NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: This is new for me, so, please just go with the flow those of you who are experts at this. If I am wrong in anything then please correct me, so that I may learn from my mistakes. I am not that familar with Space Fanasty, but I would like to dip my toes into it a bit. If there are any experienced RPers in this I would love if you joined in, but it is open to anyone. Purpose is to expand relationship with other space nations and organizations. Thank you.

IC: Captain Farran Thomas RN, MSN looked out over her crew all busy with the preparation and going into hyperspace. This was the calm before the storm and she enjoyed the storm. She sighed because it was the tideous work that took time and wasted it. She knew her crew had checked everything twice, but it was standard policy on her ship, Silver Star to check it three times and get it approved by the three co-captains on her ship. Each on wanted it specific ways, which made the crew knowledgable in a variety of ways. One co-captian liked things done in a scietific manner, his name was Dr. Adam Marks. It must be done in a specific orderly manner and repeated in the same way. Deran Foreste liked things to be done in the most time effective way and that was up to the crew, he was the easy going guy. Susan Terice was a perfectioness and things in her section reflected that. This crew usually held the others up, but it all worked out because everything seemed to fit together like a puzzle.

"Captain, we are ready to go in section one."

"Thank you Dr. Adam. How are the kids doing?"

"Well, little Joe is teething and May is getting over her cold. Things are alittle tiring around the house, but Hanna seems to love spending time with the kids. Thanks for letting her go on an extended break."

I thought that was dark circles under his eye when I saw him earlier today. She smiled at him. She loved his kids and didn't have any yet. She thought she would wait until after this trip to see if she wanted any. Farran was probably one of the youngest female captain she knew. She was only 21, but had much experience in the field, her father had been one and she grew up under his leadership and charisma.

"I understand, you seem to forget what my minor was in college."

"Ah, yes the loving nurse."

Laughter shared by both.

A clearing of the throat sounded behind them.

"Captain, we are all clear in section two. I have received word from section three that we are good to go."

"Where is Susan with her orders that it is okay."

A slight downcast of eyes came from Deran, "She asked me to give this to her, from the physician, she has gotten the 24 hour flu."

Farran read over the note and folded it and put it in her dark blue one piece uniform. She would check on Susan later. A smile came across her face. So, we all are good to go, finally.

"Then lets hit it."

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

Farran sat at her desk, writing in her journal.
Friday, September 6, 2239
It was time we sent off on another trip. The stars call to me and nothing back home keeps me there. My heart belongs to the wide open space and hopefully I shall meet someone out here. I must remember though things come when not expected. That is why I love space you never know what you will run into. Our goal for this trip is to extend our borders of relationships from last time by an estimation I need to figure out and send to the officials of AmandaTheGreat. This goal includes setting up bases with various other nations and organizations. Personal goals yet to be discussed, I retreat to my chambers for some well deserved sleep....

The Master Void Admiral Dëlain Goldfire absent-mindedly tucked some of her firey red hair behind one of her pointed ears. The chaotic red whirl of subspace unfolded before her, in a hypnotic, unregulated dance. Something beeped sharply on a crewmember's console below her, and she shuddered, the grating sound effectively shattering her reverie. The sensors officer spun around, almost falling out of his chair, and Dëlain looked down at him, irritated.

"Weak gravitic shadow near us, ma'am. Probably a ship." He said hurriedly.

The Admiral's eyes narrowed. "There shouldn't be any ships around here, it's a secured military zone. Just one ship?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Hm. Very well. Bring us out of subspace, with shields up. Cold-load the weapons, but no hostile sensor activations. They probably just stumbled into the lane."

Outside of Farran's ship, there was a flash of red, and crimson tendrils snaked out into realspace. The Acheron, a fearsome-looking battleship, exited subspace fully, and the tear in space snapped shut just as quickly as it had appeared. A message was tightbeamed to the intruding ship.

This is Master Void Admiral Dëlain Goldfire of the Acheron, Grand Cyberutopian Exoatmospheric Fleet. This is a designated military supply lane. Please state your origin and purpose.

The Void Admiral fiercly hoped that it wasn't a Hegemony vessel, as the Acheron might have been a mighty ship with the most guns in the fleet, but it was still alone without it's compliment of fighters, running a peaceful supply mission.

Captain (Senior Grade) Arden Velisuar lounged in his command chair. About him, the crew of the RNS Lethal ticked along like clockwork. The situation, at the moment, required neither fancy skippering or final arbitration, as such, one Arden Velisuar was pretty much superlative.

Which just tickled him pink.

The Lethal was one of the RSN's brand-bloody-new 'Honor' class Strike Cruisers. They were built for long-term independent operation, and as far as one Arden Velisuar was concerned, they were the best bloody ship class in the Star Navy.

The sleek, ovoid vessel hung steady in space. The Lethal was currently out plumbing the depths of the unknown, towards the Sol Sector. Arden's orders actually read something along the lines of 'Meander on over in the direction. When you're sick and tired of it, come home and we'll find something else for you to do.'

The Revenian Star Navy Independent Unit Command certainly had a sense of humor...which was pretty much required. The IUC was a dumping pile for all the brilliant misfits who would not have been able to function in a standard fleet setting.

Arden himself was not, in fact, one of those misfits. He was, however, very brilliant. In fact, he was quite possibly the most -capable- capship skipper in the RSN.

Arden smiled, and returned to reading the new edition of 'Cooking with Dysaryn Stark,' just released a few days ago. So far, it was even better than the last edition...

OOC: Bump for others and I have to go to work, so I will type possibly after work. Depends on if I am not too tired.

Rob Pulson was slightly dazed. He had just stolen a LightWave frigate-1 of only 2 in existance. He could handle the controls well enough, but having so much firepower at his disposal was a new and pleasant experiance. The frigate was outfitted with a SuperCannon, dual railguns, an anti-mass particle cannon, a dozen mine tubes and, his favorite, a good ol' electric ram.

Rob had just exited Ravean space-at, he was happy to discover, Warp 8-and was now floating around what he hoped was free space. If he could get to his home base in the Ryu system as soon as he could, but that was a long way away and Rob still hadn't quite mastered the next-gen navigationals on this ship.

A light suddenly flickered red and beeped. Rob was pretty sure that meant other ships were in the vacinaty. He decided to work out how he was going to get home first, then worry about any other ships.

OCC:http://www.newtek.com/products/lightwave/profiles/S4Studios/images/Ship3.jpg for a Picture.

"Sweet Pancreator..."

Arden's reading was interrupted by his Tac Officer's curse. He set his book to one side, and straightened in his chair.

"Yessssss, Amy?"

"Sir, I'm seeing at least three entrance signatures, each one corresponding to a different general type...Mass Detector readings show an indeterminate capship, a smaller vessel, and a third vessel of unknown size compared to the other two," replied Lieutenant Commander Amy Saev, the Lethal's Tac Officer.

"Very Well, sound General Quarters and prepare the Intruder System. While we're at it, charge the D-EMP projectors."

The alarm klaxon sounded, and black and silver uniformed individuals slipped into their gear with the ease born from years of practice and experience. They had reported to their battle stations well before the klaxons silenced themselves.

As this was going about, capacitators were charging to capacity...for the Supremacy was a master of non-lethal weapons and tactics, alway preferring to capture, rather than kill. This philosophy stretched throughout all of the branches of the Armed Forces.

If conflict was coming, Arden Velisuar would meet it. If not, well then, he would deal with that to. For Arden was, perhaps, the most -capable- skipper in the Navy.

"Ma'am, two new gravitic signatures! One on visual." The same sensors officer squealed.

The Revenian cruiser flickered onto a small holographic screen rooted to Dëlain's command chair, and a larger screen in one section of the bridge.

"Ma'am!"

"What?!" The Elven Admiral practically roared.

The officer who had spoken cringed a far as he could into his seat, and Dëlain's expression instantly softened. She was difficult to anger, and quick to calm herself.

"What." She asked again, more softly.

The officer blinked once and spoke. "The closest signature is showing regulated energy influxes. Weapons charges, ma'am."

She nodded. "Bring the shields up to full. We'll keep our weapons down for now, though."

C.N.S Eagle
Common Sense class CA
Aurora-Thetis Trade Lane
112ly From Thetis
0200 Zulu

Captain Veronica Covington was young for her command, just a month prior she had been the XO of old Hawkbat class destroyer. However that was before the battle of Thetis, and attrition and casualties of whom her own mother was, forced quick promotions for those who survived.

Her ship was just one of a entire squadron(8) that escorted the large convoy to the Aurora system comprised security was essential with the Thetis system being "Blockaded" by the Hegemony.

However at this "early" time mourning hour she was fast asleep in her quarters when an incessant buzzing awoke her...

"Yes" she croaked at the intercom "What is it?"

"Ma'am sorry to wake you however Commodore Stilwell is on the comm he needs to speak with you" the bridge officer informed her.

"Very well ill take it at my desk" she stated as she wrapped herself in a robe and actived the small com screen at her desk. "What can I do for you sir?" she asked of the taskforce commander.

"Veronica our sensors have picked up the Acheron on sensors however there are some uncertainties we cant be certain at this range there appears to be a trio of other vessels its suspicious to say the least. I am detaching your Eagle and the De Sota to render what aide you can. That is all and good luck" the com screen went blank.

"Bridge sound tactical alert, move us into the gamma band of hyper and set a least time course for the Acheron." Covington ordered as finished sealing her formfitting skin suit which was a glossy green and blue pattern.

The Eagle and De Sota accelerated into the higher faster bands of hyperspace greatly increasing their speed Covington hoped they would arrive in time to be of assistance. She never met Admiral Goldfire but she had heard of her from her mother when the two fought together in the pacification of the Aurora System.

Sirens over head woke Farran up, what the hell is going on. She slipped into her slim and fitting uniform and ran down to the bridge.

"Give me details." Farran's voice steady and calm and that is why her crew loved her, in the center of chaos, she was the foundation they looked to.

An gruff voice came in her ear, "Good morning, Captain."

"Yes, it is morning. Please, give me the details, Commander."

A clear of the throat, "Well, it seems we are in another ship's military line."

"How did that happen? Those lines are clearly drawn out, we don't need ginko cards do we?"

"No, Captain, we checked and nothing was shown to us. We figured it was safe ground."

"Okay, are their shields up, weapons?"

"Just shields, they seem to be waiting for our response. Look at the screen."

Farran looked up and read the message from the Acheron. Hmmm. Seems it was a mistake then on our part. Well, this is easily resolved, but why the sirens?

"This problem could have been solved without my involvement." Her voice turning hard and stern.

"Yes, we know, but we have also located within the vicinity two other ships and they have their weapons drawn."

"Okay, have you made contact with any of them?"

"No."

"Well, prepare the deck for defenses, but at no time, unless I say so, we put up our weapons. Also, get me the Captain of this Acheron. We will get this squared away."

"Captain and the others?"

A sigh, "Get data from base on all ships and give me the printouts of each one. We wait those out. I am not familar with those ships. I have, however, heard of the Acheron. Get me on screen and get me their permission to talk with Captain Goldfire."

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

With no time to get ready for an appearance Farran waited in front. Patience is a virtue and she used it to her advantage to stratigize.

Over the screen Captain Goldfire would see a woman of comparable degrees of talent across her uniform. But her appearance is where they differed. She stood about five feet tall, but the screen wouldn't show that. the only thing Captain Goldfire would see was Farran's face. An oval shaped face framed with brownish-black hair. Her hair flowed down to the middle of her back, now was alittle tangled, but nothing to worry about. Her clear face was blank, but did not show any aggression underlying it. Her almost black eyes stared at the screen and her lips a pale pink were pursed waiting for an answer. Her eyes were known to intimidate others, but she knew she was dealing with another woman and looks would not gain anything from her, good thing she had intelligence to work with.

"Sir, I'm getting entrance vectors from two additional ships, big 'uns, too. Look to be One Klick plus, lengthwise," announced Lt. Commander Saev from her tactical station.

Arden frowned, "Indeed, but take a look at the pulse mapping. Conjecturally, I'd think that we're dealing with lighter units. In fact, I'd go so far as to generalize that those particular individuals simply build stuff bigger than we do."

He grinned roguishly, "So, if you don't tell 'em exactly where Lethal fits into the the RNS' class hierarchy, I certainly won't. Deal?"

Amy Saev flashed her CO a grin, "You got it, Skip."

The Lethal was around eight hundred fifty meters in length, and though it was classified as a 'Strike Cruiser,' the name could be a bit misleading if taken in term with established naval terminology.

You see, the Revenian Star Navy built its ships small. A Supremacy class Dreadnought, the premier heavy combat unit of RSN, stretched exactly one kilometer from bow to aft. Comparatively, a Fallen class Battleship stretched seven hundred fifty meters from bow to aft.

The 'Strike Cruiser' designation was dealt out on basis of capability, not size. The Honor class was built for sustained independent operations, the terminology for that particular capability was 'Strike Cruiser.' Had the class been built for standard fleet duty, it would have been a Fast Dreadnought.

So, Arden wasn't too terribly worried. Of course, he rather hoped combat was not in his future. But, regardless, his first priority was his mission, as such, "Lieutenant Vickers, Status on the Intruder System?"

Lieutenant Robert Vickers, Technical Specialist, muttered from his console, "Prepped and ready, Skip."

Arden nodded, "Very Good. We'll let these other individuals make the first move."

He settled back into his command chair, his right hand caressing the side of his neck.

Another light went off, making Rob jump. Another ship had entered the area. Great. Just what he needed. He was still fumbling with the navigations.

"Blast! Now how does this work again?" He imput the coordinets of his sector, but to no avail; it seemed the ship's AI was not responding. He pressed a few more buttons with the same result. Then, he noticed a large red button on the underside of the dashboard. He pressed it, and the AI suddenly sprang to life.

"Navigational systems, online. Weapons systems, online. Prepulsion systems, online." The voice was that of a flowing females.

"Finally!" Breathed Rob. Now he was getting somewhere. He pressed a few more buttons, trying to imput the coordinets again. It seemed that his fingers slipped along the way.

"SuperCannon Armed."

"Eh? No, i dont want that! Go back to navigation!"

"Targets Aqquired."

"AH! Holy Crap, no!"

"Preparing to fire."

Rob was pressing buttons at random now, hoping that something would turn his weapons system off. He pressed the button had used to turn on the AI repeatedly, but nothign was happening.

"Firing in 5.....4.....3....."

Rob put his hands on the controle module and ignited the engines. He suddenly shot upwards, away from the other ships.

"2.....1.....Fire."

A long, thick blast of blue laser shot into the bowels of space. Rob thought that it just might have been enough to set of some alarms on the other ships. He started pressing some more buttons, eventually finding out how to disarm his weapons. He pulled the last lever, and his weapons powered down. Rob switched to the comm system, his voice floating out into space.

"For whoever is in this area, i am duefully sorry about what just happned! That was an accident! Really!" Said Rob, in a somewhat unconvincing voice. He rubbed his neck and slowed the ship down, then turned it around. He had to figure out how to get home, and fast!

The Acheron was 1.2 kilometers in length, crammed with the best systems and sensors money could buy. The ship was studded on all sides by a total of ninety-six heavy coilguns, interspersed with fighter bays, plasma cannons, and anti-missile arrays.

As the video feed was beemed into Farran's ship, she would see before her a fair Elven face framed by stunning red waves. Endless pools of amber stared back into the Captain's own eyes from a face attractive by many standards. A wry smile crept onto her lips.

"I am Master Void Admiral Dëlain Goldfire, Class Four, blah blah blah, you get the idea. If you wouldn't mind answering our questions, I would be glad. And I wouldn't have to shoot you." The smile grew broader.

Someone said something – apparently important – to the Void Admiral, and her eyes shot open.

"I...I thought this was supposed to be a secured military supply zone! How many ships are we going to run into today?!" She whispered offscreen.

The officer mumbled something back. "hrmpgumfWickian vesselrumbgrumf."

"Thank the Valar. We'll contact them in a moment." She whispered back, voice drenched in relief.

Her eyes turned back to the screen, and took the Captain in for a moment. "As I was say–"

"Massive energy discharge!" Someone shouted.

A brilliant blue flash lit up one side of Dëlain's face.

"I saw it. Full power to–"

She paused for a moment as the distraught man's explanation filtered through the audio systems, still garbled by the energy backlash.

"What is it with all these interruptions?" She whispered to herself, before turning her head back to the Captain. Again. "Right. As I was saying..."

Myfirst successful hit...

Charles Thomas 'CT' Turner crossed out the first name on his target list...

'Hell yeah... Time for some R&R... Where to go, where to go'

Turner's thoughts where elsewhere as his small craft, a Drazdenian StingRay star-fighter, abruptly dropped out of hyperspace, throwing him forward in his seat.

'What the hell?'

Klaxons blared in his ears, echoing in the small cockpit... He'd come too close to something... The aspiring assassin looked up just in time to see what it was...

ATGSS Silver Star...

CT tugged sharply on the controls, putting his ship into a steep climb. Sparks flew, then fizzled out in the open vaccum as the belly of the fighter scraped the defensive shields.

After some unnessecary evasive manuvers, CT slowed the craft to a halt... Alarms where still going off... He was leaking atmosphere from a cracked oxygen tank...

'I fuckin' knew something like this was gonna happen... That hit went off way too smooth...'

Turner glared at the small Buddha statue sitting on his console, menacing it with a gloved finger...

'Fuck you... Fat-assed sonuvabitch...'

Karma was the code CT Turner lived by, an odd one for an assassin. Do good things, good things happen to you... Do bad things, they come back to bite you in the ass.

CT keyed up his comm system...

"Turner to unidentified ship, requesting assistance... I'm leaking air out here..."

The pair of WIckian vessels transited into normal space and were already accelerating towards the unknown when it fired the powerful beam.

"Ma'am that beam is of at least BC strength!" a sensor officer reported to Covington...well it would certainly make things interesting she supposed.

"I want this division to intercept that vessel but keep our distance...standard intercept procedure. Comms establish a link to the Acheron,Covington then spoke facing looking into her communication panel. "This is Commodore Covington of the Commonwealth Navy Void Admiral my command is in the process of intercepting the unknown vessel which discharged a power energy beam of some sort. What in the name of the tester is going on here?" she asked her ally.

A single missile was fired at the retreating frigate it detonated a 30,000 km wasting its laser into the vastness of open space it was a warning shot. A single transmission was sent to the vessel

"Unknown Vessel, this is the Commonwealth Naval Vessel Eagle You have discharge a powerful energy weapon in a protected military space lane. You are ordered to halt all acceleration and come to a stop at this time. At which point you will be boarded and the validity of your statement will be proven at that time. This is your last warning...Eagle out."

OOC: Ahh i see three ladies in one post...think i smell trouble.

Rob carefully read the message through before responding. He still couldn't figure out how to send single tranmissions to induvidule ships, so the entire party would hear this.

"Ah, yes, about that. There seems to be a malfuctioning laser moduale aboard the ship. I have shut down the weapons systems as of now. However, i can not let you board this ship, for reasons that i cannot tell you right now. Do not attempt to board. I repeat, do not attempt to board."

For reasons that i cannot tell you right now? What the hell kind of answer was that? Rob smacked his forhead, then set the engines to full power, just in case. He also readied the mine tubes to create a shield to block any more missles. He still wasn't sure about the full capabilities of this ship, but he was damn ready to find out.

((Lol, Wick. Catfight!))

Something beeped on Dëlain's console, and she hit it. Covington popped up before her, and she pondered her question, smiling a bit in nostalga. Did she know what was going on? All told, not really.

A light sigh escaped her. "You know, I really don't know why in the name of the Valar five–" something beeped sharply offscreen, "er...six ships randomly met up in space, but we're going to do our damn best to figure it out. I think there's a good chance said unknown vessel has a longer story behind it than whoever's in charge is letting on. You have our support in investigating it, and for right now we will take care of the others. Chances are that if anything turns violent, we will be able to fend them off. They may be threatened by that, so take care. Dëlain out."

She lightly pressed another button, and Farran's image implanted itself in front of her again. She patiently awaited her reply.

"Unknown vessel, You are ordered to heave to and prepare to be boarded no so immediately." The communications officer stated for the last time.

"It appears that that particular vessel has something to hide, order the [i]De Sota[i] to over take her to her ventral port side. Sound General quarters, launch decoys and countermeasures and raise our ECM. Prepare a broadside of the EMP missiles target that unknown ship, fire when ready." Covington order. The [i]Eagle shuddered and unleashed 24 EMP missiles on the unknown frigate with another broadside only 10 seconds after the initial. All modern ships would be hardened against emp but this amount would simply overwhelm most hardened defenses. (WIckian missiles have an effective range of 6 million kps and a terminal velocity of 75,000kps

A burts of FTL communication acknowledged Goldfire’s massage as the WIckian vessels moved to intercept the unknown frigate.

Alarms suddenly flashed all over the ship. Before Rob had a chance to react, the ship reacted all by itself.

"Missles fired-taking evasive action." Said the AI.

The weapons system reactivated itself and the ship's thrusters powered up to maximum. The ship was off in a flash, Rob completly out of control. The ship dodged many missles, releasing mines as it went as decoys. Missles went up in flames. A missle hit the port side of the ship. The shields held, but barely. Rob knew that he could not take another missle like that.

The ship suddenly turned around and sped in the other directions, firing its railguns as it went. Another few missles hit the dust. After about thirty seconds more of some flashy manvering, the ship was finally hit again-and again, and again. The engines cut, the shields were almost gone, and the weapons system was barely online.

"Self-Healing process activated. Return to full engine power in precicley:12 minutes."

Self-Healing? What else could this ship do? So all Rob had to do was hold off whoever was shooting him for 12 minutes. Easier said than done. He checked the cabin for weapons. Besides the 454. Casull pistol he carried, which only had a few clips left, he found a fully charged stun gun and a letter opener. You would think that they could put some better weapons on this ship.

Rob checked his gun and tensely waited to be boarded.

Covington watched the tactical plot as the ship evaded her ships first broadside, only a single missile found its mark. However the data gained from the first exchange allowed the second broadside to be more effective, and the hit could weaken the efficiency of the ships point defense. By the time it was over the ship was dead in space floating aimlessly.

"Tell Captain Tracy his Platoon has a go." Covington ordered. Two assault shuttles speed from the boat bay of the heavy cruiser one headed for the engineering section of the vessel the other went for the bridge. They quickly attached themselves to its hull and it took only a couple minutes to burn through it.

Four stun grenades emerged from the hole as soon as they exploded a squad of WIckian Marines would storm the bridge in full power armor whose armor would stop any normal projectile from something like an assault rifle even a pulsar. And the Marines themselves who muscles are greatly enhanced due to the exoskeleton they were could carry what no normal man could, heavy weapons like Plasma Rifles, Assault Pulsars, Flechette guns.

They were of course not looking to kill the man the sensor detected on the bridge but if he threatened the marines...

Rob heard the screeches as the ship's hull was penetrated. Evidently the ship heard it too.

"Auto-Defense Activated."

A dozen heavy plasma machine rifles dropped on the cieling on swivles. A wall panel opened up to reveal a laser bazooka and several heavy assault rifles. Rob sighed. He didn't want to be caught, but he certinly didn't want to kill anyone, unless he had too. He thought that this might be overkill.

He plucked the bazooka off it's rack and reached over to the comm station.

"Whoever is out there, dont come in! I'm warning you, I dont want anyone to get hurt!"

He then adressed the AI.

"Computer, do not kill those men! Set your guns to stun or something, just dont kill them!"

"Negitive." Responded the computer.

At that moment 4 stun grenades were thrown through the hole in the bridge. Rob dove behind the pilots chair and prayed to God for whoever was coming through that hole.

"Your move."

"No, yours."

"Are you sure?"

"Are you?"

The conversation lasted a minute, an hour, a year, a lifetime. The game continued on.

"So..."

"So."

"Do we help her?"

"Why would we?"

"She is like us."

"No, she is like you, and dreams of being like me. She is not us."

"She is in great pain."

"She will heal."

"She may die."

"She may."

"So?"

"So."

They played on, the stars spinning around them, nations coming and going, children born to death.

"I think I must insist."

"You must?"

"I must."

"*sigh*"

"You always do that."

"Fine. Help her."

"We will."

"Your move."

"Checkmate."

The living ship powered itself up, and bent the space around it. Eldritch energies flared, and Adam was here one moment, there the next. He had existed long enough to realize he was lonely. The ship-being in front of him could change that.

His Eve was bleeding.

<<OOC: For Adam's origin, click here: http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=354850 >>

The intelligence ship was cloaked at its listening post, intercepting signals that happened to be passing its way. The interior lights were dimmed, and a dull blue shade. Enough to make somebody fall asleep, Captain Hiroshi Mori thought, sitting in his captain's chair. There was not a lot of pressing activity that deserved his attention, but he was on duty and required to be alert. Until...

"Captain, there's something unusual going on here," came an announcement from the sensor operator. "It seems that a ship wandered into the Cyberutopian shipping lanes, and now we have five, make that six ships in the area."

"Can you get a visual?" Mori asked.

"No sir, we're not in range."

"Helm, get us into visual range of those ships. Keep us under cloak. We're just here to watch..."

"Sir! One of the ships just discharged its weapon! It looks like it wasn't aimed at anybody, and he immediately sent out a message after the shot... looks like he misfired..."

"What the hell is going on over there? Are we in visual range yet?"

"Almost, sir... visual range now. Putting the image on screen."

The ships were all focused around the Acheron, especially the large Cyberutopian vessel. It looked like a circus, and Mori was interested in the ship that had fired its weapon. Another ship was nearing it, and...

"Sir, the ship that fired its weapon is being fired upon now!"

Mori watched as the ship tried to outmaneuver the missiles, finally succumbing to the sheer number of projectiles coming towards it. He then watched as the two conflicting ships docked, presumably for boarding purposes.

"Orders, Captain?"

"We sit here and watch. They don't know we're here, and we'll keep it that way. Hail the Niyodo, and have them come back us up. Raise the alert status."

OOC: My posts might not coem as soon as I would like them to. I work everynight this week at the bar and by the time I get home I am tired and have class the next morning, tomorrow though I do not. So we shall see.

IC: Farran waited for the image of Goldfire to return. During the time which she had left the screen, Farran and her crew had dealt with the firearm and secured their ship, but still did not engage any mechanism that would appear harming. They were almost done with their search on all the ships when another came into view. Calmly that was being taken under control.

"I did not realize that we were in your military shipping line. I do apologize for our mistake, one which shouldn't have been made. Either we have been lacking on that area or the lines were clearly not shown on our mapping system." A slight smirk tugged at the corner of her lips.

"It seems though maybe we are not the only ones who are in the vacinity. This is something we are looking into. We have sent word to Covington that we support her internal search of the unknown hostile ship. We, however, choose to sit back and well, grab some popcorn and just observe. Our mission is based on the fact of establishing further contact with others in space under pacifism. We were oblivious to the fact we would be encountering any military shipping crew in their way. These things will now be considered and we can either be on our way or establish a connection between the ships and thus our governments. We await the other ships response to our message of peace and thus we move forward. I do not see a threat from any of the ships as of yet, we do not put that out of our mind. What say you do?"

"Are we there yet?"

"Of course we are. We never left."

"What of Eve?"

"She bleeds. She heals. She learns."

"Has she learned enough?"

"Have we?"

"We have."

"She has not."

A child was born, grew to manhood, had many children of its own, and died. The board remained set, and the pawns were moving.

"So?"

"So."

"Will we help her?"

"We will."

"When?"

"We have. We will again."

"How?"

"Ask her."

"When?"

"Now."

The sentient ship known as Adam folded into existance beside the wounded ship he had named "Eve". It smiled at Eve, and spoke quietly, cyber-mind to cyber-mind. Adam sent a simple message:

"Welcome to Life."

OOC : gawdly you are confusing me

OOC2:I made my post vague mainly to see how u would respond so i
could reply to the boarding effectively.

IC: The motto of the WIckian Marines was simple and they lived by it, "Adapt, improvise, Overcome"...it would be shown with the boarding of this vessel.

The happenings on the bridge were detected by the Marines sensor and audio pickups, the grenades thrown in the bridge were not designed to incapacity humans but rather they were EMP grenades much smaller versions of the missiles used to cripple the ship itself.

When they landed in the bridge it was filled with an electrical discharge that would disable any computer controls/consoles in the immediate area for a period of time.

The squad of marines then stormed into the bridge hoping the defenses were completely disabled...it took less then a second for them to scan the area and begin to fire upon the automated defenses.

OOC : gawdly you are confusing me

<<OOC: that makes 2 of us! Actually, "Adam" is a ship that merged with a "familiar" from a Vampire/Elven world, in another RP (link in my first post here). The AI talks with the "familiar", and I imagine them playing a never-ending game of chess, while they talk with each other. Adam is becoming much more than the two were alone. Adam sensed the near-sentience (life, if you will have it) of Ravea's ship. Adam is lonely. Adam is in...love? He calls Ravea's ship "Eve". A little clearer now? >>

Arden stirred to wakefulness. His internal clock told him that way, way, way too much time had past.

He got out of bed and dressed, as usual, in the black-and-silver uniform with a single forest green daggerstar on the collar, four silver bands on the sleeves, and the same number of bands on the black epaulets.

Some strange gut instinct made him reach for his gun belt. He slid the well-worn black leather belt into place, then removed the restraining strap and drew his FS-2.

The large-framed pistol was in pristine condition. The RevTek FS-2 fired a 15mm cylinder at low velocities. It carried seven canisters in the mag and one down the spot. The trick was, those cylinders were filled with hundreds of tiny needles. They could punch through most soft armor when dropped from three feet.

The FS-2 was almost useless against hard armor. That was, as far as Arden was considered, a god-send. Oh, sure, it might not punch through a raider's boarding armor, but it also wouldn't punch through the bulkhead behind the raider, allowing the involved to experience 'explosive decompression.'

More to the point, if he did have the opportunity to shoot at an individual in hard armor, he'd messed up pretty bad already, and it probably served him right.

He finger-brushed his hair, then stepped out of his quarters and trotted down the hallway to the bridge.

"I have command, Commander Bradley."

"Aye sir, You have command," responded Lizbet Bradley as she vacated the Command Chair.

Arden settled into the command chair, the ship had settled back into normal workings a few hours ago.

"What have I missed, Liz?"

Command Lizbet Bradley stood five foot six inches, and might clock in at 120 s.pounds soaking wet with a full meal in her gut. She had short-cropped brown hair and enjoyed such things as beating the living crap out of handsome men, sparring with the ship's marines, snarling at male underlings, terrorizing the crew, and puppies.

She directed a calculated glance at her CO, "Well, sir, we've had some activity from that frigate-thingy. Then we had a bit of a one-sided conflict between 'im, those two capships you said were heavy cruisers, and that third capship that we couldn't get much of a lock on. Guns tells me that we got a better look, and she's of a size with the other two."

Arden sighed. "Liz, you -know- regs. Activity means you check with me. Conflict means you come screaming into my room and kick me 'till I'm awake, then drag me to the command chair."

He sighed, loudly. His relationship with his XO was going to do one of four things, the way it was looking. Unfortunately, not a one of them, that he could see, involved the two of them functioning as a model command team.

He glanced over a status report, a cover for some private in-mind self-pity.

Possiblity number one, she was gonna decide to try and beat him up, in which case she would learn that underneath his left sleeve, he had 6 concentric circles branded into the flesh of his forearm.

The only possible result of that was her in the hospital, and him facing a court-martial.

Possibility number two, she would just keep pushing until he locked her in the brig, then shipped her off to Pyre next time they returned to Revenian Space, citing inability to work with others.

Possibility number three, she'd manage to not tick him off enough that she lasted until they got back to Supremacy space, upon which he'd request her transferred to a ship with a female CO.

Possibility number four ended up with her in his bed. Arden was a decidedly handsome, decidedly powerful man at the top of his game. He'd played this bloody game before, and it'd never lasted.

She had a fifty/fifty chance, it would seem, of her career ending. She had a three out of four chance of never seeing independent command.

All in all, it didn't look very good for one Liz Bradley, and that annoyed Arden, because she really was a gifted tactician, and she did have leadership capability. Even is so far he'd only ever seen it in effect on individuals of the same gender.

He sighed, then, reaching the end of the his status report.

"Liz, get some sleep. I don't want to see you again for at least nine hours, unless I sound General Quarters."

When she made no move to leave, he turned to face her, "That's an order, Commander."

She left the bridge in a huff, and he turned his attention to not dying.

"Comm, get me a transmission to those three cap-ships, let it leak through to that frigate, too."

His communications officer nodded, then signalled that the line was open.

"Unidentified Starships, this is Captain Arden Velisuar of the Revenian Naval Ship Lethal. Feel free to inform me as to what the pock is going on, then inform me as to why you're breaking accepted interstellar custom. Last time I checked, this system didn't belong to anybody. Seeing as I note no population, it seems I'm right."

He paused, then continued on.

"Further, I will note that boarding that ship is an act of piracy. If you deign to continue in this act, I fear I will have to intervene. And that weapons discharge earlier does -not- count as just cause for your actions, as this system is, again, unclaimed."

He smiled grimly,

"In conclusion, I suggest you stand down, recall your boarders, and start talking. Velisuar Out."

The line was cut, and Arden leaned back into his command chair. He hummed softly to himself, and waited.

"The Dead Ones are speaking."

"Yes"

"The sound of their own voice?"

"Yes"

"We were like that once.

"Again, yes."

"Will we speak to them?"

"No."

"Will we speak with Eve?"

"We are."

Turner sat in his ship, busily fiddling with various controls & readouts. After some difficulty, he was able to isolate the atmosphere leak & seal off the small cargo compartment that carried his gear, namely an expensive W2000 sniper rifle. A small-framed CZ2000 hung under each arm, under each was suspended a pair of magazines. Three more adorned each side of his belt.

CT's clothing was nothing short of suspicious. The Urban-patterned BDU's & kevlar vest wheren't something everyday people wore. Under his target list was something more mundane: A 'To Do' list. Under 'Retire Early' he scrawled 'Get Bigger Ship'. As soon as he collected on his first successful job, he might have a down payment.

Turner was something of a screw-up. Out of five previous assassination contracts, he'd completed one. The rest he'd either been shot, driven off, or flat-out humiliated in his attempts to end the lives of various crime bosses, diplomats, and prominent citizens. His most recent had been off-planet, thankfully. CT hadn't fired a shot from his pistols, or his rifle. He'd strafed the poor bastard's SUV with plasma fire as the target drove to his mountain retreat for a weekend of relaxation.

Not the most subtle hit, but it worked...

For a bit of entertainment, CT tapped a few keys on his console & brought up the most recent news bulletin. A frown crossed his face as it cycled to a picture of a burning SUV on a mountain highway. His target was alive... Worse yet, the fucker had put a bounty on CT's head. Somehow they'd tracked his ship's ID number & traced it back to a recent black-market sale...

$250,000... CT had no idea he was worth that much...

Might not be a bad idea to make himself scarce...

Or maybe he should hang around, maybe he'd learn something about piloting from watching the exchange between a pair of much larger ships...

OCC:Does anyone mind if i RP the ship's feelings and interaction with Adam?

IC:Rob was slightly dazed as the grenades exploded, blurring his vision. He fired off several shots at random from the energy bazooka he was holding as a firefight ensued between the troopers entering the ship and the ship itself. More than half of the guns the ship possesed were disabled, but the remaining 4 were heavily armored, and were firing at a rapid rate.

The WIckian Marines soon blasted the remaining guns, leaving only Rob with his weapons. He slipped the letter opener into his shoe, then peeked over the pilot seat. Several marines were lying on the ground. Rob was not sure if they were dead or wounded.

Rob started a showdown with the rest of the marines. He raised his pistol over the seat and said, "I didn't want anybody to get hurt, damnit! I dont know what this ship might do next! Please, take your wounded and leave, I'll do the same. I dont have control over this ship!"

Dëlain simmered quietly at the Lethal's message, but managed to put on a polite – if grim – smile for Farran. "Such a mistake is understandable. The lane isn't on any maps, for numerous reasons. The situation here will resolved peacefully, I assure you, unless the involved parties want a faceful of plasma and a declaration of war. Once we have straightened things out here, I would be glad to speak on behalf of the Cyberutopian government as far as diplomatic relations go. Dëlain out."

She pressed another button, and a tightband channel was opened to the Lethal. The Void Admiral's face was marred by deep irritation.

Her voice began as a barely supressed growl. "Captain Arden Velisuar." The tone made it sound almost like an insult. "You are well within the Aurora-Thetis trade lane, which is occupied by the combined Cyberutopian-Wickian fleets. Our business in our territory is none of your concern. In all honesty, I find your concept of an 'accepted interstellar custom' laughable. Since when was the dead concept of chivalry extended to a guarded supply lane?" He voice became low and threatening, belying her pretty face. "Since this system is under our juristiction, a heavy energy weapon's discharge is a very big deal indeed, even more so when we are on a high state of alert. I apologize if you didn't have any idea that this system was under military control, but we aren't keen on the idea of handing out free information to every nation around." Her eyes narrowed to amber daggers. "Make one hostile move against our ally's vessel, and I will have no qualms about feeding you a full broadside. Do I make myself clear, Captain?"

OOC: The ship AI is ur to RP with revenia

Captain Tracy of the WIckian Marines launched himself through the breech moments after the last grenade discharged. His muscles were enhanced by the exoskeleton he wore over his skin suit. His movement to the naked eye would be a blur, as he entered the bridge of the unknown vessel. He immediately scanned the room for targets. He barley felt the recoil of his flechette gun as the hundreds of darts flew towards there targets at hypersonic speed.

The heavy weapons of marines have been known to puncture hulls but that’s why the power armor had magnetic boots and were fully pressurized.

The skirmish was over in less then ten seconds.

"REPORT!" He ordered while he safety his weapon.

"SIR, the bridge is secure. Pvt. Grarnt took a plasma hit, he’s burned pretty badly, and CPL. Donningt got a wound to his arm" Staff Sergeant Gonzalez stated indicating the two groaning men who have been stripped of there armor and were already being treated by medics. The captain winced when he noticed Grarnt if he didn’t have the armor on he would have been so much ash.

The staff sergeant continued "We also just received a report from the engineering section they report that they have secured that section also the computer techies are try to gain control of the ship. We have a prisoner in custody over here sir you should talk to him i imagine." she said indicating a man being held by two marines.

He then heard the mans comments and was immediately suspicious of him.

"Leave? Where to exactly, I think the only place for you will be inside the brig. You admit not having control of this ship, which seems quite powerful, i imagine some sort of AI controls it. Are you a thief? A pirate? How do you explain your actions?" he asked of the man.

"Yes, thats right! There's a powerful AI that is on this ship, doing all kinds of craziness!" Said Rob as he was pulled upright by a pair of marines. "A Pirate? Heavens, no! I am a.....ship....merchant of sorts. I found this thing all the way out in the outer reaches of the Qeuren sector-totally abandon, i swear! I was trying to get the navigation working to get home and the ship just kind of.....took over!"

"Well then I suppose we will take u back aboard the Eagle for safety reasons. I wouldn’t worry too much about this ship I’m sure our techs will be able to bypass the AI with time and soon have control of the ship." Tracy escorted the man back into the shuttle as a half dozen techs entered the bridge to try an bypass the AI, similar efforts were occurring in engineering. Rob would be given quarters on board the Eagle a pair of guards would be outside the door of course.

---

The pinnace carrier Rob just docked as the Heavy Cruiser and its consort began position itself between "Rob's" ship and the Revenian vessel approximately a million and a half klick separated the WIckians from the Revenian's close enough for the energy weapons to be effective and just far enough for an optimum missile lock...

Back on Eagle...

Covington brooded in her command chair...she had never heard of the Revenian Navy. Granted the CN only recently expanded into Sol or for that matter any region outside the Raumreich it is clear that this space lane is much closer to Thetis then it could be to any home base of the Revenian's. And he called me a pirate? Well the nerve of him...if he wanted a pirate well perhaps she will keep that rouge ship.

There were too many new contacts in this situation too many unknowns, an AI ship, a Revenian vessel, a damaged lone fighter sized vessel, an apparently living ship, another new navy wanting peaceful contact. The situation here was so complex it made her head hurt. However she hoped a fight would not occur after all the Commonwealth need allies not more enemies like the Hegemony.

Rob sighed. At least the marines belived him. Now he just had to find a way home, crazy ship or no crazy ship. Suddenly Rob realized something as he boarded the shuttle to the Eagle. It had been about 12 minutes. That meant.....

'Eve' woke up.

The ship's engines blasted, sending the entire ship and whoever was in it rocking forward. The ship then dispensed a deadly nerve gas thru out itself to dispose of any unwanted geusts. Eve then went into full spins, knocking techies and marines around like rag dolls. It seemed that the ship did not want to be taken over.

Rob watched from the window of the shuttle and groaned. Why hadn't he warned them? Rob had no idea what was going to happen to the ship now.

(OCC:Posting from the perspective of Eve now.)

I awake.

People i do not like are inside of me. I must rid myself of them.

There, now they are gone.

I feel something. No, someone.

Hello?

Who is there?

Farran stared at the blank screen. Well, that was easy enough. It seems we have not got word back from the other ships yet, I see no purpose of staying here then. We continue our journay.

Farran spoke clearly, "Let's continue our mission." She needn't say more and the crew went back to their standard work positions.

A sigh escaped from her and disappeared into the open space around her. Was this something she really wanted to do. She had wanted to explore even further, but they had to have reasons. She would visit the garden and meditate there.

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

She sat in her favorite part of the garden, the lily section. She sat with her legs crossed over each other and closed her eyes. What really was she doing out in space, why was she doing this? Was it for her father, who was a captain also, or for her government? Was there a way she could get things she wanted?
-----------------------------

Their ship continued through hyperspace with no interruptions as of now. Day to day activities went about normal and Farran continued to wonder.

((Wait, huh? You left? But I...I did reply to you. See, right here:

"Such a mistake is understandable. The lane isn't on any maps, for numerous reasons. The situation here will resolved peacefully, I assure you, unless the involved parties want a faceful of plasma and a declaration of war. Once we have straightened things out here, I would be glad to speak on behalf of the Cyberutopian government as far as diplomatic relations go. Dëlain out."))

"Captain, the Niyodo reports it won't be here for an hour."

"Thank you, Commander. It looks like we're going to have to wait this one out. They don't know we're here, and I'd like to keep it that way." Captain Mori looked over the report of the last general message, from the Lethal. Bad move in my opinion, he thought, telling nations what to do within their own miltary corridors.

"Captain, the ship that started this whole situation is leaving. What are your orders?"

Captain Mori wanted to make contact with that vessel, but he was waiting for a time when they were in a less... active sector. This situation was proving to be interesting though...

"Leave behind a probe," he ordered. "When the Niyodo gets here, she can pick up on this situation, if her captain so decides. Besides, a cruiser would be better equipped to handle things if they got nasty here anyway. Set a course to follow the main ship, and keep us cloaked until we're ready to make contact."

"Aye aye, sir."

"Son of a Vagrant Whore!" Covington swore as she saw the strange ships actions. If that ship was acting like that it could only mean her own people on board were dead and the ships corrupted AI had taken over. "Pursuit course maximum acceleration! Have the Sota' stay here we are going to end that rouge ship now! Guns you may fire at will no holding back this time!" Covington knew she was acting out of rage for what happened to her people and that a more experienced captain would not have done so, but that ship just killed more then 20 of her people she be damned if she would allow it to do that to anyone else...after all they were only trying to return the ship to its rightful owners! Whomever they be.

The Eagle accelerated at 603 gravities towards the rouge ship, twenty objects detached from hard points all along the Eagles hull as she deploy her "half" pods within two seconds they launched their payloads in sync with a full broadside of twenty three missiles from the CA's broadside all told 123 missiles raced towards the rouge vessel 100 of them contained laser heads that would detonate at 20,000km and bombard the vessel with bomb pumped x-ray lasers. The other 23 missiles contain fusion warheads that need to "contact" the enemies' hull (with in a hundred km or so) to be effective if they did though the effect would be nasty.

The Eagle continued to close and fired a repeat broadside of 23 laser heads at the rouge ship every 12 seconds.

Eve felt a hostile force coming towards her, and took action. She was a much more capable pilot than Rob, and instently engaged the enemy ship. Eve evaded almost all the missles with super-human skills. She dodged many enemy missles, and the ones that hit her only did minimal damage, nothing that she couldnt reapire in under 30 seconds.

Eve turned around and charged her cannon. In seconds, the SuperCannon fired another shot, followed up by a dozen twin railgun shots and a half dozen mines that sped towards the Eagle.

"Ma'am sensors are detected an unusual build up of energy suspect they intend to fire the main again."

"Roll ship!" Covington ordered as the beam shot towards her ship, the process was only half complete when the beam hit the whole ship shuttered in pain.

However the ship took it in stride. The sidewall degraded the beam before it hit scoring deeply into the ships flank. However it was far from hitting the vital impeller rings that propelled the ship.

"Missile 5 and 6 are gone along with laser 12 and 13, decompression on decks 5-7!" the Damage control officer reported.

“Next time you detect that build up automatically roll ship that beam hurts helm!”

“Understood skipper” the ensign at the helm replied.

Counter missiles and point defense dealt with five of the enemy mines (describe these so I can rp appropriate damage here plz) and the rail gun anger struck the cruisers hull. Its armor shrug off the rail guns anger leaving deep gouges and cuts in it but not penetrating, for now, but given time more serious damage could be done

"Order the De Sota into action, long range suppression fire. Close to energy range! Fire as they Bear!" The De Sota began bombarding the rouge ship from a distance with a mix of fusion, EMP, and laser head missiles. The Eagle having closed with the rouge ship fired her entire complement of energy weapons at the vessel. No less then six Heavy Grasers (Found on WIckian Battleships) and 12 smaller medium lasers lanced towards the rouge ship at the speed of light. They were concentrated on here weapons and engines.

OOC: Amanda you cant leave us stranded here stay play this out first once its done then go on ur way please!

Arden laughed. He simply couldn't stop. "Chivalry is dead, Eh? Well, I didn't get that pockin' memo...hmm, Amy, tell me, do you see any pockin' fleet bases or signs of habitation?"

Lt. Commander Saev frowned, "Ah, no sir. Not at all sir. This system is uninhabited."

He nodded, "Well then, it can't very pockin' well be anybody's pockin' lound, now can it?"

She shook her head, "Ah, no sir. Not according to the Ares Conventions, anyways."

Arden smiled, "Well, then. General Quarters."

The Klaxons sounded and his crew jumped to battle readiness.

Arden Velisuar reached up and peeled the bit of synthskin back, revealing his shiny metal NI-Jack. Cords flew from the Command Chair's headrest, socketing into those selfsame jacks. He jerked forward, then back.

Arden was equipped with the latest Command Interface Implants, and he knew damn well how to use them. It was this link that allowed real time control of capital starships, and it was this capability that made the RSN's starships so pocking effective.

He spoke, though his entire body was motionless, except for the mouth, "Guns, give me D-EMP control, I want the rest on standby."

The four D-EMP projectors were slaved to his control, and as they were, the Lethal lit its High Drive. The ignited drive burned like a small star at the back of the vessel, and Arden set it to half-max accel. A leisurely lope, at 98,000 meters per second per second.

A message burst flickered off to the cluster of vessels, then.

"Firstly, feeding me a full broadside would be an Act of War. Do you -really- want War with the Supremacy? Would your Government really thank you for inviting conflict with a nation who's navy is, in my biased opinion, the finest in existence?

Secondly, This system is uninhabited. Thus, I see no way you can 'claim' it. Possession is nine/tenths of the law. You possess all of jack.

Thirdly, through your own statement, you deny Chivalry. Thus, I feel no compulsion to act under the Ares Conventions when concerning yourself or your allies. Quite frankly, I suggest you take some bloody diplomacy lessons, Admiral.

Fourthly, My area of concern is the system my ship is in. Blatant acts of piracy within systems that my ship occupies is most CERTAINLY my concern.

And Finally, Pock You, Admiral. If you were of noble blood, I would call you out. Ah well, call it wishful thinking.

~Sir Arden Velisuar, Captain Senior Grade, Revenian Star Navy, Knight-Protector: Order of the Daggerstar, Commanding Revenian Naval Ship Lethal by the grace of the Warprince, Chaos, and God Himself.
------

Arden was a Noble, and an Ascended Noble. Further, House Velisuar was closely related to Great House Stark. If a man didn't have his honor, he didn't have a damn thing.

His eyes snapped open, as he came out of Trance. He left the cables jacked in, but he was not in active real-time control of the ship. His right hand snaked around the back of his command chair to wrap around the hilt of his Warblade.

Darkbearer. The words made little sense to most, but that was beside the point. The blade named itself, if it decided its name would make no sense, then so bloody be it.

The feel of that wire-wrapped grip always calmed him. He exhaled, then inhaled.

"Comm, send off a data burst to Fleet Admiral Sinclair of our Dilemma, copy one to Warprince Stark in Sol, and a third to Durandal in Nexus."

He stretched, then smiled. "Larry, Talk to me."

Lieutenant Commander Harold Kel's voice came on over the comm, "Aye, sir?"

"Larry, give me a status on your fighters."

Larry Kel was a top-rate wing commander, and though he didn't have much of a wing to command, Arden was rather glad he was there.

"Ah, Sir. We're lookin' at a full scramble whenever ya need us. That'd be all twenty Victors, the full ten Sabres, and we even got all ten of the Valors workin'. That number includes moi Super Sabre and Marie's Valor II, mind you."

Arden nodded, "Beautiful Larry, you're a miracle-worker."

"Ah try, sir."

The Honor class of Strike Cruisers carried fifty fighters in five bays, two on each side of the ship and one beneath. It wasn't much by any means, but it could make the difference between victory and defeat, at any rate.

He smiled, and awaited the response of the red-haired Admiral. She didn't scare him, she angered to quickly. Anyone with -that- level of aggression would have problems commanding in combat.

Of course, that didn't make him stop wishing he had some back-up. Which might not be that far off, now that he thought about it.

"Amy, nearest RSN Naval Unit and projected time 'till arrival at max speed?"

"Hrrm, Sir. I hadn't thought of that. Looks like the First Roving Line, Sir. That'd be, ah, Commodore Alvers, Sir."

Arden nodded thoughtfully, Dwayne Alvers was a good man, and a good flag officer. He wasn't amazing, but he -was- reliable. Unfortunately, the Roving Line was a battleship and two battlecruisers, which made the biggest unit a hundred meters smaller than Lethal.

"Well, drop him a line. What would his ETA be at max speed?"

"Ah, Ten Hours, sir."

Arden nodded. Ten Hours by Warp Point, Dwayne really wasn't that far away. Hmm. Well, he'd at least be able to avenge their deaths, if it came to that. Which Arden rather hoped it wouldn't...no...

Which Arden -prayed- it wouldn't.

"And finally, po–" The Void Admiral slammed a button that cut off the transmission. There was a reason she was limited to a Class Four status, she reminded herself.

She stood, and swayed from the sudden blood rush.

"God damn arrogant humans. Take Battle Position Point." She commanded, and the battleship swiveled to present it's nose to the Lethal. In this position, she could still fire two-thirds of the tiered guns, while still retaining the smallest possible profile. "How far off are the Vajra and the Sequence?"

"One minute, fourty-two seconds at the current rate, ma'am."

Finally, some good news. "Good, I'm glad we're this close to the Aurora system."

She'd never seen this supposed Ares Convention, and she was damned well glad she didn't. She absolutely hated abiding by other nation's rules.

"Weapons, make 'em hot."

The ship's weapons came fully online, and began obtaining firing solutions on the Lethal. Since the fighter bays were full of medical supplies on this supply run, she wouldn't have anything very effective at keeping fighters off her ship, but hopefully her reinforcements could turn that around.

The Acheron sat seething before her enemy. She would not fire until the Revenian's began the onslaught.

CNS Tiger Claw
10 Light Minutes from Archon
Wasp class CVE
Flagship of TF Perrign


The Tiger Claw transited from hyperspace slowly hopefully allowing for a “silent” transition as soon as she appeared a massive amount of ECM would obscure her presence.

Admiral Perrign was a seasoned veteran of the Raumreich one of the few to survive the conflict. He was also the CO the fleet station in the Aurora system. He heard of the call for support and immediately formed this TF and set off for the possible action, after all a leader must lead at the front. In the system another larger relief force was being mobilized.

“Launch all squadron CAG, leave nothing for the CAP, I want them to move in system slowly under stealth, no need to reveal ourselves yet we do not even know if these Revenia are hostile. I hope the Void Admiral can avoid a battle here but god help the one who starts it her or them!”

“Aye Aye sir!” the CAG responded at set about his orders. Soon 50 Shrike class Lacs and 3o Tomcat class interceptors took to space and accelerated quickly from the Tiger Claw and her consorts.

“Send a message to Void Admiral Delan tell here we are in system, use the whisker laser.” The admiral ordered. The whisker was a beam used to transmit messages via laser between commands, while slow it was secure. “Also emphasize that we do not need another conflict here and to make I known to these Revenians that if they simply go about their business nothing else need occur here and that once the rouge ship is captured that we will return it to its rightful owners.”

Then he looked at the plot and frowned at the battle between Covington’s command and the rouge ship, he hoped she would end it soon, they would need her ships if it came to a fight.

<<OOC: Adam is not visible to anyone, as he has chosen not to reveal himself at this point, except to Eve.>>

IC:

The rook took the pawn, leaving a lane of attack for the bishop. Stars collided, and a small child cried.

"She is magnificent."

"She is."

"We want her?"

"Yes."

"When?"

"Now. Say hello."

A stray thought shot out, not a transmission, not a wave that can be detected, just a...thought.

"Hello."

"She feels us."

"Yes."

"She needs us."

"Yes. No."

"She is in danger?"

"No."

"The Dead Ones?"

"Not yet."

Adam watched Eve dance with the stars, laughing at the death being thrown at her. She was free, beautiful and deadly.

"Now."

"Tell her?"

"Yes."

Adam revealed a secret. Eve had already suspected, but she had never known. She must keep her soul alive. Her soul was called "Rob". She was content. She waltzed with torpedos.

"We should help her."

"We have."

"More?"

"No."

"We can finish this."

"Yes."

"We won't?"

"No."

"Why."

"She has her own destiny."

OOC: Sorry, I had my ship leave, but it seems y'all are doing fine. Don't worry about it. My Captain has other plans then just setting up alliances with other nations.

wouldnt want to hijack the thread or anything but so far its been pretty fun

several hundred kilometers away, energy begins to surge from a point in space... exotic matter appearing and disappearing for an instant. Space itself begins to open, a rift forming from literally nothing...into a large disk, energies surge from the disk, rippling it's pond-like event horizon.... within seconds, 1.3 km long 13.8 million metric ton vessel lumbers from the rift, flanked by two smaller 1.8 million metric ton, 640m long vessels. All three bear a gold and blue flag, emblazoned with a spread eagle. The larger ship bears markings of, most likely a name, "TRSS Zeus BSG-4", the two smaller similar, "TRSS Saggitarius BC-25" and "TRSS Scorpio BC-28". The Saggitarius has scorch marks on her hull.

On board the Zeus, the vessels Commanding Officer, Commodore Brandeu, is being helped back to his feet by his XO, Captain Genar...

"XO, report.." Commands Commodore Brandeu.

"Sir," reponds the XO, "The weapons fire knocked the K-tube off, there's no telling where we are at... the Zues' shields are holding at 90%, all armor still intact. The Saggitarius reports she has casualties, and her shields are down, and has power fluctuations in her MARC. The Scorpio reports she is fine...."

"XO, send an engineering team to the Saggitarius to assist in repairs... And I want to know where we are at... Commands Commodore Brandeu.

"Sir, sensors coming online now, I'm feeding the info to the computer, it'll take some time to fix our position..... SIR! Sensors show other vessels in the immediate area, some appear to have damage, and we are reading energy signatures, possible weapons fire..." says Captain Genar.

"Get our position fixed, we may need to make a run for it, and keep an eye on those other ships... "says the Commodore to Captain Genar, and then turning to a Lieutenant he says, "Mr. Yates, general hail to all vessels...."

"Aye, sir" says the Lieutenant, his hands quickly darting over his controls... "Channel open, sir."

Commodore Brandeu then looks into the screen, and talks to the COM, "This is Commodore Brandeu, Commanding Officer of the Tekanian Republic Stellar Ship Zeus, flag of the 3rd fleet, to all vessels, we come in peace, do you need assistance..." and with a gesture commands the LT to cut the transmission... "Keep the channel monitored for a response to our hails..."

"Aye Aye sir" Responds Lt. Yates

Commodore Yates sits slowly at the command station chair, wondering.... have we gone from the frying pan into the fire....

Covington noted the arrival of the new ships. She sent them a message as her embattled ship continued to trade weapons fire with the rouge vessel.

"Commodore Brandeu, This is Commodore Covington of the CNS Eagle we are currently engaged with a rouge ship whose AI is out of control. If we do not stop this vessel and return it to it rightful owners there is no telling what damage it could do to passing civilian convoy. Any assistance would be appreciated. Eagle out.

Amy Saev swore, "Don't think she took to kindly to that, Skip. We're being locked up pretty good, here."

Arden laughed. It was -that- laugh. "Whaddya expect, Amy? We're following a -linear- course at a -constant- accel. We are not using our active ECM, we are not running quiet.

Revenian ships ran bow-on as matter of course. The reasoning was simple, they kept their most powerful offensive weapons in the nose.

The Lethal mounted a full twenty torpedo tubes, currently concealed behind armored panels, and would remain so up until the instant of firing. Each of those torpedo tubes was a powerful linear accelerator, designed to hurl a sixty tonne iridium ovoid clear of the ship.

Arden smiled grimly, and stretched. The cords still jacked into his neck wiggled as he moved, then relaxed as he settled back down.

"Rob, how are we doing?"

Rob Vickers smiled his evil smile, "Full ECM plus Intruder is ready and on standby."

Arden nodded, "Very well. Amy, load the super-heavies with a pair of HEWPJ Penetrators."

"Aye, Sir."

The two massive mass drivers in the armored turret near the Lethal's stern came to life, elevating slightly to track the Cyberutopian Battleship. The loading crew detached the feed sleeve leading to the primary magazine and hooked up a specialist feed.

Two 800mm HEWPJ Penetrator shells were drawn from the magazine and locked into place, suspended by the electromagnetic field that would eventually accelerate them to fifteen percent lightspeed upon firing.

Arden stretched and lay back.

"Arden?"

"Yes, Leth?"

"We are receiving a message burst from Commodore Martin Drake, Arden."

"Oh? Route it through my implants."

"Aye, Arden."

----
From: Commodore Martin Drake, CO, Third Roving Line.
To: Captain (Senior Grade) Arden Velisuar, CO, RNS Lethal
Subj: You called?

-message begins-

Captain Velisuar,
We received your Condition Romeo and are en-route to help. An unpredicted warp point has put us within distance of the system you are in. We should arrive in system within five minutes.

-Commodore Sir Martin Ezekial Drake, Commanding RSN Third Roving Line.
---
Arden's smile turned predatory. The Third Roving Line was the heaviest Roving Line currently employed by the RSN. It consisted of the RNS Crestfallen a Fallen class Battleship, a pair of Outrider class Escort Carriers, two Brazen class Destroyers, (one of which was the RNS Lady Xiri, the first command of one Arden Velisuar,) and two support ships.

Arden giggled.

Leaves fall, turn to mulch, feed the new. The pawns have fallen, the King must fight.

"More are coming."

"Yes."

"Dead Ones."

"Yes."

"Too many for Eve?"

"Yes."

"Too many for us?"

"Yes."

"Tell her."

"No."

"Yes."

"No. Destiny."

"Yes. Destiny."

A single word into single thought, single thought at a single target. Every circuit and silicon chip that was Eve, heard the cry.

"FLEE."

Eve heard. She decided to come back, as she must recover Rob. She Fleed.

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

Rob watched, crestfallen, as his ship was shot at again and again. He thougth that it was doing quite a good job at defending itself. Then to his horror, the ship activated it's hyperdring, dissapering into the stars in seconds. What was he supposed to do now? Rob sighed as the shuttle neared the WIckin ship.

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

Eve frolicked among the stars, waiting for a sign to come back to Rob.

As the messag drones over the com, Commodore Brandeu on the Zeus peaks..." Mr. Yates, acknowledge their signal......All hands, set condition one, scramble the Wasps, I repeat set Condition one, scramble the Wasps..... Scorpio, run cover, Saggitarius, hold back..."

Personnel on the bridge begin scrambling....

The Zeus and Saggitarius lurch forward.... small tubes open long the sides of her landing and launch pods..... 20 on each side, out of the shoots 40 small fighters, "Wasp" class fighter-shuttles.... within another 2-3 minutes, 40 more shoot out... The fighters fall into formation behind the Zeus and Scorpio....

"Bring the weapons online... "commands Commodore Brandeu

A silky, persuasive voice slipped out of a presence behind Delain that previously wasn't there. "This is not a good idea, Delain."

Isulv Altar'ken, her XO. When the two had worked together for the first time, the Void Admiral had been continuously startled whenever he spoke. He was nearly perpetually silent, but underneth he had the cold, hard outlook Delain lacked. Despite this, he lacked the creativity and finesse Delain usually possessed.

'Yeah, a lot of good that's done me.' The Elf thought bitterly.

Isulv was an Elven noble, unlike Delain, but like most other Elves with officer's positions. Yet he showed none of the bloodthirsty ambition or "cloak and dagger" attitude most suspected nobles of these days.

The Admiral passed a hand over her forehead. "I know, Isulv, but I felt forced into it..."

She trailed off as something caught her eye. A picture of Isulv's grandfather on her console. Normally she was nitpicky about him leaving his stuff in her working space, but her XO's grandfather was very dear to both of them. He had taught Delain how to fight when she was just teetering on the brink of adolecence, and she had spent a lot of time with him. The Elven woman felt the gentlest trace of Isulv's breath on her shoulder.

"My grandfather once said," the words slipped from his lips like serpents, "that 'if you want to triumph over yourself, you must first accept defeat at the hands of another.'"

Delain sighed heavily, and she felt her XO smile behind her as the words had their intented effect.

She turned to her comm officer. "Get me a feed to the Lethal. It sounds childish, but...I need to say I'm sorry."

OOC: BTW Rob we will take u into the ship hold u there and when this is over drop u off at Aurora as its the nearest planet from there get a transport and eve can find u there if u want? vOr try and escape but i dont know if u get far at under ftl speeds in a pinnace...

CNS Tiger Claw
8Light Minutes from Archon
Wasp class CVE
Flagship of TF Perrign

Perrign noticed the departure of the rouge ship with relief.

"Order Covington's Command to join the Void Admiral's ship in support of her position. Wisker transmission only i want us to remain hidden for as long as possible. If more Revenia units show up we may reveal ourselves...but not yet...Any news on reinforcements?"

"Sir we just decoded an ftl encrypt Commodore Markus is en-route with a Lance of battleships with battle cruiser support. No numbers on Auroran support units though."

"Understood Candice" Perrign told his communication’s officer. Perrign brooded over the outcome of the possible conflict. As a man and a WIckian he loved the thrill of battle and the honor it wrought. But the cost was often to high and as he knew full well often paid in blood. Need his people and his allies spill blood in this sector of space over a rouge ship he thought not. However as he knew too well often a man had no controls over the elemental like nature of the universe.

But he thought back to a dear friend that war cost him, Vanessa Covington Admiral of the Green, she would have known how to get out of this situation. But she also told him stories of this Void Admiral and there battles together. He had faith in the elves ability to negotiate a peace, if that proved un doable he would gladly fight by her side.

OOC: sry if there was confusion m8 the rouge ship is also Eve who went into FTL and is now gone...

As the 'Rogue' Departs, Commodore Brandeu calls over to Lt. Yates, the Communications Officer..... "Mr. Yates, open channels.... all ships.... This is the Zues, should we attempt intercept on the 'Rogue' ?... " And with a gesture has her cut the transmission.... then turning to Captain Genar.. "XO, begin calculations for the Kraskinov.... And contact Eagle One to send the Chronos out for the Saggitarius....recall the Wasps..."

"Aye sir..." Responds Captain Genar....

Outside the squadron of Wasps begin landing in the Zeus' launch bays... once the last lands, the bays retract slowly to flush into the hull.....

"Captain," said the tactical officer, "the probe we left behind has recorded more fighting among the ships. There are more ships arriving now, including the Niyodo. She's still under cloak, but they're going to attempt retrieval of the probe. It should have some readings on the weapons capabilities and destructive power of the ships that fired shots."

"Very well. How are we on catching up to the original ship?" Mori asked.

"We're coming up on visual range now, matching speed."

"Drop cloak, open a channel to the ship," he ordered.

The space around the ship began to ripple, and two seconds later the large, sleek frame of the ship was again visible. Its information receptors were not extended, and the ship resembled a giant dagger. Its appearance was more threatening than the ship was intended to be, but that sometimes worked for first contact missions.

"Ready to transmit, sir."

"Attention unidentified ship, this is Captain Hiroshi Mori of the Spartan ship SSC Kasai. We have monitored you and your actions since the incident with the Cyberutopian corridor. We are on a diplomatic mission, to make contact with your ship and your commanding officer."

Mori sat back in his chair and waited for the response.

Three crimson rifts shouldered their way into realspace, and a variety of sleek vessels slipped through before the rifts collapsed in on themselves.

Dëlain smiled grimly and looked at the readout on each of the ships. Two of the highly reliable Katana class heavy destroyers, 460 meters long ships crammed with weaponry and armor belying the impression the name "destroyer" bestowed. Each one brought with it an escort of three Hornet class assault frigates, small ships of only 140 meters, fast and agile enough to provide excellent defense against all but the fastest fighters, yet toting weaponry powerful enough to pose a threat to much larger ships if they attacked in groups. Along with the Hornets came one Paladin frigate for each of the heavy destroyers. These frigates were slightly smaller than the Hornets at 120 meters, and with much weaker weaponry. However, each Paladin was studded with eighty anti-missile lasers, providing a total of one hundred and sixty anti-missile systems without counting the ones already installed on the other ships.

The Void Admiral's smile softened slightly in pleased suprise at the readout on the last large ship to come through the rift. It had the same escort of three Hornets and one Paladin as the heavy destroyers, but this ship was a Daedalus class strike carrier. She looked over it's records and sure enough, it had been transferred to Master Captain Heii's task force recently. The Daedalus class measured at 900 meters long, with a maximum compliment of three hundred fighters and seventy-five bombers within it's folded wings. However, her smile faded as she realized this patrol had also been pulled off of a supply run, and therefore the carrier was only outfitted with eighty fighters – mostly interceptors – and fifteen bombers – and no heavy bombers at that. It was certainly better than nothing, though. If the Revenian captain accepted her apology and allowed her to explain her fleet's position perhaps a bit clearer and a bit politer, hopefully, hopefully none of it would need to be used.

the Zeus' XO, Captain Genar, turns to Commodore Brandeu... "Sir, 'Eagle One' reports the Chronos is activating her Kraskinov.... we've also recieved a general transmission from a ship that just decloaked, asking for our identification...."

"Thank you XO, send our acknowledgement to 'Eagle One'....." the Commodore orders, then turning to Lt. Yates, "Mr. Yates, open a channel to the vessel...."

"Channel open, sir..." says the young Lt.

Turning to the screen, Commodore Brandeu addresses the com... "This is Commodore Henry Brandeu, Commanding Officer of the Tekanian Republic Stellar Ship Zeus, we acknowledge your status as diplomatic. We happened by here on accident due to a malfunction of the Kraskinov during a fire fight... We were on a peaceful exploritory and mapping mission for our charts... And we welcome your greeting and extend our own, for the People of the Republic...." and with a gesture he signals Lt. Yates to cut transmission....

"Sir," says Captain Genar...."Here comes the Chronos...."

Closer to the injured BattleCruiser Saggitarius, a massive energy surge begins to form...... at the core of the "surge" exotic matter begins to form and disintegrate in an instant.... Slowly, a space itself begins to "tear", the "void" which isn't much of a void is grey, and expands to a 10km wide "disk" it's event horizon surface, undulates, like a disturbed pond.... another ship, of virtually identical configuration to the Zeus emerges.... bearing the markings "TRSS Chronos BSG-3"... after the Chronos exits, it locks onto the Saggitaruis with a tractor beam, and then turns around, towing the Saggitarius with it back through the "tear" in space.... within a few seconds, the massive "disk" colapses in a flash of brilliant light and broadband radiation....

Seconds later, back on the Zeus.... "Sir," says Captain Genar, "Chronos has sent subspace, the Saggitarius and her have arrived safely at 'Eagle One'....."

"Acknowledge receipt, and send our thanks...." orders the Commodore.

"Aye sir." says Captain Genar....

* The Kraskinov, Kraskinov Tube, K-Tube.... is named after a Physicist from years ago who postulated the concept... it is in effect a "warp gate" or artificial worm-hole technology.... Tekania uses this exlusively on their large exploritory and sector control vessels of the "Orion" Class... (They are the only ships in the fleet capable of generating the power requirements as of yet for the present interation of its technology, with the exception of one BattleCruiser, the TRSS Libra, which is experimenting with the new Mk6 Micro K-tube Generator..... "micro" doesn't do it justice, it still takes enormous energy to operate, for the poor Libra... The K-Tube allows virtually instantaneous travel through space, for, at least theoretically, any distace.... though the Tekanians have never tested the technology much past their 9000 LY region of official charts... though at present, they have kept at least one "Orion" on exploratory missions to expand those charts.... It is also posutlated, that if you can do a "close" enough jump, you theoretically could be at two different points in space at the same time.... however, that has never been prooven....

Perrign breathed a sigh of relief when the Cyberutopian reinforcements entered the system. He just received a report that his own task force's reinforcements were more then an hour away.

Well his position was still hidden from the potential enemy in the system. He hoped it wouldn’t come to violence. What ever occurred in the system he knew it would be happening soon.

Not that the above post is was by my puppet Ooops

The Niyodo was about to attempt a probe retrival while cloaked, and this was the first attempt at anything like this in the Stellar Corps. The probe had not been noticed by any of the other ships, probably too busy with larger threats than a small two meter-long cyllinder drifting in open space.

The bridge technician entered the codes for remote controlling of the probe, and successfully gained control of the limited navigational systems it had. Captain Yoshio ordered the ship positioned properly, and the corresponding cargo bay opened to steer the probe into.

"Captain, the probe is sixty meters away and closing. It's on course for the cargo bay, thirty seconds," the lieutenant commander announced.

"Very good. Helm, prepare to take us away from here in case they notice anything."

The probe seemingly disappeared from the space around it. There was suddenly nothing where something once was, or at least there was nothing to be seen where it was.

"Probe aboard."

"Helm, take us away from this position, but keep us in visual range."

"Aye aye sir."

The seven ships of Commodore Martin Drake's Third Roving Line made transit into the system, a rather short distance from Arden's Lethal. Drake's Flagship, the Crestfallen was of the old standby Fallen class. They were optimized for close-in fighting, but were relatively effective at all ranges.

Flanking the Crestfallen were a pair of Outrider class Escort Carriers. The Outrider class was built upon a battlecruiser hull, stretched all of five hundred seventy five meters from bow to aft, and held two hundred fighters in twenty bays, ten per side.

Two Brazen class destroyers, wickedly fast little two-hundred meter ships, plus a pair of support ships, rounded out the Roving Line.

It was a unit built for speed, but it was most assuredly a welcome set of bargaining chips.

Arden leaned back into his command chair, a wry grin on his face as he keyed the Lethal onto a course that would intersect that of the Third Roving Line. He keyed the High Drive up to its normal cruising velocity, and the strike cruiser burned along, pulling a full twenty-five thousand gees of accel.

The senior comms officer swiveled to address Dëlain. "No response to our hail, ma'am."

Isulv furrowed his brows. "Try again."

The Void Admiral waved off her XO's command, and spoke in an almost reverent tone. "No, this has become a game of chicken. Whoever backs off first will come away with hurt pride, but the satisfaction of avoiding a needless conflict."

"Then take that satsifaction and give the order to retreat, Dëlain." The young noble said quietly but firmly.

The woman sighed and laughed. "I can't take satisfaction in abandoning my post. Besides, if we were to back off, what could the Revenians to with this system? Build a base, and cut off a major supply route. They could wreak insurmountable havoc. No, now we must chose the lesser of two evils."

"And choose war over a temporary disadvantage?"

"We might as well be at war, Isulv."

His face remained stone, though his eyes flashed in irritation. "That is where you are wrong."

The Master Void Admiral sighed and looked hard at the holographic display of the Revenian's fleet movements, refusing to answer.

Arden sighed, annoyedly. He was absently scrolling through sub-menus, when he came across the comm logs. His eyebrows furrowed, and he swore.

"The hell? How come I was never informed of this message?"

Amy Saev looked up, "Came on the XO's watch, sir. You know how she is."

Arden snarled, "Yes. I do. Record the following statement..."


"Commander Bradley has knowingly and willingly committed treason against the Supremacy. <Details...etc>. She has been placed under close confinement, and it is my suggestion that she be turned over to the Inquisition upon this vessel's return to the Supremacy.

~Captain (Senior Grade) Sir Arden Velisuar"
---

He sighed, then keyed up a message burst.

"Apology Accepted.
~Captain (Senior Grade) Sir Arden Velisuar, Commanding RNS Lethal, Revenian Star Navy."

Dëlain's eyes widened, accompanied by a barely audible relieved sigh from Isulv.

Her expression softened considerably, and she sent a rapid text burst.


Thank you, Captain. Neither of us wants to start a war. If you care, I will gladly explain our situation on whatever terms you want, even if you want me to come to your ship to prove I mean no harm. What our forces have encountered may very well be of intelligence importance to your own nation's forces. If you prefer otherwise, we will leave you in peace.

The TRSS Zues turns slowly.... suddenly deep within the ship MARC's go online.... the power signature is horrendous...... a couple hundred kilometers before her exotic matter begins to spring up from seemingly no where, reacting and coliding with space borne particulate..... energies at the point swell, and a "tear" forms in the fabric of space time, it's "event horizon" expanding to a near perfect disk, it's surface, almost fluid..... a few seconds later, the Zeus lurches forward, the TRSS Scorpio in persuit..... both, "dive" into the "disk".....

The Disk remains their a few moments... and then collapses with a brilliant flash of energy.....

Neither the Zeus nor Scorpio can be detected anywhere..... at least anywhere in a few thousand light years....

Admiral Perrign grinned with relief now that an armistice was reached between the two parties.

"Drop our ECM and recall the LACs, also inform the Void Admiral that a meeting will be a fine idea and that our sensors have picked up some inconsistencies that need to be investigated." Perrign told the comms officer.

As the stars winked lasvicious intent, the pieces moved yet again. A Queen in motion, pawns nipping at her heels. A child is born. A child is born dead.

"She will die."

"Yes."

"She is lost."

"Yes."

"Her Soul is with the Dead Ones."

"Yes."

"She must save it."

"Yes."

"Will she?"

"Yes."

"Can she?"

"No. We can."

"Will we?"

"No. Yes."

"When?"

"When she asks."

Dëlain looked at the Wickian message.

What sort of "inconsistencies" are we talking about?

Perrign noted the Void Admiral response and sent a reply of his own.

We have evidence of another party in-system under cloak during the most tense moments of this incident.

Understood. You are free to pursue if you feel you should do so. I do not know how valuable any information garnered could be, however. We have not exposed anything too sensitive, I believe.