Beyond Alpha Centauri :::

[History Guy]

Morgan Interstellar, Central Plaza, CEO Morgan's Office

“Here is the trade, CEO,” said Colonel Jerome Motyer, standing next to Mr. Ku and the seated CEO Nwabudike Morgan. They watched the far wall; over which was the great holo-screen upon which ran the film that had been sent by the Saturn nationals. Once inserted, the video-disk revealed what was going on concerning the Saturnians and the diplomats. The image on the screen was of two men in a darkened hall. Their outlines were vaguely distinguishable due to the brilliant red color of the moon Titan, which was clearly visible through the huge plexi-glass viewing window that served as a wall for this particular area of Horizon Aida that appeared on the film. One of the two men in the image handed the other a data-disk, informing the other man that it contained “all the information on the Morgan military”. The men’s faces were barely visible in the dark of the unlit hall. Both men were dressed entirely in black, though one man, the taller, balding one, wore a strange purple tie over his suit. One could barely make out his face on the film. His gray eyes shone through the darkness, and in the red light one could see an odd brownish mark on his forehead. Morgan recognized the man instantly, and in a way he felt he recognized the mark as well.

“Who is this man?!” Morgan demanded, gesturing at the man standing beside Mr. Sym. Morgan was in one of his tempers. The treason of this man Sym, a diplomat no less, had unnerved everyone, but it made Morgan furious. He wasn’t going to stand for it. It was times like this that it was best to tactfully avoid the CEO. He was trying his best to contain his anger, however.

“That man is known to M.I.A.,” responded Mr. Ku, “he is one Ki Han, and he is a turncoat. He reported Mr. Binstead’s acts of treachery to us for the reward we gave him, and he still betrayed our military information to Sym. We are fairly sure he was a card carrying Black Shadow member…oh, well there he goes…just as my men told us he had done…” Ku gestured up at the screen. The film now showed the spy’s dying body being slammed against the plexi-glass.

“Why was this man not liquidated before all this?”

“We were not sure what he would do. Naturally we kept a file on him since the occasion of his disappearance, and now it is completed…”

“Damn,” said Morgan, “This should never have been allowed to happen, like the terrorist attack on Samnos and Naxos should never have been allowed to happen,” in his own way Morgan blamed Ku for these events, and only suggested that he was to be held responsible. After a pause, Morgan asked, “Ku, what was done with this man’s remains?”

“Our intelligence officers on Titan tell us that he was taken to one of the heating rooms and a bungled attempt to destroy his body was made. When the Saturnians found him he was barely recognizable…completely charred…”

“And now this man Sym is on the loose, capable of doing what he pleased to us. He’s probably resting on the lap of Chairman…excuse me…Emperor Yang this minute. This man is dangerous, Ku…”

“We only know too well, sir…”

“I want him dead, Ku, I don’t care how long it takes! I want that man smashed down and crushed! I want his bones broken! I want him to be smashed to dust! A fine powder!” cried Morgan. When the good CEO got into these moods it was very near impossible to be around him. Though he tried to hide it best he could, Nwabudike Morgan was a very aggressive man, and all the more so when he was angry. At this point, Morgan was barely trying to restrain himself. “Pause!” he cried, seemingly to the film itself. The disk stopped playing in accordance with Morgan’s order. The film stopped in motion as the revolting Mr. Sym turned his head to face a holo-map as the body of the dead spy slumped to the ground. Morgan knew the mark upon Sym’s forehead now. It was the mark of Cain.

“I understand, sir. I shall leave you now, if you wish…” Ku was being tactful, as usual.

“Yes, go Ku. I’ll need you later, but now you may go…” Morgan watched as Ku made his way out of the room and Lieutenant Mowangi shut the door quietly behind him. “Are the 1st Corps withdrawing from Samnos and Naxos, Motyer?” There was still a hint of anger in his voice.

“Yes, CEO, General Marmion’s forces have withdraw to Pollux G. ¾ of the population of the moons have also left for our other colonies in the system. The situation is…dangerous.”

“What is protecting those two moons now, Colonel?”

“On Samnos and Naxos there are several elite detachments of militia raised from the civilian workers of Samnos and Naxos. Fifteen orbital platforms and one orbital cannon, as well as two squadrons of corvettes and fighters protect Samnos. Naxos is protected by…I’d say around two dozen orbital platforms and one orbital cannon. The Twelfth Fleet, commanded by Admiral Merrill is also docked there. There are some good sized ships in that fleet, and if the Terrans attack they will lose large numbers of men and ships,” responded Motyer, pausing only briefly when running figures through his mind. A look of regret came upon the CEO’s face, replacing the look of anger. The frown replaced the barred teeth, so to speak.

“I fear that those two moons are lost already, and serve only as bumpers between our territory and the Terran territory. Those moons are the first line of defense, and the weakest. We have taken out a heavy chunk of their lands in Capella, but I fear they shall take a good many colonies from us…those four space docks near the area shall also fall, I think…” said Morgan softly.

“I wouldn’t count on the space docks falling easily, we have fresh defenders there. There is a whole fleet of some of the Novan’s larger ships in the region under our pay, and so we can hold our own there. There are also two Drone-built frigates in the region.”

“Oh yes, the Pirates. I had rather forgotten about them. One can never trust those buggers, however. I was somewhat hesitant of purchasing the services of mercenaries from them, but they were the best alternative to the Soldiers of God. As much as the Believers are fine soldiers, I wouldn’t want to agitate our friend Provost Randius any further than we already have. He’s hesitant to make any deals with us now that we have Believers in our pay…after what they did to his father I can understand his feelings…I usually disagreed with the methods of Zakharov, but I always respected him. He was in essence a good man, I believe…” As well as having a habit of bursting into rages of ire, the CEO had a habit of droning on and on. Motyer only pretending he was listening to Morgan when he did this. It was a rather cruel and sneaky tactic, but it was effective.

It was at this time a man from the Foreign Office walked in with a message for the CEO. Morgan took the letter hastily scrawled out by Cornelius Walker of the Foreign Office, and read with surprise and interest. A whole new system-spanning government…So Ku’s men in the Drone Republic had been correct after all…
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

TRI-ENCRYPTED VISUAL MESSAGE
FROM: CEO Nwabudike Morgan
TO: Queen Maria Sanchez

Dear Queen M.,

We most humbly thank you for the message you sent us, informing us of both the traitor Sym and the ship that is to arrive at our port in several days. The information is most valuable to us.

Do not concern yourself with the loss of Mr. Sym, as I am sure that he will receive what he deserves in coming time. Even now my intelligence forces are starting to pick up his trail.

The ‘bloodhounds of the law’, as they like to call themselves, will most surely find him and do to him what he merits. At least one of these traitors has met an end fitting to their actions already, and we trust that soon the other shall meet an equally deserved fate.

We will look forward to the arrival of your vessel, Your Highness, and I am sure that we will come to a speedy arrangement in our bargains. We shall give you all you want in robotics and nano-tech if you return with bio-tech and pysch-tech. We trust that both of our governments shall greatly benefit from this exchange of information.

I really must apologize for writing such a bland letter, Queen M., but I’m afraid I have too much on my mind today. If we don’t have traitors lurking about we’ve got sabotage and invasion and the lot.

Fare well, and thank you,
-- Morgan
----
WHERE DO YOU WANT YOUR NODE TODAY?
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

PRIVATE VISUAL MESSAGE
FROM: CEO Nwabudike Morgan
TO: Lord Protector Ian McDiarmid

Greetings and salutations, my friend!

It was with surprise and interest that read today of the message sent by your ship in our territory. I don’t mind telling you, Lord Protector, sir, that I was mightily glad to receive your message. At first your unidentified ship looked to be some sort of Terran operation, and our own Admiral Dennis Mortimore-Clark came very near to opening fire on your ship. Such an occurrence, I am certain, would not have lead to very good relations with your people, the Protectorate.

Your message offering mediation in the war between my government and the government of the Terran Alliance is very timely, sir. I too fear that this war may start to get out of hand, so to speak. In fact it all bloody has! I think you will find, however, while reviewing the case that my government is in the right, while that of the Terrans is in the wrong. This war could have been avoided had InEn (Interplanetary Enterprises, a Terran company) not opened fire first on one of my supply ships, and then one of my diplomatic ships, as well as murder one of my diplomats. Had the Terran Alliance the foresight to take action against InEn, this war could well have been avoided, and indeed, it most certainly would have.

I trust that our governments shall soon come to a speedy agreement in terms, and we shall soon be, so to speak, on very friendly terms. Your warship in our territory, I trust, can easily serve in diplomatic negotiations. I most certainly hope this the case. Technological advance is, I think you believe, a good thing. I hope this is your relational, as it is most certainly my own. I think we can service each other quite splendidly in that field, and indeed in all forms of trade.

As for that subject, trading, I mean, how could you possibly suspect that I would, dare I say it, run up the tariffs on imports and exports? Would I, a good businessman, want to do that? That would only hinder our relations! No, while others may do such a thing, we of Morgan Interstellar can proudly state that this is neither our policy, nor indeed our style…at all!

I trust we shall come to a swift agreement in all things, Lord Protector. A tour of Neuvo San Antonio sounds like something to look forward to. I shall afterwards show you about Morgan Interstellar, our capital city. That is also a very beautiful city, as I'm sure you will agree.

Fare well, and thank you,
I trust I shall hear from you soon,
-- Morgan
====
WHERE DO YOU WANT YOUR NODE TODAY?-MORGAN INTERSTELLAR...BEST DEALS IN...SPACE!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[Kassiopeia]

The streets of Oslo, southern Norway, amidst the tall buildings and skyscapers, a beautiful green boulevard, the birds singing, the sun shining with a little sprinkle of white clouds in the sky.

What an idyllic morning, one would think.

Suddenly, from high above, a loud shattering of glass is heard. Shards fall down to the ground; and with them, a corpse lands right in the concrete pavement.

A dead lump of flesh, motionless, lying in a dark red pond, surrounded by small pieces of broken synthglass.

And then, in the blink of an eye, the Police Marines - a full detachment of them -, restricting the area and immediately taking eyewitness statements and samples from the scene.

And what was the name of this skyscraper in front of which this horrid and obnoxious event took place?

Kvaerner Building.

***

The communication channel was filled with uncontrolled chatter as dozens of different officers from several posts and ships blabbered at each other in disbelief.

Over two hours ago, the Battle Carrier Ragnarok, the pride and joy of the 6th Battle Fleet, had entered a sequence of FTL travel to reach the vicinity of a Morganite system, Samnos, for a reorganization of it's squadrons, and to replenish it's stocks before setting to a standby mode should a call to arms against the Morganites be issued.

And forty minutes ago it was due to drop to STL speed, report at a marker beacon somewhere between Wolf 359 and Sol, and then continue with a detachment of escort destroyers to assist. The ship had left three minutes behind the escorts, and had no chance of a commlink with the escort wing.

They waited for the Ragnarok to arrive. They waited, and waited, and waited, but to no avail...

***

"And now, as we are waiting for a press release regarding the disapperance of the starship Ragnarok, our team in Oslo is in place - Theodore, are you ready?"

"Yes, Rosann. This is Theodore Regg, GNN, live from downtown Oslo. Behind me is the Kvaerner Building, better known as the main headquarters of the late company Interplanetary Enterprises. About thirty minutes earlier today, the peace of the city was disrupted as the dead body of the CEO of Interplanetary Enterprises, Craylen Kvaerner, was thrown out from a window of his penthouse office."

"Dead body? Was Mr. Kvaerner dead before the fall?"

"The Police is yet to make a statement of the affair, but our newscrew met briefly a Doctor of Medicine that witnessed the event, and who was the first one to attend to Mister Kvaerner. According to him, the corpse was not killed by the fall, but more likely by a severe traumatic damage focused on his neck."

"Is there reason to believe that there was a crime involved?"

"The Oslo Police Department will hold a press conference shortly, in which we will probably get more information on the situation. The spaceport of Oslo is, however, operating at standard security measures, as usual, and there have been no traffic regulations thus far."

***

Secured text message (Encryption routine 09121986155-Nida)

From:

President Henry Tremaine
Prime Minister Elise Drecaille on behalf of the Parliament of Earth

To:

Leader of Nova Saturna, Maria Sanchez

We have received both of your messages.

Firstly, the matter of the Self-Supported Space Habitats orbiting Saturn. We are fully aware of the Titanian sympathies onboard these stations; however, we are not willing to completely cease control of these locations. We are willing to hold democratic elections on them to entail their willingness; however, the opinion of the Parliament of Earth is also necessary.
Additionally, the Coalition will not just give away the entirety of them; the Inca Station, should it decide to join your little endeavour, will be yours to keep, but the two other stations, Maya and Aztec, serve of great military as well as commercial importance to us.

Because of this, the Coalition wishes that if either one of both of these stations submit to you, the Maya station is emptied of Titanian sympathizers, with the loyal Coalition citizens, infrastructure and operations left for the Coalition to rehabitate.

You can have the Aztec station, however, on the condition that the agricultural hardware and components of our choice be removed and shipped to Maya station.

And, the Coalition wishes to remind you that Titan in no way has complete rights over the natural resources on the Rings of Saturn, the remainder of the moons and the planet Saturn itself.

This and the station affair can be discoursed in more detail once peace negotiations are begun.

On the account of the second message, we hold this gesture of good will, the returning of any survivors from the debacle of the Battle of Titan, in great appreciation.

We will arrange for the return of forty-five Titanian men and women imprisoned during the conflict in exchange.

Yours sincerely

- and hoping for a future for our children and our children's children -

Henry Gerald Tremaine, President of the Coalition of Earth

Elise Penelope Drecaille, Prime Minister of the Coalition of Earth

***

Public Wide-Channel Transmission

From:

Prime Minister Elise Drecaille on behalf of the Parliament of Earth

To:

Morgan Interstellar

We had no intention of letting this escalate this into something as big as the conquering of entire star systems. We despise the way this expression is worn-out, but we shall use it in any case: "You started it."

The next time you decide to jump on someone's toes, attempt to avoid the consequences and try to put the blame on someone else; think again.

By the time you receive this message, several Battle Fleets of our Navy have arrived to one of your border systems, Samnos. The Terran Alliance and it's Member States will assist us in this effort.

Consider this a declaration of war.

The Coalition of Earth.

***

Public Wide-Channel Transmission

From:

Prime Minister Elise Drecaille on behalf of the Parliament of Earth

To:

The Lord's Believers (Conclave)

We had no intention of letting this escalate this into something as big as the conquering of entire star systems. We despise the way this expression is worn-out, but we shall use it in any case: "You started it."

The next time you decide to assist someone who is in direct armed conflict with someone - think again.

If any Coalition vessel meets a military ship of the Conclave, battle will insue.

Consider this a declaration of war - and a warning for all those who are planning on doing the same error you did.

The Coalition of Earth.

***

Secured text message (Encryption 28041960-067R)

To: Ambassador Siilk of the Greater Hive Empire

From: Commodore Janet Radcliffe of the ECSN

Greetings, Your Excellency, Ambassador Siilk.

I must, in beforehand, apologize for any possible actions you might consider inappropriate or rude. I know that the Hive is a faction of civilization and progress, and as such I would presume that it is quite lenient towards cultural differences.

Now, to the matter at hand.

I am Janet Radcliffe, Commodore of the Coalition Space Navy, the main military body of Earth. I am the Commanding Officer of my ship, and this Battle Squadron - the unit of ships that are here to ensure your safety inside our home system. I am also authorized by my government to act as the liaison officer between you and my superiors, in this case the Ministry of External Affairs and the High Admiralty of the Navy, both working under the Cabinet, ruled by the Prime Minister.

We have made certain that no third party is aware of our rendezvous here. Any communications from your ship are transmitted on a narrow-channeled burst to another location inside the system, from where it is then relayed to Earth and directly to my superiors.

I have included a brief information package of our political and military structure and cultural aspects, to make sure that you have all the information you might need of our culture and to avoid any unfortunate misunderstandings.

The Coalition government wishes at this time that the Greater Hive Empire initiates the dialogue between our factions. You can appoint your messages directly to the Prime Minister; contact me if there are problems with your current situation here in the border space of Sol, or other matters of immediate concern.

If there are problems with the entailed arrangement, please let us know.

Yours truly,

Commodore Janet Radcliffe
Commanding Officer of Third Coalition Liaison Fleet
EC Representative for Coalition - GHE Relations

***

The arrangements made to the Command Nexus were, one would say, elaborate.

Seats had been arranged for a little auditorium-like window placed in the upper ceiling of the Nexus. From there, the Cabinet could easily monitor the progress of the battle.

The Battle of Samnos, as it would probably be called by the future generations. Of course, if things would turn out sour, it could be called something entirely else; and even if they would prevail, it could spark off something far greater then this meager dispute...

But the crew of the Nexus, and Supreme Commander Michael Jonathan Wakazashi, had set these thoughts aside. As the dawn on the first planet of the system was brightening up, night was setting over the Alps, right where Geneva was located.

They had no intentions, no hesitations. Just the desire and need to do battle - and maybe hand over some retribution for taking over Capella. And Callisto. And all those names that could possibly be added to the list as time would pass.

As Prime Minister Elise Drecaille took her seat and looked down on the room, still lighted, with people in dark blue uniforms shuttling from console to console, exchanging status reports and orders, she felt a quick sensation - the sensation a human gets, when he or she just knows that history is soon to be made, with her watching it happen.

The Nexus slowly darkened black and was shifted to a slight tone of red, to accommodate the eyes. Wakazashi and some from the High Admiralty quietly walked to their places in the middle of the room. A black wall of simple canvas enveloped them - to prevent the lights emitting from the operation consoles from disturbing the projection. And then, the stars were placed on the canvas, carefully and slowly, as the camera's computer quickly compiled the data of several days of detailed collection. Constellations, suns, small worlds were placed around them in mid-air - the three Admirals.

Drecaille wasn't familiar with the two other Admirals, and just called them Blue and Green, in accordance to their rank identifiers on their chests.

The Admirals set up a handful of electrodes on their wrists, temples, foreheads, even feet - everywhere - with the calmness and accuracy brought by repeatitive training and routine. After all, this was the first time in a relatively long time that the HICOP (Holographic Interface for Operational Purposes) was used; the last time was in a military excercise last year.

And then, Supreme Commander Wakazashi uttered one single word, that would start an insinuating sequence of bloodshed, killing, and very entertaining explosions:

"Ready."

The holoscreens blinked as they were immediately updated with a myriad of small, metallic moving objects; starships. Drecaille was not aware of the exact number; but there were many of them. They were lead, naturally, by an Andromeda class Command Ship. It had three Battle Carriers; the fourth one had not yet arrived, and was apparently lost. No one had had a chance to mourn this loss, as the adrenaline had already started to gush for the sake of combat.

"Prime Minister, madame", Drecaille heard a whisper from her side.

"Yes, what is it", she snapped.

"I am sorry to interrupt you, but the messages -"

"Oh yes. They are ready to be sent?"

"Yes. Commodore Radcliffe has also acknowledged that she is ready."

"Excellent. Have all the messages sent."

The aide nodded and quickly exited the room.

Admiral Blue twisted slightly his fomgers after pointing at one of the ship squadrons. A part of his canvas zoomed in; the footage brought by connecting together the images from hundreds and thousands of cameras and sensors on probes and ships was very impressive, and a feat of the information technology of the 28th Century.

A lieutenant had been assigned to explain things to the Cabinet. Drecaille took the chance and asked:

"There's bound to be some delay in the data from there to here - how is that dealt with?"

The lieutenant smiled, in a way one would expect from an officer designated to the task of answering questions from 'mundanes', and replied:

"Well, that is why we have Captains on the ships. The Admirals here only give them general instructions; like 'go there' and 'attack them'. These can be handled even with a slight delay at ease; and if the lag starts to impair the operation's effectiveness, which would happen only at the distance of roughly two hundred lightyears, the command from here would be given to one of the apt Fleet Admirals serving on the Command Ships, which also have small Command Nexuses like the one here or the ones on Dreadnaughts. It would be no problem at all, since the Admirals would still keep transmitting general guidance from here."

"Okay, I understand. Interesting, very interesting", she muttered and continued viewing the operation.

There were intricate functions in the holographic interface that the mere moving of the hands could not detail. Because of this, there were audio commands available, like:

"Zoom in on the planetary defence systems."

The view of Green swiveled and showed the first world of Samnos, named simply Alpha-One for the duration of the battle, and it's satellites - moons and weapon platforms.

***

"Exfchuuf me, buf fyor foof if in my mouf."

"Sorry for that", Filkins apologized, and removed his foot from Greg's mouth.

Greg shook his head, well, at least he shook it as much as the tiny compartment could accommodate, and said: "Better. Now, tell me, how come was it necessary for us to be stucked here?"

"For Pete's sake, Greg. He couldn't remember if it was today or tomorrow. He had to set sail to Mars in some time, so he had no option but to leave, even if that would mean outting us here."

"But surely, the Customs Office can't have enough manpower to scour through all departing and arriving ships?"

"No organisation does have that sort of resources, you silly. They do run a deep scale scan on some ships, the chances to be scanned are about one to twelve, at least that's what Pete said."

"Pete, this man who has been arrested for smuggling of illegal and sometimes hazardous materials for several times and for doing an FTL jump outside the defines of the interplanetary beacons, said that. How unnerving."

"Oh be quiet, will you. Without him, you would be still in that lousy excuse of a hospital - how is your leg doing, by the way?"

"I lost all sense in it ten minutes ago. It's probably cold now - I'd try if I could move my hands", Greg replied.

"Oh please. If it bothers you so much, I'll be more then glad to chop it off."

"You told me about deep scale scans. How does getting tucked to a small cargo container prevent the scanners from detecting us here?"

Filkins tapped the inner wall of the container and responded: "Residues of kvaernium-122. Not at hazardous levels, of course, but enough to keep scanners at bay. The oldest trick in the book."

"So old that the Customs sensors still don't bypass it?"

"Probably so - the Customs Office's scanners are older then the hills of Io."

Suddenly, the ship shuddered violently. This, of course, was not good for the tendency of our two friends. After a while, the vessel calmed down and steadied it's pace. They could hear steps from the corridor close by, and then the hatch was opened.

"Hi there", Pete, a rather old chap with a face that had been left unshaved for a couple of mornings and a wardrobe that could of used a little ironing, greeted them.

"Uh - hi", Filkins replied. "What's up?"

"The unwritten law of the space, I am afraid."

"What is he talking about?" Greg asked from Filkins, trying to strecth one of his limbs out to the now available space.

"What are you talking about?"

"There's a ship transmitting an emergency signal. A short-length signal, at that. That means that they don't want the Navy to find them - just like us."

Greg moaned in relief as his hand did crazy maneuvres in the air - to regain blood circulation. Pete looked at the show for a while and then realized:

"Oh, you might want to get out of there."

"No kidding", Greg replied quietly.

After a moment of regaining some sense to their feet, the threesome strolled to the cockpit.

"You see? 'tis a transport. The markings say that it's from Titan."

"Titan? The rebel world?" Greg asked, worried of what the situation would bring.

"Yup, 'ven't seen any other place called Titan", Pete replied and sat down on his console. He twiddled with it for a while, then a voice from the speakers said:

"You still there? Thank god."

"Yeah, we're 'ere. You seem to be willing to avoid the authorities, non? Well, then there's two o' us", Pete informed them.

"Oh, good."

"So, friend, what's yer name?"

"My name? Uhm... it's... Mys. Mister Mys...sym. Myssym."

"Okay... I'm Pete. No 'Mister' needed. Mister... Myssym."

"Roger that. We are in need of some help."

"Whatcha needin'?" Pete asked calmly, like the typical old man in the grocery store who seems to be able to get you anything for the right price, from lollipops to military grade plutonium.

"Well, we simply ran out of Elerium. The Tunneling Device won't budge."

"That's bad, that's bad", Pete replied. "You got this far anyhoo, non?"

"Well, yes, luckily... so, you got any to spare?"

"If we can make an agreement on the price, sure. Lessee; one gram of standard class Elerium costs around, say, thirty thousand creds."

"Thirty thousand -" - 'Myssym' swallowed so loud that it could be heard onboard Pete's ship.

"Sometimes even more, if you know what I mean..."

"Understood. We need twenty grams to get started with."

"That would be six hundred grand, then."

"We don't have that kind of money!" 'Myssym' screamed.

"Calm down, chap, take the microphone out from ye throat and lis'n. You are a bunch o' fellas flyin' on a prison transport, non? So, I would be an assenine idiot to expect that you have any amount of dosh on you. But, a military grade transport... you're riding on a fortune there, guys, not to mention that the ship itself is dynamite... if it had fuel, that is."

"So, what are you suggesting then?"

"I would take your ship, but that's one hot piece of hardware there. The Navy is in a state of emergency, that's at least what the news tell, and any foreign ships in the system will be shot at sight.

But, it's not all that simple. I have much room to spare on this baby. How many of you are there?"

"Just me and a handful of others", 'Myssym' said.

"Jolly good. We'll get you nice and snug in here. Now, what I want in return is some stuff from that ship. It's Coalition military class, right? That means that it has some T-class protoreactors, Kwazan Mark II stabilizors, the works. We will spend some time fixing and nixing pieces from you to our ship - then we'll have enough power to ride to Andromeda and beyond."

[Frankychan]

Sol System
Hive ambassadorial ship Seeker of Truth

Ambassador Sillk read the message that was just received from the Terran government. He was impressed, to say the least, of the legendary Terran's intuitiveness. Sending him information files of their culture, politics, and military without asking for them was truly astounding. Hive doctrine was totally the opposite- do not give anything that is not clearly asked for.

Krissg copied the Terrans files and sent them to the Throneworld, maybe someone there would find them interesting. As he continued reading, he was a little distressed by the Terrans not even acknowledging his statement of the Morganites. Do they have something to hide?

The Xiero decided to ignore it and relay the message that he was ordered to give from Minister Zell.

"Send the Terrans this reply." Sillk ordered the pilot.

"Whenever you are ready, sir."

* * *
Encrypted message
To: Commodore Janet Radcliffe
Commanding Officer of Third Coalition Liaison Fleet

From: Hive Ambassador Sillk, via Hive communications ship

Greetings Terran Commodore Radcliffe. The Hive thanks your government for the very informative datafiles you have sent. You are correct that we are very sensitive to other government's cultures and the Hive does not wish to have any misunderstandings between our two governments.

The information contained in this message is of utmost urgence.

Your government has not acknowledged our request for talks dealing with Morganite aggression. Unfortunately, the time to talk is over.

I am authorized to inform your government that within a few short hours, a Hive Expeditionary Fleet will arrive at the Morganite colony of Samnos. As your government is clearly aware, this Morganic colony is surprisingly close to Terran space.

Therefore, on behalf of the Greater Hive Empire and our Emperor Yang, our Expeditionary Fleet will attack Samnos-then Naxos- as a gesture of goodwill to the Terran government.

We hope that the liberation of Samnos and Naxos from the tyrannical rule of Nwabudike Morgan will demonstrate to you and your government our willingness to support any offensive to combat Morgan Interstellars plan for galactic domination and exploitation for wealth.
* * *
--------------------
Hive Expeditionary Fleet
In transit

The obisidan shapes of the Hive fleet continued their journey to their rendez-vous point. The ships sped urgently toward the spacestation, understanding that timing was everything in their upcoming attack.

Every ship captain under Admiral Bippol was aware that the timetable to attack had to be followed to the letter or else Warmaster Kang would send many of them away to the re-education camps or worse, to the punishment sphere's.

The fleet continued on its path, more determined than ever to arrive on time.

Only a few hours left...

[Mr. President]

The Grand Temple, Caledon, Vega Prime


“I wish you guys could see this,” said Gary. “It’s spectacular.”

With Jacob a-Berg, University xeno-technology expert, operating a generalized system hacker, the Thinker had finally been able to get beyond the first phase of the Temple’s defenses. It seemed that he was standing in a small chamber made of shining metal ceiling and floor and translucent walls. On all sides of him stretched the platforms of the first phase. Broadening his field of vision, Gary hypothesized that they were in fact the information-carrying components of the alien computer.

“Well, this almost looks like a hard drive,” Gary continued. “If this were one of our units, I’d look for the operating system and related codes, but there’s no sign of that here. What if I – ah!”

“Are you all right?”

Back in the real world, the Thinker held up his hand, signalling the other scientists to wait. Several moments passed in silence.

In the computer world, the glowing platforms dimmed and the entire mainframe faded. A spotlight fell on Gary and he flinched involuntarily. He felt like something was scanning him. The Thinker attempted to raise a protective code, but the alien computer batted it aside. Just as he was beginning to think of escape, he heard the last thing he was expecting to hear.

“friend. you?”

Confused, he looked around as far as he could, but there was no apparent source for the voice. “Where are you?” Gary called.

“we. are. temple. you. are. who?”

Before he could reply, the computer went on, “so. long. no. outside. people. your. thoughts. different. read. them. difficult. we. you. not. our. people?” Gary shook his head slightly. “from. where. you. come?”

“We live here,” he replied, not sure where the line of questioning was leading.

“long. ago. our. people. no. live. after. that. we. know. nothing. now. new. people. come. you. friend. or. enemy?”

“We are friends,” the Thinker said uncertainly.

A cascade of images poured into Gary’s interface. He had no time to assimilate them individually, but he knew that they were all being written into his recorder. At length he began to understand as the pictures and the feelings seeped into his brain. He felt the great age of the Temple, and the age of the people who built it. He saw enormous ships, a hundred times the size of a dreadnought, plowing their way through the void, carrying the ingredients to make new worlds and new life. He felt distantly the pain of billions as skies cracked and oceans boiled. Inadvertantly, Gary flinched.

“welcome. friend.”

Then he was standing in the Grand Temple’s main hall, his interface still plugged in but inactive now. Derek Sorensen and Jacob a-Berg were staring at him intently.

“We just got a massive rush of information into the nanodisks,” the University man said. “What just happened in there?”

“Are you all right?” Sorensen asked.

Gary nodded. “I’m fine,” he said. “I think you guys will want to hear all about this.”

[GeneralTacticus]

Laekdaemon System, high orbit over Leakdaemon IX

This was probably the only area in the LAekdaemon system that was not watched by the eternally moving surveryer pods and exploration shuttles. The planet had been examined decades ago and there were no resources there to speak of. It orbited in the midst of a cloud of dust and small asteroids, further reducing it's value for colonization.

The perfect place for Lysander to hide.

The three vessels - one Cadre, two Hive - that had left Firaxis Prime now dropped out of FTL drive and swung into orbit over Laekdaemon IX, designated 'Hades'. Lysander opened a commlink channel with the Hive ships.

"Alright," he said, "we have to remain here for some time. I need to send a message to my followers at Laekdaemon Central, in order to insure that it is safe to land. If not, we will have to sneak in. We will need to land you somewhere by stealth anyway."

Hive commander Felchek gave a nod. "Yes, sir. How much is known about what you are doing, sir?"

"Not much, hopefully," replied Lysander, "but more may have been discovered."

Encrypted Transmission

TO: Captain Marcos, Deputy to Major Lysander

FROM: Major Lysander

Captain Marcos,

I am sending you this message from a hidden place within our system. I need to know: is it safe for me to return to the planet? I have found help from the Greater Hive Empire, but this will be for nought if Menelaus has me killed first.

End Transmission

Laekdaemon Central

Marcos received the message just as he was walking out of the mess halls. He tapped his commlink to stop it beeping, then hurried back to his quarters. As it turned out, it was fortunate for him that the comrades he shared it with were all Lysander's followers.
Once back he plugged his commlink into his computer and looked at the message. When he saw the sender his heart skipped a beat, as he knew that Cadre Security kept a watchful eye on the whole of the Cadre networks. Nothing that entered the networks could be hidden. A moment later, however, he breathed a sigh of relief when he realized it was encrypted. It would be months before Menelaus's lackeys could make sense of it.
His comrades observed his reaction and crowded around to see what was happening. He waved them away. They didn't know the code, and would merely get in the way. After noting how sent it, they went back to their own business, whatever it was.

Marcos now pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen. 'lucky we still have uses for these kinds of thing', he mused. He now copied down the message, and began labouriously decoding it. Three hours later he examined the message. Then he examined it again. Help from the Hive? Lysander might be in danger?
He bounded up and accessed the main Cadre networks. No announcement or accusation had been made against Lysander. If Menelaus was out to get him, Laekdaemon Central would be crawling with loyalist guards by now.

Encrypted Transmission

TO: Major Lysander

FROM: Captain Marcos

Sir,
All the evidence available suggests that it is wholly safe for you to land. There is no suggestion that you are now wanted.

End Transmission

Lysander grinned as he decoded the reply. 'Bungling fools', he thought, wondering why the SEcurity people hadn't found his hacking yet. 'Well, I'm not complaining'.
He turned to the still open commlink channel. "I have just received word that it is safe to land." he said. Felchek nodded. "We will, of course, have to find somewhere to hide you, but as you are disguised as free traders that shouldn't be too hard. I know of an area on the planet's surface where you can hide your ships."
"Very good sir." replied Felchek, "ready when you are."

Lysander's ship boosted away from Hades with the two Hive ones close behind.

[GeneralTacticus]

Council Chambers, Laekdaemon Central

The Cadre Council convened once more in the Council Chambers, but this time without it's leader. They had been instructed to send any major initiatives to Menelaus for approval before carrying them out.
The five members all looked at each uncertainly, each subcounciously knowing that there was bad news, but none wanting to ask about it.
At last Intel Director Katrina spoke up. "We have a very grave situation here." she said. "We have discovered evidence of a virus in our networks planted by Major Lysander. It seems he has been sending unauthorised transmissions to someone and used this virus to hide them."

"Who were they to?" asked Leinin in alarm, "is this a threat to our security?"

"That, Warmaster, is being inverstigated. It is undoubtedly a security threat. I therefore propose that we secretly declare Lysander a wanted man and when he returns, arrest him."

"Why secretly?" questioned Raymond, "we could declare it openly and instruct everyone to report him as soon as they see him."

"We don't want him to know." Katrina said coldly. "He is gone for now, and if he knows we're after him, he'll never come back. We have to get him. Does anyone disagree with my proposal?"

Silence answered her. "Very well, I will send a message to Menelaus asking for his approval, and shall put my department on full alert."

[Sprayber]

To: Terran Alliance Government
From: Colonel Marcus Kessel

I see that you have ignored my communiqués and have every intention of setting off a wider war with the Morganites and others. It appears that it has been too long since your people have been involved in war and that your military has succeeded in taking over the agenda. This is sad indeed. I speak from 4 centuries of experience in war and can tell you are making a momentous mistake. We are out here near the core standing between you and no less then five alien civilizations and yet you are concerned about expanding you sphere of influence or allowing an unimportant and dead corporation to define your policies. And do not think that we are not aware of certain alliances some of you wish to use. That is being taking care of. I ask for the last time. Pursue peace with the Morganites so that we can concentrate on larger matters at hand. In case you have not noticed there is a human faction that routinely allies with alien influences. If you are not careful the deaths of your soldiers will matter not when the onslaught from the core commences. Think of the bigger picture and go beyond the petty squabbles for a few chucks of useless rocks. If humanity does not stand firmly as one then we will fall separately. Beware of those that offer assistance to you least you find them bleeding your forces for their own gain.

And again, war against the Morganites is war against the Spartan Federation.

Sit down with the Morganites, end this at the table instead of in the coldness of space.

Let it not be said that Sparta started this war, fore we have come with an olive branch and what happens in the future is on your hands.

Respectively, Colonel Marcus Kessel: Colonel Of The Militia

Copy Forwarded To CEO Morgan


***Private Transmission***
To: Prime Minister of Earth Coalition, Elise Drecaille
From: Colonel Marcus Kessel

Prime Minister. I have contacted you in a hope that cooler heads will prevail. Earlier hostilities between elements of your alliance was of no concern to the Spartan Federation. But an official war against the Morganites is very much our concern since they are our allies. We cannot in good honor stand by and allow them to be attacked without responding in kind. We do not desire this outcome but if your alliance takes action, then it will become a matter of us honoring a long standing alliance of our own. I have recently been made aware of possible contact with nations of Chiron origin. I would remind your people that certain sections of humanity have become polluted with alien influences. Our position is and has always been a policy of containment toward the alien threat. The actions of the Terran Alliance seeks to destroy a delicate balance that has for four centuries kept the aliens attention directed toward each other instead of looking to the spiral arms. I do not presume to know all the reasons behind your alliances decision to pursue this war, but from a logical standpoint Morgan aggressions is only a tiny fraction of it. It appears that your alliance is eager to grow and that the actions of InEn were orchestrated or were taken advantage of by elements in your society to pursue your manifest destiny. Your manifest destiny will lead to ruin both for you and humanities ability to withstand the onslaught by either the Gorn or Bree civilizations. For empires like the Greater Hive Empire this would be a goal worth pursuing since they are in league or at the least cooperate with the Bree in sabotaging human attempts at defense.

Our peoples need not be enemies. Together we can provide for the common defense against the alien threat and against those that aid them. If we fight, we distract from what should be our primary goal, The defense of humanity. It is too easy to get swept up in the tides of war. Our society has done so many times in the past only to spread the cult of violence and death. Most of our current generals and admirals have been fighting both man and alien for the better part of four hundred years. Now we dedicate our power and might against the aliens at the core. Please do not think though that we will not honor our pact with the CEO. Wither it is core ward or arm ward Sparta will protect it’s allies to the bitter end. Be our ally and not our enemy. Our rightful enemy are the aliens, but we must fight where honor directs us. I’ll end my letter as I end all my orders to my troops. Strength and Honor. Strength to stand against the tide, and Honor to know what is right.

Sit down with the Morganites, end this at the table instead of in the coldness of space.

Let it not be said that Sparta started this war, fore we have come with an olive branch and what happnes in the future is on your hands.

Respectfully, Colonel Marcus Kessel: Colonel Of The Militia

[History Guy]

QUAD-ENCRYPTED TEXT TRANSMISSION
FROM: Head/Covert Ops/Sol System/M.I.A.
TO: Head/M.I.A.

Mr. Ku, sir,

I am most proud and honored to be able to report to you that the assignment given us as of March 9th, 2701, has been successfully accomplished. As security around InEn heads of state was relaxed as co. shut down began, my men were allowed to move in for the purpose of executing your orders.

Your order, directing me to execute the terrorist heads of Interplanetary Enterprises, has been obeyed. Six of my men, in a single day (the 12th), took down a good eight minor InEn officers, and I myself was pleased to execute our enemy, the former head of InEn, and chief of the terrorist plotters, Craylen U. Kvaerner. There is cause to rejoice as our enemy, and the murderer of many of our brothers, has been killed.

I await further instructions.
-----------------------------------

ENCRYPTED TEXT TRANSMISSION
FROM: The Goverment of Morgan Interstellar
TO: The Government of the Coalition of Earth

This is simply a short message to inform you that we are perfectly willing, indeed hoping, to effectively end this bloody war, which has lasted long enough and cost the lives of too many of the children of our great peoples. If you will be willing to sit down and negotiate peace terms, we will most certainly be there to listen to them, and we will do all we can to ensure peace.

We wish you all of our best.
-------------------------------

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[Lonestar]

The Palace, Nuevo San Antonio

Ian glanced out his chamber windows over the Capital city of the Protectorate. Off in the Distence, the skyscrapers of Alchemax and Stark-Fujikawa dominated, but in the old city, everything remained much as it had 700 hundred years ago.

Humanity could create such wonderful dreams, he mused. Remembering what he had done to Spartan Leader Laurence Tarwater so long ago, he gave a brief grin, and terrible nightmares.

The Morgan-Terran War was taking on a life of it's own. Sooner or later the Morganites and Believers would get tired and simply blast Earth out of existance. He couldn't allow that to happen, to many priceless artifacts remained on Earth.

Hopefully, the Terrans would be receptive to what he could offer.
------------------

Sol System, Between Mars and Earth


Foreign Minister Odysseus Grant paced the bridge of the Agrippa. He turned to the Commanding officer, one Captain John Matheson, and gave a curt nod. They had just entered real space, and several dozen TA warships were converging on their position.

"Transmit"

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

To:Prime Minister of the Earth Coalition, Elise Drecaillie,
CC: Terran Alliance Government.
From: Lord Protecto Ian McDiarmid of the Protectorate of Man.
Subject: Greetings and Salutations!

Please, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ian McDiarmid, Lord Protector of Beta Hydri, Roving, and RE 123. I am sure you are wondering what faction or subfaction I orginiated from. I have sent a brief synopsis of the Protectorate's history along with this transmission, and I would be more than willing to sit down and chat with you on this later.

Madame Prime Minister, For 700 years now, my government has remained hidden from Humanity at large, which is just how we like it. However, times are changing, and it is now my decision that we should open up communications with the 'Galactic Club', as it were. Certainly, this would be very profitable for both us and you. My Historians, Anthropologists, and Archeologists are anxious to visit Earth. I must confess, I would like to visit Earth again before my time comes.

However, I would like to make an offer to you, a offer I hope you accept. We have been watching this conflict you are in with great interest, and have decided that this war must be stopped before it takes on a life of it's own. We have seen the dangers of deep space. The Bree, Progenitors, Gorn, the so-called Greater Hive Empire, they are held back only by the Chironians and, through quieter means, ourselves.

Therefore, the Protectorate of Man formally offers to mediate this conflict. We have extended the same offer to CEO Morgan, and he has been most receptive. I would like to invite you, or your Foreign Minister, to my Capitol of Nuevo San Antonio so peace talks can begin.

Madame Prime Minister, I pray that you except our offer, in the spirit that is given. You may send responses through the Agrippa, should you allow it to take up station at it's coordinates between Earth and Mars.

I eagerly await your response.
----------------------------

To: CEO Morgan, Morgan Intersteller
From: Lord Protector Ian McDiarmid


CEO Morgan, I have sent a vessel into the Sol System, carrying a similiar message and offer to the Terrans. Hopefully, togather we will be able to end this war before it takes on a life of it's own.

I would like to extend the possibility of the actually Peace Talks taking place here, in Nuevo San Antonio. I would of course understand if you would prefer it elsewhere, but from a poilitical standpoint, it seems the best. We have not taken part in your conflict, and so the neutral ground would seem like the ideal place.

CEO Morgan, I would like some information from you. Obviously, all information has a price, but perhaps we can offer you some compensation for it.

CEO Morgan....what do you know of the Human Hive?

[Frankychan]

Hive Outpost Alpha
Rendez-vous point for Hive Expeditionary Fleet

The Hive Fleet exploded out of FTL travel into realspace. Admiral Bippol smiled as his other ships continued to pour out of FTL travel and joined the rest of the fleet. After waiting a few minutes for the last of the Hive ships arrive, the spacestation sent an Priority-One message to the flagship.

"Admiral, sir! We are receiving an urgent message from the spacestation!"

The Admiral, hands folded behind his back, turned nonchalantly around to face the comm-officer.

"Patch it through."

+ + + + +
ATTENTION HIVE EXPEDITIONARY FLEET!!!

When all of your ships arrive at the rendez-vous point, you are to IMMEDIATELY set course for Morgan colony of Samnos. Commence attack IMMEDIATELY!!!

Hive Command
Confirmation Code Qian-09283
+ + + + +

The Fran immediately snapped to attention.

"Order all ships to engage FTL to Samnos," Admiral Bippol barked, "All ships are to follow our attack plan. I want FULL BURN!"

The ship bridge was suddenly bathed in red, flashing light.

"As soon as we exit FTL travel, commence our attack."

Technicians ran from panel to panel, communications officers relayed Bippol's orders to the other ships.

Through all the chaos, the chief communications officer shouted to the admiral.

"All ships report ready for engagement sir!"

Bippol turned to the viewscreen and he felt the sudden rush of adrenaline flood his veins.

"Engage! For the Emperor!"

Thousands of voices echoed throughout the Hive fleet as they all jumped to FTL, headed toward Samnos.

[History Guy]

ENCRYPTED VISUAL TRANSMISSION
FROM: CEO Nwabudike Morgan
TO: Lord Protector Ian McDiarmid

Lord Protector, sir,

Salutations. I thank you for your attempts to intervene in this war between the Terrans and ourselves. We wish for peace to be brought upon the land now. What we came to do is finished, Interplanetary Enterprises is a wrecked company, even it's former owner is dead. Enough people have died in the past six months, and I want it all to end. I fear that, without your generous offers of mediation, such a finale to this war would never come, as the Terrans are certainly too proud to offer any reparations, and the reparations they would demand we pay would be totally outrageous. Despite this, we seek a peaceful solution.

Neuvo San Antonio sounds like an excellent place to be held. You see the delicacy of the situation well. I at first thought of Morgan Metropolis, our second-largest city here on Cyrus, or even the moon Morgan Megatropolis, but Neuvo San Antonio works out much better for everyone.

Information, you say, on the Hive? Certainly, a price for this will be fixed. I can give you huge amounts of information through our own archival information on the Hive's activities on Chiron, how it works, thinks, etc. We can even give you details on Sheng-ji Yang himself. I must confess, I have a certain...distrust of the Hive. I hope you do not seek to ally yourself with the Greater Hive Empire as it calls itself, as it is ruthless, cunning, and it seeks to conquer all.

Here is one snippet I will give you with no charge at all: the Greater Hive Empire presently has a fleet in the Corporate Sector of Morgan Interstellar, and it is moving against our forces quickly...

Fare well,
--Morgan
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[History Guy]

Morgan Megatropolis, a moon of Cyrus, Castor A, Capital Planet of Morgan Interstellar

“There is nothing so inevitable, inescapable, and so greatly feared as death…”

“…Except perhaps the income tax…”

A small box suspended from the ceiling of a huge room had delivered the first comment. The box was, of course, a television set. The reason of this somewhat macabre comment was that the start of a new episode of ‘In Search of the Past’ on MorganLinkHistoryStation had begun. The subject was the way death was treated by ancient civilizations. As the host yapped, a series of pictures was flashed across the screen. The first was of the Great Pyramid of Giza, the second was of a Jade sarcophagus made in ancient China, the third was of a Progenitor temple, the forth was of a Bree warrior's tomb, and the fifth was of a funeral pyre built by the Sea Peoples before the arrival of the civilizing Morganites.

The second comment had been delivered by a short, pop-eyed little chap named Neville Merchstone, a steward working in the casino building at Morgan’s Hideaway, a five-star resort ‘palace’ built atop Mount Nwabudike on Cyrus’ moon Achaemenid, a.k.a. Morgan Megatropolis. Morgan Hideaway was a palace. It was a huge building, covering almost two thousand acres of land, and this was not even including the golf-park. Today was much too cloudy for golf however. Morgan’s Hideaway was famous for being built atop Mount Nwabudike, which was by far the largest mountain on any known moon. Though it could be chilly at this time of year, much of the time it was a very pleasant area. The view, for one thing, was outstanding. From here one could even glimpse, in one of the greener areas of the mountain far below the summit upon which the resort was built, an exact reconstruction of Earth’s Oracle of Delphi. Farther down the slope, one could take an elevator right to the bottom, and there engage in a friendly game of golf, when conditions were right. From where Neville Merchstone stood in the casino, he could see through the windows the great Green Sea far below. 75% percent of this moon was water, and so the sea was not uncommon to see about this place.

Morgan’s Hideaway had everything. Besides the giant casino and the golf-park, there were huge swimming pools, saunas, a museum, four five-star restaurants, a dinner theater, and an opera house. It even had a building for conferences alone. It was ‘the’ resort. While the government of Morgan Interstellar owned the whole thing, the elusive Hassoun al Saleed managed it. Saleed’s flunky, the affable Mike Gladden, managed the casino. He wasn’t about at the moment that Neville Merchstone stood about, looking up at the TV hanging from the ceiling, and making his comment that raised a laugh from about everyone nearby, including his good pal Gustave Borke, who was something of a buffoon anyway.

“You think so?” said Borke with a laugh.

“Certainly, Gustave, I mean what would you rather be plagued by? Endless death or endless taxation?”

“I’d like another alternative, my friend,” responded Borke, still laughing, though everyone else had long stopped.

“Oh, alright, another alternative…having rats eternally give you nips, perhaps?”

“Nips, as in drinks? Didn’t know rats could make drinks too well…”

“No, nips as in bites, munchies…”

“Ah, well, in that case, death seems ok to me…” Borke then proceeded to put out some silverware for the next diners to occupy the table he was standing by. Neville Merchstone picked up a little pad listing the guest registrations for the casino building that afternoon, humming away in an annoying fashion, while adjusting his red bowtie.

“Hmmm…Gustave, we’ll be having some bleeding interesting blokes here today, I’ll tell you. The Honorable Martin Masterson will be here in about an hour it seems. Former governor of the planet Xerxes, I think, during the rebellion. Some of the natives burned him in effigy if I remember correctly…”

“Cepheleens…how did those devils ever get their names?”

“Morganites gave it to them during the original landings. Took one look at their dark skin, and their habitats beside the sea, and gave them the clever title after King Cepheus of Ethiopia.”

“Who of where?”

“Cepheus of Ethiopia, a mythical King from back on Earth, way back when men had heads like blocks of cement…ah the good old days…That guy Montrose Despard Turnwadson is coming as well…”

“Montrose Despard Turnwadson…oh Heavens, not the millionaire playboy chap…”

“Yes, that Montrose Despard Turnwadson, and he’s bringing a heap of his vixens…oohoo, I get first dibs on serving that table, beano.”

“Ah, come off it, Neville, you just want to lay your hands on his big tips, but I need real romance in my life right about now.”

“What, with your big nose and garlic breath, beano? Here’s a plebeian name for you…Deebar…Delbar, whatever. Ferdinand Delbar, who goes around with a plebeian name like that? How could he afford this sort of top of the notch place?”

“Don’t know, Nev’, up until about two minutes ago I didn’t even know there was a guy named Ferdinand Delbar anywhere ever…no, wait, hold on a minute…yes I did. In the news lately, minor tracking officer, the lucky cad who found the Terran’s little missive to our old chum Yang himself…I dare say he could afford this place now…”

“A tracking officer? Come off it!”

“Bloody right he can afford it now, mate, Morgan was ecstatic when he got the letter. Tripled Delbar’s raise and everything…he even presented him with twenty-five thousand credits for starters.” Simultaneously, the two snobbish little waiters gave a whistle, responding to the huge sum of money. It was then that the chief steward came along and boxed their ears.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

For one of those few times in his rather tedious life, Ferdinand Delbar was really glad to be alive. With a wad of Morgan dollars in his black coat pocket, the Tracking Officer was prancing giddily down the long, hall, over the soft red carpet, and towards the doors to the casino lounge. As he slowly opened the doors to the room, he noticed the carved words placed into the marble just above the doorway. The words were those of the Morganite national motto: Vita, Libertas, et Copia. Life, Freedom, and Wealth. Just the sort of thing Delbar was sure awaited him inside the Morganite casino.

Indeed, as he flung open the doors, that is exactly what met his eyes. The lush room was literally giant. One wall was made of plexi-glass that revealed the greatest view one could see on any moon anywhere. The majestic snow-covered mountain slopes, the huge birds circling in the far distance (in all probability looking for some dead animal to munch on), Greenwater Falls cascading down the side of the mountain peak, it was a beautiful sight. “Hello, sir, how are you doing today?” asked the Steward who stood, smiling at the desk. His white suit was almost as white as the gleaming teeth that he displayed prominently between his upper gum and his lower gum.

“Oh, I’m fine thank you,” responded Delbar, sheepishly, “The name is Ferdinand Delbar, I believe you were expecting me...”

“Ah yes, Mr. Delbar…my, we are lucky today, the Government wants us to look after you very well, you know, very good treatment, sir. Oh, and they want you to have a seat by the plexi-glass for dinner today as well…”

“Oh, splendid…I have about one thousand credits to use up today, I suppose…What do you suggest I start on?”

“Well, I’d say follow your whim, Mr. Delbar, though my favorite is the card game.”

“I’m not at all good at cards, actually.”

“Oh, I’m sure you are.”

“Really, I’m pretty bad at them.”

“Oh, I can’t believe that.”

“It’s true.”

Exasperated, the steward with the smile responded, “Well, you could always try the Wheel of Fortune over there…”

“The Wheel of Fortune?”

“Yes. Over there. You choose a number in the wheel, the wheel is rolled around, and the ball that is put in the wheel lands on a number. If it’s your number, you win!”

“Oh, thanks, steward.”

“Angelo, I’m Angelo,” replied the Steward, pointing enthusiastically at his nametag.

“Oh, alright, thanks…Angelo. I’ll go over to your wheel thing over there, then…” Hopping over to the wheel, and rolling the cash around in his pocket with his hand, Delbar decided, for one of the few times in his life, to be adventurous. The steward at the wheel watched him come up, and greeted him. “Oh, um, Steward…let’s try 30 Morgan dollars on number 14.”

“30 Morganite dollars on number 14, OK, Monsieur.” The little Steward, while playing with his heavily waxed mustache, rolled the wheel, and dropped the little white ball into the center, the eye of the wheel, so to say. “Number 25, Monsieur. You lose, sorry. Don’t worry, your money will be handed over to a worthy charity.” The steward took Delbar’s money out of the Tracking Officers hand and carefully tucked it into his breast pocket. He had a remarkably devilish grin on his face, and a little glint in his left eye.

Delbar decided to give up being adventurous, and was walking over to a billiards table when someone shouted at him. It was a friendly sort of shout, and so Ferdinand turned round. “Ferdy! Don’t you remember me? It’s Montrose, from college!” Ferdinand saw the fellow now, dressed in some crazy looking suit. It was Montrose Despard Turnwadson, the playboy millionaire, and an acquaintance of the Tracking Officer’s from college. Though Ferdinand never quite liked old Monty, he made his way towards him. As he approached, he realized that Montrose Despard Turnwadson was surrounded by a herd of young women. Two snooty looking stewards also appeared to be hovering around the area, watching the girls closely. Delbar now knew that the chances of having a pleasant, peaceful two-week stay were getting very slim.

“There he is now, Neville,” Delbar vaguely herd one say to the other, “that Montrose chap…and there’s the Tracking Officer guy…”

“Let’s tactfully hover about the area, beano,” said the other one, “That way we can catch flying tips easily…and we’ll be about those women as well, eh, partner? Heh heh?”

“Hello there, Monty, I haven’t seen you since, heavens, graduation day, twelve years ago…heard of you since, of course, but hadn’t seen you…”

“Yes, we’ll just recently I heard of you, you sly little devil,” said Monty with a grin, “Intercepting some valuable messages there.”

“Oh, you heard about that did you?”

“How did you get here, anyway, chum?” asked Monty, putting his arm around Delbar’s shoulder.

“Holiday. All that money Morgan presented me with got me up here, I must say.”

“Heard you met the CEO too. What did you do, sit around watching football…or chorus girls or something?”

“Well, had a cigar with him, and some vino as well.”

“Oh…”

“I see you’ve developed a cult following here, or something to that effect…”

“Oh, the girls? Nah, I just picked them up in various Morganite cities. The tall blonde, that’s Samantha, Cynthia’s standing behind her, and then there’s Janet as well!”

“Oh, charming, I guess.”

“Let’s go over to the Wheel of Fortune…”

“I just came from there, actually…”

“Well, there’s always billiards then!”

Several minutes later, Ferdinand Delbar found himself quietly watching the famed millionaires, Montrose Despard Turnwadson, and ‘Merry’ Martin Masterson (clothed in a pleasant looking tweed coat) play a friendly game of pool. The friendliness existed in name only, though, as it seemed the two millionaires had an immediate dislike for each other. They, it seemed, also knew each other from some school, and they referred to each other as ‘Slug-head’ or ‘Moose-nose’. Obviously old school chums indeed. Delbar could think of some more interesting things to do than watch this bloody game, of course. Delbar quietly sipped some coffee from his paper cup. This coffee was much better than anything one could get from the machine at Tracking Station Three, that was for sure.

“Well, Delbar, since you and the CEO are now the best of friends, and all, what do you know about the current events?” Turnwadson may have been just a little jealous of Delbar in a way.

“Nothing you don’t know, I think. Except maybe that Samnos is indeed in serious danger. The military analysts are all predicting that it will fall soon, perhaps tomorrow…all too predictable…”

Montrose clicked his tongue as he managed to hit the green ball into one of the center pockets, much to Martin’s dismay. “You know,” said Montrose, “I’ve got investments wrapped up in that place, so I’d bloody well prefer it if they hang on there a bit…You sure it’s gonna fall?”

“Well, just about. I’m no military expert, but I’ve heard military experts say it will…”

“Scratch!” cried Martin Masterson as Montrose knocked the eight ball into a pocket, quite by accident.

“Oh heck…Well, I’d better go back and call my agent, tell him to sell everything I’ve got in Samnos, and move the investments over to…some coffee bean company or something…be right back, Ferdy”, and with that Montrose walked towards a pay phone. As Montrose walked off with a little wave, Delbar turned round, smiling at the girls, who giggled tremendously.

“I guess I’d better chuck this,” said Delbar, holding up his empty paper cup. He then turned about to a trashcan standing nearby. Those two stewards were still watching the girls. Typical. Delbar crushed the cup in his hand and push open the lid of the trashcan, dropping in the squashed lump of Styrofoam.

“Thank you for preserving the environment,” the trashcan said suddenly. Delbar was shocked and horrified.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[Kassiopeia]

Oh, the glamour and fame of being the Prime Minister. Not an inkling of that had fallen on Elise Drecaille - she was not too disappointed of it, but really, she did expect something more then just sending around messages when deciding in kindergarten that she will become the PM. She had always thought that the President was there for that - but not. The President, he was the head figure, the fellow who attended to meetings and did all the political PR. It was the Prime Minister who had all the threads in her hands.

And even now, she could of been watching an armadaful of warships incinerating Orbital Defence Platforms to smithereens - but, diplomacy is a sport that required great tact and, above all, diligency.

Secured diplomatic transmission (65g)

To: Hive Ambassador Siilk

From: Prime Minister Drecaille

Thank you for your swift reply. We ignored the Morganite affair in our response, as we thought it would be in the best interest of both parties if you opened the dialogue on the matter with greater detail.

First off, I am surprised to hear that you are soon going to assault the Morganite colony of Samnos. As I write this message, the Terran Alliance Fleet, bolstered with a Battle Squadron of our own, is placing itself around the colony, preparing to strike.

I will notify the Terran Fleet Command of this matter immediately, and try to convince them to ignore your ships. Of course, I will keep my 'source' as unknown as possible, and try to keep the lid on our relations for a little longer. I will relay you a 2048-digit numeral and alphabetical code, and instructions on how to transmit it so that the Terran vessels will avoid engagement with your ships.

The Morganite affair, yes, a most complex one. I have received several messages from around the local arm, particularly from the Spartan Colonel Kessel, trying to get this thing with the Morganites sorted out.

The Protectorate has volunteered to mediate - I consider this an act of great goodwill and an excellent chance to get more acquainted with this new faction. We will transmit you a copy of a message we will send to the Protectorate of Man.

Also, since the Morganites are willing to make peace with us, and since the price they would pay for it will be hefty - they are in the brink of annihilation with our and your forces combined attacking them - I have decided to send my Minister of External Affairs to the Protectorate homeworld to discuss terms of peace. If you have any suggestions as to our demands for them, do air them.

Of course, the arrangements for the negotiations will last for some time - while that takes place, the TAF and the ECSN will be more then glad to take over some Morganite assets, with the gracious help of the Hive Expeditionary Fleet. Even though we are planning to end our conflict with the Morganites in the near future, it does not mean that this gesture of support would go unnoticed - on the contrary.

Elise Drecaille

***

Then, Drecaille quickly conversed via the commlink with Daniel Stormhill, Secretary General of Terran Alliance.

***

Secured diplomatic transmission (66g)

To: Colonel Marcus Kessel, Spartan Federation

From: Secretary General Daniel Stormhill, TA

Firstly, my greatest apologies for the apparent 'ignoring' of your messages. There was a series of blackouts and other 'gremlins' in our systems, and apparently your transmissions got lost in the way. Again, my apologies. I have now read both of them, and am more then willing to reply.

The Terran Alliance's ultimate goal is nothing else then uniting the people of Earth under the same banner, the banner of the Alliance, that is. We strive to regain the situation of the early 2260's, when most of the known humanity was combined as the Coalition of Earth, and the 26th Century when the Alliance was formed.

That is our target, and we will keep our sights on that target - we will achieve, whether by force or by diplomacy.

This brings in the alien threat. That is why the original TA was formed in the first place - mutual intimidation brought by an unknown species aiming for our destruction. And that is why the Alliance wants to achieve it's ultimate goal: to form a standing front to combat any threats to the Mankind. Once again, whether by force or by diplomacy, preferring the latter, but more then ready for the former.

We are aware of the 'faction with alien influences'; apparently, this is the Human Hive, or what has become of the original faction of Chiron. As I write this, our fleets are engaging the Morgan colony of Samnos; and according to our Intel, the Hive will accompany us in this attack. Why, is uncertain to me, but as long as the Hive keeps this stance of hostility against Morgan Interstellar, who initiated this bloodbowl by attacking our colony on Capella, they are cordial friends of our federation. Of course, we disdain the politics this faction represents, but in this situation, one mustn't be too picky.

It is regrettable that the Spartan Federation is allied with the Morganites - and since we do regard you as people of great esteem, we have decided to approach the Morganites in terms of peace, once we have completed our campaign in Samnos. After that, the situation will be re-evaluated in the Terran Council, and then we will probably move to negotiations with the Morganites. For this task, the Protectorate, a faction of direct Earth origins, has volunteered to mediate, and the Minister of External Affairs of the Coalition of Earth, and a representative of the Alliance, will tend to the negotiations.

So, we are fully planning for a peace treaty with the Morganites, and because of that, we do hope that cooler heads will prevail - both in this and your end of the line. We will transmit you a copy of a message we will send to the Protectorate of Man.

Daniel Stormhill

***

Secured Private Diplomatic Transmission (86d)

To: Colonel Marcus Kessel

From: Prime Minister Elise Drecaille

I suggest that you read the message sent by Mister Stormhill before reading this message.

Now, it is clear that we are planning for peace negotiations, details of which are listed in Stormhill's message.

It is apparent that you are implying that the Police State Hive and our faction has some sort of deep relations. I can not deny, that we have been in shallow contact with them, but I assure you that we have no hidden agenda with them, nor do we plan a devious pact with the alien races to sell out the Chironian kind. Of course, we are willing to have agreements with the aliens - the Scions *can* be considered a different species, and are members and great contributors of the TA, and an alien race did aid us in achieving Superluminal travel. We have no deep friendship with the aliens, but we are not planning a racial cleansing operation, either.

What comes to InEn, it's former head man, CEO Kvaerner, has been brutally assasinated, by what seems to be foreign operatives, and effectively the corporation has been disbanded, and melded to the Alliance. Because of this, the old quarrel between InEn and MI no longer remains; the only reason for the ongoing and soon ending war is the fact that Coalition lives were taken on Callisto, and that the Alliance outpost on Capella was savagely taken. This was done by the Morgan Interstellar, to people of factions that had had no part in the engagement with the diplomatic vessel that visited Moon and set the whole conflict on fire.

I hope this clears some questions that have arised. I apologize if I have missed something - at this moment, I am in great hurry.

Elise Drecaille

***

Secured Diplomatic Transmission (67/65)

To: Morgan Interstellar

From: Coalition of Earth

We have received your message. We are currently making arrangements for a possible peace negotiation; the Protectorate has probably already contacted you on this matter. However, the campaign on Samnos will continue until further notice. Your desire for peace has not gone unnoticed. We will transmit you a copy of a message we will send to the Protectorate of Man.

***

Secured Diplomatic Transmission (67/99)

To: Lord Protector Ian McDiarmid of the Protectorate of Man
Copies sent to: Colonel Marcus Kessel; Government of Morgan Interstellar.
Hidden copy sent to: Hive Ambassador Sillk
From: Secretary General of the Terran Alliance, Daniel Stormhill,
Prime Minister Elise Drecaille of the Coalition of Earth


The knowledge of an entirely new faction on the Local Arm's political spetrum is always as surprising. We are fascinated of the story of your origins, and the fact that you are immediately willing to show your good will towards us.

Peter Kalm is the Coalition Minister of External Affairs. He will lead a delegation of EC and TA representives to your homeworld, along with a group of scientists to further research and to discuss with your scientific community - they have probably much to talk about. Our Office of Foreign Affairs and your respective official will handle the details and other arrangements. We only hope that the Morganites will agree to negotiate, as well.

Your vessel Agrippa has been allowed to place itself on the location it desired for; also, we have given it and it's crew the status of Ambassador - the only exception being, should the ship engage in hostilities with our forces.

[Frankychan]

Morganite Colony: Samnos

The evacuation ships leaving Samnos' surface continued to ferry citizens off-planet. Although most of the citizens had left in the initial exodus, many citizens still remained. Those that were too poor could not afford transit; Those too attached to their homes refused to leave.

One ship in particular was on its way to another system and was just clear of the planet's gravity well when an unknown ship blinked into existence next to it.

Suddenly, dozens and dozens of more ships appeared around the evacuation ship. The skies around Samnos were suddenly filled with devious-looking ships.

The Hive Fleet had arrived.
----------

Admiral Bippol stood on the bridge of his command ship, People's Glory.

"Target that ship, I want it destroyed."

At his command, dozens of ship batteries from multiple ships opened fire, sending hundreds of projectiles at the unprotected vessel.

Bippol watched as the ship was literally torn apart by Hive fire.

"Incoming message from ship, my lord." A comm-officer shouted from his station. "Admiral, they say they are carrying over 200 unarmed Morganite civilians!"

The admiral smiled, "Then they should have gotten out of here faster, lieutenant."

The Fran watched as seconds later the Morganite ship exploded, killing hundreds of innocent civilians.

A tactical officer listening to incoming communications abruptly turned to face the admiral.

"Sir, Morganite warships surrounding Samnos are ordering us to leave. They say we are in violation of their space and are threatening to destroy all of our ships."

Bippol turned to the officer and laughed heartily, placing his hands on his hips.

"Ha! Don't they know? This is Hive territory now."

Bippol continued to laugh as he shouted new orders.

"Launch all fighters. Commence attack. I want no survivors." Bippol turned to his side and muttered.

"Ahh, these Morgan's. Such humor..."
----------

Numerous hangar bays opened throughout the fleet and literally hundreds of fighters and bombers swarmed from their nests, advancing on the Morganite ships like a cloud of menacing flies.

The swarm of fighters and bombers immediately formed attack formations and advanced on the Morganite defense forces.

----------

Admiral Bippol watched as his fighters sped toward the Morgans on the tactical screen. He listened as the time to contact counted down.

"Contact in Five.....Four.....Three.....Two.....Fighters now engaging enemy forces."

----------
Hive Fighter Wing "Gongsun Zan"
Pilot: Devin Himlock/ Hive Pilot GZ-28 (Human)

Pilot GZ-28 stared in front of him and felt sick. The Morganite vessels were firing at him and numerous projectiles filled his field of vision.

Devin pulled at his flight-stick and felt his stomach lurch as his ship jerked abruptly upward while narrowly avoiding being hit. He immediately pulled down and leveled off and saw his target, a large Morganite cruiser.

Devin's stomach roiled inside him as his commander's voice filled his cockpit.

"All fighter's engage target. I want precision strafing."

Pilot Devin reached for the throttle and pushed it forward, increasing his speed to his target. He glanced over his viewport and saw his other wing-men take formation beside him. An explosion suddenly jolted his fighter and he intuitively knew one of his wing-men were dead.

Devin instead focused on his target directly ahead of him and opened fire with his rail gun. He instantly felt his fighter jostle from his ships rail gun while he zoomed closer to his target.

As he closed in, he instinctively dodged incoming fire and pulled up from his dive, strafing the large Morganite ship all the while.

When he pulled away to commence a second run he felt something huge impact his ship. Glaring out his port-side he saw his entire left wing blown apart. Spiralling out of control, the last thing pilot Devin saw was hundreds more of his fellow fighters closing in on the enemy fleet.

Devins ship suddenly exploded from a direct hit, his fighters oxygen supply creating a small flower of fire in space before dissipating.

----------
Hive Bomber Wing "Fists of Kang"
Bomber Pilots: Shasshk Frir (Xiero) FK-1/ Rangor Galrick (Bulwark), Pilot FK-2

Galrick watched as a fighter spiraled out of control after having its wing blown off. He watched as the ship took a direct hit on its underbelly and exploded, showering space with debris.

Frir , the gunner, sat behind him and punched the targeting codes.

"Concussion missiles armed. Targeting Morganite vessel designated 'Alpha-1'."

Galrick glanced his heads-up display and nodded.

"Confirmed. Fire when ready."

Frir pressed the launch button and two concussion missiles sped toward their target.

----------
Hive Command Ship People's Glory

Admiral Bippol watched the tactical screen as hundreds of blue dots swarmed around the enemy forces red dots.

He turned toward the comm-officer, growing impatient.

"Give the order for our capital ships to advance. Have the carriers and two corvettes stay behind to protect our troop ships. I also want three fighter wings to stay behind for protection as well."

"Yessir."

Bippol looked at the viewscreen showing the battle and watched as dozens of his fighters exploded from the Morganite fire.

"Once we are in range, I want all ships to commence fire....We'll see how well they fair against our ships."

Minutes later, the rest of the Hive fleet engaged the Morganite defense force.

[Mr. President]

Front Page

The Grove Guardian (Magnigoth Pass, Firaxis):
“Government Okays New Mars Treaty” – The Ministry of Trade is set to expand links with the Mars Combine, a spokesman said today . . .

The Republic (Avalon, Vega Prime):
“Menelaus On Our Minds” – With our city preparing to host the second high-level foreign delegation in as many months, we’re bringing readers exclusive information on the Lakedaemon Cadre, courtesy of Spartan Ambassador Michael Cruz Rodriguez . . .

Daily News (Caledon, Vega Prime):
“Breakthrough! Scientists Say Temple May Be Hibernating AI” – Researchers believe that the complex of ruins known as the Grand Temple may in fact be a computer left on Vega by a long-dead alien race. Head researcher Derek Sorensen told a press conference yesterday that his team was still collecting data . . .

Politics

The Republic (Avalon, Vega Prime):
“Maxwell On A High” – Thousands of socialist activists and supporters turned out for Freedom Party Senator and former Domai stalwart Ethan Maxwell’s campaign-opening rally yesterday, where he promised changes at the upcoming Congressional elections . . .

Red Star (Southshore, Vega Prime):
“Red Tide: What The New Republic Is Afraid Of” – Senator Ethan Maxwell addressed a rapturous audience here in Southshore yesterday. He urged all his supporters to condemn Morgan Interstellar’s actions against the Earth, and promised that, in relation to the imminent Congressional election, “there is no rest for the wicked”. Speakers also called for the release of jailed Firaxian social democrat John Antoja, arrested last month for entering the country on false documents . . .

Opinion

The Grove Guardian (Magnigoth Pass, Firaxis):
“We Hold These Truths” The government should not lose sight of our basic philosophies when dealing with other states.

The Republic (Avalon, Vega Prime)
“The Further We Fall” Why the Hive is the real danger.

New Seattle Examiner (New Seattle, Firaxis)
“Eco-Traitors” Poachers and eco-terrorists may be polar opposites, but both are equally un-Firaxian.

Life and Times (Blackburn, Vega Prime)
“Peace In Our Time” The Bree slipped through the net and captured MI-35 for two heart-stopping weeks. So why is President Adams delaying the development of the Merlin-class destroyer?

Sports

The Grove Guardian (Magnigoth Pass, Firaxis):
“Soccer: National Coach’s Gamble Pays Off” – National coach Dave Regis’ surprise decision to include 20-year-old midfielder Matt Clarke ahead of more experienced players was vindicated as the Orchard Valley youngster scored the winning goal in the World of Trees’ 1-0 victory over the University on Saturday . . .

The Republic (Avalon, Vega Prime):
“Season Of Snow And Goals” – The most exciting soccer season on record is finally over. But the ice hockey and football promises to be every bit as good. All eyes will be on the Football League’s rookies, while our stars of the ice will be hoping to impress national selectors ahead of the Gold Cup (continued on page 6) . . .

News Extra

The Republic (Avalon, Vega Prime)
“The Legend” – Albert Franco, decorated veteran of Ophelia, Altair, and the Bree Fringe, has moved up to the fifteenth floor at the Defense Department. Where would the Republic be if he had been forced to leave the Marines in his first year, after a training accident? We profile . . .

Red Star (Southshore, Vega Prime):
“There’s Something About Socialism” – Often praised, much maligned, frequently misunderstood. Yet socialism remains one of the most influential ideologies in the galaxy, easily the equal of capitalism or even Christianity. What is the secret of its success?

Business

Firaxian Financial Review (Orchard Valley, Firaxis)
“Red Planet Rising” – Investment opportunities on Mars are growing out of sight. The new agreements could not have come at a better time for Firaxian venture capitalists . . .

The Grove Guardian (Magnigoth Pass, Firaxis)
“The Boomerang” – Doomsayers predicted Orion Arm-wide economic ruin if Morgan Interstellar and Interplanetary Enterprises clashed. So where is it?

Stellar Merchant (Space City, Vega Prime)
“Open Doors” - The Protectorate is a closed economy, but Lakedaemon is shaping up as the most promising new market . . .

[Silence]

The mining station LV 120 hung like a gem before the cruiser Saint Peter . The cruiser and its escorts were station in the system to protect the valuable mining station and to show the flag of the Conclave. They were also operating under Operation Mousetrap which was going to try and draw the Hammer of God out. There was a large Dreadnought battlegroup waiting in deepspace for any sign of the Hammer of God forces if they were going to take the bait. On the bridge Captain Jerome Willis sat patiently as the screens showed nothing. HOG Hunter Seeker activities in this region had been picking up and culminated with the death of a mining vessel on its way back to New Eden.
The captain, a medium sized man of about 40 years was thinking about his options. Then he had it, “Helm bring us to course 120 by 40 by 30 full burn, tell the escorts to follow us, we are going to take a trip to the Jovian Gas Giant.”

“Aye aye sir,” the officer at the helm station activate her VR interface and the ship began to thrum with the sound of the space drives moving it through space. The captain smiled as the small escorts crisply followed the larger ship and they moved away from the station. Jerome knew of a place where the raiders liked to go to by the Gas Giant where the interference from the atmosphere would be a perfect place from coming out of FTL and
not being seen. Hopefully if there was any HS ships there he be able to hit them before they were ready.


3 hours later the small flotilla of ships were about to reach the designated coordinates when the communications officer yelled out saying, “Captain the station is reporting multiple FTL signals a enemy force is coming on top of them!”

“Damn, helm swing us around bring us into a FTL mini-jump.” The ships began to turn away from their prior destination and that was when the destroyer Kale Burbank took a Hunter Seeker torpedo up the drive section and tore the hapless craft apart. Willis eyes bulged as he saw the number of torpedoes coming at Saint Peter . He thought it was a trap, damn those bloody fanatics they tricked me, now the station is probably
going to be a battleground once the St. Jerome battle group arrives and I am going to be fighting off a swarm of Hunter seekers, its just not fair. . The captain had his mental monologue ended when a torpedo from one of the HS’s penetrated that amour and belched a bomb pumped Chaos beam right through the innards of the ship. Within a minute the cruiser was looking like Swiss cheese and was drifting all life on it was no
longer living. The Hammer of God forces tagged it for the scavengers so the cruiser could fight again on the flag of the righteous cause.

For LV 120 the station itself was to valuable to destroy and it had been a long standing unspoken agreement that the station would never be armed leaving the only fighting to marines on it. As the two sides fought each other on the decks of the large mining construct the Conclave trap was about to begin.

The St. Jerome battlegroup was a force built around the dreadnought St. Jerome , the two battleships Rapier and Swordsman and 4 cruisers and 20 destroyers. The Hammer of God force at the time was 3 heavy crusier squadrons plus 30 destroyers. Plus to the commander of the Conclave battlegroup he was hearing wearing reports right before the battlegroup jumped that there was more FTL transits occurring on
the outer edge of the system. Whatever the Hammer of God was up to, they were going to be launching an major offensive. Leaving Commodore Matthew Deckard to wonder if he was going to survive this coming battle, the 5th battle of LV 120 was about to enter its first stage.


From LV120 Mining Station Command
To All units
This is Admiral Hummel of the LV 120 Operations Command, we are under direct attack by a large Hammer of God fleet. They suckered in our crusier escort and destroyed it. The St Jerome 's battlegroup is all we got and its not enough. We are picking up 5 superdreadnought class hulls on the edge of the system. This is the offensive they were talking about. We got to moblize everything we have and stop them from taking this system. So therefor I am calling a Code Omega Red and ordering all units to make best to this system to fight off these robed fanatics.

God watch over us all


To LV120 Mining Station Command
From Hunter Seeker wolfpack 43
Admiral this is Captain McRobin of the HS Brisbane we here your calls for help and will be exiting into LV120 in 3 minutes. We have about 20 Hunter Seekers from patrol on us, we will begin to harrash that larger force you were talking about to give the battlegroup time to hold off the first elements of the attack and allowed more units to enter the system.

[b] To LV120 Mining Station Command [b]
From 7th Fleet
John this Joyce Harper, I heard your call and we are leaving port at New Eden, stay alive 30 hours and we will be there. You will be getting some of my ligher units within 5 hours from now they are going to be burning out their FTL drive to get there but they will. Don't you dare die on my John I won't bury you like I buried Robert last time!

Vice-Admiral Joyce Harper,
7th Fleet, Commanding.

[History Guy]

Samnos Command Dome

Louis Trenchard, the newly appointed governor of the colony Samnos, was facing the most important day in his entire life. As he stood in the plaza commons watching the remaining two hundred workers and drones work on the hard soil outside the building, he realized that there would be no tomorrow for a good deal of them. As Trenchard slicked his black hair back with a small black comb, he prepared to walk to the Command Center, where he would have to work for the rest of the day, and probably for most of the next. Samnos was under attack, and it would undoubtedly fall. Though he’d sent out much of his force, and asked Admiral William Merrill and Governor Mariana Casteli to send help from Naxos, nothing, it seemed, could halt the movement of the two huge armadas that sought to destroy his people.

Not merely one fleet was attacking, but indeed two. It seemed that a fleet belonging to the Greater Hive Empire had struck first, managing to get completely past most of the outer orbital defenses, and the Terrans were coming in quickly behind, though the orbital platforms were taking down several of their ships now. The orbital cannons that hung over the colony would take down a large number of the enemy, but the forces against Trenchard were too overwhelming. The enemy didn’t need to use tactics, nor was the enemy even attempting to do so. The sheer force of wave after wave of men and steel would take Samnos.

The doors to the Command Center opened quickly, and Trenchard stepped in. Militia Colonels George Tresevant and Mercy von Humboldt turned to see him. The two both gave quick military salutes. Trenchard sat down in a small, black chair in the center of the large, dark room. High above him, an update overlay shone down on the overview table. The Hiverians were bogged down under heavy fire for now, but that wouldn’t last too long by the looks of things. “What’s up?” he asked.

“The Hiverians, sir, have managed to take down a cruiser, as well as five fighters. This was within five minutes of the attack. Luckily, we were prepared enough to take down dozens of their fighters very early on. Just five minutes ago our orbital defenses came in range of the Terran fleet and the platforms are now delivering a murderous volley on those damned attackers,” responded Tresevant, smoking a small, expensive cigarette. As a blue cloud of smoke arose around his head, he continued, “We’ve taken the liberty of contacting Governor Casteli on Naxos and Admiral Merrill, who is on his flagship, preparing his forces to defend Naxos, which will, in all probability, be struck next. Thank God for those saboteurs weeks ago, they murdered a bunch of us, but they alerted us…”

“Quite, thank you, Colonel Tresevant…” replied Trenchard, lighting a small, expensive cigarette of his own.

“One more thing, sir. It’s a hail from a Terran commander, asking us to surrender. Demanding us to, actually. We were about to respond that he could take the demands and…”

“Yes, thank you, Tresevant, I must consider this further. If we do not accept their demands, we may risk a surface bombardment, taking out the remainder of our one thousand five hundred civilians on Samnos. Surrendering, of course, would mean that we are admitting that Morgan Interstellar cannot hold it’s own…I must consider this…come, Tresevant, Humboldt, we must consider this further. Let’s take a quick walk and discuss it, alright?” Just hidden from the view of anyone around him, Trenchard held in his hand a small box of two cyanide capsules, given to him when he assumed the post as governor, just in case the unexpected happened.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Excelsior, 'Cycladic Fleet' Flagship, Off Naxos

“Admiral, we have disturbing news, could you come down to the bridge at once?”

“Well, I’d…is it that urgent?”

“Yes, I’d say so…”

“Alright, I’ll be down immediately then.”

Admiral William Merrill, overall commander of the ‘Cycladic Fleet’, had been taking his morning shower when he received the bloody call from the bridge. Coming out of the stall, wrapping a towel around himself, he picked up the small telephone by his bed and asked what was up. When he heard that the news was urgent, he made his way to his closet and swiftly put on a bathrobe. It was in this state, in bathrobe and slippers, that he was in when he arrived quickly onto the bridge to receive the news. He walked to his second, who was dressed in her smart blue fleet uniform. “Commodore Lansing, what is up?”

“Samnos is under attack, sir,” she responded, “By both the Hive and the Terrans. Together they have a very large fleet. Though our defenders on Samnos have managed to do some damage to the attackers, the sheer numbers of the enemy will make it impossible for our men to hold out much longer. Already our skirmish line of fighters is quickly being driven back…”

“Oh hell, what else is there?”

“Governor Trenchard has sent us continual messages from his Command Center on Samnos. The Terrans have sent a message from the EC PM, Drecaille. It’s an official declaration of war…”

“It’s late in coming, isn’t it? We’d been expecting it for weeks…But the Hive…why in heaven’s name is Yang mixed up in all this? We didn’t even know he was still alive until we intercepted the Terran message…”

“Governor Trenchard also received a message from a Terran Captain on one of their battleships, demanding his immediate surrender. He’s been holding off on sending a response as yet, and he is in a dilemma…”

“Never mind it, tell him to ignore it. He must hold on and take down as many of the enemy as possible. He must make sure that when the Terrans arrive Samnos is reduced to a pile of rubble, they must not be allowed to take anything that could possibly be useful to them…”

“I understand…”

“Oh, and ask him if he can hold on for another three hours…that’s what we need to send in some of our frigates…We’ve got three in the region, and they’ll be in the area in just less than three hours at the soonest…Send them, and tell Trenchard to hold on for that long…timing is in the essence…”

The Commodore clicked her heels and gave him a salute, “Aye, Admiral Merrill.”

“Yes, well, allow me five minutes to get in my uniform, then we’ll see what we can do, eh?”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Skies Above Samnos

The very sky was on fire. Everywhere one could see there was light. The darkness simply served as a backdrop for the fire. There was fire, wreckage, and carnage everywhere the eye could see. It was a battlefield of giants high above a dead rock. The steel giants spat fire into each other and flew at each other. The once angry wasps swarming about them were, at this point, simply trying to find a hiding place. Alongside the advancing giants, the skies were littered with giant corpses, many horrifically burned, some so burned that their very skeletons were revealed.

For the last hour or so the battle had been simply a nasty slug match, the Hiverian ships bogged down under the fire of orbital platforms and Morganite fighters, but now the skirmish lines had been breached, and the Hive was once again on the move, this time with the large ships in the lead and the small fighters simply swarming around them, doing as much damage as possible. They advanced slowly, but they were not falling back. It was as if they were part of a giant moving wall of steel.

Coming in fast behind them came a huge fleet of Terran ships. So far there had been few Terran casualties, but this was soon to change. Out of the darkness of space, a long, sleek Terran ship moved inwards, joining the Hive fighters in battle, with one shot blowing a lone Morganite fighter to splinters. As the proud Terran ship rolled forward, the scores of Hiverians flying all about them, a single, relatively small vessel emerged from a small black object near the area of the recently downed Morganite fighter. At first glance the vessel could be mistaken for a floating piece of metallic debris, but when it came closer to the Terran frigate it was recognized for what it was. It was not a vessel at all, it was a ship buster.

Before the Hive fighters or the Terran frigate could react to the attacker, it slammed right into the bow of the large Terran vessel, crushing it like an eggshell, buckling the very skin of the ship. Through the cracks in the armor of the ship, white flame could be seen glowing from within the ship’s belly. In seconds, the missile struck the arsenal of the Terran ship, and the resulting explosion caused the whole Terran ship to burst into flames. When the Terran ship exploded, many of the swarming Hive fighters around it were caught up in the blast and simply vanished in the flames, dissipating in the heat. The Terran vessel began to fall into the darkness, spinning away into nothingness. The Terrans had taken their first losses. Slowly, the wreckage turned to dust.

In his fighter, the Old Glory, Captain John Bourne smiled wryly, one did not see Terran frigates blow up like that every day. It wasn’t as if Bourne was a bloodthirsty villain, however, it was simply because he had a certain dislike for the Terrans, as did just about any Morganite one could meet on Samnos, that he would react in this manner. The Terrans were the terrible bloodthirsty enemy, and when they get blown up, there is cause to rejoice. “Did you see that, Dave?” he asked the commander of a nearby fighter, Commander David Pangol.

“You’re darn right, I saw that, who could miss it? Spectacular!” crackled the voice of the Commander through the commlink on Bourne’s ship.

“I don’t know, but whoever did is going to regret it till his dying day. Hey, Dave, let’s go in there now, and break up those Hiverian fighters grouping together, eh? They’re pretty damaged as it is now, and so they won’t take too much trouble in doing in…”

“Right,” responded Pangol. Unfortunately, as Bourne flew down towards the grouping Hiverian fighters, he saw a flash alongside of his ship, and watched as Pangol’s fighter rapidly became reduced to a flaming cinder. Bourne cursed loudly, he cursed so loud, in fact, that his wing men could hear him. Pangol had always been a good friend, and seeing him reduced to a cinder in one second like that was not something Bourne would easily forget.

The Hiverian fighters were suddenly riddled with fire from the rail guns of the attacking Morganite fighter. One by one, the wounded Hiverian fighters exploded into flame. Being packed together in such a way, the Hiverians made very easy targets.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Endeavor, Samnos’ docked Morganite frigate, had been brought to battle. The pride of the Samnos defense, the Endeavor was also the largest and best-armed Morganite ship at Samnos. Captained by Commodore Marianne Whatley, she had been launched only two years before from the Pollux A spacestation. Until now, throughout the day she had been resting near an orbital platform (now shot down) waiting for orders from either Governor Trenchard or Admiral Merrill. Now she had received her orders and had moved out.

Immediately after moving out towards the breaking skirmish line, she was hit by the fire of the Hive fighters. The fire had little effect, but it did give the Morganite gunners better training in sharpshooting. Now that the fighters had withdrawn somewhat, the Morganite frigate moved forward, cutting through the wreckage of both Morganite and Hive ships. Though most of the Morganite fighters had been shot down, and all but four of the orbital platforms had been charred to a cinder, the Morganite frigate was as fresh as a daisy and was going to avenge the death of her comrades. Immediately after she appeared within eyesight of the Hiverian ships, a single enemy fighter flew right up at her, heading towards the ship’s guns, which immediately spat fire. The Hive ship dissolved within seconds.

“What on earth was the point of that?” asked Ensign Nehru, standing near the Captain’s seat on the ship’s bridge. He said it with a rather sadistic little laugh that unnerved Commodore Whatley.

“The point, Ensign,” she said, coldly, “was to show that Hiverian fighters are fearless, and that even in the face of death they will not retreat. It was meant to intimidate us. It seems to have amused you, however.”

“I apologize, Commodore, it just seemed so…wasteful…”

“It was only wasteful in human lives. The Hive has countless men to replace them, not so with the defenders of Samnos. Whereas the Hive can afford to waste lives, we cannot. Every one of our fighters is used well, but it seems that the enemy’s numbers are too powerful…”

Ensign Simpson reported, “The right wing of the skirmish line is breaking under concentrated Terran fire. There are many casualties, Commander. As soon as our right flank is broken, the Terrans will simply swing round and assist the Hive in boxing us in.”

“That is their plan, surely, but it seems we still have allies…” responded Commodore Whatley, pointing to the portals. Four advancing Spartan corvettes could be plainly seen pouring deadly fire into the nearby Hive attackers. The large part of the Hive fleet suddenly broke off the attack on Whatley’s ship and moved to their left to take on the advancing Spartans.

“God bless Sparta,” said Nehru, quietly.

“There is a huge Hiverian battleship approaching, it looks like their flagship as well…” shouted Simpson from the left wing of the bridge. Sure enough it was true. Through the wall of the Hive fighters the knife-like bow of the Hive battleship sliced through the fighters. Many of the small Hiverian vessels simply smashed against the bow, and those that weren’t destroyed instantly were brushed away, badly damaged. This was definitely the enemy flagship, no other ship would be so foolish and so proud as to destroy their own ships in the advance. Before the full size of the Hive battleship was revealed her guns opened fire on Whatley’s ship.

“Return fire!” cried Whatley.

“Serious damage on ship’s bow!” called Simpson. Whatley gave a directive. In lightning fast motion the Morganite frigate swung round to face the battleship’s reactors. The whole scope of the Hiverian ship was revealed, a masterpiece of construction, a colossus of machinery, a virtual floating fortress.

“Put our full strength against the enemy’s reactors,” called Whatley, after her ship chucked a small missile towards the Hiverian battleship’s bridge area. It didn’t seem to take much effect, but looks could be deceiving. Every gun on the Morganic frigate breathed fire into the enemy’s reactors. As the reactors began to slowly break up under concentrated Morganite fire, the Morganite frigate found itself receiving heavy fire at it’s own reactors and gun sections. After a few minutes, both ships were nearly useless in the field. “All right, we’ve done enough damage, let’s get out of here before it’s two late,” called Whatley. Sluggishly, the frigate moved away, leaving the damaged Hiverian battleship, which slowly moved in pursuit. After a little way, the Hiverian ship stopped at once, it’s reactors totally useless. The fire aboard her was spreading as well. The Morganite ship wasn’t too much better off.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Samnos Command Dome

James Curlew, a worker on Samnos, watched through the plexi-glass at the destruction before him. Though it was early morning, the sky was gray with rain, and large parts of the sky had been blotted out entirely by huge ships, both Morganite and enemy, passing overhead. Governor Trenchard had gone wild after he received Merrill’s message. Trenchard was happy simply for being allowed to hold on, and not to surrender immediately. He’d destroyed a small box of cyanide capsules that he had been given, and he loaded his shredder pistol instead, saying that he’d fight with the other men before Samnos fell. Curlew had been sent with his work team to make sure that the Terrans won nothing but a dead rock. As most of Samnos’ inhabitants withdrew to underground bunkers, Curlew and his team ran through the Command Dome, destroying everything. After disabling everything in the Command Center, he’d even rigged up an explosive to detonate on it’s opening, so that any Terran fool enough to enter the Center would go up in flames with in.

As Curlew watched the chaos outside, he sat down and sipped some coffee. It was early morning now, on Naxos it was about four in the afternoon. He’d begun his work in the middle of the night, and now he was taking his break. As he sat down, he watched as in the distance hundreds of energy collectors simply burst into flame, and the barracks was ripped apart by a sudden explosion. Curlew’s men were doing their work well. He was passed by one of his men at that time, carrying a large computer system. As the man tipped his cap to Curlew, he chucked the whole system down one of the waste disposal units. Curlew could hear the equipment being crushed to bits inside the unit. For some reason, this cheered up Curlew somewhat, and he downed the rest of the coffee in a single gulp before going up to the mining offices with a large wrench. An hour later he came back satisfied with his work. Curlew then decided to go down to the cafeteria before it was destroyed. He needed a good beer.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Skies Above Samnos

As the smoking Morganite frigate slowly trudged back to a surviving orbital platform, three large Morganite frigates suddenly cut out of FTL speed, seemingly materializing near the wounded Morganite ship. As some damaged Morganite fighters moved to seek shelter beside them, the Morganite frigates shot forward, all in a perfect battleline towards four embattled Spartan corvettes, which were fighting valiantly. This was, of course, expected. They were Spartans, after all.

The combined power of the three Morganite frigates added to the firepower of the four wounded Spartan corvettes. There the seven ships sat, fending off the Hiverian attackers. After a short lull in the Hiverian attacks, two of the Morganite frigates moved on towards the advancing Terrans. Immediately a withering fire struck them, but they managed to hold their own, shot after shot slicing through the skin of the Terran corvettes that approached. Flames shot across the bow of the advancing Terran corvette and it soon disengaged, smoking from several parts in its body.

The Hiverian ships continued moving forward, valiant in their own ways. Combined shots had already ripped apart one Spartan vessel, and had cut one of the Morganite frigates in half. When the second Spartan corvette was mortally injured, it shot forward, cutting through the skies, before slamming straight into the bow of an advancing Hive battlecruiser. The Hiverian ship’s bow cracked wide open, and the ship withdrew, leaving the action for the rear. Soon, the wounded Spartan ships withdrew towards Samnos, and the Morganite frigates fighting the Terran ships did so also. It was now time for the Terrans to make their move. Despite taking a monstrous battering, the enemy still had a huge fleet poised to strike Samnos.

Within 24 minutes the surviving Morganite vessels had withdrawn to form a skirmish line near the remaining orbital platforms and the orbital cannon, ready to make one final stand against their barbaric foe. The Morganites, and the giant advancing enemy force had abandoned the area aptly designated Battlezone Hell. All that now remained there were the floating debris created by the violent spectacle that had spanned a full day.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[Sprayber]

Sparta Prime: Command Nexus: War Room

Kessel walked into the War Room exactly ten minutes after reading the response from the Terran government. He walked in to see the usual company of officers and techs as well as the officers that he had summoned in his brief walk from his office to the War Room. Of course he expected no less from them. He headed directly to Major Castor who was talking to First Admiral Luntz who was the Commander of all Spartan Naval forces.

“Major, Admiral my office now” The two offices followed without a word, as the door closed Kessel filled them in on the message and the impending confrontation in Cooperate Sector. Castor was the first to speak when Kessel signaled that he was ready for opinions.

“Samnos is merely a collection of mineral extraction facilities. Two moons around a gas giant. I know that it’s closest to Terran space, but they couldn’t have picked a more dull target. The unfortunate thing is that some of the units that fled Callisto settled there to heal their troop strength. It won’t be pretty for them.”

Kessel raised an eyebrow at Castor. “Since when is war pretty, Major? Kessel walked over to the far wall and touched a panel that activated a holo image of a map of the local sector of the galaxy. He walked to the center of the room and reached out and touched the area with the Morgan Cooperate Sector logo. The large map was replaced with a detailed map of the Cooperate Sector. He then highlighted the various Spartan Unit Icons that were there.

“We have the Fleet Aztec under Admiral Paiktis already in the Cooperate Sector. They are however near Gaian space and may not be able to intervene in time to make a difference. The 5th Wolfpak is closer to Samnos and may be able to get there as the fighting begins. Due to the special nature of the Wolfpak fleets I am doubtful that they will be able to do much against a heavy invasion fleet. But honor demands that we send a force to help the Morganites. What needs to be determined is what goals should be set by that force. As I walked to the War Room, I pretty much decided what course of action to take. It is a foregone conclusion that Samnos will fall. We can’t get our main fleet there in time to change that outcome, but we can prevent the rest of the Cooperate Sector from falling and we shall do this by a combination of force and just a little administrative slight of hand. Myself and CEO Morgan will be discussing this in greater detail, but the Navy should be positioned to enforce our ultimate decision.”

Admiral Luntz nodded his head to acknowledgement and began to speak when Kessel’s door buzzed. He walked over to the door and pushed the manual release and a young Lieutenant stepped in. He handed a data pad to Kessel who dismissed him with a waive of his hand. The Lieutenant turned while Kessel read the data pad.

“The attack on Samnos has begun an hour ago. Admiral Paiktis has informed me that he sent four corvettes to the area to help bolster the defense of the Morganite colony. Admiral Luntz, how long will it take for fleet Osage to make it to the MCS?

Luntz answered without hesitation “Normally, a week and four days.”

“Make it seven days Admiral. I want Osage in the MCS to back up Aztec. Paiktis will be in overall command, but for the time being keep them separate. I want to be able to have two strike fleets in the area if we need them. Also put fleet Choctaw on alert. Deploy them in Spartan territory nearest the Terrans. Alert all fleets to stand down from normal exercises. Order Mohawk into the Ironholm system to back up fleet Maya. Again, separate fleets until I decide otherwise. Zulu will remain in the Inner Spartan territories. Shawnee, Cherokee, Creek, and Inca are to deploy according to Defon 2. All Marine divisions are to be assigned to their usual fleet. Major Castor. Have General Tuber begin drawing up a plan for the Army. We will need a list of units to begin packing for occupation duty. Arrange for a meeting of all the commanders. Tomorrow I will ask for a Council of War. Then we will decide the disposition of the Militia and remaining military units. Oh and Admiral, Order Admiral Hans to increase patrols of the border near Ironholm. Inform him that he is getting additional support and that he will be the areas overall commander. Ok everyone, we have lots of work to do.

********Encrypted Message********
To: CEO Morgan
From: Colonel Marcus Kessel

CEO Morgan I have just learned of the battle for Samnos. To prevent further loss territory and maybe find a solution rather than large-scale war, I come to you with a proposal. If you examine our treaty concerning Spartan forces in the Corporate Sector you will notice that there is a provision that would allow Sparta to gain temporary control of the entire Cooperate Sector for a sufficient amount of time in order to stabilize a crisis situation. I come to you now to ask that both of us invoke that stipulation putting the entire Cooperate Sector under Spartan jurisdiction. The Terrans say repeatedly that their war is only against you. If that is so then their take over of the Coperate Sector would not be possible. This is of great importance to Sparta since a good proportion of minerals vital to the armament industry is gained there. Not to mention the enormous agricultural stores in the MCS. This is the proposal. Sparta takes over legal territorial rights to the MCS. All Morganite Citizens within the Sector will be given automatic citizenship in the Spartan Federation from the minors to the administrators to the farmers. All posts will remain exactly the same. The governors you appointed will be the governors that will run things under Spartan authority. If a man runs a drill under the morgan banner, he will also run the drill under Spartan control. Your military forces there will even stay since we are allies. This is a temporary measure only until some kind of guarantee or treaty is approved that ends the war. After a three month cooling off period Sparta will officially turn over the Cooperate Sector the exact same way as we were given it Minus what ever damage should occur if the Terrans decide to pursue their foolish attempts. Mya Yarder, my ambassador to the Morganite homeward, is being sent an official treaty document. She is empowered to sign on my behalf. It stipulates the exact terms for both of us and even grants certain property in the Spartan home system as a guarantee of good faith until the MCS is returned to your control. This is a very difficult decision to make I know. It will involve making many angry in your government. To be sure a wider war still may be ahead of us. But if this can buy some time in order to prepare, then so be it. At the moment I have one fleet on the far side of the MCE, one on the way and one poised to strike from Spartan territory. With any luck such a display of force will deter the Terrans from their plans. This will also pave the way for retaking Samnos if and when the need arises.

Yang has shown us his cards. Now we can be better able to prepare. I will give you my word that Yang will not be allowed to stay on Samnos for long. Recently I have come across signs that he is attempting to help the Cadre. As much as I can tell it is a small group within the government and not official policy. For that attempt and the attack on Samnos, Yang will loose his throne and maybe his head. For a time I was willing to accept the existence of the Hive but not any longer. Eventually they will have to go. Maybe not now and maybe not in ten years, but his days are number from this day on. I will await your reply and prepare my military for whatever is needed.

Colonel Marcus Kessel, Colonel Of The Militia

[Mellian]

TAS Cameron, First TAF Task Force, Orbiting Pluto

Fleet Admiral Kerensky sits on his command chair in the ship's command nexus, watching the battle around Samnos. His suspicions as been confirmed, Earth Coalition is not to be trusted at all. Once the first wave, where EC doesn't know of the second, arrived at the Cycladic System near Samnos, EC sent their personal declaration of war message, before the one by Stormhill was sent. Soon afterwards, the 2 TAF Task Forces tagging along with the three EC Battlesquadrons detected a Hive fleet already engaging the Morganites, which the EC ships quickly joined in without the orders of Admiral Cooper.

Kerensky quickly sent orders to Cooper to hold the Task Forces (enhanced with squadrons of Scion Frigates) back and allow EC and the Hive to do most of the work before fully engaging into the battle. Cooper is to also make sure that the Hive doesn't take Samnos for themselves.

Kerensky then reads up some comm messages from Kessel of the Spartan Federation, from Lord Protector Ian of Protecterate of Man and its replies from Stormhill and EC. Kerensky is of course not please with EC. He then looks back at the holographic presentation of Cyclanide when the second wave arrives near Naxos, catching whoever by surprise. The second wave is comprised of 3 TAF Task Forces, 2 Mars task forces, 2 Venus Strike Forces and 1 InEn task force lead by Fleet Vice-Admiral Shebeyev, Kerensky's second in command. They have already started engaging the morganite defences, catching them by surprise who weren't expecting more Terran ships.

It is about this time that he started receiving reports from the other attack forces, who have started taking the other two morganite systems near Cycladic... Everything is going according to plan, despite some annoyances.

[Lonestar]

HPS BonHomme Richard
Flagship of the 4rth Fleet.
Roving System

Admiral Soontir Fel sat at his desk in his office. The 4rth fleet had recently arrived in Roving. It's purpose; to luanch a spoiling attack on the Hive system of LP 658 in order to give the Morgans some breathing room. Fly in with the 100 Capital ships, destroy the Listening post, fly back to Roving.

Fel gave a brief smile. He was regarded as the most brillant Protectorate commander ever, having taken command of the 3rd fleet during the near-disasterours battle of Barraka. The Proginator force was maded to leave the Dosi Home system, and the 3rd fleet 'merely' lost 60% of it's force. It was only natural that he would be chosen to lead a operation of this magnititude in the opening salvo of what is sure to be a GHE-Proctectorate War.

Fel turned and looked out his window. The huge starboard side of the monstor fleet carrier Kearsage blocked it.

God help me, Fel thought, I love this so.

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

To: Emperor Yang, GHE
From: Lord Protector Ian
Re: Hive attack on Morgan holdings.

Yang, words cannot descirbe how disappointed I am that you would attack Morgan holdings without provacation. Please, no "on Chiron" crap, you left many hundreds of years ago.

Such a attack threatens to destroy the Balance of power in the Orion arm of the Galaxy. Obviously, this cannot happen, no Human power can suffer a general war. Therefore..

I command you to withdraw your forces to the borders of the GHE. Yes, command. You are like a spoiled child who needs someone to watch over him, less he get into the rat poision.

I am doing this for your own safety, Yang. The Protectorate is involved with talks between the TA and the Morgans, hoping to mediate the conflict. Your actions impede progress.

I will give you two Earth Standard days to withdraw before action is taken.
-------------------

To: CEO Morgan
From: Lord Protector Ian
Subject: Hive Incursions.


Yes, I can see that the treacherous GHE have attacked Morgan holdings. I have sent Yang a notice noting my displeasure at his actions, and hope that he'll withdraw.

CEO, I think I have found equilivant information for GHE archival info. Recently, the University had the misfortune to come across our colony at Roving, and we managed to obtain detailed scans of
their warships. Perhaps in exchange for those, you will trade the archival History of Yang and the Hive on Chiron?

I hope the TA listens to my plea for mediation. While they do intend to send a delegate to Beta Hydri, I doubt they'll put real meaning into it, now that the GHE is on their side.

Regards, Lord Protector Ian.

[History Guy]

Morgan Interstellar, Central Plaza, Headquarters Building

“Please come in, Temple,” responded CEO Morgan after his ears picked up the almost inaudible sound of the Home Secretary’s slight knocks on the half opened door. Theodore Temple strode in, a series of files in his hands.

Morgan, he quickly noticed, was enjoying himself, perhaps trying to forget about the havoc taking place on two small moons in the Corporate Sector. A plate of raw shellfish lay in the center of his desk, and a water bowl and an oyster fork sat on the center of the plate. Morgan was feasting on pearl mussels, a larger version of the oyster, which lived naturally in river beds all about the planet, and indeed had spread to other planets as well with the help of Morgan Interstellar’s xeno-biology officers. “Greetings, Temple. Hope you don’t mind my having a snack before dinner. Am rather peckish, I’m afraid. How art thou?”

“Er, well, speaking for myself, I am alright, sir, but…”

“How goes it?” asked Morgan, popping open one of the shells with his silver fork. He then brought the shell to his lips, and the creature inside slid down his throat.

“A message, CEO, from the Spartans, and another from the Protectorate. The Spartan message, I believe,” said Temple, wiping his brow, “will prove quite interesting.” Temple held out the files, but Morgan did not take them.

“Don’t worry, my friend, I have already read both messages, and responded…”

“But, how?”

“I have my own ways, my friend,” said Morgan with a laugh, before lapping up another of the shellfish. “The Senate of the free people of Morgan Interstellar shall be voting on the Spartan matter in, oh, say ten minutes, in fact. I’d have thought you knew!”

“Forgive me, CEO, I’ve been rather out of whack, lately…”

“What’s in the files?”

“Oh, just some of the tactical plans that, you will recall, Mrs. Whitaker, Mr. Siddiqui, you, and I wrote out some days ago in a strategy session. You may have noticed that the Spartan plan is identical to our Tactical Plan No. 167…”

“Yes, when it comes to tactics, the Spartans do not sit about. They have come up with everything, and probably long before us! I’ll bet that the whole time we’ve been fighting the late unlamented InEn around, they’ve been developing their own plans pertinent to our war,” said Morgan with a laugh. He then held out the dish of shellfish, “Have one, Temple?”

At first, Temple was rather slow to respond, but he finally said with a grin, “Well, sir, why not?”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Curia Building, The Senate of Morgan Interstellar

Senator Herndon Wilde stroked his graying hair softly as he passed the huge doors of the curia and made his way towards he bench on the Liberal Party’s side of the building. As the Senate Majority Leader for the Liberal Party, Herndon Wilde would be the man speaking on the profits of the bold plan put forth by the Spartan Federation, namely to allow the Spartans to temporarily control the Corporate Sector until peace could be brought about with the Terran Alliance. Though many would disapprove of the idea, the rowdy Senator Wilde included, it was his duty to see done what was best for Morgan Interstellar. Morgan believed that the Spartan plan was what was needed, Wilde did not, and he planned to voice his beliefs.

Looking up from his bench, he looked around the old familiar building. The high vaulted ceiling, the huge width and breadth of the room, the giant benches, all inspired awe, and showed the dignity of Morgan Interstellar’s politicians. The great curia, the Senate Building, had stood for hundreds of years, since the start of Morganite colonization. Wilde, many believed, was something of a disgrace, however. Morgan himself barely tolerated him. Wilde could not stand Morgan, for the most part, and was calling secretly at one point for an election of a new CEO, but this idea was quickly squashed. Wilde had lately been calling for reparations for the families of the dead of the Terran Alliance, and indeed Interplanetary Enterprises and even called for the immediate return of Capella to the Terrans. This sort of thing was tiring to Morgan and the Conservative Party to say the least.

“Senator, a message for you,” said an usher, walking up behind Wilde’s bench. Into Wilde’s outstretched hand, he pressed a small yellow card. As soon as the usher was away with the tip Wilde had stuffed into his hand, the Senator turned the card on it’s face, and read a short note, unsigned, written in blue ink. One look made Wilde decided not to speak out against the Spartan message.

“Senator Wilde, we of Morgan Interstellar promise that if you do not vote ‘yea’ for the Spartan proposition, you shall never vote on any proposition again.”

The ‘Spartan Bill’ was passed unanimously.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

ENCRYPTED VISUAL TRANSMISSION
FROM: Senate, Morgan Interstellar
TO: Col. Marcus Kessel

To the leader of our glorious ally, Sparta, Col. Marcus Kessel:

Sir, the senate passed the bill unanimously at 4 o'clock today putting in effect your proposal of temporary control of the Corporate Sector, until peace can be established between our government and that of the Terran Alliance. We thank you for the proposal, and for your co-operation.

The points we wish to verify, however, are that current Morganite officials and officers on the planet will remain in control. The colonies will be Spartan in name and protection only. 50% of the produce and profit from these colonies shall be property of Morgan Interstellar, and the other 50% property of the Spartan Federation. Your government and people will be rewarded gratefully in due time for their tremendous help in this matter.

We wish you well.
--------

WHERE DO YOU WANT YOUR NODE TODAY?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[Mr. President]

System Perimeter, Vega Prime

Menelaus stood behind the tactical office on the transport’s bridge as it pulled to a halt at the perimeter checkpoint. The viewscreen showed a wide-angle view of the Vega system. The light of the giant blue star was refracted through a clutch of interplanetary debris. Two planets were visible, beautiful crescents floating slowly through the blackness. Menelaus still found space extraordinary. It was elegant and eternal, timeless and for all times. Moving lights in the distance were presumably Republican transport craft. Alternatively, they might have been Firebrand Omega satellites. One such was sitting above and in front of Menelaus’ craft. When the tactical officer had zoomed in on the defense module at his request, he had seen a tapering silksteel body, covered in wiring and lights. Some blinked blue and slowly, others were orange and fast. At the top were sensors, and slightly below them large energy and particle cannons. Menelaus knew that many of the panels would slide up to unleash vicious clouds of guided rockets. The Drone Republic Armed Forces summarized their philosophy in four simple words: strike first, strike hard. The Lakedaemon leader could relate to that.

“Welcome, vessel,” the voice of the Drone station master came over the intercom. “Are you a friend of the Free Drone Republic?” The words were a formality, for they had known of Menelaus’ arrival and would have seen him coming.

“Greetings to the Republic,” Menelaus replied. “We are friends, and come in peace.”

“State your business then, friend.”

“I am Menelaus, Supreme Leader of the Lakedaemon Cadre, and I come to speak with your President.”

“You are expected and welcome, revered Supreme Leader Menelaus,” the station master replied. “You may proceed to Vega Prime.”

A quick series of actions from the helmsman, and the transport swung towards the great blue planet in the distance.

* * *

Alpha Checkpoint, Above Avalon, Vega Prime

“Any minute now,” said the Vice-President, glancing at his watch.

“What do you suppose is holding them up?” Kristy Adams mused. She was an unremarkable-looking woman of medium build, with short, straight dark hair that flowed down around her neck. But the level stare with which she fixated the docked Lakedaemon transport through the spacedock’s viewing port hinted at a will of iron.

“They reported a little engine trouble, Madame President,” the station master said. “One of their docking thrusters failed to fire.”

“No injuries, I hope?” As the man shook his head, Adams continued, “See if your people can repair it while we’re talking down below. Speaking of which, is the elevator reset?”

“It is, Madame President.”

“Excellent.” Space elevators could normally carry a hundred travellers and their luggage. The Lakedaemon delegation would have slightly fewer suitcases than a normal tourist group, but slightly more people. Also, they had requested to carry their own weapons, and had registered no less than twenty-five assault rifles with Capital Security. Adams suspected they would actually need two trips to get everyone down to Avalon.

“Here they come!” the gate guard shouted. Republican security guards snapped to attention and government officials gave their suits a last brush-down. Sliding doors hissed open and Menelaus stepped on to a Republican space station. Entourage marching neatly behind, he walked straight towards the President. She stepped forward to meet him and they shook hands warmly. “Welcome to the Free Drone Republic,” Adams said.

Menelaus smiled. “The pleasure is all mine,” he replied.

The President quickly introduced him to the Cabinet and they made for the main elevator. Armed marines stood at the entrance of almost every hallway, creating a secure corridor for the officials to walk down. Despite it being the slow season for tourism, a handful of travellers stood on tiptoe close to the heavily armored soldiers, straining to catch a glimpse of the Lakedaemon visitors.

“How long did it take to build this station?” Menelaus asked, head turning back and forth to take in all his surroundings.

Adams shrugged. “Two months?” she estimated. “Of course, this wasn’t the first one we ever built, so we already knew how to do it.”

The Supreme Leader of Lakedaemon smiled more broadly. “Very impressive.”

* * *

Conference Room, the Capitol Building, Avalon

Capital Security was on level two measures, and it showed. The Republican Economic Secretary had just opened the conference room’s blinds, revealing the three-block-wide lockdown below. Heavy rovers fitted with crowd control weapons cordoned off the streets, keeping the citizens away from the Capital Building.

“Please,” said President Adams, “be seated.” At her gesture hosts and visitors obeyed. She opened a file and was about to speak, when the door opened and a middle-aged man in military uniform hurried in. Adams glanced at him and craned her head to listen as he whispered something. Menelaus saw her eyes widen from across the table. Then she rose swiftly and said, “Would you excuse me for a moment? Something has come up that requires my immediate attention.” At her nod, the Vice-President began to speak. “Supreme Leader, we have prepared information on the issues you and the President discussed . . .”

Adams followed Commodore Albert Franco down the hall. Inside a guarded room with no windows was a large computer unit: the Emergency Teletext. It was the receiving end of the fastest piece of FTL communications equipment they had. Used only in extreme situations, it had delivered a message from the government’s military liaison to the Spartan Federation.

Franco pointed to a message in large capital letters. Adams’ eyes quickly scanned the sentence. Both paused for several moments. Then the President spoke three simple, yet cataclysmic words:

“Initiate Code Alpha.”

[Silence]

From: Speaker of the Conclave, Martin Keenes
To: CEO Morgan

It appears that our Solides of God forces were very succesfull in your campaigns. However as much as we would rejoice of the skill and dedication of our holy warriors, it appears that the Earth Coalition fears us and has declared war on us as well as you. Normally we would be able to send out a fleet to help you form up your defensive line. But we have a large Hammer of God campaign going on in system LV 120. We have dispatch as many of our free lighter units that we could and have informed the SoG force at Capella any information from our ONI. Hopefully we will be able to stop the current threat and put most of our attection on the EC and join you in a glorious crusade.

Martin Keenes

From: Admiral Lisa Demover
To: CEO Morgan

Sir, our forces stand ready for any command that you might wish to send. We can move half the Corps that we have on planet within 3 hours to their transports. We can send out a battlecrusier squadron with escorts at any minute to help releive your planets. I have dispatch several hunter seekers to the systems that are under attack to act as raiders on the flanks of the enemy forces in case you shall decide to pull back. As always I await your command before moving any portion of the fleet.

God go with you.

Admiral Lisa Demover
Soliders of God

[Cybergod]

Morganite Space, near Morgan Interstellar

Captain Tyre looked about his crew of Quantum Shadow. They were all skilled covert operatives, with years of experience under Nova Saturna. Now it was a purple flower that symbolised their homeland – a single image imprinted in their heads, along with memories and ambitions that kept them striving towards success.

They have been broadcasting at a set frequency for about ten metric hours, and were carefully infiltrating Morganite media, on its coverage of recent war. Tyre watched a couple of the clips without any emotion – it was someone else, not him. ‘Foreign blood is cast in a not-so foreign conflict,’ he thought. The Saturnians had their share of human wars; it was time for others to do battle.

A door in the command room pulled itself in as the Data Keeper Brai stepped in, wearing his crimson and black uniform. He was a short man, with small white hair on the sides of his head. He gave a curt nod to acknowledge his superior’s presence.

“Status?” Tyre asked. He sat in a black metal chair, his back to the report screens and holos. On his sides, Astrogators and several covert operatives worked, and Brai stood in front of him.

“Data is secure. Our systems are ready for data exchange upon authorisation,” he paused as two men entered, carrying a large crate. Brai walked over to it, placed his hand on the imprinted ‘warning’ sign and continued: “Material for psych whip demonstration is here sir.”

“Good, I wish that you and your two men go with me and board the Morganite ship, along with my operatives, when it is time.”

“Certainly sir.”

“Excellent,” Tyre clasped his fingers and turned around, to respond a discreet beep that came from the computer. There was activity in the deceitful void outside.

“Pardon my questioning sir, but when exactly will it be time?” Brai couldn’t resist to ask.

“Soon enough,” Tyre answered and then announced: ”Everyone proceed with docking procedures.”

On the outside, the sleek insect-like design of Quantum Shadow unleashed tentacle-like extensions that started wrapping around the Morganite diplomatic ship. It was like a miniscule spider was engulfing its, in comparison, huge prey. The two ships were soon safely joined and they docked, as the two people prepared to exchange secrets.

***

Saturn Kingdom High Council

“This is outrageous! They are suggesting to ethnically clean the Maya base of our people! Your followers would never let this pass,” Nicholas burst out at the council as the Earther message was discussed.

“I must say that this is only the first deal we have been offered so far from the Coalition side. We never asked for a proper deal yet, except for them to hold fair and legal elections on the colonies,” Diplomatic Minister Petrov gave his views. “I agree with Populance Minister Popullos that the people would object to the given arrangement but I say that blatantly refusing co-operation is not the way. I suggest we use our membership in the TA and make their and our teams meet on neutral grounds to discuss this situation. On these negotiations we should look to gain as much as possible, and legalise our rightful ownership of the Saturn lands.”

Myodin got up: “ EC knows they have lost these lands forever, Our Queen. They will try to retain foothold here, through the SSSH colonies, and slow our progress, by stopping us colonising other moons and trying to isolate us from the outside world. If worst comes to worst, which I sincerely believe will not, our forces are formidable and can withstand the possible initial assaults from their side. But I assure you the TA would penalise them for such actions. This is why I wouldn’t recommend heavy use of military force from our side, as the TA might hand out penalties this way as well.”

They all sat down in silence as the Queen started speaking: “You all speak wise words gentlemen, and my view agrees with yours. I shall not accept the offer of President Tremaine,” there were a couple of angry grunts at this name, “But I shall not blatantly reject it either. Minister Petrov, I like your suggestion. We must proceed with that immediately. Otherwise, this council is dismissed.”

***

ENCRYPTED DIPLOMATIC TRANSMITTION
TO: President Henry Gerald Tremaine
FROM: Queen Maria Sanchez

Dear President,

I find your offer both attractive and unacceptable. We must discuss this immediately. I suggest that both of our respectable governments send diplomatic teams to a neutral ground, where we could discuss this problem and officially seal the Treaty between our people, acknowledging each other’s power.

Best regards,

Maria Sanchez

END OF TRANSMITTION

[Mellian]

(will edit this post in a better format later on)

About 15 days earlier...

some system along the Drone/Spartan Border

The Danube, a Drone military controlled Argonaut merchant cruiser, arrives into the system, a long with her Frigate escorts.

There, they STL towards the next jump point while recharging the FTL Drives.... the ship is escorted by some Frigates or/and Destroyers. they encounter two more Argonauts, lightly escorted, and identified as belonging to a independent company within Free Drone Republic. They peacefully join the big convoy, since they are going towards the same direction for a system or two. the Captain of the Drone Argonaut seem to be bad feeling about it while moving across the system...barely any detectible activity except for the patrolling Spartan ships almost at the other side of the system, near the area where there use to be a lot of pirate activity. When they got near the jump point, the Drone Argonaut captain check up on the independent Argonauts with the registry back home via FTL Comm...mentioning that they recently been missing... he didn't like that feeling, so tries to contact the military escorts without attracting those "independent" Argonauts attention, but too late.... apparently, a Data Angel hacker was able to sneak in some pre-sentient algorithms on the ship computers via comm...literally spying on the computer activity of the Drone Argonaut and Military ones..... the algorithms on the military ones quietly took over the life support systems and change the composition of the oxygen, adding sleeping gas you can say..then took over the Conn of the escorts and comm systems. So the escorts as been moving automaticly and check up communiques between the ships continued automaticly.... when the Drone Argonaut realize that he is not getting any response from the Escorts, was about to send a distress signal, hoping to get the spartans to get here..... but the Pirate controlled argonauts started jamming the Drone Argonaut and moving in side by side of the Drone Argonaut.... Drones tried to move away, but realize they lost control of their Conn and Engines.... out of the Pirate Argonauts, space thruster packed Battle Gears 'jump' on the Drone Argonaut while there was some Breach Pods launch, attach to the drone hull and started boarding..... since Argonauts have small crew compliments, and military ones with only small marine squads, it was easy for the boarding pirates as they specialize in it... Most of the marines ended getting killed, and some crew members who fought back, but rest were put into a cargo bay, imprisoned while the Pirates quickly gains control of the ship with help of crafty Data Angel Algorithms. At some point, the Spartans were keeping tract on the convoy from long range sensors, and notice the 'independent' argonauts moving side by side of the Drone one... way to suspicious and they were not getting any response from the convoy, so they move for a short in-system jump towards the convoy, making sure the path is clear.... The Pirates were planning to jump the newly captured argonauts and the rest of their ships to nearby rendezvous point, towards a useless nearby star.... when the Spartans showed up and tried Comming, but notice the jamming, so started targetting the unusual ships that joined the Drone Military Convoy.... the Spartan ships was a Warlock escorted by smaller ships and fighters. the Drone escorts started turning towards them while the argonauts and disguised pirate escorts were moving away from them..... The Spartans initially thought that the Pirates somehow took over the Drone escorts and started targetting... after a few shots at them, while moving towards the run away argonauts, that the Drone ships are not firing, they are simply moving towards them, some in a collision course with Spartan ships, which they barely avoided... they past the Drone ships which were probably decoys and left them go on their straight course to nowhere, which they will take care of them later.... since the Argonauts are slow, the SPartan ships will overtake them, so the Pirate Escort ships started to turn around, to do hit and run strikes at the edge of weapon ranges. Pirate ships are some Nautilus-class Destroyers and some various past captured or 'bought' Corvettes to Destroyers.
The Smaller SPartan ships duke it out with them while the bigger Warlock and escorts continued moving towards the Argonauts... as soon as the argonauts were within Torp range, the Warlock and some bigger escorts started firing some torps/anti-ship missiles, which blasted the aft engine section of an Pirate Argonaut, and simply damaged the Drone and other Argonaut...which then FTLed towards that system, planning to stop at the rendezvous just outside of the system. When they got to rendezvous, the ships they were expected weren't there, so they started to worry... the Pirate Argonaut is where the Novans leader is located, sad that the other Pirate Argonaut couldn't jump. few minutes later, while they quickly trying to take care of damages when the Warlock and two of their escorting Cruisers jump nearby, after detecting the Drone Argonaut from long range... not the Pirate one as it was carrying some Stealth Hardware, but sees her after jumping.... assuming their FTL were damage and it failed right after making the jump...... The Warlock and Cruisers was just about to get in weapons range when another Warlock escorted by Nautilus Destroyers and Wolverine Strike Cruisers jumped in and quickly started firing at them... Joe Novam after seeing a new Warlock jumping in, thought they were dead meat...but realize it was Kane's captured Warlock and fellow Wolverine escorts when it started firing on the Spartans, catching them by surprise which was very rare with Spartans. the Spartan Warlock and cruisers where blasted to pieces, barely able to give proper resistance. after the battle, Kane contacts Joe Nova, thanking him while saying he can keep the Drone Argonaut to replace the other lost one who got finish off by spartan ships, but takes the ten detachable Cargo Pods, which where lays the Droids and other stuff ment for a Drone runned Spartan Ship Yard. Will get recompensated via usual Pirate channels. Joe Nova was a bit grumpy about it, what to do with the surviving Drone Argonaut crew? will think of something later (drop off at some small independent colony), but was happy that 2/3 thirds of the Novan Pirate escorts survived as they jumpy into the area, with minor to medium damage, some carrying escape pods of the destroyed novan ships....including everybody from the destroyed Argonaut which one of them was his Second-in-Command who has been complaining about this high risk mission from the start, when Joe accepted it from Kane.

[Sprayber]

Kessel was impatient. He understood that Morgan had to seek the advice of his Senate but precious time was being wasted. At least he thought to himself, he wasn’t dealing with the endless debates need for action with the Pks. But Kessel would have still would have preferred it if Morgan could have just signed off himself or said no. Just today Kessel had called for a Council of War that effectively put all civilian production under his control. Usually the Apella had nominal jurisdiction over civil matters such as production of non military goods. Thanks to reforms in the 2550’s all of Sparta’s military construction was handled by Gault Com, Spartan Aero Corp, Spartan Arms, and Spartak Industries. Along with the Morgan and Drone contracts Sparta’s military machine was now built independently from the small scale civil industries that sprung up to meet the simple demands of the civil population. But with the Council of War declaration, those resources could be accessed quickly if they were needed. As of noon today, the small civil population ceased to exist. If the fighting went smoothly, this technicality would go back to it was before. But if the war dragged on, then the Militia would once again be raised. Kessel didn’t want that. The people that comprised the militia were good people and would fight hard, but Kessel preferred to allow them to go about their lives as much as possible in troubling times. As he went over the recent reports coming in from around the battle area, Kessel was disturbed by a buzzing at his desk. He got up and walked over and sat down. He activated the link and read the incoming messages. He didn’t even allow himself the luxury of a smile. He immediately went about sending the messages to his various commanders that he already been written.

*****Encrypted Message*****
To: Admiral Paiktis: Commander of Spartan Fleet Aztec
From: Spartan Central Command: MK

Proceed with the defense of Spartan Territory. You are authorized to use whatever force necessary to defend the citizens and territory of the Spartan Cooperate Sector. Be advised that Spartan Fleet Osage is en route to the SCS. You have been given overall command. Do not combine fleets unless tactical situation dictates such moves. Also At your disposal are the 5th and 7th wolfpaks. Spartan Fleet Inca has been dispatched as well but will be delayed but will be in the area soon. Strength and Honor.

*******Encrypted Message********
To: CEO Morgan
From: Colonel Kessel

Documents received. Spartan forces are en route to the Cooperate Sector as we speak. Spartan Central Command has initiated its war plans involving the Terran Alliance. Modification have been made to suit the current situation and we are in the process of getting the appropriate forces ready. The first step calls for the stabilization of the situation. If the Terrans refuse to cooperate we will initiate the gradual reduction of the Terran Alliance forces. This means opening up a second front by attacking Ross 128 as soon as Spartan forces can transverse the distance between Formalhault and Ross 128. Since this means going around PK space it will take some time to transverse . We will strike with two Spartan battle fleets with enough force as to break the resistance. We have no ambitions of taking Ross 128 as Spartan territory. Administration will be left up to you if you so desire. I would be grateful if you would inquire as to the willingness of Believer forces to participate in this endeavor. I would also like to announce that the Free Drone Republic has dispatched forces heading for the Cooperate Sector. Their forces will arrive and reinforce our own currently there. Soon they will participate in liberating any territory occupied by the Terran Alliance.

Your ally, M Kessel. Colonel Of The Militia.



Spartan Cooperate Sector


Admiral Paikts was relieved to finally hear something after the hours of endless waiting. He was also happy that he had not waited for Colonel Kessel’s message to begin preparations. Spartan scout ships had entered the system long before Kessel’s message ever reached Paiktis. With their long range sensor equipment they monitored the progress of the attacking Terran fleets. Several times Terran ships changed course as if they had spotted the scouts but all soon went back to their original headings. As soon as the Kessel’s message to Paiktis he immediately sent a coded signal to the Scouts to began the official Spartan warnings that the entire region was now Spartan territory. To Paiktis, the success or failure of these messages meant little. In fact, a little part of him secretly hoped that the Terrans would be foolish enough to ingornor and even challenge the declaration. After the signal had been sent , Paiktis gave the order to increase speed of the fleet. After all he didn’t want to miss out on whatever the Terrans decided to do. He had a mission to perform and that was to defend Spartan territory from invaders.

While Paiktis drove the fleet on, the three Spartan scout ships began their mission. One stayed at the edge of the system to report back to the fleet as to what happens. The remaining two fired their power agile engines up and proceeded to head straight for the Colony itself to be the official Spartan presence in the system. As they went they transmitted their message to the invading Terran fleet.

To: Terran Fleet
From: Commander Jacobs, Spartan Colonial Officer

You have encroached on territory of the Spartan Federation. You are asked to leave this system and return from where you came. Once again this is Spartan Territory.

The message repeated as the Spartan ships speeded towards the Colonies main command center.

***Open Frequency***
To: Terran Alliance Government.
From: Colonel Marcus Kessel

I am sending this message to inform you that Morgan Interstellar has ceded all territory that once Comprised the Morgan Cooperate Sector to the government of the Spartan Federation. I ask that you recall your forces immediately from their current locations and stop attacking that which is Spartan Territory.

Marcus Kessel, Colonel of the Militia.


To: Emperor Yang
Co; Hive Fleet

From: Colonel Marcus Kessel

Thank you for showing us your cards deer emperor. The Cooperate Sector is now Spartan. Any further attempts made by Hive forces in the Cooperate Sector will be met by Spartan forces. That will accompany a general invasion of your home systems in short order. My patience is legendary, but not infinite.

[Mellian]

TAS Cameron, First TAF Task Force, Orbiting Pluto

Kerensky was continuing watching the various battles currently happening. TA Forces is making progress with good timing as expected, despite them encountering slightly bigger defences not mentioned by Intelligence, but the margin of error is reasonably acceptable.

At Cyclanid, Cooper's forces as finish clearing Samnos' orbital defences from long range, except for the Coalition ships thought who simply charged them and taking heavier losses. There is still Morganite ships left to clear, and the Spartan corvettes which haven't attacked any TA ships. The Hive are taking a beating, yet made a lot of progress, but Cooper still warned them not to land any troops on the moon.

As for Naxos, Shebeyev's forces sure wasn't expected and was able to destroy several ships from the first volley. Her forces is staying out of the orbitals beam range while bombarding the orbitals and morganite ships with merculite missiles, making quite an firework. The Venus Strike Forces decided to move in, doing their flower of death and straf tactics, which will cost them some ships, but have quite an result. So far, TA casualties at Naxos is minimal. Shebeyev reports that there is Pirate ships present, defending the space docks and stations orbiting the gas giant, and they are not moving in to help defend Naxos or Samnos.

As for the other two systems, the TA forces are making quicker progress. Nearly all defending mobile forces have been defeated with barely any losses and are now moving in for the mining/agriculture colonies and stations, where more Pirate ships are defending. Obviously, the morganites as hired Pirates...but they don't seem to be really active in the battles. opportunity? yes.

To: Pirate forces
From: Fleet Admiral Kerensky, TAF, Terran Alliance

Pirate forces, you are asked that you leave the systems as the Terran Alliance isn't interested in fighting you people. If you cannot, the TAF will be willing to pay twice the amount the Morganites is paying your clan to defend their holdings if you help us to capture them instead. I suggest you reply soon.

Kerensky

After sending that message, reports are coming from the three attack forces that the Spartans demanding that they cease fire and leave the systems, which now belongs to the Spartan Federation. Quite an political maneuvering, yet it does complicate things. While thinking of what to do, a message from Kessel as been intercepted which he decides to reply. Something needs to be done diplomaticly before it goes out of hand, as TA isn't interested in facing the Spartan Federation as the aggressors.


To: Colonel Kessel, Spartan Federation
From: Fleet Admiral Kerensky, TAF, Terran Alliance
cc: Secretary-General Daniel Stormhill, Terran Council
attached:

Colonel, this is Fleet Admiral Kerensky, commander of the Terran Alliance Fleet. Why is the Spartan Federation trying to get involved in this war? I can understand that the Spartan Federation is simply helping to defend their ally, and it is admirable. Does this mean SF supports the Morganites aggression towards the Terran Alliance?

Kerensky

[History Guy]

The Skies Above Naxos

As Admiral William Merrill watched on the bridge of his flagship Excelsior, a third Morganite frigate returned from the frontlines, it’s wounded hull releasing gas and smoke. It was hard to see at this distance what was happening up there, but he knew it would be horrific to behold. Samnos had been bad enough with the few ships and men there, but this suicidal Terran fleet was plunging itself headfirst into the Morganite orbital defenses of Naxos. As the sheer force of the attackers had simply overwhelmed Samnos, the Terrans believed that sheer numbers alone would break up the Morganite blockades, and they were, unfortunately, right. The Corporate Sector was not the best-defended area of Morganite control, large fleets there were few and far between. Merrill would not receive any reinforcements, but Morganite, Believer, Spartan, and now even Drone vessels were flocking towards the two other systems that were undergoing Terran assault. As of yet, the battles back there were fairly light, the Terrans hadn’t gone far enough to come into contact with anything more than skirmishers, but that would change.

“Commodore Lansing,” said Merrill, addressing the woman who stood beside him, “Let’s bring Excelsior up to the front. I’ve had enough of watching our ships come back aflame. Let’s get in there and do some damage on the enemy.”

“Aye, Admiral. Pulling up along Red Sector, Battlesquadron Delta in front of us, sir,” she responded. Battlesquadron Delta, eh? They’d been receiving some heavy pummeling already, by the looks of them. Many of the vessels, mostly fighters and destroyers, were badly damaged in several areas. The first wave of the Terran attacks had been strongest, but they’d been beaten back with some shots from the orbital platforms. It seemed as if Kerensky’s men had withdrawn somewhat to regroup. There was now a temporary lull in the fighting.

As the Admiral watched, mopping his sweaty brow with his handkerchief, the Terrans returned. Immediately, alongside the flagship, one of the smaller escort fighters took a direct hit. Merrill turned his head, watching as the escort took the hit and was propelled back, quickly burning up in the intense heat. The Terrans were advancing. The bridge of the flagship became noticeably quiet when the Terrans rolled forward from the blackness, sailing through the skies. They were in arrowhead formation; a line twisted like an arrowhead, thus the name. They were beautiful. Commander Laskey standing nearby uttered in awe, “My God…”

Admiral Merrill simply uttered, “Open fire.”

With his word all of the guns of Battlesquadron Delta erupted, and countless Terran fighters suddenly burst into flame. Immediately, a Terran destroyer fired into the bow of two corvettes, sitting side by side, and the Morganite ships burst into flames. As the flames licked away at the dying corvettes, lifeboats were launched. Several Morganite destroyers collected those escape vessels that weren’t immediately shot to pieces by nearby Terran vessels.

As this was happening, a Morganite ship buster slammed into the center of the Terran destroyer, creating a chain reaction of explosions that detonated all along the side of the destroyer’s hull. Within minutes, the top decks of the destroyer collapsed inward on the bottom decks, and the ship was slowly crushed by itself. Merrill could not imagine the horror of what was going on inside. Those crewmen who didn’t make it to the pods in time would slowly be crushed to a pulp by the falling ceilings. “Keep up the fire,” called Merrill, “let’s get as many of them as we can!”

Merrill was using what he liked to call “the Wyatt Earp tactic.” In other words, he knew that he would go down, but he would take down as many of his enemy as he could. The tactic had already been used to good effect at Samnos, which was still under attack from the sky, and Merrill knew that the longer he could hold these Terrans the more damage he could inflict, and the longer it would take for them to reinforce their comrades in other systems. Through this process, Merrill was slowly withering down the TAF taskforces. The Terrans would win the day, but they would have a heavy price to pay for it. And it would be all for nothing. The surface bombardment of Samnos had eradicated most everything important on that moon that the Morganite colonists had not already destroyed.

As another Morganite fighter burst into flames nearby, the flagship took a hit near the bridge. Two small missiles from an advancing Terran destroyer tore up areas of the bow and slammed into the huge ship just below the bridge. The whole bridge shook with the explosions, and most everyone inside was hurled to the floor. The very lights themselves blinked and went out for nearly a minute while the Morganites on the bridge tried to stand up once again.

Merrill had been knocked unconscious himself, and Laskey and Lansing were both injured. Lansing stood up with the assistance of Ensign Deere, and ran to the Admiral, who lay on his back against a wall. “Help me get him to his chair,” called Lansing to the Ensign. While Lansing gripped his arms, Deere picked up his legs, and they carried him to his leather chair to the left of the bridge. As Merrill began to recover, Lansing walked towards Laskey, who lay near the damaged area of the bridge. Rivets had been popped, and part of the metal wall had been ripped up, but the damage was not serious. By the time Lansing reached the Commander, he was dead. A sharp piece of metal jutted up from his skull. Lansing turned away in horror.

Merrill got to his feet once again, brushing himself off. The Terrans were coming on fast. “Damn it all,” said Merrill, “Prepare to hold firm and return Terran fire.” The wall of Terran destroyers advanced forward, coming to within point blank range of the Morganite vessels. Merrill knew that this wouldn’t be good, and that it would not be good for the flagship to be caught up in this crossfire. “Prepare to withdraw flagship out of range of Terrans. Let’s get out of here,” he said. As the battleship backed away from the two walls of steel, heading down along the line of battle, the Terran destroyers and the Morganite defenders opened fire once again.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Skies Above Samnos

Captain Milo S. Crane sniffed the air with his large, reddish nostrils, and moved his fighter through the debris, attempting to keep clear of notice from the Terrans. If the goons caught onto his ship’s movement, they’d fry him. Luckily, with the “interstellar garbage” floating around nearby, there wasn’t too much chance of that. Hiverian vessels weren’t much to worry about in the area, either, unless he ran into a wounded fighter sending out distress calls or something.

No, the greedy little Terrans were now surrounding the small dead rock known as Samnos, and thus far too busy to pay attention to a small interceptor fighter ship like Milo Crane’s Spitfire. The Hiverians, on the other hand, wouldn’t dare come into the newly one Terran territories, in fear of inciting the wrath of the Earthers. The Earthers were now busy making surface bombardments and landings, preparing to attack the riddled remains of the Morganite ships in the region, and the Hiverians were sitting about close together awaiting orders from their commanders back in ‘Goonie-Land’ or wherever they came from.

The small, dirty Spitfire slowly made its way through the debris and wreckage in search of a prize. Spitfire was an odd name for the vessel. It spat fire, sure enough, and quite competently at that, but such a name didn’t really fit the dumpy little thing, or it’s dumpy little owner for that matter. What Milo Crane and his ship's crew were searching for was treasure. Not chests of gold and jewels, or anything to that effect, but small, wounded enemy vessels to capture or destroy. All over Morgan Space, since the word came of the Terran and Hive attacks; a rather substantial bounty had been set up for the capture or destruction of an enemy vessel under any circumstances. Crane had already set out the other day with his motley crew and had caught enough for a good sized bounty, and he was back again today. He’d be a rich man if his luck in finding these vessels held up.

Meroz ‘the bounty hunter’, Crane’s first mate, sat beside him, smoking a small cigarette in his small, slant-like mouth. As the lighted cigarette sat clenched between his reptilian lips (he was, after all, a full-blooded Cepheleen), his artificial voice noted aloud: “A lot of this space junk is ten times the size of our own ship.”

“Yeah, well, you are stinking up the ship with your cheap mass-produced cigarettes, Meroz. A lot of the ships that went down in this sector were big Terran destroyers. This area was where the fire from the platforms was the heaviest. Lots of ship busters were fired. Let’s hope we find one…a returned ship buster is worth a bundle, especially in this area, Meroz. They can be re-used. Unexploded ones, I mean,” responded Crane, taking a sip from his can of cheap beer. A graverobber’s work is not a happy one.

Actually, Milo S. Crane only went ship hunting on his free time. He and his ship were part of the Morganite space fleet, and he had actually fought quite valiantly at the battle of Samnos the day before, taking out five Hive fighters himself. “Oh, here we go,” said Crane, “we’re in Battlezone Hell now. Namely, the spot of BZH where the Old Glory vaped those Hiverian ships before it was badly wounded and it returned to Samnos’ port. A lot of Morganite ships got wrecked around here too, namely those corvettes from Merrill. Maybe if we’re lucky we’ll find some burning Hive and Terran fighters around here. The burned out hulls, if we can drag ‘em to port, are worth a bundle in materiels.”

The Cepheleen nodded thoughtfully, his scaly skin rippling peacefully as he took another puff from his cigarette. “Milo, mate, what happens if we stumble across a live enemy fighter?”

“We duke it out with it.”

No sooner had Milo said this than his fighter rounded a large chunk of a hull and ran smack dab into a stopped Hiverian fighter. There had been bad damage to it, and quarter of it was missing, namely half of the reactor area and most of the gun ports were missing. The fighter could do no damage to Milo even if there were still men aboard her.

“Oh mama,” said Meroz, giving the closest thing a Cepheleen could to a whistle, “That’d fetch a pretty sum.”

“Bloody right, mate…here, try and contact her. Is there anything coming from her?”

“Nothing from her as of yet,” Meroz made his attempts to contact her. “Come in, Hiverian fighter, are you there?”

Crackling.

“Are you reading me?”

Crackling.

“Well, then, Milo, let’s move in…”

“Hiverian fighter People’s Joy here. We are badly wounded. Half the crew is dead. Will you assist?”

“Oh boy,” said Milo to Meroz, “Let’s just demand their surrender.”

“Okay. Hey, listen up, Hiverian fighter, I want you to surrender to this Morganite fighter. If you don’t, well be forced to open fire. Please surrender.”

“We will not surrender.”

“Oh come on, surrender or we’ll open fire…”

"Under no circumstances will a Hiverian fighter be allowed to surrender...especially not to a garbage ship such as yours..."

"Garbage ship!" called Milo, angrily, "We're no bloody garbage ship!"

Meroz cut in, "She's transmitting a distress signal…”

“Cripes!” said Milo, “the goonies will be all over here in a minute!” Immediately, Milo turned his gun sections on the stricken Hive vessel. After two shots, the Hiverian fighter simply exploded in front of them, shards flying in all directions.

“Well, that’s a hit anyway,” said Meroz, lighting another cig’.

“Yeah, c’mon, let’s get out of here. Maybe we’ll have some better luck, um, well, way over there!” Milo then piloted his fighter out of the area, in search of some more enemy vessels in a less crowded spot of the battlefield. At least they’d get money from killing a small enemy vessel.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Castor System

Captain Michael Judson of the tradeship Mammon straightened his tie, and put the blue cap on his head that identified him as a Morganite Trade Officer. After flecking some dandruff out of his hair (and then out of his beard, onto which it had fallen), Judson made his way out of his cabin and down the hall to the bridge where he would make the trade link-up. This link-up, as far as anyone but the Morganites and the Saturnians were concerned, would not officially take place. If the Saturn Kingdom was found out, iy would be regarded as a traitor to the Terran Alliance, it was, after all, trading with the enemies of Terra, Morgan Interstellar. The trade itself was bad enough for the Terrans. From the Saturnians, the Morganites would undoubtedly learn the secrets of ‘Bio-Technology’ and would be given the Pysch Whip and Bio-Tech. In return, the Saturn Kingdom would get a hefty sum of information on Nano-Tech and on Advanced Robotics. Thinking machines and the like.

As Judson walked onto the bridge, he was saluted by all of his officers, and greeted by the Science Officer, Deitzler, and the Board of Trade officer, Dr. Ishimora Heidyako, who would watch over the transaction. Judson walked forward, spying in the corners of the room the Intelligence and Security Officers, there to make sure nothing unfortunate occurred. They all wore the tri-cornered gray felt caps that identified them as Intelligence Officers.

“Well, Doctor,” said the Captain to Ishimora, “It looks as if the Saturnian probe vessel is approaching as we speak, eh?”

Sure enough, the probe ship emerged out of the darkness of space; it’s black hall gliding swiftly towards the Morganite Tradeship. It came to a sudden halt in front of the Morganite ship, the two ships sitting side by side in space. “Right, well, now comes the link-up,” said an officer nearby, quietly.

“Thank you, Mandrake, I know what I’m doing,” snapped the Captain.

Everyone was a bit nervous. As the ships latched onto one another, the tentacle-like arms of the Saturnian probe ship whipping around the Mammon's body, the men aboard the ships prepared for the transactions that were about to occur.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[History Guy]

Morgan’s Hideaway, Morgan Megatropolis, The Moon Achaemenid

For a Tracking Officer, Ferdinand Delbar seemed to have it good. Yes, life had been going fine for the little bugger ever since he’d retrieved the Hive-Terran Message some months before. Now with all this money old Morgan had littered him with, Ferdinand Delbar was enjoying himself. The resort, Morgan’s Hideaway, had already made the past four days since his arrival very enjoyable. Casinos, shows, fine food, the lot; it was all adding up to make a very unusually content Ferdinand Delbar.

What especially contented Delbar today as he sat reading by the swimming pool that morning was the quiet of it all. Besides Delbar, the room was deserted. Everyone else, it seemed, was out for lunch. There was absolutely no one around to bother him today, and that’s exactly what he wanted. Montrose Despard Turnwadson, the playboy millionaire had been down at the Massage/Sauna building all day, and the girls had been down at the beach. Free from their incessant chatter, Ferdy could just lie around in this deckchair, dressed in some rather laid back bits of clothing reading this book on the Progenitor War that he’d purchased from the bookstore on Level 92. As he began to fall asleep with boredom from the author’s long descriptive passages on the decisions of a certain Spartan military officer on where to position his men while attacking a certain Caretaker base, Delbar realized that he was incredibly thirsty.

Ah well, no matter, there was, after all, a drinking fountain down the hall past the plexi-glass doors. Putting down his book, and putting his light jacket back on, Delbar stood up and walked down the hall (clumping down the hall would have been more realistic actually, he was wearing his working shoes at the time, the ones with the thick black soles). After filling his cheeks with liquid, Delbar turned around, and saw standing beside him a short, balding man in a dark suit, who was panting incredibly.

“I say,” said Delbar to the man, “are you quite alright?”

“Am I quite…” the man began, and then stopped, catching his breath, “I’ve been followed all over this damn buildin' by that greasy little ratfink Mercer…” the man said, looking straight at Delbar with his beady little eyes.

“Hmmm?”

“Say, look, ya are that Delbar gent’, right? The guy with the Government?”

“Well, um, yes, actually, I am Delbar, and I’m a Tracking Officer, actually…”

“Well…good for ya, sonny. Look, if ya love your government, if you are a true patriot, then you’ll deliver a message for me to Mike Gladden, OK?”

“Mike Gladden? The casino owner up here?” Delbar was slightly taken aback.

“Yeah, that’s the guy. Mike Gladden. You can find him in his apartment in Room 669 on Level 102, the tops, kid, the tops of the buildin'. Now, listen up, the guys he has out there waiting for me won’t let you in unless you say that ‘Snakeyes’ sent ya. If they ask you why ‘Snakeyes’, that’s me kid, ain’t here with ya, just say that he’s out diverting a gunzle who’s on his tail, OK?”

“Um…sure…” Delbar didn’t know what to say. Was ‘Snakeyes’ completely deranged or something to that effect? Perhaps he’d better get a Steward.

“Now, look, I ain’t foolin’, kid. This is important. Tell Mr. Gladden this: ‘Saleed is not with us’, OK? You’ve got that? ‘Saleed is not with us’. Remember it.”

“Sure…”

“Please, kid, the government needs this message to be delivered…if you are a true Morganite. If you are a…”

“Yes, alright, I promise to deliver your message!” cried Delbar, a bit angrily now. Out of the corner of his eye, Delbar was sure he could see another man waiting in the shadows.

“OK, I am holding you to your promise. I’ve got to go,” he said, motioning towards where Delbar had though he’d seen another man, “I’ll catch you later. Thanks.” With that, the little man scurried off down the hall. Delbar was shocked.

What in heaven’s name was he supposed to do now? The chap was obviously a bat, a fruit-loop, and a kook. However, Delbar had promised the man that the message would be delivered, and he felt obligated to do as the man had asked. He’d find out whether or not ‘Snakeyes’ was batty when he got to Gladden anyway, right? Delbar hurried off towards an elevator, he wanted to get this thing off his back as soon as possible.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Montrose Despard Turnwadson walked into the Swimming Pool building, and looked about for old Delbar. Where in heaven’s name was the old guy? He’d seen him in here earlier. Ah, well, he thought. With no sign of the Tracking Officer, the playboy millionaire began to turn around, to walk down to the beach or something to that effect. As he did so, Delbar suddenly entered the building again, and walked towards the elevator. As he did so, Monty turned to follow. While Delbar entered the elevator, a man in a gray suit, wearing a wide brimmed hat, stood up from where he’d been sitting and followed Delbar towards the lift.

Monty was sure that, for a split second at least, he’d seen the man remove a small pistol from his coat. The barrel, he was sure, was aimed at Ferdinand Delbar. Instantly, as the lift doors closed behind Delbar, the man lowered his arm, and Monty saw the glint of the pistol again. As the man made a run for the staircase nearby, Monty pursued.

“Damn it,” said the man with the gun. He hadn’t noticed Monty yet, but was obviously ticked off at not being able to put a slug in the Tracking Officer as of yet. With the lack of observers about, the man would have made a perfect killing. What on earth was all this about? Monty tactfully gave the man a tap on the shoulder. Surprised, the man started to turn about, and Monty clearly saw the pistol being shoved back into the man’s coat.

Almost as a reflex, Monty’s clenched fist collided with the man’s lower jaw, and the man dropped back, sliding on the tile floors, hitting his head against the floor. Monty stooped down and dug his hands into the man’s coat, removing the pistol. After taking a quick look at the thing, he shoved it into his own coat pocket. He then snatched up the senseless little fellow and lowered him into the shallow end of the pool. Floating about on an orange blow up pool raft, the man’s eyes began to flicker. It was time to go.

Tactfully, Monty made his way to the stairs. He wanted to know exactly what in heck was going on around here.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[GeneralTacticus]

Free Drone Conference Room, Avalon

"...such as mining in the Laekdaemon system, armaments, and general economic relations." the Free Drone Vice-President went on, "We would apprciate it if you ca produce a complete map of the Laekdaemon system."

"Certainly." Menelaus replied, and snapped his fingers. One of his entourage pulled a small projection device from his belt and handed it to Menelaus. He placed it on the table and pressed a switch. A second later a complete map of the Laekdaemon system shimmered into life. He then fiddled with the switches some more and the map zoomed in on Laekdaemon III and it's surrounding moons.
"This is our central planet." Menelaus said. "It contains all of our population centers and industries, though we have some outposts on it's moons and nother planets in the system. It's primary mineral wealth is concentrated in the Iron mountains, here."

The map zoomed in again, indicating the region of Laekdaemon Secundus named the Iron Mountains, and the deposits of minerals there.

"We have a number of small mining facilities there, but many of the local deposits are not yet exploited. To date, we know of Approximately 100 000 cubic kilometers of various minerals in the unused sites. Then there are the deposits on other worlds in the system. You can look the data over yourself."

The Vice-President nodded and pulled out some more documents. "Now, Supreme Leader, we have some offers that we can make you. They are listed here."

Menelaus took the papers and looked through them. Let's see... he thought. He nodded when he had finished, smiling inwardly. They certainly know how to do business..., now let's see what I can offer in exchange for capital ships, industrial machinery and mining equipment..

"Now," he said, "I am quite pleased by your offer. All that remains is for you to set the price, and we will have a deal. Y own offer... I will give you unlimited mining rights to the small second moon of Laekdaemon, Atreus, along with a map of all known deposits on it. In return, I would like you to guarantee us enough industrial equipment to develop the first moon, Pyrrhus, which has similar deposits. I have a list here of what we think will be required for that."

The Free Drone negotiators examined the list and nodded. "Yes, that seems satisfactory. What rights, specifically, will we have on this moon you call Atreus?" asked the Vice-President.

"You will be allowed to develop any and all mineral deposits found there, in any way you see fit. The Cadre will overseedefence there, though you may maintain a limited defence force there if you choose."

"Good enough. Do you have any other propositions?"

Menelaus lapsed into thought again. He remembered the report that Katrina had sent to him about Lysander's unauthorised transmissions, which could be treason. Suddenly his commlink beeped again as an FTL transmission reached him from Laekdaemon via his ship.

"You'll have to excuse me a moment." he said to the others, before he tapped the 'play' switch and the message was projected directly into his optical nerves. Intel Director KAtrina was personally sending this video message, and she did not look happy.

"General Menelaus," she said, though no-one but Menelaus could hear, "we have uncovered even further evidence of Lysander's treason. We have decoded the messages he sent and received and determined that they are a series of dealings between him and the Hive Empire. Emperor Yang has apparently promised to send him assistance via the Firaxis system, seemingly where Lysander went. If he returns, he will have Hive agents with him. And worse, it appears he is returning. We intercepted an encrypted message from him to one of his followers here. We cannot decode it yet, but it is likely that he is coming back. I want authorisation for the use of lethal measures to deal with him. Otherwise he may overthrow us all."

Menelaus was not, in factn surprised that Lysander had been dealing with Yang. He had made no secret that he believed the Cadre should align itself with Yang against the Spartans. Menelaus was, however, very angry about this - and when he was angry he didn't tend to be merciful. He tapped the 'send message' switch on his commlink and sent a mental message through his neural grafting implants in response.

Intel Director Katrina:
You are authorised to use all available force to destroy Major Lysander and his Hive allies. If anyone within the Cadre collaborates with him from now on, they are to get the same treatment.

Sender: General Menelaus

"Sorry about that." Meenlaus said when he had finished, "a very important matter just came up."

Menelaus walked idly over to the window, staring down at all the security measures around the building. He turned around as he began speaking again.

"That brings me to the next issue. There is a dissident group within the Cadre, which is led by one Major Lysander, and intends to go to war with the Spartans, and therefore, their allies. We recently discovered that he has been sending secret messages, and I was just informed that they were to the Greater Hive Empire. We intend to eliminate Lysander when we can find him, but if he escapes we may need help in destroying him."

"So I presume you are asking us to assist."

"Yes, if possible. It would be in your own interests to do so if neccesary, since any deals you may make with us would be cancelled if Lysander took power."

"A good point. You may request our help if neccesary, but we will not give it lightly. Anything else?" the man looked as if he was expecting something else, and Menelaus didn't disappoint him.

"Yes, there are some other matters. Firstly, the development of general trde with Laekdaemon. Our economics department has been developing a system of currency for years now, largely to facilitate foreign trade. The system is outlined in this document."

He passed it across the table.

"Next, there is the issue of armaments. We have a number of military factories, but we do not consider them to be enough. In particular, we need capital ships for our fleet. There are two options we have considered: either contracting you to build the ships or importing the equipment to build them ourselves. I am inclined to the first option, though we will need to use the second one as well. What would your price be for these two matters?"

"Well, capital ships are certainly expensive, but I'm sure we can work something out. I think the best idea would be to deal with this on a case by case system, you can provide the required resources plus a generous bit extra, and we'll build the ship for you. As for smaller armaments: i think we can use both of your solutions. Just do it on case-by-case basis, too."

"Very well. We currently find ourseves in need of some heavier equipment such as needlejets and hovertanks. Can we do a deal on that now?"

"I expect so. How much do you want, and how much do you offer?"

"We want 100 hover tanks, and 250 needljets. We're specifically after mobility and easy maintenance. I'll offer you ten tons tons of steel and 1 kilogram of diamond for each hover tank, and 1 ton of bauxite each for the needlejets. Will that be enough?"

One of the Free Drones gave a whistle at that quantity of resources. The Republic had just the kind of designs that Menelaus had specified, and the price he had named came to 250 tons of bauxite, 10 000 tons of steel, and 100 kilograms of diamond. Even the most greedy of Free Drones would probably call that price somewhat excessive.

The Vice-President whispered to some of his aides, who nodded a few times and hurried off. "Please, gentlemen," he said, "allow us to direct you to your quarters. We shall have to draw up an actual agreement for us all to sign tommorow."

"Certainly. And, before we go any further, you should all be introduced to the one who our permanent ambassador here, Helen Aquina." at these words a very attractive woman stood up and nodded at the Free Drone negotiators. She was quite tall, Latin-born, with long dark hair and eyes, and a very obvious air of self-confidence.

The Vic-President nodded and gestured for the Laekdaemon delegation to follow him. As they walked he began speaking. "We have your quarters this way. Unfortunately we have not had enough time to start planning for your embassy, but that is something that I am sure will be arranged."

"Yes. Ambassador Aquina will see to that."

"Good. Here are your quarters. We have taken care that all of your entourage will be quartered around you."

Menelaus nodded. "Thank you."

After the door had slid shut behind him looked around room and smiled.

"You certainly know how to treat foreign leaders." he said aloud. This was much better than his own quarters in Laekdaemon Central, although that was not really saying that much. The lifestyle of the Laekdaemon leaders was one that a succesful Morganite would probably turn up their noses at. He shrugged. While it was in part a result of the Cadre's current situation, they didn't really need a lot of material comfort. The Cadre had many various principles, one of which was 'be grateful for what you have, when it could be much less'.