NationStates Jolt Archive

"This is intolerable", Magnius raged, throwing a vase across the room. Before it shattered on the wall, he caught it, psychokinetically manipulating it back onto its stand.

He'd been given reports on the war. He had expected the GFFA to be.. doing better. The New Realm had once been part of the Union, true, but he had seen the power of the Federation, in his time, and promptly joined. Indeed, the Maker-Mind was to be the project that would've augmented the Realm fleets to un-heard of levels, smashing Imperial fleets in the war that was to come.

He grimaced. Irony was a harsh mistress. He had been killed then, submerging his personality into that of the Maker-Mind, to preserve the Realm. Of course, coupled with the attack the artifical intelligence known as Archmage had launched, this had sent the Maker-Mind mad. And, that, it appeared, was all that had kept the Realm surviving.

He had received hundreds of reports of massive Maker-wrought fleets jumping in, and leaving, or mounting disorganised, weak attacks. The insanity the Maker-Mind had was crippling, and, with the attack on Manifest, it now suffered the same malady. The time was ripe to strike back.

But there had to be planning. For every war report he received, he sighed, and looked at it, despairingly. The ESUS tactics routinely outclassed their GFFA counterparts. The GFFA had, of course, done decently, reducing the losses ratio to around 1:1. But, even that they could not sustain. Four times that loss ratio would bring about a Federation victory.

It was for this purpose that Magnius was to call a meeting. The Deathwalker, his seemingly ancient, yet puissant craft, seethed with weaponry and armor, and was the perfect place to host a meeting. The New Realm had not yet met any ESUS members on the battlefield, bar the Maker-Mind.

Thus, they were hardly the enemies of many. Indeed, had it not been for the Maker-Mind usurping the minds of former Magnates, and using them to disassociate the New Realm with the ESUS, they would still be a member. But.. perhaps the ESUS had been unable to stop the Maker-Mind from doing so, under legal terms.

From Magnius's point of view, it didn't matter a damn. The Maker-Mind had slaughtered New Realm citizens wholesale - and that, at least, he intended to put a stop to.

They no longer used AI within their ships. It was easy enough to interface with them neurally, in any case. Magnius spread his mind out into the Deathwalker, and sent a message. GFFA channels had been easy enough to obtain. Every member of the Federation capable of listening, would hear the message. It was simple enough.

This is Magnius Exaionae, First Magnate of the New Realm. I have called a meeting to plan strategy for the future aboard my flagship, the Deathwalker. I suggest you attend. Reply to receive co-ordinates. We have a war to fight, and, so far, we have done so badly. We will plan together. Or we will die. I dislike the second option.

He cut the communicator off. The Deathwalker was alone in space, not accompanied by the Thousand. Those ships were to be dispatched to the warfront, and to the rebuilding of the Realm. No, the Deathwalker would suffice. It sat in relatively safe space, and was not emitting enough energy to be noticed. Hopefully, that would be enough. Then again, there was nowhere safe, now. No world that could be defended from the pervasive fleets of the ESUS, if they chose to arise.

It would suffice. And so, Magnius waited. Reports flooded into his mind, about the new colonies that he had ordered built, about the fleet, about the three remaining New Realm major worlds. They were too near to the Maker-Mind territory. They would have to be abandoned. He sighed. It was nothing compared to the devastation he had let the Taledonians wreak upon the League in ages past, to gain power.

A few hundred million were nothing to survival in the long run.. he smiled. Remorse was something he had long gone without. Perhaps he would try to save them. For life...

And, he sat there, waiting for a reply. Would the Federation come to the meeting? He could not predict what would happen. If they did not, however.. he would be sorely tempted to abandon their cause...

OOC: The reason given here will now be the official IC reason I never re-posted in the Xanthal thread.

IC: The Protectorate diplomatic ship, Engrolin Samarac, Dropped out of DW, along with two sleek seeming auto-cruisers on Escort duty. The ship immedietly hailed the massive ship it approached.
Greeting, friends of the GFFA. We come representing the Protectorate to take part in these diplomatic conversations.
We apologise for the departure of our fleet in Mirfak, there were errors in our Demential Warp system. Fleet Augerin 00173 once more stands ready to go to war for our allies, if required.
We request permission to warp aboard.
The message ended with that, and the ten members of the diplomatic party prepared to warp, or board another even smaller ship, and go across to the meetings.

Excellent. However, due to security concerns, we will not be lowering our shields. We have left open a docking 'hole' in Docking Ring Seven. You may board there, and take the elevator to the planning room.

The concern was simple - the Deathwalker was irreparable, being unique, among all of the Realm's ships. It possessed the capability to repair itself, however, as damage to the onboard replicators would leave it stranded for months.

You will be scanned for weaponry upon your arrival. We advise that you do not bring any. If you do, it will be taken from you upon entering the ship. We cannot risk any sabotage to the flagship. Furthermore, we are planning a war. We would prefer tacticians and strategists, or perhaps generals. We are not hammering out a treaty.

Brisk, Magnius thought, but it conveyed their point well enough. Once again, he put his mind into the ship, and turned off the inertial compensators, reducing the gravity from a comfortable point-eight G, to nothing. Species that could get into space could survive in zero-tau, and it would make conveying them through the ship that much easier. Besides, inflicting human gravity upon everyone would simply be elitist.

And he was quite comfortable in zero-tau, besides. Given his psycho-kinetic powers, it meant he had complete control over his movements...

The docking bay's doors slid open, waiting for the Warshrike party.

(OOC: Despite not being an active member of the GFFA and not really associated anymore, I'll make the excuse of bureaucratic residue.)

This message had caught the attention of both Archmage and the New Oxfordis, who both responded with interest. Independently, of course, but both were intrigued nonetheless.

For matters such as these, everybody had a stake.

---
A largish cruiser faded into the system with a characteristic reddish glow, potentially freaking out a few jumpy comms officers.

"This is the NOMV Schrodinger's Cat requesting docking permission. We represent the New Oxford government."

Seconds later, the comms come back online when a crew member realised just who the sender was. The voice was incredulous.

"Magnius Exaione? Shouldn't you be dead?"

---
A small domed vessel winked into the system with little fanfare, and approached the Deathwalker lazily.

Greetings, Magnius. I am Archmage.

OOC: Fair enough, then. Magnius is fairly old-fashioned, and probably sees you as allies, in any case.

IC: "Sir! We're viewing red-associated FTL on the sensors, sir!"

"..Shields up. I want our maser banks, as well as our point-defense guns online now!"

Magnius briefly connected with the ship, enacting the changes of which he spoke. And then.. the ship came into view. Keeping 'his' guns trained on it, he slowly let down his guard as the ship sent its message. No, their FTLi was not rift travel, that was for certain. Ever since his revival via the rift, he had been able to.. feel Maker-Mind craft. This was worrisome, as it raised the question - could they do the same for him?

He turned his attention back to the comms, and listened to the end of a message.

"Shouldn't you be dead?", the voice asked.

He smiled. "I should be, indeed. But, as it turns out, I'm a remarkably hard man to kill, and it's even harder to keep me dead. I will relate the details of my timely resurrection once you come aboard. Please, use the seventh docking ring. "

The second message shocked him. Indeed, he had been one of the last survivors within the Maker-Mind, and he had seen every last, grisly detail of the attack upon Archmage's former world. The Maker-Mind had been occupied with killing him at the time - which, in turn, had given Archmage the chance to release.. he wasn't sure what it had done. But it had sent the Maker-Mind insane.

And that, in turn, had given rise to the chain of events which had let to his revival. He bespoke the AI, farspeech coming more easily to him than it had done in months.

<I know you, although, it would seem, we never had the chance to meet>
<But for one who fought the Maker-Mind as steadfastly as I ever had the chance to do, there can be no thanks to equal your efforts. I welcome you aboard the Deathwalker, should you wish to meet with the other representatives of the Federation.>

"NOMV Schrodinger's Cat now docking at ring seven." came the confirmation message, the practiced captain suppressing his curiousity to complete proper docking procedures. It would not do to accidentally smash into the shields as a result of a misunderstanding.

Pausing for a few seconds to make sure there was no clarification, the cruiser navigated into the docking ring and its passengers disembarked, leaving their weapons on the ship.

While the original intent was for only a few key officers and diplomats to go to the meeting, most of the crew and military personnel had their curiousity piqued enough to leave the ship and converse with the various personnel, in a sort of race to discover just what happened.

Besides, a curious scientist could hardly be restrained for long.

The foremost in the party dispatched to this meeting were Fleet Admiral Leon Parrian and was followed by the diplomat and his longtime friend Winslow Schroi.

---

I accept your invitation, though this ship is but a proxy.

The small ship flew into the docking ring and deployed a small quadrapedal platform which served as a transceiver and communications device for the AI.

The little platform, projecting the old image of a venerable man garbed in dull red robes headed for the meeting room, soft little tic tic tics accompanying it as the spindly metal legs tapped on the metal flooring.

The transport lift aboard the ship awaited them, empty, and unescorted.

Through the ship's systems, a voice came, from all directions, flooding through the entire spacecraft.

"Unfortunately, we are somewhat understaffed at the moment. Only the Thousand who were revived with me, and their crews, are piloting ships, and only four are aboard this ship at present, and they are all vital crews. Please, step aboard the elevator. It is equipped with an inertialess drive, and thus will be able to reach the two point seven kilometres you would otherwise have to walk within a few seconds."

The four he spoke of were the communications officer, the weaponry officer, and two security personnel. The most powerful psychokinetic adepts he had, those two, they were worth a thousand men each, at the least.

And he spoke to Archmage, utilising once more the telepathic communications most beings saw as somewhat unnerving - and besides, those without any metapsychic faculties were incredibly hard to transmit telepathic messages to.

<Of course. Is the proxy suited for a brief D-jump? Or would you care to take one of our inertialess transport systems?>

The crew and other people busied themselves for the time being exploring the ship, sometimes feeling the need to click a stray wire back into position and pausing to marvel at the occasional piece of exotic hardware.

In the meantime, the small party had arrived at their destination via the convenience of the inertialess lifts. Already Parrian could see how the destroyed Realm was truly just starting out again.

There were many descendants of the rescued from the initial destruction, and no doubt at least some of them would want to return to rebuild the home of their ancestors. He would need to speak to Magnius about that - a skeleton crew becomes lonely very quickly.

---
The proxy should be suited well enough to it, barring any interference.

Magnius sighed, as the party entered the bridge. And spoke.

"Greetings. As you know, this is essentially a meeting in which we will discuss measures to prevent the ESUS from conquering us all."

He gestured, and gravity reasserted itself. He had always had a taste for the threatrical, he had to admit. Strips of fabric slowly rose from the floor, shaping themselves into seats. The ship itself couldn't do that - indeed, he was doing most of the work by himself, which was easy enough.

If he had the materials to construct a metapsychic enhancement helmet, or even a full-body suit, he'd be able to push the Deathwalker around by himself. He smiled.

"Sit down. There is much to discuss, and every minute counts."

Magnius felt his way through the ship's systems, and saw the tiny proxy that Archmage had put there. D-jumping was not an easy thing to accomplish, but it was something he had needed to practice. Being able to blink out of danger was vital, in so very, very many situations.

Ugh. Scarcely enough power to pull this thing off.., he thought.

And then the space around Archmage's proxy warped - half a second later, leaving a empty patch of space, which air quickly rushed into, filling the newly-created vacuum.

And the proxy appeared on the bridge.

Magnius spoke telepathically to the entire group.

<Ah, we're all here. Then there is good reason to begin this discussion. I will record what we speak, and store it in a memorycube, so that any latecomers may be updated on the details of our conversation without inconviniencing us.>

He sat back, and waited for the others to speak. No doubt there were questions they needed to get out of the way..

Out of the deep back abyss of space a Tran warp portal opened up. An "Excalibur" Class Federation Starship and 2 "StarKnight" Class Federation Starships came out of the portal. They approached the Death walker. Fleet Admiral Yellowstone sat on the bridge of his flag ship the USS-Avondale and "Excalibur" Class Federation Starship. Officers on the bridge walked from station to station completing there duties.

"Sir, we've just dropped out of Tran warp. The Deathwalker is dead ahead."

"Signal to the Alda, and Chak. Tell them to form up on our flanks. Open a channel to the Deathwalker."

"Channel open"

"This is Admiral Yellowstone of the UFP, I am here to represent the Federation as a member of the GFFA at this meeting. Please send co-ordinates for beam down."

A shadow cruiser appeared in Realm space once again as it had those weeks ago. Commanded by the same officer now promoted to Rear Admiral Dashnue. With the higher brass preoccupied with other matters, the newly promoted was sent because of his recent experiences. A message was sent to those in charge. "Greetings again from the Abh Empire. This is Rear Admiral Dashnue, sent to be a representattive of my military leaders. Requesting permission and coordinants to dock and begin the talks."

The inky black cruiser came to a slow halt as it waited for a repsonse.

ooc: I'll delete this if requested, just looking for something helpful to do.

IC:
A Jennifer Halsey (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a161/anomaly149/Ship%20Schematics/JHfrigtop.jpg) frigate screamed through the black, an eyesore on any Supraluminal scanner pointed in the right direction. Strictly speaking, this craft had absolutley no right to be so far away from No Endorse, but First Fleet had taken to long patrols since the Vercin Mallor Incident. The hope of finding the carrier and support units responsible for that PR nightmare was irrational, made worse by the fact that a mere frigate could not hope to stand toe to toe with such a force. But that didn't matter to No Endorse honor. What mattered was discovery and destruction, as per the Tenfold Tradition.

Interestingly enough for this frigate, its patrol led it close enough to pick up a peculiar transmission on the old GFFA channels, unused for some time in the Inferno Navy. It reverted to realspace, and relayed the message back to No Endorse for a final decision. After several hours of deliberating, the frigate was given the go-ahead to go and observe, if their hosts would allow, and provide any assistance necessary. No Endorse might no longer be a member, and might be prevented from direct intervention, but it still respected its one time allies. Maybe it could still help?

=====================================

The frigate screamed into the system, and transmitted a short message to the ships in-system. It then proceeded to lower shields and power down weapons, confident that its old allies would not attack.

This is Captain Kate Fisher of Jennifer Halsey class Frigate Starfire of No Endorse First Fleet. We heard your transmission on patrol and decided to drop in and see how our old friends were doing. I have been instructed to give any help I can to your cause, short of direct intervention. But it would be easier to explain face to face.

Three? Damn.

Magnius took control of the ship again, linking neurally with it, taking on a distant look for a moment.

Dweladelfian ship, we have not yet found the mass-transference device that could pierce our armor, let alone our shields. We advise you take a shuttle to the seventh Docking Ring. Inertialess lifts are waiting there to bring you to the meeting point.[/i]

Welcome, Abh-allies. Please, send a shuttle to the seventh docking ring. Inertialess sub-ship transports are prepared to ship you immediately to the meeting room.

Despite your lack of status as Federation members, we are aware of your predicament. I sympathise. You may dock in the seventh docking ring. A third inertialess transport has been prepared.

Broadcast to all members in the area: At present, the atmosphere within the meeting room is a nitrogen/oxygen/carbon dioxide mix, ideally suited for human life. Should you require different atmospheric conditions, please tell us before boarding.

Parrian decided to ask the question burning on his and most of the people on his ship's minds - undiplomatic as it may be.

"So how did you survive?"

Even the diplomat Schroi was sufficiently intrigued by the question that he neglected to rebuff his friend for this slight.

Archmage, for the moment, was silent, and the projected face turned to look at Magnius.

"Amusingly enough, through the very means the Maker-Mind used to kill me."

He paused for breath, and chuckled.

"Unable, or perhaps unwilling, to destroy my personality outright, the Maker-Mind tore my consciousness into its component atoms, dispersing them. I was vaguely aware of the outside world on occasion, and in constant, horrible pain."

"However, the Maker-Mind's madness continued, to the point where it could no longer sustain a single personality - the mad, but massively powerful Maker-Mind itself shattered into component personality, which were significantly more sane."

"From what I believe, the majority of the Maker-Mind lies latent, unused, with something I have heard of, called the 'Incarnation'. The new core personality of the Maker-Mind termed itself Manifest, and begun the destruction of life on the worlds it could find anew. Over one hundred thousand lifebearing worlds have been burnt clean by Manifest alone, I discovered."

"More interestingly, however, to create the Battlespheres and Warspheres the Maker-Mind uses to exterminate life, it generally simply forms matter to its will. However, due to the rising insanity, Manifest somehow.. lost the ability to differentiate between its imagination and reality, and began creating ships out of raw imaginative power."

"To cut a long story short, Manifest managed to forestall attacks, and slaughter enemies, but at a price that it was unwilling to pay. It could easily summon up a thousand times the ships it has sent at us, I know that, now. But the price it would have to pay would be the sanity it prizes. And even Manifest, at present, is fragmenting into sub-personalities. The rift dimension in which it resides is growing ever-less policed by its forces, and ever-more dangerous."

He drew breath deeply. The story was a hard one to condense into so few words.

"Of course, this had the side-effect of taking away from its mind, every time it created. After some time, Manifest became so unbalanced that it was vulnerable to attack."

Another breath.

"Through sheer happenstance, an allied fleet, made up of Realm and Abh ships, led a sortie into the rift. Over half of them were lost, but they managed to strike a blow at Manifest, killing it."

"Of course, this left a void, where power was unused. One moment, I was dimly aware of reality, and in pain, the next, I felt.. power. I grasped it, and was born anew. Manifest likewise reincarnated itself, and I led the remainder of the allied fleet from the rift, escaping as best I could. Peculiarly, my imagination seemed to engrave itself on reality for a brief few seconds after my ressurrection. Which was lucky, as I was imagining a vast fleet of capital ships - the New Realm fleet we are currently sending to the warfront."

"There are many things I have left out - and some things, that, without hours upon hours of explanation, seem absurd. I ask that you take that at its face value."

He looked at the delegation, and spoke once more. "It also seems that my natural metapsychic abilities have been greatly enhanced by my revival, although that is not the greatest thing to come out of this."

He sat down, and thought about that which he had not told them. Revival by the rift meant, inevitably, that one was a creature of the rift. Oh, yes. He could draw upon the progidous, limitless lattice, that single word that so well described the rift-dimension, and warp entire fleets into reality, shatter worlds with his mind alone.

But he was not a fool. He had seen what had happened to the Manifest-being when it had tried to do so - its sanity had become frayed, and it was a natural-born thing of the rift. He, on the other hand, despite his new origins, was still human. Reviving that fleet, in the rift, had drawn the Maker-Mind's fleets like a clarion call across the galaxy.

No, he could.. feel Maker-Mind forces now. And, if he used the rift.. there was no doubt that they would be able to do the same to him.

Archmage noticed that there seemed to be more to the story than Magnius was disclosing, but decided against pressing the point further. All would likely become clear soon enough.

"That is very interesting, and I would not have guessed that you could have resurrected yourself from the rift." commented Parrian.

Archmage spoke, using the speakers on the proxy for the benifit of the New Oxfordis.

You mentioned earlier that this ship was running on a skeleton crew of five - yourself and the four others

The projection swept its arm around the room, gesturing to the conspicuously empty positions around the bridge.

If all your ships are so sparsely crewed, I'd like you to tell us just how you're going to face the Maker-Mind.

Parrian grumbled slightly to himself at not realising the implications of such a small crew.

"Neither would I. Of course, my memories are.. to say the least, shattered. Indeed, most of what I know now comes from New Realm databanks, which has led to.. unfortunate holes in my understanding, and my comprehension of past events."

He paused, and went on to answer Archmage's questions.

"It is somewhat.. ironic, that we cannot face the Maker-Mind. Nonetheless, we can crew our ships. Although I do not have a meta-enhancement unit, or 'brainbooster', as they are called aboard the Deathwalker, every other ship is outfitted with one."

He sighed. "Normal metapsychic individuals can interface with a ship, and run it fairly efficiently, although they do not possess the ability to run the entire ship in combat. I, and the four under me, are the most powerful operants in the New Realm. In addition to the neural interface system we use, we are able to run it at approximately 90% efficiency in combat, which is actually quite surprising."

"But an enhancement unit of which I spoke, can enhance the powers of our operant individuals in every metafaculty by factors in the hundreds - with one of these, it only takes two individuals to run, police, repair, and pilot a warship. The unfortunate downside of this, however..."

He sighed. They couldn't fix the flaw in the brainboards. It was built-in - the enhancement, and the flaw, went hand-in-hand.

"..is that any operant using a brainboard is susceptible to Maker-Mind subversion. Indeed, the prevalence of metapsychic enhancement in the last days of the old Realm, made it merely prey for the Maker-Mind. Thus, we can fight. But the Woundweaver, in addition to our automated fighter and escort patrols, is the only ship capable of combatting Maker-Mind forces."

It was hideous to think that such a thing could happen - but, an image floated to the top of his mind. Subverted combat soldiers, their suits massive enhancers, allowing them to crush normal humans with casual ease, making them vulnerable, fighting against the metal-spiders which attacked.. and then turning around, their minds consumed by the raging Maker-Mind.

"As such, we are rendered impotent by our enemy. And, to enhance the problem, the majority of New Realm citizens are descendents of the cowardly.. generals, I believe they were, who fled at the first sign of the Maker-Mind. They took the dredges of the Realm, and interbred them with the finest soldiers of the Realm. Normally, this would not be a problem. But when we are talking about a generation which only spans half a decade.. many of the qualities, as well as genetic makeup we require to put a citizen aboard a warship as a crewman have been all but bred out of them."

Magnius sighed. "I called this meeting, however, not to talk about the Maker-Mind. Although it is a threat, the Union provides a greater one. By combatting the GFFA, there is no coherent defense against the Maker-Mind. By my count, since this war began, we have spotted over fifteen thousand worlds burnt clean of life by Maker-Mind forces. Only a scant few of these contained any sort of sentient life, and those are only we have been able to find."

"This war threatens the New Realm, and, by extension, threatens us all. We are losing this war, from what I have seen. I have never been fool enough to pit my people against such odds, and, were it not for the threat the Maker-Mind poses to them, I would not do so now."

"We are gathered here to discuss unified strategy against the ESUS. Anything else is merely incidental. As it stands.. I would hear from everyone. We must bring forth every idea, or else we stand no chance of winning."

Main Hanger Bay, USS-Avondale

"We just received orders from the deathwalker to proceed in shuttlecraft. I am taking my assistant and the captain on the Avondale with me. End log."

Transmission Ended

Admiral Yellowstone and his 2 counterparts were aboard a Type-9 shuttle headed for the 7th Docking ring. The huge ship loomed over the small shuttle.

"They don't make federation ships this bulky."

"I wouldn’t go around insulting there ships when were aboard captain."

"Aye Sir."

The shuttle eased into the docking ring and attached itself to the ship.

The dark skin of space seemed to undulate and stretch, runic patterns burnign against the Great Dark. Power seemed to leech forth from some seething realm, as the power of the Twisting Nether incised through the flesh of reality. Immense beyond reckoning, the great Worldvessel of the Scourge, Icecrown itself, slid into existance, crackling with the power encoded in its very being by the Technomagic of the Scourge, the Undead Magisters tending to each and every desire of the immense vessel.

technology was, in point of fact, a new mystery, one that when coupled with magic produced the most amusing and efficient mechanisms. The Netherdrive at the centre of the ship twisted, the portal formed by subtle manipulations of the Well's energies. The hull seemed to pulse with a flash of scathign necromantic fire, fel power seeping through the metal. Aboard the ship, upon his vast and Frozen Throne, The Lich King sat in harsh, silent repose.

"Report, if you would be so kind." He hissed. His voice was the icy wind of native Northrend, it was the dead wind upon the leaves of broken Quel'thelas.

"My Lord, the incants are ready. We send messages forth to greet Allies, to inform them that you shall arrive within the shuttle bays. We expect your arrival, shortly. The portal opens, Mighty One. We are but the Openers of the Way."

"And you shall be rewarded. Divert all of our available energies to defensive measures. I shall now attend our allies, directly. I doubt many have seen us in the flesh, as it were."

He strode forth as the energy crackled and pulsed in the nothingness before him, a hand sliding to the hilt of Frostmourne. At his side, intricately armoured corpses, their gleaming armour alive with pulsing runes and inlaid chain, gold and silver clashign with tarnished iron and brass.

These bodyguards strode forth with their mighty Lord, as the portal encapsulated them, and they emerged elsewhere....

Welcome, Abh-allies. Please, send a shuttle to the seventh docking ring. Inertialess sub-ship transports are prepared to ship you immediately to the meeting room.

A small one man shuttled detached from the cruiser and angled its path for the seventh docking ring. The flight was short and Dashnue was in the docking bay in no time. He exited his small craft and looked around for the transports. Finding his path, he made his way to the transport and plopped down.

The New Dornalians sent a single Lin Biao II Heavy Cruiser to the area. Mostly automated, it had aboard a single representative, a slim Catgirl who radioed the Realm forces with:

"This is Commodore Guerritez. I have come to represent New Dornalia and the armed forces of the Workers State in these talks."

OOC: So what now?

Confirmed Deathwalker, transferring. All I have is fighters, so don't be alarmed when one detaches and clamps on your hull.

Kate Fisher stood in the airlock of her frigate, waiting for the depressurization sequence to finish. Finally, a green light lit up on one end of the small chamber, and she pulled a recessed lever, opening the lock. It was a short trip to the now open fighter cockpit, only a few meters, and she'd made it dozens of times. However, every time she did it, she was reminded of the difficulties of having any sort of craft on such a small vessel.

She skimmed to the seat and strapped in, lowering the canopy behind her. Brightly humming instruments greeted her touch, prompting her to start the launch. "All green, let 'er go." The small craft jolted slightly as it was propelled away from its host, and under Kate's guiding hands, gracefully picked up speed. Damn I wish they'd let me fly these things more often. Finally, she selected the proper port on the Deathwalker, and clamped her fighter down next to an airlock.

Another EVA, this one more interesting since there were fewer handholds, and another airlock, until Kate was finally let into the New Realm vessel. She plopped down in the small transport, forgetting to even remove her helmet. What a day.

"So before we get involved in this conflict, who are the Union and why are they such a threat?" asked Parrian. The ESUS was known to be a bitter rival of the GFFA, but the reasons for this rivalry were obscured in the mists of time.

That, is one thing I have never been able to discern. commented Archmage.

OOC: In order to prevent me from writing out how shiny my inertialess in-ship transports are each time, could we all assume you make your way to the conference room?

IC: More delegates, whisked off to the bridge. It was an empty place, made to house over fifty officers in its prime, and could easily fit two hundred. Three New Realm crewmen were hardly a sight to make the place look busy.

Magnius spoke. "That.. is something that may take some time to explain. Yet I will try, nonetheless."

"I will start from the beginning. The history of the Extra-Solar Union of Systems is lost to me, founded originally by.. a nation named Klonor, we believe. Or perhaps it was the Mindsetti Empire. Our own files on the aerly history of the Union remain incomplete, unfortunately."

"After some time, the Union fell into disrepair, and fell apart. At the advent of the First Shivan Wars, the ESUS was revived, as the r-ESUS, as it was named at the time, a scant alliance of nations throwing the Shivans back. The Kanuckistani Battleplates, the massive, deadly fortresses that can shatter any of our capital ships with ease, even today, were integral to that defense. The First Shivan Wars saw massive ESUS casualties, however, their united defense, and superior manufacturing power saw them turn the tide on the Shivan invaders, pushing them back into the extradimensional realm they inhabited; subspace."

A breath. "After this, the ESUS were hailed as heroes. And why should they not be? They had saved the galaxy from an enemy greater than it had ever seen. No, in those times, the ESUS was a benign organisation, a set of treaties dedicated to mutual defense, and free trade. Despite the somewhat opposing morality of various members, the treaty that bound them was loose enough to let them run their seperate ways."

"The Second Shivan Wars saw the ESUS pull together as a massive machine of war, crushing the extradimensional invaders, with the loss of a few worlds here and there. It was in this period that the Union grew."

"As an organization dedicated to peace and free trade, it was attractive to many. The history between the Second Shivan Wars, and the Union-Federation War were fairly uneventful, the Union's members drifting apart, and a civil war taking place. They were inactive in galactic affairs, and, despite the ESUS's power, it was slowly waning."

"It was at this time that the newer organisations, the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances, and the Galactic Empire rose, to fill the power void. As we all know the skirmishes and wars between them, I'll not go into them now."

Magnius sighed. "It is, in a way, somewhat my fault that this war has come to pass. The simple matter of the fact is, the Maker-Mind wished to eradicate the Realm completely. We hold the means of its creation, and it does not wish for an opposing.. AI to rise, to challenge it. To destroy us would be to remove that threat completely. However..."

A frown crossed Magnius's face. "The Federation harboured the Realm. It allied itself with the Galactic Empire briefly, but, after ascertaining that it did not have the resources to crush the Federation, it decided to aid in the provocation in a war."

"This brings us to the current conflict. A 'Federation' fleet attacked an ESUS facility. Under the ESUS Constitution, members are bound to aid other members who have been attacked. Normally.. only the most warlike, and the most aggressive of the ESUS nations would've done anything more than station defensive fleets to aid their allies, we believe."

"The ESUS declared war, of course. That was required, under ESUS law. But it was the terrorist action by the Vong that.. put us on this path."

"The Federation could've defeated a coalition of the ESUS's more aggressive members, and probably negotiated their way to the end of the war, we believe, but.. the Vong annihilated an entire world!"

For the first time, Magnius's voice rose, outraged. "There was not an ESUS member, then, who could deny the threat. The destruction of a facility, no matter how major, could be overlooked. But a world full of innocent civilians? No, even the more peaceful nations could not let that slide, so to speak. So the war begun, in its current path."

"It is an ill war, from my view of things. The Maker-Mind wishes to distract the Federation, so that they may finally annihilate my people. And, the way things are going.. we do not possess the power to stop them. This is why I have called this meeting. We cannot meet the Union blow-for-blow, strike for strike, as we have done so far. No, our two choices now are simple."

Magnius took a deep breath. "Our first choice is to surrender, unilaterally, to the ESUS. The more moderate members will ensure that the majority of freedoms are kept for our people, and we will enjoy peace under them."

"But.. we cannot tamely accept such things. I would not, and nor would the rest of you, I believe. Our second choice is to attack viciously. The enemy have ruined our worlds, shattered our fleets, slaughtered Federation civilians with impunity. What have we done? We have rendered uninhabitable a single world. We have struck at some worthless Maker-Mind worlds. We have not assailed the ESUS worlds, despite our ability to do so."

"This is a war in which they believe we possess no ability to strike back. Their civilians are content, perhaps a bit poorer for the war, but almost all unharmed, enjoying every single one of their luxuries, while shouting government mantras in the name of freedom. If we cannot convince the Union we pose a dire threat to their worlds.. we stand no chance of bringing about a victory, let alone a peace..."

"If we wish to deal them any form of blow, we must lure the Unionists into a false sense of security. To face an enemy on his own ground is foolish without advantage, but to make them slog and fight through our numbers as we lodge like thorns in their flesh. That could be to our advantage" The Lich King spoke, his thoughts resounding about those who gathered along with the sinister whisper of his power.

"I will not advocate the destruction of all I have strove to build from nothingness. I will not see my own realm sundered. We are beyond death, but we are not beyond destitution. I will not have my service to this Federation sullied by utter defeat....

It should not come to that eventuality."

"A false sense of security?! What more do they need? They have ravaged carelessly across our worlds, from the Kendaryn, to the Dornalians, trampling our fleets in their wake! If they ever felt secure, now would be such a time, let me assure you."

OOC: So are we all in the same room in the meeting or somtin?

"If we are going to end this war, we cannot simply strike down the ESUS. They are simply too large, both individually and as a whole." interjected Parrian, whose people had yet to join this war and had no burdens of hate from losses.

"On the other hand, we are small enough to be crushed. Striking a blow against any of them to the extent that you seem to be implying is out of the question."

It's easy enough.

Schroi, a trained diplomat, elaborated on the methods that would result in the total destruction of the GFFA - at least, presumably.

"If we respond by destroying planets, we only anger our enemies further. We need to capture the planets of the peaceful and moderate ones, then treat their people fairly and justly - there is no sense in angering further those who are reluctant to go to war in the first place."

Or we could just exterminate them. It won't end the war or save anybody but it'll make Lich here happier.

"Then you would suggest that we go down on our knees and beg that they spare us? Submit beneath an unfair peace, an enforced dictat and wait for them to pick us apart, divided and defeated?"

The dry laughter of the Lich King echoed as he contemplated this latest development.

"We have commited defensive measures to the Horde, mighty Necropoli that shall strike down any who would oppose. It is all to ready to see how a race riven with fear and doubt is inferior to the perfection espoused by my Scourge. Fearless, mindless, soulless...So much an improvement.

We shall not win by submitting blindly nor by attacking indiscriminately. We shall aid defensively where we can, but we shall not entertain those with cowardly dispositions and treacherous ideas of peace and submission."

"Our enemies are angered enough. They have ravaged worlds, slaughtered the innocent, and.. it suffices to say that they are willing to burn a world, down to the last man, woman, or child, should they not surrender."

Magnius looked at the diplomat.

"We do not win a war by showing that we are willing to treat enemy civilians fairly. The simple matter of the fact is, we are outnumbered. Should we take a world, what will stop the Union ripping apart our armies with overwhelming force?"

"No, we will win by forcing our enemies out of the war. They must lose their worlds. Should they continue to oppose us, they must lose their worlds. We simply strike the less aggressive nations in this war, and annihilate their worlds. Should they be a democratic nation.. I cannot imagine any people voting to continue a war when they are under constant threat of annihilation. Once we have forced out the less aggressive nations, we may deal with the remainder from a better standpoint."

"The ESUS wish, as a whole, to conquer and assimilate our nations into their own, or they wish to crush us so completely, so that there may never be a threat to their power again. To bring about a peace, we must first show that we are willing to use the most ruthless of tactics, as they are. We have limited ourselves, for the most part, fighting only the enemy militaries. And they have conquered and destroyed our civilian populace. As it stands, this is a one-sided war. We must make it not so."

Then let their worlds burn. But let it be known that I do not approve of this.

"I believe there is a still a possibility of turning the tide through diplomacy. However-" Schroi was cut off by Parrian. "It appears that diplomacy has all but failed, Winslow. War is like that."

"If we're going to burn worlds, we must ensure that we instill more panic than actual death - It's easy enough to say 'A planet was destroyed today', but if there's a horde of panicked, fleeing refugees flooding into other worlds, then the fear will spread and we might be able to bring this war to a close. I say we move methodically, striking only a few worlds at a time and not gunning down fleeing refugees. It'll involve more forces and careful control, but if we can do this right we may be able to flood the other planets with hysteria."

Fear tactics. Interesting.

"I agree with Parrian," Kate called from near the rear of the group, "But you should not assume that it will be more difficult to panic a populace than it will be to destroy it. It should more likely involve fewer, if one plays their cards right." The numerous heads that swiveled towards her would be no doubt surprised to see she was just a mere Captain in the Inferno Navy. Even more curiously, she was in what appeared to be a vacuum flight suit, not quite the expected decorum for such a meeting. Helmet under her arm, she stood up, piercing green eyes surveying the assembly.

"I was once a flight leader in the Gunship Corps, and I can assure you that light warfare is quite effective psychologically. Hit and run, slide in with a covert force and smack them while they're not looking. I'd say.... some four cruisers, a carrier, and their supporting elements should be enough to form a single light strike force, obviously more if you have some serious work in mind. They can coordinate strikes across a surprisingly large area, and the enemy will be forced to deploy many times their number to search for them. Once they're found, they will be almost impossible to chase down by anything powerful enough to destroy them, and can handle everything that catches them with ease. This is, of course, dependent on the availability and capability of your mid-sized carriers and fast cruisers, as well as escort elements capable of keeping up for extended periods."

Magnius looked at the two talking, and decided to use mindspeech. Trying to talk over various people was simply too hard. And besides, the eerie appearance of a voice in one's mind so often inclined people to listen. It was, perhaps, a little contrived, but it was also reasonably effective.

<Perhaps. But we must take into consideration that ESUS worlds are well-defended. Any attack will inevitably suffer heavy casualties, and, as such, we cannot afford to raid enemy worlds where we are not sure of success.>

<However, if we destroy the best-defended worlds.. the ESUS has a comprehensive news network. News will spread. A lack of trade and people from any of their worlds will spark fear.>

He lapsed back into using his vocal chords. "Perhaps attacks on minor colonies to allow refugees to escape would be one thing, where we can find them. But it is undoubtedly superior to raze worlds - the ESUS must be faced with a choice. The choice to leave us in peace and live, or the choice to continue their campaign and die."

Doors slid open and Rear-Admiral Abriel walked into the meeting room with his blue cape flowing behind him. A double winged silver tiara reflected the artificial light in the room as two diamond shape jewels dangled behind his pointed ears.

He nodded in acknowledgement to those that were present and seated himself. "Pardon my tardiness. There have been matters in the empire to attend to. May I ask where we are starting?"

Doors slid open and Rear-Admiral Abriel walked into the meeting room with his blue cape flowing behind him. A double winged silver tiara reflected the artificial light in the room as two diamond shape jewels dangled behind his pointed ears.

He nodded in acknowledgement to those that were present and seated himself. "Pardon my tardiness. There have been matters in the empire to attend to. May I ask where we are starting?"

Commodore Guierritez arrived as well, in a simpler Officer's uniform that was modified to suit her Catgirl frame. She then bowed, and seated herself, saying, "Pardonamé. I must echo my colleagues comments; Captain Mbutu would have come but he had a family emergency; he had me come instead. Recent well-known affairs have distracted us."

She then folded her hands, and smiled, saying, "Now. Where do we begin?"

Admiral Yellowstone and his party walked into the room. The admiral walked towards some empty seats.

"Sorry were late, we got lost."

Kate had fallen back into her seat at the sudden mental incursion of Magnius. The process which to so many races was second nature tore at the slightly frayed edges of her sanity. Almost unbearable pain lanced through her consciousness, as the conflicting currents of her thoughts and Magnius's inbound statements collided, creating a maelstrom of mental activity. The voice....

There seemed to be nothing else but the voice, overpoweringly loud, like someone screaming with the power of a supernova. Gods, the voice.... It surrounded and suffocated, it crushed, and it rent the vestigial mental defenses present in Inferno blood. It became all and one, an combination of searing pain and deafening volume building chaotically until the breaking point.

As her brain struggled to compensate, it began searching through memories at lightning speed for something to relate to, an anchor of any kind in this storm. Flashes of her childhood screamed across her mind.... a view of her sitting in a canoe with her first 'boyfriend,' her receiving her first commission in the Gunship Corps, that accident in Snake Eaters, the bloody Avalon campaign, her mother cooking.... it came in massive waves. But nothing availed against this, no amount of mere remembrance could bolster her unusable mental defenses to easily handle the incoming mental signals.



Then, as suddenly as it had begun, the voice dropped in volume to a normal volume. The pain subsided, leaving a dull throbbing sensation where blinding agony had been. Kate winced as she regained her senses, thankful that there had been a chair to break her fall. As she collected herself, she began processing what she had been able to glean from his words. Those words.... The voice.... But there was work to do.... must defeat the ESUS....

"Magnius, as much as I understand the importance of maintaining order and such, please don't use mental communication. In return, I'll keep off your toes to the furthest extent possible." She choked down a sudden wave of nausea, and continued. "Well, light tactics could be used in some location immediately before hitting a different world, in order to distract enough forces away from certain zones to make the strike."

Wait a second... was the floor stable? It didn't seem to be.... Oh well, had to keep plowing forward, had to be of some use, right?

"I'm wondering about attacking their most defended worlds though, throwing your fleet against their impregnable fortresses sounds crazy. Although the fear factor of a nigh invincible enemy keep being turned to space dust is high. What sort of locations are you thinking of?" After she was finished, she sat down, looking quite ill.

"My apologies."

Magnius bowed sardonically, his lips flickering into a sneer as his face was hidden by the bow, and continued talking. It was, perhaps, a measure of his personality. His caring for other people was, at best, minimal. He had slaughtered billions before, to assure the survival of his newborn Realm, and the discomfort of one was of little incident. Of cuorse, everything he had done, he believed, had been to the greater good. Abandoning the decadent League to the Taledonians.. servitude was not so bad a fate. How could he have known that they would've been burnt?! That still weighed heavily on him. No, perhaps the inadvertent harm from his telepathy would outweigh whatever short-term advantage it conferred to him.

But you must respect her wishes. She is useful. The Federation is useful. You will not survive long without them.

His thoughts ran through his head. It was possible that his finesse with his metafaculties had been reduced. Then again, he had never been much of a redactor, able to soothe hurts, and calm people, with the mere presence of his mind. No, his was a dominating power. The entire Realm, before, had sustained itself on his will, and it would do so again.

"The point of our attacks will be simple. As it stands, the status quo is poor. Let me raise a situation that occurred, earlier in the war. The initial Talaaxian terrorist action against the Union sparked an attack on Yukatania - a few of their worlds being burnt. And the Federation could not offer sufficient reprisals. If we can strike them in their most defended worlds, the message is clear - we can strike them anywhere."

Magnius looked over at Abriel, and smiled. "Ah, my apologies. If you have an aversion to mental contact, I will explain what we have said so far. Otherwise, there is a memorycube that I have stored the contents of our conversation in. If you find the sudden existence of knowledge unsettling, I will assign one of my crew to brief you."

He threw the memorycube to Abriel, a fairly simple device, at best. It would dump the contents of the entire conversation into the man's mind. Oh, they had been known to cause minor mental damage, from time to time, but only with already susceptible minds. Another was tossed to Yellowstone, and a third to Guierritez.

"In any case. We must complement our attacks with messages. Destroying their best-defended civilian worlds will show that we can - and will strike anywhere, at our choosing. We will then counterpoint our devastating attacks with wide-beam messages - offers of peace, of withdrawal, offers to resolve the entire matter. We cannot merely appear, and burn worlds, and expect the ESUS to capitulate. We must make every citizen of their worlds know that if they do not agree to peace, they have agreed to war. And that the war can hurt them, also. I am not omniscient, as convinient as that would be. Perhaps this strategy will merely spark anger, and reprisals against our own worlds. But, inevitably, should we continue fighting we way we are, slavery and death await us. This way.. we may lose some worlds to reprisals. The price will be bloody and high, but it should make our survival that much more likely."

He cracked his knuckles, and waited. He had never been a man of words. His strategies had always been simple ones - bend others to your will, and let them talk for you. Casting his consciousness into the ship once more, he decided to take another precautionary measure - a brief Truespace jump.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I advise that we all leave this area of space. Assuming that we have Union intelligence operatives within our communications networks, they could arrive at these co-ordinates within thirty-four seconds. Although I find this to be unlikely, I would prefer to play it as safe as possible. As such, you may open communications with your ships. Kindly tell them to leave the area. We will be moving into another section of deep space in half a minute."

Paranoia? Perhaps. But he had been killed once, for laxity. After all, the fledging Interdictor, or Maker-Mind, could never have defeated his mighty fleets. It was not a mistake he would make again. Plan for the worst, so, when it happened, they would be able to deal with it.

"Indeed, if we are going for that effect it would be best to strike down both the most heavily defended and the outermost shanty. However, when attacking great population centres, killing everyone is not going to help our cause - it may in fact turn the tides against us by impressing upon them that it is a war of genocide." said Schroi, as Parrian stepped out of the room for a moment to send off the ship.

Archmage's proxy remained silent, having nothing to contribute for the time being.

The Admiral picked up the memory cube. He looked at it hesitantly. He wasn’t very fond of technology that gets into his head. With a sigh he activated the cube. The memories of the entire meeting flooded into his head. Once it was done the admiral fleet quite dizzy. The Captain looked at Admiral Yellowstone.

"Are you ok?"

"I'm Fine...."

OOC: IC post as soon as possible, sorry about the lateness, NS has not been at the top of my list of duties right now, even when online. Shall I assume in IC that my representatives are onboard and you can give them a memory cube, or would you like me to write in my arrival?

OOC: Wow. Three posts. Jolt ate three posts.. in one week. Bah. Hungry hungry hippos have nothing on these forums. In any case, I'll get back to postin'. Oh, and Starenell, assume that they're aboard.

IC: "I must agree with you, of course. But the matter-of-the-fact remains that we cannot win if we are seen as too feeble to act. Fighting their ships is something any sane nation would do. They are certain, certain that they can predict us, and our actions. Thus, they feel safe. If we begin destroying worlds, that glamour of safety will vanish, and their strategical advantages will vanish with it."

"Couldn’t we create a distraction? Have some false report to them. That could get some of there fleet away from us. Buy us time. With a majority of there fleet gone we could easily defeat one of there planets."

Guierretez then said, sighing and hissing in anger, like Catgirls were wont to do: "Ay.....while we talk, they grow stronger! While I agree we must torch their worlds, I was under the impression there were plans in place...at least that is what Capitan Mbutu told me."

She then said, angrily: "Nevermind the fact that we have to be sure what we torch. Allanea torched New Wuhan, and New Dornalia was still standing. Raids involving surgical strikes on communications and industrial centers, with minimum cost to us, will be most effective, unless we want to make that same mistake of killing a lot for little gain."

"An admirable idea, in theory, Admiral Yellowstone. However, to create a false report, we would need more data than we have. We do not have the ships to spare to make false fleet movements, and we do not have the time to see if they take the bait."

Magnius sighed. He had read the report on New Wuhan. A regrettable affair. Of course.. the mutant who stood in front of him.. her appearance dulled the impact of her words. He raised a hand, using it to punctuate what he was saying.

"New Wuhan, despite the fact that you are 'still standing', was an overwhelming victory for the Union. One cannot have their civilians slaughtered wanton without severe psychological effects among the populace, which all too often lead to economic paralysis. And it merely proves to our people that the Union are willing to destroy them, should they not capitulate. Which is, coincidentally, the effect that we are trying to create. We are not trying to win the war on infrastructure and manufacturing capabilities."

He took a breath. "Two hundred years ago, at the time of the fall of the Realm, the ESUS had approximately three times the power, manufacturing infrastructure, and fleet strength the GFFA possessed at the beginning of the war. In two centuries, the Union has grown. I say this: We cannot hope to match them in strength. Even should we destroy every factory, shatter every orbital shipyard, and capture every last one of their mines, still they would possess the strength to destroy us. We cannot hope to turn away their fleets by sheer force of arms. We must remove their will to fight, as their ability far outstrips ours."

Guierritez fell back, grumbling in Catgirlese, "Que saiám! Bahka, no comprende nuestra shituzaion.....ay, ay..." (OOC: What a pity! Fool, he does not understand our situation.) Economic paralysis was not the case in New Dornalia, if trauma was.

She then said, sighing: "Very well, we shall remove their will to fight by making their planets into New Wuhans. I just wish to keep in mind that we must also destroy shipyards and industrial facilities as well, to ensure that we're not just committing mass murder and inducting indirect economic paralysis, but we're also committing direct war upon their economy. It produces faster results, and hurts their ability to replenish their fleets faster. I did not suggest we directly attack their fleets, if that is what you had thought I said, senhor."

Silly, silly little mutant, Magnius thought. For a brief moment, he thought he had sent it telepathically. The two all too often became the twain, and that would be detrimental to what they were trying to accomplish here.

"And nor did you understand the implications of what you have said, it seems. To remove their ability to rebuild their fleets faster, as I just emphasised, is all but useless. The general all-round superiority in numbers, size, firepower, and technology among the Union means that we are not killing enough of them to make their rebuilding abilities relevant. Should we strike at their manufacturing capabilities, they may do likewise. A single stunning for the victory for the Federation at this point in time will mean a brief respite for the ESUS to reform their fleets. A stunning victory for the Union will mean our defeat."

He took a breath. "We must sap their will to fight, not their fleets. Economic paralysis, which may destroy nations after the war, is something we will worry about in the future. Our primary goal must be to kill civilians - and offer to stop in return for peace. They will not give in easily, but once rioters clamor at them, once those nations who practice democracy are subdued by the will of the people.. this war will become winnable."

If we do hope to match the ESUS it is by dividing their forces. Once their citizens become entrenched in the belief that they require protection, then their leaders can do naught but satisfy their craving for defence.

Parrian noted that they seemed to have decided on the course of action.

"Since we seem to have come to the conclusion that obeying the decorum of battle will do little more than ensure our destruction," said Parrian, "Let us turn to the matter of which worlds we shall strike down first?"

Rear Admiral Dashnue picked up the memory cube and allowed the information to flow freely into his mind. It was not unlike the link that every Abh enjoys with their froch so this proved no problem for his mental capacity. He was pleased that he had not missed much of the conversation so there was still time to make up for the lapse in time it took to get here. While everyone continued discussing the war, he sent a message out through his clyuno to the cruiser nearby that it should report back to the Empire. No reason was given why, only the order. Shortly after it would have been noticed a slight shimmering, then disappearance as it left.

The memory cube was replaced just as Parrian finished his last words. "Burn them all." Perhaps a bit of an overstatement but he was an Abriel afterall and it was delivered with the same calm and cool tone.

"Every inhabited world should be a target to make this strategy effective. While we strike their most protected and prized possesions, other forces begin with the outter territories and begin burning while their attention is drawn inward. To make them understand how serious we are, they must all first suffer. Ordinarly, the Abh Empire would not condone such a course of action unless under extreme circumstances, but she has never had to fight for life. Given the circumstances, I vote that it's better them than us."

Guierritez picked up the message from Magnius, however much he did not want to send it. Enjoying a "sixth sense," as ND Catgirls did, tended to do that, and tended to produce reactions on the psychic level. Having a little more developed version of it, she sent a message back, a short one.

Did I hear you call me mutant?

Having thought that, she then sighed, folded her arms, and acquiesced to the Abh saying, "Very well Rear Admiral. If you think the plan is sound, then I will acquiesce."

<Why, yes I did, little anthromorph. Perhaps you had better look to your own tongue before being foolish enough to intrude upon my mind. Although I do apologise for withdrawing my mind-shield. But co-ordinating a nation without my metafaculties is difficult with them, no?>

"Of course, Rear Admiral. My own forces are being instructed, and will be preparing to strike vulnerable worlds even as we are speak. I would wait a few minutes to allow for this plan to be decided between the remainder of the tactical delegations, but, otherwise, we will strike now, I think. Otherwise, all sorts of.. petty moral concerns crop up. And we can hardly allow those to spoil a workable plan, don't you agree?"

Magnius smiled, and turned around, communing with the ship's systems once more.

<SHIPMIND. BRING ME ARMOR/SWORD!>

The command was given. He had not girded himself for war in many, many years. Yet, it seemed, he would do so again.

"I advise, gentlemen, that, once you have reached a course of action, that you leave the Deathwalker. The ship is armed with multiple relativistic kill vehicles, and, as I speak, is well-prepared to use them. Let the Union ward itself well, for we seek to destroy it!"

A cruel grin set itself on his face. People would die, in their millions. It was peculiar. Remorse had been something he had felt.. once. Right now, though, he could feel nothing more than exultation. His enemies would die, and he would live. What more mattered than that?

"If I recall the discussion between our diplomats with those from the ESUS, morals were not a cause for concern on their part. At this point, I believe any morals have been flung out the window. So I say let them be shrouded in darkness as our death clouds cover their worlds. Only those worlds that surrender unconditionally will be spared."