On the bridge of the DLS Aaron, Siegel stood shoulder to shoulder with Lieutenant Commander Harari, looking over some data gathered in haste from the other captains in the system. Lieutenant Pollock interrupted the two, "Sir, Admiral Stolvey is waiting on the line for you."

Siegel excused himself for the moment and proceeded to his chair, where he pressed a small button and spoke, "Admiral, this is Captain Siegel of the DLS Aaron."

"Yes, I assume the visual communications have not been installed yet?"

"Quite the contrary, we just haven't had a chance to install the software," Siegel replies. "Admiral, we have to make an emergency leave. Three of our fleets have been ambushed in enemy territory and we must assist at once."

"I completely understand. If you'll take a moment to have non-essential personnel vacate the vessel, the rest will be at your disposal. Is there any chance we can run a few quick excercises?" Henry inquires.

"No, sir. Our information is coming on a delay, so we need to make up time on the road. We'll be leaving in fifteen minutes, admiral."

"Understood. And one more thing, call me Henry."

"Yes, sir," Siegel replies before disconnecting the communication. Just as he rises from his seat, Alexander enters, his young, yet dark, facial growth and civilian attire betraying his presence as he approaches the captain's seat, throwing his jacket over the back of it. "Sir, glad to see you're well," Siegel welcomes him.

"Right, what's our situation?"

Siegel motions over to Harari while saying, "Lord J'rah has alerted us that the Marauder intended to evacuate the -Ue_ and Gryphon forces appeared in orbit of Portage IV shortly before exploding. TEC forces did not appear. We don't have much more than that, but Senior Captain Levin is prioritizing a rescue before beginning an investigation."

Harari approaches with a data pad and hands it to Siegel, who holds it before Alexander. "It's not going to be an easy fight in all likelihood, but a path has been carved. Captain Levin and Lord J'rah should arrive much sooner than us. No ETA available."

Alexander nods, "Alright, have Captain Levin keep an eye on J'rah's forces. After this, I'm not risking any more surprises. Where are we on upgrades?"

"We've been equipped with a new load of ammunition, experimental propellants. No tests have been run and we're not sure where we stand on ballistic tolerances. The Cyrus has been equipped with a new beam array, but we have no idea if the grid can handle the new system. The Josiah has been equipped with modified plating and damage sensors. We've been told the materials pass preliminary tests, but that's all the reassurance we have there. The Elisha has been supplied with new missiles. The ship's guidance system hasn't been fully adjusted, but we still have a full compliment of our original stock. The Hagar has had modifications to the engine systems, but we've done brief test firings and things are looking fit. All ships have been given a rundown on the new damage control procedures, but we're pockmarked on observation systems," Siegel concludes.

Alexander nods for a moment, not looking at anything particular as he turns the information over in his head. He looks up at Siegel and says, "Have engineers calculate the chamber pressure of the new munitions en route to Kyrene. The Cyrus will have to make due with the new beam and work out issues as they arrive. Practically the same for the Josiah. Keep them off point. Have our men alerted that if anything goes wrong and the new procedures aren't solving the problem, they are authorized to do what they need to keep things together."

"Yes, sir," Siegel says. "Sir, do you wish to shave? I can have my men prepare quarters for you."

"I'm fine," Alexander says, brushing his hand over the short hairs as he takes his seat in Siegel's chair. "Distribute orders and let's get moving."

"Yes, sir. There's one other matter. We encountered Advent vessels in the system..."

"I know," Alexander interrupts.

"You do?"

Alexander nods, "Yes, but that too we'll deal with later. Let's not keep our friends waiting."

"Yes, sir," Siegel salutes before whipping the ship into a frenzy. Each vessel rushes operations, tying off unfinished systems and rushing men to their stations or off of the ship altogether. It takes just under the fifteen minutes of time assessed to ready the fleet for departure. The last of the docking clamps and system tethers are released and the vessels converge upon the star. The six vessels line up at the edge of the gravity well, their noses pointing to a far off star and drawing in light from the surrounding void.

They're off.

    The High Psintegrat watched the fifteen remaining Motherships move through Kyrene IV's gravwell. Thirteen were heading towards the planet, laden with troops, to take it back from whatever TEC forces remained on the planet. The other two were approaching the lone Kol surrounded by four Revelation battlecruisers with their Reverie weapons trained on the Kol, keeping it tamed. At last revenge shall be ours she thought to herself.
    High Psintegrat, the casualty report has come in one of her officers told her
    Thank you
    She looked over the report, taking her focus off her prize for a moment, and frowned. The fleet had taken quite a beating. The Radiance line was shattered with only seven moderately operable, three critically damaged, and the rest were destroyed. The Halycons survived quite well in the back line with thirty-two still fully operational. Sixteen Raptures had survived as well along with half of the Revelations. The cruisers and frigates had been torn apart due to the TEC's dastardly missile barrages. Eight hundred Destras had survived due to their heavy armor, but they were still heavily damaged. Two hundred Defense frigates were still around, while about five hundred Drone Hosts stood ready.
    She refocused on her prize, knowing that the cost was worth it.

    Superior Halogen Braken had been listening to the battle reports over the radio. It was hard to get a full picture of what was happening but he could still hear enough to know that the TEC had lost. He sighed as the last of the TEC transmissions fell silent. Of course no Advent transmissions were received as they preferred their telepathic stuff over radio so he had no way of knowing how they were doing or what they were planning.
    "Sir we have incoming," said an observer reported. Braken said nothing as he fiddle with the modified witch stick controls to bring up the sensor net that allowed them to see things in orbit. He glumly watched as thirteen Motherships slowly appeared and seemed to drift into orbit.
    "How long until troop drop?" he asked.
    "About an hour sir," came the reply, "then about three hours for transist."
    "Are all our surprises ready?"
    "Yes sir."
    "Good, let's get going."

    The Advent troops approached the HQ complex with well trained precision, leap frogging one group forward as another stood ready to give covering fire. But nothing fired back. One group reached a doorway and quickly get ready to enter. One of the Advent faced the door and dialed up her protective shielding that was imbued into the Advent's form fitting combat armor. Then with the lifting of her boot, she kicked door in and charged in with her laser rifle ready. Others followed in. Quickly they began going through the complex, securing it room by room. But no evidence of TEC occupation was discovered.
    Advent troops also entered the massive and ancient Data Archive near the HQ complex. It did not have the complexity of the other, though again, no evidence of TEC occupation. The Advent troop commanders were conferring with each other telepathically about this when both building exploded. The -Ue_ forces had left carefully concealed remote detonated explosives in the appropriate spots to bring both buildings down upon the Advent, leaving nothing but piles of rubble and bodies.

    Braken stood on a small mountain that allowed his to see the artifact and HQ building with his binoculars. He watched the whole thing from this vantage point and had ordered the detonations. He continued to watch the relatively few survivors begin to comb through the rubble as his team packed up their stuff to head back to the cave systems in the mountain ranges that were nearby. With satisfaction, he lowered his binoculars and followed his men to the caves.

(Persona / DS)

-= Blood Ash Battalion - Mercavica System =-

    We've all come to the conclusion that our message never made it out.  So that gives us one option.  Find a ship that can jump between stars.  We knew it would be tough since the only ships available in the system are pirate ships, and those ships don't come standard with the drive capable of making a star jump.  Even if there aren't any in this system, we've seen capital class vessels.  Our own technology used against us.  If the drives are damaged there are dozens of engineers with us that think they can get one working again.  We've come up with a plan.  We ambush one of these capital class ships and take it over.  First, we have to isolate one long enough to board it.  Shouldn't be all that difficult considering we're wanted men in this system.

    A few ships left their hiding place followed a minute later by a few more.  The lead group had minimal staffing to fly the ships, while the chasers were full of Blood Ash Marines that were going to be boarding parties.  The general idea of the operation is to find a group of capital ships and have the lead group distract them and their escorts while the chase group speeds up from behind and board a ship before they have too much time to react.  Though plans rarely go as conceived, even more so when your group is an ad hoc group and there's no ability to effectively communicate commands to those not entirely following the established command structure.  The mission was a go regardless of the problems that have been cropping up.

    Both groups of ships made their way around the system until they were spotted by a raiding party.  The chase was on, but the plan was failing.  There were no capital class ships with the raiding party.  The chase ships followed a jump behind the lead ships trying their best to not be seen, hoping that at some point they'd run into some.  Eventually, the lead group made their way to the pirate base.  They had to run as fast as they could to the next jump point and hope to take minimal damage along the way.  As luck would have it, they did just that, only taking light damage from fighter strike craft.  Their passage through the well however caused all of the existing fleet to pull in that direction.  As the chase group entered the well, they found themselves at the back of the wave of pirate vessels.  Directly in front of them was a Pirate Vulkoras Desolator.  Seizing the opportunity, the chase group raced to catch it.  In the confusion, most of the other ships in the gravity well just assumed the chase group was their own group trying to catch the escapees.  The confusion quickly subsided when the chase group made contact with the Desolator and forced their way in through the airlocks.

    Attacking from multiple points, the marines swiftly made their way through uncharted territory.  It wasn't their first attack on a Desolator, but it was their first on one modified by the pirates and their limited resources.  Decking panels were missing, wires were hanging, the lighting was spotty at best, and cryptic messages were scrawled onto the walls all over the ship.  Likely code phrases or directions of where to go on the ship.  Who knows what damage they've done to the core systems of the ship.  The Blood Ash would have preferred to be attacking and taking over a ship they know their engineers would be able to fix quickly, but they're beggars right now, so they don't have the luxury of being picky.  A couple teams headed for the bridge, a couple more headed for the engine room, the rest spread out and made it a point to take complete control of the ship.  It didn't take long for the other pirates to be on them.  Boarding parties of their own were sent in and repelled or held to a stalemate.  Once control was established by the Blood Ash, the pirates dissolved their ties to the ship and opened fire upon it.  Fleeing and flying straight through the gathering swarm bought them some distance as the pirates had to turn around in order to pursue.  They'd never outrun the frigates, but it didn't matter.  Explosives had been attached to the power cores of the boarding party frigates with the expectation that they'd be abandoned and not wanting them to be reclaimed by the pirates.  As the Pirate frigates closed the gap, all of the boarding party ships were disconnected and set adrift with their explosives primed and ready.  As the swarm engulfed them, the remote detonators were triggered.  The boarding party frigates were utterly destroyed.  The pirate frigates sustained only minor damage from the blast, but more then that, it forced them into taking evasive maneuvers which bought critical seconds.  The Vulkoras hit the edge of the well and before the pirates could regroup enough to make a devastating attack, the Vulkoras was in phase space and jumping away.

    Radio calls went out to the lead teams to dock at the airlocks on the run and abandon their ships.  As pirate frigates continued the chase, the same methods were applied as before.  Each ship that was jettisoned, exploded right in front of the pirates slowing their advance and buying seconds.  As more crews made their way onto the ship, more systems were turned on, and more decks were cleared of their former owners.  The remaining ships in hiding made their presence known and as the Desolator passed through the Southern Plasma Storm, they docked and transferred as many crews and supplies as they could until the pirates caught up.  The ships would then break off, assist in returning fire forcing the pirates to slow their chase, and then race to the edge of the well and jump away and prepare to the Vulkoras to arrive to do the whole thing over again.  Each time a ship was emptied, it was set adrift and detonated in front of the pirates to stall them.  As time progressed, the Vulkoras became better staffed and supplied and the pirate chasers became more damaged.  The unevenness of this situation helped the Vulkoras to stay alive and slowly reduced the numbers of pursuers.  Repairs were made on the run and eventually the Blood Ash had the upper hand.  After all of the Blood Ash and supporting cast were on board, engineers turned their attention to the jump drive.  They found it to be mostly intact.  Their biggest issue was a way to boost the power them to make the long star jump, and we couldn't shut down the main engines to make the proper repairs or we'd be ripe for an attack.

    We were all thinking it, though no one really wanted to bring it up.  Our best bet was that power core that was hemorrhaging radiation.  Someone eventually caved and said that we could connect it and seal off engineering and all of the decks around it.  Having no other options, a course was set to go to Mercavica Gamma and scoop up the device.  Staying ahead of the pirates wasn't much of an issue anymore, as their losses mounted, fewer maintained the chase.  Their assumption was that we were stuck in the system.  They were probably massing up a force to take us out once and for all.  Hopefully, we thought and prayed, hopefully we'd be gone before that happened.  Time passed slowly as we made our way to the dump site, the hanger bay was captured during the trip, and a fighter was put together to reclaim the device to make things easier on us all.  Two marines in EVA suits boarded the craft and launched as soon as we reached Mercavica Gamma.  They headed to right next to it, stopped, opened the canopy, and attached cables to the device to strap it to the craft.  Once completed, they crawled back into their seats, closed the canopy, and flew as fast as the craft could take them back to the Desolater before it jumped from the companion star.  Having the device back on board meant that it was now a race against the clock before the sickness set back in.  Engineers worked as fast as they could to make the connections to the jump drive, and the bridge crew made sure the jump computers were up to the task and calculating their path for their star jump.  Three jumps from Mercavica Gamma, and they were at the main star.  Engineering reported they would be done making the connections in a couple minutes, and then they'd vacate the area.  A few long minutes later, the call came in over the ship's intercom and the Vulkoras lined up for their final jump back to Finley.  The system began to charge...  And charge...  And charge...  And charge...  Finally, the jump computers gave a ready status.  Sensors indicated a large pirate fleet entering Mercavica Prime, but it was too late.  The Desolator vanished.  The Blood Ash were headed home.

    Ryat felt himself fall, and fall, and fall. Eventually he stopped though he didn't feel like he had hit the floor. He opened his eyes and looked about him. Though it seemed like he hadn't opened them. He attempted to stand and then noticed he was already standing. Confused he called out.
    "Hello!?"
    There was no response. Not even an echo. His call out even seemed muted as if he really hadn't said anything at all.
    "What is going on?" he asked quietly. No one answered. A shadow moved in the inky blackness making him focus on it.
    "Who's there?" he asked. No response.
    "I said, who's there?" he demanded.
    "There is no one else here," came the reply.
    "Then who the hell are you," he demanded again, "show yourself to me."
    The figure slowly formed before Ryat revealing a man that was the mirror image of him. Only he was dressed in Advent robes of black with red trim with an emblem of a sword with fiery wings on each side. And his eyes glowed a light blue.
    "What the hell is going on here," Ryat said, "because I am not finding this funny at all."
    "I am you," the other replied, "In Advent form, representing your Advent self."
    "My Advent self?" the first asked.
    "Yes. You know, the heritage that you inherited from your grandfather. The abilities you use occasionally for your machiavellian schemes against the Advent empires. That heritage that you hide from all as if you were embarassed by it."
    "But I lived in TEC space," Ryat said trying to defend himself, "With the attack of the Advent, anyone with even a smidgen of Advent heritage were rounded up. Hell, you remember what they did to Megan and Tony. Turned them into, into," he continued angrily.
    "That was the Unity," came the response, "It's this Unity thing that is shackling the Advent and turning them into the monsters they are now. And it's them that must be defeated."
    "Fine, whatever. By the way, were am I?"
    "You are trapped in your own mind stupid."
    "Oh, by Usyma I assume?"
    "Yes"
    "Well, I guess the marriage is off."
    "Not if she has her way."
    "What?"
    "Think back to all yours and hers conversations. She has been slowly implanting trigger points in your psyche to control you."
    Ryat thought about it for a moment, going over all the conversations in his mind.
    "Great, all she would need to do is get pregnant and seal the deal."
    "Which she is."
    "Wha-!"
    The Advent Ryat sighs and hits TEC Ryat in the head. Immediately his memories of Usyma are seen through the eyes of an Advent with her own psychic energy plain to see and a small primitive psychic presence in her lower region.
    "Well, that's going to cause issues. Didn't even tell me."
    "Was most likely going to tell you after this was all over and you were in Advent hands."
    "So what do we do now?"
    "Well, we need to break this mind lock."
    "And how do we do that?"
    "You are going to have to accept me."
    "But I do."
    "No you don't. You use me and then toss me aside. You are going to have to accept me completely and totally."
    Ryat paused in thought. Then shook his head.
    "No, no. I wouldn't be accepted in the TEC ranks anymore. And I'm sorry but I am not going to the Advent after what they had done."
    "Matters not to me. I will be coming out either way."
    "What do you mean by that?"
    "Well, Either I come out with you in defense of the TEC, admittedly with some issues, or I could be pulled out and put in place by the Advent in their service."
    "You bastard!"
    "Really, I could have stayed in the background and waited for the Advent, but instead I came forth to help you now. Remember, I too have an axe to grind against the Advent."    Ryat sighed and thought it over some more.
    "Okay," he said extending his hand, "Let's do this."
    Then both Ryats grasped hands and everything went white.

    Usyma watched sadly as almost all of the ones she had drawn close to collapsed. All except Xenon who, for a few moments, stood looking around in surprise.
    "What!?" he said in shock. That quickly changed as he realized what had happened and focused on Usyma.
    "YOU!" he roared as he ripped of his overcoat revealing his fully metallic body. He smashed the massive conference table that was between him and Usyma.
    "YOU WILL DIE ADVENT SCUM!" he shouted as he launched himself at her.
    Calmly she brought up her witch wand and he dropped just short of her feet. With a few motions she made him stand up. His eye glowed bright red.
    "So the intel reports were right about you after all," she said as she walked around his now still form, "You are made from Advent drone parts. How ironic, you hate the Advent so much and yet you are one practically." Xenon's eye was glowing brilliant red now. "I wonder how or why they did it. Might be useful to take you apart and study you."
    At that comment the rage in Xenon exploded breaking the psychic control that Usyma had over him throwing her against the wall. With a roar he pounced on her, grabbing her by her throat. She promptly used her wand which loosed his grip for a moment allowing her to escape before he crushed her windpipe. She scrambled out of his grasp quickly and as he turned towards her, she used her wand again causing him to stop.
    Again his anger flared high shattering the spell and he charged. But Usyma was ready this time and dodged his attack. Moving away again, she got herself ready and as he charged she used her wand causing him to stop. His rage again erupted, breaking free and charging her. She stepped away last minute and his fist entered the wall and became stuck.
    "Oh I see now," Usyma said as Xenon attempted to pull his fist out, "It's your anger that allows you to break the hold. And I suspect that you also are subconsciously aware that you are Advent so your hate feeds on itself. A kind of feedback loop, forever anger. I wonder who did that to you." she said as she looked over at Carbon's inert body.
    "Sadly," she continued as she turned back to Xenon who was still struggling with the wall, "this means I must destroy you. I'm sorry, I truly am." She pulled out a pistol and aimed it at Xenon's head. Her finger began to tighten on the trigger.
    "STOP!" came a shouted command. Usyma jerked to a stop and with a great struggle turned to see Ryat standing, his hand outstretched towards her, his eyes a brilliant blue.
    "Ryat, my love," she said with much difficulty, "I knew you would break free. I ha-"
    "ENOUGH!" he roared. "Your treachery ends here," he finished with a growl and pulled his hand back savagely. Usyma collapsed onto the floor with a thud. Only the soft movement of her breasts revealed that she was still alive.
    Xenon finally managed to free his arm from the wall and looked between Usyma and Ryat in confusion. Ryat meanwhile turned to Carbon's form, and placed his hands on his head.
    "Come on Carbon wake up," he muttered softly to himself, "Wake up."
    Xenon soon got over his confusion with the realization that Lord Ryat was Advent as well. With another bellowing roar he charged Ryat, who was oblivious to him as he concentrated on Carbon. Unfortunately his concentration was snapped as Xenon slammed in to him sending both sprawling over the now wrecked room.
    Both were quickly on their feet as well, facing off. Xenon charged first swinging his right arm down towards Ryat. Ryat moved right and kicked his left foot out in an attempt to trip up Xenon. It struck the metal leg sending jarring pain through Ryat's leg. He rolled with the rebound keep on his feet despite the pain. Xenon recovered from his swing and turned to face Ryat who was now behind him. Ryat set a defensive form and waited, not wanting to attack and hurt a friend. Xenon, on the other hand, only saw an enemy and charged with arms widespread to catch Ryat. He was successful as Ryat attempted to pivot on his left foot and almost collapsed. Xenon held Ryat in a bear hug and squeezed him. Ryat struggled but was losing the battle as his vision slowly turned dark. He thought he heard something, a phrase in another language and Xenon let him go, and stood rigidly straight with his arms at his sides, his baleful eye went cold.
    Ryat stood next to Xenon in relief rubbing his aching sides. He heard a click of a gun cocking and turned to see Carbon point his pistol at Ryat.
    "Lord Ryat," he said quietly, "You and I need to have a little chat."

     At the Black Five star, Rotskull sat upon his captain's seat upon his Jolly Roger Battleship, Bone Rot.  At the side of his flagship is the Dunov Battlecruiser, Big Skipper, commanded by his second, Kendra.  Two Vulkoras Desolators accompanied the ships under the command of a mercenary force acquired through credits along with its support fleet of ten Corsairs, eight Rogues, and four Reapers.  This complimented the twelve Corsairs, eight Pillagers, twelve Cutthroats, and five Reapers either remaining from before or otherwise acquired by Kendra.

     "Sound off.  All ships know the game plan from here?  We get one, maybe two shots at this," Rotskull called out over the comm.

     One by one, the commanders replied back with either 'yes' or 'sure' with varied levels of excitement.  No one seemed to be quite as excited as Rotskull about the jump.

     The smaller ships hugged close by the capital ships to ride the wake as they powered up their jump drive systems.The light consumed the vessels and thrusted them across the sector and into the gravity well of the Proxima Utand star.  Greeting the fleet was an Orkulus Star Base which slowly made its way in their direction.

     "You know the drill," yelled Rotskull.  "Capitals give a wide berth while support heads straight at the bitch!  It's defense isn't very strong, but it'll compensate with a hard punch."
 

    As the cruisers and frigates came within firing range, both sides unleashed hell upon one another.  The initial wave pounded moderately upon the Orkulus as two Reapers were ripped into pieces and a Rogue had most its armor and systems stripped away.  As the capital vessels rounded the station, they performed a strafing fire as they closed in upon the rear hull.  Pulse beams screamed throughout the hulls of the Bone Rot as they pounded the side of the ship as it passed by.  As the capitals reached the rear of the Orkulus, Rotskull stared at his console until sensors showed the station beginning to rotate towards the capitals.

     A transmission went out from Rotskull yelling out, "Head to Hell planet now!  We need to get this done sooner rather than later!"

     Just then, all vessels brought their engines to max and rushed to the edge of the gravity well towards Utand I with the Orkulus continuing to fire upon the smaller vessels as they passed.  The fleet jumped into phase space individually as soon as they were able.  By the time they were clear, the fleet was down to the four capital ships, twenty two Corsairs, five Rouges, five Reapers, ten Cutthroats, and seven Pillagers.

     As the Jolly Roger traveled through the phase lane, Rotskull sat back with a smile.  "Be sure to keep track of that sensor we released in the armor debris.  With any luck, it's far too old of a model for them to check on and we'll know when those things send their ships.  As soon as we enter Hell's orbit we need the smart pets to go do their thing."

    Ryat stared down the barrel of the gun, willing himself to calm down. Part of him wanted to reach out and just blast Carbon with a mind blow, but he didn't. That would not be right, as Carbon had done much for TEC. So he practiced his calming effects.
    "I suppose I do," he said, "but now is not the time for it, considering the circumstances."
    Carbon glared at him for a moment, then sighed.
    "I guess you got a point there," he said quietly lowering his gun, "but you have better have a good explanation."
    "I do, I assure you," responded Ryat as he walked over to a console, "Now we need to access the outside world." He began working through the menus muttering to himself. Carbon walked over to Xenon and began examining him.
    "I noticed that Xenon is made from Advent parts," Ryat commented as he continued through his console manipulation.
    "Yeah," Carbon responded as he opened up Xenon's skull, "Mostly Advent with some TEC tech as well. Most were failures but something about Xenon made the system work." He began fiddling with things in Xenon's skull.
    "Whatcha doing?" Ryat asked pausing for a moment in his console work.
    "Have to reset him," Carbon said, "The code word I used shuts him down hard."
`    "Mind if I help for a moment?" Ryat asked.
    Carbon glared at him.
    "Look, if I wanted to end you and Xenon I could have done it a little while back," Ryat countered. Carbon mulled that over a bit.
    "Well I guess,"  he relented, "but not sure what you can do. Xenon is highly resistant to Advent powers."
    Ryat smiled and said "I'm only part Advent," and placed his hands on Xenon's open skull. Immediately his vision changed and he was looking over Xenon's brainscape. He immediately understood why the Advent couldn't quite get control of Xenon. There was nothing for an Advent to hold on to. He was barely holding on himself. Only his TEC heritage allowed him purchase. He began to slowly go through the mindscape looking for the right point to enter. He found it, a mass of logical knots. Everyone had logical knots due to life experiences but some had more and or bigger ones than others. And Xenon had a massive one. Ryat began to examine the knot, examining the beginning of the knot, which surprised him, and slowly began reworking the knot. It was put there purposefully, that much he knew, and why. He strengthened it and rerouted some key lines before setting one last knot in the mass. With that put in place, he was kicked out of Xenon's brain.
    He stood there, his head pounding. He groaned a bit.
    "You alright?" Carbon asked.
    "Yeah, be reassured that Xenon will never be effected by the Advent again," Ryat said, "By the way, nice work." Carbon looked at him quizzically. "I noticed the logical knot you put in Xenon," Ryat continued, "Quite vicious if you ask me."
    "It protected him from the Advent," Carbon said defensively.
    "True, and I didn't remove it," Ryat said as he turned back to the console, "I merely strengthened it and fixed an area concerning me. So you can turn him back on without him attacking me." Carbon looked at him apprehensively and continued to mess with Xenon's brain and closed it up. Xenon suddenly became animated and his eye began to glow again. He turned towards Ryat who had his back towards Xenon.
    "Is that damn witchboy done yet?" Xenon grumped.
    "Yes Xenon," Ryat said. As if to confirm his comment the comm system came alive.
    "Lord Ryat, is that you? are you there?" came a slightly panicked voice.
    "Yes, I'm here," he responded, "What is the situation?"
    "The fleet is gone, my lord," came the answer, "and we have thirteen Motherships bearing down on us." Ryat raised his eyebrows at that report.
    "Prepare for boarding action," he commanded and then shut off the comm. He turned to Carbon and Xenon.
    "She is trying to capture us," he told them.
    "Who?" they both asked.
    "The High Psintegrat," Ryat explained, "She wants us three for various reasons."
    "And they would be?" Carbon asked.
    "Not sure yet," Ryat answered, "but she has the answers." he continued nodding towards the inert body of Usyma, "We will have to wait for that though. We have a boarding party to get to."

    Boarding of ships in space happened often, though mostly by pirates or marauders of various factions upon mercantile ships. Reason being was the armor on most warships was almost impossible to breach by anything but the most powerful of cutting tools. Hence boarding a warship, especially one as armored as a Kol, was a dangerous prospect because the only way was through the few openings that did exist on a warship. Namely the hangar bays and docking hatches. The Kol had only three, a hangar bay, a personal docking hatch and a freight docking hatch.
    The three split into three different groups. Xenon took the rear freight docking hatch, while Lord Ryat took the port side personal hatch and Carbon took the starboard hangar bay.
    As Xenon began gearing up with the troops that were going to be with him he contemplated the recent events. He knew Ryat had done something to him, but fully what he wasn't sure. His trepidation of revealing his metallic form before others had seem to have lessened as he removed his overcoat and began putting on combat armor in in key areas where he was most vulnerable. The troops with him noticed his form and while a few whispered comments between each other, most ignored him and geared themselves up. His anger had changed as well. It no longer seemed to control him. And as he picked up his heavy flechette gun, a weapon designed for powered armor, he considered this to be a good thing. With his assigned troops following him, he headed for the rear of the ship.
    Carbon, at the hangar bay, was lost in his own thoughts as the troops assigned to him readied the surprise for the Advent boards. He pondered the revelation about Ryat being an Advent or at least part Advent. He had heard rumors but nothing had came of it, plus with Ryat's savage ways of warfare that often shocked others upon the Advent, there seemed to be little doubt of his animosity towards the Advent. And yet now everything had changed, or so it seemed. He pulled out his pistol out of its holster on his power armor and examined it. The commander of the troops assigned to him approached and informed him that all things were in readiness. He nodded in confirmation and ordered all to head towards their assigned positions.
    Ryat watched his troops ready themselves at the personal docking bay. He was clad with his personalized black combat armor with the High Gryphons emblem emblazoned on his arm. He pulled out the witch stick Usyma had dropped and examined it carefully. He wished he didn't have to use the thing but he knew he might have too. He calmed himself as he reviewed what his grandfather had taught him, hoping it would be enough to help them hold off the Advent.

    The Motherships slowly orbited the disabled Kol battleship like sharks around their prey. Three broke off from the attack and began to settle themselves relative to the Kol to begin boarding. They extended their boarding tubes to the appropriate spots. The hangar area as all they had to do was snuggle up to the bay to make sure the magnetic shields that kept the atmosphere in fused together so they latched on first. Advent troops quickly filed in. They wore close-fitted robes that seemed to offer no protection until the shimmer revealed that they had personal shields. They were armed with laser rifles and light beam weapons. There was no desire to have heavier weapons as that would compromise the integrity of the ship. They moved out in squad hopping formations, carefully checking each and every craft in the hangar bay for ambushes. They never saw the surprise Carbon had planned for them. As a group approached one of the hatches leading out of the hangar bay and into the ship, Carbon, who was watching the whole thing on the security cams, ordered the detonation of the strike craft reactors.
    The Kol shuddered and disrupted the docking operations of the other two Motherships as the hangar bay exploded. Carbon had armed all the reactors of the strike craft in the hangar bays to explode on his command and the results were devastating. The Mothership's boarding tube was torn apart spewing atmosphere and troops into space. It retreated quickly. The troops in the hangar bay were atomized. Only the strong hull of the Kol prevented the explosion from piercing the internal walls. Even then, many of the hatches were permanently fused closed.
    "Find what hatches are still good and set watches," Carbon ordered, "They will be trying again." True to his comment, the Mothership slowly flipped around and using it's other boarding tube to find an opening in the mass of wreckage.

    At the rear of the Kol, the Mothership assigned there managed to successfully dock up with the freight hatch there. It was much bigger than the personal hatch and was much easier to get to. The Advent hacked the controls and forced the hatch open. The Advent poured through the wide hatch and down the wide corridor designed to take in the many supplies that passed through normally. But at some point the corridor branched into several smaller ones. And it was here the Xenon and his troops awaited.
    They hide in the shadows and allowed the Advent to get close before opening fire. A barrage of flechette and bullets filled the corridor. Shields stopped some of the rounds but were quickly overwhelmed and soon the corridor was awash with blood and flesh. Advent fired back though with laser fire and beams cutting down several TEC troops. There was not much cover in the corridor and with the TEC having the lesser numbers they were soon pushed back into the warehousing area.
    Here the line stabilized as the amount of cover and narrow areas called for close quarters action which favored the TEC with their shorter weapons. Xenon had put his heavy flechette cannon aside and moved to close with the Advent armed only with his metal hands. He sighted a commander of the Advent and charged through the lines like a raging bull. Laser and light beams did little damage to his form. The commander focused on him and prepared her own attack. She lifted her witch wand in her hand and aimed it at Xenon. Xenon felt the psychic energy hit him and witnessed the commander collapse, clutching her head in pain.
    Xenon smiled as he realized what Ryat had done to him. So the witch boy maybe useful after all he thought to himself has he brought his metal foot down on the woman's head. It smashed like a watermelon.
    "There, I fixed your headache, you witch bitch!" he crowed. The Advent troops around him staggered at the strong break in connection registered in their minds. With a roar, he leaped upon another group of Advent that was attempting to take out a TEC squad, with his fist punching through one's head and his splayed hand raking the back of another with deep gouges, snapping the spinal cord. The TEC troops, encouraged by Xenon's attack, surge forward to push the Advent out of the warehouse area.

        Lord Ryat awaited, listening in to the comm system hooked between him, Xenon, and Carbon. He sighed as he heard and felt the success of Carbon's trap, the ship was going to need some serious repair work now, and he chuckled at Xenon's profanity laced racial slurs shouted out against the Advent.
    "My lord, the Advent have docked," the commander informed him. He nodded and continued to wait. His commanders were quite able and so he allowed them to continue on without his unnecessary micromanagement. The troops settled into doorways that lined the corridor leading to the personnel hatch and waited with weapons pointed forward.
    The Advent finally breached the hatch open and attempted to pour through the hatch. TEC troops opened fire, sending torrents of bullets into the small confined space. The Advent activated a shield that held against most of the bullets but a few still managed to get through. Advent soldiers fired back with lasers and light beams. But most of the TEC were taking cover in the doorways. A stalemate was occurring. Ryat relaxed himself and sent calming thoughts to his troops while keeping an eye out for trouble.
    It came soon enough. An Advent Adapt soon arrived and began an attack upon the TEC soldiers' minds. Blades of fear were sent hurtling towards them. Ryat quickly put up a shield that halted the attack. It was crude compared to the elegance of the Advent's attack but it did the job. The Advent Adapt looked confused. Ryat pulled out his pistol and lined up a perfect head shot, oblivious to the battle going on. He pulled the trigger and the bullet slashed down the corridor, bypassing the shield and struck the Adapt in the head. The back of her head exploded out over the troops behind her.

    The Advent boarding tube snaked through the wreckage towards the lone remaining operable hatch while Carbon and his troops prepared their next surprise for the Advent. He had fought the Advent for a long time and had learned many ways to deal with them. Close combat required explosives, and lots of them. The current trap was in the form of  claymores. As the Advent forced the hatch open the claymores erupted sending massive amounts of pellets scything into the boarding tunnel. The Advent were not quite ready and so few had their shields up, as they caused issues in close quarters, and the first few disappeared in a mist of red while many others behind were turned to human hamburger. Carbon and his troops charged up the tube firing as they went. The Advent, thrown off by the aggressive move, retreated quickly. They were forced back onto the Mothership as the TEC lead by Carbon followed closing, firing their weapons as they went, not allowing the Advent a chance to regroup.
    Upon reaching the Mothership and clearing out the Advent in the room, some TEC sappers began laying down explosives, while Carbon and others laid down covering fire. Quickly the job was done and Carbon ordered smoke grenades to be thrown. Under the cover of smoke they moved quickly back to Phoenix.
    Safely back, they shut the hatch and detonated the explosives by remote. The Mothership shuddered as the explosion tore up its side and shattered the boarding tube. Carbon informed both Ryat and Xenon know that the starboard side was clear.

    Xenon was berserk. He had freed his hatred for the Advent and with his near invulnerability to the Advent's light weapons and his complete invulnerability to their psychic attacks he ranged up and down the corridor attacking anything Advent that he thought was a good target. And that was mostly the commanders. With the Advent commanders being taken out, the rest of the Advent began to retreat back while the TEC pushed forward though wary of the demon who was their commanding officer.
    Xenon was oblivious to it all, consumed with only killing his hated enemy. He howled and charged where ever he wanted, unconcerned about anything and anyone his eyes glowing with a baleful red. Soon the Advent had fully retreated to their ship and slammed the hatches closed. Xenon stood there facing the door with blood running down his arms, dripping on to the floor. Slowly he calmed himself down and looked around him. Many of the troops were avoiding looking directing at him. He ripped a uniform off of a dead Advent and cleaned the blood from off him. Then he walked over to where he left his overcoat and put it on while letting Ryat and Carbon know that the rear was secure.

    The stalemate and battle of attrition was still be fought, though not in TEC's favor. The troops gave a good accounting of themselves, often taking four or five Advent troops for each lose due to excellent use of cover, but the Advent seemed to have an unlimited supply of troops coming. Ryat fired a few rounds down the corridors taking out an Advent, while he racked his brains for something to break this stalemate in his favor. The only good news was that the Advent were trying as well as yet another mental attack came forth. Ryat deftly parried the blows, though he still couldn't see who was sending them out. He had tried his own attacks, but they too were easily parried, especially because he was still to clumsy in his use of his abilities. He needed something. An idea soon formed in his head.
    "Major," he called over the comm unit, "Lay down some heavy covering fire and maybe some smoke as well. I'm heading towards."
    "My lord, I highly recommend against that," came the reply.
    "I understand your concern Major," Ryat said, "But I think I can do something to break this mess up."
    The major grumbled something then carried out the orders. Smoke grenades were thrown forward filling the corridor with smoke as the TEC troops increased their volume of fire. The Advent prepared for an attack. They didn't expect what happened next. Ryat crouched low and pulled the witch wand out of his pocket and scuttled forward. As he passed by individual soldiers they reduced their fire for fear of hitting him. Ryat prepared himself mentally for what he was about to do as he now strode through the smoke screen. The smoke soon cleared revealing Lord Ryat standing regal with his arm extended holding the witch wand out. He released a burst of energy.
    Creating a Cleansing Brilliance Beam was not an easy task. Rare was the Adapt that had the power to form on, much less the talent or training. Further four to five of them would use a special crystal, often used on board Radiance battleships, to amplify the damage. Ryat was by himself and he had no special crystal, just a witch wand. But he reached deep within himself, remembering what the Advent had done, done to his people, done to his friends and family, had done to him. A solid beam of pure white energy went from him, through the boarding tube, into the Mothership, smashed out the other side and into the shields of another Mothership that stood by waiting.
    Any and all Advent troops within the tube disappeared and the tube soon followed causing the hatch to slam closed. The Mothership heeled away from the Kol, severe damage to both sides of it, forcing it away.
    Ryat collapsed in pain. His arm and chest felt on fire. He attempted to calm himself but was failing as the pain turned to shock and he felt himself begin to black out. A trooper that was nearby was quickly at his side.
    "MEDIC!" the trooper cried out after looking over Ryat. "Stay with us Lord Ryat, please," he continued looking at Ryat. A medic arrived and began administrating.
    "How is everything?" Ryat asked hoarsely, fighting the pain and shock.
    "I don't know what you did my lord, but the Advent aren't coming back for a while," came the answer.
    "Good," Ryat groaned, "Tell Carbon and Xenon that port side is secure." Then he blacked out completely.

Him and Kolt? Thenos asked. Major Kolt had just sent a message through the Temple of Communion system, to the exact same coordinates as Captain Jard.

Unless they're in it together,  Teldin said, then these messages may be genuinely innocent.

Seems so...

Private Hunt observed the pathway through the scope on his assault rifle. Compared to the high-tech gauss rifles that many TEC militaries used, the USGB weapons were crude, still using small explosions to propel a piece of metal through the target's skull. However, the guns were reliable, almost impossible to break, and relied on only two things: bullets and accuracy. Every soldier had plenty of the first, and Hunt was a master of the latter. That was probably the reason why he was a short distance away from the others on the embankment watching for unwelcome intruders. He knew that at the opposite end of the embankment there would be another guard in a prone position, probably Liggins with his LMG, and near the centre of the embankment were the others, except for two. Lance-Corporal Dayce and Alkali Govin had gone down the side of the embankment opposite the abandoned railway to scout out the old bunker that squatted in its own sort of crater, surrounded by high walls of earth like the embankment.

"There's people here sir, look like more of the militia we snap-ambushed earlier. Quite a few though, but we could take them with a well-thrown grenade. What do you want us to do?"

"Stay put. Some of us will join you down there," the Transition replied to Dayce, then said to the rest of the group, "Liggins, Hunt, keep guarding our exfil route. The rest of you on me."

Thenos walked along the corridors leading to the shuttle hangar. Even if the calls to Gromov were dodgy, he had no idea which group would be the ones targeting him. The TEC? The High Psintegrat? Even the Vasari? Maybe the pirates wanted revenge... Or perhaps it was really just communication between the leaders of the two planets' militaries. Time would tell. Meanwhile, the Duke and Karla were heading to Gromov themselves. Thenos had to be at the Rebirth shuttle port to see them off.

As the sounds of gunfire cleared, and the bodies of the mercenaries were checked for life signs, Transition Olexion issued his next orders.

"Najal, find a good sniper spot so you can put your other rifle to use covering us. Liggins and Hunt, stay where you are. Dayce, get us inside."

Thenos sat with his head in his hands. The headaches were back. At every mention of the High Psintegrat, the headaches and nausea got worse. He was sure it was due to the High Psintegrat's presence in his very soul. At the height of his headaches the presence taunted him, about how he couldn't trust anyone, and struggled to keep a relationship going with Karla due to his duties as leader of the Collective; the job that made him more like a machine than a man, going through the daily process of signing sheets of paper and sorting problems, giving out orders dispassionately for the deaths of the crews of the pirate fleets that attacked every so often, but he could live with it. He had a way of becoming more human. He'd hand over the leadership of the Collective slowly, then he could spend more time with Karla. That would make him truly human, unbound by duty and rank.

"Doesn't look human to me..." Dayce said. He was salvaging what data he could from the surviving terminal in the ransacked bunker. Most of it was on the subject of abandoning the lab, or consisted of mundane maintenance reports. However, one schematic had some kind of robot on it.

"No shit Sherlock," Alkali Hind said, "that's because it's a robot."

"I don't see you having any creative input, Ian," Alkaline August said.

"Sir? What do you make of this?" Alkali Govin asked the Intelligence Officer.

"This place was ransacked. The data has been lost, but the physical things we needed as a backup plan should still be here, but they're not. They've been taken by the militia, I'll bet. Our next goal is to find where they've taken them."

"Taken what?" Dayce said, "with all due respect, I'd like to know what we're doing out here."

Olexion looked at Dayce, then said, "come over here." Dayce complied, then Olexion took him to one side and spoke to him in a low voice. They came back shortly.

"We're moving out," said Olexion, "let's go."

I hope you enjoy your trip, Thenos said.

Why thank you, the Duke said, I hope we do as well.

Goodbye, Karla, Thenos said, turning to her, you'll be missed while you're away.

She smiled, thank you, then her expression changed, her eyes seeming to glance towards the wall for a fraction of a second, wait, I think there's something I forgot. Sorry, I'll just go and-

As she took a few steps she stumbled into Thenos, and the two fell to the floor. Neither of them were hurt, but they would've been. The tell-tale hiss of the water in the air vaporising indicated that a laser sniper rifle had just been fired. It had been aimed right at where Thenos' head had been moments before.

     For nearly an hour, the pirates of Rotskull moved along the edge of the gravity well around Utand I.  A couple of Corsairs traveled in and out of orbit over the planet near the same spot of the planet without fully entering the atmosphere.  All crews kept a close eye on their computers with constant attention to sensors all around. 

     "How are the pets doing?  The old pack leader said it was there in his logs," Rotskull said over the comm.

     The Corsair team responded, "We found the center of the radiation, but we can't get close, sir.  Sensors are scanning it, but we're not getting any response from the ground team.  Not sure if their radiation suites are strong enough."

     "Well the shadow of Hell is right there.  Figure something out before my smiles shut."

     During that time, ten pirates stood at the mouth of a massive crater on the planet's surface with a few extra pirates on the ground dead within their suites.  Fires burned around them as they looked down upon a steel pit surrounding a bright, blue light.  Sharp, metal tendrils hung over the pit with an occasional bolt of blue lightning sparking from the tip to the center of the massive light.  Every bolt caused the team to flinch within their thick radiation suites with radiation levels turning their suite indicators black.

     The man in the front of the group held out a portable scanner as he said, "Even without the radiation, this structure is too big for even the flagship.  We got all the info we can get.  Back to the shuttle before we die out here."  The team turned as he he pressed a button on his wrist and said, "We're coming back.  Tell the captain this thing isn't going anywhere."

     Rotskull sat in his seat as we listened to the transmission with a sigh.  "Whatever poisoned this beautiful Hell, it happened after the log was written.  Probably why the monsters aren't eager to come after us."

     As the shuttle returned to the Corsair and the ships pulled back to meet the fleet, a transmission was sent to Rotskull which stated, "With any luck, we can figure out what went wrong later.  We have enough scans to start work on a prototype when we get back."

     Just then, one of Rotskull's men looked to him and said, "We almost have incoming.  Sensors picked up a Vasari fleet incoming.  Estimated one minute until the damn things start jumping towards us."

     Rotskull quickly stood from his seat and said, "Tell the fleet to get ready.  As soon as they jump, we'll jump.  I'll be in the next room having some fun."

     Rotskull walked into the captain's quarters and waited by the window for the fleet to begin the jump into phase space.  With the blue glow beginning to form around the ship, he unzipped his pants and pressed his genitals against the glass with a smile spread from ear to ear.  Laughter erupted from Rotskull as he saw the Vasari ships pass him in phase space.

     As soon as the fleet came out of phase space at Proxima Utand, Rotskull ran out onto the bridge and yelled out, "Screw the giant spider!  Run past and get home!"

     One of the crew members looked over and hesitated to respond.  After a brief moment, another crew member gave the order as the previous man finally asked, "Do you know your nuts are hanging out, sir?"

     Rotskull looked down at his crotch, put his hands on his waist, and proudly said, "Why yes I do.  When we get back, have a wench waiting in my chamber."

(DS RP)

"So this is the forboding fortress of Lord Ryat? *cough* It's the greatest testament to endeavourous greed of I've ever seen. A greed that permeates the human race outside my world. It's a greed that pemeates you."

Violet's guide sighed. "Look, you didn't give me a hundred credits so you could talk about riddles all day, so what the hell did you want?"

"But I'm not playing riddles with you, Mr. Sayye." Violet briefly stared at the palace through the recesses of her black hood, contemplating it's possible security measures. She turned to her guide. "I want you to get me an audience with Lord Ryat."

Sayye gave Violet a look of disbelief. "Look... I put my life on the line to get you on-world, but there's NO WAY a simple spacefarer can get an audience with him. I'd have to pose as a member of his inner circle or something crazy like that."

Violet reaches into her cloak and takes out the holo-guise she bought back on Cerebus Point. "If you could do that, I'll pay you 1,000 credits."

"Ah..."

(DS RP)

"Well, it certainly has the shock and awe factor," Captain Levin says.

"It's the best I have to offer if we're going to dissuade their numbers," Frishman replies from his station.

Lord J'rah comments over the holoprojector, "It is certainly risky, but I can see very few other options."

Levin nods, "Then I think it's settled. We'll distribute the battle plan and leave in five minutes." The communication signal is cut off while Frishman gets to work sending the plan out to the other vessels. The few minutes allowed for preparations go quickly and Levin asks, "Frishman, are we ready for this?"

"We're as ready as we'll ever be," he responds.

"Have our men form up and proceed. Let's teach them that you don't have to have telepathic powers to get into someone's head," Levin growls as the vessels move into place on the edge of the gravity well.

On the edge of Kyrene IV's gravity well, the cruisers and frigates hug close to the phase lane, conscious of the Kol surrounded by half a dozen Revelations. The crews watch in amazement as the forces aboard the Kol resist the Progenitors, leaving the intruding vessels with visible scars. Flashes of light announce the presence of vessels which strike at the nearby targets while their attention lies elsewhere.

Nine Kols and ten Kortuls unleash their glowing fury on the Advent. Behind them, two Dunovs and an Akkan rest, one of the Dunovs emitting a field of energy and the Akkan training its sensors on potential targets. The drone hosts scramble to react, launching their fighters seconds into the fight. As the numbers rise from their hosts, the Kols hugging their formation release flak bursts, ripping the fighter numbers apart while their hosts are defenseless against the cannon fire. The Destras and defense frigates attempt to assist, but fall short. The Destras, damaged from the previous engagement, prove easier prey than they normally would while the frigates can not bring enough firepower to bear. As an extra measure against what may come, the Kols engage their adaptive forcefields.

Aboard one of the Radiances, the High Psintegrat turns her head to view the hostilities projected in mid-air. She orders her soldiers, Turn on the intruders. Destroy every one of them.

The Radiances turn on the new targets and are the first to arrive within range of the battle. Before they engage their weaponry, the Kols fire a series of rail gun shots, causing the Advents vessels to drift without direction. The Kortuls follow up by engaging the capital ships with the full capacity of their forward weaponry. One of the critically damaged Radiances falls to pieces under the fire. The High Psintegrat's eyebrows furrow, Why have we stopped?

Our engines have been disabled, an officer replies.

Get them back on line and fire the cleansing brilliance, she demands.

Matriarch, another officer intrudes, our antimatter reserves are being drained.

 The High Psintegrat focuses on the image of Kortuls firing into their ranks and snarls at the alien presence.

On board the Phoenix, Carbon runs onto the bridge with a handful of men, each dispersing to a station. When the holoprojector comes back online, a view of the battle comes up in all of its detail. The Progenitors are backing off from the Kol, but the Revelations continue to hold their positions around their target. One of the crewman yells out, "Sir, we're being hailed."

The Paragon replies, "On screen."

An image of Captain Levin appears before him, "Paragon, are Lord Arnoldt and Paragon Xenon onboard?"

"Yes, they are and we're all glad to see you. What's the plan?"

"Simple, run for the phase lane. They didn't destroy you before and we have no reason to believe they will now," Levin replies.

"Understood," Carbon says before addressing his men, "We have to get out of here. Set a course for Kyrene I."

The men busy themselves and the Kol begins to move towards the edge of the gravity well. A Revelation flashes and reverie overcomes the crewman, their eyes going blank and their bodies slumping forward.

Levin notes the effect on his sensors and curses to himself as the Phoenix falls silent. Less than a moment later, Xenon arrives on the bridge, stopping to take notice of Carbon and his men. When the projector catches his eye and he realizes the battle occurring around them, he dashes to the helm and nudges over the unconscious crewman to gain access to the controls. Soon the Phoenix begins moving again and a different Revelation fires its reverie, but this time it has no effect and the Kol continues onward.

Matriarch, the Phoenix is moving, a crewman alerts her.

Where are the Revelations? Why are they not stopping it?

Their reverie is having no effect, an answer comes back.

As the Phoenix passes the front line, Levin calls up the other vessels and has all but the Kols turn to phase jump. Adaptive forcefields are reengaged and the Kols wait for the last support vessel to leave before lining up for their jumps, taking various hits from the smaller vessels without a second thought.

Pursue them, the High Psintegrat orders.

Matriarch, we don't know wha...

I said pursue, she echoes through their minds, I will not lose the Phoenix.

The vessels move to jump, being ordered through as soon as their given groups arrive at the phase lane. The first to prepare their jumps are the cruisers and frigates, with the Revelations and Progenitors already in position from their pursuit of the Phoenix. The gravity well trickles with energy and the fleet moves on.

The Kols enter the lightning filled gravity well of Kyrene I and find the combined TEC and Vasari forces so tightly packed against the phase lane that that movement is near impossible, being forced to gently maneuver into place. Levin smiles at the sight and contacts Senior Captain Aronoff, "Captain, are we ready to engage their forces?"

"All preparations have been made. We'll await your signal," he answers.

"You'll get it soon enough," Levin alerts.

A beeping sound alerts and Levin activates the communication system to bring up an image of Paragon Carbon.

"Glad to see you made it," Levin greets.

"Same here. Where do you need us?"

"The Osiris is adrift between here and the planet," Levin says. "I need you to move to its position."

"Captain, I think we would be put to better use against the Advent," Carbon objects.

"I'm sorry, Paragon," Levin explains, "but you were kept alive for a reason. I don't know why, but I need you as far from their hands as possible."

"Captain..."

"I'm not having this argument. Get yourself to safety and file a complaint later," Levin firmly states before switching off the channel.

A moment passes and the first wave arrives, the full count of cruisers flooding the area with a clutter of blue objects. Two Dunovs create flux fields to saturate the area and the Kols reengage their adaptive forcefields. The drone hosts fail to act as the plasma storm suppresses their telemetric communications. When the twenty one capital vessels appear on the flanks of the cruisers, there is a moment of hesitation as both sides face off with little space between.

As the first rounds are fired off, Captain Levin commands, "Give Captain Aronoff the signal."

"Yes, sir," Frishman replies and a few seconds pass before the fruits of their coordination erupt from the bays of the Marzas and Vulkorases. Missiles, both phased and not, flow forth, passing between the Kols and Kortuls and delivering themselves upon the masses, creating pops and bursts of light and dark scattered across the formations. The Destras tore apart with the same ease as the hosts and frigates, their superior firepower being waylaid by their brief survival time. The Revelations and Progenitors took the impacts with greater stride, but could do little to escape with the mixture of smaller vessels and debris obstructing their paths. Two of the Progenitors, damaged greatly from their efforts to board the Phoenix, begin to drift as their hulls give to the forces barreling down upon them. The others reinforce one another's shielding while the Revelations occasionally subdue a Kol or Kortul with reverie, but never for long.

The Radiances arrive in the midst of the onslaught, the High Psintegrat's eyes widening as a wave of fire greets her. She sights a Progenitor float by, the outer hull missing and internal components falling into space.

Get us out of here!

It's reactor breaches, creating a glorious burst of light which causes the sensors to briefly flash out. Upon regaining their senses, the High Psintegrat is greeted by the sight of a missile appearing beneath the ship's shielding, shaking the vessel with its explosion and forcing the crew from their positions. The Radiance immediately to the left of her ship drifts forward, the form cracking in half as it comes into sight of the external viewer.

"Get us out of here," she screams aloud, startling the nearby officers.

Orders are scattered and inconsistent as her Radiance turns to leave the scene. Glitter is summoned before her vessel and it disappears in the same moment another Radiance falls to enemy fire. The High Psintegrat manages to calm herself down in the time her ship travels through phase space. When she arrives on the opposite end, she sights the Halcyons and Raptures ready in formation to jump. She reaches out to stop the commanders from engaging, only to get the message across as their drives kick in. The vessels are drawn into phase space and the High Psintegrat feels a sinking sensation dig her deeper into the seat beneath her.

The remaining six Radiances turn every which way, the abandonment striking deeper into their hearts than any number of ion bolts or radiation bombs could. With the flux fields saving on antimatter use, the Lions and J'kar pile on repeated blows. Ions bolts are tossed into the crowd, leaving one vessel or another incapacitated at any given moment. Gauss rail guns are fired over and over more for the effect they have on an enemy's armor than their engines. The four hundred Assailants have disabled their engines and discharge their missiles from the rear of the formation, a violent streaming of dark projectiles which alone cause the Advent untold casualties. While the Kortuls lack the shielding of a Kol or the impact of its rail guns, its disruptive strikes ensure the enemy is crippled beyond function. More missiles are added from the rear, this time conventional weapons released from the missile batteries which the four Sovas litter into space. Clouds of nanites and nuclear weapons erupt from the middle ranks to do their part in the chaos while pinkish beams of energy and a haze of microscopic robots maintain order where desired. Two more Radiances and a Progenitor fall as the odds continue to pile against them in a heap large enough to create its own gravitational pull.

The Halcyons and Raptures arrive behind their battered allies. A commander aboard one of the Raptures looks at the status of the remaining capital vessels and the floating remains of the now missing vessels. She reaches out to the other vessels, Radiance, Rev...

Another of the Radiances loses its forward section, plasma spewing from the gaping hole and a bright light consuming the form. The shrapnel of its death rains on nearby vessels, the shielding sparkling like a pond beneath rain. When the commander recovers from the sight, she continues her order, Radiances, Revelations and Progenitors, withdraw to Kyrene IV. I need Halcyons to escort them out prepare for jump. All Raptures are to hold the front.

Affirmations arrive as the vessels begin to navigate the tight spaces, pushing to the edges of the conflict to buy room. The Halcyons inch up, preparing their broadsides and firing into the Kols ahead of them. The Raptures push the distance, hugging the TEC vessels tightly as they engage. The Radiances and Progenitors manage to make it away, damaged but otherwise intact. The Revelations follow, one taking too many strikes to its engines. Upon being crippled, the Vasari take advantage of the situation and flood it with phase missiles. The vessel is slowly torn apart, its hull cracking before its shields fall below a quarter strength.

With the first wave now evacuating, the Dunovs are drained of antimatter and the Antoraks are running thin on their supply of repairing nanites. Their saving grace lies with the Kortuls, which continue to suppress the Advent abilities. Levin grips onto the arms of his chair, "We need the shields back up."

"Sir, the Dunovs are drained. Shields are not an option," Frishman replies.

"Make it an option. We need to force them back or finish them off," Levin states.

Lieutenant Gross yells across the booming bridge, "Sir, Captain Borovsky says the Abraham is not going to hold out much longer."

"Tell him to evacuate the ship," Levin shouts.

Aboard the Abraham, an explosion brings down a monitor on the bridge. The sparks and shattered pieces scramble across the floor. "Sir, we're ordered to abandon ship."

Captain Borovsky turns his small eyes towards his communication officer, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, sir," comes the answers.

The captain rises, his thick, trimmed beard hovering over his bulky mass. One rotund finger reaches down to a panel on the arm of his chair and activates a button, "All crewman, abandon ship. Repeat: abandon ship."

As the bridge officers leave the scene, the captain steps over to the helm and leans forward, his fingers working across the surface, "She had a good run while she did." With that, he uprights himself and walks calmly out, heading for one of the dozens of escape vessels flying free from the vessel and towards the nearby planet. The Abraham floats toward the cluster of Raptures holding the line. The Advent turn their fire toward the oncoming hazard, desperate to detonate it before collision. They fail and it soon collides with one of the vessels on point. The two crumble beneath the impact and the reactors give under the pressure. Together, they burst into a bright light, soon replaced by large masses of charred debris.

The commanding Advent takes note of the loss and redirects her ships, Halcyons, return to Kyrene IV. We will follow you soon.

The Raptures press towards the TEC vessels, forcing them to ease back and holes to open in their defense line. The Advent open fire on the frigates supporting the middle of the line. The Skirmishers and Sentinels discontinue their assault and scramble to find safety, taking casualties from the assault. The Esau takes critical damage in the fire, her engines being completely shot, but the crew remaining to manage the guns despite her state.

The carriers turn in place to enter phase space, when one on the end takes a rail gun blast, effectively shutting down its engines. Attention is turned to a single Kol approaching the Advent's flank. The Phoenix approaches, beams and autocannons blazing away at the disabled carrier.

Levin is jostled by a small explosion on the bridge when he hears Lieutenant Gross call out, "Sir, message from Paragon Carbon."

Carbon's image appears on the holoprojector, "Didn't think I would sit this one out, did you?"

Levin is again jostled as the ship takes an impact, "Paragon, at this point I don't even care. Give them hell."

The other Halcyons make the jump, while the lone carrier left behind continues to have its engines disabled by the Phoenix. The Vasari frigates take the opportunity and manage to squeeze out of one side of the formation, careening towards the carrier with weapons blazing away. The carrier takes the combination of fire poorly and sections of the hull break away, the husk beginning to drift in preparation for its demise. The Kol passes over the carrier as the contra terrene explosion lights up the space around it. The frigates join in behind the Kol and close in on the Raptures, distributing shots across their flanks. The Raptures press to turn away and one presses close against a Kortul, the two pounding on one another with ferocity. Stuck in a lock of weaponry, the two rip into one another until they light up, their vessels shattered and the parts bouncing against one another. The fleeing Advent fire at the smaller vessels swarming around them. As the TEC and Vasari vessels push behind them, another Kortul takes critical damage and begins jettisoning its escape pods, leaving the vessel to drift. Much to the surprise of those around it, the vessel does not explode, but is left quiet in the void. Another Rapture falls in the conflict as they make their way to the edge of the gravity well. They continue to take fire until the last forms up and their drives are engaged. A moment of spectacle passes before they disappear in a flash.

Levin rises and looks back at Lieutenant Commander Frishman, "I think we won."

"Quite soundly, all considering," he replies. He looks back to find a section of wall collapsed and a crewman extinguishing flames nearby. "Well, not that soundly, I guess."

"Sir," Gross calls out.

"What now?" Levin asks.

"We have contact from the star. It's Admiral Draakjacht with Green Fleet," he answers.

Levin smiles, "Tell the admiral he has impeccable timing."

----

Remaining Advent forces:

4 Radiances

31 Halcyons

13 Raptures

5 Revelations

11 Progenitors

J'kar Fleet:

8 Kortuls

10 Vulkorases

10 Skirantras

2 Antoraks

100 Enforcers

400 Assailants

264 Sentinels

400 Lasuraks

135 Skirmishers

1 crippled Kortul

Blue Fleet --

4 Kols

3 Dunovs

2 Sovas

1 Akkan

1 Marza

Red Fleet --

4 Kols

3 Dunovs

2 Sovas

1 Akkan

2 Marzas

1 Crippled Kol

Green Fleet --

3 Kols

2 Dunovs

1 Akkan

     The toxic planets of the Black Five system aren't usually frequented by the pirates.  As desolate regions, they are ignored unless one is merely passing through.  In this case, a toxic planet is seen as ideal for testing sites for the fleet of Rotskull and his pets.  The flagship holds position outside of orbit with Rotskull looking at the view screen at a single Corsair in orbit.  He sat upon the captain's seat with Kendra standing to his right, and his lead engineer to his left.

     "Power core at twenty percent.  Preparing to raise to thirty," said a voice over a comm link.

     After five minutes pass, the voice says, "Now at thirty percent... but we're experiencing some fluctuations.  Compensating..."

     After another five minutes of silence, one of the helmsmen reported, "Umm... I'm suddenly reading pretty high radiation levels on the Corsair.  If the crew isn't dead, they wish they were."

     Rotskull let out a loud grunt before pulling out his gun and shooting the helmsman in the back, splattering him on the console.  The engineer jumped back as he yelled out, "Whoa... what the hell was that?"

     Seeming slightly flustered with many twitchy movements, Rotskull rapidly said, "I wasn't happy.  Had to blow off steam.  And a chunk of that guy.  Open fire on the ship."

     Without question nor hesitation, all weapons fired upon the Corsair, ripping it to pieces.  The resulting explosion appeared a bit larger than it would normally appear, with a blue ripple effect which was short lived. 

     After a brief pause, Kendra stated, "at least we kept the scans on file on another ship."  She turned to the engineer and asked, "So what do you think about the test run?"

     The engineer said, "I do believe we'll be able to isolate the source of the radiation.  From there, we can try again with a fixed up version."

     Rotskull sighed and announced, "no one seems to care about the mess.  Someone get the pets to lick up the scraps before it stinks."

     Almost immediately the crew on the bridge scrambled to pick up the body to move and leave to look for cleaning materials for the console. 

    Lord Ryat woke up in pain. It started in his fingers and palm of his right hand. An odd mix of tingling like that of nerves waking up, burning and itching, and ghostly phantom pain of something missing. Subconsciously he knew his hand was slowly being rebuilt by nanites. The back of his hand and forearm was in excruciating pain with a burning and itching feel mixed with a soft cooling feel on the outside trying to penetrate inwards. His upper arm and shoulder also felt that same, though not as severe.
    And his head felt like it was being beaten on by two sledgehammers.
    He opened his eyes a bit and immediately regretted it. He closed them and groaned.
    "Well, well, well," came a masculine voice, "seems like someone is waking up now."
    "Where am I?" Ryat asked.
    "You are in the Infirmary, my lord," came the response, "On board the Phoenix. You are suffering from third degree burns on your right shoulder and arm and fourth degree burns to your palm and fingers. Its a good thing your bones survived. Otherwise we wouldn't be able to rebuild your hand. Still haven't figured out how to get the nanites to rebuild calcium edifices properly yet."
    Ryat smiled as he recognized his Chief Medical Officer's snarky tone.
    "Anyways, you were brought in here after your wonderful light show to get patched up." he continued. Ryat made an attempt to get up. "What are you doing?"
    "Gotta get up and get things going to get us out of this gravwell trap," Ryat said.
    "Carbon and Xenon have already done that," the doctor explained, "A Captain Levin and Lord J'rah showed up with a fleet and allowed us to escape. We are currently in Kyrene I waiting for Admiral Draakjacht to show up."
    Ryat righted himself and looked out over the Infirmary. Many of the injured from the battle were there plus all the ones from the conference room.
    "I see you got the conference room cleaned up," Ryat said.
    "Yes my lord."
    "How are they?"
    "Well physically they seem to be okay, but they don't seem to be responding to any form of stimuli. Not sure why. By the way, did you know that Usyma is pregnant?"
    Ryat nodded his head.
    "So what happened in there? It may help me fix them." the doctor asked.
    "An Advent spy managed to attack us in there," Lord Ryat began to explain, "They managed to put most in a trance like state. And when they attempted to put us under something more secure Usyma took the blow meant for me. I think it completely scrambled her mind but it allowed us to stop them and get out."
    The doctor nodded at this explanation.
    "See to it that Usyma is set aside and taken care of until we get back. I will see what I can do for the rest," Lord Ryat said as he slowly got off the table wobbling a bit due to the whitish cast on his right side. The doctor sighed and help Ryat with putting the cast in a sling to help him balance properly.
    "Oh and can you ask Carbon and Xenon to come in when its possible so we can talk things over before we meet up with Admiral Draakjacht?"