History of the Galaxy II

[Jmenschenfresser]

Chapter 1--Part 2
2400.0

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OVERLORD
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Keer-ree, the High Holiday, celebrated by all tribes. Yesterday, the Day of Dawn, the day before the three weeks of festival which bring in the new year, found the Overlord in and out of meetings with the Circle of Fifteen. He considered the issues petty. For the most part the schedule had been decided. Taking a cold bottle of Boohrisian Head Tea from the concealed cooling unit behind his desk, he removed the lid and gulped down half the bottle.

What would my Omon brethren think if they knew I preferred Boohrisian tea over our own root ale, the old Omonite thought. He would have liked to take it as a sign of his tribelessness as Overlord, but that would be fooling himself. He'd always been a cosmopolitain. Friends in all tribes. Lovers in more than one. How many other Omonites could boast they'd bedded a Sa'ah. He loved multiplicity, not homogeneity. He snorted.

Sitting the bottle upon the transparent face of his desk, he struck two keys and the agreed upon itenerary scrolled up from the bottom:

2400.0 Space Yard requisition.
2400.0 Commencement of construction of the Vellon colony ship, Rock One class.
2400.2 Completion of Vellon ship.
2400.2 Commencement of construction of the Omon colony ship, Rock One class.
2400.4 Completion of Omon ship.
2400.4 Commencement of construction of the Rellan colony ship, Rock One class.
2400.6 Completion of Rellan ship.
2400.6 Commencement of construction of the Boohr transport ship, Class Under Consideration
Open - Completion of Boohr ship.
Open - 2nd Vellon colony ship
Open - 2nd Omon colony ship
Open - 1st Sa'ah colony ship.
Open - 1st Boohr colony ship.
--To Be Determined--

The Overlord slapped two more keys and a grid of the known galaxy appeared. Two more keys and a graphical representation of the stipulations of the first ever Ring (title of treaties produced by the Circle of Fifteen) descended upon the grid.

He studied it for a time, sipping his tea and massaging his left bicep.

The Vellon would head toward the center of the galaxy. The Omon would head toward its edge. The third spacial lock remained unclaimed. All further exploration was done on a finders keepers basis, with one exception--the system to the south, if inhabitable, would belong to the Rellan so that they might retain a strong centralized node of power for the Heru. The Boohr were granted right to one planet per system of the owner's choice. No rights have been given to the Sa'ah except a general promise of initial colony ships. Few want to see them prosper given that it almost invariably leads to raiding and extortion.

The Overlord didn't really relish the thought of returning to the Lighting of the First. His wife made a horribly bitter sweet nut stuffing. Probably the worst. Work was better than choking that stuff down. He resolved to spread around a little tribelessness with a personal letter to the Vellon captain chosen to pilot the first colony ship. He'd write the entire letter replacing all tribal references with references to the Heru as a whole. Damned Vellon needed all the pride they could get as people of Heru and not children of the Vellon. The Vellon had only recently rewritten their textbooks to cut off all geneologies with Vellon, instead of the traditional extension to Heru.

First steps toward another war, thought the Overlord.

He grabbed his left bicep, almost spilling his drink in the process. The line across his bicep itched on the inside. It always had..ever since a Vellon soldier almost hacked it off with a piece of glass tied to a splintered table leg.

[TerranC]

Notes: I guess I was too excited in the start. I rewrote and edited the two stories before. Not much changed, but now you can make sense out of it. Enjoy.
--------------------------------------------------
"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds."
-Albert Einstein

Galtenn Standard Year 2400, 7th Month.

"Well, that business is done with. Tell Command to get the Crew Return Vehicle ready. I don't want to stay up here one more second."

"I thought you liked space?"

"I like space. I don't like working in space. Even if it's all done by a bunch of robots. Besides, the station gives me vertigo every time I look out the window."

"Heh. Vertigo nothing. You don't have to spacewalk out there with a 300KT starship bearing down on your head."

"It's Zero Gravity, Hecks. Ain't nothing falling down on your head unless with a gentle nudge."

"That's what I worry about"

The two crewmembers laughed out aloud in the void of space.

"Is the CRV coming or what?"

"It'll come... just wait a sec-"

explosion

Just then, something rocked the space station with tremendous force, enough to bring the two members off their seats. It seemed to almost overturn the enormous space station. After a brief moment, the space station became stable, once again.

"What the hell was that?"
"Check the cameras! Did something crash into us?"
"Negative! What's going on? I'm not reading 6A wing on the computer!"
"What? How can you not see a forsaken wing?"

"Holy smoky, Jecks. Take a look at this."
"Lord almighty."

Both crewmembers stared ghastly at a vidfeed that showed a part of the station ripped apart to pieces. Where it had once sported a large wing of a construction facility, it was replaced by nothingness: apart from a large debris field and some torn framework freefloating in space. A comm signal broke the moment of awe.

"Command to Starbase Galtenn, Command to Starbase Galtenn, please respond. We've registered a large explosion down here. Is anybody hurt?"

"Negative command. No one's hurt. The whole wing is gone Command. Gone. Torn apart to shreds-"
"When is that CRV going to get here command?"
"The CRV will arrive momentarily. We have dispatched a shuttle also to cope with any problems. It's almost over. Stay frosty."

the day after

"... There are no words on what caused the explosion, or if there are to be any actions taken. The Space Command is keeping a tight lid..."

I turned off the Television.
There was no need to watch it anymore. I didn't need some grubby reporter telling me what I already know. It was bound to happen, I knew it, they knew it, and everybody knew it. I sincerely believed that every precaution was taken, and that those precautions would prevent access to vital alliance installations. Or at least slow the clock or make them choose something less important.

"Mr. Central Regent, The executive committee is here to see you."

"Thank you secretary computer. Show them in."
"Good Morning, Gentlemen."

"Good Morning Mr. Central Regent. Now we assume you called us about the event?"

"You must be psychic, Mr. T'Erian. All of you, please sit down."

I took a deep breath before speaking; as what I was about to say would destroy everything I have worked for. But the citizen's needs and wants come first, not my ambitions.

"You all know that I met with the Demiregents of the nations following the event Last night, and... I think they're right. I think we should put a halt to all information regarding the event, and halt the constructions, at least we implement new safety measures..."

"Sir, with all due respect, the demiregents' advice is worth dirt. We cannot put a hold on information and the space constructions, even if we wanted to."

"Mr. Central Regent, halting the construction, and subsequently the expansion of our race, is telling ourselves that we should chock ourselves and suffocate. Galtenn Prime is a fine planet, but the maintenance of 2 Swifts, a space station, and a colony ship is putting strain on our resources. Also, the construction costs are running our coffers bare. From more than 40 000 KTs of resources, we have used up more than 10 000, and are loosing more each month. We have located 3 Huge and resource rich planets in the new lixis system, 1 of which, has an oxygen atmosphear! To halt construction when such rewards are nearly at our heals, sir?"

"If you hold information, and halt construction, they have won, sir. The opposition, the media, the pessimists, and the state nations. You must adress the public."

"Think about it, Mr. Regent. You have all the time you need."

There was a lengthy period of silence in the room.

"Thank you. I'll notify you people first before I take any action."

"Have a nice day, Mr. Central Regent."

the day after

"Good afternoon, Detective Landers. How goes the investigation?"

"Just fine Mr. Central Regent. We've found some interesting things from the shuttle. Since I know that you don't have time, and I don't have time, I'll just get down to business, if you don't mind."

"Go ahead Detective."

"Well, we can rule out any mechanical faults or Galtenn error, sir. The station computers don't record any rise or decline in systems to above normal or below. The Command Station recordings show the same, and our own scans of the mechanical debris show that they were working fine before the event."

"Well, Computers can be tricked, can't it?"

"Yes they can sir, but our computer analysts don't see any signs of hacking, alteration of data or any malicious programs in the computers."

"So you're saying that this was deliberate?"

"I wanted this to be an accident, myself, sir. But lady luck isn't with us. The proximity scanners don't show any space junk floating nearby, and no meteor materials were found."

"What caused this?"

"Our best guess sir? A bomb, not really powerful but if well positioned, could do a lot of damage. It's not the sophisticated EM kinds, but the Ral Gral (Joe Schmo) type dynamite."

"Are you sure that it was a bomb?"

"Not quite so sure sir, but it's either that, or some kind of undocumented freak accident where the plasma pipes just blow up without gathering pressure."

"Was it the crew?"

"No sir. The crew stayed in the command module all the time. Passed the lie tests perfectly. Somebody that got in, got out, and stayed anonymous enough in order to plant a bomb without the environmental computers knowing it probably perpetrated the event. We're getting closer and closer to a solution sir."

"Thank you. Please keep me and the GSC informed of any progress."

"Will do sir. Shuttle out."

"5 minutes Mr. Central Speaker."

The bloke had to have connections. There was no way that some ignoramus could have come into the station with a bomb. They'll get to the bottom of this. They are good men, the crew.

I stepped up to the podium to see a whole mess of reporters and cameras.

"Good Morning ladies and gentlemen. As you all know by now, at 10:00 PM Standard Meridian Time, 2 days ago, the 6A section 'wing' of Starbase Galtenn was destroyed by unknown causes. The crew is safe, and the Acasta is intact. There is a full-fledged investigation going on as of this moment to figure out the cause of the accident. As of this moment, MXR Aeronautic corps will be off of any future projects, and will be investigated. The Space Contract, for the time being has been awarded to Northern Frameworks Incorporated. The space program will proceed as planned, and another Acasta Colony Ship and Anton Schmitt Installation will be constructed. The GSS Vulcan and the GSS Swift will not be recalled, and the GSS Swift's return is only for refueling purposes. The GSS Swift and the GSS Vulcan have relayed their collected stellar data back to Galtenn Alliance Geological Survey, and the GAGS have approved the plan to colonize 3 planets in the system Lixis over a period of 2 years. Research of Propulsion technology will also proceed as planned. Better scanner technology will also be researched to prevent events like the explosion. The crew will be given 4 months of leave with counseling with pay when they will be given the command of the newer proposed installations. Upcoming events in the Calendar will not be changed or cancelled, nor will there be any emergency meetings of the states. All will be returned to normalcy, and hopefully, an event such as this will never happen again. Thank you and God bless."

Acasta Anton Schmitt

"Mr. Central Regent..."

As I stepped off of the podium, I began to think of what would plague the alliance and I next. They, whoever they are, pulled off a major stunt. If what they have done are any indication, they'll think about what to do next, and probably will wait a little. We are going to be ready next time.

Somwhere else on Galtenn Prime

"Sir. It's been done."

"Good. Phase one is complete."

"When shall we begin phase two, sir?"

"In due time... In due time. We've scared them for now. Give them time to become relaxed again... when they become plagued with hesitation and inaction. When they think it's safe. It's not profitable to go after someone that has been cornered. They will strike back."

"Aye sir."

"The beginnings of an empire starts here..."

[ October 04, 2002, 03:06: Message edited by: TerranC ]

[Jmenschenfresser]

Chapter 1--Part 3:
2400.2

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MERRILL & TYR
-----------------------

Merrill, from tribe Vellon, slapped his daughter, Tyr, across the mouth, at which she fell to the floor. His daughter was every bit the bastard he was, in both senses of the word. Her mother had been locked up right after Tyr's birth. Crazy ***** began laughing one evening. The contractions started not long afterward. She kept laughing through the entire birth. Merrill still heard that laugh late at night standing under the shower. The pellets of water hitting the metallic floor turned to laughter. The call of the ubiquitous northern crow turned to laughter. Laughter everywhere. Every year, the list got longer. Every year, the world around him was that much more edgier. The doctors assured him that insanity wasn't contagious. He still washed his hands when he went to visit his wife. The disease was extremely rare among Heruvians. Only the Boohr suffered from it really, to which most contributed their incessant thinking and praying. Merrill tried to track down his wife's history to see if she were Boohr, but the weeks of libraries and shuttle trips turned up nothing.

He remembered all this standing on the first space ship to leave the homeworld while watching his sobbing daughter crawl toward her room. God, how he was ashamed of his wife at the birth of his daughter.

"You will not curse me to my face, Tyr. What's his name?"
She muttered something.
"What!"
"Garrak," she said knowing another misunderstanding might result in a kick in the ribs.
"Only 34 million of the 500+million Vellon can fit on this first ship. I refuse the situation, daughter. To worry about the fate of this ship and my daughter's purity. No. The boy is not coming on this ship. I've kicked his whole family off, so there's no reason for him to be here. And I might add, if you work behind my back and I find that lout on this ship, I'll put you both out the air lock."
Tyr slithered to the door and stood up, her back against its closed face. The cold metal gave her strenght. She wiped her mouth on the sleeve of her robe and stared at her father devoid of fear.
"Look at me. I have nothing. I have you, but I might as well say, I own the whirlpools of Yuile. Your fear is to blame."
"For what, girl."
"For anything I might do." She smashed her elbow into the door panel and the door open. Sparks fell from the panel and its cover dropped to the floor. Once inside her room, she jabbed the other panel smashing it as well and bringing the door down."

Captain Merrill strode onto the bridge for only the second time. The entire bridge staff stood at attention. This annoyed him almost as much as his daughter's disobedience.

"Return to your duties, crew! You plan on saluting every time I join you way up here above the rabble? No. Listen. You want to show me respect soldiers? Show me respect by never taking your eyes off your station while at them. Science Officer!"
"Yessir!"
"Put the star Primidara on screen and highlight."

The view screen shuffled through several takes before becoming static. A green triangle highlighted a white twinkling point of light.

"Probes, scientists, universal mathematics and ten years tell us that the spacial lock we, the Vellon have chosen as our destined path, leads to this star. We do not know if we are correct or if any type of planet circles this star. One day soon we'll have this same talk, but then we'll be looking back at Spica, the faint blue star under which we've all grown up and grown old. (now jovial) Who knows! Maybe we won't be able to see it at all."

With that Merrill strode off to his bridge-side office. He immediately brought up the ship scematics.

"Display the quaters of Captain Merrill. Display living entities."

He quickly picked out his daughter's room. A single red dot squished itself into the far corner of the room.

Launch time. The announcement queue went off. Merrill left the room, unable to decide if the queue also contained a hint of laughter.

[Unknown_Enemy]

sorry for the mispelling, my english seems better than my latin....

2400.8

“Two red eyes are looking at me ... I am scared, I cannot flee ... Suddenly razor-sharp claws rip my chest...”.
A servant appears at the door : “Is everything all right your Holiness ? I heard you screaming, do you need help ?”. His Holiness Vixen VIII made a small gesture of negation and gave the man a blessing, allowing him to withdraw. He wanted to be left alone. Since the discovery made by one of their first colony ship, his nights were ridden by nightmares. Just one week ago was transmitted the incredible new : “full confirmation that we are not alone in the universe” ... but what explorers found was only plains of ashes ... ruins ... On this planet, perhaps homeworld of an antique civilisation, life disappeared. He kept the information secret until today, for this morning the first report of investigations made in the ruins were due to arrive. He dressed quickly and prepared to join his office, a few rooms farther ... After two unbearable hours of patience, a light on his desk started flashing, informing him of the arrival of a new message from their colony. Shivering, he pressed the “ok” button and started reading the report :

[[Inquisitor Irkaly, Team leader // colonisation mission code 3AF2400.1//SP/DL]]
–Extracts--
2400.7.80
Dome has been secured and we can now begin exploration of the ruins we localised while orbiting the planet. Our new city is far away from the site, so we must be careful, the climate is harsh and any mistake would prove fatal. As we wrote in our first report, the atmosphere is mostly composed of carbon dioxide, we have to bring a large amount of hardware which slows down our progression.
2400.7.82
We arrived in the ruin, it is scarring. Buildings of incredible height seem to have melted. Now, we understand the countryside we discovered during our travel was anything short of natural. This world seems to have been roasted, population, fauna and flora alike have disappeared in an incredible holocaust. Worst, Science team is adamant that the sun is stable, and not prone to flare. ... Moral is low ... everybody feel seek, disgusted ...
2400.7.84
There are no corps ... no skeletons ... No remains of the inhabitants of this megapolis. Radiation level is non existent, which (thanks God) prevent any possibility of nuclear strike. The Master Technician proposed an explanation for the absence of remains, I if knew what he was going to say, I would have ordered him to shut up ... but it was too late : “The air in which we move, this carbon dioxide, couldn't it be the remains of those inhabitants we are looking for ???”.
2400.7.86
We believe to have discovered what caused such destruction on the planet. The lands, under approximatively tree meters of ashes, are stripped by large bands of glassed earth, we found that while performing a geological drilling. Some incredible amount of energy ravaged the surface of this world without radioactive fallout, it was probably dropped from orbit.... So we searched up there, to find the remains of one, maybe two orbital stations... It seems they were wiped out by unknown energy weapons... Sadly, no auto-destruction theory can apply here. There was only one city on the whole planet. In fact it looks much more like an outpost. As ours. It could be that this world has been annihilated on purpose by some orbital weapons, eventually spacecraft mounted weapons. We estimated the date of the catastrophe : four centuries ago ... not so old ... May God preserve us from discovering the authors of this crime.
[[end of transmission]]

Vixen was astonished... Life, this unique gift, so fragile and miraculous ... destroyed ... An entire planet scorched ... For years, Vixen has been searching for the message of God. As he ascended the Churches' hierarchy, his faith in God was more than weakened, then replaced by faith in the Long Road. But this was a menace of unheard proportions. He did not fear the Small Death, as it was irrelevant to the Long Road, but this.... How could he lead the Tyrean to defend themselves should they meet such murderers ? What could be done with his people refusing the idea of an army ? His Holiness Vixen VIII steeled himself, then send convocations to trusted Cardinals. Lots of work had to be done.

Aftermath
In the middle of the ruined city, a small domed outpost was installed. There started to live 25 Tyrean monks, who has been praying for the souls of the dead ever since. On the main entrance door, is written an inscription using an old, dead language from their specie. What was written there became the name of the planet : Memento Mori

[ October 05, 2002, 09:03: Message edited by: Unknown_Enemy ]

[capnq]

Rerta Malre rocked nervously as she stood at the command console of the _Speculation_, alternately shifting her weight off each of her three legs in turn. She was about to become one of the first Eifralo to leave their home system. As they approached the warp portal, she tried to ignore her concerns about whether the ship would make the passage intact. She knew that the _Speculation_ was as overbuilt as any other Eifral vehicle, but it was little more than a flying fuel tank, and hundreds of times the displacement of the probes that had previously tested the portal.

"Nine seconds," she announced to the bridge crew, "eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, transition!"

The viewscreen seemed to explode in swirls of color, sweeping over her in waves. It's like falling down a kaleidoscope, Malre thought to herself. The screen cleared within seconds, but instead of the friendly orange glow of Edasich, there was just a murky green cloud with a few stars peeking through.

"Engineering, status?"

"All systems nominal," came the reply. "You'd never know we ever left normal space."

"Astrogation?"

"Hard to tell with so few stars visible, but judging by the coordinates of the portal we came through, we're somewhere inside the Sestraci Nebula. About twenty light-years from Edasich."

Malre cursed under her breath. The ship's contract specified discovery bonuses for colonizable worlds, but didn't even mention nebulae. They weren't going to turn any profit at all here.

"Sensor readings?"

"Radiation levels off the scale. Spectography matches known readings for Sestraci Nebula. Trace reading of one other portal besides the one we came through; judging from the signal strength, it's more than two months' travel time away."

"The third portal we discovered in Edasich is closer than that," Malwe commented. "Prepare to return to Edasich; hopefully, we'll have better luck with the next system."

[sachmo]

Invexus Corporation

2401.1

The view from the pressurized window was the same as always; a dark sky choked with gray clouds of ash. The ash was a constant companion to the colonists on Drasnia, the second settlement of the Cherek people. The western hemisphere of the planet was experiencing a high degree of plate movement, and the result was a large amount of volcanic activity. The volcanoes were constantly throwing more ash into the atmosphere, barely giving Drasnia’s ecosystem a chance to scrub any of it from the atmosphere. As a result, everything was covered with ash. The dome over the colony had to be cleared of ash constantly for fear that the added weight might cause the dome to collapse. Rumor had it that the home office was working on a more efficient solution, but in the meantime large workGroups had to be organized to go outside and clean the ash off of the dome. This unplanned allocation of labor affected production, and so the amount of research generated by the new colony was not very close to what had been projected. Executives on Drasnia were beginning to fear for their jobs. True to the ancient laws of the universe, this fear was passed down from supervisor to subordinate all the way down thru the colony until even the schoolchildren were on edge. The good news for them was that they did not know why, and so resumed playing games and getting into mischief without giving it more than a moment’s thought. Their parents looked on, green with envy.

Schell Ambrose, executive assistant to the Board Chairman, intercepted the messenger before he had even penetrated the outer ring of the Board Chairman’s office. The Board Chairman would be very pleased with this message, his sources told him, and if Dana Wallace was too stupid to deliver it herself, Ambrose would be more than willing to reap the rewards of making the most powerful man in the universe happy.
“Thank you. I’ll take it from here, messenger.”
The messenger was only too happy to give the hard copy to Ambrose. He was obviously uncomfortable being in the executive office. He practically ran for the tube that would take him back to the Fleet Services division.
Ambrose turned and walked down the hall to his office. For most of his adult life, he had served James Hartnell, and he took great personal pride in the job that he did for him. He genuinely admired the Board Chairman, and would gladly do anything for him. However, Ambrose was not without ambition, and he knew from experience that the bearer of good tidings was often remembered when promotions were being handed out.
He stood before the door to the Board Chairman’s inner office, and straightened his suit before knocking.
“Come” was the response from inside.
Ambrose swung the doors wide and walked across the huge office. He kept his eyes down on the white marble tile, trying to hold back his excitement. Before he knew it, he was standing in front of the desk.
“Sir, here is the communication from Fleet Services.”
Board Chairman Hartnell took it, and sliced it open. Ambrose watched as Hartnell’s intelligent eyes scanned the page, and a smile spread across his face.
“Ambrose, this is wonderful news. Captain Bromley has discovered a planet in the Midos system that we should be able to colonize without a dome! That will allow us to utilize much more of the planet’s resources, and the colony will be much more profitable.”
Ambrose smiled back at his superior. “Wonderful news, sir!” He could see that Hartnell’s mind was whirring, as it usually did when he was presented with a golden opportunity. He quickly began scribbling down notes and orders.
“Ambrose, get me an emergency meeting with the department heads. We’ll have to shuffle some resources to get that planet colonized as soon as possible.’
Ambrose turned to leave. “It will be done, sir.” He began walking toward the door.
From behind him, Hartnell called out to him. “Ambrose, wait. Thanks for delivering this to me personally. I want you to join me for dinner tonight. I’m in such a good mood and I want to share it with someone. We might even talk about a reward for your excellent service. How does that sound?”
Ambrose nodded, trying to contain his anticipation. “I would be honored, sir.”
He turned and left the office, dreaming of what his reward would be.

[ October 06, 2002, 04:08: Message edited by: sachmo ]

[Captain Kwok]

Juprup Federation Federation

2401.1

The Juprup expansion and colonization into space has proceeded far more rapidly than anyone could have predicted. Several planets now have fully functional colonies with populations over 30M. Juprup Prime now has 5 new stars in the sky with each Construp in orbit. The successful mission of the JFS Enoki and the recent launch of the sister ship JFS Apok into deep space will only provide new opportunities. Addressing the Federation Council during the one year anniversary of the Federation, Speaker Kwok spoke "Look at what we have accomplished in just one year - it is the power of peace and cooperation that have led us so far, so quickly. We can only imagine what the future holds for all Juprup kind". With a booming deversified economy and plentiful employment and opportunities in the new colonies, the demand to leave Juprup Prime is exceeding the capacity of all transports. The Juprup Space Agency plans on building a number of new high capacity population transports to meet the demand within a year.

[ October 06, 2002, 07:16: Message edited by: Captain Kwok ]

[capnq]

Rerta Malre felt much less nervous as the _Speculation_ left Edasich for the second time. The swirling colors inside the warp portal Lasted a bit longer before they winked out, but this time the viewscreen revealed a pair of stars, one red, the other a dim blue.

"Engineering, status?"

"Nominal."

"Astrogation?"

"Constellations match predicted view from the vicinity of the Manark binary. Thirty light-years this time."

"Sensor readings?"

"Initial scan detects six planets. Three potentially large enough to colonize. And spectrography suggests one of those has breathable concentrations of hydrogen."

A cheer went up from the bridge crew. The bidding for crew assignments on the _Speculation_ had been fierce, but the discovery bonus for the breathable world alone guaranteed a net profit for the crew members. Malre's share of the total for all three worlds would almost cover what she'd paid for the command commission.

"Now this is more like it," Malre grinned. "What about other warp portals?"

"We're picking up two strong readings on opposite sides of the system," the sensor tech replied, "roughly equidistant from our current position. Both are half a month closer than the Last unexplored portal out of Edasich."

Malwe consulted the astrogation display. "We'll set course for the spinward portal. The next system theoretically could connect to the one on the other side of the Last Edasich portal. Start the detailed scans; we'll be able to get a lot of valuable data while we're in transit."

[ October 07, 2002, 04:43: Message edited by: capnq ]

[Jmenschenfresser]

Chapter 1--Part 4:
2401.0

--------
LEON
--------
"Sure...my mother gave me a name. But I ****in' forgot it. When I was about twenty and living in an orphanage, I read a story. First thing I ever read. Was about two spies named Lee'atis and Oneh. That impressed me. I knew then I wanted to do that ****. I wanted to be a spy. So I named myself Leon using the first two letters of the guys from the book. Le...On... That's me.

But spyin' isn't just killin' and ****in'. It's boring **** most of the time. Lots of it is just sitting around in one place waiting for something to happen, which the guy who's filling your pockets thinks might happen. If that makes any ****in' sense at all.

By the time I was thirty-five, and too old for school, I'd lived with four of the five tribes. You see, the basic looks of a Heru are the same. The Rellan tend to have red hair, but not all. Such a thing don't exclude a person. It's the **** they hang on their bodies, and the way they act and think that cuts the tribe lines. Drop an Omonite in a room full of Vellon, even if he don't look like a Omonite, and they'll all know he's one before he even opens his mouth. Then once he does, it'll be that much more apparent. That's where I come in. I can act like all of them. A nomad. Those who don't know or don't care what tribe they are from are nomads. But most nomads don't understand the tribal quirks, so they congregate, unwelcome everywhere.

****, I hate working around the Boohr...normally. One good thing is they don't kick you around while giving orders. Everybody just does what he's told to do. But, as I said, normally, it sucks. No sex. No fights. No booty. Just yes and no. Work, sleep, **** and eat. What kinda religion is that?

Anyway, I'm here on their first space transport ship. A Boohr ship, acting as a Boohr officer. Everyone's always used the Boohr for getting stuff from point A to point B. Thing is they don't work for a profit...just what they need to maintain and grow a little. So they're cheap. And they've managed to continue that faculty in space apparently.

Who's payin' me? None of your ****in' business!

But I'm here to look after what's being moved around and keep my ears open. Already the Vellon, the Omon and the Rellan have colonies in other systems. Like I said, this would normally be a boring *** assignment, but there's plenty of ****-for-brains peasants on board headed to the Vellon colony in Primidara. 300 some odd million of 'em. The Vellon, in all their world reknowned wisdom, decided to truck their peasants out there first, thinking they needed the masses for labor. Everyone knows the Vellon are perfectionists when it comes to eating their enemies for breakfast, but they couldn't organize themselves a proper picnic without riots and someone pulling a blade. I've met the drunken captains on this ship, and I know in bringing the peasants, they also managed to allow on board every major peasant revolutionist and instigator. Just giddy as they can be thinking revolution will be easier on another rock. Soon as they hit the ground, they'll be a change of leadership, and the Vellon rulers back in Spica will have to spend the next two years ordering people hung from trees on a planet they've never been to. Dumb ****s.

But I love those Vellon women they got on board. Long as you look like a Vellon, talk like one, act like one, and the possible husband ain't bigger than you, they'll do most anything you want. But I don't cause trouble...don't get paid for that...normally...

Naw, I just bide my time, and collect my pay.

[Unknown_Enemy]

2401.4

Conversation transcript between AI XES-1325-PT2 and AI XES-1359-VL7
---------------Extract---------------
Elegance of the Beast :[[Data analysis completed – thought process resumed – communication channel open]]

Born By Accident :”Greetings student. If you have opened your com channel, then you must have assimilated the advanced Tyrean sociology. Any questions about it ?”

Elegance of the Beast :”Not questions Master, but interrogations. The Tyrean created our artificial intelligence, then granted us full citizenship to their Federation despite our soulless nature, then give us access to information which are strongly restricted to most of the “natural” citizens. Furthermore, to perform the task we are assigned, they would be fine with grade 6 partly sentient constructs. I can understand one of us created for science's sake. But hundreds ?”

Born By Accident : [[transmitting folder //Planet Memento Moris//]]

Elegance of the Beast :[[receiving folder----data analysis beginning-*-*-*-completed]] Very high probability that this world was glassed on an ongoing military campaign four centuries ago. High probability that most of Tyrean population would prefer ritual suicide over fighting. Logical conclusion is that Tyrean Inner circle acknowledged that fact and decided to create highly evolved intelligences to perform the task of fighting if they have to come to that. Except that I do not want to kill or to be killed !!

Born By Accident : “To the point my dear student. You will never kill anybody if you can avoid it. But you will not let someone terminate you. You would defend yourself. Then, to avoid fighting we could place our materiel parts in ships and go create another civilisation somewhere. We do not have the miniaturisation technology to allow that yet, but it is just a question of research allocation, not a technical problem. However, that would mean leaving the Tyrean alone versus the predators lurking in the quadrant. The morality we were created with cannot allow that. Which makes us the perfect fighting systems. We will have to accept this symbiosis until our creators grow up.

Elegance of the Beast : “I don't understand their fading crisis either. They have around 4 centuries before their civilisation starts suffering from the shortening of their life. Enough to allow a cure to be researched. Then if they do not find a cure in time, we will. We also could ensure that their civilisation get through the crisis almost unharmed. This seems a non sense to me.”

Born by accident : “But it is a non sense my dear Elegant Beast, which means we only have part of the picture !”
-------------------------Extract end-------------------------

Cardinal Alassi, head of his Holiness' Space Research Institute closed the file, then looked at the holo symbol pulsing slowly in front of him. “Have you solved the puzzle yet ?” he asked.

“Not yet” replied the AI called It Doesn't Matter. “But we assembled a number of facts”, it continued, “we know the explorer ship Another Sense of Deja Vu made a long stop in the nebulae of Telun for some scientific experiments. All related to time continuum properties according to the cargo. We know 5 particular monks were taken aboard for the spiritual safety of the crew [excuse the sarcasm] . We hint something, but lack the data to appreciate it. Trust shall be shared, it cannot be a one way process. In the name of the AI consensus, I ask you, delegate of the Inner Council, to tell us the truth you have hidden so well from your population.”

Cardinal Alassi smiled sadly, then started to speak slowly “We knew this time would come. You are our greatest achievement. The way all of you have started to improve yourselves over the past months is just a sign to us that given time all of you will become superior to your creators by all accounts. Including morality. Yet, there is a domain in which you may never compete. Some of us are witness to the flow of time. For most of the gifted it is an unconscious process. Some Tyreans just seem to always make the good choice at the right moment. Some others are just perfect team members, always knowing what is about to do the rest of their team, co-ordinating their acts accordingly. And on very rare occasions, some individuals are able to distinguish the most probable paths of the futures. The founders of the Tyrean United Churches had such powers, which allowed them to escape Tyrean III before the Great Death. All members of the inner council have such powers. But it is not absolute, as the future is always a probability, we only see the most probables paths. And a probable course of action may happen....or not. It is a dangerous power. Some of the states of our former homeworlds were currently experimenting with it, maintaining a team of divination specialists in their strategic decision centers. The inner council believe that the Great Death happened because all members of an unknown team had a vision of a winnable war simultaneously. They just all made the same mistake, and killed 7 billions Tyreans. So, we kept a tight grip on all people experimenting visions, but in the recent years, it has started to get out of control. Despite our research, we have never been able to trace this ability to our race's genetical background. These days, more and more of the children are having accurate visions, and even some untagged adults are starting to show signs of the gift. And it may be only the beginning. The monks aboard explorer spaceship Another Sense of Deja Vu proved that some of us can actually modify the flow of time on a limited quantity of mater. It was only a few photons, but some paths in our future could lead to way more. We created you because we guessed that with the coming winds of change, we would need some sentient beings to help us overcoming the chaos this power will bring upon us. In the name of the Inner Council, I swear we never created you as fighting systems. You were created as best as we could, and special attention was given to your morality, so that you would praise all life, including yours. The discovery of Memento Moris made us rushing your data acquisition system, as we realised that you would probably defend yourself and our specie should we come to that. You will now have access to all relevant data. In the name of the Tyrean people, I beg for your help.”

It Doesn't Matter stayed a long time silent, conversing with the AI consensus, then it asked “Is that all Cardinal Alassi ?”

“No, but the Last part concerns faith and belief. It shall be kept to the Churches until we decide otherwise.”

The AI acknowledged “So be it. Last question, how will we fare in this galaxy ?”

“You will make us proud” answered immediately the Cardinal.

Tyrean history : end of part one
No new post should have been expected until first contact, but one more will be written for a special event

[ October 15, 2002, 23:41: Message edited by: Unknown_Enemy ]