"Crossfire Tales"

[Jasonian]

1st Colony Convoy, between Free Drone Central and the coast


Onya was bored. It was 3 in the morning, and she sat in the command room of the 35th passenger module of the convoy; idly watching the fungal fields roll by in the dim light from Nessus. 'What a drag… I'm an engineer, not a driver! I should be up front, planning the base out with the rest of them. Not back here watching over these drones. Hmph.'

She skimmed over the controls again. Everything was still on target. Fuel was above expected. Distance to target slowly counted down, ETA read slightly over 5 weeks. The course was at 95.8 accuracy due to having to avoid a large fungal patch that had been to their left for the last week or so. 'Why am I even here? These things drive themselves. I was asleep when the course correction had been made.'

The passenger module came to an abrupt stop. Onya cursed as she almost fell out of her seat. 'Wha?! Oh… oh no. Not again.'

Onya turned on the com; "Hey Gnimn! GNIMN! Wake up!"

***

Gnimn's team breached the Capital Tower of The Hive and made a quick infiltration. Blasting away at anything in blue, Gnimn finally reached Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang's inner sanctum. The Chairman turned around in surprise, then fell to Gnimn's feet, begging for mercy. Gnimn laughed and centered his Impact Riffle on Yang's head.

~ GNIMN! Wake up! ~

Before he could pull the trigger, the world started to melt before his eyes, swirling and blackening. Gnimn screamed, but no sound came out of his mouth. Things started to appear again before him.

Gnimn smashed his hand onto the com receiver, 'Ugh… how annoying. So close… so close,' he thought to himself, but instead said, "Gnimn here. Good morning."

"Nice of you to finally wake up. Listen, we've got a little problem. We're stuck again."

Gnimn cursed. This was the second time they had gotten stuck this week. The fungus was becoming thick as they moved toward the sea.

"Copy that. I'll wake my team and get you moving in two hours or so. Gnimn out."

Gnimn sighed and cut the com.

***

Just as he had suspected; the fungus had wound itself around their back tread. There was no way they could get moving again unless they cleared it off.

"OK people, you know the drill. Flame where you can, but use your synthknives near the treads. Let's cut this crap off so we can all get back to bed," Gnimn barked, but his team was in no better mood then he.

Cutting the fungus proved easier then before. They had it all off in an hour and had only scorched the tread once.

"Gnimn here. We got it off. Requesting permission to board the vehicle."

"Roger that Gnimn. The other crawlers are quite a bit ahead of us. They'll wait up at the next checkpoint, but it's a good thing you could handle that on your own."

"Copy. We're on our way."

"… Hey Gnimn? Sensors pick up something in the fungus nearby. Could be a Unity pod. Go check it out."

Gnimn rolled his eyes, "Negative Onya. We're a colony convoy, not an exploration team."

"… … … Hey Onya? You copy? Gnimn to Onya!"

"Gnimn! It's moving! It's heading right toward you! Get back in here!"

Nothing but static.

[Raging Mouse]

Location: 50 Kilometers from U.N. Haven City, along the coast.

Jan Ulrich makes his rover spin to a halt. When it has completely stopped, it is easy to sense the vibrations emanating from the gargantuan vehicle he is circling, even though Jan can drive over rocks half a meter high without noticing. He lets the windscreen HUD magnify the awesome vision in front of him as his navigational instruments exactly record heading, atmospheric composition, temperature and tectonic soundings. After a few seconds a beep informs Jan that the readings are ready. With a twitch of an eye he brings them on-screen on a monitor to his right. He frowns, and flicks a switch on the dashboard. Instantly, a static hissing penetrates his cabin, and a steady metallic throbbing creates a sonic pressure on his ears. The HUD now displays a familiar face, and in the background can be seen the rear of a dark room; the control booth of the giant terraformer -UNTF 021- in front of his rover. The face smiles; it is illuminated only by the lights on the controls in front of it. Then it speaks.

"What's up, Jan?"
"Mom, you are straying by half a degree again."
"Blasted planet! The gyro must have shaken loose again. Ok.. Switching to auto. I'll go check it out."
"Call me when you're done, and we'll switch vehicles."
Jan starts the rover rolling again.

It isn't unusual for family members to work side by side; Commissioner Lal had initiated the policy during the first mad struggle to survive after planetfall. People had done fourteen hours of work a day, at least, so Lal decided that families should work together on the same task. This had greatly reduced stress and increased efficiency. Even though work wasn't assigned to people anymore -if you wanted a job you would apply for it instead- the policy was appreciated, and families could still work together on unusually time-consuming or heavy tasks, and both descriptions apply to terraforming. Jan's father Karl, and sister Anette, are working on a patch next to the one Jan is currently terraforming. In the evenings, the family usually gather around a virtual table; Father and daughter in their terraformer's control booth, mother and son in theirs, and holoprojectors give the illusion of proximity. The same holoprojectors allow Anette to receive tutelage by a professor in physics who lectures in an U.N. Haven City college for talents.

Jan steers his rover in another wide circle around the Former. Basically, it is a giant factory on threads. It gobbles up fungus, sand and rock in front of it, and spews out fertile land -farmland in this case- from the back. Jan's sister and father are currently planting a patch of forest.

Another beep sounds from Jan's control panel: the Former has received a message. Jan quickly tells the former to forward the message to his HUD.

### AUTOMATED BEACON REPORT ###
### VEHICLE UNTF 022 STATUS ###
### DESTROYED ###
### CONTACT NEAREST SUPPLY- ###
### DEPOT AND RELAY MESSAGE ###

Realization slowly dawns. That was -is- the Terraformer of his father and sister. His head wants to believe this is some sick prank, but he has seen this kind of message before, and he knows it is authentic. Yet, U.N. Haven City would have warned them about incoming mindworm boils; the perimeter sensors were among the first tasks assigned to the Formers. Jan calls up the datastream fom the sensor grid anyway, and is stunned. The entire network is screming with alarms; the sensor watching over Jan's sector has been destroyed -twenty-five seconds ago!

Half a second later an alarm goes off in Jan's Rover. He wrenches his head to the appropriate monitor and reads "Incoming..."

The world goes white.

Fifteen Seconds later, when Jan wakes up, it is as if his previous life has been a dream; it feels as if he has been born again. At least, the pain he is feeling presents this as a possible hypothesis. He opens his eyes, and sees that he is now lying under his rover. The rover has flipped on it's side, and Jan's legs are caught underneath it. He would probably scream, but he realizes the only oxygen in the vicinity is quickly turning to carbon dioxide in his lungs. Of course, there are emergency breathers in the rover; but they are out of reach with his legs pinned. Suddenly, a clear thought: The air.. it smells like cinnamon.

Then there is a tremendous shock, and the ground heaves. The rover sways, and falls away from Jan onto it's roof, and an emergency medical bag spills its contents, including a tube of compressed air, out onto his feet.. his feet are twisted; Jan's toes are facing backwards.

The pain is gone. Jan sits up, and is aware of the pink swirls that threaten to engulf his vision. Slowly, as in a dream, he picks up the tube and bites through the plug. His lungs are almost forcibly filled with fresh air. The pain rushes back and forces Jan to lie down again. His brief exposure to Planet's atmosphere has made him very sick, and the breather comes off for a moment, so that Jan can twist his head sideways and vomit. As he lies so, facing the coast, he sees the streaks in the air and realizes what has happened. There, out beyond the horizon, some gutless Hive Commodor has given orders to fire upon a defenseless target manned by civilians. He gulps more oxygen and looks to where the former.. was. Now, all that's left is a glowing crater. His family, gone.

He rips the breather out of his mouth and screams of rage and pain, eyes wide against the sky. And the sky answers by splitting apart in two in a keen and a boom that causes the dust around Jan to dance. A glowing tip screeches ahead, followed by a widening darkness.

Finally Jan realizes he is gazing in awe at an enormous tailflame that is heading out to sea. Seconds pass.. and the clouds on the horizon glow a brilliant blue for a moment, and then quickly fade through the spectrum to a neon red. One cloud suddenly seems to have a hole punched through it. Then, it seems as if the clouds are falling down onto the sea.

Jan is too tired to keep looking. He lets his head thud against the scorched earth, and he starts to hallucinate. He doesn't even notice the boom that arrives two minutes later. The scorching wind that blows over him fifteen minutes later is equally unnoticed. By the time the emergency rover arrives, Jan isn't aware of anything on Planet anymore.

(Out beyond the horizon, the sea is still cooking in places. There is nothing left of the Hive Chaos Cruiser.)
[This message has been edited by Raging Mouse (edited October 29, 1999).]

[Cotroneo]

“Tell Domai that if he wants Chaos weaponry, he’ll have to give us something more than…what did he say…. mind /machine interface. We stole the pathetic technology from the Spartans last year, and we have advanced the tech far behind the other factions.” Sinder commented to Beetle as they went over the coming council meeting proceedings.

“Perhaps that’s not wise Sinder, he could prove valuable in the coming years. His industrial resources are unlimited being that he is in such a resource rich area.” Beetle replied to Sinder.

“Well, if you say so Beetle, it seems like you run this faction more than I, heck you would do a better job too. Send Domai the statistics on how to work the weaponry. Remember to make it simple, because he isn’t known for his brilliance.” Sinder comically told her assistant.

“Also Sinder, we got back a preliminary report on the data disk, it’s inconclusive, but you should be happy. I never new we could compress the whole University classified network into one small disc.”

“Anything we haven’t seen before, or was it a sham Beetle?”

“Far from, we have already seen signs of radical stuff, which Johnson will bring up at the meeting”

“Has Johnson said anything off the record to you about the disc? He always seems to have a loud mouth.”

“No, he’s pretty quiet about these things to me, although he seems to be recovering from the implant procedure last...” Beetle stopped short, his optical was going crazy with updated news and problems scrolling down his eye piece. “Sinder, the council is meeting early, it seems that we finally cracked the disc’s security codes.”


Eight people slowly walked into the oval shaped command room. It was a rare occurrence that all eight members were present, and not over the holo-simulator.
The differences between all the figures were quite notable, and each seemed to be following their own secret agendas.

Sinder took the seat at the head of a beautiful marble table, with Beetle a meter behind her at his personal desk, ready for any incoming messages that the council may need to know about. Around the table sat Raptor (Paul Cotroneo) the new head of probe actions, Zebra (Henry Johnson) head of science, Tomahawk (Larry Greenburg) head of conventional forces, Bronco (Frank Garland) head of construction and maintenance, Virus (Jen Dragnet) head of trade and economics, and finally Lighter (Tom Newton) who took care of all the mayor work of Data DeCentral.

“I believe you all have been looking forward to this meeting for quite sometime, specially with current happenings, around the world.” Sinder said to all the leaders, almost looking inside their minds and examining their thoughts. “We have acquired, thanks to Raptor’s personal work, a disc which has all classified data held by the University since its retrieval. We also have learned from this disc that we can tap into their classified networks quite easily. I think Zebra would like to go into more detail about his findings.” Sinder completed as she took her seat.

“Thank you Sinder. On the disc, we have found quite a lot of information about University radical science programs. A particular interesting one is fusion. The combining of atoms could produce insane amounts of clean energy. With the new tap into University network files, we should be able to follow its development quite efficiently, without needless probe actions.” Zebra paused to take a sip of water that he had brought to the meeting. “Also…..well we have……acquired something…..well lets just say….its of interesting origins.”

His nervous reaction didn’t seem to affect the leaders as much as Zebra had intended. Zebra had never really fit into the cool headed individuals of this council, yet his scientific mind was one of the best outside the actually University faction, which brought him respect from the others.

“Please Zebra, continue.” Sinder said to the now nervous Zebra.

“Well we think the university has found some particular alien constructs, and I’m not talking about the various monoliths around the world.” Zebra concluded as he nervously waited for the response of the council.

“So we finally found the hiding place of the little green men.” Retorted Tomahawk, as about half the council erupted into laughter.

Raptor, Sinder and Virus gave a cold stare to the now laughing council members.

“Please Zebra continue, and I would appreciate if we could keep our composure this time.” Sinder replied most directly to Tomahawk, who returned her gaze.

“Thank you Sinder, The University has been mapping the entirety of the planet with orbital satellites for the past several years. While doing this, they have come across many strange environmentally irregularities, which they have studied. But several weeks ago, a team who had been sent to study an irregularity, found what they are calling a Borehole cluster.” Zebra again broke to drink more from his now half-empty cup.

“Who made the borehole, the Spartans? Don’t they have several bases within several hundred clicks.” Virus asked.

“Apparently not, they have no settlements near the cluster of three boreholes, and even if they did, they signed a pact with Deirdre stopping borehole construction within Spartan boundaries. Also, these boreholes aren’t of any construction material found on planet.
A course you must remember that all this information is from University data networks, so if they know about our tap, they might have placed misleading information.” Zebra concluded, as he awaited their questions.

“Does Morgan know about the finding?” Raptor inserted into the conversation.

“We don’t think so, why do you ask.”

“If they get building rights for using the territory within Spartan boundaries, they may destroy any useful scientific or economic benefactors that the boreholes could produce. And knowing Morgan, he would use the borehole up, and then leave the area a barren waist land.” Raptor responded, showing hatred for the monopolistic bastard, which went far behind the ecological disasters he had caused.

“Perhaps we can send a team to check out the sight. Also, as much as I hate doing this, we should send several units into University territory and cause some havoc. We may be able to frame Santiago, and cause the Spartans to forcible remove all the scientific units from the University inside their territory. But the key is making sure that the only people who know about the sight are the University scientists. Even though it’s within Spartan borders, I have a feeling they have no knowledge of its existence, which is why the University was aloud there in the first place. If it spreads to the other factions, we may have a territorial fight for it. We don’t have the material resources to compete with them on a conventional scale. Is their any other news we need to concern ourselves with.” Sinder concluded.

“Yes, our team to the south has picked out a perfect sight for construction of a new base. I would like to get a vote on construction of a colony convoy to that area. It will take a while, but with our society growing bigger, we will need to compete with the other factions on a global base when we are finally choose to come out of hiding. Having another base would be a valuable safeguard.” Bronco asked the council.

All members raised their hands in consensus for the project, and the council meeting concluded with the various arrangements being made between the leaders for the construction of the new colony project.

[Raging Mouse]

Location: U.N. Headquarters

I am exiting Auditorium 2042 with a slight headache. My Gaian colleauges have held another lecture on planetary economics; a technology with it's roots in almost every human and natural science known. The mix leads to a horrendous amount of technical definitions, and the lectures are therefore heavily reliant on scientists from different fields telling each other what the lecturer is talking about. Here is probably the best example so far of a science too complex for any one person to grasp. My part in this field is to understand the designs for a 'hybrid forest' that the Gaians have been kind enough to supply us with. They seem rather keen on us relying less on mines and boreholes, and more on the possibilities that mixing Earth and Planet flora and fauna offer us.

Still, the idea is marvellous. So marvellous that I, lost in my thoughts, walk into someone.
"Oh! Sorry about that... General Steppleton! Were you attending the lecture? I didn't see you."
She shakes her head. "No power on Planet could have gotten me into that room. Even you tend to be boring, And you are used to lecturing to the military. No, I am here to bring you some congratulations."
"Ahh, so you have tested the missile?"
"Yes. Lal himself gave the launch order, and I have been asked to convey his thanks. Naturally, we kept him from seeing the actual detonation, but even he was pleased when the investigating needlejet reported no sign of the Hive cruiser. Not even wreckage." She looks down. "We destroyed that cursed ship none too soon. It had destroyed a perimeter sensor, and was pulverizing a team of Terraformers when we nailed it. Two teams of four vehicles were bombarded, and three Formers were lost. Seven people got killed, and twelve were wounded. The forming teams are now on R&R in U.N. Haven City, and the remaining terraformers are being repaired. So far, no-one has applied for the vacant positions in the new ones, probably because they are scared this will happen again."

"Blasted planet! Well it will take a while for the hive to build a replacement. We should have a couple of missiles in store by then."
Lady Jane gives me a doubting look. "Not so. The Gaians reported being bombarded by two such cruisers, and latest news indicates that the one closest to us has been rerouted to our coast. It will be here in a matter of weeks. But by that time we should have a cruiser to match Yang's. In the meanwhile the destruction is being heralded by our PR -agency, with you and your team of researchers as the saviours of the day."
I sigh. "I know; only three hours ago some excited VIP-hunters asked for my palm-signature. I had to explain that I used my palm-chip for other things than to store personal trivia."
"Oh, how disappointed they must have been", Lady Jane laughs.
"Not really. I offered them a good old autograph instead, and you know what they said? They said, 'wow, a real signature! *No-one* can do that anymore!'"

We laugh for a while. Then Jane asks: "So, what will you work on now?"
"Now that the Gaian-Peacekeeper tech-exchange is nearing completion, I will look into the possibility of creating monopole magnets. The Superstring Theory states that such objects are at least theoretically possible. Also, just last week our satellite photos revealed that Morgan Industries is maintaining an extensive network of Mag Tubes, and monopole magnets are theoretically the key elements in large-scale and profitable mag-tube transportation. Since Nwabudike demands more energy-credits than what we produce in four years for the tech, Lal has decided we will research it instead."
Lady Jane nods. "Well, good luck. It was nice seeing you, and thanks again for that missile design. You should be proud."

I head for my appartment, feeling proud.

[Cotroneo]

“Red, I’m going to climb up to that summit…. maybe I can get a good look at the whole perimeter. We also need to setup a few holo-cameras to show the council of what we have found.” Exclaimed Blue over the comlink.

“Take Green with you, he needs to get some experience under his belt.” Replied Red.

“Fine, why is that kid even here, you would think the council would want a full team of veterans to do this mission.”

“It seems almost all probe assets are working in University territory, some kind of framing mission going on, so we got stuck with the kid.”

“Do we actually need to penetrate the facility? I’m sure the council would like a good look inside the Borehole cluster.”

“Negative Blue, just get on top that mountain and set up the holos. After their set up, we can contact Council for further instructions. I’ll get the kid, he’ll meet you half way.” Red responded.

“Red and Blue, come in.”

“What do you want Green, we are very busy, and by the way, we need you for a little mountain climbing” Blue acknowledged with annoying hesitation in his voice.

“Um…Sir, we got some new commands direct from Sinder. I’ll forward them to your opticals.” Green concluded, who was still in the probe rover.

“Blue….what were you saying about wanting to go into the facility…. Its kind of ironic...” Red said almost stopping in her tracts as she got the data first before Blue.

“****, I hate climbing down, big long pits of endless nothing.” Blue said over the comlink as he finally got the data loaded into his optical.

“Boy Blue, so melodramatic. Perhaps we should send junior into the pit. Heck do we even have the stuff to go into the damn thing.”

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

Data DeCentral Docks, 0600 hours

“It looks great Beetle, who did you get to do the paint job?” Sinder asked, looking at the glittering black colored skimship.

“The boat was originally planned to be part of Tomahawk’s new conventional navy, but I enlisted Captain Richards to make it a perfect replica of a Spartan missile skimship.

“He seems to be quite the painter, I even like the work on the large Spartan symbol. With some good luck on our side, this project might actually work.” Sinder responded as she moved closer to the ship.

“Sinder, we have never actually done something like this before, if the projects gets infiltrated by the wrong people, or the University doesn’t believe the decoy, we will have blown all the cover we have tried to keep secret.” Beetle said as he moved up to the ship also.

“I know the risks, but if the University believes the Spartans are the ones bombarding their coast, they will be forced to cancel their pact and move all their scientists off Spartan territory.”

“Is all this worth a few strange boreholes, heck with the amount of resources we have expended on this mission, we could have built ourselves double the amount of boreholes on this very island.”

“Beetle, if that cluster tells us something about the original owners or makers of this world, we will have information that no other faction knows. It will be a particular good bargaining tool.”

“But Sinder, you’re not looking at the obvious answer, we could wait for the University to find out who built the structure and then steal that information from one of their special networks.” Beetle could sense that Sinder was holding back something, but he had learned that she valued her secrets and that it wasn’t worth asking.

“Beetle, sooner or later, Sparta will want to know what the University is doing in their territory for such a long time. If Sparta realizes what the University is actually researching, in their territory, they will certainly force a research exchange. The Spartans will force the University out of their territory when they feel they have found everything they need to know about the constructs with the University’s scientist’s help. And like Raptor said, last week at the council meeting, Sparta will sell the construct and area after they have found all useful tech from it, to the Morgans who will intern use the natural boreholes to increase their energy and minerals ten fold. It may be a long shot, but it’s a risk we have to take.”

“Your joking, a few boreholes aren’t going to do anything for the behemoth Morgan energy Industry.”

“I’m sorry Beetle, but I haven’t told you everything about the boreholes. The probe team we sent to monitor the Boreholes has found some interesting things since they have been there. I even ordered one of them, to scale the borehole to the bottom and see what particular resources are within the hole.”

“What things? The report said it was a strange Borehole, but nothing really fundamentally different then normal boreholes.” Beetle said as he took a few steps away from the boat, and motioning to Sinder to sit down with him on a bench.

“Those particular Boreholes are almost endlessly filled with the most extreme raw materials. I’m not talking about your basic fossil fuels or anything like that, I’m referring to pure neutronium and crystallized Chiron stone. The Spartans and the University both don’t have the available deep surface penetration devices like the Morgan do and I’m sure those brown noses won’t have the guts to travel down the hole to the bottom to see what’s actually down their. In all probability, the University and Spartans will dismiss the borehole as anything interesting besides the strange writings on the walls. Only when the Spartans sell the site to the Morgans, and they bring in their deep equipment will the real treasure be known. And by then, it will be to late.” Sinder finished as she rose off the bench to look at the small ship again.

“And if your project works, and the University is forced off their territory without revealing the location to the Spartans or Morgans, what then?” asked Beetle, now scanning Sinder for any visible signs of hiding anything.

“Well my old friend….then its time for the phantom….to come into the light.”

“The council will be hesitant to do it, old friend.”

“Who says the council has any say in the matter.”

[Raging Mouse]

Location: U.N. Temple of Sol

Captain Welles, internal security, checks his watch. Lieutenant-General Zhu is late. Probably on purpose. Now there is a man who probably knows more about how to make an impression on people than the Morganite holovid-star Welles is currently assigned to observe (or 'escort', as it says on the budget plans). He shifts impatiently from one foot to another. He is standing in front of the side entrance to the 'Colosseum', the Peacekeepers' largest recreational dome (with 30,000 seats), when his every instincts tells him he should be paying close attention to what the subject of the surveillance is doing, and it is beginning to get on his nerves.

A moment later an unmarked van parks in front of him. The side door opens and General Zhu is revealed, sitting comfortably in a chair, surrounded by keyboards and monitors showing datafeeds scrolling at varying speeds. Zhu smiles. "Well, Captain Welles! How goes the surveillance?" Welles, in a foul mood but trying not to show it, answers dryly: "The subject is slick, as he knows how to move in a crowd. But I and my operatives should have managed to cover his every move." Zhu nods. "Good. Very good. My schedule required me to pass this place, so I thought I could bring you some news." Welles gets interested. What could be going on? Zhu notes the change of attitude easily, and smiles again. "You have my congratulations, Captain. I have been recommended, and have approved, your promotion to Major, effective as soon as your current operation ends. Your uncovering this Morganite VIP as a probe-operative even before his arrival was an excellent performance and the item that convinced your superiors to approach me. This, of course, qualifies you for Probe training, and I understand you have expressed an interest."

Welles has severe difficulties in remaining calm now. "That is good news indeed. Thank you, sir. I will not let you down." Zhu nods. "But I have some bad news as well, though you have probably expected them for some time now. As you know, now that you have confirmed the subject belongs to a probe team, this operation falls under the jurisdiction of counterinsurgency, and therefore, directly under me. I know you probably would have liked to stay on and attempt to figure out how he communicates with his contacts, but unfortunately I cannot allow this. It is too important. Still, as you and your team are officially working as his technicians, you will of course remain in his presence until he leaves Temple of Sol. So who knows? Maybe you will find out anyway, even though you won't be actively trying anymore."

Welles nods. "I understand, sir." Zhu frowns. "One more thing. When you get to probe training, you will be told that I hate being called 'sir'. And it's true. So it's 'boss', 'Zhu' or even 'cap'n' to you. Just so you know." Welles grins. "Yes, sir cap'n!" Zhu grins back. "Right. Good luck.. Major." The door slides shut, and the van continues. Welles walks back inside the Rec-Dome to tell his men the news.

***

StarChild, Morgan holovid star and probe operative lets his gaze wander over the audience. Another full house. "Jack's Misadventures While Firebombing Drone Cafeterias In Morgan Transport" is certainly a very popular holovid, and the audience is deeply immersed in the action. So he rises quietly from his seat, and walks casually out the back door. This brings him to a small corridor behind the projector-stage, and two of his assigned technicians, carrying a crate, nod at him on their way past. He ignores them and heads towards an elevator. The door opens on his approach, and he enters. (As the elevator starts moving upwards, the two technicians dig out their comsets.)

On the roof of the Rec-Dome is a glass cupola, so that visitors can admire the view without breathing gear. Currently it is reserved exclusively for StarChild. No-one else is around. He walks to a locked briefcase and opens it. Inside are a large pair of binoculars, a compact battery and a tripod. He attaches the tripod and the battery to the binoculars, and sets it up on the edge of the roof, just in front of the glass. He looks into it. The opposite archology.. floor fifty-three... seventeenth window from the right... there! Another pair of binoculars, and a fellow probe operative who is waving. Allright.. aligning microwave pencil-beams.. initiate handshake procedure.. transferring data.. finished! The binoculars are disassembled, and returned to the briefcase. Nothing external would distinguish it from a popular brand of Morgan recreational binoculars. Job well done, Starchild sneaks back into his seat to receive a standing ovation at the end of the holovid.

***

Zhu turns to a monitor. "Did you manage to observe the transaction, Number Fifteen?"
A satisfied face looks back at him. "Yes. Using the binoculars was clever, but not too clever. We are now in position to apprehend the probe operative in Arcology Three. Shall we proceed?"

Zhu thinks for a moment. "No. Tail the rat to it's nest here in the city. Then you will strike."
"Received. Number Fifteen out."
Zhu closes the comm-channel and smiles.

[Jasonian]

1st Free Drone colony convoy, passenger module 35

"Atrus! ATRUS! Wake up! Atrus!"

"… Wha...? Onya? What time is it?"

"Never mind that Atrus. Listen up! We got stuck and Gnimn took some guys out to clear off the fungus. But there's something out there, and I've lost contact with them!"

Atrus jumped out of bed at that. He scrambled into his work outfit and started to wake some of his nearby security crew. "Atrus!" the com continued to wail on the wall.

Atrus ran back over to it, "We're on our way Onya. See ya in a few minutes."

The com was silent for a moment, "Atrus… be careful. Come back to me, okay?"

But Atrus and his men were already gone.

***

"Gnimn! It's mov--"

"What? Onya?! I didn't copy that! Repeat!! ONYA!!"

Gnimn cursed. What a rotten time for the transmitter to go out. His men were now stuck outside with something that was mov--. How perfect.

Then the song began. Gnimn had heard this before. The wind blowing over the fungus created a noise that sounded almost like a divine being's singing. Or maybe it was coming out of the ground, the sound of Planet itself. It was sweet, soothing, and dangerous. That sound could only mean one thing:

Planet was active, and mindworms would be arriving soon.

"All right people! It looks like Planet has decided to make a surprise attack. Shut that noise out of your head! Throw your synthknives aside and arm the flameguns. Get ready!"

Gnimn and his troop sat like statues, heads darting around like a paranoid schizophrenic, ready to fire at anything that came out of that fungus, be it human or worm. Then Planet made her move.

It came out of the fungus all right, but it wasn't the worms everyone was expecting. Instead, it was spores, clouds of them. They infiltrated into their breathing masks, causing men to fall down in choking fits. Gnimn managed to escape unharmed, and flamed randomly at the cursed fungus, setting most of it ablaze.

Atrus and his security team arrived in time to see a bunch of crazed men coughing and flaming anything in sight. Then it hit them too: the PSI terror that warped their minds and made them do pretty much anything to try to blast it away. Soon they too were firing their shredders into the sky, ground, fungus, and the colony module itself.

Gnimn looked around at this chaos, 'What the heck? All these men are worthless! No morale at all! They'll kill us all if I don't do something…' Then Gnimn noticed one man not blasting away. His name was Taron, and he was new to Gnimn's team. He had been transferred to The Drone Mound because of family ties in The Hive. Yang made sure that no two people from the same family were ever in the same base, so his workers didn't have any reason to leave work. A nice example of Yang's tyranny.

Taron seemed to be in complete control of himself, despite the waves of PSI energy bouncing around. He studied the fungus carefully, letting out a controlled flame blast every few seconds. That was unusual. Colony crews were mostly engineers and such, not trained military personnel.

"Hey Taron! On three, I'm going to charge into that patch of fungus over there that hasn't been burned. Follow me!" Taron nodded, "One…two…THREE!"

Gnimn and Taron charged into the fungus, ducking stray shredder fire as they went. The fungus seemed to protest to the invasion, but some well-aimed shredder blasts took care of them.

Finally, they emerged into a small clearing, and nearly fell back in shock. In this clearing, some tube-like plant was spewing spores into the air. Gnimn fought the PSI waves and flamed it, turning it into a steaming pile of burnt fungus.

Before Gnimn could figure out what that thing was, he realized that the PSI terror had not stopped. Chaos continued back at the colony module, which would probably never move again. Gnimn checked his datapad. It showed a Unity pod nearby, but no life forms. That was disturbing.

Gnimn was vaguely aware of Taron pulling on his sleeve. Finally, he fought of the PSI energy and turned to him. Taron could only point. Gnimn turned to see what he was pointing at.

Something huge was towering over them, pulsating with life and humming the Song of Planet.

[Cotroneo]

“All ahead full!”

“All ahead full!”

The chain of command wasn’t much different on a naval vessel then it was within the governmental halls of Data DeCentral. Each interconnected piece of government checking and balancing the other, which was similar to the twin conformation of orders on the vessel.

“Approaching target, baring 270 mark 10.” The young ensign yelled over the large hum of the nuclear reactor.

“Arm all missile racks, chemical weaponry stabilizers online!”

“Arm all missile racks, chemical weaponry stabilizers online!”

Captain Richards and his first officer Asheron made an excellent team. They seemed to understand each other without even communicating or looking at each other. This fluid teamwork made the crew of the P 141 one of the most highly motivated crews within the fast growing secret Data Angel fleets. Sinder had specially requested this crew, to man this vessel on its first combat mission against the University.

“Firing Solution 270 at 10!”

“Firing Solution 270 at 10!”

“All weapons ready sure-fire status, safeties offline, on your mark.” The weapons ensign called from his station.

The look on the faces of all those on the bridge was as cold as ice, as they awaited their leaders order to fire the illegal weapon.

“May God help us….Fire all Missile Batteries.” Richards said in a low tone, which was unusual for such a flamboyant officer. He had pleaded with Sinder not to use chemical weapons, but he could not disobey an order. He remembered back on Earth, learning about how the twentieth century nazis generals had been ordered to the death at the trials because they had just followed….orders.

“Fire all Missile Batteries.” His first officer repeated, which confirmed the order to fire. Richards had hoped that his second in command would disobey him but, he had taught his second to well.

The quiet day on the deck of this ship was shattered by the insane crying of a thousand souls as the missiles ripped from their holding racks and flew off. The sound slowly faded away as the mock Spartan version 3.1 missiles cruised to their assigned civilian targets inside University territory.

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

“University Base, this is Jackrabbit air patrol, confirm.”

“Go ahead Jackrabbit patrol.”

“Command, several fast moving contrails located twelve kilometers from current position…. Computer reads there heading your way…please advise.”

“Roger Jackrabbit, we’re tracking the fast movers, you have authority to intercept fast movers and use of force is aloud if needed.”

“Roger Base, we have already started our vector. We may not catch up to these fast movers.”

“Confirm Jackrabbit, we will scramble all assets. Please identify fast movers if you get a visual. Command out.”

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

“Captain, we have two planes vectoring to intercept the missiles!” The young weapon’s ensign said which shattered the ere silence on the bridge.

“Will they make the intercept in time ensign.” Richards asked to the tense ensign.

“No Sir, the missiles are to fast. My computer is reading minimal air to air weaponry on either of the needlejets.”

“Alright, our job is done here, we got their attention. Lets get the hell out of here.” Richards cursed his ignorant following of Sinder’s orders inside his mind. He had hoped that University air defense would have been better.

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

“Base, we have a problem. We are closing on the fast movers. We read six missiles. We don’t have the firepower to bring them down. Are those aircraft scrambled yet?”

“Not yet Jackrabbit, we will deploy the phalanx system until they are airborne, we need you for another mission.”

“Alright Command, disengaging. What’s your orders.”

“Follow the missile’s trajectory back to its source. Our long range sensors seem to be malfunctioning or are being jammed.”

“Roger Command, our computers are plotting the course now.”

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

“Sir, we have problems, those aircraft have broken off their pursuit, and their vectoring to us.” Every soldier’s head shot up inside the bridge, as they became aware of the situation.

“Red Alert, Auto-guns online.”

“Red Alert, Auto-guns online.”

The sirens inside the ship started screaming as the lights inside the bridge dimmed to a reddish glow. Each soldier was checking systems and rechecking them, trying to remember what their instructors had said during this situation.

“Gentlemen, we have embarked on a quest, to further help our faction survive in this world. History will put us down as cold hearted Spartan soldiers, yet to our country, we will be heroes. Lets just make sure we get home to tell this story to our grandchildren.” The stern speech from Captain Richards ignited the fire within the crew.

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

“Command this is Jackrabbit.”

“Roger Jackrabbit we read you….Holy ****”

“We have tracked the missiles back to their ship several clicks off shore. Awaiting orders. Command is there a problem?”

All the pilots heard, was static over their coms. Flight Leader Bucaria ordered her wingman to call base, but they also could only pick up static.

“Jimmy, where are those missiles. What’s their impact time?”

“****…..I got bad news…..the missiles already landed.”

“Location?” Bucaria screamed on the coms causing Jimmy to recoil in agony.

“University Base….sir….I’m not reading anything from the airfield or headquarters. Those ****ing bastards blew up headquarters.”

“Those bastards will pay….. do we still have the harpoon mark 4s onboard?”

“Yes Sir, we both have one harpoon but we are going to have to get close to them, there jamming so we need a visual lock-on.” Jimmy said as he cycled through have a dozen checks.

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

“There they are, a few clicks off, coming in at 80 degrees at 1000 meters high…..orders sir?”

“Weapons Com, use our stingers until they come in range for our autos. Navigation 30 degrees right rudder.” The captain blurted out in one long breath.

“Arm Stingers…..Navigation 30 degrees right rudder.” His youthful first officer repeated. Richards couldn’t understand how his young officer could stay focused in such a dreadful environment.

“Sir, there in range for our forward stingers.”

Throughout the bridge, the screeching sound of lock-on echoed on the walls. All eyes were on Richards, who had to make the firing solution. But unlike his decision before, this was for his own crew’s safety, although he perfectly understood why the pilots of the needlejets were attacking him, so he felt no regrets.

“Fire”

“Fire”

“Time to impact…. 5…. 4…. 3…. their launching decoys sir… 2…. 1…. Shoot, no impact. The stingers never tracked.”

Richards was breathing hard, yet he maintain his composure, he knew he had survived worse situations. His mind couldn’t focus, he kept drifting off thinking about Sinder’s orders to fire at the city.

“Autos, Fire if you have a lock.” Richards finally said.

“Auto-guns, fire at will!” his officer repeated.

As the weapons officer typed in the right orders to the ship’s cpu, four huge guns moved and swerved into position, moving in unison with the oncoming planes. Then suddenly they, fired, causing the whole Bridge staff to grab their ears in agony.

“Impact Sir, one is braking away, it lost its whole horizontal and vertical stabilizer assembly. Although the lead aircraft is still coming.”

“Sir, what is that…..” a petty officer who was staring out the window said.

“Sir, harpoon class anti-ship missile incoming!” the radar operator called out.

“Orders Sir?”

“Countermeasures…..all tubes launch!” Richards was drenched in sweat, as he looked out the window to see this fireball approaching his ship as it flew right over the water.

“Countermeasure…….launch.” Richards finally noticed his first officer feeling nervous. He admired him greatly how he had hid his fear for so long.

The official University report was that a Spartan naval vessel, which was never recovered, attacked six targets within the University territory. The six chemical missiles destroyed the University Base’s Airbase, Headquarters, Children’s crèche, Energy Bank, and two large housing districts. The ensuing bio-chemical gas spread throughout the base causing further fatalities. Zakharov and his command staff were unarmed due to the fact that they were investigating a new technology at Mir Lab. All University scientists and military units were called back from Spartan held territory, until further information is discovered about who attacked the University. Officially, Santiago denies any knowledge of this attack. The University has asked the Peacekeepers to look into the matter, to get a war crimes trial established if needed. One of the two patrolling aircraft around University Base was able to destroy the vessel before further launches could have took place. These three crewmen later were awarded medals of honor for their bravery.

Orders....

[Raging Mouse]

Location: U.N. Pillar of Rights

"Allright.. now push away my hand.. good.. ok, twist that bar.. fine.. Allright, Jan, your neural paths are completely healed, and your musculature is also recovering quickly. Well done! You have regained your strength in record time, and from a physical point of view you are now in top condition." Jan manages to smile to the nurse. She continues. "As soon as doctor Roztoj has had her talk with you, you can check out from the hospital."

Jan grimaces. "Do I really have to talk to an empath? I think they're.. well, creepy as mindworms, to tell you the truth!" The nurse smiles. Only the absence of a nametag distinguishes her from the actual human nurses; she even gets paid. "They give that impression to almost everyone the first time. Don't worry; a more understanding group of people would be extremely hard to come by, and you will benefit greatly by talking to one; trust me on this." Jan smiles meekly. "Okay. Tell him I'm ready. And Anette.. thanks. You've been a great help." Anette smiles. It is not her real name; the synthetic nurses are named individually by each patient; Anette has revealed to Jan that one particularly difficult patient called her 'Wingnut'.

Two minutes later, doctor Vladimir Roztoj arrives. Jan doesn't know what to expect, so he simply nods as a greeting. Doctor roztoj grabs a chair, shoves it to the side of Jan's bed and sits down. "Right, Jan, I am doctor Vladimir Roztoj. I just want to talk." He looks down into an electronic notepad he is carrying, and taps a few times on it's screen. "You suffered a trauma so intense that few soldiers experience anything similar during their career; actually dying is less shocking. Yet, only by looking at your medical records, we can see that it doesn't seem to have broken your spirit." Jan is silent; his head hung. Vladimir continues. "It's allright to feel sad. I'd be quite happy to provide you with a room full of breakables that you can vent your despair on, but I sense your feelings are targeted, and that you yearn to face them. Am I right?"

"Yes...."

"Right. So what are your plans? How will you deal with your emotions?"
"I was thinking.. maybe.. to join.. the army.."

Roztoj nods. "I won't tell you not to, as you would expect. But I will warn you. Whatever you do, don't become lonely. If someone wants to be your friend, give him or her a chance. Otherwise you will have nothing but your anger, and that is lethal -not only for you, but for your fellow soldiers. Allright?"

"Yes. Sure."

"Good. Now, I can tell you would like to make a clean break and join the army with an empty past, but that is also bad. Always remember why you are in the army. In fact, I will tell you how to inform the recruitment officer of your history if you don't object; that way you will receive a more suitable military career. Don't worry; they won't treat you as a freak, or go any easier on you, or reject you. It's to do with what kind of people you will be teamed up with, and who your commanding officers will be. You should also know, that only those who reveal their entire medical and psychological record to the army can advance past sergeant."

Roztoj waits a while. "How do you feel? Want to go for it?"
"Yes. I want to.. pay back."
Roztoj nods again. "Right. And I recommend you send them your records, even though it might feel uncomfortable. How about it?"
"Well.. okay.. yes."
"Good. I will have to add a comment stating that you are unreliable as a POW -escort. You probably realize why."
"Ha. Yeah."
"Allright! Let's get you your belongings and checked out, and I'll tell you more about the army and other, less lethal solutions. Who knows? Maybe you will prefer another way when you get to hear about it."


***


Location: U.N. High Commission.

The captain shakes Jan's hand. "Congratulations, Jan Ulrich! You are now Recruit Ulrich, assigned to the 51st Training Division. It is my pleasure to inform you that 'Payback' will occur fifteen to thirty months from now, depending on your career choices. Welcome to the Peacecorps!"

Jan Ulrich, Recruit, smiles. "Thank you, sir."

[Raging Mouse]

Location: U.N. Headquarters

I am inside a large room. It is almost on the topmost floor of the slightly cone-shaped Central Admin -building, and has windows in two directions. Outside is an unrivalled view of the north and west sections of the capital; I can even see the Fungus Marshes; a very damp field of xenofungus twenty-five kilometers north-west of the city limits. The scene is worth remembering; not only is it breathtaking, but it is vanishing. In another five years, nothing but forest and fields will surround U.N. Headquarters. At least, if we don't lose another team of formers.

But back to the room. It is decorated with frescoes on every surface. On the floor is a picture of the original U.N. Headquarters, back on Earth. The walls show various conflicts that the U.N. helped resolve, before that final period of anarchy that destroyed everything. The roof shows a picture of the Unity, on it's final approach to planet.

I am currently pacing back and forth, even though there are two sofas present. They are the only furniture in this room. There are two pairs of doors; one leading to an elevator, and one pair of fake mahogany-doors, bearing a brass plate reading 'Commissioner Pravin Lal'. Who wouldn't be nervous? Especially as I don't have any idea why I am here. The officer who brought me here only said "Commissioner Lal will require your expertise, enter when summoned" before he took up station beside the elevator.

Finally, the door opens and Lal's secretary steps into the room. "Mr. Kropotkin, the Commissioner wishes your presence." I walk through the doors, into Lal's office, and see him seated at his desk. He rises. "Good evening, Johan! I hope I didn't interrupt something important." He looks genuinely concerned.
"Uh, no, sir, nothing that important."
"Good. I have need of your scientific knowledge, and your opinions on some data that doctor Zakharov will show you. Doctor?"

I turn around, wide-eyed. What is going on? There, inside the shimmering sphere outlining a holo-projection, stands Zakharov's image, with a strained smile and impatiently fiddling with his hands. He speaks. "Good evening, professor Kropotkin. You probably know that no-one on Planet can claim to come close to the University's scientific knowledge, but only as an average. You yourself have made sure the Peacekeepers aren't far behind us, and that adds some motivation to my scientists" He puts on an annoyed frown. "But we are only ahead on average. For instance, you have a staff of forensic experts that are the best on Planet, and thanks to all the research that you have done since you landed, they are also the best in history."

Lal continues. "And you yourself have done some forensic investigations, right?"
I nod, still at a loss about what I'm doing here. "Well yes; there was that terraforming accident in '62, and so on..."
"Good. You see, we have need of that part of your skills here today. Doctor Zakharov wishes to gather evidence of chemical warfare being conducted by the Spartans, possibly to be presented at a trial."

I turn towards the image of doctor Zakharov. "You probably understand that the Spartans wouldn't even let me near a toy gun of theirs, if they knew why I was there."
Zakharov's face goes wooden. "You won't be investigating spartan territory. I will deliver full spectroscopic analysis of soil, water and atmosphere in and around University Base, as well as several flight histories and recordings, and some long-range observation images."
"What.. are you saying, that someone, probably the spartans, have attacked a CITY with chemical weapons?"
Zakharow nearly growls. "Not any city, but our blasted capital for this blasted planet's sake!"

Lal, his face sad, turns to me. "You see why this must be confidential? The University believes the Spartans are responsible, but until they are certain they won't retaliate. Santiago denies ever having deployed chemical weapons, and is accusing the University of cancelling their cooperation-treaty on false charges. She has placed several of her units along the border in anticipation of University hostilities. Yang and Morgan would love to interfere with your investigation if they found out about it."

"Yes, I understand. I will pull some of my colleauges off researching monopole magnets, and instruct them to keep their new assignment secret." I turn towards Zakharov. "Doctor, shall we discuss the transfer of data?" He nods. "Yes. And know, that if your work is good, I will more than compensate for the lost work in your research."

We then set up a timetable for the investigation, and the transfer of data is prepared.

[Jasonian]

Free Drone Central


Domai sat his newly finished command chamber, high on the top floor of the 30 story Capital Tower. He gazed out of his huge silkglass window at the nearby factory complex, growing larger each day. Even from this altitude he could make out some of the larger parts of the Cloudbase Academy being assembled in the fields around the factory.

Next to the complex was the new Prototype Workhouse, or Skunkworks, as it was being called. There his technicians messed with the new Chaos weaponry that had been recently delivered from Sinder Roze. The repairs from last week's 'chaotic' accident were proceeding smoothly, and most of the outer walls had been rebuilt.

Domai shook his head, 'My people are builders, not technicians. This is why we're working with Sinder, is it not? She does the technical stuff, and we turn it into something useful.'

Still, Domai knew that he could not rely on Sinder for everything. Already the newly formed 'Drone Intelligence Network,' DIN, was collecting available data on satellite orbits. Every week or so they would shut down their machinery in order to minimize heat readings from space. Since no one had showed up to see what was going on, they're efforts must have paid off.

Domai clicked back to the present. Slightly behind the Skunkworks was the aboveground Recreation Commons. Most of the citizens had added several trips there to their busy schedule. Domai himself showed up occasionally. Even leaders needed to relax and have some fun every now and then. And his citizens were used to seeing their leader appear in public. He never took any security, since there wasn't a Free Drone citizen that didn't threat Domai like a demigod for freeing them from Yang's tyranny.

The com chirped, and Domai turned from his sightseeing to answer it, "Domai here."

"Salutations Domai. This is Hain. I have some… interesting news for you, sir."

"Very well. What do you have to report?"

"Actually, they're several unrelated events. But I figured you would want to know about all of them directly from me."

"Out with it Hain."

"Yes, sir. The first is a report from the colony convoy. Colony module did not report in at the checkpoint, and they find it highly unlikely that it would have gone on ahead."

"That's disturbing."

"Indeed, sir. The colony convoy reports scanning something that could possibly be a Unity pod nearby. However, they have record of that or any other module asking permission to investigate."

"Hmm… that is troubling. If it's just a broken tread, why haven't they radioed? I want a scout team dispatched to that Unity pod location to investigate."

"Yes sir. I'll key in the order…"

"Later. What else do you have for me?"

"Oh… oh! Of course, sir. The second is a bit more unusual. It seems that the artifact being stored in the Sku… err… Prototype Workhouse… had… fused to one of the computers there."

"Fused? So we have a computer with an artifact stuck to it?" Domai had to laugh at that, for the mental picture of one of his computers jammed into that mess of cords and cables was a funny mental picture indeed.

"Well… kinda. It hooked itself to an input cable and started to do something."

"… What?"

"It sounds weird, I know. But the workers say that it downloaded all this stuff into the computer terminal. Every last thing we would need to know about making Chaos guns is in there right now."

"Interesting…"

"It gets weirder. After doing that, the artifact fell apart and formed itself into 100 chaos guns, all mounted on standard weapon treads. It did the whole construction job for us!"

Domai's mind swam at that. 'These artifacts can download information AND be used to build things? The power!' "Wow! Hain, I want the remaining two artifacts sent to the Cloudbase factory. See if we can maybe do the same thing there."

"Yes, sir. Oh, the final piece of news. Scouts have found a University Impact foil and a transport foil on the eastern coast of Mount Planet."

"What luck! Have they found anything useful for us in there?"

"Some useful stuff… some satellite tracking programs that could aid us if we ever launch one of those things. But…"

"Don't hold out on me Hain!"

"… Both were completely empty of human bodies. And both were used recently. Whoever was on them… must be on our island."

[Cotroneo]

“I’m sorry to wake you all this early in the morning, but we finally got confirmation at 0630 that our mission to frame Santiago was accomplished to an extent. Although the total mission was successful, it was at the cost of over twenty naval soldiers.” As Sinder finished, the council in unison bowed their heads.

“Are all University scientists out of Spartan territory, especially around the boreholes?” Virus asked directly to Sinder.

“It seems that their research and trade pact was put off, till the attack on University Base is further examined. The University chose to remove all research teams inside Spartan territory until the crisis is over and await some form of Peacekeeper investigation. This is a critical time for us, we can stand on the side lines like we have for years, or we can finally seize this opportunity!” Sinder said in the most commanding voice the council had ever heard, which even startled Tomahawk.

“What is this opportunity you speak off?” Zebra injected braking the silence of the room.

“We must take the Borehole cluster.” The other council members didn’t take the response very well.

“What do you suggest we do…. Tell Sparta that we want their land or else. Heck, even if they gave us the land, what do we do with it, and that would also make all the factions aware of our presence. This strategically unimportant island that we live on is the only reason they haven’t found out about us. If they found us or know about us, they will definitely not be friendly do to our reputation.” As Tomahawk finished he looked square into the eyes of Sinder.

“Beetle, punch up the holo camera at the airbase. Gentlemen, what do you notice?” Sinder returned the gaze back to Tomahawk.

“A couple of obsolete impact aircraft and a few old transports on the flight line.” Bronco answered. He hardly ever talked about anything during council meetings except when asked about his construction efforts.

“Beetle, could you zoom closer to the T-4 transport at the end of the flight line?”

The camera on the airbase’s control tower, which was being fed into the holo projector in the middle of the council’s table, zoomed closer to the old coal black transport aircraft. Tomahawk let out a bit of a chuckle at the sight of the old aircraft.

“Yes I understand that we need to replace the aging aircraft, but how can that piece of junk help us now. I hope your not implying that we attack the Spartans with this junk.” Tomahawk said directly to Sinder.

“How long would it take for you to upgrade the T-4 aircraft Tomahawk?”

“A few days, but I don’t think we can do much with it. Where are you going with this Sinder?” The rest of the council whispered to each other as the two headstrong individuals when back and forth.

“This plan I'm about to describe will be nothing more than a miracle if it actually works, but the benefits would be outstanding and just what we need at this critical time.”

“I’m breathless with anticipation.” Tomahawk replied. The rest of the council stopped talking, and looked at Sinder.

“My plan is to fly a colony convoy or a small group of colonists into the borehole site and establish a base. This plan requires three parts…” Sinder was interrupted by the laughing Tomahawk.

“And this aircraft which is going to fly these people in, is that the aircraft which is going to do it.” Tomahawk pointed to the old aircraft on the holo projector then erupted into laughter.

Sinder continued as if Tomahawk hadn’t even spoke. “The first part of the operation, is to reconfigure the colony convoy, that we are building for down south, to fit into the transport aircraft. The transport isn't that large so we will need to cut down the convoy to the bare minimum to fit into the beast.”

Bronco acknowledged Sinder that it could be done merely with a nod.

“Second, we will need to modernize the aircraft to evade Spartan sensors and be able to VTOL into the small clearing around the cluster.”

“Are you crazy Sinder, a transport of even that small size can’t VTOL. Heck most fighters which are about twice as light as transports can’t even VTOL. Theirs just not enough available power to generate the force needed inside a needlejet. ” Tomahawk interjected.

“That’s not true Tomahawk, we have something that no other faction then the University has….. Fusion. I have watched its development for a while inside University territory through our little network tap, and I feel I could produce a prototype within a few weeks and the stealth should be no problem.” Zebra countered Tomahawk, which Tomahawk replied with a sick stare that went straight to Zebra’s soul.

“Has the tech matured that fast Zebra?” Virus asked.

“The university has a working prototype, which I think I can emulate.” Zebra acknowledged hesitantly, still feeling the affects of Tomahawk’s stare.

“If we do manage to get to the site, we will need to hide the site totally from all faction sensors and satellites. But we have an advantage. I believe the Spartans who own the territory, have yet to adequately search the area, which is the reason the University were aloud to research the site without Spartan knowledge of the particulars of their research. The Spartans may know nothing about the particular area. We may be able to hide our base forever by concealing the base within a large stealth generator the Morgans have been using a lot lately. A course this depends on if we can produce a generator that could cover such a large area which is no small order.”

She finished and walked over to a refreshment table to her right. She took a red glass and filled it with some dark substance. She was letting the council decide if the plan was worth spending the resources, as if she cared about the council’s decision in reality, but having the council permission made it that much easier. She felt that democracy was good but democracy could never give her the power she needed, so when she established this separate faction, she established more of a limited monarchy than a true democracy for lack of a better term. Telling her citizens that they live in a democracy is a lot different then really having a full democratic system.

“Sinder we will vote.” Lighter, the Data DeCentral governor, simply replied.

The room slightly dimmed as the holo projector displayed two columns. One green column, which was for the project while the red column meant against. Each council member touched their datapad, which instantly sent their votes to the projector. One by one, the columns rose.

Yes : Sinder Roze
No : Tomahawk
Yes : Virus
Yes : Zebra
No : Lighter
No : Bronco
Yes : Raptor

The red column dissolved on the projector leaving the green column, the winner.

“I understand how you may object to the way I’ve been conducting this faction’s affairs over the last few weeks, but you must understand that I will do anything for this faction.” Sinder stopped short when Tomahawk rose from his seat and left the room without saying a word. “The coming weeks will be hard, but I just ask for all your trust.” She finished.

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

“I think we need to curtail her power, Lighter.”

“That may be wise Tomahawk, but the people respect her.”

“If we do not, she may be unstoppable in the future, just look what she is willing to do now. She ordered the chemical weaponry used on University Base without our knowledge and she was the only one who could have taken down the base’s phalanx anti-air system with an outside virus.”

“That is true, but we must win more support within the council to have a majority. We must find the weak link.”

“You are right, and I think I know who is the weak link. Raptor is the key.”

“Sinder and Raptor are old friends, it will be hard.”

“I know.”

[dante^]

A New Beginning

Mission Year 2108

It was the gulls, decided Ulrik Svensgaard as he leant against the steel railing of the Unity gunship. Alpha Centauri Prime was setting, making the Chronian sea shine gold instead of blue.

His father had hated the gulls. There were literally thousands of them, and they rained their droppings down on the ship. They would swoop down to the deck to steal the catch if they got the chance, tearing the fish to pieces in the air as they fought for the choice bits. Fish had gotten pretty scarce during the mid 21st century, and Svensgaard had abandoned being a fisherman and joined the Navy.

He suddenly realized that he had not spoken to his family for 70 years, 110 if he counted the 40 years of cryo-sleep. He wondered if there were any longevity treatments available on the old Earth, if there was one left at all. His parents had not even known of the Unity project, Ulrik hadn't even told them about it, just left there and then.

Svensgaard was thirsty. He contemplated getting a tankard of rum from kitchens. He decided in the negative. They just didn't know how to brew rum they way they did on the old Earth. The rum they served up in the Recreation Commons tasted like... swill.

No birds here, either. A drunk seaman down at the Recreation Commons had rambled on and on about mindworms sprouting wings and flying all over the place, but Svensgaard had dismissed that as drunken ravings.

"Captain!" A voice interrupted Svensgaard's train of thoughts. "Sensors have picked up a foreign object two klicks west, probably a pod from the Unity. Request permission to investigate, Sir."

Svensgaard turned from the railing. Nessus and Pholus were beginning to rise above the horizon. He decided that it was definitely the gulls he missed most.

[Jasonian]

Present day (M.Y. 2235)
Near the 35th Colony Module of Free Drone colony convoy one


Gnimn and Taron were starting to despair. They had been constantly flaming the huge Fungal Tower for almost five minutes now, but it didn't seem fazed at all. Now they were beginning to run low of flamer fuel. Both of them knew that if they didn't stop that thing soon, their crazed coworkers back at the module would cripple it for good, leaving them stranded out in the fungus.

Gnimn knew that he was partially immune to the maddening PSI effects the native life had because of his intense training and combat experience. But Taron was just a green security guard. He'd never received training, nor been in battle. Yet he was shielding his mind like a veteran, leaving himself in full control of his actions despite the PSI assault.

As if to prove this, Taron flamed an incoming hatchling mindworm boil that had tried to paralyze him. Instead, the mindworm shuttered in terror before Taron eliminated it. Taron was sweating a salty sea, but he continued his attack.

~~ HEY OVER THERE! ~~

Both Gnimn and Taron jumped. The voice seemed to come right out of the fungus behind the tower. Gnimn was sure none of his people were over in that area.

~~ Hey! Do you hear me? Answer! HEY! ~~

Gnimn recovered from his shock, "Hey! We hear you!"

~~ Great! We're going to flame this thing with everything we have! Ready? ~~

"Yeah! Let's do it!"

~~ OK! NOW! ~~

Gnimn and Taron let loose a combined blast directly on the tower itself, and several other blasts came out of a spot several meters away, joined by some Impact Rifle fire. The tower shuttered and collapsed in a flaming pile of burnt pink goo. Immediately the PSI energy stopped bouncing around, and then there was silence.

Gnimn nearly fell to the ground with fatigue, but Taron seemed perfectly fine. He calmly reloaded his flamer and put it back in its holster, 'My… god… how is that kid… not falling over… I'm dead tired… whoo…'

But Gnimn needed to know who was over in the fungus. And he didn't have to wait long, for he was approached by about ten troops in white.

"Thanks for the help. I'm Commander Achenar of the University of Planet."

"Thank you... as well. I am chief technician...*cough*... Gnimn."

"Nice to meet you Gnimn. And which faction are you with?"

Gnimn paused. Although he did not want to reveal the Free Drones to the rest of Planet, saying he was Hive would probably just get him killed on the spot. These men were armed, there were more of them then him, and pretty much everyone hated the Hive.

"I am with... the Free Drones. We rebelled from a... Hive base out here far from the rest of the Hive. Our very existence...*gasp cough*... is known by only a select few... not with our faction."

"…Drones? You guys made your own faction?"

Gnimn sighed. Clearly Achenar wasn't going to take a short explanation, "Come... with me. Our colony module was... damaged in the attack. I'll explain everything."
[This message has been edited by Jasonian (edited November 07, 1999).]

[Raging Mouse]

Location: U.N. Enforcement Base (Hive Communal Nexus)

Premier Lieutenant Manuel Cormora taps the antenna-link on his helmet while scanning his troops. Some flying debris has hit it, and he isn't sure if the link is operational anymore. The noise generated by the Hive's numerous artillery-units bombarding the surface is so loud that he can't even hear the background static with the volume turned to max. He surveys his team of infantry. They are two-hundred meters underground, yet the furious pounding on the surface creates a meter-high cloud of dust in every room and corridor. It is even hard to run due to the constant shocks. The tunnels are very wide and can be three stories high, so the Hive has constructed large arch-like titanium supports that protrude from the wall every tenth meter. A soldier could easily be hiding behind any of them, so everyone is wary and nervous.

What is ironic is that his team has yet to see fighting, even though radio-traffic has previously indicated the loss of at least two companies. The Hive soldiers have, of course, first-hand knowledge of the layout of the base; the datalinks are already in their hands and operating, even though the central communications-core has been detonated by the Peacecorps. Manuel privately suspects that the Hive bases were designed to be easily reconquered by the original owners; Yang could certainly be in the right frame of mind to plan a counteroffensive before the base was even built.

There is a welcome pause in the artillery-barrage, and Manuel turns his attention back to the commset.

"...ing all remaining troops underground; fall back, I repeat, fall back. Evacuate along alpha routes, and destroy all intersections marked by your HUD. I repeat, this is King One to all remaining troops..." Cormora silently swears as new information floods his HUD. Five major intersections, all unsecure at the moment, to pass through and destroy. Just what he doesn't need. He signals his men to gather round.

"Right, we are getting outta this rathole. I want two points, and three rears. You four, secure any intersections we get to. And demolitions; once we are through these five intersections, you will blow them up. Okay? Then move!"

The two 'points' are soldiers wearing special armor suits: They will automatically assume the same texture as the closest vertical surface, so that anyone observing in front of the soldiers will have extreme difficulies in spotting them. Also, all body heat is absorbed by the suit. Together with the near-total darkness, and the dust, it renders the wearer nearly invisible.

The team slows down as it nears the first intersection. The points let the four soldiers that will secure the intersection take lead. These soldiers wear heavy-duty image-enhancement binoculars designed to counter the stealth-suits worn by the points. One short whisper, and the four soldiers rush nearly soundlessly into the intersection. A very tense five seconds passes; then Manuel hears 'all clear' from all four soldiers. He signals the rest of the team to continue. The demolitions-man positions small radio-controlled charges at key supports in the intersections, and covers them with dust.

When the group nears the second intersection the right point, Sergeant Storgard, suddenly stops and signals everybody to hide. Manuel quickly moves to the nearest support, and tries to detect what has alerted the man. Storgard is also trying to find out just that; suddenly he simply sensed something was out of place. His psi-screen at the medical checkup did show he has an abnormally powerful intuition, but this is the first time he has sensed anything like this.

An especially hard blast on the surface causes the entire tunnel to vibrate, and flakes of paint and plaster snow from the ceiling. There and then Storgard detects what's wrong: the flakes, as well as the dust, are being disturbed by something moving quickly towards him. It can only be a Hive point, wearing a similar stealth-suit, that is securing the intersection. The man would probably detect Storgard if he was to dive for cover. Instead, Storgard raises his rifle and tries to spot the Hive soldier's outline.

Five seconds pass with extreme slowness. Then the disturbances halt, and Storgard still can't see anyone. Oh, well. The blast from Storgard's particle blaster ionizes the air along it's path, bathing the corridor in a blue flash of light, and illuminating the Hive point as it misses her by a hair's breadth. She is facing Storgard and has only time to be afraid before storgard fires a second, more accurate shot. Her torso explodes.

In the next moment Storgard feels as if a bus has hit his left side, as another Hive point fires a close miss with a chaos rifle. Shrapnel from the wall bites into his back, and he dives for cover in the cloud of dust. By then, Manuel has found his voice and screams, "Fire, for Planet's sake!" The corridor erupts in detonations as the blue streaks of Peacekeeper impact-rifles are answered by the strange black ripples emanating from the Hive's chaos rifles.

Suddenly Manuel is knocked to the ground, with a searing pain in his left leg. He blinks in confusion, and gazes at the support he was using in cover. It is still twisting, the energies that hit it trying to make it explode and implode at the same time. After half a second, the balance is ruptured, and a large chunk of the arch disintegrates in a thick cloud of white-hot metal, showering over Manuel's silksteel leggings, and into the crater in his left thigh. As a column of black smoke starts to rise from the wound Manuel decides to faint, and rides into unconsciousness on a wave of agony.

Up ahead, Storgard wildly scans the dust for anywhere to take cover when he spots the welcome boots of Corporal McDougal running past. Mcdougal is carrying one of the team's two heavy weapons, a minigyro, that fires an enormous volley of small self-accelerating projectiles that explode on contact. He is also protected by a photon-shield, but it is already flickering from absorbing numerous hits by the Hive soldiers. Mcdougal drops down in the middle of the corridor, and half a second later Storgard hears the loud motorsaw-like noise of the minigyro in action. A swarm of small white stars zoom into the next intersection, and the ensuing explosions are so close to each other that the intersection is lit by a steady light. With it's help storgard blasts the head off the other Hive point, and shoots the legs off another soldier further down the corridor. He can also see the carnage that McDougal is successfully creating.

Manuel is wrenched back into consciousness, and concludes that his pain-centre must have gone on strike. The team's medic, who is already inspecting him, shouts: "Sir, I neuro-blocked the pain and splinted the leg for you, but I can't do anything about the wound with all that metal residue in it. You need a med-evac a.s.a.p, sir!" Manuel uses the wall as support, and stands up. "Thanks, Smith! Let's finish them off -hey wait a minute..." On his HUD is a flashing message. It is text rather than a radio-message, probably so that it would get noticed easier in all the noise:

"*** PRIORITY * Seek cover immediately, and brace for impact. Very large detonation expected in:" Followed by a blinking box containing the number nine. Eight. Seven.

Manuel shouts. "EVERYBODY DOWN NOW!" He flings himself to the floor, and feels a stab of pain from the leg, despite the neural blocks. Four. Three. Two. One...