*Out in the depths of space a small ship shimmers out of hyperspace. Its
hull is dark, its movement is swift, it slowly passes through space
completely undetected. It soon finds its target, the Inquisitor Ship looms
in front of it. The small-automated craft moves closer, making sure it isn't
detected. The ship begins to unfold and tendrils lash out along its sides
as if it were alive. It inches closer towards the inquisitor ship and then
it latches on, a dark purple hue can be seen between the alien craft and the
inquisitor ship as the alien craft access the ships main computer systems*
*Inside the Inquisitor Ship Bridge.*
(Cadet) Did you see that?
(Science Officer) See what?
(Cadet) I thought there was a blip on my screen.
(Science Officer) Probably just ghosts in the machine run a diagnostic and
report to me when you have the results.
(Cadet) Aye aye SIR!
*The cadet begins working his controls and beings his diagnostic*
*Outside the ship the alien craft finds what it's looking for, its interface
downloads all the information it needs. Now it begins to cover it's tracks,
the purple hue changes to a dark red as it begins to infect the Inquisitor
ship*
*Inside the Inquisitor Ship's Bridge*
(Cadet) SIR! My station is no longer responding to my commands!
(Science Officer) You probably hit the wrong button.
(Cadet) No Sir, I did everything correct.
(Bridge Commander) What seems to be the problem?
(Science Officer) The Cadet here seems to have locked himself out of his
terminal.
(Cadet) But SI...
(Helms Man) Commander! Helm is no longer responding!
(Weapons Officer) Sir our weapons have just been activated!
(Bridge Commander) Computer! Status report!
(COMPUTER) Unable.....unable....unable to compppply........
(Bridge Officer) Computer! Status!
(COMPUTER)*in an ominous voice* You......will......be.....purged....
(Bridge Officer) SOUND THE ALARM! EVERYONE TO BATTLE STATIONS! COM! GET THE
EXECUTIONOR AND THE DREADNAUT ON THE LINE AND INFORM THEM OF OUR SITUATION!
(Everyone) AYE AYE SIR!
*In Nai's sleeping quarters the alarms begin to sound and Nai suddenly wakes
up*
(Nai) What!? What's going on! *Taps his communications device* BRIDGE
REPORT!
(Bridge Officer) Inquisitor! The ship isn't responding to our commands, we've
been locked out of our stations, we're trying to reroute our commands
to.......
(Officer in the background) COMMANDER! We're turning towards our destroyers!
(Another officer in the background) Sir our weapons are charging up, they’re
targeting our OWN SHIPS!
(Bridge Officer) SOMOONE CONTACT OUR SHIPS! TELL THEM WHAT'S GOING ON!
(Com Officer) We cant sir our external arrays aren’t responding to our
commands!
(Bridge Officer) INQUISITOR! What do we do!?
(Nai) I'm on my way to the bridge!
*Nai taps his communicator to end the transmission and rushes out towards the
bridge. Within seconds he's in the mist of wild confusion*
(Bridge Commander) Try rerouting out systems to the secondary relay!
(Officer) We tried that sir; it just blocks us every time!
(Nai) What happened!
(Bridge Officer) Everything was fine until about 5 minutes ago then all of a
sudden......
(Weapons Officer) SIR OUR WEAPONS ARE PREPARING TO FIRE!
(Bridge Officer) ON SCREEN!
*Outside in space the Inquisitor ship turns to face it's own kind,
destroyers of unmatched power the arm of the MODS used to bring justice to
the galaxy. Then all of a sudden the Inquisitor ship FIRES! Tentacles of
light and energy engulf both destroyers, severing them into several pieces
and destroying them utterly. Explosions begin to crackle all over the
Inquisitor Ship*
*Haze and mist engulf the bridge*
(Nai) Report!
(Weapons Officer) Both our ships have been destroyed!
(Engineering Officer) SIR OUR REACTOR IS GOING CRITICAL! WE CAN'T STOP IT!
(Nai) ABANDON SHIP ABANDON SHIP!
(Bridge Officer) YOU HEARD THE MAN! MOVE MOVE MOVE!
*Officers tumble out of the bridge as thy all rush to the escape pods. Nai
and the Bridge Officer make it to the last sets of pods and escape just
before flames engulf the whole front section of the Inquisitor Ship*
*Outside the Black Ship releases it's grip from the Inquisitor Vessel and
speeds off past several life pods and shimmers back into hyperspace as the Inquisitor EXPLODES, it's task complete, and with the information it harvested, the means to conquer the universe*
*In escape Pod*
(Nai) Do you see that!
(Bridge Officer) What ship is that? No known family is known to have a ship
of that type?
(Nai) Whoever it was rest assured the Inquisitors will have JUSTICE! Nobody
shall defy us! We are the guardians of IC! We will find them and destroy
them!
*The pods races off into space their beacons calling the Inquisitor Fleet to
them from all across the IC Universe, a new threat has emerged, but who will
win?*
PROLOGUE
The holovid ends playing, the view pulls back to a tactical officer standing behind a small podium.
As if answering an yet unasked question, "Yes Sir, Time Command says this will occur in approximately 2 days. The rest of the details are provided in the datamatrix you received."
Panning back, a conference room, with which Nai's cabinet sits in chairs set back around a widely lit floor, the walls are dark and elusive. Consuls from the other Overseers, notable by the various colors of their respective Overseers are also seated along the rim of the floor.
The Inquisitor Nai stands pacing amid his counselors, saying nothing. All eyes following their Liege.
Taking his seat, behind the Imperial Bench, Nai looks at his Tactical Officer. "See to it all non-essential staff are sent on leave, and transfolded back to Nailadian Prime. Make this happen quietly. No use of any of this is to be entered into the ships system. This is all to be made to look routine. And Tacom.. Not word of this is to leave this room."
"Yes Sir, Understood", spouts the Tactical Officer, "I'll get on this right away." Standing, he and his assistant depart.
Nai looking at his remaining cabinet. "Organize the Hearing.. We do not have the Luxury of time any longer."
The remaining cabinet and administrative staff depart, and Nai sitting with his assistant. "This was to be a mercy mission, perhaps they knew of this was bound to happen."
Looking around the room with fondness in his eyes.. Nai says to his young assistant, "This was my first assignment nearly 8 rounds ago. Well, I will miss her. Contact Nailadian Prime, I suppose I will be needing use of my flagship soon. Last time I set foot aboard her, was over the homeworld of Gunslinger". Slapping his knees, and stands up,
"Well, let's make the most of it shall we?" The assistant nods with un-erring loyalty, but obviously confused about what his leader intends. "Raise the Sovereign and Luthitania and have their Captains meet me for dinner, they will be my guests tonight."
*A fleet of ships move through hyperspace, their markings indicate their part of the Trianguliam Liberation Force (TriForce) headed by fleets of Family 343 and several other top families*
*Inside the Fleet command ship*
(Fleet Commander) Now your sure the planet we're heading towards is empty?
(Spy) Yes sir, reports indicate the MODS destroyed the empires in question, they seem to be taking these family sweeps seriously.
(FC) Yes they are, we had best be on our guard.
(Ship Captain) Sir we're approaching the system.
(FC) Open a fleet wide channel.
(Com Officer) channel open sir!
(FC) This is Admiral Throck, we are approaching the enemy system. All hands prepare for battle. Today we extract our vengeance for the massacre of Zefron 7 by seizing the very system that was used to attack our colony. And we shall use it to attack those who attacked us in return! DEATH TO OUR ENEMIES! Bring us back to normal space just above the planet...NOW!
*A fleet of ships jumps out of hyperspace, their weapons at the ready. Ahead of them another fleet faces them and they rush to attack their intruders*
(FC) I thought you said those empires were destroyed by the MOD fleet!?
(S) They were!
(SC) Apparently they missed some ships! Activate the defense matrix and launch all fighters!
*Both fleets clash bolts of energy emerge from both sides, a strange dark red glow surround the enemy ships, their weapons fire intensifies and becomes more savage*
*Inside the Command ship the bridge shutters as panels explode al over the place*
(FC) WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT!?
(Weapons Officer) Somehow the enemy ships were able to power up their WEAPONS! They’re 10 times stronger then they’re supposed to BE!
(SC) How were they able to do that?
(WO) I'm not sure sir!
*Another blast rocks the bridge*
(Science Officer) SIR! Take a look at this!
*The Fleet Commander and Ship Captain rush to the science officer's terminal and she brings up a display on her screen*
(SO) Sir there seems to be a strange energy reading coming from their flagship, it's unlike anything we've every encountered.
*The Science officer points to a segment of the enemy flagship that is emitting the energy emissions, an artifact of ancient design, older then the stars themselves*
(SO) It's composed of a material unlike anything we've seen, and it's power signature is off the charts!
*Another blast rocks the ship*
(FC) This can't be happening, their empires were DESTROYED, we were certain of VICTORY! I will not let our people die in VAINE! VENGENCE SHALL BE OURS, it is our RIGHT, and it is our DESTINY!
*Onboard the enemy flagship, the artifact listened to the Fleet Commander. It could feel his anger, it could feel his hate, the seed of destruction was there, and at that moment it decided that it was time to choose a new race to harbor it's evil intent. Its red glow intensifies, and becomes brighter and brighter, the enemy fleet begins to glow brighter and then suddenly they begin exploding! Killing hundreds of thousands of troops and destroying thousands of ships. The TriForce fleet looks onward in bewildered confusion*
(FC) WHAT HAPPENED?
(SO) It seems the enemy fleet simply exploded, there was a power surge from the alien artifact and all of a sudden the enemy ships power systems over heated and they lost containment!
(SC) My god!
(FC) Are they all dead?
(SC) Yes sir, all dead.
*Outside the alien artifact quickly turned a slight red then subsided, the TriForce Flagship moved closer*
(FC) GOOD!
(SC) Sir? Hundreds of thousands of men just died!
*The Fleet Commander ignores his subordinate and stares at the artifact*
(FC) I want that artifact brought into storage and researched. If we can learn to harness its power we can wipe our enemies to as if they NEVER WERE!
(SO) But....but.....SIR! Isn't that against IC LAW! The Inquisitor fleet would have our heads!
*The fleet Commander glares at the Science office, his eyes turn briefly red then subsides*
(FC) If the MODS interfere, we'll destroy them too.
*Silence surrounds the bridge, nobody could believe what their Commander just Said*
(FC) I'll be in my quarters if you need me, continue with the attack plan,
as soon as we're ready inform me.
(SC) Y..Y..Yes SIR!
*The Fleet Commander exits the bridge and heads to his quarters*
*Inside the cargo bay the artifact rests, surrounded by scientists, a small glow on one side sparks off, unnoticed by anyone there, a signal is sent, a small simple message "THE SEED BLOOMS"*
Meanwhile, Zeal sipped at her tea in her private quarters aboard her command ship, the Valhallan Star. The ship's main cannon was incredibly powerful, but even it did not compare to the destructive energies harnessed by the main weapon on board an Inquisitor Class vessel. The main cannon did achieve desirable results, however, able to scorch the life from a planet, leaving only a blackened husk where once a water-world dwelled. The cannon had only ever been fired once, at a planet belonging to an empire that had collapsed, it's economy in recession, government completely inactive. Zeal continued to sip her tea, and her thoughts wandered. Abruptly, the computer in the corner of the room began beeping excitedly. Zeal got up from her seat, and walked over to it, pressing the receive button gently. She was greeted by a video recording of an impossible incident. Three Inquisitor vessels were on the screen, and one fired the main weapon, destroying the other two. Zeal then noticed a small red-black vessel attached to the hull, and a sense of dread crept through her. She knew what the artifact was that had taken control of the vessel. She could only look on in terror as it darted out into space. Only after the transmission ended did she hail the bridge.
"Bridge, this is the Fleet Commander Zeal. Go to yellow alert, and activate the kharan shielding. Prepare to activate the main weapon as well. Zeal out."
With that, she strode towards the door, and walked out into the hallway.
"Damned Leviathans", she muttered. "Never know when to give up."
Floating aimlessly in a low orbit around CommonWealth, Nai sits with members of his bridge crew in the Escape pod.
All are calm, as though this had been rehearsed.
Channels from planetside were constant, and chatter between other pods and rescue crews were constant, and the only sound in the pod.
Looking out the viewpoint at a point in space, Nai watches and the mystery ship's red warp wake finally fades. The only visible item is the burning wreckage of the Inquisitor Vessel the Charlemange, and Destroyers Sovereign and Luthitania.
Inside the rescue pod, the Comm Duty Officer picks at a consul, the Communication channel affirms it is open by lighting up. "Valhallan Star, Valhallan Star, this is rescue pod Charlemange 288, requesting pick up over."
"Affirmative Charlemange 288, we are assisting in rescue efforts, please stand by. We are inbound and will be there in 12 minutes. Over."
"That is affirmative Valhallan Star, awaiting your support." and the Comm officer then looks at Nai. "How did you know they would be here?"
Nai, looks over that the young Duty officer, and says "All in good time.. raise them again, and pass the secure channel over to me."
"Ahh.. yes sir, raising them now.." once again picking at the consul, "Valhallan Star, Valhallan Star, come in please."
"This is Valhallan Star, we are on our way, just sit tight, keep everyone calm.. will you need medical assistance upon our arrival, Over?"
"No Valhallan Star, no need for medical assistance, however, please stand by for secure channel broadcast"
About 10 seconds later, "Beginning secured channel in 5,4,3,2..." The consul light switches from yellow over to a faint blue. Nai, places the headphone for the secure channel, and a scramming shield then surrounds the body of Nai.
Moments later it blinks brightly, only to disappear..
All the members look back at the Comm Duty officer.. he looks helpless.. "I hope he knows what he's doing".
Aboard the Valhallan Star
"Bridge, this is the Fleet Commander Zeal. Go to yellow alert, and activate the kharan shielding. Prepare to activate the main weapon as well. Zeal out."
With that, she strode towards the door, and walked out into the hallway.
"Damned Leviathans", she muttered. "Never know when to give up."
"Nor do I...."
Stopping Queen Zeal in her tracks. Spinning around, before her Stands Nai. Though she'd only seen him on the Holovid's in the past, she had little doubt as to who he was. One thing is though she had no idea just how shocked she really was.
As shocked as Zeal was to see the Inquisitor standing in the corridor, she attempted to remain calm. Three leviathan destroyers had just been sighted 2.5,000,000 kilometers off the port bow, and the Kharan shielding was active. Still, the inquisitor had managed to transport aboard. She automatically realized he had used the secure comms channel as a carrier for the transporter signal.
Looking slightly less shocked, she said "We are currently three minutes away from your escape pod, inquisitor. We will have to drop shields when we pick them up, and we will be vulnerable to the same type of attack as your vessel suffered. The main cannon of this ship can be overcharged, and in doing so it can destroy planets, while breaching the core of this vessel. Please accompany me to the bridge, there you may see for yourself what our current situation is."
With that, Zeal saluted, and calmly walked towards the nearest turbolift. Before she had got to the turbolift, the ship rocked violently and she was thrown to the side. The klaxons sounded, and red lighting had begun to flash. The ship was rocked a second time before Zeal tapped a button on her wristwatch and screamed "Report!"
The response from the bridge came, unclear at best, but it was not good.
"Fleet Commander, we are suffering hull damage! There are hull breaches in sections 48-Delta, deck 4, and section 23-Gamma! We have secured the Inquisitor's escape pod, and are attempting to raise shields!"
Within seconds, the hum of three layers of multiphasic shielding could be heard, along with the deployment of ablative armor. One of the sections that had been breached had been behind them, and the blast door had sealed the section. Zeal could hear the screams of the dying crew members until the atmosphere in the section was completely sucked out into space.
"Inquisitor, I strongly recommend that you come to deck one immediately."
With that Zeal led Nai to a turbolift, and once inside, simply said "Emergency Situation. Deck One." With those phrases, the turbolift's inertial dampers kicked in, and sped up the shaft to the bridge, faster then it ever traveled normally. Zeal stepped out into the bridge, possibly the most massive command center in her empire next to Fleet Command on the homeworld, and walked forward to a console.
"You can use this console to access all data stored in the computer, and you can also display a comprehensive readout of our situation here. You may take command of this vessel, if you wish"
With that, Zeal strode to the Tactical Station, and looked at the readout of weapons status. The Neutron Cannon, often referred to as the ship's main cannon, was ready to release its deadly beam, powered by a core filled with pure neutronium. The main phaser arrays were undamaged, and the 400+ torpedo tubes were all functional.
"This is Fleet Commander Zeal, all hands to battlestations! I repeat, All hands to battlestations! Inquisitor, you have the bridge."
With that, Zeal waited for Nai's orders. The ship could still fold, making an escape possible. The only problem was that in folding, the Valhallan Star would create a temporary passageway, allowing the enemy to follow if they were quick enough. The only good thing was that in folding space, the destination coordinates could not be traced. Zeal hoped the three black destroyers on the viewscreen did not have the capability to fold space as well...
Nai Solieri looked at the Holoprojections around the exterior on the command center. Several glows of fighter exhaust could be seen entangled in skirmishes with several currently un-identified craft. Occasional streaks of weaponfire dancing between them.
"Just hold your position... This attack will not continue much longer." Turning to watch as members of his crew began walking in from the lift, taking positions around the bridge.
"Have your people withdraw Zeal.. we have control of the situation."
On that note, the crewmembers from the Charlemange made several advances on the crew and staff of the Valhallan Star. Sounds of injections can be hear as the bridge crew one by one begin to slump over, until only the queen is left standing.
Appalled she draw's here side arm threatening to fire "Nai... You couldn't... what are you doing!" Queen Zeal exclaims!
"In due time.. There are some things that we cannot let be revealed to everyone." Nai then looking at the Tactical station.. As if on cue "Yes sir, all long and short range sensors are offline.., the CommonWealth team reports planet secure."
Still holding the weapon bearing on Nai, she too watches the events transpire.
Turning to the area where the artifact ships are pursuing the remaining fighter cap of the Valhallan Star.."Watch, my good Queen, and see.. For no one in 8 rounds has seen what you are about to see.."
Streams of a white mist begin to coalesce and then concentrate upon a single point in what looks to be the space directly behind the artifact vessels. Space begins to peal back, as an event horizon of the mist begins to form swirling around, settling into a small disk..
At this time the artifact ships begin to cease their pursuit of the remaining fighters.. They too, begin to orient themselves towards the new phenomenon.
Something shinning a bright and gleaming silver makes it entrance into normal space.. The behind it growing now into immense size. The unlit face of the CommonWealth moon now shimmers in it's light.
Beam's of what appear to be scanners pierce through the entire system.. It becomes obvious that this new ship is much further away that the visual projectors of the holosuite on the command center can handle.
Three short beams of energy the streak from its location.. vaporizing the artifact ships entirely.
"The deletion beams are effective."
The queen says.. "They've been seen before, every so often.."
Looking back at the queen from over his shoulder.. yes.. but that's not what I was talking about."
"Then you mean the ship?"
Turning full around, towards the queen, without hesitation.. as though rehearsed.. "No.. No that ship.. this one."
The spinning white disk grows immensely in all directions, spanning what appears to be half the system.. A vessel, shinning of a pure metallic silver immerges from view. A small flotilla of destroyer, cruiser and Inquisitor class vessels in formation..
The size is unspeakable. Amid ship, there appears its powersource.. visions of a quasar, shielded amid what appears to be cities on its surface. The Ship itself appears to have it's own atmosphere.. Lakes, mountains, valleys and rivers.. even clouds are visible.. a world ship!
The queen astonished, sits down.. with the help of a Overseer crewmen..
"That is what I meant my dear Queen.."
"I will be leaving you now.. your crew will awaken in a few minutes.. I trust you will be agreeable to this, no?"
The Overseer crew then takes up position near Nai.. and instantly vanishes from the bridge.
Zeal sat dazed in her command chair in the center of the bridge. She had just witnessed an act that few live to speak of, and she, and her crew, were still alive. The sounds of the command staff stirring from their induced state could be heard, and Zeal realized quickly what she needed to do.
"Fleet Commander Zeal of the Confederated Worlds of Enhasa to Inquisitor Nai Solieri! This is an urgent message! I am transmitting you the databases about Leviathans, and the appropriate decryption code, so you may examine the data we have collected in the past six rounds! This information will allow you to generate a field that scrambles the neural pathways of leviathans! It is vital to protect your vessels against further infiltration as previously seen!"
With that, she cut off the transmission. She then walked over to the Tactical Station on the command deck. Her slim fingers danced on the console.
"The main databank is empty. As I should expect." Zeal muttered to herself. Her fingers continued their dance on the console."
"Command authorization Zeal-Alpha-Tango. Disengage encryption of module 854156, and reinstate database. Disengage temporal recording device, and restrict collected data to all crewmembers but myself. Store data in module 985458."
"Command authorization recognized. Performing actions," the computer replied. "Actions Complete."
"Now disengage all maglock systems, and initiate Tango Protocol." Zeal said.
"Acknowledged. Maglock systems disengaged. Tango Protocol Initiated."
Shortly after the computer responded, Zeal's bridge crew awoke. They returned to their stations, and Zeal left the Bridge. Maintaining a comm-link with the computer, she silently spoke "Activate Temporal Shielding.", and the hum of the shields could be heard for an instant. When she returned to her quarters, she replayed the footage of the deletion of the artifact ships. Then, she pressed a button on the console in front of her, and hailed the bridge.
"This is Fleet Commander Zeal, prepare to fold to the following coordinates." She said. After she gave the coordinates, she said "Fold to those coordinates immediately. That is all."
Silently, and gracefully, the slender shape of the Valhallan Star, Ten kilometers long, shifted on its axis. The dual wings on either side of the ship towards the rear began to glow a gentle blue-green, and the ship vanished in a glorious flash of blue-white light. Halfway across the galaxy, the Valhallan Star reappeared, and oriented itself to the star system's natural plane. Zeal then hailed the bridge again.
"Bridge, this is FC Zeal. Prepare to test the Neutron Cannon at full power at oh-nine-hundred tomorrow morning."
As the Valhallan Star streaked across the system, a ruddy glow had begun to build underneath the prow of the vessel. The neutron cannon was located there, and never before had it been fired at full power. The Valhallan Star was quickly closing on a group of destroyers, matching the description of those that had been deleted the previous day. As they drew nearer, the importance of disengaging all the maglock systems was made clear. The twin wings of the vessel extended away from the vessel, and reoriented themselves, vibrant blue paneling revealed. The ship elongated as well, and the muzzle of the neutron cannon extended from under the prow of the vessel. The ship was no longer had the same profile as the predecessor to the Valhallan Star, but had taken its true form. as the ship continued to elongate, it reached over 11 kilometers in length. After the sequence was complete, the total length of the ship was 12 kilometers exactly. Zeal had returned to the bridge.
"Re-engage maglock systems." Zeal said.
"Acknowledged," a crewman replied. "Current configuration is now nominal."
"Good." Zeal said. "Open fire."
With those two words, the tactical officer pressed one button on his console, and the holoprojectors zoomed in on the three leviathans. Outside the Valhallan Star, energy pulsed and crackled along side the neutron cannon, and the beam from the neutron cannon was unleashed in its full fury. The beam was blindingly white, compared to the usual yellow-white hue that it had carried. It streaked across space towards the leviathans, and all three were vaporized. The beam had continued it's passage through space, and had hit a planet as well. It stripped the atmosphere from the planet, and the planet then imploded. The largest chunk of debris was the size of the small console that rested in the corner of Zeal's quarters. The planet was not destroyed accidentally, however. Scanners had shown leviathan infection to have contaminated 98% of the planet. Zeal then turned to her helms man.
"Return us to our previous position. Firing the main cannon at full power has resulted in the deletion of three leviathan capital ships and one planet. Record these observations, and file them in the official report. I will transmit it myself."
With that, the helmsman engaged the fold drive, and the re-born Valhallan Star disappeared from the sector, leaving only a beacon detailing how the planet had been destroyed.
*Out in the Orion Nebula a small squadron of fighters from family 522 move
through yet another desolate star system*
(Wing Commander Blake) Doesn't seem like they left much did they?
(Wing Man) Sure doesn't.
(Blake) Scan for survivors.
(WM) YES SIR!
*Trips like these were becoming something that Commander Blake dreaded. Ever
since the attack by the Dark Ones as they've become commonly called. Their
attack came with no warning; in an instant the ships emerged from hyperspace
and destroyed much of the galaxy in their wake. Commander Blake could
remember watching as one of the few Inquisitor vessels in the region try to
assault one of the Dark Destroyers, the Dark Ship merely deflected the
energy from the Inquisitor Vessel's main cannon along it's sides and rammed
completely through the front portion of the ship emerging at it's end with
the debris from the Inquisitor Vessel in it's wake. After seeing that fiasco
the lines began to break and nothing was left to stop them from destroying
world after world. Blake though himself up for dead when a Dark Fighter came
up on his rear when all of a sudden the ships stopped attacking and withdrew
back into hyperspace. Now with so few survivors remaining they have to
rebuild what they lost in the short but costly war*
(WM) Sir I'm getting some strange subspace readings, I suggest you take a
look.
(Blake) Let me take a look.
*Blake pulls up the information his Wing Man was talking about on his HUD
display, it showed a strange radiation trail, Keletron Radiation to be
exact. "Strange" Blake thought, Keletron radiation is only found in the
Keletra Nebula on the far end of the Galaxy and usually it dissipates at a
distance of .27 light years from the Nebula*
(Blake) Computer run a spectral analysis.
(COMPUTER) Analyzing.
(WM) Sir I may have found something, may I?
(Blake) Be my guest.
*Several minutes of silence ensued, then Blake’s wingman finally responded*
(WM) Sir I went ahead and ran a tracer pattern into the analysis, take a
look at what I found.
*Blake tapped his screen and a new image appeared, this time of the
radiation trail extended, it's line progressed through several quadrants
before ending right in the Keletra Nebula, just as he had suspected*
(Blake) We need to get this info back to the command ship. All ships form up
in formation and head back!
(Everyone) AYE SIR!
*The squadron turned back and began heading back towards its Command Ship.
Could this be what they were looking for? Only the Scientists aboard the
Excalibur could find out*
*Meanwhile in Trianglium the TriForce fleet had been massing for days. A
fleet in the tens of millions now roamed the system. For days now Emperors
have been trying to recalls their fleets in the Triforce, but all their
hails were ignored, the TriForce now took on a new purpose. On the 4th
planet Yarrow 3 a monstrosity was being built. Large amounts of octarine
were being transported to the planet, being used to build a large structure.
What it is remained much to be seen*
(Ship Commander) What is he building out there?
(Science Officer) I'm not sure sir, but whatever it is it's huge.
*In the time after the artifact was captured there was a noticeable change
in Fleet Commander THROCK attitude. He became darker, more menacing. One day
he presented the fleet counsel with detailed hand drawn plans of a massive
structure, when he presented it the Fleet commander looked worn and tired as
if he was drawing them up all night. The plans were part Portal and part
something else. He didn't question his superior's orders, but it did make
him on edge*
(SC) Well lets hope the commander knows what he's doing.
*Fleet Commander Throck enters the bridge. The crew politely saluted their
superior*
(Throck) Status report?
(SC) Construction is going according to schedule sir we expect completion
within 3 days.
(Throck) Good, contact the destroyer Phoenix; I have a task for her.
(SC) Yes sir!
*The Phoenix, yet another mystery, the Inquisitor Ship Phoenix dropped out
of hyperspace yesterday, everyone though they were caught but the Fleet
Commander acted as if he expected it's arrival. But then they noticed the
small Dark ship attacked to its hull, a quick scan revealed all the crew of
the ship were dead, poisoned by their own environmental system, the crew
suffered greatly. The ship was quickly decontaminated and brought to working
order and manned. The Ship commander brought up the Phoenix on the screen*
(Phoenix Commander) Commander THROCK! I wasn't expecting your call! What can
I do for you sir?
(THROCK) Have you completed the modifications I told you to make?
(PC) Oh yes sir, we'll be fully operational in about 3 hours.
(Throck) Prepare to set off as soon as your ready, I'm sending you details
of your mission.
*Commander THROCK keyed in a command into his terminal, sending the signal,
the Phoenix Commander looks at the message sent and his eyes widen, knowing
full well that this was going to be his last assignment*
(Throck) I don't think you need me to explain those orders, now do I
Commander?
(PC) N..No sir! It would be an honor; it's about time something like this
happened.
(Throck) Indeed, set out as soon as you can leave, oh and commander! Make
sure there are no survivors.
(PC) Yes sir, Phoenix put!
*The fleet commander grins and walks off*
(Throck) Keep me informed!
*The Bridge Commander looks on as the Fleet Commander Throck left the
bridge, he takes a quick glance at the terminal the commander was using,
some star coordinates were visible but they quickly disappeared, but not
before he recognized the planet he was targeting. The target....Sogil Prime*
*Meanwhile in MW the small scout ship makes its way back into normal space.
It heads towards a small planet on the far edge of the system. The
information it gathered will be very useful in the coming war. They've
waited this long for vengeance, their time is close now*
*The scout ship speeds towards the planet without slowing down, it races
towards the surface, closer and closer, it's about to hit but instead it
passes through! The planet is merely an illusion. The scout ship races
towards the inner sphere of the ship, passing hundreds of thousands of
destroyers, all in dock, waiting to be called into action. The scout ship
reaches the inner sphere and docks; it begins to upload the data it found*
[UPLOADING DATA]..+..+..+..+..+
[UPLOAD COMPLETE]
*Inside the inner sphere lies a large control hub, inside it lies a complete
chart of all the galaxies in the universe, many are darkened red, which
accounts for families they have influenced, families in purple counts the
families that are in opposition. An image comes info focus on the main
screen, smaller diagram of the IC Universe, now a new image begins to
overlay the other, merging the 2, 15 red dots appear, 15 points in space, 15
keys to the universe. Immediately the whole chamber turns red, ships begin
releasing their docking clamps and begin speeding off. Hundreds of thousands of ships jump to hyperspace, a signal is sent out….*
(Signal) Secure the gateways, prepare the way, soon we will rise again…..
*3 Dark destroyers jump out of hyperspace, their colony in ruins, a large ship is seen jumping into the fold but is gone before they can hunt it down. The 3 ships circle the dead world, searching for any form of life.....none is found. It is time for them to finish their task, the 3 ships move closer, crackles of energy can be seen building up between the 3 ships as the combine into a monstrous Fissure Ship. Once combined the craft targets the planet, a planet devoid of live, a planet destroyed utterly, a planet ripe to be reborn anew. The Fissure Ship races towards the planet, it's main cannon fires, drilling a hole into the planet's crust, it's front armor glows brightly as the massive ship smashes through the planetary crust, slamming into the mantel. The ship races through the planet's mantel and collides with the planet's core, as the ship races through the planetary core it releases a dark object, the ship continues it's journey until it drills all the way through the other side of the dead planet. In it's wake the dead planet begins to implode, a dark shadow engulfs the planet, flames burst out on all sides, a dark glow begins to emanate from the planet's core. The implosion continues until there is nothing left but a dark portal, more massive than any portal known to exist, the Fissure Ship looms in space, staring at it's creation*
(Fissure Ship) The first gateway is secure.......awaiting instructions.
Zeal finished watching the recording of the destruction of Sogil Prime. There were a number of leviathans present, but the most disturbing factor was the number of contaminated Inquisitor vessels. Zeal had watched the recording six times by now, and each time she had been thinking of the same thing. If the neutron cannon was fired at full power, it would destroy the leviathan fleet, but it would also destroy the planet. The calculations scrawled on the paper littering the room did little more then confirm that the cannon would only be effective at full power, and the planet would be completely destroyed. The temporal recorder was an invaluable device, however. The recording Zeal watched was of events that would happen in three days. She knew that Sogil would have access to a similar recording, but did not know if a fleet could be assembled in time. Zeal got up from her seat, and walked towards the door. She paused for a moment, and turned around. There, she paused to think. The neutron cannon would vaporize leviathans at full power, but would it do the same to an infected Inquisitor vessel? Zeal thought of the possibility as she walked out into the hallway.
"Coming through! Out of the way! Very Important Equipment!!!" A crewman shouted. The corridor was filled with crewmember running back and forth with various pieces of equipment. The din was nearly deafening. The Valhallan Star was undergoing heavy modifications; the crew was preparing her to go into battle with Inquisitor class vessels. As she struggled her way towards the turbolift, a number of crewmen went past with a disruption cannon, slated to be installed in the forward section of the ship. The weapon almost completely filled the corridor. Zeal managed to make her way to the turbolift, but conditions there were not much better.
"Priority Access. Deck One." She said. A number of other crewmembers were in the turbolift, filling it to capacity. The turbolift traveled all the way to the bridge, where a number of command staff got off it as well, before the turbolift doors slid shut. The Bridge was only slightly better then the hallways; Maintenance crews were all over the place, installing numerous components. Every now and then some components would materialize on the bridge, and a crewmember would exit the turbolift and install them. The bridge was chaotic at best. Zeal called her senior staff to join her in the conference room off the port side of the bridge. There were a number of crewmen in the room as well, but they were dismissed for the time being. As Zeal sat at the head of the table, she realized that wall panels had been removed, and that there were crewmen working inside the wall. She dismissed them as well. As soon as only she and her senior staff were in the room, she enabled the soundproofing, and began to speak.
"What I am about to tell you must not leave this room. We are going to attempt to assist in defending Sogil Prime against the Leviathan threat." Zeal said. "Any objections will be noted."
"There have not been any leviathan sightings even remotely near that sector! How would we know they planned to attack?" Lieutenant Davidson had said. Zeal responded simply by playing the recording of the event through the room's holoprojection system.
"These events were recorded three days from now by the temporal recorder. We will attempt to destroy the enemy ships with one volley from the Neutron Cannon. It may not be effective against the Inquisitor Class vessels, so we are retrofitting the ship with more weaponry. We will be able to destroy an Inquisitor class vessel with approximately three volleys from the redesigned disruption cannons. But the fact remains that we would be outnumbered. In the next two days I have ordered that we utilize the shipbuilding facilities on board to create smaller strike craft and frigates to assist us in the strike against 'The Dark.' Each of you will be assigned to a Schala Class heavy cruiser. Once on board, you will also make sure that the shipbuilding facilities on board those ships provide enough fighters. The Valhallan Star will launch at full capacity with 500,000 fighters in her launch bays, and each Schala Class heavy cruiser will be expected to launch at full capacity as well. Each heavy cruiser will also be fitted with a phase disruption beam. The installation of a neutron cannon requires the facilities at a major starbase, and we do not have enough resources to manufacture an additional six neutron cannons. Focus your efforts on preparing for battle. The Schala Class heavy cruisers Heimdal (CX-13432), Weltall (CX-14032-A), Fenrir (CX-23223), Jotunheim (CX-12324-B), and Vanaheim (CX-8322-E) will rendezvous at our position at 14:00. You will transfer aboard then. That is all."
With those words, Zeal dismissed the senior crew and sat wondering about the future. She held within her mind the possibility that the future may change simply because she had used a device to record it. She then walked out of the room, and into the turbolift. She had been extremely lucky, as the turbolift was completely empty.
"Priority Access, authorization Zeal-Alpha-Tango. Deny any entry into turbolift while in transit. Shipyard Three" Zeal said.
"Acknowledged. Approximate transit time to Shipyard Three is twenty two and a half minutes." The computer responded. Zeal looked somewhat annoyed.
"Computer, disregard all commands, and initiate a site-to-site transport to Shipyard Three."
"Acknowledged. Initiating transport." The computer replied.
The next thing Zeal knew, was that she was in front of the entrance to Shipyard Three. She walked across the massive hall towards the main office of the shipyard. Fighters were being manufactured by the hundreds in the bay, and closer to the space doors, a Balthasar class light fold cruiser was undergoing repairs. Zeal finally made it to the main office. As she stepped inside she nearly bumped into the foreman.
"How fast can you finish construction of the fighters with our current resources?" She asked. The foreman replied "If we don't get attacked, the ships will be ready to use by the end of tomorrow. We have enough fuel for about a million fighters, so we'll only be able to refuel them once."
"Good. We shouldn't need to refuel them anyway, but we need to be prepared." She replied.
As Zeal walked out the door back into the construction bay, she ran face to face into Nai.
"I thought your business here was finished? Or is this concerning that unscheduled deletion?" She asked him.
"It strikes me as odd that you would be preparing this vessel to enter combat, with no less then Inquisitor ships." He responded. "Those disruption cannons seem to have enough power to cripple an Inquisitor Cruiser. Would you mind telling me why you ordered this ship retrofitted?"
"We can't talk about it here." She responded. She then hit a button on her wristwatch, and her quarters materialized around them.
"I see you have been doing some... theoretical calculations?" He said as he walked through the papers that were strewn across the quarters.
"You know why we're here." She responded.
"Yes, I would have to say that I do know. I also know that you somehow managed to reinstate your main databanks, and earlier, you fooled the ship into reporting all sensors offline whilst they recorded the deletion of those three destroyers, and more importantly, the world ship. Would you care to explain this?" Nai asked her.
Zeal turned around slowly. In her hand was a mug of black coffee. She simply stared for a moment, and then responded.
"The situation at hand is more important. I'm sure you know of the attack that the so-called "Dark" have planned?" Zeal replied.
"The attack on Sogil Prime? Yes, we know about it. But how did you?" Nai asked.
"Now now, you may be an inquisitor, but even I need to leave something unknown. It just wouldn't be prudent for me to tell you at this moment, that's all. I will tell you how I knew, but not today, and not tomorrow. Not until this threat is neutralized."
With that, Nai nodded, and disappeared from Zeal's quarters all together. Zeal had not noticed his departure as she was hunched over the display in the corner.
"And Nai, next time, please..." Zeal turned around, and saw that he was gone. "... inform me that you are coming aboard..." She said, her voice trailing off. She turned around and mumbled "I really wish they didn't do that."
Sitting aboard the Master, one of two admin class vessels, with the other Inquisitors present, all of the Mod's sat present, watching as Zeal and Nai conversation. As it proceeds to her cabin, and Nai's depart, as Zeal continued mumbling to herself.
Nai walked out of the area with Zeal herself was, and took his seat at his bench in the Circle Interface. The room as though an extension of Queen Zeal’s office, as much as it was of the Master.
Looking over to Inquisitor Lizzy, a young, debenue creature, madly in love with Inquisitor Ryan. "She seems to be a perfect.. You have choose well."
Lizzy responds with some level of contempt. "Yes. Fine, but you still haven't told her, have you"
"No. It is necessary and I know you know that."
Briefly as though the commitment has already been made.. "Yes, for her and her people to have to sacrifice so much......." and a sigh.
"The will prosper from it, though yes, it will be tough, as her story is far from over."
Inquisitor Sogil interrupts, "Yes, Nai.. we all know that, but only with time.", a brief pause as to conclude the previous conversation. Looking over to Nai, "You have replaced her old recorder with the new one.."
"Yes, my old friend. It has been done." Holding up the 'temporal' recorder that Queen Zeal had been so much involved with. His assistant on queue steps forward, removing it from Nai's hand and steps back behind the scene.
The room with which Queen Zeal is hunched over her reports fades.
"So it is confirmed that that the Inquisitor ship Lassidor had the information assimilated. As they have never seen Sogil Prime, they will not know, until it is too late.."
"Yes, yes, and then the entire system will be fired upon by the admins, and we will have squashed this foolish rebellion. With their entire fleet committed, any further remnants will be quite easy to contain and eliminate. We've gone of that before." Says Nai.."But what of this reported illusionary world base? We didn't pick up the artifact until they had already put their plans into motion, why not that they have somewhere where our probes cannot scan. We've never been able to confirm if that it wasn't possible."
"Then I will go and see for myself.. There is much to gain by ensure that this report is not true." Nai says to Sogil.
"Very well, as all if prepared here.. there is nothing more for you to do. Do we all agree?"
The other mods voice no objection.
All depart, except Nai and his assistant.
"Notify the Nailadia, we depart for The Triangulum upon my return, and assemble the Admirals in the convention hall. There is much planning we must do my friend."
"I will sir.. and this temporal recorder" Holding it up to remind Nai of it.
"See what the Counter Ops wants to do with it.. It's served my purposes."
"Very will, and we will be serving Prime Rib tonight, Shall I serve a side of Asparagus on the side."
Looking over startled, Nai paces briefly and then takes hold of the assistance shoulders "Todd.. You’re a genius, remind me to promote you one day!
"Belay that bit about bring the Nailadia with us to Tri, the Nailadia will return to Nailadia Prime.. Contact the registration department.. I think you've solve our problem flushing out this hidden fleet."
The assistance, once again, in his Super Loyal sort of way agrees with Nai, and allows himself to be shuffled out of the chamber.
Looking back at the Center, Nai becomes, once again troubled.. "I'll catch up in just a moment.."
Walking over the controls, a few brief commands are input, and the room with this Queen Zeal is sitting again materializes before him. She is desperately issuing orders, calling upon the reserves of energy for every bit she can give. Obviously this troubles the aged Inquisitor. Pushing one last button, the image again begins to shut down.
Nai watching as the last of the image fades. "I believe my young friend, that in the coming days, you'd really wish I would."
*Onboard the Inquisitor vessel Phoenix Commander Flex paced back and forth, his mission was clear, he had to succeed to fulfill his part of the plan*
(Commander Flex) What's our ETA?
(Helms Man) 5 minutes till we jump sir.
*Commander Flex taps his communicator*
(Flex) Are the modifications ready?
(Chief engineer) Yes sir, she's a bit unstable but she'll hold fine.
(Flex) Good good, Flex out.
*Commander Flex continued to pace the bridge of the Phoenix, how he wished he could have commanded such a ship in his youth, maybe if he had he wouldn't be here today. After loosing his kin to the Inquisitor fleet at Gunslinger he has dedicated his life to destroying the Inquisitors at any cost*
(Communications Officer) Sir we just received the signal from the Dark.
(Flex) Very well then people, lets get this over with, prepare to jump on my mark.
*Out in space the Dark fleet emerged from hyperspace. Tens of thousands of Dark ships along with thousands more Inquisitor Vessels jumped to attack their target. The Valhallan Star was ready as the ships jumped into normal space*
(Zeal) FIRE!
*The cannon of the Valhallan Star fired, hitting the Dark fleet just as they emerged from hyperspace, they didn't know what hit them, more than a third of the fleet was destroyed, but even then they still outnumbered their opponent*
(Zeal) Lets hope this works! All ships fall back get behind Sogil Prime’s defense grid!
*The Inquisitor fleet fell back quickly, the Dark fleet in pursuit, as soon as they got in close enough the massive weapons platforms of Sogil Prime opened fired. Massive explosions ensued, thousands of ships were being destroyed, but the Dark fleet pressed on, intent on capturing their prize*
(Zeal) Launch all ships, all Inquisitor vessels! open fire!
*The Inquisitor fleet, turned, and closed the jaws of their trap. The Dark fleet had nowhere to run, caught in the crossfire they were being slowly exterminated, but not even the Inquisitors would expect what the Dark fleet did next, one Dark cruiser raced towards an Inquisitor Destroyer, one limb of the ship was cut off, but it pressed on, the Inquisitor vessel finally saw what it was doing, but by then it was too late, the Dark ship rammed the Inquisitor ship severing it in 2, large e chunks of both ships spread out smashing into several other vessels, disabling them*
(Zeal) My god..
*With horror Zeal watched as the Dark fleet rammed ship after ship, sacrificing themselves to destroy their enemy*
(Tactical officer) Sir! Our left flank is collapsing!
(Weapons Officer) Sir 3 dark ships are approaching us on separate vectors on a ramming course!
(Communications Officer) Receiving a transmission Commander Zeal!
(Zeal) Put it up.
*An image of Nai appeared before her*
(Nai) Now Commander Zeal, must I always come to your rescue.
(TO) Sir multiple jumpoints are forming! IT'S THE INQUISITOR ARMADA!
(Zeal)*whispers* You bloody bastard. *smiles*
*The Inquisitor armada jumps out of hyperspace, millions of ships, brimming with firepower. The Dark fleet tries to retreat but this time there is no way out, the Inquisitor Armada moves in, attacking the Dark fleet, finishing them off, destroying them utterly*
*Nai sits in his command chair, pleased with the results of the attack, he has a slight smile on his face and thinks, this may end sooner than I had thought*
(Ship Commander) Sir I have a hail form the Valhallan Star.
(Nai) Patch it through
*Commander Zeal appears on the main viewer*
(Zeal) I suppose you expect me to thank you?
(Nai) Well that would be appropriate now wouldn't it?
(Zeal) We could have taken them on our own.
*Nai smiles*
(Nai) I'm sure you could have, but I decided to be certain, Sogil is my friend as well you know.
(Zeal) Yes well........I hate to say it, but thanks.
*Nai sits back in his chair, smiling....Zeal continues to talk*
(Zeal) I do have one favor to ask of you Nai.
(Nai) Oh? And that is?
(Zeal) Don't get your hopes up, it involves my brother, he was assigned to the Inquisitor Vessel Phoenix in Trianguliam, I haven't heard from him in days.
*Nai takes a quick glance at his side terminal and keys in a few commands, a readout comes up, Nai looks at Zeal with a sorrowed face*
(Nai) Unfortunately the Phoenix hasn't reported in for the past few days, at last report it was somewhere in the Dublian Expanse, there have been a great many Dark sightings in that area, but we have no way to be certain as to what has happened to his ship.
*Zeal pounds her fist into the counsel*
(Zeal) Dammit! If Only I knew what happened to him, I would rather have known his ship was destroyed here but I already scanned the wreckage of the infected Inquisitor ships, but none of them turned out to be the Phoenix.
(Nai) I'm sure he's alright........
*Inside the Phoenix*
(Flex) JUMP!
*On the bridge of the Valhallan Star*
(Zeal) yes well........
(Science Officer) SIR, we have a contact, bearing 245 mark 34, it's the PHIONEX!
(Zeal) ON SCREEN!
*The image of Nai cut off and the image of the Inquisitor Vessel Phoenix appeared on the screen, it was very hard to see, with the burning Sun of Sogil Prime in the background*
(Zeal) Hail them!
(CO) She isn't responding to hails sir.
*Zeal watched on the screen as the Phoenix turned towards the Sun, it began to accelerate*
(Bridge Officer) What is it doing?
(Zeal) I don't have a good feeling about this.
*Onboard Nai's flagship he too noted the return of the Phoenix*
(CO) Sir the ship isn't responding to normal hails.
(Nai) Send 3 Inquisitor vessels to being the Phoenix home.
(Science Officer) SIR LOOK!
*The Phoenix began to move towards the sun*
*Inside the Phoenix*
(COMPUTER) 10 Seconds to impact, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3.....
*Thinks "Now my revenge is complete"*
(COMPUTER) 2..
(Commander Flex) NOW!
(COMPUTER) 1........
*Commander Flex pounds his counsel, activating the Phoenix’s main weapon, but this is no normal weapon*
(COMPUTER) IMPAC....T
*The Phoenix crashed into the SUN! It's cannons firing a massive red beam towards the Sun's CORE, Zeal and Nai could only watch in shocked amazement at what happened, but what they saw is only the beginning*
*Onboard Nai's Flagship*
(SO) Sir! I'm getting some strange readings from the SUN! SIR, it's exploding, it's going SUPERNOVA!
*Nai jumped up from his chair*
(Nai) OPEN A CHANNEL! FLEET WIDE! ALL SHIPS! RETREAT! ALL SHIPS RETREAT!
*Commander Zeal didn't need to be told twice as what was happening, as soon as she saw the Phoenix ram the SUN she knew to get the heck out of the area, the Valhallan Star races to escape the oncoming supernova. As the ship jumps into hyperspace it's last images of the Sogil System is Sogil Prime exploding from the shockwave of the explosion*
*Later in the day.......*
*Commander Zeal is in the conference room along with Inquisitor Nai and Inquisitor Sogil and several other high ranking officials from all across the Universe*
(Nai) You all have read the reports?
(Commander) Are these accurate?
(Sogil) They are, 2/3rds of our fleet was destroyed in the blast, we never should have concentrated such a force into one battle.
(Zeal) You couldn't have known this would happen.
*A commander in the back motions to be recognized, Nai nods at him*
(Commander) Inquisitor, the only question I have is how did the Dark Ones know of our ambush?
*Zeal, Sogil, and Nai all stare at each other, Nai looks back at the commander*
(Nai) We don't know, all we know is that we're missing something, something very important.
*The commander sits, as the meeting continues, reports of the Dark Invasion are coming in from all across the universe, they all begin to wonder that if they ever did win this war, will there be anything left to build up again?*
*Onboard the TriForce Flagship Commander Throck reads the report of the destruction of the Sogil system, of the reported billions dead, killed in the blast. Ship Commander Tea'lo approaches his superior, a report in hand*
(Tea'lo) The device worked just as you had planned sir, we knew of the planned ambush and we changed our plan accordingly. Now I understand how the MODS were able to destroy so many empires so quickly. If I had known they had temporal feeds........
*Commander Throck smiles*
(Throck) What the MODS have is nothing, they don't know the half of what temporal feeds are capable of.
(Tea'lo) You mean you’re able to do more than just recording the future?
(Throck) Indeed my dear Tea'lo.
*Commander Throck taps his head*
(Throck) It's all in here.
*Commander Throck smiles as Tea'lo exits the chamber, he stares at the construction of the device and thinks "Soon my dear, your beast will be reborn, and the new age of darkness will snuff out the light, and ensure chaos reigns supreme". Commander Throck smiles evilly*
After the destruction of Sogil Prime, Zeal had ordered the Valhallan Star back to Starbase 001, the largest and best-equipped starbase in her empire. It was over 20 kilometers long, and would have been capable of housing all three Valhallan Stars, had the previous two not been destroyed over four rounds ago. The starbase currently loomed in the holoprojection, and as they drew nearer she noticed that the local fleet was on high alert as she had ordered. Several Schala Class heavy cruisers, each 8 kilometers in length, were dispatched to the asteroid belt, where they had become cities floating in space, mining the asteroid belt and producing more ships, fuel, and weapons to combat the Dark threat that was so quickly spreading. They were manufacturing more neutron cannons out there in the asteroid field, and the cannons were modified for planetary installation. The Dark would be in for a brutal suprise if they attacked an Enhasan World. So for already 32 of the 45 civilized planets had been equipped with 54 Neutron Cannons each, which drew enough power from the geothermal reactor that powered everything on the planet. The tests showed excellent results, the planetside neutron cannons able to fire at full power repeatedly until they began to overheat. The first recorded neutron cannon to shut down due to overheating had fired sixty times at full power before it shut down. The planetside defenses were well equipped, with neutron cannons strategically placed so that in the event of attack, at least nine neutron cannons would be able to open fire. So far they had vaporized a fleet of decommissioned Schala class heavy cruisers in instants. Zeal's attention was on the Valhallan Star, however. When the ship's left flank had been hit, the port fold-drive wing had been sheared off the ship, preventing her from folding directly to a starbase. Instead, she had limped back to the Enhasan Empire, where she had been towed by forty fold capable ships to Starbase 001. The fact that the wing had been destroyed with the system was comforting to Zeal; had it been salvaged by the Dark, they would have had enough information to construct a fold drive, and they would no longer need hyperspace. They would be able to fold space across any distance, so Zeal ordered that the blueprints of the drives be kept only in the minds of the engineers. If they were captured, Zeal wanted to make sure that the only Fold capable ships the Dark had were of Enhasan origin. And Zeal could destroy them with a simple command. Every Enhasan ship carried a memory module that could not be tampered with, and would only accept her commands. That was her means of making sure the Dark would never fold. She had even had the computer systems on the Valhallan Star re-engineered to kill Dark ships with lethal neuro-feedback if they attempted to interface with the ship's computer. She was on the bridge, overseeing the installation of newer sensors, the current array as old as the ship itself, which was nearly 40 years old.
"How much higher is the resolution?" She asked, impatiently
"We should be able to scan any sector in the galaxy with these, and the short range sensors should be able to scan further and better. Short range is now anything within a solar system, and long range will detect anything else." The crewman replied.
"Good. Make sure they're shielded adequately." Zeal replied.
Zeal had also ordered every obsolete system on the ship to be replaced immediately. This included the main cannon. It was being upgraded to increase its rate of fire, and heat dissipation. When they had fired it at the Dark Fleet over Sogil Prime, they had overheated it and damaged several power relays. There were many other things that she had upgraded. The computer system was brand new, a testament to logic and efficiency, and it no longer had such long wait times when accessing a remote module in the ship. Everything was going according to plan. Except for the replacement of the port fold wing. Zeal then transported to the Starbase, into a room where the Valhallan Star could be seen through the window. The Starbase's commander was there.
"How are the repairs going?" Zeal asked the commander.
"All repairs are on schedule, except for the replacement of the wing. We haven't manufactured one of that class in forty years." The commander replied.
"We do have the facilities to manufacture another?" Zeal was looking annoyed now.
"We do, but it is taking longer then expected. The nanites are not as fast as we thought. The wing is only a quarter finished right now." He responded, looking slightly fearful.
"What about the strut it is to be mounted on?"
"Its repairs are complete." The commander replied.
With that, Zeal walked into the turbolift and said "Shuttlebay three. Priority Access." The turbolift sped towards the shuttlebay, and when Zeal stepped out, She saw that her private shuttle had survived the attack quite well. It had been dispatched with the fighters in the ambush, and its surface was dirty, but otherwise it was functional. Zeal stepped into the sleek metallic blue craft, complete with it's own set of fold wings, and piloted the shuttle out of the starbase. She then punched in the coordinates, and the shuttle disappeared in the blue white flash characteristic of folding space. It reappeared in her home system, where it flew towards a large vessel orbiting the sun. It was a conglomerate vessel, built by all the founding empires of the Family previously known as the Great Convention. Recently the name had been changed, but the reputation was the same. The congress-ship had the length and stance of a Enhasan ship, but it had the appearance of Goliath, not streamlined, but intimidating in its appearance, as it orbited the star. Zeal's shuttle docked in the shuttlebay assigned to her, and she walked to the main chamber, where the founders of the family were seated. They were debating the loss of a planet to an unknown attacker.
"The ships that attacked were of unknown origin. We have no idea who they belong to, but they attached themselves to fleet in orbit, and the fleet then decimated the planet and destroyed itself. We MUST find out what this threat is!" Albinion of the Albinion empire had said. With that comment Zeal found that the Dark had penetrated this far into the system. The planet was still there, but no communications came from it.
"We cannot speak of this again. In a short while expect a mod to contact you. This threat is larger then you think. You must NOT tell anyone outside this room of these events!"
With that, Zeal hoped that the repairs to the Valhallan Star would be completed ahead of schedule, because time was no longer a luxury they possessed.
Nai, Lizzy, and Sogil had watched the recording of what Zeal had said in the congress chambers of the ship orbiting the star 9,52. She had performed admirably, divulging no details of the Dark to those not involved. The knowledge of such a threat would spread sooner or later, but the Dark's presence in the sector was restricted to the one missing planet. They would deal with that planet later, but they had other things to discuss.
"When will you tell her?" Lizzy had asked, with slight contempt.
"When the time is right." Nai had responded.
"The destruction of Sogil Prime was a terrible incident. But she managed to escape in her crippled vessel. You must tell her." Sogil had said. "The new recorder has been working properly?"
"It has, but there has been no information reported by it that we do not know." Nai responded. "She is using it to organize the next attack against the Dark. So far it has revealed to her that they will know of the next attack, so she is taking steps to make sure it is not what they will expect. The resources of her entire empire are behind this effort at this time."
"We must think of every possible action. The destruction of Sogil Prime must not be re-enacted." Sogil said. They all then replied "Agreed."
A figure in a trench-coat sat hunched over a primitive mechanical box.
"Ahh, you gotta love these ancient pieces of technology..." he said. "But all I ever get on this thing is static."
When suddenly, the static disappeared. People were talking.
"This old hunk-a-junk actually works!" Wih was about to celebrate, but then he heard what the voices said.
"you tell her?" said a female voice.
"When the time is right." responded a male voice, which Wih recognized - could it be Nai? It was a miracle that the old radio worked, let alone picked up Mod conversations.
Just as Wih was about to try to speak into the conversation, he heard another voice speak, which startled him.
"The destruction of Sogil Prime was a terrible incident. But she managed to escape in her crippled vessel. You must tell her." the other male voice said. "The new recorder has been working properly?"
"It has, but there has been no information reported by it that we do not know." Nai responded. "She is using it to organize the next attack against the Dark. So far it has revealed to her that they will know of the next attack, so she is taking steps to make sure it is not what they will expect. The resources of her entire empire are behind this effort at this time."
"We must think of every possible action. The destruction of Sogil Prime must not be re-enacted." the other male said. All then replied "Agreed."
The conversation ended, and static resumed on the airwaves.
Who has "she"? and who were the other two voices? Could of it been Lizzy, and another Male Mod? Zane, Sogil or Erewhon perhaps? Wih stood up, and got into his tech-pod. There were going to be some questions for Nai.
Aboard the Master, several Mods are gathers in the Interface chamber. Sogil, Lizzy, Ryan and Skylar. Once again, seated, performing their normal daily duties. Scanning, searching, helping to resolve various conflicts and more. Views of the Galactic Cluster of galaxies are displayed in the Center.
A common and routine scene of late. Activity has been rather brisk lately. Commanding various fleets from time to time to seek down and eradicate various galactic insects, known as bugs had been fine training for the current days. Although an occasional bug would awake from it's slumber from time to time, the experience coordinating cleansing actions has made the team effective.
Nai walking in, with his loyal assistant at his side, and heads directly to the interface controls.
"Howdy folks.. bear with me, but may I have your attention for just one moment. I believe be may have a something here, and wish all of you to see.
Moments later, the other Mods begin to arrive.. portals appearing as they walk from their various locations and all have seats around the interface.
Nai walks over to the interface and points at the Triangulum Galaxy. As if the interface understood the actions of Nai, the galaxy is zoomed in on, now spanning, visible now as a 10 meter wide disk of glowing gas, various arms of the galaxy are seen, several with areas of star formation rich with bright blue stars, others of more ancient red stars.
"What interests me, and for that matter, may be of interest to all of us.. it this.." Pointing to a region near the outer reaches of the Caygus Arm a small stellar nursery is seen.. "This is the Keltra Nebula.. Formed about 3200 of their years ago.. I know you all know the Super-remnant star initially formed as a Neutron star.
"Stargazing stopped interesting me 2 billion years ago Nai.. what is it you’re so interested about again??"
"Bear with me Liz.. You always do..", though Nai smiles, chuckles are heard from various citizens of the interface room.
"Funny Nai... your so funny Grandpa." This response too, breeds more chuckles from the room. Nai warmly smiles back at Lizzy. Noting the mood, Lizzy relaxes a bit, and she too smiles back. "ok.. ok go on grandpa.. get this a move on"
Waiting just moments for the room to settle down, Nai continues his briefing on the Keltra Nebula.. "Well this is what interests me, and brought to our attention from family 522. A search and rescue team found traces, here.. pointing to yet another part of the Tri galaxy, found traces of the Keltra radiation."
"So we looked into.. and here is where it gets interesting.."
Once again, the interface begins to zoom in on the Keltra Nebula without even the slightest cue. Revealed are the various colors of the nebula reflecting several shades of blue and red, intertwined like thousands of ribboned streamers. The nebula itself was for the most part circular in shape, with a small jet, radiation due coreward reaching out about 3 light years.
"What caught our attention was the gas in the jet. Although it exhibits about 99% normal radiation, it was also found to contain trace amounts of the Keltran Radiation. Normally only found within the heart of the nebula.."
"So we went to take a look.. and we found that the jet didn't have a source. It literally stopped as if at a doorway. So apparently, someone or something may have access to the universe not much unlike ourselves."
With that last comment.. the silence in the room is deafening. Even the administrative staff that supports the Mods in the interface room stop what they are doing, now only watching and listening to Nai continue.
"Just as we lead the universe to believe that Sogil Prime fell, and our losses severe, what concerns me is I believe one of the bugs we dispatched near this nebula several rounds ago, had more affect to things than we thought.
As the following statement is said, the interface goes into a cycle of displays, show battle after battle, where Overseer forces have been committed against these artifact ships. "We believe.. no.. I am positive, that this may have provided a doorway for something that wants retribution on something in the Universe. Reviewing all these attacks upon the various worlds have only meant to cause us to commit our forces. Test our resolve. Feel our out abilities. Fellow Mods, I believe the target of whatever this may end up being.. is us."
**As Nai concludes his speech, the display now concluding it's presentation, showing an organizes, coherent path towards several homesystems of the mods. Ending with the destruction of the faked homeworld of Sogil Prime.
"The attack upon Asparagusian Homeworld that we had fortified, shows full well, that the counter intelligence that we provided when we allowed the Lassidor to be captured. The direction of the so called random attacks then proceeded almost directly to our staging area."
The interface display now begins to display the normal informational mode. Showing various attacks that are in progress throughout the galaxy as warring empires continue to vie for dominance.
"This seems a little far fetched Nai, what makes you so sure?" Ryan asks, walking over to Lizzy to offer his hand. Lizzy appears somewhat upset by this.
"Because my old friend. I believe we have more than just another bug on our hands.. Something far more serious. I believe, what we are seeing now... is a player rebellion."
As Wih is about to launch his Tech-pod, he realizes he has forgotten something. Rushing back, he grabs the radio, and discards the Trench coat. He dons his battle-wear, and prepares the di-omni for war. Something bad is happening, and he is preparing for the worst.
"Dray, I'm going and I won't be back for a while. Keep things under control. Let no-one know that I have left."
Wih dons his helmet, and flies away - Towards Andromeda...
Wih looks behind him and notices several ships flanking him.
"Not now, I don't have time for this!"
Wih launches an escape pod, to which the ships follow. As Wih flies along, he notices hordes of ships flying towards different galaxies.
"What's going on? I thought the mods banned inter-galactic war in beta 2!" he said to himself.
On an inspiration, he turns on the radio.
After fiddling with the dial, he hears several conversations. None are useful in this quest for information, one was even about leg shaving.
Wih shudders.
Wih finally strikes gold.
"believe.. no.. I am positive, that this may have provided a doorway for something that wants retribution on something in the Universe. Reviewing all these attacks upon the various worlds have only meant to cause us to commit our forces. Test our resolve. Feel our out abilities. Fellow Mods, I believe the target of whatever this may end up being.. is us." There is a slight pause, and then the talking continues.
"The attack" Then static kicks in, and a few seconds later the radio spits out 2 words, then goes dead.
"Player Rebellion."
Wih is aghast at what he has just heard.
"This is no time for travel. There is no time left! I'm forced to test out this new piece of technology..."
Wih gets out a round box, full of small circular pieces of a strange alloy. he presses a few buttons, inputs the source of the airwaves he received, and a strange red light fills the chamber. Wih grabs the box, and throws the circular piece over his head. When it drops around Wih, he is gone, and the piece disappears.
Onboard the Master, Nai is pacing furiously, muttering to himself, when a red light fills the room. Nai snaps around, to see a man in Silver and Red standing behind him, with a circular box in his hand.
"What's going on around here Nai? Player Rebellion? Sogil Prime destroyed? Please explain!"
Wih sets down the box, and opens it.
"And I think I have some new Technology that might help us out in an emergency...."
Nai, looking over at Wih... Ah.. so you got that ICQ device working again, I see..." Touching the device on the back of his hand, a in section of the mod interface appears, an outside path appears, as though it were a forest. "Come Wih, walk with me."
And Nai walk into the path, and begins his walk down it, followed in tow closely by Wih.
"Yeah, the bugger never seems to work like it's supposed to.. But it at least got me in touch with you."
The doorway leading back to the Mod Interface disappears and Wih and Nai continue walking along the forest path.
"Yeah. I finally had my tech boys altered mine so it I could see everyone I wanted to, but they couldn't see or hear me.. but that was back in the day. I rarely use it these days."
"Ah, so that's why you never answered me.. screening your calls"
Nai and Wih both chuckle..
"So, Nai, what with all I hear about Sogil Prime? It seems you Overseers have a lot on your minds at the moment?"
"We always have. This is particularly frustrating simply because there is something obvious, we are overlooking. Although, fortunately, apparently this counterseer is overconfident."
"No wonder its overconfident.. it destroyed Sogil Prime."
Nai looks over at Wih "Oh, Sogil Prime is quite safe. As is our fleet."
"But didn't I hear you say.."
"So you think you’re the only one with an ICQ device? We've known about them for years. Empires have been using them for rounds now, to coordinate illegal alliances, and plundering otherwise powerful empires. Most honorable."
"So that was all a ruse.. so whose homeworld was then?"
"Oh, we founded a small race I called the Aspargusians and gave them what we needed to make it look as though it was. Our temporal department, only a tick before we folded in, about the Supernova.. so all ships we instructed to go to Sogil Prime.. our new safe world."
"Why all the deception then? It's not like than hurt you."
"It's all a show, politics. That's what this war is about. But as to why.. that still eludes us. Revenge is simple, direct, and can be, with the proper guidance, arranged as we did with Sogil. He needed a rest.. every few rounds, and he agreed to make it a safe world."
"You overseers are as cunning as ever..."
For the next few minutes they continue to walk down the path, Nai, allowing for things to be soaked up by Wih.
At a small bridge, going over a small brook, Nai stops to settle himself against the railing, while Wih takes position against the other side, both looking at each other.
"Well?"
"Well what?" says Wih, a little confused.
"What is the new technology you mentioned?"
As soon as Zeal had finished watching the Mod’s meeting from the background, she switched off her display. She began pacing back and forth in her quarters. Why the Keltra Nebula? What significance did it possess? The situation had been distressing of late, but this was odd. Something felt wrong about this nebula. Zeal paced back and forth, and reactivated the console, bringing up the information on the leviathan species, also known as the Dark. She noted that the vessels that had been used in her reign over Holy Terra 14,250 years ago had suffered ill effects when exposed to certain types of radiation. The radiation in the nebula was quite similar to one of the types that had caused a vessel to cease acknowledging commands, operating out of it's own twisted will. She knew the nebula had to be investigated, but she felt it was a trap of some kind. No matter. The fleet that had been assembled would be more then a match for a fleet of leviathans of equal size. The disruption cannons had been designed to combat them. The fact that the design of the weapon was over 10,000 years old was not yet known to mods, or the manufacturers of the cannons. They had been quite effective in driving the enemy away those 10,000 years ago.
"This is Fleet Commander Zeal. Starbase 001, please report the status of the repairs on the Valhallan Star."
"The fold drives have been repaired, and the test flight was successful. The Valhallan Star may re-enter active service at this time." The voice responded.
"Excellent. I will be arriving in five minutes to retake command of her. Zeal out."
Zeal left her quarters in the palace, and walked into the corridor. It was bustling with activity, as various diplomats and military officers were walking past. There was also the din of thousands of people talking from the main hall of the palace, where the council of elders ruled the empire. Zeal held ultimate power in the republic, but she let the council of elders rule the empire. There were twelve of them in total, and they had currently opened the council to the public for Question Period. It was a normal function for the body that governed the Empire. As Zeal walked towards the shuttlebay, she saw a small girl pressed against the wall. As she drew closer, the mysterious girl disappeared, and a mysterious laughing could be heard on the air. Zeal was not the only one who heard it, and several people walking by stopped in their tracks, looks of terror on their faces.
"Initiate the Omega Protocol!!!" She screamed. "Our palace has possibly been infiltrated by the Dark! MOVE!!!"
With that, alarms went off everywhere, and the corridor cleared out. The entire capital had been sealed. Whatever had gotten in would not be able to leave. As Zeal hurried to the shuttlebay, she ran into the little girl. Her clothes and hair were dirtied, and she appeared as a member of a different time. She spoke with a voice older then her years, revealing past pain and suffering. The most noticeable aspect was the pitch and sound of the voice. It did not sound like it came from a humanoid lifeform.
"You oppose us, insect." The little girl spoke in a voice that bordered on demonic. "The one who created us sought to destroy us, and drove us from their realm. We will make the galaxies pay for their mistake. You will stay away from the Keltra nebula, lest you provoke our wrath."
With that, the little girl vanished from the hallway completely. Zeal was shocked by what she had spoken of. She quickly made sure that she had recorded the entire conversation, and immediately sent a copy of the recording to Nai. This only helped to confirm to her that the nebula was a trap. Zeal knew she had to go. She needed the truth, the truth that had scarred her all those years ago. Closure was what she sought.
"Suspend the Omega Protocol. The threat has been neutralized." Zeal said. With that, the alarms stopped, and the blast door protecting the shuttle bay opened. Zeal walked towards her shuttle, and once inside, activated the fold drive immediately. The shuttle disappeared in a blue-white flash, filling the area with the sound of thunder, a sound Zeal had not heard since she had wielded the hammer of Thor. She set the ship on autopilot after it had appeared in orbit, and went to rest. The ship silently moved through hyperspace while she slept. The next thing she remembered hearing was the voice of the flight controller.
"This is starbase 001 to Fleet Commander Zeal, we have your shuttle on our scanners. We are initiating the autodocking procedure now."
"Acknowledged, Starbase 001, switching flight control over to you." Zeal replied. With that, the control panel's lights flashed blue, and the ship guided itself into the docking bays. As soon as it had docked, Zeal stepped out, and was greeted by the starbase's commander.
"Queen, the Valhallan Star is ready for you. We have also etched the names of those who died in the attack onto a plate attached to the central core. We took the liberty to include... your brother's name."
"Thank you." Zeal said. "I will be taking command of the ship immediately."
"Of course. She is docked in docking bay two."
Zeal nodded, and then walked into the turbolift, where she said "Docking Bay Two." She felt a pang of sadness, realizing that her brother had been confirmed dead. They had found cellular residue of all the victims of the Phoenix splattered across the hull of the Valhallan Star. The DNA of her brother had been present.
"Docking Bay Two." The computer chimed. The doors slid open, and Zeal strode towards the Valhallan Star in the walkway that linked her to the starbase. On each wing, the royal crest had been painted, and as she reached the end of the walkway, she got into the turbolift at the end. It was one of the turbolifts from the Valhallan Star, using the docking port as an extension of the tube. Zeal simply said "Deck One.", and the turbolift carried her to the bridge. When she got off, she walked forward, and sat in the command chair.
"Starbase 001, this is the Valhallan Star. We are ready to depart."
"Acknowledged, Valhallan Star. Retracting docking bridge and releasing docking clamps."
"Roger, starbase 001, we are clear of the main structure."
"Good luck, Valhallan Star."
"Thank you."
With that, the Valhallan Star glided out into the depths of space, and silently disappeared in a flash of light.
Wih, trying desperately to keep of this new information ordered in his head, pauses for a minute.
"It's almost like a miniature portal. The only problem is that it's very unstable. If it touches a single solid object after it's activated, it will disintegrate. But they are useful non-the less. I only have a few, and they're only a prototype, so they're dangerous. If they hit you when you're trying to use them, you'll disintegrate as well as the mini-portal. My lab-men are working on stabilizing them and adding a self-destruct sequence, so no one can pick it up after you... But that won't be around for several rounds. I've brought about 15 of them, one for each mod, plus a few on the side. They're useful for getting out of jams."
Wih pauses for a second.
"While I was coming here, I saw massive fleets heading towards different galaxies, so I piloted towards Andromeda, and used one. Hopefully it'll be a long time before they realize I'm not going there."
"So, who's around here? I need to distribute these mini-portals before I forget them... Damn, I left them back at your room!"
"I'll go grab them." Nai says, and walks back along the track. "Follow the track and you'll get to the main conference room. There should be some people in there."
"Ok, I'll see you in a tick."
Wih walks along the pathway, passes various houses, and hearing typing and murmuring from houses around the area. This is a time of un-rest in the galaxies, and there is much disturbance in the world.
As Wih approaches a large white door, he knocks and enters. He hears a gasp, and a voice says "What? Wih? How did you get here?"
Wih turns around, and is about to answer the question, when Nai walks into the room with the circular box.
"He can explain that later. We have some new little tools that might be of some use." Nai says suddenly, before Wih can explain.
"I see you found your way here.
Zeal had been shocked to see Wih walk into the room. She was not at all suprised by Nai, however. She had been brought here earlier by Nai, and now she had arrived of her own accord. The Valhallan Star hung majestically in space several kilometers from the station, fully viewable from the room.
"We have much to discuss." Zeal said. "Firstly, you must know one thing about me. I am far older then you originally thought Nai. In earth years, I am approximately 20,000 years old."
Wih was standing in shocked silence. He had never met someone who claimed to be so old as to be ludicrous. But her voice carried the truth of the sentence, and he knew not to question it.
"That is quite a bit older then we estimated." Nai had responded. But, it was not completely unexpected. We know you are of a certain... breed."
"That is not of importance now. We must discuss the Keltra Nebula." Zeal had said. "And Nai. Using ICQ devices? I would not have had suspected to use such archaic means of communications, had I not owned such a device myself."
*Inside the Keltran Nebula the Excalibur orbited a dead planet. Fleet command had decided to forward their findings to the MODS, what they didn't tell them that they sent a ship to investigate the area themselves. What the found on the surface was nothing more amazing than massive destruction. Buildings, ruined cities, scorched earth lied everywhere. An entire civilization lay in ruins*
*On the surface teams of soldiers and archeologists scoured the surface. Searching for clues to the Dark attacks*
(Commander Blake) Why so they have us down here looking through rubble?
(Lt Falcon) I don't know sir.
(Blake) I'm a flyer, not a groundhog, now if they wanted an aerial recon I could comply easily, but searching through rubble for something when we have no idea what we're looking for? It's crazy!
*Falcon walked over a ridge and looked onward with astonishment*
(Falcon) Commander you had better take a look at this.
*Blake races up to the ridge and can't believe what he sees, a large structure, over 50 kilometers long*
(Blake) What in god's name is that?
*Blake and Falcon begin walking down towards the structure when they suddenly hit in invisible field*
(Falcon) What the? There's some kind of field protecting it.
*Both officers stand up and look at the structure*
(Blake) We had better call this in..
*Onboard the Excalibur*
(Com Officer) Captain Tistra, Bravo team sails they might have found something, along the southern continent, some mort of massive research facility that seems to have survives whatever happened here.
*Captain Tristra looks at his officer*
(Trista) Strange, any reason as to why it was spared?
(CO) Sir they reported some kind of force field is surrounding the area, their asking for instructions.
(Trists) How come our scans didn't reveal the structure the first time?
(Science Officer) We tried scanning the area just now Captain, it still shows nothing there.
*Captain Tristia frowns, "That's odd" he thinks*
(Trista) Inform them to sit tight, tell all teams to converge on their area, i'll be going down to the surface myself to see this facility.
*Trista nods at his weapons officer*
(Trista) You have the bridge commander.
(Weapons Officer Gre'thour) YES SIR!
*Trista walked out of the bridge and made his way down to the transport room*
*On the surface several teams of people scoured the area, people were seen taking measurements from a distance, several shuttles were nearby, being used as mobile command centers. The captain materializes with a small security detail in the mist of utter confusion. Captain Tristia walks over to face the structure*
(First Officer Villis) It doesn't have a scratch on it....in case your wondering.
*The captain turns around quickly, started at his first officer's entrance, the two polietly salute and both begin looking at the structure*
(Trista) So we have any idea of whose planet this used to be.
(Villis) Oh yes sir.
*Commander Villis hands his superior an enhanced photograph of the building, it's a large sign that reads "Gunslinger Omega Research Facility"*
(Trista) Gunslinger!?
(Villis) Yes sir, it appears to us that when the admins destroyed his empire this world was ripped from it's orbit, it roamed aimlessly until it rested here in the Keltran Nebula.
*Captain Trists walks up, his hand stretch out, he hits some kind of energy shield, he quickly pulls his hand back*
(Trista) And there's no way for us to penetrate it?
(Villis) Apparently not captain, we've tried everything but a direct plasma cannon blast, we've theorized that.....
(Science Officer) Sir! There's some kind of fluxiation in the field!
*Everyone in the area turns around to look at the field blocking the building again, suddenly it flickers to life then dies off, Villis and Tistra both look at each other*
(Villis) It's like it knew we were here....
(Trista) Commander?
(Villis) Ever since I got here I got a feeling as if someone or something was watching us.
*Captain Trista look at the building, a few teams already rushing in to investigate the structure*
(Trista) Maybe something is...well we can't let that field reactivate without having us look at what's there. PACK IT UP EVERYBODY! MOVE IN!
*Commander Villis runs back to the main camp, telling everyone there to pack up their gear and to begin moving closer to the base*
*Onboard the TriForce Flagship Commander Throck looks at the holo-projector image of the new Sogil Nebula, all that remains of the Sogil Prime System. Commander Tea'lo walks up beside him and looks at the image as well*
(Tea'lo) Was the second gate secured as you planned sir?
(Throck) Indeed, look...
*The holo projector panned out to show where Sogil Prime use to be located at, in it's place a dark portal existed, the second gateway to the IC Universe*
(Tea'lo) And what of the KEY sir? Is there any word on as to where it may be?
*Commander Throck closes his eyes and reopens them, a hint of red is seen disappearing from them*
(Throck) The first half of the KEY is safe for now, when our mission is almost complete the second half of the key will be revealed to us. Are the temporal inhibitors in place?
(Tea'lo) Yes sir!
*Tea'lo taps a button on the holo projector showing hundreds of dots in the local system*
(Throck) Good, with the inhibitors in place the MOD'S won't be able to see into the future in this entire sector, we will be essentially unknown to them.
(Tea'lo) That brings small comfort Commander, what if the MASTER comes for us?
*Throck looks at his subordinate and smiles*
(Throck) Who’s to say I don't want them to come?
*Tea'lo looks at his commanding officer with an open mouth, speechless*
(Tea'lo) But sir! With what you told me of that ship! We should be destroyed!
(Throck) Not quite my friend, not quite....
*Throck smiles evilly and looks at the portal out of the main view port*
(Throck) And are we almost ready to begin our test?
*Tea'lo accesses his terminal, a slew of reports come on the screen*
(Tea'lo) We'll be ready momentarily; do you have a target for us commander?
*Throck inputs some coordinates into his computer*
(Throck) It’s a small inactive planet; nobody should notice it missing...
(Tea'lo) Very good sir, I'll input the coordinates right now sir, we ill begin the test in about 10 minutes. YELOW ALEART!
*Alarms sound as personaell begin moving back and forth returning to their stations*
*Scientists and soldiers move to and fro inside the research base. Technicians worked quickly to get the bases computer system up and running, they would need the information from the data core. What they had found inside was both amazing and more mysterious than anything they had every seen. Inside the enormous building as an ACIENT CITY! Early dating scans had revealed the age of the city at over 100,000 years old! But what was more amazing was the black object in the center of the city. Like an enormous black some with a deep ravine in the center that early scans had revealed go all the way to the planet's CORE! Strange markings covered the dome, markings nobody had every seen before. If that wasn't strange enough the fact that the come was over 1,000,000 years old, an impossible age which, if true, would make it older than the IC Universe it's self! The lights in the building turn on and the hum of computers coming alive can be heard. Captain Trista removes himself from looking at the magnificent city and goes to the command center where his chief technetium Juri is seen accessing the main computer core*
(Trista) What have you got for me Juri?
*Juri smiles*
(Juri) Depends on what you want? If you referring to some Rekasti Ale your asking the wrong person.
*Trista smiles a bit and takes a seat in front of the holo projector, an image of the ancient city comes up, Commander Villis and Science Officer Kentra take seats along the sides of the round table projector. Juri taps some buttons and some ancient text from the ruins comes up*
(Juri) From what I can see here this is what they were translating.
(Kentra) Those markings.......I’ve never seen any like them before, and there's nothing to match it in our database.
*Trista looks at Juri*
(Trista) Is there anyone you might know they would know what all this writing means?
(Juri) Perhaps, but it isn't exactly legal you know.
*Trista looks at Juri for several seconds thinking, he looks at the city then looks back at Juri*
(Trista) Do it....
*Alarms sound on the TriForce flagship, commander Throck sits in his command chair*
(Tea'lo) Portal, activating in tee minus 10....9.......8.........7
*Outside the enormous portal begins to come alive, it's petals elongate and expand, becomming wider and wider, the portal field becoming larger and larger*
(Tea'lo) 6.....5..........4...........
*Crackles of energy is seen within the portal, it's size is enormous! Capable of engulfing an entire planet!*
(Tea'lo) 3........2.......1........
*In the Andromada Galaxy, in a far off system, a small planet resides, far from civilization, it was a prime target for a test subject, space around the planet begins to ripple and twist..*
(Tea'lo) ACTIVATE!!
*The massive portal activates, it finds its target and draws it in. The small planet begins to get sucked in, disappearing in the massive vortex, on the portal side the plan begins to reappear, being brought into another galaxy by near impossible forces, the entire planet is brought into the fold, and is brought into it's new home in Trianglium. The officers on the bridge of the TriForce flagship look in astonishment of what they witnessed, an entire planet was just dragged from its home galaxy and brought across space and time instantly and brought before them. The portal flashes off and the petals begin to fold back in, the test run a complete success*
(Throck) I want analysis!
*Officers pull themselves from staring at the new planet and begin working their stations, reports coming system wide of the event that just happened*
*Juri hunched over the holo-imager, she has been there for the past 10 minutes, finally an image came on the screen*
[COMPUTER] Welcome to the Overseer Database, please input your password.
(Juri) Ok, you guys ready?
(Assistances in the background) READY!
(Villis) The overseer database!? But if we get caught we’ll get DELETED!
(Juri) Well we had best not get caught.
*Trista nods*
(Trista) Proceed!
(Juri) Hacking first level access, access granted.
(Assistant1) Auto servants coming in.
(Assistant2) BLOCKING!
(Juri) Penetrating secondary protocols…
*Onboard the Master a Cyber Defender notices a problem, alarms sound as Nai enters the room*
(Nai) What’s the problem?
(Cyber Defender Uvis) We have a possible breach, my guys are attempting to trace.
(CD Assissastant1) We have 4 bogeys in our mainframe, their attempting to break through our firewall.
(Uvis) Counter them and begin tracking!
(CD Assistant 2) TRACKING!
*ON the main screen the signal is seen being tracked, it then splinters off in several directions!*
(CDA2) Their running a splitter screen!
(Uvis) Plug me in! Lets get them!
*Uvis enters his seat, his screen covers his upper body as he enters cyberspace in an attempt to block their attackers. Nai watches on the other side of the room, watching the screen as events unfold*
(Juri) WE’RE IN!
(A1) Common Juri! They’re trying to trace us!
(Juri) Accessing linguistic database, downloading files!
(A2) Juri they’re getting past our screen, I estimate they’ll have a lock in t-minus 45 seconds!
(Juri) What the..
(Trista) What’s wrong?
(Juri) One of the linguistic files wouldn’t download; let me try to access it.
(COMPUTER) Access denied.
(Juri) I’ll show you access.
*Juri begins typing furiously on the keyboard*
(A2) Sir I can’t hold them off any longer, they’ll have a lock on us soon, you have to HURRY!
(Juri) Common, common!
*On the Master Uvis grins*
(Uvis) I’m getting a lock on.
*The map on the screen n begins to zoom on, first on Orion, then on a sector, the screen contunies to move in closer and closer*
(Juri) GOT IT! DOWNLOADING!
(A2) 10…….9….8…..7..
(Juri) Cutting connection NOW!!!
*The imager returns to normal, the counter on the Assistance’s screen is down to 5 seconds, they made it, Juri and everyone in the room sigh in relief*
*Uvis forces his screen up and throws his cyber gloves to the floor*
(Uvis) Dammit we were so close!
(DCA2) Sorry sir
(Nai) How close did you get?
*Uvis pulls up a map on the screen*
(Uvis) It’s a 30-parsec area, any planet within those systems could have been it, not to mention the thousands of ships, we won’t be able to find them, whoever they are.
(Nai) What were they looking for?
(Uvis) Apparently they accessed our linguistic database, strange, not the usual weapons or access codes data that most hackers tend to shoot for. I’m sorry sir, we’ll redouble our defenses.
*Nai ponders for a moment, why would anyone want linguistic information…unless…….*
(Nai) Did they get everything?
*Uvis works on his computer some more and shakes his head*
(Uvis) Yes sir, they got EVERYTHING.
(Nai) I’ll be in my quarters; I expect a report on my desk at 1400 hours.
*Uvis salutes*
(Uvis) YES SIR!
* Aboard the Nailadian Worldship *
At 1400, the Time Ops department head is sitting, drinking a beverage in front of hte Bench in Nai's office. Sit sits, crystal display closing with the last of the temporal report.
"So these regions are apparently where they are establishing their foothold." comments Nai as a region in the Triangulum galaxy pulls up form the holovid. Area's of red, noting temporal blocking in place."
"Sir, we never saw it coming, but the source is confirmed, the Ketron gateway was used. We've dispatched a firewall vessel and should be arriving on scene within the next hour. We folded it in a short distance so as not to alert any hostile forces there."
"Ok, I will arrange for the second of your requests now...", on que the Temporal officer picks up his briefing materials, and departs from the room."
Nai closes his eyes, and concentrates.. His eyes, ussually a solid grey, become a bright, blue-white color. A transfiguation begins to commence, however, the camera pans back from his desk, and the local galaxy is seen floating above the bench in the office, much like the interface aboard the master... Several hundred galaxies of all shapes and sizes are visiable.. The room is tremendous in it's size..
A pure energy being, in humanoid form floats up into the galaxy.. The Overseer existing in it's true form.
OOC: To help you visualize ** Think of a cross between the creatures in the movie Abyss.. and the guildmember in Dune the Movie circa 1984**
Light is seen coursing thru pathways internal to the Overseer.. whisps of energy vapors encircle Nai.. Reaching out a hand.. a streak of light dances from his outreached hand.. and the Triangulum galaxy expands in the interface.. The areas of temporal blocking, shown again as a red haze.. this area again zooms in, from the second streak of light exuded from Nai.
Moments later.. hundreds of stars and worlds flash thru the interface.. each blocker beaon, is briefly shown.. then fades.. and begins to glow a faint blue.
This action is repeated thousands of times.. below Nai.. the Triangulum galaxy is seen, and slowly the red area, begins to gradually go thru several shades of red, groing a slight purple hue, and within minutes.. changes to a light cyan blue area..
Within moments of of completing the task at hand, several other Overseers begin to assemble.. all from their various places in the universe, and begin visable..
A voice, soft, but authoritive is heard.. "Have you choosen.."
The most ancient Overseer, know as StarStrike, as distinguished by his color answers... "Yes...."
The interface, again, pulls up an aged women. She has on a mantle above a holo-fireplace, decorations and pictures from her lifetime.
"So it shall be done."
The life of the women begins to play as if a movie in teh interface. This women had been administrator in the communications center for the Overseers nearly her entire life. Her life unfolds in front of her.. Her loves.. her important days.. Scenes of her family, as they grow and have children of their own.. She now sits.. in a chair.. She is asleep. Breathing is labored.. She is alone.
"Do you accept what I have asked you..."
There is a slight pause..
"Yes.." although the women did not stir.. the voice was distinctive of the voices heard during the replay.
"Then it is so.."
Slowly.. the images of the world around the elderly women begin to fade and she is now only seen.. Slowly transforming back into the young women she once was.. Beautiful and radiant.
Light begins to shine from within.. Her heart begins to glow.. at first a red, then a bright silver.. The light bursts forth from her chest.. and the view pans back.. her body. now is encompassed completely in light.. and is then transformed into that, not unlike seen from all the other overseers in the room.
A final birth as a new Overseer is announced with a flash of energy that expands outward from where the old women was.. as the energy passes through the other Overseers.. their colors intermixing slightly with the new silver being now before them..
Throughout the Universe.. several stars are seen from gound to gather in a circle.. all of differnt colors. Then, amid these stars, a new Star is seen.. it glows brightly.. and a great flash is seen..
The following day.. throughout the entire universe.. celebrations are held in nearly every empire, honoring the birth of a new Overseer..
Sleeping in his Imperial bedroom.. a nervous page awakes Thrick.. "Sir, there is something you must see.."
After only a few minutes, Throck is robed and standing on a balcony facing the stars in the sky..
His face blank.. the redness from his eyes.. almost white. The page, recognizes that his master is purely dreading what he is seeing.. backs away, fearing what he sees in his master.
Standing alone on his balcony, after a minute of mumbling.. steps back from his blacony into the darkness of the bedroom..
A brief glimpse of two red is seen, they then fade.
Within the hour.. the Imperial Castle is bustling with activities.. Various government and militaries officials are seen arriving almost every minute.
An escorted limo, surrounded by armed guards in hoverspeeders, arrives, the defense minister steps out quickly.. looks around and walks up the steps.. Guards snapping to attention.
Throck, sitting at the head of a table, leading this urgent emergy council, stops his review from one of his Admirals.
"I think we need to hear this.." Throck says.
Although normally this would have upset the admiral, at this time, it did not, seating himself right away.
"It is confirmed Sir.. The Overseers had added to their number.. She is called Tia. What information we have about her, is if she performs as an Overseer like she did in her carreer..
No one in the room is heard breathing.. "Well, we've got a serious situation.. I fear, my dear good Throck," a slight amount of fear and disgust present in his voice, "that are to be the end of us all.. I belive you have woken the dragon"
*Abaord the Nailadian WorldShip*
Nai walks from his office.. to the bridge interface.. The room is abuzz with activity.
"Sir we are receiving complaints from ambassidors from all over triangulum... They are saying that they can no longer fold.. It appears the your block on folding is working. They request that we proceed as quickly. They seem nervous since they will have problems defending themselves if the darkones attack again."
"Verywell.. as to be expected." Says Nai.. walking around to his command seat, the Officer of the Deck, reliving himself for command, salutes.
"All is ready.. the next generation Inquisitors are ready to fold."
Nai looks out from the interface.. Three sleek silver blue vessels are seen. Each twice the size of the Vahallan Star. Nearly the size of a conventional Defense Station. About 15 support and Destroyer and First Generation class Inquistors are seen, as well as several Slayer Class heavy carriers.
"Very well, have then fold.. In form them we will join them shortly in their search, once we are completed with our plans in Andro... And wish them good hunting."
"Aye, Aye Sir." reponds the Commsmen, "And good hunting, Aye Sir"
Watching the dance of approximately the two dozen ships, as they get into formation, Nai sighs.. thinking to himself how much he hopes this will be the end of this rebellion.
The view of the fleet slowing begins to ripple.. and all the vessels simply fade from view.
"Ok," looking around the bridge crew, to ensure he has everyones attention. "Let get ourselves to Andromeda shall we."
On que, as it was expected.."Engaging fold device now.."
The mass of vessels, easily in the millions, to begins to fade.. Their journey to Andromeda now underway..
* Aboard the Nailadian Worldship *
At 1400, the Time Ops department head is sitting, drinking a beverage in front of hte Bench in Nai's office. Sit sits, crystal display closing with the last of the temporal report.
"So these regions are apparently where they are establishing their foothold." comments Nai as a region in the Triangulum galaxy pulls up form the holovid. Area's of red, noting temporal blocking in place."
"Sir, we never saw it coming, but the source is confirmed, the Ketron gateway was used. We've dispatched a firewall vessel and should be arriving on scene within the next hour. We folded it in a short distance so as not to alert any hostile forces there."
"Ok, I will arrange for the second of your requests now...", on que the Temporal officer picks up his briefing materials, and departs from the room."
Nai closes his eyes, and concentrates.. His eyes, ussually a solid grey, become a bright, blue-white color. A transfiguation begins to commence, however, the camera pans back from his desk, and the local galaxy is seen floating above the bench in the office, much like the interface aboard the master... Several hundred galaxies of all shapes and sizes are visiable.. The room is tremendous in it's size..
A pure energy being, in humanoid form floats up into the galaxy.. The Overseer existing in it's true form.
Light is seen coursing thru pathways internal to the Overseer.. whisps of energy vapors encircle Nai.. Reaching out a hand.. a streak of light dances from his outreached hand.. and the Triangulum galaxy expands in the interface.. The areas of temporal blocking, shown again as a red haze.. this area again zooms in, from the second streak of light exuded from Nai.
Moments later.. hundreds of stars and worlds flash thru the interface.. each blocker beaon, is briefly shown.. then fades.. and begins to glow a faint blue.
This action is repeated thousands of times.. below Nai.. the Triangulum galaxy is seen, and slowly the red area, begins to gradually go thru several shades of red, groing a slight purple hue, and within minutes.. changes to a light cyan blue area..
Within moments of of completing the task at hand, several other Overseers begin to assemble.. all from their various places in the universe, and begin visable..
A voice, soft, but authoritive is heard.. "Have you choosen.."
The most ancient Overseer, know as StarStrike, as distinguished by his color answers... "Yes...."
The interface, again, pulls up an aged women. She has on a mantle above a holo-fireplace, decorations and pictures from her lifetime.
"So it shall be done."
The life of the women begins to play as if a movie in teh interface. This women had been administrator in the communications center for the Overseers nearly her entire life. Her life unfolds in front of her.. Her loves.. her important days.. Scenes of her family, as they grow and have children of their own.. She now sits.. in a chair.. She is asleep. Breathing is labored.. She is alone.
"Do you accept what I have asked you..."
There is a slight pause..
"Yes.." although the women did not stir.. the voice was distinctive of the voices heard during the replay.
"Then it is so.."
Slowly.. the images of the world around the elderly women begin to fade and she is now only seen.. Slowly transforming back into the young women she once was.. Beautiful and radiant.
Light begins to shine from within.. Her heart begins to glow.. at first a red, then a bright silver.. The light bursts forth from her chest.. and the view pans back.. her body. now is encompassed completely in light.. and is then transformed into that, not unlike seen from all the other overseers in the room.
A final birth as a new Overseer is announced with a flash of energy that expands outward from where the old women was.. as the energy passes through the other Overseers.. their colors intermixing slightly with the new silver being now before them..
Throughout the Universe.. several stars are seen from gound to gather in a circle.. all of differnt colors. Then, amid these stars, a new Star is seen.. it glows brightly.. and a great flash is seen..
The following day.. throughout the entire universe.. celebrations are held in nearly every empire, honoring the birth of a new Overseer..
Sleeping in his Imperial bedroom.. a nervous page awakes Thrick.. "Sir, there is something you must see.."
After only a few minutes, Throck is robed and standing on a balcony facing the stars in the sky..
His face blank.. the redness from his eyes.. almost white. The page, recognizes that his master is purely dreading what he is seeing.. backs away, fearing what he sees in his master.
Standing alone on his balcony, after a minute of mumbling.. steps back from his blacony into the darkness of the bedroom..
A brief glimpse of two red is seen, they then fade.
Within the hour.. the Imperial Castle is bustling with activities.. Various government and militaries officials are seen arriving almost every minute.
An escorted limo, surrounded by armed guards in hoverspeeders, arrives, the defense minister steps out quickly.. looks around and walks up the steps.. Guards snapping to attention.
Throck, sitting at the head of a table, leading this urgent emergy council, stops his review from one of his Admirals.
"I think we need to hear this.." Throck says.
Although normally this would have upset the admiral, at this time, it did not, seating himself right away.
"It is confirmed Sir.. The Overseers had added to their number.. She is called Tia. What information we have about her, is if she performs as an Overseer like she did in her carreer..
No one in the room is heard breathing.. "Well, we've got a serious situation.. I fear, my dear good Throck," a slight amount of fear and disgust present in his voice, "that are to be the end of us all.. I belive you have woken the dragon"
*Abaord the Nailadian WorldShip*
Nai walks from his office.. to the bridge interface.. The room is abuzz with activity.
"Sir we are receiving complaints from ambassidors from all over triangulum... They are saying that they can no longer fold.. It appears the your block on folding is working. They request that we proceed as quickly. They seem nervous since they will have problems defending themselves if the darkones attack again."
"Verywell.. as to be expected." Says Nai.. walking around to his command seat, the Officer of the Deck, reliving himself for command, salutes.
"All is ready.. the next generation Inquisitors are ready to fold."
Nai looks out from the interface.. Three sleek silver blue vessels are seen. Each twice the size of the Vahallan Star. Nearly the size of a conventional Defense Station. About 15 support and Destroyer and First Generation class Inquistors are seen, as well as several Slayer Class heavy carriers.
"Very well, have then fold.. In form them we will join them shortly in their search, once we are completed with our plans in Andro... And wish them good hunting."
"Aye, Aye Sir." reponds the Commsmen, "And good hunting, Aye Sir"
Watching the dance of approximately the two dozen ships, as they get into formation, Nai sighs.. thinking to himself how much he hopes this will be the end of this rebellion.
The view of the fleet slowing begins to ripple.. and all the vessels simply fade from view.
"Ok," looking around the bridge crew, to ensure he has everyones attention. "Let get ourselves to Andromeda shall we."
On que, as it was expected.."Engaging fold device now.."
The mass of vessels, easily in the millions, to begins to fade.. Their journey to Andromeda now underway..
As soon as Zeal had returned to the Valhallan Star, the fleet that had gathered around it had folded. The bridge was calm, and Zeal stepped out onto it. Rune got up out of the command chair.
"We are to investigate the temporal inhibitors, and destroy them." Zeal said. "I am taking command of one of the Schala class warships, and leading the expedition. The Valhallan Star is ordered to the Keltra Nebula. Commander Rune Sathal, you are in command."
Rune did not question the queen's orders. He had waited until the task force had launched, and then they immediately folded to the Keltra Region. The sensors were picking up a lot of strange radiation types, and they suddenly lurched back into real space. The fold drive would not bring them any further.
"Report."Rune said.
"We are unable to generate a stable fold wave. Something is inhibiting the drives from producing the field." Science responded. "Hyperspace is unnaffected, but will not function within the Keltra Nebula."
"Noted. Set coordinates for the nebula and jump to hyperspace." Rune replied. "Deploy a warning beacon. Program it to transmit that folding space will not work at the edge of this region."
"Roger."
With the few words exchanged, the Valhallan Star then jumped to hyperspace. The journey to the Nebula would take three days, and it would take another day on conventional drives to reach the center of the nebula. Rune would have consulted a temporal recorder for the investigation, but they would not function. As Rune left the bridge and headed to the officer's mess hall, he wondered what problems Zeal had run into. Her squadron was likely also running on hyper-drives by now, and the sensors indicated that fold drives and temporal recorders had been inhibited by unknown forces in the region. And at the heart of the inhibited region lied the Keltra Nebula. It was odd to say the least.
CX-14032-A, USS Weltall. Ship time: 14:00
Zeal pounded her fist on the console. Her ship had been attacked, but had not suffered any damage. Or so she thought. The neutron cannon power relays had somehow fused. They could not be replaced on such a small ship without deactivating the main core. The Weltall was also no longer capable of fold. The drive relays had also fused. She wondered if the Valhallan Star had suffered as badly as the fleet of frigates and battlecruisers Zeal now commanded.
"Report!"
"Hyperdrives and conventional weapons and drives are unaffected. Only the Neutron Cannon and Fold drive relays fused. Sensors indicate a inhibitor approximately 40,000 kilometers from the port bow. Torpedoes targeting systems will not lock on." A officer reported.
"Target the Inhibitor with disruption cannons. Fire four volleys." Zeal responded.
"Roger that, firing disruption cannons."
Four salvoes of greenish-white energy pulsed out from the prow of the Weltall, and two of them were absorbed by a magnetic shield. The other two volleys destroyed the inhibitor completely. Systems on board the ship sprung back to life, and the Neutron Cannon CPU even reported to the central computer. Power relays were not in fact fused, but they had been isolated from the rest of the power grid. Sensors showed a large object with the mass of a planet ahead. As the Weltall drew closer, it was caught in a gravitational field. The portal was enormous.
"Full Reverse!!!"
"Engines are offline!"
"Initiate Evacuation Procedure Alpha!!! Evacuate this ship!"
With that last order, the crew ran from the bridge, and small pods jettisonned themselves from hull of the ship. Each pod disappeared into foldspace, and reported back as soon as they had reached a starbase. More then half of them had returned to the Overseer starbase. There was also wreckage on the sensors. The fleet Zeal had been commanding had been destroyed. A massive ship was approaching the Weltall, bearing down on it. Zeal initiated the Neutron Cannon, and was currently overcharging it. When it fired, the ship would be destroyed. Zeal hurried to the shuttlebay, where she got into her private shuttle. The shuttle folded directly out of the shuttlebay, back to the Overseer base. The Weltall's neutron cannon then fired. The Weltall began to explode, and the beam hit the massive portal in the center of the field. The neutron cannon was sustaining the beam, and the Weltall disintegrated. The wreckage was sucked down the neutron beam into the portal. The rest of the system was being drawn in as well. The portal had been damaged by the neutron beam, and was starting to destabilize. It drew in the entire system, and then exploded with the hellish fury of the most violent of supernovas. The system was completely destroyed. When Zeal returned to the Overseer station, the Valhallan Star had already left. She found a communications console, and used it.
"Inquisitor Nai, this is Fleet Commander Zeal. One inhibitor is confirmed to be destroyed. Temporal recorders will now function in sector 343. Fleet was ambushed by Dark vessels upon re-entry into real space. A single Dark ship approximately the size of a Schala class heavy battlecruiser was present."
With that, Zeal terminated the transmission, and returned to her assigned quarters. She had already turned on the computer in the corner and had started to file a report when she had realized something was odd. The computer had been designed to be used only by the true form of the overseer, and Zeal had already written half the formal report on it. There were tendrils of energy extending from her hands, licking the computer, as she finished writing the report. She added at the bottom of the report "I am also somehow able to use the computer in my quarters. It has no physical input device." With that, Zeal finished the report, and slept.
* In the Andromedan Galaxy *
Looking out into the interface aboard Nai's worldship, specs of weaponfire arc between various points in space. Centered in view is a large gas giant, with shadows of the Coutnerseers base clearly seen.
The camera panning back, shows Nai, standing in his humanoid form in the center of the Interface, with Wih at his side.
"The games a foot" says Nai, to Wih. "Look there," pointing to a space just off to center from where the canera view is. Occassional flashes of light exrupt as deletion beams continue to find their mark, followed every so often, by an occasional blue-green glow on the shielded surfaces of the new Inquisitor Class vessels.
"That was all their largest vessel could do. A mere, splash on the shield?" in a sort of question and comment sort of way, expresses Wih.
Meanwhile, various fold disks appear as reinforcements continue to fold in. "This is their primary support base for Andromeda" A rather wide beam emits, as if on que, from the lead Next Generation Inquisitor and strikes the base, and a great white burst of light flares and fades as the base is destroyed.
"Well, was their primary base" comments Wih. "This oughta get their attention."
"Yes, I am sure it will. They will regroup, and we will simply do this again. In the mean time, they continue to expend vast resources in doing so. As well as gives up the opportunity to study their methods and ways."
"So how long will you be in Andromeda? That last tranmission from Zeal, didn't sound too encouraging."
"As long as it takes. And Zeal will be cared for."
"By who?"
"StarStrike is enroute now.. there shouldn't be much for Zeal to worry about, once he is on scene. I believe his tactical abilities should make his stay... rather brief."
Zeal had looked up from the console after Nai had told her StarStrike would take care of the problem. She was slightly pre-occupied with the condition of the Valhallan Star. A ship that size took forty years to manufacture, and the CX-01-B was 33 years away from completion. She had ordred that a third Valhallan Star be constructed after the first in the series of ships had been destroyed. The CX-01-A had been ready for 200 years when the original, 8 kilometer long Valhallan Star had been destroyed. That ship had been redesigned, used now throughout the fleet as the Schala Class Heavy Battlecruiser. Recently, she had ordered them refitted. The Schala Class was now almost a match for a unmodified Inquisitor Class. Zeal was proud to have been able to create such a masterpiece.
“Zeal? Are you all right?” Nai said. Zeal realized the console was still on.
“Yes, I’m fine. Just a little preoccupied. The Kharan Shielding worked?”
“Yes, it functioned superbly. It completely nullified the enemy’s deletion beams. The fold enhancements have also proven to be… Quite useful.” Nai responded.
“Thank you, I think… Are you planning on using the Enhasan fold drives in the future? They are far more efficient then the standard model available throughout the universe, as you have seen.”
“I think we may. If it is necessary.”
“Nai, there was a gigantic portal at the ambush site.” Zeal said.”It had the mass of a neutron star.”
“I have read your report.”
“That’s not the point, Nai. It was emitting some sort of psychic emanation. The scanners never picked it up, but it’s there. Have a powerful wizard on each ship. They will be able to warn you of one of these portals before the same thing that happened to Battlegroup Gamma happens to any of your ships.”
“We will.” Nai responded. “Good night.”
With that, Zeal switched off the console. She was to take two weeks off after the incident in the Tyrantia System. StarStrike was going to take care of the rest of the problems in the sector. She kept wondering about the Valhallan Star, however. The station had lost contact with it hours ago. She wondered what could possibly be within the Keltra Nebula.
*CX-01-A, Valhallan Star. 22:15*
“Found anything?”
“Not yet sir.”
“Keep looking.”
“Aye sir.”
Rune sat in the command chair on the bridge of the Valhallan Star, staring out at the murky depths of the nebula. He could see nothing except the bluish-red gas that they travelled through. There was something in here that they needed to find, and it was right under their noses. Rune knew it was close. As abruptly as possible, the consoles started beeping.
“What is it?”
“We’ve detected a planet, approximately 23 billion kilometers below us!”
“Anything unusual about it?”
“Aside from it being in the exact heart of the nebula, I’m picking up energy signatures from down there! There are a few capital ships, native to this galaxy, and one very large power signature. It appears to be dormant.”
“Plot a course to the planet, and engage stealth mode. Descend at ¼ of conventional drives.”
"Commander?"
"Yes?"
"We've identified one of the ships down there. It's registry identifies it as the Excalibur. They're NOT authorized to be here."
"How long until we are within their firing range?"
"Ten minutes."
"Who is the commanding officer on that ship?"
"A Captain Tristia, sir."
"Activate the shields the moment we enter firing range."
"Roger that."
The Valhallan Star continued to descend towards the planet at the heart of the Keltra nebula. The planet below had some definite signifigance, and as the ship continued to descend something happend on the surface of the planet. Something had woken. And it was pulling the Excalibur towards it.
"Report!" Rune said.
"The Excalibur is being pulled into a large portal on the surface! We've been caught in the field too, but we have enough mass it can't move us!"
"Record the entire event."
The viewscreen zoomed in on the Excalibur, and watched as it strained against the field to escape. Orange-yellow flashes started erupting from the hull. The ship started to descend even faster, and then large chunks started to tear free of the superstructure. In less then a minute the Excalibur's hyperdrives went critical, and the ship exploded in bluish-white fury. Something had also happened to the planet. The dead soil was turning a ashen grey, and all the structures on the surface collapsed. A large obsidian dome was revealed after a facility 50 kilometers long collapsed. The planet's crust then started to break away, and the planet died again, in a explosion of grey rock. All that remained was an obsidian orb at the center of the debris field. And it was in the exact center of the nebula. The orb then starting arcing with electricity, drawing the debris back towards it. The remains of the planet changed, were reconstructed. The object that formed was almost 12,000 kilometers long. It looked to be constructed out of pure obsidian, and it righted itself on it's axis. The Valhallan Star's sensors showed that it was in perfect alignment with the jet of gas. And with that, it emitted a beam of energy, several times the width of the Valhallan Star. The Valhallan Star's drives and weapons had been inhibited by something in the nebula, and it's crew could only watch as the beam pierced through space.
*Abaord the Nailadian WorldShip*
“Inquisitor!!! We’ve detected a high energy beam! Origin… The Keltra Nebula!”
“This is impossible!” Nai said.
“Contact in ten seconds!!! Taking evasive maneuvers!”
The worldship shuddered on it’s axis, and started to move. The beam could be seen streaking across the galaxy towards them. The worldship did not get out of the way in time. The beam struck the side of the worldship, and ripped off a ninth of the worldship. The debris field was surrounding the ship, and the reddish glow of flame could be seen everywhere where the ship had been hit. The worldship shuddered to a halt. Three of the next generation Inquisitors had also been destroyed. Wih got up from behind a console, as sparks danced through the air of the bridge. Nai got up from behind the command chair.
“Nai, I think it’s safe to say we got their attention.” Wih said.
“Indeed…” Nai replied. “This is… not good.”
The messenger walked forward slowly. He stopped at the doorway to the master's room, and knocked.
"Master?"
"Yes, what is it?"
"We have a transmission from the Inquisitor Nai for you."
"Route it to my console, please."
"We have."
"Good."
The messenger then closed the door. The figure in the room got up from the seat, overlooking the capital, and walked towards the communications terminal. He turned it on and was greeted by Nai's face.
"Good Morning Lizon. I trust you slept well?"
*Captian Trista sat at the command chair of the Excalibur. Shortly after downloading the information from the Inquisitor Databace his ship detected a large vessel approaching their location for a few moments just before it dissapeared from it's scanners. He knew if they stuck around they would be found out. So he quickly ordered his crew to upload all the information from the bace's computer core and to gather their equipment and get the hell out of there. Before they jumped they activated their holo decoy, being in orion, every ship had such decoys in order to increase their ships chances of excape. They were jumping into hypersoace just as the pllanet exploded*
(Helmsman) Captian, we're approaching Epsilon 3.
(Trista) Bring us out of hyperspace and prepare to dock.
(H) Aye sir!
*Trista then turned his attention to the reports of Juri's investigatoin of both the ruins and the strange Black Dome. She saids it could take weeks to decifer the language, weeks Trista felt they didn't have*
(Trista) Has the meeting been set?
(Villis) Yes sir, the peole you've reqeuested to maat have been notified, their transport will arrive in 2 days time.
(Trista) Not fast enough I'm afraid.
(Villis) There isn't anything we can so sir.
*Trista relaxes against his seat, knowing he can't win this battle*
((Trista) Well then I guess we'll have to wait then. Tell me commander, do you know how to play Kaldarak?
(Villis) I'm afraid not sir, receration wasn't a top priority from where i'm from.
*Trista stands up and pats Villis on the back*
(Trista) Well there's no better time then the present eh? come, i'll teach you while we wait...
*Trista and Villis walk out from the room, fuelly knowing that this may be the last time both them and their crew get and R&R for some time to come*
"You don't look well, my old friend... what has happened?"
* Nai wipes a highly blue glowing fluid from the side of his eyes, as courses of energy seems to flow just beneath his skin *
"We've determined that the Ketran Nebula is a primary access point for the counterseers. They fired upon the holo as you said they would. The energy I needed to use to maintain the holo was much that I would have expected .. Let alone for me to aborb thier attack wihtin myself..
* More blue fluid drains from Nai's nostrils, he seems surprised and wipes it *
"This has gone on far enough.. "
* Courses of white engery begin to sew up blemishes on the the surface of Nia's face *
"You were placed in charge of the temporal reconnisiance for this mission, Lizon. I believe you've proven yourself. I assume you're still aboard my ship?"
"Yes" replied Lizon, "She is safe here at Sogil Prime, as are the other worldships"
"Well.. you best prepare for the next round of this.. I don't think this ruse will continue to work so well.. and we can only hide ourselves for so long. We are needed here in this Universe.
* Nai is now appears to be nearly at full health *
"Lizon, send reinforcements as soon as you can determine it is safe to"
"Where shall I send them?"
* Nai transforms again gradually into the pure energy form once witnessed during the birthfo the Overseer Tia..and the concludes the following *
"That will be obvious.. I am going to pass thru to the other side.. Just make sure my reinforcements are nearby the nebula and ready when I need them..... "
* The image of Nai disappears *
Lizon sits there, pondering for a moment..
A slow, thoughtful and semi-disgruntled Lizon says.. "I hate it when he does that... The Keltron Nebula is too obvious.."
* Lizon waves his hand over the interface and an image of the Keltran Nebula is pulled up *
"I was never good at riddles....."
An image of Nai is Mod-form is seem entering the perimeter of the nebula..
The form of the Vahallan Star is seen dwarfed by the apparition of Nai.. Eyes are seen, and slowly a face is slowly dicernable. Slowly a wisp of energy begins to stream into the Valhallan Star.
* Aboard the Valhallan Star, Rune and the various bridge crew stand, as if frozen in time *
Slowly time, begins to rekindles itself and the vision of the orb-world is seen on the bridge screen.
"Sir all weapons refuse to fire sir!!" Excalaims one of the the bridge crew...
"What!!" Runes face falls white "Ops report!!"
"There will be no need for weapons this time, I need that..."
The bridge security forces draw weapons, all pointed at the new intruder..
"I believe your name is Rune is it not?" it asks.
"Hold your fire men!" commands Rune, "Whose asking?"
Standing, behind the main bridge area of the Valhallan Star, standing in blue battle dress, with a large scabbard on his belt. Blue white light emits from his eyes, hair the color of artic blue ice. Various technological items are visable on his wrists and two guntlets are worn on his forarms.. both encusted with blue gold..
"Don't you recognize me, my young friend?"
"You don't seem inclined to answer my questions?" again Rune retorts.
The entity smirks..
"Well, it appears you've never seen an Inquistor at war.. Have you?"
The sight of Rune face slowly shows understanding.. and then, as if a fool, he asks "Nai?"
"Who else were you expecting?"
General Throck paced the bridge of the TFC (TriForceShip) Oblivion. He knew what he had to do*
(Throck) Prepare the fleet for transport, it's time we prepared for the comming battle.
(Tea'lo) Sir? What about the portal? Shall we dismantle it?
*Throck smiles*
(Throck) My dear Tea'lo, how do you think we're going to move the fleet?
*Tea'lo looked at his commanding officer in confusion. What would be the point of using the portal to send their fleet somewhere into hiding, the portal would still be there, open to be destroyed*
(Throck) I know what your thinking Tea'lo, we'll be taking the portal with us.
(Tea'lo) But how sir?
(Throck) Don't ask me how, just prepare the fleet, i'll take care of the rest.
(Tea'lo) As you request sir.
*Tea'lo walks out of the chamber to prepare the fleet, Throck stares into space and thinks to himself. "It's time my lords, send your ambassador" A red glow aappears in Throck's eyes as he smiles*
Wih sits at his quarters, deep in thought. He starts to talk, and debate with himslef over what to do. A few mutters can be heard, and finally he comes to a conclusion. His pessimistic self says one brief mutter, Wih replies, and ends the matter.
'You're too rusty.'
'I'm going to help in this war, or whatever it is turning out to be... And this is the only way that I can make a real difference.'
Wih closes his eyes, which seem to strain under the eyelids, for a few seconds, and a computer screen & keyboard appear infront of him.
'Sometimes the simplest ways are the best.' he says to himself, as he types in a message to himself, and to all who can access his log - namely his 2IC, - Dray - back at Planet Zaiv.
'The Diomi go to war. Prepare the ships of war. Send them to my ICQ.'
Wih thinks to himself as he leaves his quarters, 'Now all I need to do is find a pilot for a ship, skilled at high speeds... great... Where am I going to find that.'
Then Wih clicks, and laughs to himself as he runs down the path to the conference room.
*Nai's assistent enters the main chamber aboard the Master, she walks into what can be best described as a chaotic place. Reports of Dark attacks were comming in from all over the galaxy, and lately due to the fact that the Inquisitor fleet has been completly deticated to the war, several top families in every galaxy have bugun an active campaign to oust the Inquisirtor fleet from theire territories. 6 Families had declared their Independence from the IC universe and were acitively at war with the Inquisitor Fleet. Things wern't looking very good*
(Communications's Officer) Inquisitor Lizzy! We're detecting a high powered carrier signal emminating from the nebula, it's heading our way!
(Lizzy) Raise shields. *points to the CO* Trace that signal and decript it.
(CO) Sir it's comming right at us! It's penetrating our shields!
(Lizzy) Where was it directed towards?
*The CO fumbles with her controls and her eyes widen*
(CO) Sir they were directed towards this very room!
*Lizzy looks around the room, pondering what the CO just said, her eyes looked into the souls of everyone in the room, but when she got to Nai's assistent, she couldn't read her soul, it was darkened and black , beyond her view. Lizzy began to walk closer to Nai's assistant, when she got to within 2 meters of her her entire body suddently became red, she looked up at Lizzy and suddenly a great rush of power surged from her body, she stripped Lizzy of her physical form, and red ribbons of energy lackhed at her lifeforce, for the first time in mellina, an Overseer felt true pain. The other Overseer's immedietly teleported to the room and went to try to help their comrad. Nai's assistent turned her head towards them and spoke*
(Nai's Assistent) If you value her lifeforce you will stand aside.
*Ripples of energy seaved through Lizzy's lifeforce, bringing shreaks of pain that could be heard in the minds of every person in the room. The other Overseer's back away, unable to determine what to do with the situation, NA looks at Lizzy in her true form*
(NA) So you thought you could play these games with us? Do you take us for fools?
*NA pulls Lizzy closer to her, she lossens her grip on Lizzy's life force just enough for her to regain physical form*
(NA) We are not ones to be trifiled with. We are older than time its self. You are nothing in comparison.
(Lizzy) So.....you can't win us through war so now you attack us this way? Through subversion? I'm telling you you'll never get away with it!*Lizzy grimes in pain*
*NA smiles at Lizzy*
(NA) My dear Lizzy, what you have been facing is not us, but our students, the Leviathans have learned much, but now is the time for us to get involved ourselves.
(Lizzy) We'll stop you. OW! *A surge of dark energy ripples through Lizzy's body*
(NA) I doubt it, this ship of yours wouldn't last 5 seconds against a TRUE dark ship.
(Lizzzy) What do you want? Why are you here?
(NA) What we want my dear Lizzy, I am here to serve as a voice for our kind.
(Lizzy) And who are YOU!
(NA) You may refer to me as Keltrava.
*Keltrava's eyes glow red and suddently Lizzy's weak body is thrown on the other sidse of the room, hitting the wall. The other overseers immedietly rush to her said. Sogil tries to merge with her to heal her lifeforce, but something now stopped him from attempting to do so*
(Sogil) What did you do to her!?
*Keltrava smiled at Sogil as she made her way to the command seat of the Master*
(Keltrava0 All I did was take away what wasn't suppsosed to be hers. *She evil'y grins at Sogil* Eventually you'll all have to return what isn't yours, but that is for another time, for now we have something far more important to discuss.
(Tia) What could be more important.......???
*Keltrava's eyes glow brighter*
(Keltrava) Netogiating your surrender of course.
*Sogil and Tia both look at each other, then down to their fallen comrad, if they could do this to Lizzy, then whayt of the rest of them?*
(Keltrava) Oh, and another thing, I think it best if you contacted Nai and told him to abort his attack, If he wisheds to live on for another day he'll follow my advise.
*Both overseer's looked at each other, pondering what to do next*
'Is she hurt?' Sogil heard Ryans voice in his head. Ryan was using the psycho motivation, a method to communicate telepathically, so only the other mods could hear it.
'She is only unconcious. But I can't feel any more of her power any more. It seems like she is back in her normal human form, now.', he PMed back to Ryan.
'Thats not possible! Only the ancients can give and take the powers of an overseer!'
'I know that as well as you! I can't explain it!'
Sogil looked to Keltrava. She meanwhile sat on the commanders seat, her feet on a console and she grinned selfcomplacently at the overseers.
'She still has got her powers, they are just somehow ... disabled. Ryan, can you bring Lizzy into safety?'
Within a second, Ryan was at Lizzy and teleported her and himself away. Also the crew had left the room. So only Tia, Sogil, Ara and Keltrava were in the room.
'and what are we doing with this Keltrava?' Ara asked.
'I can't read her soul. But I visioned her and I saw, that she is possessed by some entity. I can actually block the entity from the body of Nais assistant with a variation of the block portal spell. But it needs 10 seconds, until the spell comes into effect.'
'Do I we have choice? Or does anyone really want to surrender?
Tia only noddedd, looked at Keltrava and her eyes begun to glow blue. Keltrava jumped up instantly and stormed to Tia in an amazing speed. But Ara reacted fast and jumped inbetween them, so Keltrava slammed into Ara, and they both tumbled to the floor. Keltrava began to glow red.
'9' Tia pmed them. The glowing in her eyes now had a constant glow. Now the same rush of power surged from Keltrava and directed itself to Ara. Ara tried to jump up, but the red power was faster. Sogil mentally tried to stun Keltrava, tried to move her away telekinetically, but all failed. So he decided to move in with brute physical force.
'8' Ara begun to feel pain. During his life as Overseer he had never felt pain, so it was even worse. He tried to get away from Keltrava, but he was somehow paralyzed. Sogil grabbed Keltrava at her shoulders, but twiched back with a small cry.
'7' Aras pain became worse. He felt his power flowing out of him.
'6' Aras pain got beyond imaginable. Tia was still trying to finish her spell. But why is Sogil just standing at the side staring at them?
'5' Suddenly Sogil jumped at Keltrava, grabbed her at her arms and tried to drag her away. He succeded and imprisoned her in a hard grip. Ara was still lying on the floor.
'4' Keltrava rebelled against Sogil, but couldn't manage to escape his tough grip.
'3' "You'll regret this!" Keltrava spat. Her body suddenly got limb and begun glowing in another red.
'2' Suddenly the body of Nais assistant stood in flames. Sogil still hold his grip. Flames couldn't hurt an overseer.
Tia stopped counting. "The entity is gone by itself. But the woman is dead." Sogil dropped the remains of Nais assistant on the floor. Ara stood up again. "Ouch, that did hurt! How were you able to defeat her, Sogil?" "Thats not easy to explain. I somehow ignered her mentally, so only the physical force counted. We now must inform the other overseers." He looked down at the corpse before him. "Nai won't be glad to hear about what happened to his assistant."
Zeal screamed in agony. Her body was flashing blue and red, glowing the energies of the unknown. Her screams were distorted, sounding almost demonic when she flashed red. The pain was incredible. Her creations, her CHILDREN, had struck. They had attacked an overseer. The overseer energies that she knew existed within her clashed with the energies of the dark. Zeal's face was a twisted scowl. And then, as suddenly as it had begun, it had stopped. The good inside her had prevailed. For a moment her body flashed red again, and in incredible pain, the red energy left her. It floated towards the ceiling, and hovered there. Zeal fell unconscious, and as she did, her body dissolved into a blue glow. The Dark and The Light clashed for a moment, and the cloud of darkness was obliterated by the purity of the light. The blue energy then shimmered from view, disappearing all together.
"Ouch, that did hurt! How were you able to defeat her, Sogil?" "Thats not easy to explain. I somehow ignered her mentally, so only the physical force counted. We now must inform the other overseers." He looked down at the corpse before him. "Nai won't be glad to hear about what happened to his assistant."
At that very moment, the room Ryan and Lizzy were in was engulfed in blue-white light. The very essence of life permeated Lizzy, and she became whole again. The blue white light then shimmered out of the room. Suddenly, the bridge had been engulfed by the same light. The light entered the burnt body of Nai's assistant, and the body glowed with the energy. It was restored to it's peak physical form, but did not waken. She was disappointed. She could not revive Nai's assistant, as the dark energy had destroyed the brain. The blue energy coursed out of the body, and coalesced into the form of Queen Zeal. She stood for a moment at the center of the bridge, and collapsed. All the overseers on the bridge gaped in shock. Where Ryan was with Lizzy, Lizzy awoke and said "What... happened?"
Millenia's sword cut through the air towards Morrigan's head. Quickly raising her own sword, Morrigan deflected it to the side.
"Nice..." Millenia said. "Now, try without the sword."
Morrigan nodded, and put her weapon on the ground. Millenia raised the sword to attack. Before it could get close to Morrigan, she had stopped Millenia's arms, and taken control of the sword, swiftly taking it out of her hands.
"Excellent!" Comrade Daveski exclaimed, walking over to the pair. "Millenia, is she ready?"
"Certainly, she's excellent!" Millenia replied.
"Good" Daveski continued "because the plan is more important than ever now... follow me, you'll see what I mean..."
The three walked out of the training room, and down the cooridors of the Esperanza, to the intelligence centre.
"Welcome!" Liete said, greeting them "Its good to see you again Millenia!"
"You too Liete, its been a while."
The three sat down at a table, with Sir Dave and Mr Makishi. Liete proceeded to show a video recording on a screen.
"This was recorded earlier, on one of the Overseers ships." she explained.
"How the hell did you get a recording of that?" Morrigan asked.
"Simple," Mr Makishi replied "the same way we got one into Millenia's quarters!"
Millenia glared at Makishi angrily. "heh, I'm joking, of course!" he continued, defending himself.
"Anyway... watch it and see for yourselves..." Liete continued.
The recording showed the events surrounding Keltrava's appearance on the ship.
"Just... what happened there?" Millenia asked "The Dark Fleet? Are they... more than we thought?"
"It seems that way" Liete said. "From what we can tell from analysing this video, they have similar powers to the Overseers... but dark powers rather than light. This is the first we knew of it... they were obviously hiding this from us."
Sir Dave elaborated on the problem:
"You see, we want to fight the Overseers to gain freedom, correct? The problem is, if this Dark Fleet have similar powers... we would effectively be helping them into power. This would not help our cause, that of freedom. We would, in effect, be doing nothing but changing one set of oppressors for another."
"So, what can we do?" Morrigan asked
"Well," Mr Makishi explained "we do have a plan. At the moment... it is just theory. We need to test it, in a manner where no one will know. If we run in and attempt this in a face to face battle between Keltrava and an Overseer... then if it fails, we will give away to both sides the fact that we are fighting them."
"How can we test this idea, and more to the point, what IS the idea?" Morrigan asked
"The best way... indeed, the only way, I can think of to test this, is in a large scale space battle between the Dark Fleet and the Overseers ships. Just one person with a tiny craft and an exo suit can test this idea out... and get back to the Esperanza without being noticed. In the frenzy of a space battle, neither side will know what happened. Only we will know if the test succeeds or not. Morrigan, I have heard you are the best small craft pilot we have? Would you take this mission?" he continued.
"Uh... sure..." she replied.
"Good. The Dark Fleet have told us of a small scale strike coming up soon. Nothing major, just the smaller fleets of each side. For tonight, we should all rest. Tomorrow, you will be briefed, and set off on the mission." Makishi said, finishing up the meeting.
Everyone left the intelligence centre, and went back to their quarters. Morrigan spent an hour or so pondering over what she would be asked to do the next day, before drifting off to sleep...
Sogil was back at his flagship, the Weihnachtsmann, that was orbiting over Sogil Prime.
The Weihnachtsmann was an Inquisitor Ship, but not very well equipped. The only weapons were a few deletion beams. and some ordinary Lasers. It also had a heavy tachyon emitter, but this weapon was ancient. It was found in exvacations on Sogil Quintus and he had only installed it, because he liked the blue of the tachyon emissions. Instead, the Weihnachtsmann had a swimming pool, a party room and livinq Quarters for his wifes, in case they got bored in their palaces on Sogil Prime. The name "Weihnachtsmann" came from a mystical monster in the legends of the ancient earth. The Weihnachtsmann has been a monster with a white and red fur, that was intruding houses through the ventilation every winter.
Sogil was sitting in his command chamber. The first reports of Nais battle were coming in. Only some unimportant skirmishes so far, so he didn't listen, but was thinking about this incident on Lizzys Ship. This thing, Nai had called it a counterseer, had easily possessed Nais assistant and overwhelmed Lizzy, somehow disabling her powers. And Ara had nearly met the same fate, although he was aware of the danger. The only way to defeat Keltrava had been to build a mental ignore shield in his head. But that had been very risky, as it had cut him off from most of his modpowers as well. A Lasergun wouldn't have helped as well against a creature with these powers. So the melee was the only way to defeat them.
He called in his assistant.
"Contact the best sword master on Sogil Prime. I want to take lessons."
The assistant looked disbelieving. "Pardon, Sir, did you say 'Sword'?"
"You heard me right. I need some training."
Morrigan walked into the briefing room at 11am the next day.
"Good Morning" said Liete, getting up from her chair. "You ready then?"
"Yeah, I'm ready." Morrigan replied. "So, what do I have to do?"
"Well, here's the device we need to test..." Liete said, handing a foot square box, and a smaller handheld control to Morrigan.
"Basically, as we have seen, the light and dark powers are pretty evenly matched. This is why the Dark Fleet ships have seemed indestructable - they are heavily shielded by the dark power. With a force powerful enough, we believe this protection could be broken - and the same goes for the powers of the Overseers.", explained Liete.
"So where does this box come into things?" Morrigan asked.
"Well, what we need you to do, is simple. Using the control unit, you lock the ID's of two ships that are engaged in combat into the devices' computer system. The device is self powered, and will make its way to an area inbetween the fighting craft. When they fire at each other, the device will open and let out its lenses. Now, if our theory is correct, the first lens will in effect magnify the enemy weapon power, while the second will reflect the crafts own weapon. So, the ships will be hit not only by their own weapon, theoretically of an equal power to their shielding, but also by the magnified weapon of the enemy. We hope that this will be enough to destroy the shielding of both ships. To test this, the device will fire two simple missiles, one at each craft. If the craft are destroyed, it means the plan worked. If they are not... it means the plan failed. Still, this is all just an idea based on some theories... how we will actually use it after this is... undecided. And don't forget to set your own ship as the return location, the device will come back, with some test data for us."
"Hmm, sounds simple enough. So how am I getting there?" enquired Morrigan.
"Well, we've modified an unmanned scout craft - its faster than anything else of its size, so you can get in and out ASAP. The battle should be underway by the time you arrive, it is happening at a remote Overseer output a system away from here. Any questions?"
"Nope that should be fine... I'll get going then." Morrigan said.
"Excellent, good luck!" Liete said, before making her way to the control room where she would later watch the experiment unfold.
Morrigan made her way to the launch bay of the Esperanza, and prepared the scout craft for launch. Climbing into the craft, she could not help but wonder what would happen if she were caught... this craft, although fast, lacked both weapons and shielding.
"Hmm." she said to herself. "I guess I'll just have to avoid getting caught then..."
Morrigan powered up the craft, and after being given the go ahead by the Launch Control Officer, she guided the ship gently into open space, locked in her coordinates, and set the engines to full...
The room was silent and still but for the few lights blinking on consoles of the Overseer vessel orbiting Elysian Alpha. Then with a suddeness completly at ends with the silence in which it happened, Overseer Tia appears in her chambers on her command vessel.
Pain, pain and exhaustion. She remembered these, so new was she to being an Overseer. Unlike her newfound peers, Tia still remembererd vividly of before.
And she felt both pain and exhaustion now.
Tia reclined in her dark quarters, sending mental thoughts to Sogil, compairing what had happened with Overseer Lizzy, and the beings termed the counterseers.
*Yes, a mental ignore sheild is the only way to defectuallize the counterseers power, have you learned this yet?*
*No, Sogil, as I said I'm still new. I've just learned advanced blocks and intermediate intervention spells. heh. I wish the skills came as immeditately as the power*
*It will come, keep working, we will need you to know all that you can*
*righto, walk me through the advanced intervention spell then?*
Tia stands up and moves to the middle of her cabin, placed her legs slightly apart and locked them, raised her hands in front of her, and formed a ball of blue light, glowing and writhing between them, as she felt Sogil guide her through the spell.
Morrigan looked out the window of her craft, and saw the Overseer outpost, realising she was about to arrive. She switched off her craft's engines, and waited for the attacks to begin.
Soon, she saw a few small Dark Fleet ships appearing from hyperspace. Less than a minute later, Overseer ships had been scrambled, and were engaging them in combat.
"I guess its time..." Morrigan told herself. Using the controller for the device she was given, she locked onto the ID signals of two ships which appeared to be engaging each other, set her own ship as the return location, and pressed launch. "Fingers crossed..." she said quietly.
The small black box moved through the empty space towards the two targeted ships. It didn't have to go very far before Morrigan could no longer see it, but, along with the two ships, its location appeared on a small screen on the controller.
Morrigan looked out the window, attempting to see what was going on in the battle, but she could see nothing in the way of explosions. Bright beams fired from Overseer ships, briefly surrounding Dark Fleet ships in a light glow, before fading out. Although it was difficult to see the weapons firing from Dark Fleet ships, Morrigan could see when their targets were surrounded by temporary darkness from the weapons.
Suddenly, the controller emitted a noise. Morrigan glanced at it, and then back out the window. Suddenly, at a point half way between the two targeted ships, a strange, large dirty white glow formed. A beam of the same greyish colour shot out of each side, surrounding the two craft, before fading out. On the screen of the controller, the words "MISSILE LAUNCH" flashed in red. Two dots appeared on the screen, and rapidly made their way to the locations of the two craft.
"Well, I guess we'll see if it wor....... wow!" Morrigan saw nothing but an incredibly bright flash of light which disappeared as fast as it appeared. The words "SUCCESSFUL - UNIT RETURNING" appeared on the screen.
Curious, Morrigan used the scout ships' computer to intercept communications.
"This is Alpha 1, what the hell was that flash? Report status!!"
"Alpha 2 OK... I don't know what it was... but it looks like the explosion took the Dark Fleet ship with it too!"
Morrigan saw the device arriving, and switched back on her crafts engine power. Turning around, she set the throttle to full to return to the Esperanza before anyone noticed her presence. The mission... had succeeded.
Zeal did not waken.
"It's been three days since she appeared on my worldship. What happened to her?" Lizzy asked Sogil, Tia, and Ara.
"Well..." Sogil responded. "We're not sure. She displayed the abilities of an ancient. The body of Keltrava's host was rejuvenated by what we think was Zeal."
"Ryan told me that there had been a bluish-white light in the room when he took me to a safe place back then... I remember seeing it when I woke up. It just shimmered there for a moment, and was gone." Lizzy said.
"What are you getting at?"
"I remember hearing the thoughts of another." Lizzy said. "I could hear what sounded like... mother calling to me. She said "Everything is going to be alright. Rest, child.' There was something familiar about her. As if I had known her in this world. She was an ancient. And I suspect that she is unconscious in our sickbay!"
"She did form out of the energy that was in the room." Tia responded. "It was unlike anything I have seen. She just... appeared."
Lizzy looked at Tia for a moment. The young one had definetly not seen an ancient before that incident. Lizzy was convinced that Zeal was an ancient, and she had her medical staff running tests. The results should arrive for her any minute. The door slid open, and a crewman handed her a small data-storage device.
"Look at this... Testing reveals two distinct energy signatures. One of them matches that of the Dark, and the other..." Lizzy paused for a moment, "Is vastly more powerful then that of a Overseer. The energy signature is similar... to that of the ancients..."
"That could just mean she had participated in some sort of experiment, right? Or maybe she had been considered a possible overseer in the past?" Tia responded. "Tests show we all have the same energy signature as the ancients."
"Yes..." Lizzy said. "But the energy in this woman is far more potent... In her true form, she could very well kill any one of us..."
The overseers exchanged glances. All the information pointed to the woman named Zeal existing as a Ancient in human form. The records showed that she was at least 14,000 years old. According to some of the records, she was very easily the elder of some of the remaining Ancients. Mind probes had found her to be thinking of her "children". She had experienced great pain when Keltrava attacked Lizzy, and now Lizzy thought she knew why...
Admiral Throck stepped out of the turbolift into one of the Esperanza's corridors. From there he walked towards Millenia's quarters, and knocked.
"Yes?" Millenia said from the other side of the door.
"Do NOT perform any more "experiments", or we will destroy you just as we will destroy the Overseers. Is that clear?" Throck said.
"Umm... Yes?" Millenia replied, slightly startled.
"Good."
Throck walked down the corridor back to the turbolift, and once the lift arrived, he stepped into it. The doors slid shut.
"Well, that certainly complicates matters." Millenia said to herself. She then wandered off to the bar, and pondered this problem over a bottle of vodka.
"Well," said Liete, walking into the room "what are we going to do now?"
"I don't know... wheres Makishi?" Millenia asked.
"I'm here" he said, strolling through the door. "Don't worry - they can't destroy the Esperanza. This technology was something that I've been working on for a long time. The reflection aspect of the device was originally intended as a defence... it was implemented in this ship on Nicole's request at the time of building. Basically, if they fire on us, the beam will reflect back to them. Or indeed, somewhere else, depending on the angle they hit us. But the simple fact is this - their weapons will not destroy the Esperanza, but, without the addition and magnification of the Overseer weapons, we won't be able to destroy their shields either."
"Thats all well and good," Millenia replied "but if we leave the Esperanza, we can be hit by their weapons. Its a nice ship and everything, but I don't fancy being stuck here forever... and how the hell did Throck get in here anyway? Someone could at least have pointed him to the showers before he spoke to me!"
Nicole spoke up, from her seat at a nearby table, "We think he followed Morrigan back, and somehow snuck in while the doors were opened for her... I don't know how he did that, but we are increasing security at this moment. Our scanners will now detect each and every thing going through the doors. I guess no one saw the need for that until now."
"Well," Liete said "now that we've sorted out our intruder problem, I guess we just hang around here until we come up with a plan."
"Great!" Millenia said, finishing off the bottle of vodka, "That sounds fun! I guess I'll do a bit more intensive training with Morrigan tomorrow. She's good... amazing really... but no harm in getting a bit better."
"Good idea!" Liete exclaimed. "For now, I think we all need a rest."
"Rest? I'maaaaaaaa gonnna paaaaaaaartyyyyyy all nightttt!!!" Millenia shouted, before lying down on a table and going to sleep.
On the board of the Weihnachtsmann, Sogil was flying through the Pinwheel galaxy. Together with Tia who was flying on her own ship before him, he was training her overseers powers. She was quite talented and had quickly learned, how to ignore someone mentally.
Right now, Tia, had found some members of the evil Cult of Mult and all he did was finishing them off. The Cult of Mult was an old religion, that allowed persons, to posses the bodies of several persons at the same time. The Cult had been forbidden by the ancient overseers long ago, and since he was made an overseer by the ancient ones, he was trying to catch the members of the Cult, to question them and to kill them if necessary.
He looked at his screen and saw Tias Ship preparing another blocking field. This one not only was a Multi, but had also done the forbidden ritual of Draft. But he didn't stand a chance against the powers of an overseer.
Once, he had been as enthusiastic as Tia was now. Always following the rules of the ancient ones unquestioned and eagerly destroying everyone who breaks them. But now, he was tired. He pitied those who accidently broke one of the rules and so were doomed. And he didn't like to annihilate complete empires, just because their leader was dumb enough to believe in the evil doctrine of the Cult of Mult.
But now, there were some strange things going on. The counterseers and their followers, the Levitarians seemed to have powers not coming from the Ancient ones. Lizzy was still trying to regain the powers she had lost to one of them. And Zeal, this woman, Nai was working together with seemed to be more then just the leader of another Empire. He couldn't believe that she was an ancient one, just because Lizzy was seeing some energy signatures. The had always been only two ancient ones. And they were the ones who defeated the bugs and created the universe they were living in! ...or maybe not?
Sogil was looking on his screen. Tia was now scanning some Interchronical Phases (in short IPs) and didn't seem to need any help. So he decided to go down to his party room, where his sword master was waiting.
The blade was aiming at his head. Quickly, Sogil ducked and parried the blade upwards with his own blade, but master Lus blade was already somewhere else. With a backhand slash, he struck the blade away and jumped back. Master Lu jumped back as well and said: "Not bad, Sogil. Now you try to hit me."
Sogil stormed at Lu, aiming at his belly. Lu made a step back and struck the blade aside easily, but Sogil got around the blade aimed at Lus belly again and made a step forward. Again Lu tried to struck the blade aside, but this time Sogil got around Lus blade, before the blade had even met and quickly he stabbed at Lus chest. Lu tried to parry this unexpected move, but he wasn't fast enough. Sogils blade went into Lus chest and came out on the other side.
"Computer, end simulation!" Lus voice commanded. Suddenly they swords were gone and they were standing in the party room of the Weihnachtsmann. "Sogil, you have been a good sword fighter before you became an overseer. Now with the strenght and the reflexes of an overseer, you're invincible for normal humans. I fear there is nothing I can teach you any more."
"Thank you, master Lu. You helped me greatly to get into shape again. Tomorrow, we're coming back to Sogil Prime, where you can teach your normal pupils again."
Suddenly the alarm was going and he heard his commanders voice. "Captain, to the bridge immediately." So he ran to the bridge.
Arriving there, his Commander reported: "There was a beam aiming at us. And at the same time we suddenly lost all contact to the ship of Inquisitor Tia."
"This beam, did it miss us?"
"I'm not sure, we seemed to be hit, but it didn't seem to have any effect."
"Where did this beam come from?"
"It came from very far away. Possibly outside the galaxy."
"Maybe the Keltra Nebula in Or..."
The Navigation Officer interupted. "Sir, the ship of Inquisitor Tia is aiming at us!"
"What? Still no contact to them?"
"No, Sir!
Sogil cursed. The Weihnachtsmann wasn't equipped as a battleship. He had the Osterhasi and the Zahnfee, the sisterships of the Weihnachtsmann serving as battleships for him. But both those ships as well as most of his fleet were currently away with Nai.
He tried to contact mentally Tia.
'What the hell are you doing there?'
'I'm sorry! I don't know what I did wrong, but suddenly the ship went crazy. I'm now evacuating the ship and am already siting in an escape pod.'
'So who is controlling the ship now?'
'I don't know...wait!, theres a small black ship sitting on the side of my ship.'
"Weapon Officer! Aim a concentrated Laser beam on the ship sitting at starboard of Tias ship."
"I surely won't do that."
"You disobey my orders?"
"Don't you know, who I am, Sogil?"
"I don't...Keltrava?"
Sogil unsheathed his sword and began, to build up his mental ignore shield.
"I only want to talk. You should hear to what I have to say if you care for Tias health"
Sogil saw the weapons of Tias ship moving and now aiming at one of the escape pods. He sheathed his sword again.
"I'll give you five minutes"
Morrigan walked blindfolded into the middle of the training hall. "Ok... I'm ready" she said.
Stepping silently across the hall, Liete and Millenia closed in on her, Liete armed with a staff, and Millenia with a sword.
Millenia lifted the sword to strike diagonally downwards at Morrigans' neck. Morrigan stepped to the side, turning around as she did so. Grasping the sword handle, and levering it against Millenias hands, guided with her right hand, she took the sword from Millenia. The instant she had taken control of the sword, she span round, and blocked Liete's incoming staff, cutting the staff clean in half.
She put down the sword, and removed her blindfold.
"Incredible..." Comrade Daveski commented quietly to Sir Dave. "She truly is... as good as her mother was... better perhaps."
"Yes... she is. Time I guess, for the final test... Minakawa... the only person to ever defeat him was Morrigans mother... he's beaten every Grand Master, and even Overseers, without breaking a sweat..." Sir Dave replied.
"Yes, but isn't he..."
"Yes, he is on Earth. It looks like we have to set a course to the Milky Way." Sir Dave said.
"Right... I'll inform Captain Rebrov immediately." Comrade Daveski said, leaving the hall.
Sir Dave informed the others of their destination, then continued... "Morrigan, well done. I appreciate you must be tired, spend the rest of the day how you please, Captain Rebrov will oversee our journey to Earth."
"Thank you" Morrigan said, and left the hall.
When Morrigan had left, Sir Dave turned to Millenia and Liete.
"When she defeats Minakawa, it will be time to tell her... everything." he said.
"And if she... doesn't?" Liete asked.
"To be honest, after watching her today, I don't think that is a situation we will come across. But if it should happen... I still think she is ready." Sir Dave answered. "What about you two?"
Millenia and Liete nodded in agreement. "Without a doubt, she is ready..." Millenia said.
* Brief View from ahead of the Valhallan Star, zooms past the several miles of ship stucture, and zooms in to the bridge of the Valhallan Star, Rune is sitting at the Captians Chair.. Nai, stands in his human form. The Bridge Crew of the VS is at stations. The lights are obviously giving away that the ship is at quarters. *
"Well, as you said, your reinforcements have arrived." Rune states. This seems to be more routine than normal.
The ships monitors show several Neo-Class Inquisitors taking up station around the Valhallan Star, along the picket lines several destoryers take up position.
"Your timing Nai, is impecable. Well, you brought us here.. I doubt there defenses will last more than a few minutes, Weapons.. "
"Yes, Sir!" snaps the weapons control officer at his station, "Fleet is prepared, on your mark"
Rune spins around in his chair.. "Nai? When your ready"
"Engage the interdictor mine."
"Now? That wasn't part of the plan?"
"Do it now.. something is wrong...." Nai sits as though distracted. Nai, takes a seat, steading himself. "something is very wrong... deploy that mine, do it... Now!"
All concern for Nai is quickly diverted to the Tactical officer, who nods, acknowldging it's deployment.
"Continue on course, prepared to execute on my mark." Rune commnads, and the Com officer is heard repeating her orders to all ships in the the fleet. The view interface, show the several vessels, all with gunports open. The ships are all shown in a semi-circular pattern, around a point in space, which from previous views of this point in space is obviously the threashold of the counterseers entry point in the Keltran Nebula.
"Launch the probe" Once again commands Rune.
The interface shows a small point of light travel to the event horizon.. A small swirl of keltran gas is emitted.. and the probe passes through.. Moments later the probe begins transitting views of the other side..
The view at first appears empty. The space is vast, very few points of light are seen. Remarkably.. there appears what looks like a doorway.. and the tremendously colorful nebula is visable thru it.
It appears that it is the only source of light for this entire counter universe.
"Ok... Nai.. All clear. Shall I proceed?"
Still sitting on the chair in the rear of the bridge, Nai nods confirmation, and without much further comversation, the ships seen in the interface, begin their jump through one at a time just as the probe did.
In a short amount of time, the Valhallan Star, now towing the Orb then too proceeds to also, jump through.
Until a small station is left, with several large fleet units is left.. it then begins to move, taking up position in the location of the passage.. and after moments, the once dark silvery station begins to glow brightly.
Aboard the Valhallan Star, the Comm officer reports to Rune. "Sir the Firewall shield is active."
"So.. now, let's find us a more of these holes people.." and as soon as Rune completes this statement, the bridge crew commences to notifiy all the departments, and the scans of the Counterverse have now begun.
Nai, still seeming to be in some level of distraught stands.. and tells Rune "I will be in my chambers.. please inform me, once all scans are completed. Or if..." Nai looks right a Rune.
"Or if.." states Rune quietly.
The Valhallan Star glided through the nothingness, the nebula shining through the doorway into the dimension. Eventually, spots of light appeared in the forward scanners. The ship drew nearer to them, and without warning, five... ships, if they could be called that, dropped out of what could have been hyperspace. The ships were streamlined like the Valhallan Star, but the design was different. Each ship wielded two large cannons on either side, and under the prow of each ship was mounted... a class 5 deletion beam. There was a shimmering barrier some distance behind them. Suddenly, the viewscreen activated, and Rune was greeted by a entity of some sort. It was simply a mask, with two glaived hands, it's eyes glowing red.
"Nai... You may want to see this..."
The computer brought up a submenu on the screen. According to Enhasan records, Rune was staring at the great destroyer. The fact that it even existed was... substantial.
""IDDDeeeennnnnnnnnntTTTIFYYyyyyy YoUUUUUURsssssEeeEEEEEEElll
llvvVVVEEEEsssss...""""It said.
"Nai, you definetly need to get up here!"
As Wih was looking out at the new dimension from his quarters, through his ICQ device, via Nai's, and is suprised by the face that appears on the mainscreen. As Wih listens to the slow speech, he subconciously makes and sends a small program to speed up and clear up the sound of the transmission, and sends it to Nai, with a small message attached - 'attach this to the speakers while the red masked guy is taking, should make it a bit easier to understand. %)'.
With that, Wih closes the connection, and thinks. Then he hears a small 'ah o' sound from his ICQ device, and notices the Diomni are being sent over from Dray. Wih quickly grabs his anti-gravity zapper, and watches the silver and red bands fall out of the small device, and marvels to himself how much technology has improved since he began to make the two Diomni ships, after the quarterstaves that were rendered useless in this hi-tech world.
Wih's reminiscing is broken as a very large weight of an entire ship lands on his foot, and glances off, leaving a _very_ sore foot. Wih hops back a bit, grimacing, and zaps the two bands with the anti gravity zapper, and picks up the once-heavy bands that are now only the weight of a large laptop. Wih picks them up, and sets out towards the docking bay. He turns back when he remembers the mini-portals.
As he is walking towards the bay, he hears another sound from the ICQ device. He puts down the bands and the round box and answers. It's some spam, so Wih copies the message several times over, and pastes it, and sends it... Into another message that pops up.
'Sorry!' Wih says to Nai in the icq message, 'But I've got some buisness I need to attend to.' Wih puts his status to Away, picks up the Diomni and the precious box, and runs towards the docking bay. He has a sense of impending doom, and quickens his pace. As he enters the docking bay, he realises that that the air conditioning systems are pumping out carbon monoxide instead of oxygen, and he quickens himslef again.
Wih, starting to sprint towards the closest hatch - bay 13 - throws one of the bands on the floor, yelling 'Diomni, ni zjen-naamiarr' (Diomni, become greatly agile and endurant). The bands change, twisting space around them. Lacerations whip around Wih, who is glad that they are oxygen, and it suddenly stops. A magnificent silver and red space ship, shaped like a diving eagle is standing in the bay.
Wih clicks back to reality, and opens the door of ship, and gets in, still clutching the bands and box, and throws them in the back, and clsoes the dorr, finally feeling pure oxygen around him. Wih immediatly starts to rapidly type at the ship's computer, trying to find the source of the air conditioning fault. He looks at the logs of the ship, and notices an inconsistency in the ships registra. He quickly logs it and checks the actual program with the information for turning CO2 and H1 into O2. When he does he gets a shock - there is a virus in the program of an inquisitor ship.
The screen goes blue, and an error message pops up. Wih laughs at the silly 'security' precaution set by the virus. 'Nice try. I haven't used windows in these ships for decades!' Wih minimises the fake graphics and starts to search the logs for a backup of the origonal program for the condidtioning system. Deleted. Wih racks his brain for a way to fix the program. He clicks to one.
Wih opens up the local computer systems, and copies his own system, and puts it in placement of the ship's faulty one. 'That should hold till Nai gets back...' Wih thinks to himself.
Wih prepares for blast off. He locks onto the signature of Nai's ship, and notices that there are several ships in that vicinity. The distance measure is off the scale, and fluxuating rapidly, with a w00ting sound. Wih does not like the sound of that, so looks for another ship to lock onto. He sees some hostile ships - not a good idea - and Tia's mothership, - which has been comprimised - Wih looks some more, and see's an escape pod. Wih trys to lock on the escape pod. The computer beeps happily as it gets a solid lock on the pod, and Wih sets off.
While flying through blank space, Wih sends a message to the escape pod saying 'Don't worry, it's just Wih. %)' He sits back, and flicks through his logs. Getting bored, he loads up The Dungeons of Moria, and starts to play the ancient rouge-like game.
"IdEnTIiiiiiiiiiiFFFFFFYYYY yOUURrrrsSSeeeeeeeLLLveeeessssssssssssssssss..."
The voice of the entity on the screen was unaffected by Wih's device. The thing must be damaged.
"Idddddddd...."
"Commander Rune of the Valhallan Star. I am from http://www.imperialconflict.com, port 6667." Rune had been told by Nai to say those words, which identified the universe Rune had been raised in. He waited for a response from the entity on screen.
"PrOOOOOOOOOOocceSSSSsiiNNgggggg.... IiiiDDdennntiIfiCAaaaaTiooooooon rEEEEEEEEEcognniiiiiiiIzzzzzzeeed."
Rune was slightly relieved.
"YYYYoooooooouuUUUUUUUU wiLLLll fooLLLLLowwwwww UuuuuuSSSSSSSSSSSSssssssss..."
With that, the entity disapeared from the screen, and the ships turned and slowly proceeded towards the firewall. Rune ordered the helmsman to follow them. When they got to the firewall, a small port opened in it. The Valhallan Star passed through it, and the viewscreen was filled with a lush universe. The scanners revealed the entire region to be densely packed, and each planet was inhabited by empires older then the Universe the Valhallan Star originated from. The ship glided through this universe, and was hailed again. This time they were greated by the image of a beautiful woman, with long blue hair, and ice blue eyes. She spoke without the slightest hint of an accent.
"Commander Rune of the Imperial starship Valhallan Star, we welcome you. We are priviledged to welcome the Inquisitor Nai to our realm. We were aware of your unauthorized entry through a unknown port, but it was the least of our concerns. A entity calling itself 'the Dark' invaded our realm through that port almost seven years ago. Our ships are evenly matched with theirs, but it is only a matter of time before one of us loses." The woman paused. "We will help you if you help us."
Rune looked back at Nai, who simply nodded.
"Very well." Rune said
"Excellent. We will escort your ship to the core."
The viewscreen went blank, and the Valhallan Star started moving. The controls had been overriden by one of the alien ships, and they were moving towards the core of this universe. But the Dark had entered this realm through the Keltra Nebula. And then there was the fact that the entity that had greeted them when they entered the realm had the exact appearance of the Great Destroyer. Rune had a few questions he wanted to ask.
"Why are you doing this?" Keltrava asked.
"Why am I doing what?"
"All this blocking and killing of empires. The kicking and banning of their leaders. All those manipulations of reality that you call editing. How many innocents have already died by your hands?"
"They broke the rules. They deserved punishment!"
"Are you sure they were so guilty that they deserved dead? And what is so good in the rules you try to enforce?"
"Those are the rules of the ancient overseers, who have created our universe. They must be enforced to maintain the balance of powers."
"I guess I'll have to tell you the truth about your valuable ancient overseers. They didn't crete the universe. Sure, they defeated the bugs, but they weren't the ones who who created the universe. They are just controling it, to profit from it."
"How do they profit from it?"
"Don't you think it would be the best, if all the peoples would live in peace together?"
"Of course!"
"This is exactly what the ancients want to prevent. They feed on the blodshed. For everybody killed in all those wars in the universe, they gain more power."
"I don't believe that!"
"No? Then why are all those rules? The alliance rules and the prohibition of the ritual of draft prevents a strong alliance to make its galaxy peaceful."
"Those rules preserve the balance of powers"
"The balance of powers? This balance means nothing else then war. The galaxy is split in ten thousand empires. Many of those empires are ruled by emporers, who are hardly more then childs, who attack their neighbour just because they are bored. And your balance of powers just means they often get away with their war crimes. And the 50% rule protects those troublemakers."
Suddenly there was a beeping on one of the consoles.
"Sir, theres another ship nearing our position. Its the a ship of Wih", the navigation officer said.
"Hmm, Wih is a friend of the overseer, what is he doing?"
"It seems he's trying to rescue one of the escape pods."
"Is he stupid? Tias ship can melt him within a second."
As if Tias ship had heard that, it moved its weapons to aim at Wihs ship.
"You can save him, Sogil"
"How?"
"I just want to talk to you and want to show you something. Promise by your honour of an overseer to do that."
"Ok, show me what you want."
"Fine!"
Wihs ship catched hold of Tias escape Pod and quickly vanished into hyperspace. Right after, the small dark ship moved away from the hull of Tias mothership and followed into the direction of Wihs ship.
"Tell the crew of Tias ship to get back to the ship again and to follow you. Then set course to sector 86,98. You'll meet a ship there. Oh, and I guess you want your weopon officer back. Its exhausting to control more then one body at once."
Suddenly the weapons officer collapsed, but stood up right after and looked around confused.
"Weapon officer Ivana?", Sogil asked.
"Yes, sir?"
"Do you know what just happened?"
"err...no, sir?"
"Go down to the medical center, and tell the doctor to examine you in every detail"
"Yes, Sir!" She turned around and left the room.
He turned to the rest of the officers. "Ok, lets help Tias crew, now."
Wih was rapidly typing and moving, trying to lose the strange black ship, assumedly a dark ship.
"Tia, get over here!" Wih yelled out. "I need your help to lose this shadow!"
A short while later, Tia walked in, with a few officers close behind her.
"Thanks for the quick rescue, but I could of held out for a little longer." Tia said, catching her breath. "I see we have a stalker following us."
"Yes" Wih replied. "And I have need of a pilot for another ship almost exactly like this, just slightly slower and more powerful. Would you like the honours?" Wih took a miniscule break, then said another sentance or two. "Also, you might want to know that both ships can fuse into one, making one very deadly ship, on the command of these words from both ships - 'Diomni, niom darzjen-nammiaar' - which when translated into english basically means 'Diomni, become one fast fortress."
Tia was about to say a reply, when a maroon laser glanced off starboard.
"Tell me your answer in a tick, we've got some company."
Lizon paces in his main meeting room on his Home Planet of Argos. Large windows lets in sunlight from the outside. He gazes into the city, children can be seen playing in yet another perfect summer's day. Lizon gazes inward and saids to himself, "I must protect my people, I cannot allow them to suffer because of the faults of others.". A terminal behind him chimes. Lizon turs away from the window and heads to the desk, he takes a seat at the terminal nd tapps the panel.
"Lizon here"
A familure face appears on the screen, It was his master engineer, "LIZON SIR!", he salutes.
Lizon returns the salute, "What can I do for you commander"
"Sir I'm pleased to report that the construction of the Yellow Star is nearly complete, all systems have passed their test runs with the exception of the main power core, we haven't yet pushed it to MAX capisity. We're waiting on your orders on what you want us to do about that sir."
Lizon looked at the screen, pondering his responce. The Yellow Star was powered by a plant design that was to be used by the next generation Inquisitor ship, naturely using such technology was banned by the overseer's and if the ship was detected his empire could be subject to complete deletion. Further if the Dark and the Levitian allies detected the signature it would be like a beacon, calling them to his homeworld, comething that wasn't wanted. They had tried to consider moving the ship to another location but fears of possible overseer detection prevented him from doing so. There was also the fear of having the core overload and going criticle, which if such a thing happened he wouldn't have to worry about being detected by the Overseer's. Course Lizon also knew that if the Yellow Star wasn't completed the galaxy, no the universe could be destroyed, it was a risk he was willing to take.
"Prepare to run the test, make sure all inhibitors are in place, we can't afford to be detected"
"As you wish sir.", the officer saluted and the screen turned dark. Lizon briefly brought up the schimatic of the Yellow Star on the main holo-projector. The Yellow Star was a small ship, 500 meters in length and only 6 decks deep, Lizon rememebers the uproar from his chief designers when the Yellow Star was on the drawing board...
"But why sir! Surly a leader of your calibur deserved a grand ship! Why would you want it to be that small?", said on of the chief designers. A Large holoimage of a ship 7 Km long was on the screen, massive and powerful, it would have rivaled that of the Valhallan Star it's self.
Lizon stood to adress everyone in the room, "Because, the largest ship is always the subject to the point of an attack, why should we place all our resources into the construction of one ship when a group of smaller ships can accomplish the same task?"
That was all Lizon had to say in order to convince the designers, they went back to the drawing board and eventually the Yellow Star was consieved. Powered by an Inquisitor power source it had a powerful in-space engine making it the fastest ship in normal space travel. It's systems were manned by officers connected directly to the ship with a neuro interface, enabling instant responce and control. Most importantly however was it's weapons system, the weapons were of Dark orgine. Lizon never told his designers how he got the technology, or how he hid such knowledge from the Mods. Many of the designers had questoins about using such forbiddion technology, fearing blocking or worse, deletion. But Lizon pressed forward and eventually the technology was integrated into the Yellow Star's weapons system.
Lizon walks away from the image and picks up a small pad, he walks over to the window again and thinks, "Now I only need one more thing". Lizon taps the pad, a face comes on the screen.
"Hello there Wih, I hope your doing well."
"LIZON! I wasn't expecting your call so soon!"
"Yes well things have changed. Do you have the device I requested?"
"Yes, but need i remind you this was no easy object to comeby, and should Nai find out I'll be.........."
Lizon raises his hand, "Don't worry Wih, once I have the device you'll never have to worry about me again. When will be able to drop off the device?"
Wih looks down and looks back at Lizon, "I think I might be able to get off the worldship sometime tomorrrow without being noticed, where should we meet?"
Lizon tapps his paddd, sending With the proper information, "Here are the coordinates, I hope their not too far out of your way"
Wih nods his head, "Should be no problem, I'll see you there."
Lizon looks at the padd, "Good, Lizon out"
Tia, suddenly realises that Wih was having a conversation, she perks up from her concentrating.
'What was that 'bout?' she asks.
'Just about this annoying black fly. You decided?'
'Yes, I'll try it out. Which docking bay is it in?'
'It's right here.' Wih passes Tia the band.
'Say 'Diomni, ni zjen-naamiarr' to activate it. Then it'll expand to it's normal size. Watch out for the acceleration, it'll really shake you up if you put it flat 1st time.' Wih types a few things into the computer, and a diagram of 4 ships come up. Tia reckognises 3 - 1 is the black ship, 1 is the ship they are in, and 1 looks like it. One Tia does not reckognise.
'Which is the 3rd one?' Tia asks.
'It's the fused form of both Diomni. If we need to fuse them, you and your crew will be situated over here [Wih points to a quarter of the ship], and you will be here, using the binggest [poing]ing gun around here for light years. Watch out for the kickback in your single ship though, you can use it for an emergency boost if nessicary.
This is the dark ship. As far as we can tell, it has a lot of engines, but if only has 5 hyperdrives. You need to 2 on one side of the ship, and it will veer away from us. The 'drives are situated in this area. Another option is to disarm it. As far as I can tell, it's primary weapons are here, but they are not it's most powerful. If things get too dangerous, you could try to aim in the middle hole of these 10 ones here, I suspect they hold missiles of some sort. If they do, they might cause a chain reaction to make the ship explode. That's about as much as I can tell you right now. I'll tell you any more if I find it out, for instance fighting style. You ready?'
'You bet. Lets do this.' Tia says, pointing and making hand signals to her officers, walks off with the band to the docking bays.
Wih gets out the mini-portal box, and hands Tia one as she is leaving.
'Use it if you have to. Press this button here, and throw it above your head, and make sure you don't touch it. It vapourizes organic material.'
Tia nods, then walk towards the ship.
Wih fells inside the box, and pats the layering, and wipes his forehead of sweat, and relaxes.
'That was too close. Lizon was a bit early, and that nearly got us in deep trouble...' Wih thinks to himself, as he gets ready for Tia to leave the ship and launch the initial attack on the dark ship, and his role in this construction that has become major risk and disaster for all closely connected.
A Schala class heavy battlecruiser had arrived at the construction site of the Yellow Star discretely enough. The Asgard had arrived in full stealth mode, and scanners did not even know the seven kilometer long ship was even there. It had dropped off a number of light cruisers and about 100k stealth fighters. Zeal had woken about two weeks ago, and after intense questioning, she had been released. Lizon didn't know what had happened but whatever it was that had involved Zeal probably should not have happened. Still, Lizon was thankful for the protection she had offered. His project planners were still rather angry though, as they had wanted to build the largest monument to their technology possible. The Yellow Star was a mere gnat compared the Valhallan Star, with it's six decks compared to the two hundred decks that the Valhallan Star required. The defenses of the Valhallan Star were at the least, 'intricate'. They were effective, but the ship had drawn most of the fire from the Dark at every engagement, and at one time required the replacement of a wing four kilometers long. It had taken them almost a month to fabricate the replacement. The ship was currently in the counterverse, with Nai onboard, and they had recieved no communications. It was all the better that Nai did not know.
"Are you sure we want to install the Enhasan shields Queen Zeal sent? They are... odd to say the least."
"They are the shields that the Next Generation Inquisitors are equipped with. Why wouldn't we want them?"
"Well, sire, the energy signature they produce is... the same as that of the weapons you wanted installed."
"That's interesting... Install them anyways. We need the protection."
Lizon walked out of the room, and wondered. Why would shields of Enhasan manufacture share the same energy signatures as the Dark's weapons? He knew that the the shields would stand up to deletion beams the same magnitude as those found on a Next gen. Inquisitor... Class 4 if he remembered right. The Valhallan Star had a class 3 mounted under it's prow. Still, he could only wonder how Zeal had come across the technology.
Rune looked out at the counterverse. It was beautiful, and they had been travelling at sub-light speeds for days now. He knew why though. If the Valhallan Star folded or entered hyperspace, it would create a disturbance that could be detected for parsecs. They were nearing the end of leviathan controlled space. Within moments, Rune knew that it was safe again. The starscape on the screen opened up in front of the ship, and inside the gaping hole, the core of the counterverse was visible. The Valhallan Star had glided through the hole in space, and as soon as it was clear the hole sealed itself. A single planet loomed in the holoprojection. As soon as the flames erupted around the shields of the other ships, terror struck in Rune's heart. Never, NEVER before had the Valhallan Star entered the atmosphere of another planet. The previous ship had regularly landed on the Enhasan homeworld, and the designers said that the NX-01-A was capable of atmospheric entry, descent, ascent, and flight. Rune had been rather skeptical of those statements. Suddenly, the holoprojection blinked.
"Initiating Atmospheric Re-entry sequence. Ablative generators... online. Re-entry shielding... online. Emergency Engines... online."
The holoprojection shut off, leaving only ship status displayed. The armor system had deployed the second layer of plating, and the ship started to shake lightly. The spectacle from the ground was both terrifying and awesome. The plume of flame created was massive, and the Valhallan Star emerged from the cloud of flame, a large golden spear gliding majestically through the air. The armor system deactivated, and the plating disappeared. The holoprojection came back up.
"Atmospheric Re-entry complete. Initializing Landing Sequence. Landing Strut set alpha... online. Landing strut set beta... online. Landing strut set delta... online. Landing strut gamma... online. Initiating landing."
The Valhallan Star glided towards the landing field below, which was just large enough to accomodate it. As it set down, a numerous amount of struts appeared below the ship, and the ship touched down. After it had touched down, the ship lowered itself gently towards the ground, until the clearance below the ship was less then a meter. A large walkway swung out from the large terminal building, and latched onto the airlock beside the bridge. It clanked firmly, and the ship's environmental systems opened all vents after an analysis of the air. The slight sound of depressurization of the ship was heard momentarily, and then the holoprojections on the bridge shut down, and the massive window at the front slid open. The entire floor of the bridge moved forward through the gap created, and railings rose from the floor at the edges. Nai was impressed at the luxury that was the ship. A large awning extended to cover the bridge, and Rune got up out of the command chair. He had never known that the ship could do this.
"The only other ship I know of remotely like this belongs to Sogil." Nai said, and after he said that, a circular area of the floor near the front retracted, with steps going down into it. It then promptly filled with water, and started bubbling. A larger depression formed where the new balcony was not covered, and also filled with water. Rune was taken aback by the design. Zeal had designed the ship not only for functionality, but as soon as it landed, it became the world's largest resort! Nai simply stood in awed silence. Rune walked into the briefing room and found it had also turned into a balcony. Looking down the length of the ship he saw numerous balconies and pools, each the size of the bridge. The sun was shining brightly, and there was not a cloud in the sky.
"One would almost call this eccentric." Nai said.
"And definately, too excessive.. " then waving his hand thru the air, a transformation occurs on the Valhallan Star. The holographic defense grid then deactivates itself, and the mirrage of the luch tropical environment reverts thru a slight and gradual glimmer back to the true aspect of the Valhallan Star. The sleek warship she truely is. The awed silence now turned to frustration, like that of a parent with an ignorant child.
"Rune, take a look around you. How many sentient beings did your scanners pick up? How many do you see around here? These planets are so lush here, because of the war with these counterseers and their type, have decimated the populace here. The huge industrial complexes are automated, simply to help manufacture the repair and maintenece components of a nearly mechanical universe. Here, machines war with machines, for the lives of even one sentient being is more precious than an entire mechanical empire. To them, we are decadant and foolish with life.."
Rune and the bridge crew stood there, shocked with the word Nai spoke. Equally amazed that Nai possessed the power to alter the Valhallan Star with just the wave of his hand.
Rune, bowed, and stepped down from the Captians chair, allowing Nai to pass, and take his place.
"We are here under the protection of these Overseers, because their is more sentient beings on this ship, the the whole of this Universe. They protect us, because you and your crew are the most valuable commodity to the forces that exist here. Outside the core, there is a massive war on going right now, and it's all about us. So, be prepared to launch on a moments notice.. I will return shortly, once my talks with my friends are complete, then we are too depart.."
With the completion of the standing orders to Rune, Nai dematerializes into a whirling and fading ball of millions of tiny lights.
Rune stood there, amazed, and embarassed about his ignorance. Returning to the captains chair Rune sat, looking back at his bridge crew.. "Well, you heard him.. let's look sharp people. Obviously, we aren't here for vacation. And EOOW, get me a status report on what's it will take to get this bird off the ground."
With that, the bridge crew turned back to their stations, abuzz with activity.
* Fade from the bridge *
It is dark. Slowly, a dark mist is lifting, and visiable is Nai, much younger than the image seen last on the Valhallan Star. A glow of mist remains over the image, much like one who is thinking back about things much past.
He is sitting at a station, in the Overseer Communication station. Sitting behind him are two other Comm officers, a young and beautiful Rosetta and a equally young man, with Zeal on his name badge. As the sit, a relief shift walks in and excusses them, the three get up and walk out, joking and talking of things in the far past. Nai and Rosetta are walking hand and hand, with Zeal jsut a step to the side fo Rosetta. The three are obviously close nit group of friends.
*Fade*
Again the mist fades, revealling Nai and Rosetta sharing ice cream, walking along a riverwalk, in this image. Nai wears the Confederation attire that of an Emporer, one of the Tri-Leaders of the most powerful organization in the Milky Way. Without warning, streaks of energy fire become slightly visable in the back ground, and massive vessels, visiable from planetside, and streaks of Energy fire is seen, hitting the planet, as the bombing vessels in the shape of massive dragons begin their attack. Laser fire is seen returning fire, cutting several of these massive attacking vessels in half, concluding with the eruption of hundreds of the attacking vessels. The Sky is littered with thousands of bits of bruning wreckage, much of it burning up upon reentry into the atmosphere.
Moments later, Nai is whisked away by security forces, leaving Zeal there, guarded by a few loyal guards, one older and recognized as Zeal. Rosetta, then begins to weep in Zeals arm.
The Scene fades breifly, only to quickly reveal, forces of several Dragon ensigned combat troops surrounding the small force of guards, who are quickly dispatched, leaving only Zeal, holding on the the weeping Rosetta, surrounded by no less than 20 shock troops, closing in from all sides.
* Fade *
Once again, the scene is returned, this time, Confederation forces, wearing the Thakendar crest, escorting Zeal and Rosetta. Both or much older, and their two children. A small boy, and twin, a young girl.
They look to the sky, and reports sound in from some unscene newsource, talking of a massive and destuctive force called end of round is rapdily approaching Milky Way.
Rosetta is pleading and calling out, tears in her eyes.. "Nai!! Nai!! Please!"
* Fade *
The wave of desturction approacing this planetary system is shown.. planet after planet succumbs to the wave, being wiped out and debris of rocks thrown forward in shockwaves preceeding the wave.
The scene rapidly zooms in on the last planet.. The faint redish-orange sky shows glimers of these planets being destoryed.. and hundreds of metor trials starting to streak from the daylight sky toward, as the forward edge of the shockwave start to reach the atmosphere.. Rosetta and Chip Zeal and their two children are scene, crying and huddled together. Rosetta, giving one last cry "Nai!!"
The scene stops.. as though time it self stopped. No one moves, except Rosetta... And standing before her, is Nai. Glowing blue, showing his new form as not just an overseer, but a Moderator.
"I have heard your cries my love.." with a tear, forming and traversing down his cheek. "But what you ask I cannot do."
"Have you no heart! How can you be apart of this, and allow this to happen!"
"It is not my choice. Even I, am not all powerful. I cannot save you, or all of your family."
"Nai!" Bursting into tears..
Choking with emotion, the tears run freely from Nai's checks.. Each drop striking the ground.. causing it to glow, and shoots of grass begin to grow from the ground.
Looking to the sky, Nai realized he must go. Wiping a tear from eye, walking over to the two children.. and places a single drop of his tears on each of their lips.
Rosetta, realizing what this means, stands there.. taking Zeals hand, her face, no drying of the tears she has shed.... "Thank you.."
Nai, standing there, says nothing.
The scene reanimates itself, Rosetta, back in the arms of Zeal, her two children crying, she looks at the two of them.. "Ty.. Ensada.. It will be ok."
Looking into the face of her husband, Chip Zeal, he seems to recognize the look in Rosetta's eyes. He looks down, places his hands on them both, and hugs them tightly.
The begin to fade and disappear.. both crying "Mommy.. Daddy!"
Now, only Rosetta and her husband, Chip Zeal stand their, hugging each other..
* Fade *
From a far, the planet, once the home of so many, is seen being blown apart..
* Fade to Black *
From the darkness hundred faces are seen, all the faces of young women, growing, aging.. dying, fading... the process of the lineage of Zeal Dynasty appears hundreds of times over and over.. all rushing to the face of Queen Zeal. Sitting on a Thone, the vicor of Ensada. Nai, the ancient and protector, stands behind her, as she is crowned Queen as a child.
* Fade *
Back to present.. Nai sits at a silver round table. "We have seen the troubles you have had Nai. And we know of the Queen who bears the name of Zeal. And thank you. We also know of one called Wih, who you call friend. He bears a dual purpose. We will do as you wish.. Let us know when it is time."
"Very well," Nai, as he slides back from the table and standing, "I thank you, in advance. I hope, that once all this is over, that we can see each other once again."
Nai then walks around to shake the hand of the male overseer, "Ty" and then hugging the beautiful overseer that greeted them upon their arrival. "You have your mothers eyes, Ensada."
Recognizing the feelings Nai still had for her mother, "We owe you so much Nai.. We will do what we can to ensure that what happened here, will not unfold in your world. We will not fail you..."
The room housing the silver table brightened slightly, and another entity appeared. It was a tall, fair skinned man, with platinum hair, and ice blue eyes. He was robed in what looked like light, but it was an illusion created by the weave of the fabric. He stepped forward and shaked Nai's hand.
"It is good to meet you, Nai. Ensada notified me of your arrival. I am Joseph, Administrator of the Therionic Universe."
Joseph stepped towards the wall and waved his hand gently through the air. The wall shimmered, and a tactical display appeared in the air. It was filled with planets and fleets, each red or blue. The red was overwhelming the display.
"As you can see, the Dark infestation controls over 60% of this universe. If the infestation grows large enough to spill back into the Imperialis universe, I will destroy this reality. I'm sure you understand why."
Nai nodded. "I understand perfectly."
"Then, you would also understand," Joseph said, "That I would reconstruct this realm to make it the way it was before infestation. The dead are not quite dead here..."
"What do you mean?" Nai asked. Joseph walked towards the table and the center of the table slid open, and a large array emerged. It was frigid, and filled with over a million vials.
"These are the Fortuna Records. They are everything that has ever existed in this universe, and they can not be destroyed. They exist outside this realm." Joseph said. "If the dark knew of their existence, and their power, they would become unstoppable."
Nai watched as the records slowly revolved. The entire Zeal lineage was present. And at very beginning of the lineage, was the name "Joseph".
"How?! How can you be in here?" Nai stammered, obviously startled.
"Everything would die when the system is cleansed. Even me. These vials contain the genetic code of every living being, and the energy contained in the liquid is the mind of the being. Only a few of the vials do not contain this."
Nai looked back at the vials. Almost all of them were glowing blue-green. The only ones that Nai could not see glowing were labeled Ensada, Ty, Joseph, Siona, the Queen, and, to his suprise, Nai. There were a number of other vials that did not glow, but Nai could not make out the names.
"Why is my name on this vial?" Nai asked, as he plucked the vial from it's sheath.
"The Valhallan Star's entire crew is in the Fortuna Records. In the case of the destruction of the ship, they can be ressurected. And here, Nai, you are NOT immortal. I would recommend you head back to your vessel now. There is much planning to be done."
"Yes..." Nai said, as he disappeared into a blue-white light.
