodding.

Outside the wedged shaped ship the dust of the planet’s rings drifted by, at this distance the spectacular rings look like nothing more that specks of random dust sitting in space. The ships array of 7 engines sent an eery glow onto the rings they also dimlly lit the huge balconies on the top and bottom of the ships back gallery. All about the ship its weapons turrets played about scanning for targets. As simulated fighters zip about, their illusion given away by the fact that they are partially transparent. They zip past the glowing windows of the massive cruiser and the bright windows of the bridge.

Nearby, several smaller Star Frigates Streak by their silvery engines and bright lights sparkling in the sunlight. Their squat nose and wedged shaped bodies accentuated by their many round gun turrets as they panned about on the ship’s surface, the winglets on the edges of the ship send shadows over the side of the ships. On all the ships the orange stripes of the Bernard’s Star's luck symbol contrasting against the ships white paint. The position of the bridge windows on all the ships made then look like huge fighters rather than frigates and cruisers. Then one of their destroyers flew into view. Its shape seemed to make it feel like it was a member of a different navy if the stripes on its side didn't give it away. Its front half was actually larger than the section containing their engines almost twice as wide. Its huge diamond shaped flat front was studded with rows upon rows of small square and diamond shaped doors. All along the sides its many turrets rotated about as it flew through the formation, on the top, near the front, its prism shaped bridge windows glistened.

Bernard's Star System Patrol Craft flew about the fleet formations with the agility of the smaller starfighters. They dived in and out of the larger ships of the fleet, the attack shuttles attached to them flying in formation behind them.

Out in space, started to appear simulated versions of Orthropateran Fighter ships both large and small. Instantly the fighters broke formation heading into interception course for the new targets as thousands of the Fleets fighters turned to respond. The huge 294 meter long Battle Carrier turned to the direction that the cloud of fighters had appeared, to only have a cloud of fighters appear behind it. Turrets on it and its supporting ships flashed as laser and particle beams glinted away from the turrets the ion tracers glowing orange for hundreds of meters before fading away. The ship’s hanger doors open and its contingent of heavy fighters are lifted onto the large balconies on the top and bottom of the ship, as soon as they are fully extended, the fighters are detached and they dart away from the ship after the incoming fighters. Patrol Craft dart about their turrets and missile batteries blazing tearing though the unshielded Orthropateran ships like a hot knife through butter.

Wave upon wave of attackers appeared by the thousands into the area as their numbers began to take its toll on the defenders. Already several dozen System Patrol Craft have been designated as crippled and a dozen more as destroyed. The small ships were doing an excellent job of screening the larger capitol ships which had, as of the moment, received minimal damage.

Captain Kayton looked over the battle reports and a sensor reading catches his eye. He strolled over to one of the sensor stations. "Lieutenant Guiana, focus a sensor sweep on sector 45 alpha. I noticed an anomaly in the last sensor rotation."

"Aye, Sir," she responded and began typing commands into her console.

"Admiral Crane," he said in the direction of the back of the bridge. "I think we've found something."

"What have you got?" Admiral Crane said strolling over to join them.

"We might have located the enemy's commandship." Captain Kayton said turning to face him. "A small energy spike has been detected in sector 45 alpha. We are running a full scan of the area now."

"Good," Admiral Crane responded. "Prepare our section of the fleet for a Lightspeed to that sector. I want be on the way there the moment you confirm it."

"Of course, Admiral, I will send out the orders immediately." He responded. "Any other orders, Sir."

"Yes, recall all our parasite units at once. Planet based fighter squadrons can cover our ships. I want to be ready for Supralight transit as soon as possible."

"Right away Admiral."

Outside the battle did not seem to change much other than all of one small part of the fleet circling the system pulling into a tighter formation. Attack Shuttles and Starfighters continued their dance of whirling death as a small number broke off their dogfights and flew back to one of the large Battle Carriers, they landed aided by the spindly and glowing tractor beams. Moments later, all the ships flying near the large carrier turned 70 degrees and then a dull blue field enveloped them and they stretched off into the distance and vanished.

Ace's fingers flew over his console. He only half watched the sector where he had dropped his commandship to allow his forces to attack with more numbers, nor did he notice a section of the Powellian Navy jump to Lightspeed. Suddenly alarms rang as a Powellian Battle Carrier along with 4 destroyers and a dozen frigates slowed out of Lightspeed almost right on top of his commandship.

"What?"

Out in space, the massive battle carrier's fighters were already in position for launch and their clamps snapped open, the fighters shooting into space towards the gigantic commandship. The doors on the front of the destroyers all snapped open and a massive volley of large and small missiles shot out into space. Moments later, the plumes of the missiles intersected with the simulated commandship and it vanished in a massive fireball.

"Simulation, Terminated....Simulation Terminated. Victor...Planetary Naval Forces of the Bernard's Star Cooperative. Losses, acceptable."

Ace leaned back in his chair. "Touche!" He said. "Admiral, you know that won't work next time of course."

"Indeed," A voice replied out of the console. "Nevertheless, we have demonstrated that a fleet can be a very effective defense by virtue of its ability to actually bring the battle to the enemy. Like was said by your Winston Churchill, 'The best defense is a good offence.' See you at the debriefing."



–



In the main office of his governor’s offices, Oliver Zimmerman was looking over reports from planetary defense forces. So far 47 strange rocky ships had been shot down by his planetary national guard units. It seemed at this point that everything was running smoothly.

He leaned back in his chair and flipped shut his laptop computer. He looked about the room at the dozens of portraits of the planet’s previous governors. They all seemed to stare sternly down at him as he contemplated his current situation.

“This planet has not seen war since the Taurusan Raid 200 years ago....” He said to portraits as if they could tell him what to do. “How do I prepare billions of people for a full scale attack?” He looked over the plush green carpet engraved with the ram’s head seal of his planet’s government and sighed slightly. The case of his sports trophies caught his eye and he looked over the 3 tiers of awards and trophies that stood behind the glass.

He is so lost in his thoughts that he doesn’t notice the door to the room open and his military advisor enter the room. “Sir?” Oliver jumps almost tipping his chair over. “I'm sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“It wasn’t your fault Frank.” He says smiling. “I was lost in thought. What is it?”

“We have detected a cloud of enemy starfighters. Our forces are moving to intercept. I have sent notification to High Command.”

“Well I guess this means I get to hear my brother gloat about being right, again?” He says laughing. “How is the battle going?”

“Well.” The man replies smugly. “I can’t say much at this point but we have sighted the three nosed ship from the front of that commandship. Orders?”

“Fire on the command unit to capture if possible. It will give me great satisfaction to capture something that important. Have a shuttle with marines ready to go at a moment’s notice to board the vessel.”

“I’ll see to it” He salutes and marches out of the room.

–


Ace walks out of the debriefing for the simulated battle and is surprised to find James Woodbury standing in the hall. Ace's eyes go wide and shock fills his face.

"Is there a problem, sir?" Ace says looking over at him fearing the worst.

"Yes," Woodbury replies grimly. "Enemy units have been detected in orbit of Deborah. We fear the worst, Earth might have already been found by them. I'm going to have to put you on alert. A military transport is standing by to take you and you're crew home immediately."

Ace raises an eyebrow. "What about our wives? We can't just leave them here?"

"You're friend will take care of it. They are free to come back at their leisure. I need you back now."

"Don't you think this is rather rash?" Ace replies. "Can't see how one ship is going to make much of a difference."

"True, but its best to be prepared."


–


In space, over Deborah, thousands of starfighters danced and weaved about as they spiraled about trying to blast one another. The teardrop shaped Orthro fighters often vanished to reappear behind their Vegan opponents. In the middle of the fray, the three nosed attack ship darted as laser blasts flew about it. As it took a wide banking turn, several Vegan attack shuttles strafed the ship's main body with their lasers pitting the thick metal armor and leaving dark scorch marks. In a moment, the large ship vanished and then it reappeared several kilometers from the battle.

Once it had reappeared, a squadron of Vegan Attack Shuttles, broke off the main battle and headed straight for it. Soon after it reappeared, a cloud of new fighters dropped into the space near it and they headed straight for the Vegan network of defensive satellites. They would head toward the floating gun platforms until the were just out of their range and the release a volley of missiles. Moments afterward the fighters, with perfect precision, would all vanish then reappear near the Small Command unit and then start another similar run towards the Vegan defenses.

"Admiral, We may have a problem!" A voice marred by static bursts across the CIC down on the planet. "They are definitely getting smarter! We need more fighters up here to keep our defenses intact. Please call for backup from Deborah IV and II national guard units."

"Copy that," Admiral Markem replied. "Lieutenant Frederick, call in more attack shuttles and launch our emergency reserves immediately."

"Aye, Sir"


–


Ace sat solemnly in his chair on the small Terran Trader transport, the Gryphon, that had been converted into a military transport. He sighed looking about the bare bones interior of the small cargo ship. These trader-class ship were never known for having posh interiors but this one was more Spartan than usual, this ship didn't even have padded seats. On the far side of the room sat the access ladders to the gunnery posts of the pair of Medium Particle turrets that had been installed into the ship, the turrets were a standard option for the ships to discourage piracy, though these were larger than the standard weapons. The rest of the room was basically just bare other that the 20 seats positioned in two short rows. George and Jonathan sat next to him looking at the only luxury in the ship, a flat screened television. On it they were watching a GNN news story on the simulation earlier in the day. Ace was half watching it when they switch suddenly to a instant news report.

"This is Benjamin Harrison coming to you from the GNN Transmission Ship, Walter Kronkite, Now in low orbit over the Vegan Colony World of Deborah III. I am here to report that the planet is under Orthropateran attack. As of this moment only the small three nosed section of an Orthro Commandship has been sighted appearing to be leading the assault. As of this moment, the planet’s defenses are holding, but the assault is appearing to be gaining ground.”

Just at this moment the man put a hand to his ear, he nodded for a few seconds then looked up again. “I have just been informed that National guard units from the planets Deborah II and Deborah IV have just exited the stargate and are moving to engage Orthro attack ships. The moment new information comes to our attention we will come back with another instant report. We now return you to your regularly scheduled program.”

Ace stretched and sighed. “I guess we will be going into action as soon as we get back. I just hope they have the ship all put back together.”

“I’m not so sure,” George interjected. “From what I saw it seems the Vegans are holding there own. They may not need us.”

“I think they might, just in case the enemy steps up their attack. After all right now all that has been spotted at the moment is a small piece of that massive ship we keep seeing.” Jonathan replied stretching. “I suppose the Taurusans could send some of their freighternauts to better effect then our one ship would be able to add to the situation.”

“We’ll just have to wait and see.” Ace replied with a yawn. “I hope not, I’m tired and that’s not a good thing to be heading into combat.”

“Maybe they will just put us on call.” George grumbles switching off the TV. “I’m not in the mood to shoot stuff right now.”

“Me too.” Jonathan replies. “Its about time we gave the ship a proper test run. Its long overdue. And with the overhaul, it could never be a better time.”

“Yes it will almost be a new ship now.” Ace adds. ‘I think I am going to insist on it. I do not want to have some critical part fail on me in the middle of combat, again.”

“Agreed.” The other two say together.


–


“10% of our sats in sector 12 have been destroyed. All fighters vector to 215-25 for an attack run on the enemy command unit.”


“Roger that Captain. Any word on homeworld reinforcements?”

“None yet.”

“Copy that! Wait I’m detecting portals from the stargate.”

Just at that moment all the portals on the spherical stargate opened and started to shimmer. The portals flash brightly and then out of them flew thousands of Vegan attack shuttles. The shuttles formed up and flew towards the edge of the battle.

“Captain Zim reporting.” A voice crackled over the radio. “What is the situation?”

“The enemy is making multiple attack runs on the defensive satellites. They come to just outside the laser unit’s range then they fire a volley of missiles. We just can’t kill them fast enough. We have tried to capture the command unit but every time we hit it, the ship pops out to reappear too far to reach an instant later. We are glad to see you.”

“That’s all I needed to know. All unit engage the fighters. Alpha squadron follow me.”

One small group of fighters formed up behind the bright red and white painted fighter that belonged to Captain Zimmerman. The rest flew to engage the cloud of enemy fighter swarming about the planet. Zim’s group vector out towards the small commandship section firing a cloud of missiles into it. The silvery white trails of the weapons twist as they move to it till they strike the ship in a spectacular fireball. The blast cleared, the ship’s remains drifted the three noses clipped off. After a few seconds the ship drifted til in a brilliant flash exploded. Not long after the rest of the attacking ship disappears from the planet.

“Well it was worth a try. It seems the moment one of the parts of the commandship is disabled and unable to withdraw they blow their own ship up.” Zim grumbled over the radio. “Lets head home in case this was just a diversion. All homeworld units form up and return to base.”

“So couldn’t let me have all the fun I see.” The governor came on over the radio. “Glad to see you, but why did you leave the homeworld unprotected?”

“I only brought 2,000 Units the homeworld should be alright without me and our elite pilots. I’ll catch you later, bro, we have to get back to rearm and refuel just in case.”

“Thanks for the help. We will gather all the damaged vessels we can for study. Keep in touch.”

"Will do."


–


Charlie stood on the deck overlooking the testing of all the systems of the repaired Spacewolf starfighter. He monitored all the systems on his PDA as each was turned on one at a time. A technician powered up the ship's engine and lifted it into the air and hovered a few feet from the deck, then with a low hum the deflector shields were turned on and for a brief instant a blue glow appeared around the ship following its contours. Moments afterward the engines whined and then shut down the ship resting back onto the deck.

"Excellent work, people!" He called out smiling. "We did the impossible once again. I'll recommend you all for accommodations, unless they break it on us again, you can all take the next two days off."

"Sir," A man holding a datapad asked. "Should I notify the President that we have the ship ready for combat?"

"Yes. And make note that we have added an extra backup power system for the shields."

"Yes sir."

Charlie turn and stalks off the deck his feet making a low clanking sound on the metal floor. He stands tapping his foot as he waits for the elevator. When it arrives, he steps into it and presses the button for his level on the habitation ring of the station.