Beyond Alpha Centauri :::

[Silence]

Battle of LV120 (Opening Moves)

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]

Men of Iron

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]

Moves--And--Countermoves

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]

Meanwhile...

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]

A Proposal and a Shellfish

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]

If It Isn't One Thing . . .

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]

Switch And Bait

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]

Re: Switch And Bait

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 Scene Shifts

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]

An Odd Day at the Resort

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'.