Beyond Alpha Centauri :::

[Frankychan]

Hive Prime

Emperor Yang walked toward the grand council room flanked by his blue-robed royal guards as he read the latest information about the 'aliens' known as the Protectorate.

'Aliens'. Apparently, the Protectorate was comprised solely of humans; Humans dressed up as aliens. Quite a clever ruse. Autopsies showed that some of them were different than others, maybe down to the hormone level. Hmmm, do they modify their people's behavior?

Sheng-ji rounded a corner. He also watched the Lord Protector talk about opening diplomatic relations. They accepted his offer of friendship, which was good. That way, the Hive would learn more about the Protectorate and keep an eye out on them as well.

Yang didn't trust Lord Protector Ian at all. However, an ally at this time would be greatly beneficial.

The last bit of the transmission caught Yang's ear:

Do not attempt to cross us though, or me, for that matter. We are subtle and quick to anger.

Yang smiled. Nor you with us, my dear Protector Ian.
--------------------
Grand Council Room

The grand council room was like a giant lecture hall. Numerous seats all faced to one focal point where the speaker would address the assembled. A giant viewscreen was on the wall facing the seats. In those seats were dozens of Hive officials. Massive Bulwarks sat next to scaly Xiero's. Devious-looking Tarlaks sat between small Fran and Humans.

A side door opened and Yang's royal guardsmen filtered in, taking places throughout the room.

When the Emperor entered next, the whole room erupted into applause. Hive officials stood up and cheered for Yang. When he reached the podium, he motioned for them to quiet down.

When the officials quieted, Yang began to speak.

"My children, you all have done well. Our empire has flourished and our power has swelled beyond even my imagination."

More applause filled the large room.

"But, the Empire faces its toughest trials yet. The Spartan Federation threatens our very existence. Their leader, Marcus Kessel, would like nothing more than to see each of your families bound, chained, and executed."

Yang paused.

"However, we will not let that happen. I will not let that happen. I have been contacted by a new government, seeking an alliance."

The viewscreen in back of the Emperor turned on, showing the face of Lord Protector Ian.

"This man leads the Protectorate. With them as allies the universe itself will quiver in fear at our combined power."

Every Hive official stood up and cheered. Cheers of 'Yang!' resounded in the hall. Yang smiled.

"I want you all to begin Hive procedure 1-A...possible war. Its only a matter of time before the sleeping dragon awakens. Dismissed."

As all the Hive members stood to leave, Yang exited from the side door.

As Emperor Yang exited the grand council room, Minister Zell and Warmaster Kang were waiting in the hallway.

Minister Zell began first.

"My lord, we have a new message. They call themselves the Laekdaemon Cadre."

The three began walking with the royal guard around them. Yang read the message.

"Bah, they ask us for our classified tech and offer us Progenitor technology? I don't need that. They also want us to send them our security files. It seems there are elements within their government that want to continue a war with the Spartans...Zell, send them a transmission with our denial. But try to open channels with them."

Zell bowed as Sheng-ji addressed Kang.

"I want you to send one more ship to system LP 658-2, just to keep things in our favor there."

Sheng-ji spoke as Minister Zell and Warmaster Kang followed.

"I don't trust Protector Ian but sometimes the times create unusual allies."

* * *
To: Menelaus, Leader of the Laekdaemon Cadre
From: Minister Zell, Foreign Affairs

Your message has been received. However, it seems as if you are asking for much considering we have just recently been in contact.

You do not walk into a strangers quarters and demand them to serve you.

Emperor Yang is interested in opening relations with you. Your war with the Spartans intrigues his majesty and would like to explore this further.
* * *
* * *
Encrypted Visual Message
To: Lord Protector Ian of Protectorate
From: Emperor Sheng-ji Yang of the Greater Hive Empire

Lord Ian, you are correct. We do know now that you are human. I believe that if our two empires ally, there would be no-one to stand in our way (My way, thought Yang).

I propose we indeed open trade. System LP 658-2 will be our nexus point. Your ship can stay there.

I hope we can expand our relationship further into a more fruitful one.
* * *
--------------------
Planet: Great Collective
Beneath Planet Surface
Hangar Bay 13

The ramp to the Cloak and Dagger descended. The black flowing robes of Spymaster Shirlak exited first. Second was Minister Ehud, wiping his brow.

Shirlak looked around the cavernous hangar bay. Except for a few security officers, they were the only people in the area.

Minster Ehud looked at Shirlak.

"So are we settled on the message?" Ehud and Shirlaks message was complete and just need to be transmitted.

Without facing Ehud, Shirlak responded.

"Yes. The Terrans will probably want to hear from us."

With that, the Spymaster headed for the nearest exit.

* * *
To: Terran Government
From: Greater Hive Empire

We would be happy to open diplomatic channels with you.

Please stop sending a wide-ban transmission!

A Hive communications ship will enter the Sol System soon. Send your transmissions to our ship. Our ship in turn will transmit your message to us. If you are uncomfortable with our presence in your system, you can send whatever ships you deem necessary to observe our ships actions.

Please be advised that since we are opening diplomatic channels with your government, it would be in the best interest of both our governments that nothing happens to our ship.

[Mr. President]

On the outskirts of the Firaxis Prime system, the silence of space was neatly perforated by a fleet of ships. Like a cloud of steel they moved, sleek frigates, vicious Warlocks, spidery reconnaissance drones, and a dozen fighters buzzing around the others like bees above a honeycomb, all emblazoned with the distinctive symbol of the Spartan Federation.
Abruptly they stopped. By Firaxian law, no foreign weapons of a certain weight were allowed within the orbit of Remus, the outermost gas giant. As if to underscore the point, a Drone-made Firebrand Epsilon defense satellite drifted past, its hexagonal body festooned with blinking lights. From the command vessel’s shuttle bay a small craft emerged. Boosters firing, it moved into the system and towards the World of Trees, escorted by two Firaxian fighters that sped from the direction of the Perimeter Fleet Station.
Making planetfall with similar escorts were several other shuttles, though none had brought so heavy an escort to the perimeter. There was an egg-shaped craft bearing the purple banner of Concordia, a high-backed transport from the Morgan Conglomerate painted yellow and blue, and a branching Gaian seedship. In the distance, other large escort vessels hovered as representatives of other powers awaited clearance to enter the system; the University, the Peacekeepers, the Earth Coalition, the Drone Republic. The gathering was a calculated exercise in neutrality, the Firaxian navy having ordered representatives of states that enjoyed less-than-friendly relations with each other to enter at different times. They would not even see each other until the opening of the banquet. The ships on queue were also watched carefully to ensure they respected Firaxian non-partisanship, diverted into separate customs channels watched over by speedy K-16 fighters and the eternally vigilant eyes of Firebrand Epsilon units.


Next time: The Gentle Art of Seat Arrangement

[Lonestar]

The Palace, New San Antonio.

"Anything else, Dr. Pym?" The Lord Protector's smile was cold, and didn't reach his eyes.

"No, I'm afraid not your excellancy. The GHE keep their own, hmm, subjects in the dark in regards to their locations. Dispite our, and the MRA's (Metasensory Regulation Administration) best attempts in withdrawing memories from the subjects, we only gained the full list of 'member' races. Dosi data on the races are skimpy, they don't care much about overly primative civilizations."


"And in any event the GHE's resocialization, I'm sorry, they call it 'minbend' would change their culture." Ian murmered. "Thank you Dr. Pym, that will be all."

The Minister of Science bowed and walked out of the chamber. Ian looked at the other three members of his Advisory council left in the room. The head of State Security was missing, as he recently had a stroke of the 9mm variety. "Thoughts?"

"Trade? With them? With what?" Minister of Commerce Ved spoke. "They won't sell information to us, and we would never sell information to them. Certainly not tech they would be interested in, even if we did, the Dosi would destroy us shortly thereafter."

"Foodstuffs, perhaps. The Endeavors biolabs came through the trip fully stocked. The Unity's wasn't. They might find some interest in food native to Beta Hydri 4, or Roving for that matter." Ian mused.

"Okay, foodstuffs. Where would we send it through?"

"He said LP 658-2" War Minister Kolasklar put in. "We can send cargo vessels there...and send it to another system, to ensure they aren't doing anything stupid, like following us."

"Wu432" General McCarty said. "It's not far from LP 658-2. We can build a trade station there, 10 km or so long, in orbit of one of the planets. We'll create a lot of chatter, but act like we're hiding it. Quiet noise. A Graviton detecter netowrk would have to be set up, to detected cloaked ships, but..."

"It can be done. Get working on it, inform Director Parada of Colonization Services to get cracking."

Ved bowed and left the chamber, leaving the War Minister and Chief of General Staff in there with Ian.

"Nishant...Michael...Any war with the GHE would be a disaster. Knowledge is power, and we know next to nothing about them. It's still more than they know about us, but not enough."

General McCarty nodded. "A Burnell Village?"

Kolasklar winced. A Burnell Village was a compound filled with captured nationals of other empires, human and otherwise. There were Spartan Villages, Terren, Peacekeepers, Bree(small). and others. The trick was always finding a isolated ship, taking the crew alive, and transporting them to the harsh planet of RE123-4 to a village. Then the Protectorate forces could practice on them, see how they think, what their culture is like, etc.


"This could be dangerous, your Excellancy." Kolasklar warned.

"If it can be done, I want it done. We all know we can fight a defensive war, it's going on the offensive against the GHE we're incapable of doing. "

"Yes your Excellancy, I'll get on it right away."

"See that you do. I must think of a response to Emperor Yang."

[Lonestar]

The Goliad, Wu345, G.H.E.

The colossal 2.1 km long Battleship sat on the fringes of the Wu345 system, unseen. Cloaked, the only tangible way for it to be detected was by tracking it's gravatational pull. Fortunatly, it had hidden herself next to a 11 km Oort cloud object, making it difficult to detect.

When the order came down for a "raiding mission", the Captain and the crew thought it mildly suicidal, although they didn't hesistate to set course for the target shipping lane.

The orders were to use only Fusion beams, as they bore a remarkable similiarity to the Spartans' designs. When help arrived at the wreckage, hopefully, they would think it a Spartan attack.

The Hive Cargo ship's FTL drive had failed, forcing it to pull itself back into real space prematurely. It was already transmitting an SOS, the Goliad had to move quickly.

The Fusion Beams lanced out, first destroying the Hive Ship's sensors, then it's transmitted. Great grappling hooks fired out, and the Hive vessel was pulled into up to one of the docking hatches. Star Marines burst in and starting tossing canisters of Neural degraders into the ship. Most of the crew was unconcious within seconds.

The bodies were dragged on board. The Goliad let go of the ship, back away, and destroyed it. It then re-engaged it's cloaking device and left Hive Space.

[Kassiopeia]

Over two thousand kilometres of cables and wiring.
Over 160 tonnes of military-grade plasmasteel and synthmetal.
Over 80 tonnes of adamantium alloy steel.
Tens of tonnes of neutronium, vanadine, tungsten and other kinds of construction materials.

All that, and much more were being hauled to the Lunar Orbit Shipyard 08, consisting at this time only of two space stations and an enormous scaffolding, where it in turn was being compiled and assembled to a ship that would be 2031 metres long, and could travel 0.2 lightyears (1.92 x 10¹² kilometres) in a mere standard hour.

"Hello, Sir", the Chief of Ship Construction, Mayhaw Thunder, greeted him.

"Hello", the Supreme Commander of the Military Forces responded.

"The Project Black Hole is three weeks ahead of schedule, Admiral."

"Straight to the point, Mister Thunder? Commendable."

"Thank you, Sir."

"But conversation is not your job." Wakazashi pointed towards the viewscreen acting as a window, showing the scaffolding and the metallic skeleton of the ship in it's entirety. "That is."

"As I said, we are three weeks ahead of scheduled date of completion." Thunder was uneasy, as usually the visit of a high-ranking soldier or an official on a construction site meant that the schedule was about to be remodified.

"I heard you on the first time. You are correct in your fears, the schedule will be changed slightly. When the project was begun four months ago, we had no idea that the next year we would be caught in a fight against Chironians. We cannot co-ordinate an attack on a solar system from a Command Ship. We need a new Dreadnaught for directing our fleets, and we need it fast."

"Very well", Thunder sighed, "but I need more funding, and especially new workers."

"Anything you need, Thunder. Just finish the ship, seven weeks ahead of the original plans. And... no such as the engines of Supernova, we need the ships in one piece and able to go farther in space then three stellar miles before a new core is needed."

***

The 43rd CSN Battle Squadron exactly wasn't fit for the task ahead. On a short notice, one of it's destroyers had been quickly converted to a communications relay station, capable of handling all the bandwidth required for two factions to discuss in an orderly fashion.

As it hovered in in one of the sectors designated for the Coalition to keep an eye on, in the outer egdes of the boundaries of the Sol system, a signal indicating an incoming ship appeared.

In a blink of an eye, a dark silhouette had appeared before the forward ships of the Battle Squadron. They withdrew quickly as the ship started to slow down and turn towards them, and the communications ship advanced carefully, transmitting an indentification signal.

The entire Battle Squadron maintained a single carrier wave, aimed at a space station orbiting Jupiter. No other communications to any other location was authorized.

From Jupiter the wave was then forwarded all the way to the Moon, from where it was then sent to the Coalition Headquarters on Earth, where it would be decrypted and viewed. A reply would travel the same distance.

The Hive had insisted on this kind of protocol since the purpose was to chatter as secretly as possible, yet the Coalition possessed no technology capable of a sharp burst FTL message.

The Battle Squadron's ships' scanners remained on a passive mode, only monitoring the ship for any energy signatures. The ship sent a single burst for acknowledgment, confirming it's Hive origin.

***

From: Prime Minister Elise Drecaille on behalf of the Cabinet of Earth
To: Emperor of the Greater Hive Empire

This is a test message, to ensure that our new communications link is acceptable. We apologize for using a wideband transmission when replying to you, but remind that it was until now our only way of efficiently reaching you.

Now that diplomatic channels are officially open, we would also like to propose an exchange of ambassadors, and other information, mainly related to stellar cartography and your diplomatic stances with the Chironians factions you have permanent contact with.

Additionally, we propose a Treaty of Friendship to be established between our fair factions.

Sincerely,

Cabinet of Earth

***

From: Secretary General Daniel Stormhill on behalf of the Terran Council and Prime Minister Elise Drecaille on behalf of the Cabinet of Earth
To: Colonel Marcus Kessel of the Spartan Federation

Colonel Kessel,

The situation between Morgan Interstellar and Interplanetary Enterprises is concerning us, naturally, as there's no good predicament when war is taking place on a faction's home territory.

The Alliance never desired to engage in conflict with the Morganites, but the second they launched their attack on Callisto was the second they declared war upon us. We, in this case, are the defenders, and the Morganites are the attackers.

Therefore, should the war spread outside our system, it would be heinous of the Spartan Federation to intervene in behalf of it's ally the Morgan Interstellar.

We are aware of the political situation in our Local Arm. We appreciate your warning of keeping our heads up when selecting our friends and foes, and will, as any responsible faction goverment should, excercise caution when interacting with other inhabitants of the galaxy.

What comes to the policy of the Alliance aiming for the unification of the Mankind, we are active in executing it, but do not see it taking place within our prolonged lifetimes.

Yours truly,

Secretary General Daniel Stormhill
Prime Minister Elise Drecaille

[History Guy]

A Visit to Titan

Horizon Aida, Titan, Saturn Kingdom

“Welcome to Titan, largest moon of Saturn, jewel of the Saturn Kingdom. My name is Alfred and I’ll be your guide about Titan for the day, you understand,” said the pleasant looking young man in the business suit who greeted Mrs. Sonia Rabinowitch and her fellow dignitaries at the customs office of Horizon Aida at Titan. Mrs. Rabinowitch watched as Alfred pointed a long, bony figure at a large symbol on the side of the customs building as he said ‘Saturn Kingdom’. The symbol depicted a purple flower with eight petals. “You may be interested to know that Titan is the largest of all moons or satellites in the Sol System with a diameter of 5,800 kilometers, making it larger than either Mercury or Pluto. The second largest moon of Saturn, Rhea, is three times smaller than Titan. Please follow me.”

A large floor to ceiling window that stretched along the whole of the building revealed the rocky surface of Titan. It was very murky outside due to the orange cloud cover. The surface of Titan thus appeared to be a deep red. “Alfred,” asked Mrs. Rabinowitch, “What makes the reddish color?”

“Very good question, Mrs. Rabionitch…”

“Rabinowitch, actually.”

“Oh yes, sorry. Very good question, I’m very glad you asked, Mrs. Rabinowitch. The red-orange color of Titan’s surface comes from the deep atmosphere, which incidentally is why space ships land so easily here. Anyway, the atmosphere is heavy with methane. Methane is, by the way, the stuff which forms marsh gas on Earth, I’m not sure how many of you have visited Earth…Anyway, the methane makes the atmosphere so thick that nothing equals it’s thickness anywhere in the Sol System other than on Earth itself.”

“I understand,” began Mr. Gabriel Gailhead, another Morganite dignitary, “that methane can be found all over Titan.”

“Uh, yes, in fact there are even in some areas of Titan large ice volcanoes which spew methane, water, and ammonia. The make-up of Titan is very close in some ways to Mars, though our atmospheric pressure here is higher than anywhere on Mars, as much of Titan is very cold, in fact almost half of Titan is made up of ice. Very old and thick ice, of course, but ice none the less. You see, out on Titan’s surface it's –140 degrees Celsius, and the higher up one is the colder it becomes. In fact at the top of some methane clouds it’s been known to go down below 200 degrees Celsius. In other words, Titan is very cold!” All of the sudden the view of the outside world vanished to be replaced by a tropical garden. It was contained in a giant glass building, obviously designed to look like the great Crystal Palace of 1851. Inside were all manners of Earth plants. “Earth visitors to Titan would not have enjoyed their stay very much, despite the fact that Titan has only 2/3rds the gravity of the Earth’s moon, and that there is so much methane in the atmosphere that a space ship could refuel on the atmosphere alone. However, after the construction of the Hab Domes of Horizon Aida visitors have found their stays so much more pleasant!”

“How long is a single day here?”

“A single day on Titan is equal to 16 Earth days. Now, here we are at the Central Courtyard of Horizon Aida, I hope you have found my information interesting and helpful.” The room was giant and, in effect, breathtaking. It was almost as large as Central Plaza at the City back home. “This room,” said Alfred, “is, by the way, the largest single enclosed space at Horizon Aida, and is the largest building of any colony headquarters in the whole of the Sol System, as befitted the greatest colony of the Earth Coalition. Now that we are a sovereign entity, however, we are unfortunately at war with the Earth Coalition. Please do not let this bother you, however, we do not expect a Terran attack in the future.” Alfred had an uneasy look about him as he said this, as if he was contradicting something that he was sure of. “I must leave you now, I hope I have been of some assistance.”

“Yes, thank you, Alfred,” said Mrs. Rabinowitch. Mr. Gailhead said something similar, but the quiet Mr. Sym did not give a word of thanks. It was odd in a way, Mrs. Rabinowitch could not for the life of her recall ever hearing Mr. Sym’s voice. As the pleasant Alfred walked off, Mrs. Rabinowitch gazed back at Mr. Sym, and saw how unpleasant he appeared. He was rather tall, with a balding head and a pug face. There was a strange reddish brown spot on the center of his forehead. He was dressed in a black suit with an odd purple tie that did not befit him in the least. A chill ran down her spine as she looked at him, though she did not know why. She couldn’t have known, but she felt the same sort of feeling that CEO Morgan had felt when he had first laid eyes on the fellow.

A short, stocky fellow, Indian in appearance, a little older perhaps than Alfred, approached the group. “Are you the Morganite dignitaries?” Mrs. Rabinowitch nodded in affirmation. “Splendid. My name is Lieutenant Jaffrey. I should like to inform you that this morning your government and the Saturn Kingdom officially became allies in a document signed by CEO Nwabudike Morgan and Saturnian diplomat Vera Sofia (in place of the absent Queen Maria Sanchez). I’d like to take you now to the throne room of Queen Maria Sanchez. Please follow me.”

Lieutenant Jaffery led them through several long corridors to a large room (not as large as the lobby of the Central Courtyard that they had just come from, but large enough). Inside there stood, in the center of the room, a large makeshift throne upon which Queen Maria Sanchez of the Kingdom of Saturn was seated, be-decked in all of her royal garments. On either side of her were guards, as well as a male and a female, obviously some important courtiers. Their nametags read, respectively, Oberon and Titania. Somehow, though, they did not resemble Mrs. Rabinowitch’s idea of Shakespeare’s fairy royal couple in the least.

Lieutenant Jaffery gave a bow and presented “Mrs. Sonia Rabinowitch, Assistant Foreign Secretary of Morgan Interstellar, on her right stands Mr. Gabriel Gailhead, a Morganite diplomat, on her left stands Mr. Sym, also a Morganite diplomat. Diplomats, before you sits Maria Sanchez, Queen of Titan and Rhea.”

A smile played upon Queen Maria’s lips. She stood up, saying, “Welcome, allies, to the Saturn Kingdom.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

A spy stood secluded in an unlit corridor, watching in the darkness. He stood by one of the huge floor to ceiling windows, this one revealing the barren landscape of Titan. He watched the dust fly about, the methane pools bubble, the redness of the sky. Even Saturn itself, appearing through the thick clouds looked red through the methane. Saturn appeared to be so huge here. He saw it’s fabled rings. As he looked through the window, the redness of the exterior played upon his face.

It would be hard to describe the spy. He was not spying on anyone at the time, nor would he have been recognized as a spy by anyone, bar one diplomat. It was not Horizon Aida he was spying on. It was Morgan Interstellar. Though he spied on Morgan Interstellar, he was a Morganite, and by most accounts a good one too. Until recently he’d been a talent at Morgan Interstellar itself, but now he was a traveler, and, of course, a spy. He was waiting for someone. He was waited for a Morganite, not to spy on him, but instead to give him information that he’d stolen from other Morganites. He clutched the data disk in his gloved hands.

The spy, this nameless individual, had been waiting some twenty minutes now. He was waiting for the Morganite audience with the Queen of Saturn to end. Apparently it had now, as the man he was waiting for emerged from the darkness of the unlit corridor. It was Mr. Sym. “Are you waiting for me, Ki?”

“Yes, Mr. Sym, I was waiting for you. I have the data-disk you requested. It has all the information on the Morganite military. Soldiers of God forces are included. You see, the data-disk has the full unit strengths, as well as their locations. Invaluable stuff to any of the company’s enemies.” The spy handed the diplomat the data-disk.

“Thank you, Ki, is there anything else?”

“Yes, it sees the esteemed CEO has ordered a full military assault on Capella. It’ll probably work very well…”

“And?”

“Well, you might make a few more credits with that information. Sell it to the Terrans, I mean.”

“Ki, I will not sell the Terrans a bit of information. I have no respect for them. Whereas I have respect for Sheng-ji’s bunch, I have no respect for these Earthers. Supporting a terrorist company and the like. I may be a traitor, but I have a little bit more sense than to make any deals with those Terrans. The Hiverians, on the other hand, have made themselves a real empire, a whole culture.” Mr. Sym turned about to leave and return to his quarters.

“Um, one more thing, Mr. Sym,” said the spy, “it seems Ku of the Intelligence is clearing Morgan Interstellar of leaks, you see. About 20 'leaks' have been destroyed.”

“I know,” said Mr. Sym. A flash of intense anger appeared in his dark eyes. It unnerved the spy slightly. “How much were you paid, Ki, to reveal the plans of Mr. Binstead?”

“Excuse me?” asked the spy. Mr. Sym suddenly lunged out angrily, grabbing at the spy’s throat. The rage in his face was clearing evident. It looked almost inhuman.

“I’m not as gullible as you think, Ki. I have my contacts. They paid you to inform on Mr. Binstead. How high was the price for your information, Ki?” The grip tightened around Ki’s throat.

As Ki began to loose consciousness, he finally blurted out under the pressure, “Several hundred credit bars, Mr. Sym…I can’t remember how many…” The spy’s neck snapped, and he hung limp in the hands of Mr. Sym, outstretched against the window, the red reflection from the window creating a ghostly silhouhette. Mr. Sym looked at the console across the room, displaying a holo map of Horizon Aida. He needed to get rid of Ki quickly. He decided to head for the central heating rooms.

About twenty minutes later, he prepared a message to the Greater Hive Empire, asking how much the complete strengths of the Morganite army would be worth to them.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[GeneralTacticus]

Laekdaemon Central

Menelaus sat in his conference room with his five chief advisors and looked at each of them in turn. “I don’t suppose there is any good news to report?” he asked wearily. Intel Director Katrina spoke first. “None to speak of, sir, since the Spartan reply.” She said, “The Hive has rebuked our offers, though I suppose it might be awkward if they had accepted it. Frankly, I think we should never have sent it.”
“As much as I agree, Katrins, there is nothing we can do about it now. Anyway, yes, the Spartan reply. Now that our technicians have fixed our transmission equipment we can respond back again. What about Lysander?”
At this Katrina lapsed into gloom. “His band of followers is growing by the day. Apparently many people are starting to forget the horrors of the war with Sparta, and are starting to think we should never have stopped.” She replied. “It’s difficult to keep them all under surveillance. Frankly, I think we need a Self-Aware colony to do the job for us.”

Production Chief Raymond broke in at that point. “That’s all very well, but you know as well as I do that we haven’t got the resources. It would take ages to program everything, and even more to install it. Plus everyone would know what we’re doing, and Lysander would definitely raise a storm of objections.”

To this Menelaus replied, “There may be a way around that. We can simply upgrade our information networks and then install the program. From what we’ve learnt, it would seem that the Saturn Kingdom has a Self-Aware Colony of it’s own, which they aren’t using. Perhaps we can persuade them to transmit the required algorithms to us…”
“Anyway, back to business. Zisor, what is the state of your occupation?”

“The colony seems to be running smoothly.” Replied the Psych Chaplain. “Apart from Lysander and Co. everyone seems to be fairly happy and productive. However, I was to raise a new request. Increased Psych spending could, in my view, potentially increase the number of new talents by at least 25%.”
“Right, I’ll consider that. Any budget changes will however have to come up in a month’s time.” Menelaus replied.

“Why?” was the unified response.

“Because in one week’s time I will declare a Planetary Assembly to be in operation. It will be elected every two years and the first election for it will take place in 3 weeks. It will have the power to pass, block or amend legislation, but it will require a ¾ majority to override my decisions.”

There was some astonished murmuring, but no actual objections, so Menelaus went on. “Raymond, what is the state of colony’s production?”

“Well, sir, it’s been coming along nicely, however there are two projects I would like you to approve, especially if you’re going to try and get a Self-Aware Colony. I would like you to authorise the construction of a new factory complex a New Antium, which could increase production there by up to 32%. Also, our scouts have recently discovered a large mineral deposit on the moon you’ve called Atreus Prime. I would like to send a team up there to begin mining.”

“Approved.” Was the flat response.

“Warmaster Leinin, what is the status of our military?”

“It’s mostly as it was before, though our factories have produced another 150 rover chassis, which we can begin fitting with armour and weapons once we decide what we need them for. Our factories have produced an additional 67 of the new Trajan armour suits, and we have also produced 36 new needlejets. We have about five hundred new volunteers for the troops, about fifty or so for officers. The Starfleet is just a few scout ships, but we do have some ground-based weaponry that could deal some wicked damage.
On the subject of scout ships, I would like permission to send some to begin exploring the surrounding systems. They are mostly unexplored, and you never know what you might find.”

“Once again, permission granted.” Menelaus replied. “Is that all?” he enquired.

“Actually sir,” said Leinin, “Further on the Starfleet, I think we need to formulate some trading deals with the Drones and Morganites as quickly as we can. The sooner we can get a proper fleet built the better.”

“I agree, and I will attend to that after this meeting.” Responded Menelaus. “Dismissed.”

Menelaus walked back to his quarters and loaded up his network link. He entered his message program and began to dictate replies to both the Spartans and the Hive.

Encrypted Diplomatic Transmission

To: Emperor Yang, Greater Hive Empire

From: Menelaus, Supreme Leader of the Laekdaemon Cadre

Emperor Yang,

With regards to what your Foreign Minister said in his reply to me, I have not ‘entered a stranger’s quarters and demanded he serve me’. I realise I was perhaps somewhat abrupt, but assumed that you would know of our faction and acted accordingly. In any case, I was simply offering a deal. If you choose to reject it that is your decision.

However, due to changed circumstances I am afraid that any further negotiations I have with you will be somewhat limited. I am unable to either request or offer military assistance in any way, though I doubt much would have been possible anyway. With regards to your curiosity about our history, I have transmitted a brief history of our faction since it’s founding. Though as I have said relations between us are highly unlikely to be very close, I hope we can at least live in peace.

Regards,

Menelaus

Encrypted Diplomatic Transmission

To: Colonel Kessel, Spartan Federation

From: Menelaus, Supreme Leader of the Laekdaemon Cadre

Colonel Kessel,

I have found your response to us entirely reasonable and agreeable. I am grateful for your offer of protection and find your stipulation that we neither accept nor give military aid to your enemies acceptable. I must admit that I did not expect you to be this accommodating. So:
We agree fully with all of the points you made in your message. We would however like to clear up a point with you, which is that we might be interested in expanding into neighbouring star systems. Would you have any objections to this? Finally, we are somewhat in need of a larger Starfleet. Would it be possible for you to transfer a few warships to us? You may name your own price.

Regards,

Menelaus

Encrypted Diplomatic Transmission

To: CEO Morgan, Morgan Interstellar,
President Kirsty Adams, Free Drone Republic

From: Menelaus, Supreme Leader of the Laekdaemon Cadre

CEO Morgan and President Kirsty Adams,

I have received a reply from your allies the Spartans, and found Kessel to be very agreeable. I an understand you waiting for their reaction first, but now that they have, please answer our message. We are somewhat in need of a larger Starfleet, and there are numerous deposits of valuable minerals throughout our solar system. We would be willing to allow your mining corporations access to them in return for some of the commodities we need, these being industrial machinery, weapons, spacecraft.
We await your response.

Regards,

Menelaus

* * *

Once this was finished, he yawned and strode into an adjacent room for a shower. After that, he strode towards his bed and soon slept.

[GeneralTacticus]

Laekdaemon Central

Major Lysander strode through the corridors of Laekdaemon central, seething with rage. Menelaus was going even further than expected! He had not only offered peace to the Spartans, who it was the duty of the Cadre to destroy, but had also destroyed any possibility of an alliance with their best hope, the Greater Hive Empire!

Lysander’s mouth set in a thin hard line. There was only one thing to be done in such circumstances; Menelaus would have to be removed and Lyasander would take over. Though most of the Cadre was loyal to their treacherous leader, Lysander would make them see the truth. First, though, he needed the aid of Emperor Yang.

He walked to the communications room from which messages were sent. One of the officers there look at him questioningly, but Lysander showed the man his ID and waved him aside. He then went into one of the private sealed alcoves and began to dictate his own message. Encrypted once already to prevent anyone else reading it. No-one must see it but Emperor Yang.

Encrypted Transmission

To: Emperor Yang, Greater Hive Empire

From: Major Lysander, Laekdaemon Cadre

Your Imperial Majesty, Emperor Yang,

I have just learned with great anger that Menelaus has not only been conspiring with the Spartans, he has also rejected any possibility of an alliance with you against our common enemies the Spartans. He thinks we should live with the Spartans in peace. I do not. The Spartans are evil, the have persecuted and attacked us since we began, yet we have still endured. They cannot be trusted or bought off. The assassination of our former leader during a period of cease-fire is proof of this. Therefore, I most humbly suggest that you begin taking whatever measures you can to help me replace Menelaus. Once this is achieved, I will set the Cadre on it’s proper course: allied with you, to destroy the Spartans for ever. They must be destroyed.

Yours in hope,

Major Lysander

[Mr. President]

Encrypted Diplomatic Transmission
From: The Office of the President of the Free Drone Republic
To: Menelaus, Supreme Leader of the Lakedaemon Cadre


Dear Sir,

We cordially invite yourself or a representative to our capital of Avalon, on Vega Prime, to formalize our new relationship. We hope this is the beginning of a long and mutually beneficial friendship.

End Transmission

[GeneralTacticus]

Encrypted Diplomatic Transmission

TO: The Office of the President of the Free Drone Republic

FROM: Menelaus, Supreme Leader of the Laekdaemon Cadre

I appreciate your rapid response to our message and am accepting your offer. I will be despatching one of my diplomats to your capital to set up an Embassy, and will also be coming myself, although there are other issues on my own planet that I must also deal with. However, I hope you do not object if I request to bring along a military bodyguard. There are, unfortunately, members of my faction who would very much like to see me dead.

Regards,

Menelaus

[Silence]

First Solider of God Fleet OOB
4 Superdreadnoughts
20 dreadnoughts
40 battleships
100 battlecruisers
120 heavy cruisers
120 light cruisers
100 light cruiser escorts
200 destroyers
200 destroyer escorts
10 Fleet Carriers
20 Escort Carriers
20 Light Carriers



Capella
[b] First Soldier of God Fleet flagship Grace of the Lamb
Operation Flaming Sword

Space all around the systems outskirts flared to life as the 1st Fleet of the Soldiers of God came crashing into realspace. 954 ships strong it had about 1/3 the of the Conclave Fleet in it. The military machine existed only by the low infrastructure that did not deal with military and was one of the primary reasons why the government was in debt and using Morgan to help steady the Believers until they could get their budget into the positive numbers again. It was a powerful force yet it was still outnumbered by the Terran Alliance Fleet in the system. As the ships broke up into 4 equally numbered Task Forces, Taskforce 1,2,3, and 4. They sent a message out to the commanding Admiral of the TAF in system. Surrender or Die . As to be expected the only reply was the same order to leave the system or they will open fire. The 4 taskforces were traveling in a square
formation. Surprise had been total. One of the enemy patrolling taskforces was near the opposite side of the system and it would be a couple of hours before it got into range of the SoGs. Admiral Lisa Demover looked at the holoplot, the other TAF taskforce was
moving to meet up with the other one, while the one that was guarding the planet stayed. Already fighters on both sides were being launched and it would appear that the battle would be mostly one of fighter combat. She turned and gave orders, the SoG fleet will form to be like a giant square with each taskforce holding one side of it. Then she ordered the escorts to form a sphere formation around the square, as destroyers and light cruisers moved to interlock their defensive fire. That set the fleet accelerated to meet with the patrolling Task Forces. Looking at the orbits and acceleration of the moving warships, she figured it would be about 1 hour of acceleration, 2 hours of fighter strikes on both sides, and then the fleets would finally be in range. The SoG fleet would have to engage both the taskforces at the same time since the SoG fleet was going to have to take a detour to move away from the orbital defense that the were around Terra Nova. She turned and sent a copy of her plans to Admiral Kincaid.

1 hour later

Sigma Squadron
Sigma 5
currently engage with TAF task force “Beta”
Operation Flaming Sword

The pilot of the craft called Sigma 5 gave a quick prayer of thanks to the Lord as a missile left his fighter and blow up on one of the TAF counterparts. The TAF were putting strong pressure on the SoG pilots, who were trying to advance foreword to the targets
and keep the number of TAF fighters making it past them to a minimum. It was all a matter of numbers, and velocities and inertia. Those that did make past the fighters were being fired upon by the CLE and DEs that were letting lose tremendous anti-fighter and missile fire. But with the law of numbers being in, even some of the missiles and shots the TAF fired were bound to hit a target. Sigma five cursed when he saw on his long range
scanners one of the green icons for the destroyer Pastor Masterson simply vanish from the screen among a blob of red icons. Getting back on the swing of things, he got orders from Sigma 1 that they were being move to support Hippo Squadron’s advance on a battlecrusier that just got in range. He turned his fighter around and accelerate and formed up with his squadron mates and cranked it up till they were going a significant speed. They entered the defensives of the enemy screen and immediately fighters were starting to die. But they zipped past the escorts and began their attack run on the battlecruisers. As they were slowing down Sigma 7 and Hippo 3 bought it. The destroyer that Sigma was assigned to attack was throwing ungodly amount of fire at him. Good Lord, is every turret on that beast aiming at me Sigma 5 thought as he swerved his
craft every which was from Sunday. He finally got a sound that make pleasure to his ears a lock on, the computer had finally unscrambled the ECM that the fleet was throwing out and managed to lock on the 2 plasma torpedoes that he had under his craft. He gave the order and both of them fired along with the rest of his squadron. He immediately cranked up the juice of his fighter and zoomed out of there along with the rest of the surviving members of the squadron. He zoomed away from the TAF ships and had a dog leg course back to the carrier that he launched from to repair and rearm. He check his readouts as he
made into safety, the destroyer that Sigma targeted took out several of the torpedoes but at least 4 of them hit turning the ship into scrap. Hippo Squadron manage to place 2 torpedoes but the battlecrusier was still operational. None of Hippo made it back. As he was waiting for the Sigma 3 to move into the barn, he saw a object move across the screen real fast and just hit Sigma 3 blowing out. From the angle it had to been fired from one of the TAF outer ships taking aim at one of the escort carriers that were moved up to the front of the battle to help speed up the process of rearming and repairing fighters, he realized that the TAF and the main battlefleet were in range.

1 hour later

Solider of God destroyer squadron #17
Solider of God destroyer Pastor Olson
Currently engaged with elements of TAF taskforce Alpha

Commander Chuck Wilson wiped the sweat from his brow as the DD squadron 17 plunged into battle again. His ship was on the outer flanks of the taskforce 3, where the tricky TAF managed to use decoys to get 2 battlecrusier and their escorts passed the
screen. Directly behind #17 was the fleet carrier Blessed Angel of Vengeance and its CAP. The two battlecruisers and the 4 destroyers that were escorting them loomed large on the main viewscreen. The 8 destroyers were in a arrowhead formation led by the heavy cruiser Dauntless which was the only member of the cruiser squadron that was also escorting the carrier to be in the area when orders were to move the rest of the CA squadron up to help press an attack on a wavering flank of the TAF taskforce Alpha.

“Commander, you are to take out the 2 destroyers designated Phi, and Gamma ” Captain Thomas Harris said to him over the ship to ship communication array.

“Roger that sir, helm break off to engage, weapons I want a firing solution for our torpedoes ready 5 minutes ago. All gunners this is the captain fire at Phi and [/I] Gamma [/I]. The lights in the bridge dimmed as the chaos batteries on the destroyer opened fire spitting death at the other 2 destroyers which were being so kind to engage him. As both sides got closer exchanger fire, beams of chaos, and gauss shots criss
crossed each other. One of the gauss shots drove deep into the turret 3 killing the occupants. Several of the chaos beams scored hits on Phi which was leaking air and its hull was looking like a lunar surface.

“Skipper we got lock on target Gamma !” The weapons officer shouted over the intercom. The weapons and tactical department were further away from the bridge in case they got hit so the ship could still fight.

“Fire” Wilson said, as the 2 torpedoes fired a shot from the crippled Phi hit and penetrated to the bridge. Wilson was blown out of his chair and blacked out. The 2 torpedoes kept on course and impacted directly on the evading destroyer’s drive section, tearing it off and killing the destroyer in the process. Phi ’s weapons fire simply died as string of explosion started to rip across its battered hull. The last gauss shot had put to much pressure on the hull and ripped it apart causing a massive chain reaction that ended the crippled ship. Pastor Olson ’s skipper came about and saw the massive damage done to his ship, half the weapons systems were down and felt something drip on his leg, he looked up and saw that he was missing a arm. Thankfully the modern medical devices that were in his body kept the pain from being overbearing were still working. He grimaced when he dragged himself into a working consul and plugged his command codes in and saw that most of the squadron and the cruiser were engaged in a life and death struggle between one of the battlecruisers but the other one was going to make it through
the carrier. He hit the intercom and said, “Engineering, give me full power to drives, and transfer navigation to the bridge.”

He waited till the consul gave him the navigation command, he locked in the battlecrusier and said, “All hands abandoned ship.” He then moved full weapons power into the ECM jammers. That much jamming would fry the ECM after a certain while and not having any weapons would be suicidal. As the crew left the ship in lifeboats, Wilson stayed on the dead bridge, saying over and over again the Battle Hymn of the Templar. As the battlecrusier realized what was going on it tried to change its course, though both sides knew that it would take a direct hit to stop the speeding hulk of a ship. The battlecrusier manage to present a slow target profile as much as it could and fired every weapon it had against the destroyer. The crew in the lifeboats were amazed to watch as only one beam hit the destroyer shearing off 20 percent of its hull. But in the end the ship connected and
the explosion was large enough to fry some of the circuits on the carrier. In the end Commander Wilson had achieved his orders.


In the end the two TAF taskforces were reduced as the Soldiers of God tactical planners planed for. Elements of both Alpha and Beta made their way into the belt to hide and repair, and to Terra Nova to meet with the planet’s defenders. The SoG fleet immediately moved back into sphere formation and began to repair its ships while they waited further orders from Morgan.

Butchers bill
Soldiers of God
5 battleships destroyed
19 battlecruisers
30 heavy cruisers
12 light cruisers
40 light cruisers escorts (they stooped most of the fighter attacks but took a tremendous beating when the two sides got into firing range. These ships are not equipped to fight the battleline)
80 destroyers and destroyer escorts
2 Fleet carriers
1 light carrier
30% fighter losses

TAF force designate Alpha
80% destroyed or mission killed

TAF force designate
Beta 70% destroyed or mission killed

Special notes: TAF knows the identity of the Soldiers of God forces, presumably they don’t know that these ships are under contract with the Morgan government and are not currently flying the flag of the Conclave.

[History Guy]

They Might Be Giants

Capella System, Skies Above Terra Nova, Simualtenous to Soldier of God Attack

Admiral Antonio Vallachi, overall commander of the Morganite Space Fleet, was sitting in his rather comfortable dark leather chair on the bridge of his flagship, The Hammer. He poured himself another glass of a fine red wine his friend Marvin had presented him with the day before. In this way, Antonio Vallachi prepared himself for battle. Battle it would most certainly be, long and violent battle. The evening previous, CEO Nwabudike Morgan had sent him the orders to strike at Capella. “If Capella can be taken and held,” Morgan had said to him, “then we have the upper hand against the aggressors. Capella is so far from Sol that it’ll take them forever to reinforce their armies there, and they most certainly will fall. If Capella falls in such a fashion, as I am sure it will with you, Antonio, at the helm of my navy, then we shall have full case to sue for peace, and peace is what we want most of all, of course.” Antonio Vallachi would give CEO Morgan his victory, he knew it in his heart. Not only had he taken with him the whole of the Morganite Space Corps, but he had in transports all of 2nd Corps, much of 3rd Corps, and the Soldier of God Corps. Furthermore, the Soldier of God fleet was also present. Leaving the Soldier of God fleet to it's own tactics, Vallachi had taken his forces and divided them into two seperate taskforces: Alpha and Omega. Whereas Aplha would hit head-on, Omega would move in on the flanks to ensure that few Terrans made an escape.

Young Commodore Nicholson came up to the bridge. He was smoking a small cigar, preparing himself for battle in his own way. To each his own. “Well, Admiral Vallachi, it’s nearly the appointed time, sir. Terra Nova is in sight, as well as three Terran squadrons. Shall you give the order for the attack?”

Scratching his temple, Admiral Vallachi replied, “Yes. I shall.” He walked up and advanced slowly to the door of the bridge. He’d have to get this battle finished right. It had to be won. “Will you follow me to the Command Nexus, Commodore?” As he left, the Admiral made the signal to the fleet to attack. He punched into the keyboard of the ship’s computer a message, and then he punched the send button. The message read ‘FULL CIRCLE’.

As Admiral Antonio Vallachi walked down the corridor to the Command Nexus, he remembered the sight of the Soldiers of God forces preparing for action the day before, just prior to boarding the transports. The preacher prepared them not with a simple battle prayer but instead an excerpt from the ‘Good Book’. Antonio Vallachi recognized it (he was, after all, a good Catholic) to be from the twenty-sixth chapter of the book of Isaiah. “O Lord our God, other lords beside thee have dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name.”

The hatch of the Command Nexus hissed open and the Admiral walked in, the Commodore at his side. The officers all saluted him. He felt the ship suddenly slow down, and he saw on the screen the approaching planet. It looked so huge to him at the time. How in heaven’s name was he to conquer that beast? “They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Captain of the corvette Hell To Pay was a tall, well built Australian, Gerald Trumbull by name. He watched as the Terran taskforce came into view. It was a magnificent sight. Admiral Kerensky’s best seemed to be decked out on parade before him. Carriers, battlecruisers, transports, corvettes, all sitting in space before him. And flecked among them were orbital platforms, all in a row around Terra Nova, about a dozen or so, Captain Trumbull thought. Closer to his ship were civilian supply ships and luxury ships and the like. Terra Nova, Capella was a great tourist spot, as Trumbull noted in his mind, for their spas. Just a useless bit of trivia, he thought to himself. Soon those would be Morganite spas, eh?

Suddenly, a large, unarmed supply ship zoomed up into the range of the rail guns of Trumbull’s ship. With disgust, Trumbull saw the insignia painted across the ship’s bow. This was an Interplanetary Enterprises ship, and a big one at that. Just sitting there, like a duck in the water, waiting to be shot.

After a few minutes, Trumbull finally shouted, “Alright, Pour it into them!” The entire group of rail guns within range of the supply ship burst into action, punching giant holes in the weak InEn vessel. Within minutes it was completely destroyed. Trumbull felt pleased with himself.

“Onward, now,” he heard the Bos’un call from over the ship’s transmitter, “Onward boys.” More rail gun fire tore an escort ship in half. This was going well, wasn’t it? It was Trumbull’s first time in action, and already he’d taken down two small enemy craft. He watched the civilian ships before him scatter, and a sense of pleasure came over him. Trumbull wouldn’t have been able to explain it if he tried, but he liked the feeling. Another shot struck the side of a small supply ship, sending it spiraling away. It was then that Trumbull’s own ship took its first shot, tearing into the bow of the vessel, cutting through the steel of the nose of the vessel. Damn it all, he thought. He could imagine the engineers and bowmen struggling to get away from the fire up there now.

“Return the fire of that vessel,” he said, motioning his hand towards the small escort vessel that had delivered his ship it’s first wound. “Put all our guns on it.” Every gun in Trumbull’s vessel was suddenly fixed on the Terran escort. One volley tore the enemy ship apart. Trumbull felt much more at ease after that. The Terrans were advancing toward the Morganite wave now. The surprise of the Morganite attack was vanishing by the minute. The Terrans had been caught with their pants down thrice now, but they wanted their revenge.

It was then that Trumbull noticed first the orbital platforms. “Blast,” he said, suddenly, realizing that everyone else had taken special pains to take those things down first. At least one was aimed at his vessel. “1st Lieutenant Knoescher!” he called.

“Sir?” answered the fresh-faced Lieutenant, emerging from one of the cubicles nearby.

“Tell your gun crews to aim at that orbital platform, I want it taken out completely.”

“Yes sir, is that all sir?”

“Yes, Lieutenant, that is all.” The Lieutenant gave a nod in affirmation, and then a salute, and hurried off to his station. “Blast,” said Captain Trumbull again, as he watched the weapon tubes on the orbital platform fix their aims at Hell To Pay, “Blast.” Something long and thin emerged from the orbital platform, increasing in speed, aimed directly at Captain Trumbull’s vessel. It was recognized immediately as a ship-buster. “Oh hell,” Trumbull said. Before any action could be taken against it, the buster slammed into the bow of the corvette, vaporizing it in seconds. The flames shot up along the ship, in seconds reached the bridge, tearing through the metal plating, ripping up the walls. It was like watching a sheet of paper quickly vanish when set aflame. Before Trumbull could move from the path of the on-coming flames he too vanished into the inferno.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

“The corvette Hell To Pay has been destroyed. No lifeboats launched.” Admiral Vallachi sighed. Within five minutes of attacking, Vallachi had lost nearly twenty vessels, but he had taken far more Terran ships down. To add to this, over half of Terra Nova’s orbital platforms had been destroyed. “We are being hailed by the enemy commander again, Admiral Vallachi.”

“Ignore him.” The Admiral then tried to remember who his enemy was. The name came to him quickly. “Admiral George Manson,” he said to himself, reading the information from his small personal computer, “Cocky, but not stupid. A veteran in battle. One of Kerensky’s better admirals, a good tactician. Born on Io, a moon of Jupiter, Manson graduated from the U.S. Naval Institute at Annapolis, Maryland. Hmmm…must have been from a fairly wealthy family then…” Now that same Admiral Manson was hailing the Morganites. Reading the description of Manson made him look all the more dangerous to Vallachi. An impressive fellow, the Admiral admitted.

“The battleship Lady Morgan has been mortally struck. Escape pods are being launched, and our transports are hurrying to recover survivors.”

The Admiral focused his gaze on the battleship Lady Morgan, one of his best and largest ships, commanded by a personal friend of the Admiral’s. If Vallachi knew his friend well enough, he knew that he would not see him again. The mortally wounded vessel’s escape pods shot away from the main body of the ship, and the Admiral expected it to float away, lifeless, but it did not. Instead, for one last time, the reactors flared, and at full speed the Lady Morgan tore through the heavens towards one of several huge Terran battlecruisers. With a tremendous explosion, the battleship rammed into the side of the Terran vessel, vanishing completely within the belly of the larger ship, leaving a huge, gaping wound on the dreadnought. As soon as the battleship had vanished into the battlecruiser, a small, smoking Morganite destroyer escort made it’s way into the hole created by the battleship, and vanished into the darkness. Within seconds, the hull of the battlecruiser exploded. The battlecruiser wheeled out of control, falling over onto its side like a beached whale, revealing the huge wound it’s side. It looked like a gutted fish. It was a dying ship.

The words of Isaiah came back to the Admiral. “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.”

The battlecruiser spiraled into another battlecruiser, and locked onto its side. There they sat, motionless, like conjoined twins. The undamaged battlecruiser fired away, increasing the Morganite casualty list, whereas the damaged ship, the dying twin, burned away into nothingness, melting to the twin ship’s very side. A Morganite battlecruiser came up alongside and blew holes into the rail gun sector of the undamaged battlecruiser, receiving wounds as well. It was the clash of the titans. “Come my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be over-past.”

The pulse cannon sectors of the Morganite dreadnought glared, tearing chunks out of the bridge section of the second Terran battlecruiser, ripping the skin of the monstrous vessel off, peeling it away like the skin of an onion. Finally, a shot tore right through the skin of the vessel, blowing the whole forward bulkhead off the bridge, and revealing for a few minutes the horror beneath. Admiral Vallachi saw shapes in gray and red, shapes that were crushed against walls, and shapes that were floating into space. With horror, the Admiral realized that these were Terran soldiers, officers. These were dead officers. Some of them lacked limbs, heads, some were blown in half, floating through space with the wreckage of the ships. It was the most horrible sight Admiral Vallachi had ever beheld. “For behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth shall also disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

ENCRYPTED TRANSMISSION
TO: GENERAL MARCHAND
FROM: ADMIRAL VALLACHI

First attack phase complete, standing by for second phase.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[Mr. President]

Main Police Station, Orchard Valley

Sergeant Adam Gibson observed the station television half-interestedly. The news was showing galactic dignitaries arriving at the Hall of Lights in New Seattle. The President and Prime Minister were shaking hands with people, no doubt exchanging meaningless pleasantries. He recognized a Gaian senator from an event he had been assigned to the year before.

“Hey.” Gibson turned to see his partner approaching, holding a bundle of papers.

“Alan.” The sergeant acknowledged the younger man. “What’ve you got there?”

“The usual suspects,” Sergeant Alan Miller replied. “You’re not going to like this.”

Gibson leafed through the printouts, profiles of known terrorists and members of isolationist militias. Most of them were in prison or under surveillance. Those who were not had last been seen on the other side of the world: one at the South Pole, another on far-off Fire Island. None were credible suspects in the attempted bomb attack on the Spartan embassy.

“Damn,” he said. Looking up at Miller, he said, “Forensics says the bomb materials came from Horelson.”

“Poachers too?” Miller shook his head incredulously. The Firaxian authorities had a running problem with illicit hunting, mining and logging in the Horelson Nature Preserve. Poachers risked their lives running boats from secluded beaches to the north of New Seattle into the icy arctic, seeking places to fell protected trees and trap native wildlife. Satellite reconnaissance had cut down on the incidence of illegal activity, but some were still slipping through the net.

Gibson folded his hands on the cluttered desk. Too much paperwork and too little time, and people making bombs in their garage to throw at Spartans. “Most isolationists are greens, aren’t they?”

The younger man smiled wryly. “Maybe poachers are the least worst of their options.”

“Least worst,” Gibson chuckled. “All right, let’s go have a chat with Antoja. Where was his last known address?”

“Mitcham Road,” Miller said. “You’d think if you were getting paid by the Peacekeeping Environmental Concern, you could afford a house, at least a studio apartment.”

“He spends it all on those stickers those hippies living in caves put on their heads,” Gibson replied. Both officers laughed as they walked towards the door.

[Frankychan]

Spartan Border
Hive Diplomatic ship Bringer of Peace

The two Hive frigates and the diplomatic ship hovered near the Spartan border. Their ominous shapes clashed with the sparkling stars surrounding them.

Ambassador M'rock sat in the cabin of the Hive vessel, waiting for the Spartan response. Just as he reached to sip from his tea, the pilots voice blared over the intercom.

"Ambassador, you have a message from Sparta. I'm sending it to your datapad."

M'rock reached for his pad and pressed the 'Open' icon.

After reading it, his fur rippled. They wanted a direct link with the Emperor, something that he couldn't possibly authorize. Smoothing his mane, he punched the intercom to the pilot.

"Pilot, transmit a message to Hive command."

"Yessir."
* * *
Encrypted Visual Message
To: Minister Zell
From: Ambassador M'rock, Spartan Border

Minster Zell, I have urgent news from the Spartan border. The Spartan's supreme leader, Colonel Marcus Kessel, wants direct contact with the beloved Emperor. They will not go through an intermediatary. I await your response sir.
* * *
--------------------
Hive Patrol Ship Darkdance

".....Repeat Cargo vessel 1 under attack....Spartan Fusion weap..."

The patrol crafts captain listened to the distress call in the bridge, surrounded by Hive personnel.

"Wait, repeat that last blurb." The Xiero commanded.

Listening to it again, she shook her head. A technician turned to the captain.

"Sir, it sounded like they said 'Spartan'".

The Xiero looked at the human with contempt. "You weren't authorized to talk, Lieutenant. But you are right, they did say 'Spartan'".

Lifting her right index finger, she motioned forward.

"Set a course for the last known location of the transmission. Engage cloak and dampen all unnecessary lifesupport. I want to know what happened to our cargo ship."
--------------------

Hive Prime
Recreation Commons

Minister Zell walked through the scarce gardens of the Throneworld. The stone walkway was flanked by intricate rock formations and scattered lichen. Zell read a datapad containing the recent messages sent to the Empire.

The Hive communications ship was in the Sol System, but the Terrans would be handled by Shirlak and Ehud.

Zell continued to walk, passing by another Hive citizen. The citizen, a Tarlak, bowed to Zell as he passed.

The interesting messages were the responses from the Laekdaemon Cadre. Responses--plural! The first message was form the Cadre's leader, Menelaus. It was the usual diplomatic message that basically said 'Thanks for Nothing'. Zell smiled as he recalled what he transmitted to them in the first place.

The second message was the interesting one. It was from the other faction within the Cadre's government, the ones who wanted to continue war with the Spartans.

Zell sent their message to Yang a short time ago. The Emperors response was short and was to be sent to the sender, a Major Lysander. The Emperor also told Zell to assemble a group of agents ready to be sent to Lysander if need be. He had said that if it was true that the Cadre was split into pro- and anti-Spartan elements, it was the duty of the Hive to support the anti-Spartan factions.

Zell linked up to communications.

"This is Minister Zell, stand by to transmit messages."

The voice on the other end, impassive, replied.

"Whenever you are ready, Minister Zell."

* * *
To: Major Lysander of Laekdaemon Cadre
From: Minster Zell of Greater Hive Empire

Your position is one that the Emperor finds very intriguing. We are beginning preparations to aid you in your fight against those who would aid your people's enemies as well as ours. You will have our support. We will keep in contact with you.
* * *

* * *
To: Ambassador M'rock
From: Minister Zell

Tell the Spartans that Emperor Yang is unavailable and you will take his place in negotiations there. You are also to stay there until further notice.
* * *

[GeneralTacticus]

Laekdaemon Central

Major Lysander smiled when he received the signal he'd been waiting for. After transmitting his message to Emperor Yang he had infected the Cadre networks with a virus that allowed him to monitor and edit any transmissions to or from the GHE. He had just discovered that Yang had at last replied. He then settled down in front of his own netork node and began dictating a reply.

Encrypted Diplomatic Transmission

From: Major Lysander, Laekdaemon Cadre

To: Emperor Yang, GHE

Dear Emperor Yang,

Your apparent willingness to help me is much appreciated. You can be assured of the support of the Cadre once I am able to take over, and any assistance you give me in doing so will be much appreciated.

As an aside, I have been able to find two interesting pieces of information out recently. The first is that Menelaus will be leaving soon to negotiate a treaty with the Free Drone Republic. Obviously I cannot attack him while he is gone, but it would be a good opportunity to build up my power base. Secondly, when Menelaus returns he will proclaim the Cadre to be a democracy and open a Planetary Assembly. While I know and share your distaste for democracy, this provides us with an opportunity to unseat Menelaus by his own laws. As I said, any assistance you grant me will be much appreciated.

Regards,

Major Lysander