History of the Galaxy II

[sachmo]

Invexus Corporation

1-2404

Primidara VIII rotated lazily beneath Lucky Lady, it’s surface reflecting the light of the system’s old, orange sun. From orbit, Primidara VIII looked more like a sponge than a planet with its unique mossy surface.
I guess it is sort of a sponge. This planet soaks up cargo and money faster than any sponge I’ve ever seen, Captain Lester Quenlin mused.
Once the trade agreement had been signed between the Vellon tribe of the Heru, Invexus merchant ships had been the first thru the wormhole. Leading this initial wave was Captain Quenlin and Lucky Lady, loaded down with a huge assortment of cargo.
No one had been exactly sure what sort of goods these Vellons would pay for. It was the first alien species ever encountered by the Cherek people, and so everything was new. However, Quenlin had an uncanny knack for knowing what the customer would pay for. As luck would have it, this skill translated beyond his own species. As soon as the initial awkwardness and bumps in the road were solved, Quenlin was the first captain to sell off his entire cargo, which he did in just under six standard hours. He also, so rumor had it, made the biggest profit in the first week.
Yes, Quenlin was a lucky man, which is part of the reason his ship was named Lucky Lady. Quenlin was also a firm believer in the old adage, “A man makes his own luck.” Once the supply and demand chain became firmly established between the Cherek and Vellon people, many independent captains like Quenlin began to see their income levels start to dip. The initial rush was a great time for both sides, but consumers being what they are, certain goods were preferred over others by the respective races. For example, the Vellon, being a rigid, class driven people, had a particular fondness for Cherek art. Quenlin found that the upper crust would pay exorbitant fees for even the most mediocre pieces, partly because they could and partly because it was viewed as a status symbol to own a “visual expression of the alien mind”. Quenlin could care less if they used them for toilet paper, as long as they kept paying for it. He knew that soon the market would be flooded with all sorts of cheap art, but thankfully he had filled his hold with every piece he could find on his first trip, and made a small fortune in the exchange.
For an independent captain, this was especially fine. Since Quenlin owned his ship, Invexus allowed him to keep sixty percent of the profits from a given run. If a run was particularly profitable, they might bump that up to seventy. Quenlin made seventy percent profit on seven of eight trips to Primidara VIII so far, and on the trip where he didn’t get seventy, Invexus auditors had awarded him sixty-three. He and his crew were making excellent money. However, things were beginning to get crowded. Independents were starting to spring up as fast as Invexus colonized new planets (twelve new worlds in four years!), but the Vellon markets were not expanding to keep up, at least the ones that they were allowed to enter by the treaty. In situations like this, it was usually the captains who dared to venture into the gray area that usually came out ahead. Quenlin was one such captain, and on his Last trip he had learned about a nice gray area indeed. Rumor had it that the Vellons were able to concoct a narcotic that they once used in religious ceremonies. To them, it was a mild narcotic, resulting in a relaxed, happy state.
Invexus trader crews had discovered it, but on Cherekians, the effect was much more intense. When ingested, it fills the Cherekian brain with wonderful, dreamlike images and totally relaxes the body. To an outside observer, the subject is reduced to a smiling, babbling, immobile idiot. The effects of a gram of the drug can Last for up to five hours. The Vellons had a name for it, but it was practically unpronounceable. The Users began to call it simply Glide.
Once the news of Glide got around, demand for it shot thru the roof. The problem was, the only drug trade that Invexus was interested in was the one it controlled. Glide represented an uncontrollable element to them, and so it was outlawed. Those found possessing or consuming Glide faced fine, imprisonment, and possibly death. Those found distributing or transporting with the intent to distribute faced fine, imprisonment, financial seizure, and death.
So there it was. If a captain was good enough, he stood to make a fortune off of Glide. The risks were great, but the rewards were, too.
Captain Quenlin met his Vellon contact and bought thirty kilos of Glide for a price that would make him an obscene amount of money if he were able to sell it in Invexus space. It seemed to him that the Vellons had not quite caught on to the value of Glide, which was so much the better for him. As the Last of the product was moved into the hold of his ship, he walked outside and lovingly patted the landing strut.
“Just this one Last time, old girl. Get me thru and we can retire. I mean it this time.”
He felt the ship give a slight shudder under his hand.
He looked up, a bit puzzled. Was Lady trying to tell him something? Shrugging, he headed back toward the open cargo doors.
Quenlin and Lucky Lady would need every ounce of luck they had left.

[Unknown_Enemy]

TYREAN HISTORY : Nightmares

2404.5

In the middle of the Experiment Room, Monk Uthara was laying in deep trance on a medical couch. Several holo-AI symbol were floating in the room. Senator Lahira and Cardinal Alassi were both sitting on small chairs, waiting. Monk Uthara suddenly seemed to suffer a spasm, which did not interrupt his trance. Behind him, in front of the two officials, the holo-wall blinked. Random colours started to appear, then an image stabilised.

Samurai Heiti Kann cheered at the look on the reco pictures, then he spoke to his crew “Attention to all personnel, we have confirmation that Tyrean cowards committed mass suicide rather than dying an honourable death in combat. We will begin standard planetary sizing procedures immediately”. Planetary napalm weapons started to aim at their targets. All main towns were to be cleansed by righteous fire, thus evacuating the needs to dispose of the bodies. Another fine planet claimed by the Imperium shall come into the Emperor's possessions. Heiti Kann could not understand the Tyrean, they were not fighting, but still they refused to withdraw as ordered. So the Emperor Mahatsohito took a reasonable course of actions. The claimed planets were to be conquered, and brought into the noble Ruling of the Katana Imperium by force. But no conquest did occur. The Tyrean populations committed suicide on a gigantic scale. Males and females were poisoning their own offspring before terminating themselves on the arrival of the invasion forces. The Samurai was glad that such coward were not brought in the Imperium. They did not deserve it. His smile widened as fire rained down on the giant graveyard that had been a Tyrean city only a few hours ago.

The screen flickers.

Upon entering his room, Director barrens of the Cyterian Republic gave his coat to the Tyrean servant, a Zombie as they were called by his population. Sometime, the Director was ashamed of what he had ordered toward the Tyrean specie, but he didn't have any other option. When the AI consensus decided to leave the Tyrean and start a new civilisation out of reach of biological species, the Tyrean society went into chaos. Some Tyrean went mad, and their unique ability to modify the flow of time wrecked havoc not only on their planets, but also on all Cyterian colonies on border systems. Luckily, his rapid reaction avoided too much damages. His covert operatives directed some of the Tyrean insurgents, and in a matter of months all Tyrean worlds on border systems had asked to join the Republic. Which they were granted of course. Then, it was just a matter of exploiting the momentum, and in less than two years, the Tyrean did not exist anymore as a free specie. Of course, they were quickly disseminated within the Republic. Isolated from one another. Then all specimen showing trace of the gift had to submit to a surgical intervention and sterilisation. A pity that such operation removed most of their intelligence in the process. That was why they were called Zombie. It was in fact a sort of lobotomy. And prospective were bad, most of Tyrean were gifted. Well, better to them to disappear slowly and peacefully in the republic than live as slaves in the Dictatorship of the Katana Imperium thought the Director. Meanwhile, in the back room, the Tyrean servant maintained proudly a stupid smile as he stared at the wall.

Images, maybe from Tyrean Secondis planet.

In the fusion chamber D16VA, Three thousands six hundreds and fifty one Tyrean instantaneously stopped yelling and crying as they vaporised. AI Roaming Free checked the circuitry, then powered down the fusion reactor. “It was the Last batch of them was it ?” asked AI Born To Kill. “Yep ! we have solved all their problems. Now we can start working on our projects”. Born To Kill signalled his Joyce in the cybersphere. After the failure of the inner council of Churches, the AI Consensus tried to adapt the Tyrean political system, to no avail. Chaos was spreading fast in the Federation, then the Cyterian withdraw from all agreement, asking for a stabilised political situation before resuming former treaties. The Katana Imperium was weary and massing warships on the border systems. Then the AI Consensus was overthrown by more radical elements. Peace and unity was inforced on the federate worlds by regiments of armed robots. This had been a bloody affair. More, massive suicides occurred in the pacified worlds, leaving some of them almost empty. But the Tyrean who survived were most of the time driven mad by their power over time. So the new Consensus came to the logical conclusion for the Tyrean specie. Extermination. The few millions that were left were disposed of in fusion chambers. Swiftly and painlessly. Proud and happy from a job well done, Roaming Free contacted Consensus “A funny note I would like to share with all of us, do you know how our Last remaining creators called us ???? They called us the Rage.”

Deep space, other images.

Flowers of lights silently erupt from guns.
Sensor beams fighting countermeasures to acquire a lock, looking for a kill.
Red steel steaming out of wounded spaceships.
Thousands life forms yelling a picosecond before silence.
Entire planets, whose dark side are glowing from fusion bombs explosions lie there, as a signal telling to all “AI Consensus and Katana Imperium fought here”.

All images disappear from the holo wall, as the Senator switches it off. “We are going nowhere with this”. “Agreed” replied AI Consensus, “but it is the best sample of what we wanted to show you, accurate in the short term future, but on the long term, your spirit seems to only select the paths that it fears the most, not the most probable one. While everything you watched could happen, their probability are very low. We urge you not to take in account any long term prediction while deciding your policy. The Inner Council must avoid your ancestor's dramatic errors.”

[ November 20, 2002, 18:15: Message edited by: Unknown_Enemy ]

[capnq]

CEO Davdi wished he had worn more comfortable clothing. His somber five-layer outfit, which he normally only wore to wakes, had seemed appropriate for the seriousness of his speech, but the dark purple fabric was really soaking up the heat from the holovid stage lights. The floor director counted down from three, then signalled to Dadvi that he was on the air.

"Good evening, fellow stockholders. I have a message for you tonight of grave importance.

In this fiscal year, the Conglomerate has accomplished a great deal. A new refuelling station on Kexma enabled us to colonize the two hydrogen worlds in Praxis Verdanis, and to extend the exploratory voyage of the _Speculation_, which found three more colonizable worlds in the Polaris system. Her sister ship, the _Investment_, found a total of six more colonizable worlds, four of which have breathable atmospheres. The Conglomerate now boasts eighteen branch colonies in seven systems. Remarkable breakthoughs in computer science brought advanced robotic factories to increase productivity, and automated spacecraft such as the _Personnel_ passenger transport, which can operate without intervention by an Eifral crew. However, these breakthoughs came at an unexpected price.

Three years ago, the discovery of the abandoned Skycity of the Masters on Jalwu dominated the newsfeeds, but as some commentators have noted, few results of the continuing study of the ancient computer system found there have been published. The reason for this was that the sapient computer known as 'Node-25' held a terrible secret in its databanks.

Many Eifralo believe that the Masters will one day return, to live among us again. We have long speculated that there could be other intelligent races scattered among the stars. Node-25 revealed to us that the Masters were not alone in the universe in their day. There was at least one other starfaring race, and that unnamed race was a bitter enemy to the Masters. Node-25 contained records of war in space, a horrific conflict of unimaginable proportions.

Approximately a year and a half ago, another artifact from the Master's day was discovered adrift in Nuqbo's planetary rings. Comparison to Node-25's database indicate that the heavily damaged object was part of a powerful weapon, of a type used by both sides in the Masters' war. We do not know to whom this particular weapon belonged, but it was clearly once part of a spacecraft, destroyed in one of the devastating battles depicted in Node-25's records.

We cannot assume that other intelligent lifeforms on distant worlds will value cooperation above conflict. The Conglomerate must be prepared to defend Eifra and our branch colonies against potential attackers. The next fiscal year's budget proposal, which I will submit to the Board of Directors tomorrow, includes research and development expenditures on technologies which our engineers believe could help protect us. Some will oppose these projects as an unnecessary, profitless expense, but I say that they are an essential premium to be paid for an insurance policy which we hope to never have to file a claim against.

However, we cannot allow the fear of undiscovered dangers to hold back our exploration program. If there are hostile aliens out there, we must find them before they find us. We cannot wait to discern the intentions of strangers until they arrive to meet us in our own skies. We must hope that those we may someday meet will seek profitable commerce rather than hostile acquisition.

I thank you for your valuable time this evening. Good night, and good profit."

[capnq]

As CEO Davdi had expected, convincing the Board of Directors to authorize the R&D portion of the fiscal 2405 budget was turning out to be a hard sell. Leading the opposition was Davdi's most bitter rival, Porxi Malwi. Malwi had been the leading candidate to be the next CEO until Farki had convinced the board to accept Davdi's bid instead, and even after a nonade of strong profits under Davdi's leadership, Malwi hadn't forgiven either of them. He had been accumulating as much preferred stock as he could since then, and was now the Conglomerate's third largest shareholder.

Malwi was particularly livid at Davdi's handling of the new military research program. Davdi had been able to reallocate enough discretionary funds to cover much of the basic research, but now the Board needed to approve the money to start building test models and training pilots. When Doctor Timho had explained the proposed space combat force to Retla Gurse, they'd quickly realized that the small craft would need some kind of transport to be used effectively; they had to be optimized for speed and maneuverability, and wouldn't be capable of carrying enough fuel for extended-duration flights. Starting from the designs in Node-25's database, Gurse had come up with a "carrier" that could launch and retrieve the "fighters", as well as ferrying them between star systems. The fighters were ludicrously small, barely half the size of Node-25's hardware, which meant that they couldn't be automated like the _Personnel_ or the proposed carrier.

Doctor Dorsi had found her expert on pre-Unification history in a small subsidiary of the Entertainment Division that served the niche market for virtual reality hovercraft simulators. There were a few VR games that simmed the conflicts between the old skycity-states, which mostly sold in the 9-12 age bracket. It was looking more and more like they'd have to recruit adolescents to learn to fly the space fighters. Davdi had deliberately avoided mentioning that prospect in the budget proposal, but Malwi had raised the issue during the third day of discussions. The idea of sending children into battle had rallied Malwi's supporters, and the budget negotiations had been deadlocked for nearly a week now, but Davdi was hopeful that the latest discoveries from the _Investment_ would break the impasse.

The rest of the board had already gathered around the meeting table for the afternoon session when Davdi entered the room. Davdi took his place next to Chairman Farki and greeted them all.

"I have a special announcement to make before we continue," Davdi began. "It's going to be huge when we release it to the Media Division. Doctor Timho personally delivered the latest report from the _Investment_ to me during the lunch break."

"More observations from that newly-forming star they found inside the Jidop Nebula?" Farki asked.

"No, this is much bigger. Their next transit lead them to Mamor, where they encountered an alien spacecraft!"

"How...convenient." All heads turned to look at Malwi, whose loud sneer had cut through the surprised babble that Davdi's Last statement had provoked. "First you circulate these sensational tales of the Masters' so-called 'war', then you propose a budget full of expenditures with no profit potential, for the sake of 'defending' ourselves against unknown threats, and only ten days later you announce that we've found an alien race. I am amazed that you think this board so gullible."

"Gullible?!?" Farki interrupted. "Did you even read Doctor Timho's executive summary of Node-25's records? No Eifralo could fabricate such horrors. Perhaps you should read the full report."

"Better yet," Davdi added, "we could ask Soctu to allow you to interview Node-25 personally. Talking to it is a fascinating experience. If seeing the actual displays won't convince you, nothing will."

"I'm not going to go chasing off to Jalwu to talk to a mere machine," Malwi scoffed. "You're not going to get me away from this debate that easily."

"If you had read the summary," Farki snapped, "you'd know that Node-25 was moved to the main research complex here on Eifra nearly two years ago. I cannot comprehend how you can even imagine that this is all some ploy to get the R&D budget approved."

"You also haven't heard all the news from the _Investment_," Davdi continued. "The aliens had already colonized one of the lesser planets orbiting Mamor. They call themselves the 'Tyrean Federation', and all indications are that they are not hostile. In fact, they've already submitted a request to open trade negotiations."

Malwi gave Davdi a suspicious look. "They seem to have learned to communicate with us remarkably quickly," he commented.

"That surprised me as well," Davdi admitted, "but apparently their archaeologists learned the language of the Masters from ruins in their part of the cluster, long before the _Investment_ entered Mamor. The Tyreans can read and write an ancient form of our script, but had no idea what spoken Eifral sounded like.

There's another opportunity to quash your skepticism, Porxi. How would you like first rights to lead our trade delegation to the Tyreans?"

"If these 'Tyreans' actually exist, that's a very tempting offer. I assume I could resell the commission to someone else whom I trust?"

"Of course," Davdi grinned and added, "assuming you can find someone else that you do trust."

Farki and several other board members laughed at Davdi's comment, but Malwi didn't even smile.

"That shouldn't be a problem," he replied. "All right, I accept your offer. If she'll take the commission, I think my first choice for that assignment will be quite acceptable to the entire board."

[ December 01, 2002, 20:35: Message edited by: capnq ]

[Unknown_Enemy]

TYREAN HISTORY : Gathering Storm

2404.9

His Holiness Vixen VIII blessed Senator Urien as he entered the room. Following the Winds of change, the Tyrean political system undertook a peaceful revolution. The religious now controlled only one third of the Inner Council, with another third elected by citizens of the federation, and the remaining was given to AI Consensus. From undisputed leader of the Tyrean, His Holiness was now Head of Inner Council, and to the surprise of Consensus, he had accepted to be stripped of most of his political power, becoming only the moral leader of the council. But old habits are hard to die. Before becoming a Senator, Urien was a believer, and he still was.

“Greetings your Holiness, I bring critical news. I went out of Security Council half an hour ago, and our spies satellites intercepted an internal message in Katana Imperium territory.”

Vixen interrupted the Senator “How ? Please explain, as I am not invited anymore in these meetings.”

The Senator complied “You probably remember that our first guess was that internal warfare in Katana Imperium was not rare. Then our second deduction was that the honor code which binds their society would have them quite easily targeted by intelligence actions. So we deployed some satellites in their space to monitor their traffic. We did it carefully, we hid these in our Scientific program to better understand astrophysics. The Katana examined our probes but they did not find the hidden software from Consensus which can turn a harmless research robot into an accurate listening post. We are now in position to monitor some of their secret transmissions. Here is the message, please read it and give it back. It should not have been available to you.”

News Transmission intercept, Katana Imperium 2404.8
..@#%CFBDYG$%# Colony Module Kereina Mori reports successful landing on planet .$%&^&^******** 68th imperium colony established ..... Shogunate defence reports field deployment of first Light Cruisers., all weapons tests passed. ... Deployment of ice colony modules to colony fleets proceeding on schedule ... latest strategic estimates place the %&^%$^&* empire at the forefront of proposed military actions designed to expand the Imperium twofold ... Mahatsuhito clan annihilates clan Tokima after spies reveal the leader of the Tokima clan planned to attempt a coup in several outlying colonies ...
#$^$&^&**** END Transmission intercept"

His holiness frowned “Hmm. No surprise here. Their political system is a modern form of feudalism, their society can survive only if they expand. And in time of trouble, they need to focus on an enemy. So to end unrest, their leaders are going to direct their specie's violence against an alien. But why is the target's name missing ? I find odd just this part could not be decrypted.”
“But it was decrypted your Holiness, problem is, the Imperium gave code names to each of their neighbors, and as contact has been rare, we do not know who they wanted to point at. Which left us with only two possible targets : the Cytherians or us.”
“And what does Consensus say of this ?”
“They say the Katana honor code requires some actual fighting to occur for their warrior to achieve glory. As our colonies would not even try to defend themselves, they would bring no such thing. In fact, it could even create more unrest by getting a whole army of unsatisfied warriors. Consensus think leadership of the Imperium is aware of the problem. Which leaves only one possibility : our Cytherian trusted allies will bear the onslaught. We think the conflict will take place..”
“And what if Consensus analysis is false ?” coldly asked Vixen.
“I beg your pardon” replied the confused Senator.
“What happens to us if Consensus estimation is proven false and the Tyrean are the target ?”
“Well, we have good hope to get both the Cytherians and maybe the Eifralo to help us. But our space would become a battlefield. Several systems would be lost. Millions dead, maybe billions.”
The low voice of Vixen then said “So you are telling me that Security Council is placing all bets on that single analysis from a little known race. Typical. I thank you for your report Senator, you can withdraw and please keep me informed of any further development. May the Almighty bless you Urien.”
The confused Senator saluted and exited the room. Cardinal Alassi appeared from the back door, his head fur completely flat. “Your Holiness, this is madness ! We must prepare our worlds for an attack immediately.”
Vixen smiled “My dear Alissa, did your fur took he place of your brain to propose such stupid idea ?”
The Cardinal almost jumped to the desk “But we are dealing with our own survival ! We ...”
“We will play the game from the rules we choose to use. We would need years to prepare for such a war versus such a powerful foe. And as far as we know, the Katana could be on their way to attack a specie still unknown to us. We need to play the balance of power. We need the Katana as a power as much as we need to keep the Cytherians alive. Can't you see it ?”
Raising both ears, Cardinal Alissa quickly thought about it, “then what shall we do ?”
His Holiness smiled “First leak this message immediately to the Cytherians. They are no fools and they will reach quickly the conclusion made by Consensus. Then leak it also to that Eifralo ambassador, it could prove useful.”
“I still don't understand your Holiness”
“The Cytherians will prepare. They have an army which will prepare for the conflict. Now how do you think a specie like the Katana Imperium will react when they'll see a military buildup occurring within one of their neighbors ? Attacking us instead ?”
“I still disagree your Holiness, the risk is..”
“You don't need to know more. Get back to your duties, you have work to do, as I do.”

[ November 27, 2002, 18:12: Message edited by: Unknown_Enemy ]

[capnq]

The music was blaring, the BLARG was flowing, and CEO Davdi was feeling the most relaxed he'd been in more than two weeks. Chairman Farki had invited the rest of the Board of Directors, plus the top management of the Conglomerate, to a party in celebration of the board's authorization of the fiscal 2405 budget. The festivities were a much needed respite after the prolonged debate over the military R&D expenditures. Dadvi was quite relieved that Malwi had declined the Chairman's invitation, but couldn't seem to escape the gossip about the only member of the board not in attendance.

"Malwi's choice to lead the Tyrean trade delegation was a bit of a surprise, wasn't it?" Retla Gurse asked him.

"Not in hindsight," Davdi replied, "Selya has the best interpersonal skills of any of the corporate Vice Presidents. She's the perfect person to negotiate with our first alien race."

"Yes, she certainly is good with people. She'd have to be, to stay on speaking terms with Malwi," Gurse laughed. "It's too bad that she had to leave for Mamor before the budget was finalized. She's missing a great party."

Davdi had to smile at Gurse's remark, and not just because of the poke at Malwi. Besides being the Conglomerate's Vice President of Eifral Resources, Selya Penlo was one of Gurse's ex-lovers. Davdi was glad to see that Gurse could talk about her in complimentary terms again; the couple had had an unusually acrimonious breakup several years ago, and Davdi considered it an accomplishment to have stayed friends with both of them afterwards.

"The party really ought to be in your honor, Retla. I can't thank you enough for the idea that broke the budget deadlock."

"I can't take all the credit. It was Doctor Dorsi's description of the Pirku Group's role in the Corporate Wars that made me realize that we could turn a profit on the carriers and fighters by selling them to the Tyreans."

"I almost hope they won't need them. They say we're the third starfaring race they've encountered, and their diplomatic Messages keep raising concerns about one of the others. They're quite insistent that they need to consult our 'defense minister', and seem to have trouble grasping the fact that we don't have one."

"Maybe you should let them talk to Node-25," Gurse commented, "it's got more expertise on that than any of us do."

"That's another brilliant idea! They're already quite comfortable interacting with artificial intelligences; AIs are even considered citizens in the Federation. Keep thinking like that, and you could be the next CEO."

"Ugh, no thanks. I'd rather stay at my design table than have to deal with the board that often. Which reminds me, we're going to need to rework the carrier design a bit."

"Why? Has a problem come up?"

"Node-25 ran some simulations with the current designs. The fighters' performance is almost too impressive; if any of the enemy fighters get past the defenders, the carrier's main gun simply can't hit them. Node-25 says we need some of the rapid-firing weapons it calls 'active defense systems', but I don't know how long R&D will need to reverse-engineer them from Node-25's database."

"Will that hold up prototyping the carrier?"

"I don't think so; we can start building with the current design, and refit it after we figure out how to make the things Node-25 wants. Finding pilots for the fighters is likely to cause more of a delay."

"Don't remind me; I'd rather not think about that tonight. And here comes a welcome distraction."

Davdi had spotted Sanre Dorsi crossing the room towards them. The historian cut a rather striking figure, wearing a fluorescent orange and yellow-green print that set off her complexion nicely. Even better, she was carrying three mugs of BLARG.

"You two looked like you needed refills," Dorsi smiled.

"Quite perceptive of you," Davdi grinned. "Retla was just telling me that you inspired the idea that made this party possible."

"I did? How on Eifra did I do that?"

"You're the one who told me about the Pirku Group," Gurse explained, "when we were trying to figure out how to build weapons to arm the space force with. If Pirku could supply guns to almost all sides' security forces throughout most of the Corporate Wars, we can probably make money selling armaments, too."

"Maybe that's why the Chairman invited me tonight. A hydroponic farm girl doesn't get many chances to hobnob with the elite."

"Sinta still has an eye for a pretty face, too," Davdi winked. "I'd be surprised if that had nothing to do with it."

Dorsi giggled and blushed an even deeper red. "I'll bet you say that to all the media consultants."

"No, he only says that to the female media consultants," Gurse laughed. "I'm going to grab something from the buffet for this BLARG to wash down; do either of you want anything?"

"The BLARG is enough for me right now," Davdi said, taking a sip, "but I recommend you try the alepi-stuffed itegas; they're spicy enough to ignite your breath."

"I'd like some more of those," Dorsi added, "the alepi paste is spiked with just the right amount of apiro. Even better than my mother's recipe."

"One bowl of itegas coming up. Don't wander off where I can't find you, or I'll have to eat them all myself."

[ November 30, 2002, 01:35: Message edited by: capnq ]

[Gimboid]

OOC - Apologies for the massive delay, real-life issues were getting in the way Please take note of the date of this post and this post can be assumed to take place after my 2nd post. I will have dates on the other back Posts i make to catch up my storyline to the current stardate of 2405.0

Katana Imperium
2401.5

After the first dozen colonies had been established in the neighbouring star systems to the homeworld, development of advanced telecommunication had needed to be created to allow effective colony control measures. Despite every colony being controlled by only the most trusted vassals of the Mahatsuhito clan and her allies there was a need to ensure real-time conferencing capabilities for population monitoring and control from the homeworld. Trust can only go so far

With this new telecommunications equipment came a means of keeping the population blind to the reality of the Imperium. An empire wide news service had been setup, and with it the possibility of deciding what information the population in general would be allowed to witness. This powerful subterfuge was so staggeringly obvious a means of control that it had suprised many in power that the Imperium had not used such measures before now.

The entire economic and social fabric of the Imperium had changed in ways unimagined before the discovery of the warp points. Entire space yards had been devoted to nothing else but the production of colony modules, and every month at least 1 new colony was being established somewhere in the universe. The people for the most part were unaware of just how huge the expansion plans permeated the Imperium in everything it did, and except for the occasional news clipping about the latest colonies that had been created. All that could be noticed was the commonplace disappearence of neighbours who were shipped off to some unknown offworld destination to fulfill the grand plans of the emperor.

______________________________________________
==============================================

Power was constantly flowing into the capital nowadays with the exponential increase in information, resources, and population intel originating from all the colonies. Kaneko had found new ways of influencing people and events in the partial chaos that ensued as new colonies were established and power structures were being setup. She revelled in choosing the people who would have the true power in colonies, let the people assume one group was in power and yet it was someone else entirely who would be pulling all the strings. There had been a few foolish Groups who had tried to follow the puppets strings back to the source, quick deaths awaited all those who attempted to interfere with the plans of the Mahatsuhito clan.

Several Groups of conspirators had been located and destroyed over the previous year, blindly believing that to live away from the homeworld offered some measure of protection from the political posturing and outright clan warfare that had existed there since the Imperium was formed. With the discovery of such Groups, Kaneko's worst fears had been confirmed - no longer was her domination of the empire as absolute as she had manipulated it to be, she would have to find ways to exert power without physically being present. This new conundrum had occupied her mind for weeks, she now hand picked all operatives that would be given power in the colonies as well as the individuals who would report about the day to day activities of the colonies, and these Last reports would only be made to her.

Behind her regal visage as it appeared in the palace was a mind more cunning then any realised, noone would ursurp her power she had decided that long ago and so she had become the puppet master, pulling the invisible strings of power and causing events to unfold in the manner that suited her needs best.

Her resources were being pushed to their limits with the ever expanding size of the empire and the Mahatsuhito clan would eventually need to use people from the other substantial clans of the Imperium such as Menjisu, Tokima, and Kitokaha Clans who could be trusted for many things but needed to be watched as they too would place their own clans needs above all else when it came time to decide loyalties. This fact only added to the control conundrum, yet Kaneko found that the extra stress created by such issues only focused her more, increased her determination to stay in power. To control a planet was a satisfying experience, to control the wide reaching and ever expanding Katana Imperium was euphoric.

[ December 02, 2002, 12:18: Message edited by: Gimboid ]