(No longer necessary view edit for original post)

(Personal / DS)

    Tim makes his way to the fourth moon of Finley 4.  It was decided that fleet will make their headquarters there, but no real urgency had been made to build the moon up outside of basic housing modules for work crews and those wishing to live there.  His shuttle lands at the only completed super structure on the moon, a large spaceport complex capable of holding dozens of transfer vehicles at the same time.  A desireable feature for moving thousands of personnel off planet and to the ships extremely rapidly.  He walks around the complex taking note of various things.  The underground maglev trains that can shuttle people to and from sites like the currently under construction military academy and headquarters complexes, the future war college and massive training complex, and his favorite feature, the proposed officers training school, a necessity for giving his frigate and cruiser captains the training they'll need, as well as training entire capital ship crews.  A wing of the complex that is completely dedicated to historical battles in human history.  Another wing that has more underground trains ready to have their tunnels completed that will take servicemen and women to their housing.  The overall order and discipline of the people who are already there...  For the first time since arriving at the Distant Stars, Tim feels at home.  His mind drifts off to a vision of large structures and buildings all clustered together.  Pockets of them all over the moon.  He envisions himself flying over the various complexes seeing what they look like when they're finished.  Fresh paint, uniform looks, proudly displaying their names over their main entrances.  Every commander's wish...  A place where recruits are turned into soldiers.  A place where soldiers are turned into a well oiled military machine.  A place where that machine is tuned to become a force to be reconed with.  A place where that force is taught how to deal with any challenge the universe can throw at it...
    "Sir." a man interrupts his daydream like haze.  "Can I show you anything specific?"
    Tim snaps back into reality.  "Hmmm.  Oh.  Um, yes lieutenant.  The facility commander, where can I find him?"
    "He is currently offsight monitoring adjustments being made to the headquarters complex." the lieutenant replies.
    "Adjustments?"
    "Yes sir.  Certain pockets of soil were found to be softer then expected, and rather then waste time bringing in extra equipment and delaying the project until optimal compaction is acquired, the site layout was redesigned to avoid putting buildings on those areas."
    "Who approved the changes?"
    "Ms. Pierce, sir. Citing that she was in charge of Planetary Administration and planning and construction on this moon falls under that so she took it upon herself to sign off on the redesign."
    "Well if my vision is being changed behind my back, I may as well go see what it is now."
    "Yes sir.  Follow me sir.  The headquarters complex is approximately 40 clicks from our present location.  The maglev can get us there in about 5 minutes."
    The two head off to the train that will take them to the work site.  When they board, they sit down and buckle up.  An attendent checks a panel to make sure the lap belts are all connected on the seats registering someone sitting on them.  When she's done she sits in her own seat, buckles up, and presses a button that sends the train down the track into a large airlock.  The door closes behind them, the air is sucked out and the door in front of them opens.  The train then begins it's journey.  It starts off slowly, but steadily gains speed, within a minute, it hits it's cruising speed and the lights lining the tunnel fade to striped blurs.  A few minutes later it begins to slow down and when they near the end, they pass through another airlock and repressurize.  When the train enters the station and stops at the platform, the seatbelts automatically unbuckle letting everyone stand up and exit.
    "Now that's a nice little feature, who came up with that one?" Tim asks.
    "I don't know sir." the lieutenant replies.  "The C.O. is this way."
    Tim is lead to the edge of the station where stairs head up above ground.  Their ID's are both checked and they're given hard hats to wear on the site.  They head up and out onto the grounds and over to a large group of people pointing at different things on construction plans set up on display boards.  The lieutenant walks up to a man and returns to Tim.
    "Sir." he says while he salutes.  When Tim responds in kind he walks off back to the maglev train.
    The man the lieutenant talked to walks over and introduces himself. "Major Berkeley, Fleet Admiral.  Pleasure to meet you."
    "Likewise, I'm sure.  What's all of the hoopla over there for?"
    "Oh you know how it is...  The minute something gets changed from the original plans, people start squabbling like a bunch of little girls."
    "Anything I can help with?"
    "Be my guest.  I doubt you'll have much of an impact other then a photo op.  These guys are civilian contract workers."
    "Yeah well, I'm signing their checks, so if they want to get paid they'll do what I tell them to, when I tell them to do it."
    Tim and Major Berkeley rejoin the group and Tim starts to call the shots on who's doing what and when and sends everyone off to get busy.  He stands there watching as the work site buzzes with activity.  Modules of all shapes and sizes are hoisted into the air and set on top of one another like putting pieces of a jig saw puzzle together, the buildings on the complex begin to take their shapes.  Welders bond the modules together and masons follow behind covering the seams up.  Electricians, plumbers, and carpenters make all of the connections inside and are followed by drywallers who cover the gaps up.  Feeling a sense of accomplishment, he decides to hang around and solve any more disputes that arrive for a little while.  After several hours pass, Tim realizes that work on the site goes on all day and night.  Having withnessed a shift change already, he decides to head back out to space and the comfort of one of the ships.

(DS RP) (Just so yall know Carbon is alive. As well I Its not much.)

"So..then she said, 'You can hog tie me Borus.' And remember she got about 100 pounds on this boy..."

The room erupted in laughter. The officer mess hall was full and merry today. Everyone had a drink in hand.

"Oh God, the look on his face was priceless." another officer manged to say over the laughter.

"That was the last night Borus was with us...wasnt it?" Carbon asked as the noise died down slightly. Several of the officers around nodded. Most still wiping tears away from their eyes.

"Always wonder why he never came back..."

"If she ate him he got off easy." The crown chucked again as one of the officers guestured out the mental image they were all thinking.

Carbon walked over and filled his glass again. Smile on his face, it was time like this he knew that all this was worth it. Snapping out of his daydream and returned back to the group of men describing another daring tell of planetside leaves.

"...so then Craig...."


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

The holoprojector hummed as the star map flashed the same thing over and over.
"Is this the best projection of the timeline as we have?"

"Yes sir, we have factored in possible TDN fleet involvement both on this side of the wormhole and the other. Also factoring in any random Alien surge..."

"And this is all you have to show for it?!?" a holodisk was thrown across the room. "You mean to tell me...us...that your unable to find an acceptable solution?"

"Bu...bu..but...Ive have factor in everything  short of an gravatomic event. Which would be impossible given the current standings. Its unstable anyhow."

"Then you have not done the job correctly...when asked to give ALL possible outcome...it means all."

" Sir there is no sign of it"

Xenon was standing in the bridge of the Osiris, he had his men send probes after the vessle that had Beta on it. He needed to find it and destroy it, but his men couldn't find any traces of it.

" Have we looked for his phase trails?" Xenon asked the man

" Sir, thats nearly imposible to do, and there would be no way to find them now. Too much time has passes"

" Yes, your right" Xenon replied, knowing that there was no way of knowing where the ship had gone.He steped away from the man and moved out of the bridge. He had thought about going to tell Carbon about it, but decided not to since he didnt want all the others to shift thier focas off of the Advent. If it showed up again then he would have to deal with it then. Xenon was walking, not really watching where he was going, when a marine steped in front of him. Xenon stoped quickly as not to run into the man.The marine just stood there looking at him.

"Yes, can i help you?" Xenon asked the man

"I'm here to turn myself in" The man said back

" Turn yourself in for what?" Xenon asked a little puzzled.

" Sir, I'm a member of the Unity's Hand, I want to turn myself in"

Xenon looked at the man in front of him, a normal looking man, nothing standing out on him, not one hint of a terrorist in him

" Well this is intresting" Xenon told the man, as he guestured over a few of the other marines that where standing guard near by.

" Men take this man to the brig, straight to interigation room five, Also call Vlad and tell him that he is needed. Have him meet me down there" Xenon told the men. They quickly grab the man and restrained him. They took him away, and down into the bowles of the ship. Xenon walked quickly to a communication hub on the ship, getting the comm officer on the bridge.

" Send a meassage to Carbon, just had a terrorist turn himself in, going to talk to right now."

" yes sir it will go out"

Xenon made his way down into the ship, Finially reaching the brig. Vlad was waiting for him.

" So what do you plan to do with him?" Vlad asked the Paragon

" Going to talk to him, see what he can tell us" Xenon said back right before he entered the room with the lone man sitting in it.

" So What made you want to turn yourself in?" Xenon asked as he sat down

" The last battle we did, on the Kostra cannon. I saw people around me dieing. And i relized that, im one of the ones killing these people. I'm helping the Advent kill them. I just... I .. I could live with myself. Do you understand sir? I could sit and be at peace knowing that im resposible for killing so many" The man pleaded with Xenon

" Ok, ok. So if you want to keep people from dieing, i need to know everything, That way we can keep more people alive." Xenon said as he opened up a pad of paper. Everything was recorded, video and audio. But Xenon like to write some things down, as it made the person feel like what he was telling him actually mattered, even if it didn't.

" Ok well, when we go to attack the Advent, i was supposed to disable the exo-suits in my crew, Hit them with a E.M.P. grenade that was going to be stuck next to the power supplies. But there are a whole lot of people that are supposed to do all kinds of things."

" Ok like what , and why done you write down the names you know" Xenon said as he handed him the pad of paper and his pen

The man began writing on the pad as quickly as he could, " Well Jason Merch, he is supposed to disable the rapid launcher in the hanger." The man said , writing names down faster then he was saying them.

" Do you know who is in charge" Xenon asked the man

" All i know is all my orders came from a communacator that Elania has in her truck by her bunk. All the trasmissions came from........"

The man sat there looking straight ahead, staring at the wall in front of him. Drool started to come out of his mouth as he continued his contest with the wall. Xenon looked at the wall, then back at the man. The he sprang to action, racing out into the hall way and grabing one of the helments off of one of the marines. He ran back inside and put it on the man. When he did the man fell over on the table in front of him, the helmet fell off of his head.

" Damn it!" Xenon yelled out, Vlad came racing into the room

" What happened!" Vlad asked Xenon

" They scrabled his mind, he's braind dead now." Xenon said as he picked up the helmet and threw it against the wall.

" Damn, what do we do now" Vlad asked

" We take this list and we get everyone he named on it, though it wouldnt suprise me if they are all in the same state" Xenon said handing Vlad the pad of paper, " Move a fast as you can, go now"

Vlad grabed the pad and took off out of the room taking the marnies with him

Xenon had been so close to finding out who was in charge of the Unity's Hand. It had slipped right though his fingers. He cursed again out loud before leaving the room, the man still laying face down on the table.

    Several Vasari capital ships moved through the gravwell towards the edge making way to jump out. Aside from Skijar, an ancient venerable Evacuator, the ships were new, just off the line. Three Kortuls and three Vulkaros was the rest of the capital fleet composition. Thirty Enforcers, forty Skirmishers, twenty Assailants, and twenty Sentinels joined up at the edge. Lord J'rah was in the flagbridge of Skijar looking over his intel reports to pass the time. With Ryat's and Xenon's agents focused on the next target and with information sharing happening, J'rah was free to send his to less important areas. Like this Roesh character that recently should up to help with supplies. The latest intel report said that he had made contact with an Advent splinter colony. And was on friendly terms. J'rah wondered if Roesh could setup a meeting between him and the Advent in hopes of forming an alliance of sorts. Previous attempts were made with grim results.
    "My Lord we are ready to jump," an aide officer informed him.
    "Proceed," he ordered. And the expedition fleet jumped out towards Portage VI. The vessels shook as they moved like slowly through phase space.
    "Jump degradation, " the ops officer reported. "looks like their tech is still superior to ours."
    "In some ways," Lord J'rah said his face displaying a cold wintery smile as a human would put it, though a human would not be able to interpret as such. The Kris Slavers clan had indeed been ahead in a lot of tech verus the J'kar clan, but the J'kar had allies which helped out a lot and gave them an edge. Which the Kris Slavers would see today. The fleet finally broke through phase space to Portage VI, a moon sized savannah planet. Savannah planets were a treasure to Vasari. Though their birth planet was volcanic, much genetic manipulation was required to make their slaves or servants able to inhabit such areas. Savannah planets had much that the Vasari liked, dry and hot, with only minimal need to adapt to the atmosphere. This created almost a vacation planet were the Vasari could keep their slaves close by and enjoy the enviroment. Of course to keep the potential of rebellion down, only a minimal set of slaves were kept. Which meant that Lord J'rah needed to worry little about human casualties when bombing the planet.
    A small fleet was guarding the planet. One Skirantra and two Kortuls made up the capital ship group with twenty Enforcers, thirty Assailants, ten Lasurak Transports and five Overseers for an escort. The Skirantra was ancient and had fired up its powerful nanobanks and launched an incredible amount of bombers towards Lord J'rah's fleet, followed closely by attending fighters from the Lasuraks. It also formed up six new Assailants with its replicators. The strike craft came screaming at the fleet.
    "Form Chi'n formation," Lord J'rah ordered. Chi'ns were in Vasari ancient times a well disiplined force that had little in the way of ranged weapons and instead used a turtle like formation with locked shields to stop the attacks while allowing them to approach and engage the enemy with their deadly weapons. With strike craft a similar formation idea came about for when you had none of your own strike craft. The three Kortuls, two forward one in back, were in an outside triangle formation surrounding the fleet with the ability to jam strike craft weapons. This came on as the enemy strike craft came into range. Further the Sentinels were inside and had their weapons overcharged to send out a devastating attack upon the strike craft. Vasari fighters died swiftly, unable to withstand the massed firepower of the Sentinels, while the bombers lasted a little longer due to their stronger armour but were unable to do anything worhwhile thanks to the jam strike craft weapons field. With the strike craft threat marginalized, the Lasuarks had switched on their shields which slowed down their strike craft rebuild rate and the Skirantra though not as strongly effected was still only one ship and had wasted it antimatter reserves adding to its fleet, Lord J'rah ordered the fleet into attack formation and to move forward. The three Kortuls and the Enforcers shifted to the front with Skirmishers forming on the wings. Vulkaros and Assailants formed up behind that line with Sentinels spaced out between to deal with the occasional strike craft coming to attack. Skijar brought up the rear by itself.
    Kris Slaver's Assailants were the first to fire. Phase missiles came slashing into the frontline of J'rah fleet. Lord J'rah flinched as his line was awashed with fiery explosions.
    "My lord we have reports that forty to forty five percent of Slaver missiles ignored the shields!" his intel officer reported. J'rah grimaced at this note, for his own missiles only had a ten to fifteen percent chance of ignoring shields. His tech people were working as hard as they could to try and overcome this defect but with all the other projects going on it would be a while. Still he did have a lot invested in armor and structural integrity which made his ships more survivalble then the Slavers, plus with the TEC's help and increased the armor and repair rates even higher and so the frontline weathered the storm of phase missiles with only minimal damage. And they reach the line of enemy Kortuls and Enforcers ready to fight.
    Which brought in the next bit of technology gleaned from TEC scientists. Rapid firing weapons. During the first attacks upon the TEC he had laughed along with many captains at the time at the TEC's use of 'primitive' mass driven weapons. But when the TEC opened up on those 'primitive' weapons at staggering rates of fire which ate up shields and armor at a powerful rate, the Vasari stopped laughing. When he and Lord Ryat formed an alliance he immediately put forth the idea of studying the TEC's ability to fire at such high rates and see if it could be used for Vasari weapons. It was possible through the use of some high end nanotech and though energy weapons could not attain the same rate of fire as mass driven weapons, the rates were phenomial. So when the two frontlines clashed the results were highly in J'kar's favor as they could send four rounds of wave weapons for the Slavers three. Mixed with higher armour and strucutral integrity and just plain more ships the J'kar Enforcers massacared the Slavers Enforcers. The Kortuls sent surges of power to thier weapons with one being a veteran so it knew how to get the most out of the surges. It almost seemed to send out four beams of energy instead of two against the enemy.
    The J'kar Assailants opened up on the enemy Kortuls, and even though they could only go through the shields a little bit, with thier higher rate of fire plus stronger explosives, again thanks to the TEC, they smashed into the Kortuls with a vengence. One Kortul disappeared in a massive fireball that shattered formation it was in. The other fought valiantly, with surges of power sent to its shields to keep them up. The three Kortuls of the J'kar turned upon it as well and smashed down the shields then broke its back. It drifted out the battle, a broken husk. The J'kar Enforcers continued their charge into the mass of enemy Assailants and they fell quickly to powerful attacks. The Skirmishers mean while had flanked the whole conflict and charged into the group of Vasari light carriers and the Overseers. The Skirantra attempted to escape but Skijar fired off a gravity warhead and drastically slowed it down. A Nano-Disassembler warhead followed closely and the capital carrier shuttered under the attack as the Nano-Disassembler not only wrecked havoc on the structural integrity but also disrupted the armour so it was not very effective. This allowed the Assailants to focus on it and soon the Skirantra was shattered.
    "Excellent," Lord J'rah said to himself, "and not a single ship lost."
    "Begin orbital bombardment," he ordered, "activate Planet Drain." All the capital ships proceeded to surround the planet and fire their bombardment lasers, with the Vulkoras releasing bombardment platforms to help with the attack. Skijar moved closer to the planet with its maw at the front opening up wider. Soon a massive green wave of energy was released striking through the atmosphere and smashing into the crust of the planet. Another followed and another, developing into a continuous series of waves striking the crust causing it to tremble than burst forth like a massive volcano. The atmosphere became extremely turbulent with tornados and massive electrical storms rushing around the small planet. Soon green energy waves began to travel from the ground towards Skijar carrying debris to its waiting maw. This went on for several hours as the planet shook and release all its internal treasure to the hungry monster above. Then, as if satiated, Skijar stopped its feeding and the volcano collapsed in on its self, leaving a deep scar in the surface. The atmosphere came rushing back into the newly created void that set off a loud thunderclap that shook the world again. Then silence. There were no animal sounds, the wind had stopped, it was like death had come and left with everything.
    Up above the silent tomb Lord J'rah looked over the results. He was pleased, for many resources were harvested to help with the war effort. Now time for the next step.
    "Send down the colonists," he commanded. Many pods were released down to the planet to begin recolonization. As many of the colonizing tasks were preformed he looked over at the intel reports that had come in during the battle. Two were from Lord Ryat. He pulled up the first and looked it over. Apperently the Slavers had figured out a way around the roadblocks in the phase gate node system that his techs had put in place but no matter. Soon a new phase gate system would be put in place that would be under their exclusive domain and the attacks would just stop. He sent of a message to all the commanders explaining what was happening and stressed the need to watch over the gate until the new one was constructed. Then he recommend destroying it to avoid it from being used again. He looked over the next one from Lord Ryat. It read simply, "Gone to take care of the pirates, be back soon." J'rah let out a curse.

(Personal/DS)

Deep inside the Distant Stars of space, a lone scout ship on a survey mission for the eventual push in this new sector, untold wealth and trade routes that guarantee riches to all who undertake this endeavor. However, the very nature of  serving on scout ships, to leap to the unknown, to face hostile life forms, unusual space phenomal and the dreaded pirates, some ships are never heard from again. This story is about one fateful crew, while facing incredible odds, tried in vain to warn others an oncoming danger this part of the galaxy is unaware of...

Twenty years ago TEC scout ship Minoes went beyond at that time was unexplored region of space what is now called the Distant Stars. They were first to survey Finely, Eurand, Amabius and the Bamntuh black hole. This story picks after they finished their survey of Tyranul star system.

"Bridge to Captain," a female voice came over the comm system, "where finished launching probes and ready to break orbit and head to next system in order sir." "All right, be right up," said Captain Lan. "Three more months and we can go back to Gateway and finally home," he said aloud. Coming out of the lift onto the bridge, Lan can see everyone at their station reading sensor data, "Report." Lt Seles spoke up, "Just launched the last probe sir and making way to Tyranul for the jump to sector 22x146x03," "very good, where's my coffee," said the captain, "hear sir," "thank you crewman," "helm, plot course and engage," "aye sir, engage." The Minoes exits the grav well and proceeded to the star in a blue flash. "All right, lower shades don't need to work on my tan yet",  the crew started to chuckle at the joke, "helm, full power to engines", " aye sir", the Minoes sped away across the star grav well to get to the next jump point, "cut engines and let inertia bring us in", "aye sir", Minoes coasted till Helmsman Lt. Cameron brought the ship to a full stop. "Powering up jump drives sir," captain responded, "engage," "yes sir,"  then Minoes faded into phase lanes of unexplored space. 15 hours later, all hell broke loose....

 "RED ALERT, RED ALERT, Captain to the bridge", Lan was awaken just to be thrown on the floor from his bunk, "What the hell", he yelled, Minoes was shaken violently, grabbing his duty jacket heading out the door, he can see crew members holding on for dear life as the ship was shaken to its bulkheads, finally making it to the lift, the lift ascended, but barely with all the shaken, feel as though it was going to plunge to the bottom of the ship. The doors open the bridge, lights at half power, bathed in red flashing lights, captain yelled "Report," Seles yelled back, " we came out of phase space five minutes ago into this, on screen" Lan looked up to the screen and saw in horror the largest black hole he has ever seen. "Full reverse, engineering, I need all available power, Now!!!!" Minoes shaped as the engines roared to life, "Helm, 180 degrees, raise power to aft shields to negate radiation," 'Yes sir,' Minoes was screaming, if she had lungs, she would be almost out of breath, finally the ship broke free of the gravimetric sheer caused by the event horizon of the most feared thing in space by all races. "Take us 1000 km out and hold position, I need a damage report all decks." Comm traffic to the bridge was all a jumble. "Sir, sickbay reports 20 injured, broken bones, lacerations, no fatalities." Engineering reports some bulkheads bulked on three decks, coolant leaks in the main engine and venting some plasma as well, and jump drive is offline." Lan raises one eyebrow and says, "Just gets better and better, and the good news." Seles reports, "Were not drifting, were holding station but long range sensors are down." Lan cleared his throat before speaking, "Launch a probe and have warning beacon ready to launch once we get clear, what's the ETA on engines." Engineering reports half power in one hour, full in three, min six hours for jump drives." Lan presses the intercom for ship wide, "All right people, we almost bought it just getting by with the skin on our teeth, right now were holding station outside a black hole, in order the get the Minoes repaired to the half way point, crews will perform double shifts, engines are our top priority, damage control teams, let engineering know if there is any other damage we may have missed, Captain Lan out".

Captain Lan exited the lift to the engineering deck, "Crewman, where's Cdmr. Reid?" "He should be in the main reaction room, sir," the crewman spoke. "Thank you." Walking through the engine room, passing various displays and control stations, Lan found the Cdmr checking the subroutines on the plasma reaction chamber console screen. "Well, how's it looking?" Reid looked up, "Oh, Hey John, could be worse, flew us in on uncharted black hole huh?" "Not by choice, that's the danger of scout ships, flying into the unknown, you knew that when you signed up." Well, when I signed upped, I thought I be serving on a nice stationary star-base back home." They still haven't finalize the general layout and capabilities of the new star-bases yet, and what they gonna name them." Lan said. Reid said, "Before we left range of the subspace relay transmitter, they were leaning toward naming them after Adm. Argonev." Really?" said Lan, "Because of his actions, his forces were able to hold off the Vasari for two days until relief Forces arrived. It was one of the earliest victories against them, good choice." Looking back at the console, "Not to mention a new start up company called U. E.  were to start moving operations in this new region of space." Any other news you heard, Reid?" Typical propaganda, were holding against the aliens and some rumors of unidentified ships on the frontier worlds." "Interesting" said Lan, "and for the real reason I'm here, ship repairs." Actually, were ahead of schedule, got two teams doing EVA's checking the outer hull and currently re-calibrating the jump engines which are online, now." Reid press a control on the panel and a gentle hum goes through the engine room. "Well, your earned your check for this week," smiled Lan. "Thanks Captain, now bout that raise?" said Reid. "Next time, heading to the bridge, if you need me, I'll be there."

(NO LONGER NEEDED, SEE EDIT FOR OP)

(No longer necessary view edit for original post)

    Several trade vessels left the trade port within minutes of each other heading off into different directions. Aboard one Lord Ryat sat, his hands cuffed in front of him as he faced Gerrard. Two pirates stood nearby, armed and tense.
    "Is this really necessary?" he asked quietly.
    "If you had just done what we had asked concerning Roesh, you wouldn't be here," Gerrard said.
    "You know as well as I that I don't have any say in that," Ryat said. "So lets stop the pretense and tell me why you felt it was necessary to abduct me."
    "The Boss wants to talk and rearrange the agreement," Gerrard said.
    "That is most unwise," Ryat said.
    "New Boss," he replied. Ryat nodded his head in understanding.
    "So were are we going?" Lord Ryat asked.
    "Her ship," Gerrard said. "Thats all I'm going to tell you." Ryat sighed and settled in for the ride. The trade vessel reached the edge of the gravwell and entered phase space. A couple of days passed as the trade ship jumped many times, most likely to disorient Ryat. Finally upon reaching its destination, Gerrard called Lord Ryat to the view bridge. They were in a deep space gravwell, a point in space that somehow formed a gravity well, scientists were baffled by it. A lone Akkan sat waiting.
    "There's her ship," Gerrard said, "Junk. Not sure why she calls it that."
    "Does she call her self Ching Shih?" Lord Ryat asked.
    "Yeah, why," Gerrard answered.
    "Its a bit of history," Lord Ryat said, "she probably has Asiatic features as well."
    "She does," Gerrard said, "how did you figure that out through a silly name like Junk?"
    "Asians of ancient Earth built ocean going vessels called junks," Lord Ryat said, "They were highly advanced vessels and were used for centuries. Ching Shih was a female pirate in the Asian area, specificially Chinese. I just put two and two together and asked the right questions."
    "You know," Gerrard said, "Its things like that that scare me the most about you. Able to figure out so much from so little." Lord Ryat merely smiled.
    The trade ship was dwarfed by the Akkan as it entered the capital ship's hangar bay. Gerrard exited first followed by Lord Ryat and the guards. They out of the hangar bay and through a series of corridors before stopping at an office with two guards.
    "I have Mr. Ryat here to see the Boss," Gerrard said. One of the gaurds turned to an intercom system and spoken in a language that was not Basic. It almost sounded Asian to Ryat's ears but he was no expert. The door opened and he was pushed inside. Sitting at a cherry wood desk was indeed a woman with asian features. Almost elf-like. She had long black hair and was wearing a black jumpsuit that showed off her slim body. She was leaned back in her overstuffed chair, boots on desk.
    "Come in, sit down please," she said in a musical voice. Ryat moved with confidence into the room and sat into the chair offered. The woman looked him over for a few moments not saying a thing. Lord Ryat sat quietly. Time passed for a minute or so.
    "So, aren't you going to ask why you are here?" she said quietly.
    "I figured you would tell me when you are ready," he replied, "seems how you decided to abduct me and attempt to change the current arrangement." The icy glare from her almost made him shiver, but he held his composure.
    "I'll start with an introduction," she said, "I am Ching Shih. I brought you here because you won't cooperate with us in stopping Roesh and not reworking the deal we have set in place."
    "As for Roesh, I have no control over him," Lord Ryat said, "As for the deal, its the same deal I have with all pirates, don't see why you should be different."
    "Let's just say, I'm attempting to redo things for the benefit of all pirates," she said.
    "Attempting to make yourself a pirate lord?" he said with a chuckle, "good luck with that."
    "I don't think that you are in a position to deny me my request," she said with a hint of anger.
    "But I am," he said, "I won't bother Roesh with what he wants to do, and the deal stays as is."
    "I could have you killed," she said.
    "Yes, you could," he acknowledged, "but that would cause other complications, like my fleet going pirate hunting with a vengence, plus you would lose a large supplier of materials to you and other pirates. Something I don't think the other pirate bosses would like to well."
    "There are many places to hide," she shot back, "plus there are other suppliers. For example I bought this fine ship from someone else."
    "True, though Akkan and Dunov vessels are a tenth credit a dozen," he conceded, then added, "but no one can boast the selection and fine quality that I have to offer. For example, many of the fine weapons you have installed on this fine vessel are top quality, which came from me or one of my contacts." Ching looked at him in an attempt to stare him down. She held for a good long time but Ryat's gray eyes never flinched from her emerald green eyes. Finally she sat down in a huff and activated the intercom.
    "Guards, take this gentleman to his room," she said, "we are going to need more time." Lord Ryat stood up as the guards came in.
    "I guess I will be see you later," he said and walked out of the office. The guards guided him to a nicely furnished room, which suprised him a little. The door closed behind him. The guards did not enter, so he assumed they were standing outside. The room had a nicely made bed in one corner and a desk with a terminal in the opposite side. The head was just off to his right. He walked over to the terminal and sat down. He was tired but there was work to be done. He began to go through the computer systems, easily bypassing the weak security structure that was in place. Akkans were originally civilian ships so their key files were poorly secured. Modern militarized Akkans did not have such issues but these older ones were never updated, just sold off as the newer ones came online. Soon Ryat had the communications up on his screen. He placed in a few calls through Junk's comm systems, then cleaned up his tracks. Afterwards he showered, cleaned up his clothes as best as he could, and then went to sleep in the bed.

    Ching Shih stood at the window of her office, looking out into the depth of space when Gerrard came in.
    "So what do you think of him Ms Shih?" he asked.
    "He's everything you said he was," she replied, "Stubborn, smart, and very confident in himself. Typical arrogant nobleman."
    Gerrard smiled at that comment. "He has earned that," he said, "The man has been to the depths of Shivo and returned many times. Other pirate bosses have attempted this same thing and failed. I have seen it happen." Ching humphed, then sighed.
    "Well, guess we will have to try something different when we get back to base," she said. She activated her comm.
    "Take us back to the Nexus," she ordered. A conformation came back. The massive Akkan turned and headed towards the gravwell. Upon reaching its edge it jumped out.

    It was in the asteroid field of the Tepist System were the attack occured. As Junk entered the gravwell four pirate battleships lay in wait. They fired thier Overcharged Ion Bolts at the single Akkan, shutting down and disrupting many of its systems. They hovered near the paralyzed vessel waiting to stop it again if necessary or take a different action.
    On the bridge was chaos as Ching stepped in.
    "Give me a status report NOW!" she shouted.
    "We have systems shutdown everywhere ma'am, " replied the tactical officer, "attempting to reboot as quickly as possible but we have recieved a lot of damage."
    "Were did those ships come from?" she asked a bit more calmly.
    "They were hiding behind the asteroids when we jumped in," he answered, "we never had a chance."
    "What are they doing now?" she queried as she sat in the captians chair.
    "Aside from waiting unknown," he replied. Suddenly the view screen changed from tactical to a view of Ryat's face.
    "They are waiting for me, just to let you know," he said.
    "Wha-, how, Ah Shivo!" Ching cursed, "how did you pull this off."
    "I always make sure I have a back door into things I sell to ones with less then stellar reputations," he said, "Plus, like I said, other pirate bosses wouldn't like you messing with the current deal that is in place. You might say its in their best interests to make sure I'm returned back."
    "You have everything all tied up in a little web, don't you," Ching said with a sigh.
    "I find that also helps when dealing with pirates," Ryat said with a thin smile. Ching sighed again in defeat.
    "Fine, I'll let you go," she said.
    "Just send me back with Gerrard in the same vessel we arrived in back to the trade port in Portage VII, my men will be waiting for me there," he said. With that his face was replaced with the tactical screen which showed the pirate battleships backing off.
    Both Ching and Gerrard showed up at Lord Ryat's room.
    "Can you excuse us for a moment Gerrard?" she asked. Gerrard nodded and stepped away as she entered the room and closed the door. Lord Ryat looked at her with curiousity.
    "Yes?" he asked.
    "You are a Pirate Lord aren't you," she said quietly.
    "Me?" he said defensively, "I am Lord Ryat Arnoldt, High Baron of the High Gryphons, Grand Marshal of the TEC Defense Force, not some lowlife pirate!" Ching merely looked at him.
    "You wouldn't be the first to use such titles to hide yourself," she said quietly and evenly. Ryat looked at her carefully, then laughed out loud with his head tilled back.
    "I like you," he said when he calmed down, "You are very smart. I may have much use of you in the future."
    "Be happy to help," she said, "for a price of course."
    "Of course Ching," he said, "See you around." And with that he opened the door and strode out.

Xenon was in the bridge of the Osiris. He had heard some intresting news, mostly a communication sent from Ryat to his men, telling them that he had been captured, but that he would be retuned back. They just had to meet him there. He had also recently recevied news that his techs on the kostra cannon had connected White impulse the best they could to the cannon, and they where ready to try it out. Xenon had been looking over where they could shoot the cannon, as test  so they could find out just what it did. They could shoot it at kyrene, but with the effects being unknown, they really needed some place where they could watch it, and still be safe. Xenon's mind quickly settled on a location.

" Communication, send a message to Ryat, Carbon, and Lord J'rah. We need premission to fire the cannon"

" Yes sir, what should i tell them the target is?"

Xenon got up from his chair moving to exit the bridge, "The Underworld"

(Personal/DS)

 After a few hours that have gone by, Captain Lan has returned to the bridge with a cup of coffee, "Report" he barked, "were 2000 km from the anomaly and sensors has confirmed a phase lane reading and a very unusual wormhole sir," came Seles. "What makes it unusual Lt." said Lan, "If I'm reading this right sir, the distortions coming from the gravimetric sheer is causing the wormhole to be unstable." Lan gave Seles puzzled look and said, "and that means?" Seles finished, "the exit point could be shifting all around to unknown parts of the galaxy, sir." Lan made a wow expression on his face as he sits down in his command chair. "I guess we won't go through the wormhole then?" "No sir, I wouldn't advise it," said Seles.

"Alright, launch a hazardous navigation beacon and lets see where the phase lane will take us." "Aye sir." The captain touched the inter ship wide comm, " attention crew, standby for phase jump", Lan touched another comm channel, "Reid, are we ready?" "Yes captain, as ever," came the response. "Cameron, make the jump." Cameron spoke, "Here we go again, aye sir." As the jump drives come online, blue particles begin to dance around the ship and form a ring off the forward bow, the Minoes begans to move slowly towards the ring and slide through phase space, blue sreaks race by on the view screen. Captain Lan speaks aloud, "Where no one has gone before."

After traveling through hyperspace for almost three days, Minoes drops out into grav well of an blue giant star. "Seles, what's out there?" the captain asked. "Picking up seven planets on long range sir, possible resource asteroids too, can't tell until we get closer." Captain turns to Cameron. "Helm, distance traveled from the black hole?" "Over 4 light years, sir." "O.K. start plotting courses for this system, and get ready to pass down to alpha shift." Aye sir," came the response from different crew members. Few minutes later alpha shift came on the bridge. Captain Lan stood up to greet alpha shift and said, "Good morning, been a long twelve hours, when you take your stations, courses have been plotted for this system, standard survey recon, launch probes when needed, contact me or Lt Seles if there's a problem." "Yes sir," Lt Cmdr drake said, "get some rest captain, you need it."

"Intend too, see you in eight." "Gamma shift, you're relived." Members of gamma shift began to leave their stations as alpha begins to take over. Gamma shift loads into the lift, getting off at different decks to their quarters getting much needed rest after their ordeal thus far. Lt Cmdr Drake sits down in the command chair and says, " O.K. folks, lets get to work."

(Personal / DS)

    Casey leads Thenos to the opposite side of the colony.  Clearly a part that was hastily slapped together and had more function then form.  When she got to a smashed up storefront with lots of loud music and commotion coming from inside she stopped for a second.  Shaking her head with a slight look of disappointment she turns and walks in through the door.  Thenos follows her in and sees a run down tavern full of rough looking people.  Most sitting at tables, a bunch fighing off to one side and a bar at the far end.  A sight reminiscent of an old western saloon.  Casey walks off to the side leaving Thenos standing there staring and accesses a data terminal.  After punching in some commands she sees the information she wants to.
    "Is it always like this?" Thenos sends to her mind.
    She walks back over to him and replies verbally, "Ancient Everthans used the term, 'Cowboy up' in situations like this."
    "And that's supposed to mean?" he asks.
    Casey smiles and pushes a guy out of his chair and uses it as a step to stand on top of a table.  She receives a few whistles from those that notice the maneuver.  She draws a gun she had hidden in a side pocket of her pants and shoots one shot into the ceiling to get everyone's attention.  Thenos' eyes widen having never seen this type of behavior before.
    "HEY BOYS!" she yells out and receives several hoots and whistles in response.  "I just looked at our numbers for the past week and we're kicking our quota's ass.  Next round is on me!" The room erupts with cheers and she jumps down from the table and scouts out an empty one near the middle.  She has a seat and Thenos sits opposite her.  The bartender walks over with a bottle of whiskey and a couple of glasses.  Casey pours a little into each.
    "So you come here often?" Thenos asks.
    "You're gonna want to kind of toss the liquid to the back of your mouth and swallow it fast." Casey replies.
    "Why?" he asks.
    Casey does what she said and Thenos does the same. His eyes narrow as the burning sensation in his throat grows to almost painful levels and subsides.  Casey sits there smiling before sending him the thought, "Because if you go slow you won't have a throat to breathe with."
    Thenos sends back, "That's some really strong stuff."
    She laughs audibly before refilling the glasses and saying, "It's a batch our friendly bartender here made from his own stills several years back.  The riff-raff seems to enjoy it."
    "Back to my other question." Thenos says.  "You come here often?"
    "Yeah, why?"
    "It just doesn't seem like a place we Advent would be very well accepted in."
    "I'm not a soldier.  I don't hang out in places where rank matters like Tim would. I'm not a politician, so I don't hang out in high class aristocrat places where people talk out their asses telling you one thing and do another.  That's Henry's unfortunate duty...  And he hates it.  I'm not the adventuresome type like Todd, nor am I a troublemaker like Roesh, so I don't hang out in those seedy little underground bars where you can meet the scum of the universe.  I hang out here.  Where the hard working people come to blow off steam and unwind." A few patrons nearby lift their glasses to toast the sentiment.  She continues after throwing back another drink.  "If the first one got to you, don't bother with a second one."
    Thenos shrugs and tosses the second drink back.  Expecting the burn this time he makes less of a visible expression.  "It's not bad." he says as he grabs the bottle and pours another glass for them both.
    "I hope you're not trying to get me drunk." she says.
    "How much does one of these bottles cost?"
    "Iunno..."
    "Who pays for it then?"
    "Expense account.  We all get one."
    "Nice."
    "Isn't it?"
    "Maybe I should apply for a job in your fleet..."
    "You'd have to start off at the bottom, and your skills would mean nothing."
    Thenos leads the way with the third drink, only this time he can't hide the burning sensation.  Casey follows suit and can't hide the burn either.
    "I think we should switch to something else for a little bit." Thenos says.
    Casey giggles before standing up and heading over to the bar.  She says a few things to the bartender who just shakes his head yes a few times and pours a couple of large glasses and hands them to her.  She walks them back to their table and sits down handing one to Thenos.
    "And these are?" he asks.
    "Drinks that aren't as strong." she answers with.
    "You've changed."
    "No I haven't."
    "Yes you have."
    "I am who I would have been back home if I was allowed to be who I am today back then."
    Thenos sits for a second deciphering what was just said. "So you've changed.  At least on your outwardly personality."
    "Whatever." Casey says as little baskets of food are set down in front of them.
    "How did you get here?  I mean, I know HOW, but not how.  If you want to come back with me..."
    Casey munches on some of the food while thinking of an appropriate response.  "I'm not going anywhere.  I like these people.  They dig and get dirty and they do it because they love to do it.  There's a lot of pride in what we do.  Personal backgrounds are irrelevant.  The only thing that matters is who can find and extract the largest veins of crystals and ore, or score the biggest salvage site.  It's hard work, there's loud machines and equipment everywhere, most people avoid those areas of space, and I got where I am because of what I know...  Things I was told were pointless to learn about.  Things I was told would hold me back, these same things are the very things that have put me so far ahead here."
    "It suits you.  Doing the things others can't or won't do.  That is a quality I remember about you from long ago.  But all I'm saying is that..."
    Casey cuts him off, "Roesh and Henry treat me real well, better then any counselor or instructor ever did.  Todd...  Well, his heart's in the right place most of the time.  And Tim.  This doesn't leave this table...  Timmy says I'm his favorite out of all of the board members and he lets me take out fighter strike craft when everyone is too busy to notice and I get to do some high performance flying and target shooting.  And if that wasn't enough, an added bonus is no nagging little witch in your head all of the time."
    "Now I'll drink to that!" Thenos says as he lifts his glass in the air, prompting Casey to lift hers and tap his.
    "So when are you leaving?" she asks.
    "Trying to get rid of me?"
    "Yes." she says with an evil grin on her face.
    "Well I was going to leave after this, but now that I've seen the rough places you like to hang out at, I may have to stay."
    "And what?  Protect me?  I carry a gun.  I can fight."
    Thenos scans her mind for a split second, "You lost your last one."
    She throws some chips at him, "Get out of my head, jerk."
    Thenos just smiles promting her to throw the whole basket at him.
    "I've been away for too long." he says.  "The council is probably driving my commanders crazy by now."
    "Shrews." Casey mumbles.
    Thenos picks up one of the chips stuck to his shirt and flicks it at Casey.
    "You need to go." she says.
    "I will.  After We eat." Thenos replies.
    "Garçon!  The main course please....  Hurry!"
    About a minute later one of the workers brings them their food in a rushed manner.  Less care then usual was used in the presentation of the meal, so it looks more slapped together then anything.  The rowdy atmosphere of the place doesn't affect their meal much, and when their plates were clean, Casey grabs the bottle of Whiskey and heads for the door.  Thenos, pauses for a second thinking about the bill before remembering the expense account.  He leaves a tip behind and heads for the door as well.  Outside, Casey is putting in a pick up call with a transport.  Once she has the details she heads for the nearest landing pad.  After a brief walk they arrive just in time to see a shuttle land.
    "There's your ride." Casey says.  "It'll take you to the trade port in orbit which will then transfer you to another ship that will take you to the trade port that services...  'Rebirth?'  Who comes up with these names...."
    Thenos answers, "Shrews."
    Casey laughs and hands him the bottle of whiskey.  "Have a nice flight home."
    Thenos boards the shuttle and as soon as he's in the hatch, he turns around to say something but sees that Casey isn't there anymore.  He shakes his head and is shown to a his seat by an attendant.  The shuttle lifts off and Thenos starts his journey home.

Captain's Log:

 After two uneventful weeks, we have came across a multitude of different planets and  new stellar types not seen in our part of the galaxy, from magnetars to oceanic, to the most beautiful planet we just called "paradise", I was tempted to give shore leave, but because of unknown contagions possible on the planets we come across it is forbidden.

Were strictly mapmakers and pathfinders, the other heavier research vessels come in to make that determination. Science Officer Seles has given the black hole we came across a name, "Bamntuh". Where do they come up with these names is beyond me. Also, we have been coming across strange signals, interment at best, could be natural stellar noise in this region of space, with the black hole within five light years away and the magnetar within two, our long range sensors and communications have been distorted, dropping extra relay boosters has compensated for the excess gamma radiation but our readings are still weak. Right now were heading to a group of stars that look very promising, by my reckoning, once the main vessels get by the black hole, this will be one of the most profitable routes I and my crew has ever discovered. 

End Log...