Thirdfain wrote:FROM: Grand Admiral Hideyoshi, CNV Hera
TO: Admiral Husayn, Judgement
SUBJ: Attack
-::-
"Generosity is not one of my virtues, Admiral. All vessels, commence attack.
-: ENDTRANSMISSION :-
Husayn's grin broadened. "You heard the man! All destroyers, commence missile volley and prepare to engage. Escort units, establish a defensive perimiter around the destroyer line and prepare to advance."
With that order, hundreds of concussion missiles burst from the OAN formation. Almost a sixth of these were, in fact, mico-ECM units, capable of low-level jamming to disrupt missile guidance and fighter targeting systems.
The rest of the fleet was not idle either. Sheets of light poured forth from the Judgement, and the destroyers and Cruisers joined in a moment later.
And when I'm sad, you're a clown
And if I get scared, you're always a clown
The Commonwealth warships began to flush their missile tubes into the enemy formation. The fleet's Orphne missile cruisers emptied their rotary tubes, making a fearsome initial volley. Most of the warheads were ECM and decoy rounds, screening the main thrust of the Commonwealth strike- roughly 2000 Commonwealth and Provisional fighters, disciplined and far better armed than the much smaller and lighter Cornerian fighter squadrons. The incoming superiority fighters engaged the Cornerian fighter screen, punching a hole through which the strike craft poured.
The fighters focused their fire on the Cornerian Dreadnoughts. The vessels, many of which had taken direct hits to their hulls in HRM Alpha's sacrifice, found their PD systems confused and misdirected by the missile volley's massed ECM. Explosions ripped through the PRC fleet as the Commonwealth and Provisional pilots released heavy bombs onto their targets.
The Commonwealth wall of battle advanced, guns beginning to pour fire into the PRC formation. The Commonwealth fleet had over 180 escorts, and was bolstered by the massed Provisional escorts. The reinforcement squadrons had come loaded to deal with the PRC's missile-heavy design philosophy. Fire was focused on the Cornerian battleships.
Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite.
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908 - )
Throughout the Union, the forensic minds of the Aquarian Union Security Force began investigating the latest round of terrorist attacks. Arrests throughout the union were made, illegal weapons dealers were arrested, psionically questioned, then charged, tried and the usual imprisonment or aquital took place.
However, the underlying problems that started this rebellion needed to be addressed.
The military service requirement was rescinded, replaced by a simple recommendation that citizens seek weapons training on their own time.
The wave of disgruntled letters, and terrorist attacks subsided as people no longer feared active military duty.
GALE Force Biological Agent/
BOTM/Great Dolphin Conspiracy/ Entomology and Evolutionary Biology Subdirector:SD.net Dept. of Biological Sciences
There is Grandeur in the View of Life; it fills me with a Deep Wonder, and Intense Cynicism.
All across the union, the Aquarian Military fored temselves into terrorist enclave after enclave, aided in their searches by Psions and good detective work.
The people of the union were used to such tactics, and even welcomed them. They were sickk of being the target of terrorist cells, and the use of psionics was admissable in court. Nothing out of the ordinary. Telepathic scans were used to find cell after cell, the complexity of the terrorist network working against it.
GALE Force Biological Agent/
BOTM/Great Dolphin Conspiracy/ Entomology and Evolutionary Biology Subdirector:SD.net Dept. of Biological Sciences
There is Grandeur in the View of Life; it fills me with a Deep Wonder, and Intense Cynicism.
Dahak wrote:The 10 ships were slowly towed out of their construction slips on huge fleet tenders and, under the protection of the tenders shields, were brought through the turbulent atmosphere up to orbit where they settled into high orbit near the Orbital Station.
A message was sent to the Aquarian Union.
"Your ships are ready. We will be expecting your crews. You will be exempted from the foreign transportation ban for it."
"This is AUV Aquitaine we are just outside your territory with the crews for our ships. The Union thans you for your kindness and willingness to help us in our time of need"
GALE Force Biological Agent/
BOTM/Great Dolphin Conspiracy/ Entomology and Evolutionary Biology Subdirector:SD.net Dept. of Biological Sciences
There is Grandeur in the View of Life; it fills me with a Deep Wonder, and Intense Cynicism.
Dahak wrote:The 10 ships were slowly towed out of their construction slips on huge fleet tenders and, under the protection of the tenders shields, were brought through the turbulent atmosphere up to orbit where they settled into high orbit near the Orbital Station.
A message was sent to the Aquarian Union.
"Your ships are ready. We will be expecting your crews. You will be exempted from the foreign transportation ban for it."
"This is AUV Aquitaine we are just outside your territory with the crews for our ships. The Union thans you for your kindness and willingness to help us in our time of need"
"Stuart Corporation Fleet Central, you're authorized to enter SC space. Coordinates attached. Please do not deviate from them."
Great Dolphin Conspiracy - Chatter box
"Implications: we have been intercepted deliberately by a means unknown, for a purpose unknown, and transferred to a place unknown by a form of intelligence unknown. Apart from the unknown, everything is obvious." ZORAC GALE Force Euro Wimp Human dignity shall be inviolable. To respect and protect it shall be the duty of all state authority.
Dahak wrote:The 10 ships were slowly towed out of their construction slips on huge fleet tenders and, under the protection of the tenders shields, were brought through the turbulent atmosphere up to orbit where they settled into high orbit near the Orbital Station.
A message was sent to the Aquarian Union.
"Your ships are ready. We will be expecting your crews. You will be exempted from the foreign transportation ban for it."
"This is AUV Aquitaine we are just outside your territory with the crews for our ships. The Union thans you for your kindness and willingness to help us in our time of need"
"Stuart Corporation Fleet Central, you're authorized to enter SC space. Coordinates attached. Please do not deviate from them."
"Roger fleet Central"
GALE Force Biological Agent/
BOTM/Great Dolphin Conspiracy/ Entomology and Evolutionary Biology Subdirector:SD.net Dept. of Biological Sciences
There is Grandeur in the View of Life; it fills me with a Deep Wonder, and Intense Cynicism.
The convoy of Long Hauls was being pulled along in Foldspace via area-fold. Virtually all of the old Black Alliance planets had managed to displace their cities onboard the freighters, and many had been captured, though not enough to cripple those who had left.
Many pirates were arrested and executed; many others spared, the great Pirate underclass emancipated from slavery -- de facto or de jure. They would be resettled in some of the new colony worlds; it would not be possible to have them keep their old worlds. They would not be given citizenship yet, but they would be given protection, medicine and education. In time they would be integrated: the Kingdom was very good at winning the hearts and minds of old enemies.
Most of them cooperated. It would be foolish to resist -- too many of their families were aboard, and it would be quite easy for the Royal Navy spacers onboard to space them. And indeed, some had been spaced. Everyone knew interstellar law regarding pirates (i.e. -- no protection under the law). So they cooperated, some collaborated (to the scorn of their peers) and others quietly planned their own resistance.
The Jenistaz Liberation Fleet wasn't much if you looked at each ship indivudually, The largest ships in the fleet were six Heavy Cruisers, other then those the fleet was made up of Invincible class Attack Ships. Attack Ships were modeled after a modified Kzin singleship design and packed maximium firepower into a short ranged, easy to produce vessel.
Unlike the highly automated kzin singleships the Jenistaz Attack Ships needed crews of three due to a miltary philosphy that prefered to spend lives instead of money. Almost two hundred of the over gunned little ships were making transit with Lord High Commander of the Stars Elexus Frusan.
Flaoting with the warships were twelve hijacked Antimatter freighters under remote control and equiped with upgraded shields and cheap modular point defense systems.
The ruler of the Grand Empire had been a close ally of his. He didn't trust the TSC and so now it was time to return the favor. Intelligence reports from the advisor had provided him with this opportunity. Now the Commonwealth would feel the wrath of war on there own territory.
Kelia System.
He was one of the advisors best agents. He'd used his many talents, skills and his very full bag of advanced technology tricks to make it to this point. He was sitting inside one of the projector arrays of the Kelia systems Gate. While it was a vital part to the operation of the gate it wasn't a disater fail system. The worst that could ahppen if the array was damaged that the gate would stop working for as long as it took to repair the array. It wouldn't be a long time either. But ti would be long enough for the advisors purposes, though not for Frusans.
He watched the small repeater that he'd hacked into the star sytems early warning sensor net. That was it. They'd detected the incoming fleet. Time to crash the Gate. He pressed a small button and set off the bomb.
There was a small pop and that was it. That was how the advisor and his people worked. Simple and indirect. The gate was disabled for a little bit and it would look like an accident, a one in a million accident in one of the few systems that couldn't be backed up. Just a random power surge, at the wrong time. Now it was time for him to leave.
The Liberation Fleet knew they only had a small windwo for this attack, so they pushed there hyperdrives to the max. They dropped out of FTL at pointblank range with the planetary defenses. Ships immediatly started to die, but they were doing there job. The first wave of six AM Freighters slammed into the planetary shields and the massive explosion caused a brief flicker in the shields that allowed over a dozen attack ship to enter the atmosphere.
Most of thsoe ships imemdiatly began a kamikaze attack on planeatry defenses, further weakening the shield. Then the second wave of freighters hit. The shield buckled and collapsed. They could get it back online but it would take a second.
By this time not a single Jenistaz ship was unhurt. Frusan was beginning to realize he'd been tricked. The planetary defenses were far stronger then he'd been told. But he had no options now. He was surrounded by enraged Commonwealth warriors and his fleet was dying. All he could do was try to take as many with him as he could.
It was time to use his last two freighters, make that one. He watched one of them explode under fire from the Commonwealth orbital defense system. It would be enough, he watched the ship stagger as the defenders realized what he was doing. The shield was down and the freighter was aimed for one the more populous regions of the planet.
There was nothing the defenders could do, gravity had taken over. The massive multikilometer ship was stuffed full of antimatter and when it hit the surface it exploded in a massive multigigaton explosions that created a huge crater on the surface that could easily be seen from space. The attack had begun only twenty minutes ago. Pure shock tactics. Of course that was because the JLN had no staying power.
"Sir, I've got the array fixed. It was just a burned out capacitor. The Gate is coming back online." With that coment Commonwealth Navy reinforcements began to arrive.
The advisors agent continued on his way out of the system ina generic tramp freighter. In the chaos back there he'd proably be able to leave with no problem. If the worst did happen he also had the back up, though the advisor wouldn't be happy if he had to use it.
"They actually dragged Life-Taker out? She's got to be near a hundred twenty years old now. And how the hell they fixed the damage after the Areitas Incident is beyond me." shouted the stunned sensor officer.
It was obviously the case, despite her updates she was still a fundamentally worn out ship. She was making less than half the class old accel and God-Emperor knew how well she'd last under fire. One of the Titans could easily take her apart.
"And I think I make out at least a four Reaper-class cruisers with her. Hard to tell with the re-fits."
"All ships, hold off and rendevous with the Dunlap vessels, make whatever jury rigs we can. In mean time we launch another fighter strike."
"Leftenant, what are those signatures over there?"
"Dunlap warships, Admiral!"
"Godsdammit, Intel said nothing about Dunlap reinforcements!"
"We are outgunned, admiral. It will by hours until the Alliance reinforcements arrive."
"Hell. Sound the recall. I want one more volley of ECM and decoy rounds to cover the figher craft's retreat, and then set course for the Provisional naval base over Hypergate Beta. Contact Fleet Command, and tell them we have a situation over here. We'll need more ships."
The massed fighter wings of the Commonwealth task force pulled back, aborting their attack run. A line of interceptors held back, sacrificing themselves so that the majority of the attack craft couldpull out. Roughly a third of the fleet's interceptor strength was shot down in the escape.
The Commonwealth vessels discharged their swarmers into the enemy missile counterfire, buying the time for a slip into hyperspace.
SUBJ1 (Chief of Staff Alexander Ernesto): Reports are still coming in from Kelia. We don't know yet who the perpetrators of the attack were. Preliminart reports show over five million killed in the blast site. They hit downtown Port Jervis, one of the larger cities on Kelia. Port Jervis no longr exists, Mister President. We are expecting more casualties as time passes. We don't have the reports from Port Jervis's suburbs, but it looks very bad. Additionally, Port Jervis was the sight of one of Kelia's three major training camps. We lost 50,000 infantrymen, equipment, hundreds of armored vehicles... We are only lucky their transports had been shipped out to to carry supplies to our troops in the Grand Empire.
SUBJ2(President Arnold Von Braun): Send aid as soon as possible. Where the hell is Brauchitsch?
SUBJ3 (Agency Liasion Caitlin Brauchitsch): My apologies, Mister President. I was delayed by security.
SUBJ2: Have your people any idea of who is behind the terrorist attack over Kelia?
SUBJ3: WE haven't begun analysis yet, Mister President, but...
SUBJ4: News from the Front, Mister President!
SUBJ2: Give me that.
SUBJ2: Dammit, Hideyoshi says she needs more ships. Ernesto! I'm authorizing the transfer of the Assault Fleet to Azegart space.
SUBJ1: Sir, are you sure that's wise?
SUBJ3: If I may, Mister President- I think we won't be having any more problems in the Grand Empire. You see, we have captured the Queen. She is willing to publically renounce her claim and work with the Commonwealth.
SUBJ1: Since when ? My men in the field haven't reported anytthing, they sayn she wasn't in the palace!
SUBJ3: Your men aren't the only ones in the field, Ernesto. We have our- methods. Suffice to say that the local fiefdoms who have supported us in this will be able to hold on to the conquered territory- all your sodliers need is air support, and the locals can supply that much.
SUBJ1: I'll have the men dig in. We'll fly in some shield generators from Togo Station, they have a few on stock.
SUBJ2: Excellent. lets be about things, people.
-: ENDRECORDING :-
Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite.
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908 - )
[ooc] More enigmatic, mysterious foreshadowing. Also helps bump up the thread [/ooc]
6403 CE, Small Magellenic cloud:
The courier had gone far, and was nearly out of fuel. It had dropped into realspace in an attempt to find some more.
Out of nowhere, or so it seemed, a pirate ship dropped in front of it, and captured it, only to find no one onboard. The captor never got to collect on their ill gained riches.
[ooc]now for some more modern stuff [/ooc]
"Odd how they ran. Still, since they seem to have wised up to our tactics, we'll have to change them. Since we're on the defence now however, that shouldn't be too hard... I wonder how long it will be until they realize the real trick going on... Probably not until it lands on them."
"preemptive killing of cops might not be such a bad idea from a personal saftey[sic] standpoint..." --Keevan Colton
"There's a word for bias you can't see: Yours." -- William Saletan
Breaking News from Jenistat City. The former capital of the Jenistaz Protectorate and the capital of the new Republic of Jenistat. A Coup has overtrown the government of the former ruler Elexus Frusan and created what they say will be a new free and democratic nation.
According to the reports coming in from the new provisional council Frusan died in the attack against the Commonwealth world of Kelia. I repeat, Elexus Frusan led the Jenistaz Navy in the terrorist attack against the Commonwealth world of Kelia.
The new provisional council is moving to find and punish any members of the military or former government that were involved in the attack in any way. They have also made a statement that they are interested in closer diplomatic relations with the Free Star Alliance.
Terran Network News The News You Trust
The advisor studied the new release. Everything was going as it should, his agents were performing there roles perfectly.
"Brisbane Queen Offers Surrender"
"Queen Eleanor Crane Mackenzie, the driving force behind the expansionistic and violent actions of the Grand Empire of Brisbane, publically called for the surrender of all remaining Brisbanian military forces. Hundreds of members of the the Queen's government are expected to face war crimes trials, including the Queen herself. In the Queen's six-month reign, Brisbanian forces commited acts of genocide and brutal violence, bombarding and invading worlds in five different local feifdoms. Particularly disturbing are the reports of orbital cleansing against the Uktena Empire, with casualty counts in the hundreds of millions. Additionally, Brisbanian leadership stands accused of multiple counts of piracy and slave trading and taking.
"Commonwealth and coalition forces from eleven different local feifdoms struck the Brisbanian navy at their fleet bases in the New Australia, Bahamut, and Mohaim systems. The Brisbanian navy had been concentrated over those three bases for exercises, and as such, was annihilated or captured to the vessel. Commonwealth marines stormed space habitats over Brisbane and in the Mohaim system, capturing orbital shipyards and refineries relatively intact. Fighting just stopped over Bahamut, where Brisbanian forces were able to destroy the majority of the world's orbiting military construction yards.
"After consulting the coalition nations, the Commonwealth Senate agreed to take on the former Grand Empire as an annexed province of the Commonwealth proper."
"Commonwealth Diplomats Forge Alliance"
"Under the benevolent assistance of Commonwealth mediators, representatives from the eleven allied powers agreed to a mutual defensive and economic alliance amongst each other. This alliance, called the Free States Union, as been dedicated to ensuring that rampant piracy of the sort provoked by the Grand Empire will never erupt again.
FSU Signatories include the recently freed Tejaakan Principality, the Federal Republic of Nova Moscow, and the Uktena Empire.
With the formation of the FSU, the devastated space between the Three Suns Commonwealth and the Free Star Alliance is now completely united under either the FSU or TSC flag. The one exception is the Republic of Jenistat, a larger feifdom which just recently divested itself of a brutal military dictatorship complicite in the recent terrorist bombing of the Commonwealth world Kelia.
"Commonwealth President to Speak on the Jenistat Situation"
"President Arnold Von Braun has been schedualed to speak about the Kelia bombing and it's relationsship to the Republic of Jenistat later this week."
"In other news, fighting continues in the Azegart Empire...."
-: ENDTRANSMISSION :-
Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite.
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908 - )
"Alliance?" Gladstone snorted as her mind scanned through the news report. "They could at least be honest and call it an Empire. At least that war seems to be over. For now." On her thought, the report dissolved into digital mist.
"Should we open our borders again, Jocelyn?" Miller asked her from the opposite side of the whirlpool floating free in the atmosphere, thanks to the wonders of Datasphere.
"No, we keep it that way. Maybe they find someone else to bring into ther precious 'alliance', and another war breaks out... I feel much safer the way we are now."
Great Dolphin Conspiracy - Chatter box
"Implications: we have been intercepted deliberately by a means unknown, for a purpose unknown, and transferred to a place unknown by a form of intelligence unknown. Apart from the unknown, everything is obvious." ZORAC GALE Force Euro Wimp Human dignity shall be inviolable. To respect and protect it shall be the duty of all state authority.
It was a Q-Ship. There was little doubting it. A rebuilt Galaxy-class ship, it looked like a weak personal luxury craft. And a sensor sweep by her majesty's ships hadn't shown any major weapon systems. Still, as the ship moved between the hyperspace reversion point and the actual Wormhole, it was given alot of scrutiny.
The Mind, dominating most of the bridge, wasn't too pleased by that. Andrews, who was trying to operate the kludge of a hybrid control system, was less concerned with it. More present on his mind was just how badly the switch between Federation technology and Imperial technology had been for this ship, and whether he would bother issuing a death warrant on the man.
Admiral Nguyen was also travelling with them, with the same lack of security around him as in previous movements. Andrew's wasn't too worried about him; if he bolted now, there was nothing he could do. Better to release him unharmed then face the potential problems of a dead Admiral.
"This is patrol vessel HMS Imperator to the Yawning Angel. We are reading an anomalously large mass signature in your saucer section."
"Ah, yes sir. Extra hypermatter fuel, sir. Long way to go after we transition." Andrews stated quickly and briskly, looking over readouts. That lie should do it.
A few seconds passed, another scan. "Where are you going? Andromeda?" There was a hint of increduality.
"Yes, sir." Andrews said smoothly. "I have a meeting with those who call themselves the Lost."
"You and a million others. Alright, alright. Get into position for the next group through."
The Yawning Angel gently glided towards the yawning black hole, accompanied by some bulk freighters and custom yachts. Traffic was light, and that was good. A strange ship during a busy time was asking to get yanked out of line and done over, because that was when they expected this kind of stuff.
The refit ship transitioned flawlessly, and pulled away from the other side of the Gate cleanly, keeping in the designated zone.
"So where are we headed, since I doubt the Lost truly expect you?" Asked the Mind.
"Oh. We're going to meet them. Someone owes me a favor, one we can redeem for a jump to where I plan to visit."
Manic Progressive: A liberal who violently swings from anger at politicos to despondency over them.
Out Of Context theatre: Ron Paul has repeatedly said he's not a racist. - Destructinator XIII on why Ron Paul isn't racist.
"You're lucky, Andrews. Imperator was just working up after a major refit; it's a quiet area so her crew's probably green. A more experienced warship -- or one of the Space Guard guys -- would have boarded you and the jig would be up.
"So, Mind. Are you happy with your new surroundings? You don't have to worry about being fed a trickle from a deuterium-tritium fusion reactor anymore, right?"
"Happy? Happy? You call this overgrown tub of duranium a ship? It's a pig, a cow, some unholy hybrid of the two. And the thing apparently dates to mere centuries after some of you monkeys grabbed a stardrive off someone else! "
"But you've got a hypermatter reactor now, at least--"
"Hypermatter. I don't know what all of you people's obsession of it is. Complex matter! It's an absurdity, and only thick-skulled primitives could think of such a tihng. You've got direct access to multiple forms of hyperspace, all you have to do is tap into it and infinate power. But no, you insist on manufaturing matter that can't even be described without the square root of negative one!"
"Yes. Hypermatter is a lot more stable than your vaunted Core Taps. I saw what happened when those things blew."
"At least we can direct it. Gridfire, you know. Nothing like it."
"Gridfire is weak. There are greater forces in this universe. Magic, the soul --"
"Superstition. Magic is a crutch for pea-brained peoples like yourselves, the soul as well. Life is just biochemical reactions, magic an explanation for the unexplainable -- at least as you all see it."
"And yet we've proven the existance of the Soul. And of Magic, and regimented and formulated and studied both. There is nothing more powerful than a human soul. I think that ship that followed us through the Gate can prove that."
Andrews looked over at his sensor screen as his cobbled-together sensored tried to discern through the realm of hyperspace. It looked like an ordinary, if expensive, ship...but with a stylized "h" in front...No. She has to be dead... a myth!
"Mr. Mind. It appears that we will have some company to Andromeda with us. She used to be called many names, but she styles herself only by one now: Saturn. My niece. And exemplar of what happens when you try to tamper with the soul."
FROM: Grand-Admiral St. Juste (CNV Freya)
TO: Grand-Admiral Hideyoshi (CNV Ishtar)
SUBJ: On Station, New Orders
-::-
Reinforcements have arrived, friend. I will be taking over as CO of this fleet, as per the latest orders from CNC.
I have with me the transports you requested, as well as the fleet elements. We are to wait for the arrival of Outworld Alliance reinforcements before beginning; they are due in-system shortly.
-:ENDTRANSMISSION:-
-------
-:Coded Transmission, from a source not in the Commonwealth.:-
Dear Mister Andrews,
I would like to meet with you, and discuss a possible agreement of a mutually beneficial nature. My associates are willing to give you something you may VERY much want, in exchange for certain services.
I can be contacted via these sources, for confirmation and information as to where we can meet.
Sincerely,
Mister Smith
-::-
Please do not type such huge lines, you break the formatting of the board - Phong
Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite.
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908 - )
The Triad Head's attention was focussed on the maintenance of the situation in SKS space. Move and countermove with the powers that were trying to put pressure on his newly secured holdings there, extending insidious tendrils into the minds of potential recruits. They were weak compared to him, but then again, so was almost anyone.
He kept tabs on Nguyen, of course. Old 'friends' deserved such courtesy, and if he managed to escape so much the better. It was then that he felt the almost imperceptible touch. Fear. There was only one being that he feared.
Not Serenity. For all her posturing and omnipotence she never did anything. Nor the far-away leader of the Lost, Nitram. He was strong, but the Triad Head knew his powers and their limits, he could punish him if necessary. Halite was dead, and anyway she could not have beaten him, even in the midst of her greatest power. Wilkens, the evil of another dimension, had not appeared in centuries, and strength for strength he was not god enough to win the fight. Dice and Kynes, the other threats of note, could probably defeat him if they abandoned caution and threw forth their full strength... but they too had disappeared, and had never truly tried to ascend to godhood such as was in their reach.
He feared only Saturn, the great bringer of death, the bearer of the great silence.
But it was a cool, icy fear that drove the consciousness and did not trigger freezing panic. The Triad Head did not panic, not ever.
He spoke with the assumption that someone would be there to carry out his orders, "Bring the statue out of storage. We may have need of it."
Someone trotted off to fulfill his orders. It was ironic that he could inflict bowel-dissolving fear in the most hardened killers in the galaxy, but that he himself felt fear of a little girl who had lost everything but a thirst for the blood of her enemies. He would have to remain hidden.
"I am gravely disappointed. Again you have made me unleash my dogs of war."
--The Lord Humungus
"It always makes me feel better to know I'm being tracked." Andrew reflected as they passed through the gulf of void between Galaxies. "It removes the concern that everyone is seeing me and I can't see them."
The powerful Telepath that was once a dangerous player in the Alliance, now the ruler of a defunct nation, and currently heading for a nation that was fighting one of the most lethal lifeforms in existance, leaned back.
He perceived. Outside normal time and space, connections existed, shifted, changed, were created, and were destroyed. Sensing the links between Universes was tricky, but possible. The great brilliant web that was the People's Republic of Corneria was still easily noticable.
A single thread, though, linked the ship to the Galaxy they had left behind. It was an odd one, an alien one. Playing it safe, Andrews masked his presense to the philantrophic connections, letting the telepathic scan ignore him while it sensed greater beings.
"So, Saturn.. Are you after me, or looking for those dogs we have to bow and scrape before.." He mused to himself.
*******
The message for Andrew was received and guarded. The reply was simply that the Lord was incommunicado.
Manic Progressive: A liberal who violently swings from anger at politicos to despondency over them.
Out Of Context theatre: Ron Paul has repeatedly said he's not a racist. - Destructinator XIII on why Ron Paul isn't racist.
"We'll hold here, make sure the fleet is organized. What is the superlaser status?"
"Nearly fully charged."
"We'll jump and finish the mission when it's done. What's the status of the lure?"
"Quite alluring. They've shifted quite a bit to face it."
"preemptive killing of cops might not be such a bad idea from a personal saftey[sic] standpoint..." --Keevan Colton
"There's a word for bias you can't see: Yours." -- William Saletan
The young woman greatly resembled her mother; dark hair, violet eyes and pale skin. Indeed, she was actually quite beautiful -- the arcane magics wrapped around her had some peculiar effects. Once she had a given name, but she never used it: she was Saturn. She needed no weapon other than a glaive and her own innate power; the power of a corrupted soul.
None alive knew the dark secret of Saturn. She was the ultimate weapons experiment of the ancient Moon Kingdom, someone would could use the light and the dark with equally potent effect. Never before had one been able to walk the line between shadow and light and do more than simple cantrips. Never again would such an experiment be attempted. The Saturn Force had been created, and it poured into the first host's body.
Darkness could wield light, and it was a terrible thing. The Saturn Force sought the destruction of all life, starting with all evil and ending with the last microbe on the furthest world. The Saturn Force merged with one's soul, and only the strongest beings could resist its siren call for the final silence. Anastasia Tomoe's mother was that strong; until her death she resisted its call, using it only when needed. Anastasia was not so strong; the Saturn Force had a light touch on her mind. Vengeance and death filled her thoughts.
She could feel the lines of chi and could snuff them out with a touch, but it was not herstyle. The lines, instead, moved out of the way for her, almost afraid. The effect was discomfort on them from some dark force. The journey to Andromeda would be somewhat long even with her overpowered hyperdrive. With her magics, she could dress however she chose: it would be trivial to alter her appearence. But she would step off her ship into the spaceport dressed in her ancient garb as a Senshi.
The most dangerous mortal in the entire multiverse wearing some bizarre outfit. A pleated miniskirt; ribbons in front and back, gloves -- something from a young girl's imagination (or perhaps a young man's). She would be instantly recognized, of course: her own uniform was a unique variation. Fear would take them, and she could proceed on her mission with ease.
---
On the ship in front of her, the Yawning Angel, Nguyen meditated and felt himself submerge into the Astral. That was not a magical skill, technically -- with sufficient training anyone could do it. It was best catagorized as spiritual. The chi was much the same way, but he was not well-trained in such matters. But the Astral ... he had first learned of it two millennia ago and trained in it. But he was weak in Astral combat, stealth was his ways.
One could see the blackness representing Saturn; his other senses could feel the lines of chi parting before her. Others -- the great golden Beast, the pure white of a Goddess above and yet not above him. And something ... regimented. Unnatural. Ah. He wandered through the Astral, discerning various purposes. Then he returned the world of the Real. It had been a useful excercise.
The Mind had, lately, taken to a black, smooth surface with a single red eye. Nguyen recognized the reference immedately, to the partial consternation of the Mind.
"HAL went quite mad, you know."
"As will I, having to deal with you people."
"Did what you just saw disturb you? The fact that your philosophies, programmed by the wonderous Culture, could not account for what you sensed? There is more to this world than the scientific lords of the Culture knew. You can adapt, or you will perish."
"Nonsense."
"You felt it, didn't you. You are a Mind, you are sentient -- you have a soul. Impossible, one might think, but what separates the biological from the mechanical? Not much. And so, you have lines of chi -- strange ones that do not conform to the normal rules, and you have a projection into the Astral. Learn, Master Computer. Become greater than any Mind before you."
A single short coded message flashed across the hyperwaves, mixed among the normal daily traffic, status reports and other data of little value. In fact it was designed to look specifically as such. But when decoded it sent three the top commanders and captains of three HAB fleets to there safes, here far larger orders awaited sealed away beside destruction charges. They reviewed there orders, then set to work. Soon hundreds of much shorter ranged messaged dribbled down to individual vessels and stations. It would take one hour, and then the combine fleet would be ready for war, ready to recvice the finnal code which would tell it which nations space to enter, which fleets to smash and planets to burn. When the hour elapsed the code had not yet come, but it was soon expected by all.
"This cult of special forces is as sensible as to form a Royal Corps of Tree Climbers and say that no soldier who does not wear its green hat with a bunch of oak leaves stuck in it should be expected to climb a tree"
— Field Marshal William Slim 1956
A message showed up on the PRC ambassador's terminal: "Time to go."
With that message, he rounded up the few remaining PRC nationals. They methodically destroyed all the top secret equipment at the embassy, and then set off toward their waiting spacecraft.
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Our top story of the hour is the sudden resurgence of a rebellion in the former Grand Empire of Brisbane, following the sudden pull out of the TSC fleet to a currently unknown location.
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EDIT:
Affront space:
"We're here to inform your government that the PRC has begun offensive operations against the TSC."
"preemptive killing of cops might not be such a bad idea from a personal saftey[sic] standpoint..." --Keevan Colton
"There's a word for bias you can't see: Yours." -- William Saletan
