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Hooray! The oppressive Moderator is dead! Everyone in the bar starts cheering and Cicion gives drinks on the house
Moose's face turns silent and everyone quiets down
Gentelmen, an urgent matter has arisen and we must act quickly. We need every man we can get. We need your (url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/webboard/Forum11/HTML/000072.html")help(/url), gentlemen.
Cicion DOES NOT give drinks to the house. Angel is a good friend. Well, it looks like we don't have time to discuss this at Dominus, Sarg. Send your fleets to the Nijayias borderline territories so we can withdraw our fleets to defend the Imperium. Now, let's go save Angel and beat the stuffing out of that attack force! *Cicion boards the Phylydia, and the Jackal Squadron pilots return in their fighters. The vessel's collosal engines flare to life and the fleet jumps into Omni space towards Angel's ship.
------------------ -Traek Cicion of the Taeskor
"Never tell me the odds!" -Han Solo
*Halfway to the battle, Cicion recieves a message form the Vindictive * I hate to tell you this, but it seems that your colony in Verasi has been slagged. Since that's nearest and there are still a lot of hostiles there, that's where I'm heading. But it will no longer belong to the Phylydion Imperium; the High Octicon are pretty desperate for help and short on cash at the moment, so I eliminated the monetary fee and settled for the annexation of Verasi. Since all Phylydion lives were lost during orbital bombardment, the High Octicon saw it as a small price for my services, since there will be no need for a pricey relocation. They also hope that my actions will bring about due retribution for those who lost their lives. I won't dissappoint them.
The message ends, and Cicion is slightly numbed at the loss of a colony. But then a thought enters his mind: What does Sargatanus want so bad in the Verasi system?
------------------ Throughout their history these "unenlightened" beings have continually opposed and fought abuses of power wrought by their own bretheren. We, as the prophets would do well to learn from these Humans. -Final statement of the Salrilian reformist Sirthis shortly before his execution.
The Phylydia drops out of Omni space directly on top of a Nijayias battleship. The Phylydia's main guns open up and slag the vessel's engines and most of its hull. All right, let's kick these boys out of the Imperium. Deploy all fighters. Twelve squadrons of fighters pour out of the carrier's docking bay and swarm over the ships at the front of the enemy fleet. The Phylydia's guns target another vessel and blow it to oblivion. Then the enemy fleet starts to get reorganized and fights back. They open fire, hulling a small corvette as numerous impacts shake the Phylydia. All right, commander, cap the T! "Sir!" Cicion's ships all head straight for the enemy fleet at full thrust. The enemy fleet starts to break formation to avoid collision just as the Phylydion fleet's ships pull hard over, presenting their starboard sides to the enemy and pounding the fleet with a running broadside. Amidst the confusion, several fighter groups fly within the enemy fleet and strafe the enemy command ship. Its shields fail. Target their engines and fire torps! Several dozen torpedoes from the Phylydia streak into the enemy flagship's engines, causing a reactor to go critical. The engines start to glow. Get us out of here, helmsman! The Phylydia and its fleet pull away as the enemy command ship lights up space with a collosal explosion which disables the remaining ships in its fleet. We are victorious! Congratulations, people. The fighter control officer's face is grim. What is the matter, Lieutenant? "When that ship blew, sir, the fighters that had penetrated their formation were caught in the blast. Two whole squadrons of them." They died heroically, and they saved many lives. Recall our other fighters, and contact High Command. The communications officer looks up. "Sir, good news. Most of our fleets we had stationed in Nijayia have been withdrawn, and they are beating back the attacking forces swiftly." Good. Helmsman, bring the fleet into formation and set course... for the Verasi system.
(Hey Cicion, how can I get in contact with you? SA and I have got some pretty big plans for this and you play a large role. E-mail me at (url="http://"mailto:Sargatanus@hotmail.com")mailto:Sargatanus@hotmail.com(/url)Sargatanus@hotmail.com
**Cotton Mouse walks into the bar, waves his hands in the air, and yells, "Watch this!" He then climbs into his spacecraft and hits the auto-destruct button...
10, 9, 8...
------------------ "...Cotton Mouse... to say that the plug is royally messed up is an understatement. I'm taking a look at it with Plug Checker, and some of these errors I have just never seen before..."-Obormot, debugger
ERA for EV: www.geocities.com/rhysmctharin/erahome.html
(still in alpha stages)
Chunks of wreckage from the battle float everywhere in the departed system, the attackers having dissapeared before Cicion's arrival. Sensor scans indicate that there is wreckage that once was an Angel fighter. But something seems wrong... Who were the attackers? And how could Sundered Angel, widely adknowledged as the best fighter pilot alive, have let himself get destroyed like that? Something seems very wrong, a gut feeling that only grows as stars race by.
------------------ Sundered Angel , The One and Only
Ares Webboard Moderator, and all-around Nice Guy
*In the Verasi system, a massacer is about to pass. A fleet consisting of 34 renegade Nijayias ships, headed by outcast Taeskors rejoyce over their recent victory. Verasi was nothing special to the Phylydion Imperium; little more than a fringe resource supply. But had relations with the Salrilians, more like Sargatanus in this case, been different, this system could have been invaluable. You see, Verasi carves a bulge into Salrilian and Audemedon space, providing a good jumping off point six critical strategic points. If the renegades were interested in attacking Salrilian space this would provide ample motivation for the raid. However, the renegades haven't so much as even harrased a border patrol in Salrilian space. They must have some other agenda *
*Of the 34 renegade warships, 14 are atmospheric assult carriers. The best of the Nijayias navy, most of which were busy tieing up loose ends planetside. On the night side of Verasi Prime, glowing red spots mark where industries and settlements had been. At one point, the planet was home to about 450,000 Phylydions. By now, it would be a miracle if even 1,000 survived, and if they had known about the events about to transpire due to what was happening now, they would most likely commit suicide.
You see, sometime back, a peice of a strange black metal was found near the construction site of one of the mines. It was deffinately of some kind of intelligence; it was covered in well crafted runes and diagrams. Three of them were signifigant: One was of a buried pyramid. Another was of a homonid silhouette wearing a strange triforce item in the center of it's chest, and engulfed in an aura. The second was the same figure, with the same triforce and the same aura, only this time with a large sowrd in one hand, and many figures bowing to it, some being burned by a beam from the sword, others being either empowered or disintegrated by a beam from the triforce. A similar slab was found on Cantharis, Earth, and Salril Prime.*
Twenty renegade ships sit idle, waiting for the rest of the raiding party, who by now have finished their job. The ships arrive, on schedule, and join wiht the rest of the fleet. In any fleet, this is a time for celebration right? but something is wrong here, and has been from the start. In stead of celebrating, all ships launch escape pods towards the support vessel. Ten minutes later, a slipstream warp tunnel opens at the edge of the planets gravity well. The suppfleet moves to intercept, and the support vessel moves in the opposite direction, and escapes before their enemy emerges. The slipstream signiture climaxes, and the Salrilian 7th fleet emerges, with the Absolution already fully prepared for battle. To call the battle a turkey shoot would be an understatement: aside from being outgunned, the Nijayias fleet was slave-rigged to a simple combat computer which wasn't remotely near a match for fleet filled with pilots and tacticians with quantum processors. The battle ends almost as soon as it starts. When the fires ans explosions die down another slipstream signiture climaxes. This time it is the elite Salrilian 1st fleet, headed by the Vindictive.
"We have our cover then?" Sargatanus asks with suspicious anxiety.
"Indeed." Verad responds with a grin. "Seems they did most of the work for us. We've narrowed it down to four possible sites. Either way it will require some digging. I've already dispatched ground teams to each site. With luck, we should have it within 32 hours."
"See if you can't cut that down a bit, seeing as how we will have company fairly soon. I've just detected an Omni-warp signiture that should be here in 24 hours."
"Of course your Eminence. May I ask a question?"
"Certainly."
"Is the fallen one really that big of a threat? He seems harmless. I mean, we don't know what he's capable of, or what his intentions are, but he hasn't done anything of any real danger. Why are you so concerned?"
"You just answered your own question. We know almost nothing about him, especially what he's capable of. We ended up in a skirmish and I had to use the meele system to beat him." Verad's eyes widen in shock. Sargatanus continues. "As for his intentions, well, since we developed the 'upgrade' from the Duploi and Phylydion telepathy DNA. I've gotten a bit more of a personal look at our enigmatic friend. There is something very dark that he hides quite well from us lurking in him. I also question the strength of his loyalty. If we are to unify this galaxy, make it one body, he could be a rather malignant problem. It's a shame for me to say all this, but we must be prepared. As far as the Oracular Net is concerned, he is the equivlant of a divide by zero. Any unknown factor is a serious problem in predictions."
"What about the artifact? How do you benefit?"
"To our mysterious comrade, and anyone who opposes us, we will be unstoppable. To the prophets and politicians who don't believe I'm a god, this will serve to curb thier beliefs."
Verad nods and grins with pride, almost dreamily. Then his expression turns to one of concern. "Will it work? Is it worth it?"
Sargatanus unholsters the sword and aims it a scrith (extremely tough, molecularly bonded material) statue. The oval at the base of the blade opens like an eye to reveal a red, glowing aura. A glow overtake the sword, and some kind of energy is fired. The scrith statue is slagged. Sargatanus' all familiar grin reappears once again. "Definately."
(This message has been edited by Sargatanus (edited 06-23-2000).)
Ahh, what the hell.
**cotton mouse grabs a pistol and shoots himself in the head.
The Phylydia and fleet arrives at the Verasi system. Sargatanus's fleet and about fifty million tons of scrap metal greet him. Hello, Sarg. I see your fleet made good work of these renegades. We also were victorious, though not this cleanly, and we have been recieving reports from all over of the returning Phylydion fleets smashing the rebels. Now that this has officialy become a war and a crisis, the High Octicon has once more given me command of the full Primary Armada. They should arrive and assume formation within moments. Just as the words leave his lips, hundreds of bright flashes appear as the Primary Armada drops out of Omni space. Many ships have to maneuver to avoid colliding with space debris. Secure the planet. "Sir!" The docking bay opens and a troop transport carrying a platoon of Taeskor Commandos lands on the planet.
That many commandos won't be neccessary. The renegades seemed more interested in slagging the planet then capturing it. There may be a few of them at the supply depot however, it's at 34° by 68°. Beyond that, the planet shouldn't need much securing, the High Octicon has officially annexed it to the Prophets of Salril as compensation. I appreciate the offer though, and if you want to further assist, Calsev is about to make a large offinsive into Nijayias space. Unfortunately, their government is pretty well shot so I may need to set up a protectorate until things improve.
(Cicion: CHECK YOUR E-MAIL!!! )
Down below, with a cry of triumph, one of Sargantanus' digging teams unearth something. They work frantically to uncover it. Once it is fully uncovered, the supervisor sits back to examine the odd artifact. A shadow falls over him. Looking up, his eyes widen.
"You!"
The visitor nods, and examines the artifact intently, ignoring the figure backing away from him.
"You can't have it! That is the property of the Oracular Net! Hey! What are you doing?"
The figure touches the artifact, and red lines writhe all over its surface, then still. The figure nods slowly, and turns to the supervisor, who backs away fearfully. Sundered Angel speaks.
"Don't be foolish. Unlike certain others, I do not kill without reason. And, frankly, there is no reason to kill you."
He looks at the terrified watcher, and a smile plays across his lips.
"Look at you. A moment ago you were cursing your workers, in the name of some omnipotent Sargantanus. Now you quake at my feet, for nothing more than rumours of me. I wonder what lies he has been spreading amongst his fleets, and the fleets of his allies? Possibly he has even poisoned Cicion against me. It does not matter. I am afraid he is doomed to failure, no matter what he does."
He pauses contemplatively.
"I am afraid it will not do to have you repeat any of this to him."
He advances on the trembling supervisor, who tries to flee, but falls to the ground. Standing over him, Sundered Angel's eyes glow red.
"Forget."
When the workers find their confused leader, sitting beside the artifact, there is no-one in sight. All that remains of the feared figure is a fading red streak in the sky.
"We were right. It was in the crater on the larger contenant. We believe what we have here could be it. Have a look."
The shape was that of an equalateral triangle with its' corners sheared off. Its' color was a deep metallic blue. In its' center was an indented sphere that earily resembled the "eye" on the sword. Sargatanus' face lit up at the first glance.
"Have the Epyon ready for launch by the time I get to the hanger and have four divisions of shock troops and elite guard meet me planetside."
"Your Eminence," Says the voice over the screen. "We've just had something very odd happen. The crew leader has had a lapse in his memory of about thirty seconds and he seems a little shaken. Some of the workers neraby claim they heard a conversation."
Sargatanus pauses, then grabs and holsters the sword. "It figures that he'd show up."
"Forgive me but I'm affraid I don't follow you your Eminence."
"Never mind. Just be ready for my arrival."
(I've checked it, Sarg.) The Ice Blade lands on planet as do its escort of fighers. Cicion walks out with two Pure Taeskors. Another troop transport lands nearby and Taeskor Commandos pour out. Then engineers and techs come out and start building a temporary base. Cicion walks up to Angel. Good to see you alive, old friend. But listen to me. Sargatanus is definately up to something. Even though our fleets have wiped out the remaining rebel attackers, he still remains. And he wants this star system. Our shipyards all over the galaxy have begun to crank out warships at maximum capacity and our fleets are growing by leaps and bounds. Security all over the Imperium has been tightened and warfleets regularly patrol the spacelanes. We will establish a base here and the Primary Armada will remain in system until we figure out what's going on. We are also establishing bases on the other planets and moons and fighter squadrons are patrolling the outskirts. Nothing is entering or leaving Verasi system without my knowledge or consent. I've heard news that Sarg's megalomaniism has been growing. He is a clever, brilliant military leader, and if he leads his people against the Phylydions, we must be prepared. What do you make of all of this?
Sundered Angel nods, and looks around.
"I am afraid I cannot stay with you long, Cicion. In fact, staying on this planet at all is a very risky proposition, for anybody. Sargantanus has found what he came for, and I am afraid he is nearly unstoppable now."
In response to Cicion's worried look, he continues.
"You are right about Sargantanus' megalomania. It has been growing steadily ever since he merged with the Oracular Net to take control of the Salrilian race. I am afraid the merging was not fully successful."
"Sargantanus intends to unite the galaxy under his rule. Unless he is stopped, and soon, he surely will. He is a cunning operator. Already his tendrils of power have ensnared the Cantharans, Gaitori, and Audemedon. Even the Bazidanese and Obiards are swayed by his smooth tongue, and the mighty neighbours of the Ishiman have newly signed a peace treaty with him. Only the Humans and Ishiman remain beyond his grasp, and the combined power of their space navies is insufficient to combat him."
"Where does this leave you? The Phylydion Empire is the biggest single threat Sargantanus faces. Sadly for you, his fleet build-up has gone on for much longer than yours, and is not riddled with traitorous cells. I suggest you conduct a purge of your navy. You will not like what you find, I am afraid."
He smiles and claps Cicion on the back.
"But do not worry. I also have plans, and they have been maturing for much longer than our misguided friend's. He will be stopped. Until then, I suggest you look to your navies."
He looks up at the stars, then back to Cicion.
"Farewell, old friend."
He moves off, and an Angel fighter takes off with a red pulse of light. Cicion frowns. There was something odd about that fighter, but it was going too fast to make out... Indeed, Sundered Angel's smooth explanations seem to be missing something. What is it?
Going with Angel's advice, the entire Phylydion navy goes through a rigorous sreening process. As he predicted, many crews or officers were found to be members of the external rebellion. After the screening process, to make sure that the navy is safe and loyal, fifteen PhylSec agents are assigned into the crew of each ship, so that if there are any more rebel captains, they will be disposed of before the ship can defect. In the meantime, Phylydion shipyards strain themselves to the breaking point constructing fleets, and vehicle factories construct land combat vehicles as more troops are brought into active service. Ambassadors are sent to every government not allied with Sargatanus or neutral. To make sure the rebels do not help Sargatanus or distract the Imperium from him, a massive attack is launched on Nijayias space and one hundred and thirty three rebel-controlled planets are conquered and pounded to slag by orbital bombardment. I don't feel safe down here on the surface. Activates his collar comm. Prepare to recieve the Ice Blade. Cicion enters his personal fighter and it and escort lift off and enter the Phylydia's massive docking bay. Cicion goes to the bridge.
Cicion's fighter takes off towards the stars just as a small cluster of lights streaks near the horizon. The sensors show that the transponders are Salrilian. Four cruisers, two assult transports, eight new Archangle fighters, and one unknown, which had to be the Epyon.
"Sir, we could have a squadron at them in four minutes. Do you wish us to intercept?"
Cicion remained silent and watched as the dots of light streaked toward the sunset, creeping lower and growing more obscured.
"Commander, I repeat: shall we intercept?"
Cicion remained silent for a few more seconds. "It wouldn't do us any good. Let's just report back to the High Octicon."
"But sir, we could-"
" That's an order! We may very well have to prepare for a war to end all wars."
"Aye sir."
Staring back at the sunset, Cicion lapses back into his somber mood and contemplates. Look what you've got yourself into now, old friend. Why did things have to happen like this?
A hush falls over the work crews and soldiers as Sargatanus bounds out of the Epyon and over towards the make-shift shrine housing the fist-sized artifact.
"Indeed, this is my manifest destiny." He utters as he hovers over shrine. His hands slightly shake as he reaches in and grabs it.
At first nothing happens. He turns it so that he stares right in the middle of it. Suddenly his hands begin to tingle and the center begins to glow like a phopherescent green eye. A 'pocket' opens on each of its' three sides. before Sargatanus can grin wires shoot out of the artifact and into his chest. He lets out a sudden and brief gasp of pain. As the wires dig throughout his body he tries harder and harder to mask the pain until the artifact thrusts itself into the center of his chets and buries itself there. He can no longer hide the pain and let's out a full-blown scream. The glow in the artifatc had gone from green to white and now both it and Sargatanus were engulfed in an intense aura. Sargatanus writhed and convulsed once, twice, and finally curled up on the ground as the aura faded. He wasn't dead, simply catatonic, and would be so for months to come. Verad loads him onto one of the transports and heads for the fleet.
EPILOUGE : In the months to come, the galaxy would see some major political changes:
The Salrilians and the governments under their direct control (Cantharan, Audemedom, and Gaitori) form a coalition dubbed the "Divine Galactic Axis." For those living within this new Axis, prosperity is reaching unheard of levels as well as the standard of living. While Sargatanus remains catatonic, Verad, Calsev, and the rest of the cabinet assume temporary control by forming a consensus. During their rule, they discredit and deface the Phylydion Imperium, by frequently recounting how much "savagery" was used to defeat the rebels in Nijayias space. Most of this propaganda was thrown to neutral parties like the remaining Nijayias government, who despised the means used by the phylydions yet distrust the Axis, and the Elejeetians, who dislike military action of any kind.
Nijayias space was absolutely devastated. Their southern sixth of space was turned into a Phylydion protectorate, while their eastern third had become a Salrilian protectorate, leaving Nijayias space at half of what it once was.
The Phylydion Imperium experiences a major military purge, deposing an astonishing 22% of thier ranking officers. This figure pormpts the High Octicon to change a great many things in military conduct. Fearing that a war with the Divine Galactic Axis is not very far off, the Imperium increases thier military power by almost three fold, but intelligence reports suggest that this may not be enough to repel a full-scale attack.
The Ishimans are excommunicated by the Bazidan, who are wrapped around the finger of the DGA. This is the best sign of a war that they can possibley get, and the most terrifying, since they are still crippled form the Cantharan war.
The UNS expands rapidly, establishing official control over their previous colonies, and those lost by the Cantharans. Though their economic expansion is increadible, their military expansion is slow. This is remedied when the Sigma political party comes into power. Like the Ishimans, they are excommunicated by the Bazidan, thus slowing their economic growth.
After months of bartering, the Elejeetian and Nijayias governments are swayed to the side of the Phylydions. All convinced that they have a common enemy, the Phylydion, Nijayias, Human, Ishiman, and Elejeetian governments form the United Galactic Alliance of Nations. (Similar to the UN, where they all still have their own independant governments). The Obiards and Bazidan, while not becoming part of the Axis, remain it's strong allies.
The Verasi system is reluctantly handed over to the Salrilians before the Phylydions sign with the UGAN, while they were still in an obviously weaker position, in order to avoid an armed conflict.
Both sides are going through a period of arming and organizing, but taking no action, and avoiding armed confrontations. They both seem to be waiting for Sargatanus.
And so the lines are set, the sides are picked, and the stage is set for the begining of Act III.
(I am going to ba taking a break from the boards for a while, so please continue business in the bar as usual.)
(This message has been edited by Sargatanus (edited 06-25-2000).)
Starts cleaning glasses behind the bar.
(why would a Taeskor with that big an ego need to work at a bar?)
DAMNIT! I'VE BEEN WAITING TWO PAGES FOR THAT WHISKEY!