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Forum Index » » Fan Fiction » » Jupiter Fleet - Yes, its actually an update

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Author	Jupiter Fleet - Yes, its actually an update
!Lono! {Rogue Kluth} Cadet Joined: April 19, 2002 Posts: 128 From: Hawaii	Posted: 2004-10-03 07:51 Great Story T-Bone...keep it up m8..can't wait for the next chapter =) _________________ Shahks, dey only byte wen u touch dea privet pahts. Calm down befoa I karang ur allahs!
Ciryadin{IC} Admiral Joined: September 19, 2001 Posts: 87 From: The Netherlands	Posted: 2004-10-04 06:18 Dont make us wait almost another month Tbone, good story.. keep the chapters coming faster _________________ -=Looking Into The Abyss, Do You Feel Torture Or Bliss=-
Tbone Grand Admiral Joined: July 21, 2001 Posts: 1756 From: Vancouver	Posted: 2004-10-04 13:06 I'm not making you another month, our societal needs for a proper and university level education is _________________
Meko Grand Admiral Joined: March 03, 2004 Posts: 1956 From: Vancouver	Posted: 2004-10-17 07:11 screw social status. write the story dangnamit! arg speed is of the essance _________________ We fly together, We die together ~ Raven Motto Join Darkspace Academy ICC Division now!! [ This Message was edited by: Meko {Trainer} on 2004-10-17 07:35 ] _________________
Coeus {NCX-Charger} Admiral, I can't read, Sundered Weimeriners Joined: February 16, 2004 Posts: 3635 From: South Philly	Posted: 2004-10-18 09:17 ^^^ What he said! I need more inspiration _________________ Darkspace: Twilight
Tbone Grand Admiral Joined: July 21, 2001 Posts: 1756 From: Vancouver	Posted: 2004-12-04 23:40 Chapter 7: “Doctor, please,” Devine was protesting. “The ship is on alert and you yourself have said there is nothing physically wrong with me.” “No, there isn’t. Other then the fact that your brain seems to have converted over to an alien species, I would say you are in perfect health,” Porter stated sarcastically. Devine started to speak again, but Porter cut him off. “But it appears to not have affected your thinking, however unlikely I find that to be.” Porter pointed over Devine’s shoulder and said, “Get going.” “Thank you, doctor.” Devine hurried out into the hall and jogged toward the nearest lift. * * * * Several minutes after Devine left, Yaaknar’Lan eyes finally fluttered open. His mind was in a daze, the usual calmness was gone, replaced by chaos. He had no idea where he was and barely knew who he was, but he knew he was alone. The thought enraged him. The K’luth began to push against the metal restraints holding him to the bed. At first they held strong, but soon creaks and groans started to sound as the binds began to stress. He kept up the constant pressure for a full five minutes before the restraint holding his upper right arm snapped open. The ones on his legs and other three arms quickly followed. This all went unnoticed by the two security guards posted inside the sickbay. In respect for human privacy, the isolation ward where the K’luth was being held was made soundproof and the two guards, sure of their safety, had turned their backs on the observation window. They were very surprised when the surgical bed the K’luth was serenely lying on a few minutes before smashed through that very window, followed quickly by a very angry K’luth. The K’luth charged straight at the closest guard, tackling him around the waist and ramming his shoulder into the guard’s stomach. The second guard drew his weapon and aimed at the two beings wrestling on the ground, but didn’t fire in fear of hitting his partner, and instead did the worst thing he could have. He jumped on the back of the K’luth and joined in the fray. The councilor may have been considered old in K’luth terms, but he was far from being past his prime. The guard below him was still stunned by the initial tackle, so the K’luth rose to his significant height and backed quickly into the edge of a patient bed, cracking the guard’s back just above the hip. He immediately lost his grip around the K’luth’s neck and went down with a groan. He noticed a nurse approaching his side with a injector. Turning quickly he knocked the needle out of the nurse’s hand with one pair of hands, then smashed the next two into her face instantly knocking her unconscious and sending her flying into another nurse. With a vicious snarl at the still standing medical staff, the K’luth bolted into the corridor. * * * * “My demands are simple, admiral. You will cease your campaign against the K’luth and surrender.” “That is impossible. You’re asking me to condemn our entire race to a life of oppression.” “That is no worse then what my people have endured for the last two hundred years. Stand down your fleet, or I will destroy your ship and the only hope for your victory along with it.” “You would annihilate yourself, your own race, for an ideal?” “Do not attempt to play to my emotions, admiral. I assure you I am quite willing to die for what I believe... what I know to be right. You have thirty minutes to make your decision; you either die by my hand, or surrender your ship to the K’luth. The choice is yours. I don’t need to tell you that any attempt to regain control or break into engineering will result in immediate detonation.” In engineering, Safi severed the connection and ordered his tech workers to cut all internal communications inside the ship, except for the bridge-engineering line. He looked at the clock on the wall, smirking to himself as he counted down to his inevitable victory. By his hand or the K’luth’s, the UGTO would be defeated. Back on the bridge, Devine arrived only a moment after Safi cut Stewart off. “I take it we have a grave situation on our hands, admiral,” Devine said after seeing the hard look on the admiral’s face. “Indeed we do, Mr. Devine. Some damned terrorist has taken over our engineering section and demanded we cease our attacks on the K’luth. If we don’t surrender this ship and everyone on it to the K’luth within thirty minutes, they will trigger a nuclear bomb they have brought aboard taking the ship and everyone on it.” And you, Stewart added silently. “They have taken over the entire ship; we have no control over anything more vital then the lifts.” A thought struck Devine. “Admiral… if I may?” Devine gestured toward his neural interface. Stewart’s look grew slightly puzzled, but he nodded. Devine sat at his station and connected into the ship’s computer. He immediately looked up. “Admiral, I am still connected to main computer. The intruders have not severed my direct link.” Hope surged within Stewart. He stepped quickly over to Devine and leaned over his shoulder. “What can you do?” “One moment, admiral.” A half-second’s pause. “I still have a direct link to all ship’s systems. Obviously when they hacked the computers there were not expecting my system, nor did they notice it. Their control programming is simple, though effective. I would be able to reroute all vital systems away from engineering in approximately fifteen minutes.” “Do everything up to the point where they will lose control. Unlock the main door to engineering as well, but only activate the outer panel. I want security teams posted outside the door.” Stewart turned to the navigation officer, who was obviously unneeded at the moment. “Get down to security and tell them to send two teams to engineering, but to hold outside. We don’t know how they can trigger the bomb but I want to be ready to move at a moment’s notice. If worse comes to worse, we go down fighting.” * * * * Yaaknar’Lan was sprinting down the deserted corridors. With an intruder alert, the corridors were cleared of all crew except security so fortunately, for the Beowulf crew, the K’luth did not meet anybody. Rampaging through sickbay had only made the K’luth angrier and was just as likely to tear someone in half as he was to run them over. He burst through another random door, only to ram face first into the rear wall of a lift. Barely stunned, the K’luth’s four arms lashed out at the side of the lift, slamming uselessly into the hard surface. As he swung to his side, one of his fists smashed into control panel. The lift door closed and, if that was even possible, made him even angrier. The councilor may have had no idea where he was or where he was going, but that didn’t matter to the lift computer. It received an order to go to the engineering deck and that is where it headed. He had switched to lashing out at the door now, and was just about to connect before the door slid open, spilling him unceremoniously out onto the deck. He quickly picked himself up and charged down the corridor once again. * * * * Bondarenko was knocked out when Safi hit him, but only for a moment. He woke up still in the main engineering section, surrounded by the terrorists. He quickly shut his eyes again before anyone saw they were open, and continued to lie where they left him. He had heard Safi’s conversation with Stewart, as well as the impending deadline given out. He had laid motionless for about ten of fifteen minutes after Safi cut the bridge off, trying to figure some way he could stop them. He was being guarded, but the man was too far away to attack quickly and he didn’t have his back turned either. Any attempt to rush him would be seen instantly. If only he had some way of distracting the intruders, he would be able to do something. He heard the engineering doors open and risked opening one eye to look in that direction. An old saying about being careful with wishing ran through his head. In doorway stood a K’luth, looking quite enraged and very ready for a fight. The sight left Safi’s men, and even Safi himself, stunned. The K’luth let loose a primitive roar and charged into the room. Six of the terrorists managed to raise their weapons and fire at Yaaknar’Lan scoring several hits on his torso and arms, but they might as well have been shooting at an elephant. If Yaaknar’Lan felt any of the bullets ripping through his skin, he didn’t show it. He aimed himself at a group of three men and flew straight into it. That’ll do, Bondarenko thought. His guard had finally turned his back and the rest were understandably distracted. The engineer leapt to his feet and barreled into his guard, ramming his shoulder into man’s lower back. Caught off guard, the man wasn’t able to bring his hands up in time to stop his headfirst dive into the edge of a console. He went down with a sickening crunch and his gun was sent clattering across the floor. Bondarenko quietly swore, then scrambled after the weapon. He had almost reached it when a body sent flying by the K’luth skidded across the floor straight into his side. The man ended on top of Bondarenko and, as Bondarenko struggled to free himself, was also unconscious. He shoved hard against the dead weight and finally managed to get it off him. He moved over to the weapon and picked it up, and then looked around for a communications console. Keeping low, he ran to it and activated it, thanking any number of deities that he was able to go unnoticed so far. Almost all the terrorists, including Safi, were trying to stop the rampaging one way or the other. The amount of bodies in the melee stopped the use of their weapons, and in the state the K’luth was in it seemed like he was unstoppable in hand to hand combat. He opened the channel to the bridge. “Admiral!” The response couldn’t have been faster. “Alek, what’s going on there?” “The K’luth, sir, he’s broken out of sickbay and is in engineering. He has the terrorists occupied at the moment. I need a security team in here now!” “What? Occupied? How?” “He seems...” Bondarenko paused as the K’luth tossed aside two men as if they were nothing, "angry, sir.” “Sit tight. We are gaining back control of the ship as we speak. Two security teams are on their way now. Keep your head down.” The channel closed and Bondarenko shrank down behind the console. He had already pushed his luck to the breaking point, but he couldn’t just go and hide somewhere. At least, not with a nuclear bomb sitting in the middle of his engineering room. He glanced around the edge of the console. He hadn’t really been paying attention to the brawl before, but now he was riveted. The K’luth was in the center of over ten men and it seemed he couldn’t be touched. He was moving with a speed that seemed unbelievable, his four arms and two legs striking out at anything close enough. The bullet wounds he sustained on his chest were bleeding profusely, but if the K’luth noticed it he didn’t show it. But despite the apparent rage he was in, he wasn’t oblivious to the surrounding. Every time someone seemed to back far enough away to use their gun, he launched himself in that direction, either striking the gun away or tackling the man outright. Despite their earlier sacrifices, no one seemed to want to directly cause the death of one of their comrades. Security would be there any minute, so Bondarenko had to move now. He had no doubts that even a K’luth in the midst would distract them enough to not set off the bomb. The bomb was sitting in the middle of the engineering floor, about 10 meters away from the brawl. He was about the same distance away. If anybody saw him, he wouldn’t have any cover until he reached the bomb. It was only slightly bigger then the engineer, but he doubted anybody would risk shooting the bomb. It wouldn’t set the weapon off, but it could easily disable the delicate mechanisms. Bondarenko took a deep breathe, and then sprinted for the bomb. The quick movement caught Safi’s eye. He turned, and saw the chief engineer running across the room, toward the nuclear weapon. Safi quickly brought his gun to bear, aiming it at the engineer’s chest. A heavy weight hitting him behind ruined his aim before he could pull the trigger. He hit the floor hard, the wind rushing from his lungs. He lifted his head, the engineer was gone from sight. He struggled against the dead weight on top of him, finally pushing it off. It was one of his men, either unconscious or dead, Safi couldn’t tell. Safi picked up his dropped weapon and started to walk toward the hidden engineer. He could kill him right now quite easily with the detonator in his pocket, but looking into a man’s eyes while he died was always a unique experience. Luck had stayed with Bondarenko, or at least he thought so. The access panel to the inner working of the bomb had been left open, probably as a result of the K’luth’s abrupt entrance. Bondarenko didn’t have any formal tools, or a particular knowledge of how to disarm the bomb, but what he did know was that nuclear weapons didn’t just explode. Almost the only way to detonate a nuclear warhead was through the detonator signal itself. Bondarenko reached inside the panel and grabbed a large handful of the wires. Bracing himself, he took another deep breathe, and pull— A strong hand caught his own in mid-pull. Despite Bondarenko’s strength, the hand holding his was easily his equal. He looked up into the terrorists face; it was their leader, Safi was his name, Bondarenko remembered. For a moment, he considered resisting further, perhaps even trying to strike Safi, but that moment lasted until Safi aimed his weapon as Bondarenko’s head. Slowly, Bondarenko relaxed his arm and opened his fingers, letting the wires fall free. Safi let go of the engineer’s hand, then quickly gripped the back of his shirt and roughly threw him aside. Bondarenko looked past Safi at the fight. Whatever was driving the K’luth was beginning to subside; his movements were becoming more hampered and he was moving much slower. He had left an impressive trail of destruction with five of Safi’s men unconscious and the rest in some state of disrepair, but his rage had finally given out. Safi offered the failing K’luth a single glance before turning back to Bondarenko. He opened his mouth, as if he was about to say something, but reconsidered and simply raised his gun to Bondarenko’s head. It was at that moment the security teams decided to make their entrance. The doors opened and as soon as it was wide enough for even one person, the security guards began pouring through. The first one through saw Safi aiming at Bondarenko’s head, and quickly let off a burst in Safi’s direction. Two bullets managed to hit Safi’s arm, forcing it to the side and sending the bullet meant for Bondarenko’s head into the wall. Safi lost feeling in his arm and his pistol went clattering to the floor. Pressing his wounded limb to his body, Safi ducked low and scrambled off, narrowly missing the second burst meant for his head. Bondarenko was just as stunned as Safi, blinking twice before he realized that he was still alive. Another burst of fire brought him back to reality. One of Safi’s men was down, three holes in his chest and a rifle clutched in a hand. The remainder has scattered and began to return fire, but the security troops this time weren’t hastily assembled and deployed. Wearing full battle armor and helmets they could absorb the small arms fire from the terrorists without serious injury. Another of the terrorists went down before he could get behind cover, catching the combined fire of three security members. Bondarenko had fallen to his stomach, the bullets whizzing past mere feet above him. He wasn’t concentrating on the fire fight though, he had lost track of Safi who had run off with the detonator. He doubted he would wait long before pressing the trigger. Bondarenko began to crawl toward where he last saw Safi disappear. Another of the remaining terrorists was hit. Striking the ground hard, his weapon clattered across the floor, ending up a foot from Bondarenko. The engineer quickly gathered it in his arms, hoping the security team wouldn’t shoot him for it. He checked the rounds display, it showed twenty left; Bondarenko hoped it would be enough. He crawled around the side of a console escaping the whiz of the bullets. Looking around quickly, he saw no trace of Safi. But he was shot in the arm, wasn’t he? Bondarenko turned his gaze to the floor of the engineering room… and there it was! A trail of blood led towards the rear of the deck. Leaving the fading sounds of gunfire behind him, Bondarenko followed the trail as quickly as he could. Any second now Safi could press the detonator, and the Beowulf and everyone in her would become nothing but parts of a small debris cloud. The trail led to the door to one of the large store rooms at the back of engineering. Standing to one side of the door, Bondarenko slowly slid it open, trying to be as silent as possible. After listening carefully for a few seconds, Bondarenko slid his head out past the edge of the door frame. The room was dimly lit by the outside lights, and the room extended past where the light ended. But seeing nothing, Bondarenko stepped inside the equipment room, rifled raised and ready. Bondarenko may not have been a soldier by professional training but anyone who didn’t know how to use a weapon in the middle of a war was a fool. The door slid shut behind him, blanketing the room in darkness. Bondarenko reached for the room panel to switch on the lights. He didn’t have time to let his eyes adjust. * * * * The pain from the two bullets in Safi’s arm was close to overwhelming. He avoided looking at the wounds for fear it would allow the full realization to reach his brain. It was a good thing he refrained. One of the bullets had entered directly at his elbow joint and the hollow-point bullet had nearly blown it apart. His arm was literally hanging by a thread. He was in a total daze from the blood loss and shock and was straining to keep from nodding off. He’d know he probably wouldn’t wake up. He remembered about the detonator in his pocket and reached for it. Safi held it at eye level and moved his thumb over the trigger. The lights came on just then and, by instinct, Safi threw up both of his arms over his eyes, which had adjusted to the darkness. He tried to throw up both his arms, that is. One of them made it, but the wounded one had long since lost the will to move, at least not without protest. His head and arm exploded with pain. Gasping, he fell back against a wall, dropping the detonator which fell to the floor with a loud clatter. * * * * The noise came from one of the rear corners. Resisting the urge to sprint, Bondarenko ran on his toes, moving as quickly as he could without making footfalls on the deck. The room was large, but the engineer covered the distance to the rear wall in less than ten seconds. There was Safi, gasping on the floor, obviously in tremendous pain. One look at his arm and it was obvious why. Bondarenko almost disliked what he was about to do. But the detonator was still beside Safi and the terrorist wouldn’t hesitate to use it kill everyone aboard the ship. Stepping into sight, Bondarenko raised his weapon and aimed it at the center of Safi’s torso. As if sensing the end, Safi’s eyes opened and stared directly as Bondarenko. Their eyes locked. Bondarenko looked deep into those eyes and saw nothing but hatred, nothing but anger. That made his choice simple. He pulled the trigger. _________________
Meko Grand Admiral Joined: March 03, 2004 Posts: 1956 From: Vancouver	Posted: 2004-12-04 23:56 OHHH MAN.... worth the wait that was wicked.... _________________
Coeus {NCX-Charger} Admiral, I can't read, Sundered Weimeriners Joined: February 16, 2004 Posts: 3635 From: South Philly	Posted: 2004-12-05 02:27 Ahhhhhhhhhh! That just made everything worth while! I love you man! BUENO BUENO! Can't wait for the next installment Will work on Twilight later I guess... hehe. Great job bro _________________ Darkspace: Twilight
!Lono! {Rogue Kluth} Cadet Joined: April 19, 2002 Posts: 128 From: Hawaii	Posted: 2004-12-05 02:59 sweet chapter! _________________ Shahks, dey only byte wen u touch dea privet pahts. Calm down befoa I karang ur allahs!
BackSlash Marshal Galactic Navy Joined: March 23, 2003 Posts: 11183 From: Bristol, England	Posted: 2004-12-05 05:39 Tbone, thank you ! _________________
Fatal Weden Cadet Joined: November 07, 2002 Posts: 33 From: Essex, UK	Posted: 2004-12-06 17:23 Just read the WHOLE THING.... and i love you. Please have my babies. _________________
Purpura Cadet Joined: March 16, 2003 Posts: 27 From: Living on top of a tiki hut bar enjoying the sun and the ocean	Posted: 2005-01-01 17:45 sux 2 be them (safi) _________________
MunitionsMan Cadet Joined: July 17, 2005 Posts: 6	Posted: 2005-07-21 05:19 this story still alive? _________________
Tbone Grand Admiral Joined: July 21, 2001 Posts: 1756 From: Vancouver	Posted: 2005-07-29 02:07 It is now. Going on vacation next week, so what the hell? Chapter 8: Bondarenko was almost shot for his troubles. The security team had quickly dispatched the terrorists and set out to search the rest of engineering when they heard the shots coming from the back. The chief engineer opened the door to find three rifles aimed at him, but luckily had the state of mind not to raise his own. He slowly flipped the safety and lowered the rifle to floor before brushing past the soldiers to go check on his own staff. A muffled “Jesus” was muttered by more then one of the security officers when they saw Safi’s body in the rear, and the same threw some glances over their shoulders at the now departed engineer. Upon returning to the main engineering room, Bondarenko saw the K’luth councilor was being sedated again. He offered little resistance to the obviously nervous assistant who injected the sedative into his neck. Those of the terrorists that were disabled before the fire fight were also being sedated, though they were being taken to the brig instead of sickbay, where they would await questioning; that was the nice term for it, at least. The UGTO had a long memory and held little love for terrorists. The bodies of the dead terrorists were to be taken to the incinerator. The foremost thought in Bondarenko’s mind, though, was to get to the head before he lost his lunch. * * * * After control was restored to the bridge, the order was given to immediately impound the ships flying under Safi’s flag. One of the ships attempted to escape but was quickly turned into debris under the guns of two dreadnaughts. The other ships that did surrender were taken into orbit around Ganymede, stripped of their weapons, and the crews imprisoned. There was still a certain tightness in there air aboard the Beowulf, despite the worst danger being past. The K’luth was still aboard after all, and he was even more unpredictable than the terrorists (and fighting off ten men, almost successfully, does wonders for a reputation). Now under triple guard and double restraints, it was sure that he wouldn’t escape again. On the bridge, Stewart sat in his command chair, drumming his fingers on the armrest and running the events of the past few hours over in his mind; the attack on Devine by their K’luth guest, the subsequent release of his “powers,” and finally the attack on his ship by those terrorists with their ancient ideologies. Things were so confused that it seemed the planned attack was never going to get the go ahead. The chirp of the intercom stopped the admiral’s fingers in mid-movement. “Bridge,” he answered. “Sickbay here, admiral. The sedative on the K’luth has nearly worn off and he is about to awaken. Dr. Porter thought you would like to be here when he does.” “He thought correctly. I’ll be right down.” Stewart stood and headed toward the lift. By unspoken consent, Devine rose as well and followed him. * * * * Entering sickbay, Stewart noted right away that the guards on duty in sickbay were all facing the isolation unit with their weapons half raised. They gave the admiral the briefest of salutes as he walked past, then immediately gave their full attention back forward. Stewart, with Devine in tow, strode up to Porter. “I assume he is awake,” Stewart said nodding at the guards. “Just woke up now, admiral. He’s still under restraints, but I don’t think there is a need for them. By all indications, he is quite calm and collected.” Looking at the internal monitor of the unit Stewart could indeed see that the K’luth counselor was lying quite serenely on his bed. His eyes were still closed, but the vital sign monitors clearly showed he was awake. “Release his restraints,” Stewart ordered. Porter quickly complied, and the metal bars snapped back from around the K’luth’s wrists, legs, and chest. That immediately got a response from the K’luth, snapping his eyes open and swinging his legs over the side of the bed. This reciprocated an immediate response from the guards, raising their weapons and pointing them directly at the councilor. But the K’luth didn’t even pay them a glance; he scanned the room until his eyes locked on what he was looking for. He strode over, reached out, and quickly put the K’luth translator over his head. This action raised more then a few eyebrows around the room. That a K’luth would seemingly volunteer to use the device was… unheard of. The possible implications sent a small shudder through Stewart’s spine. Stewart gestured at the guards to lower their weapons, which they reluctantly dead, then he strode over to the isolation unit’s intercom, which the translator was connected to. Depressing the transmit key, Stewart said, “Who are you?” The K’luth cocked his head in an almost human gesture before answering. “A man of few words, good. There is very little time to spare. I am Yaaknar’Lan, member of the Expeditionary Tribal Council for the Sol system. You must hear of what I have seen, and then you must act on it.” “And what is it that you have seen?” Stewart could tell he wouldn’t like the answer. “The end of both our races, admiral. Quite possibly the galaxy itself. And he,” Yaaknar’Lan said pointing past Stewart to Devine, “is the only one that can stop it.” * * * * Stewart had stopped further questions and explanations until a command briefing was assembled. Yaaknar’Lan waited patiently but continued to insist time of the essence. Because of the rather sensitive nature of the briefing (namely the K’luth councilor), only the ranking admirals, plus several guards, of the fleet were to sit in on it. The guards in the briefing room were trained to expect the worse, and indeed prepared for it. The chief insisted that the admirals sit a few chairs back from the front and that Yaaknar’Lan would be flanked by two guards at all times. Both conditions were quickly accepted by the K’luth. It was becoming clear that the councilor wished to say what he wished to as rapidly as possible. The arrangements were grossly overdone, but the situation was certainly unique; never before had a K’luth councilor, nor simply a K’luth soldier, given a briefing to UGTO navy admirals. With the admirals and Devine seated at the table, the K’luth was brought into the room and led to the front of the room by his accompanying guards. While one stepped forward to release the K’luth’s pair of hand shackles, the other guards in the room raised their weapons and pointed them at the K’luth’s head and torso, prepared to put him down at a moment’s notice. But Yaaknar’Lan didn’t even flinch, standing perfectly still and dropping his arms slowly to his side as each pair was released. The guard stepped back, his hands dropping to his own weapon as he did so. But it became apparent that the councilor wasn’t going to do anything immediately, the assembled guards slowly lowered their weapons, but didn’t relax an inch. “I apologize for your treatment, councilor,” Stewart said. “I’m not sure how much you remember of earlier events but,” Stewart grinned slightly, “you were quite the one man army.” “No apology is necessary, admiral,” the K’luth replied through the translator. “What occurred to me is not unheard of in our history, and occurs only to those exposed to severe psionic trauma. That is part of why I asked you give me the honour to brief you and your other commanders.” “We are all ears, councilor,” Stewart replied. The K’luth look momentarily confused, and Stewart realized the expression wasn’t translated properly. “I mean we are listening,” he amended. Yaaknar’Lan nodded and turned toward the wall screen. He called up the general map of the explored galaxy then zoomed in on the Groombridge 34 system, which was well into K’luth space. “This is the system you call Groombridge 34 and these,” he said while highlighting a planet and its moon, “are the celestial bodies you call Yoth and Hell. On Yoth, there is a secret research base, secret to even other K’luth. The purpose of this base is researching human and K’luth brain matter while augmenting and combining the abilities of each. After my… encounter with Mr. Devine, it appears that the UGTO have also been experimenting with this technology. But, I have also touched the mind of the K’luth commander, whose name is Leenan’Era, and his abomination. Compared to his plan, your use of this technology is benevolent. He and his creation, and I suspect the creature he holds is using Leenan’Era for its own ends now, plan to enslave the entire galaxy. And I assure you with this power, he is very capable of his goal. You must destroy this facility with the creature.” Davies spoke up immediately. “You must be out of your mind. You want us to take a fleet deep into K’luth held space while we are fighting for our very existence right here in Sol. We can’t spare even a squadron! Not to mention we have no way of verifying what you are telling us. This could all be an elaborate ruse to separate our forces. Admiral,” he said turning to Stewart, “you cannot seriously believe this.” Stewart was quiet a moment. “He does bring up a valid point, councilor. We do not have a way to see if you are telling the truth. Your species minds are simply too well protected for any amount of coercion to have any effect.” “There is a way.” “What?” Stewart and the gathered admirals turned toward Devine. “There is a way to verify what he is telling us. Me.” It took a few seconds for the rest of the room to comprehend what Devine was referring to, but if there was anything quieter than silence the level of noise in the room at that moment reached it. “You can’t be serious,” Stewart exclaimed. “He nearly killed you,” he said, pointing at Yaaknar’Lan. “No, admiral. He didn’t, the creature controlling him tried to kill me. No offense is meant, councilor, but your mind is much too weak to contend with mine.” The K’luth merely nodded. “This is the only way to see if he is telling the truth, admirals. And if there is even the slightest chance he is, we…I must take that chance.” Devine abruptly stood, startling the assembled the guards. He strode toward Yaaknar’Lan and was almost stopped by several of the guards, but they halted at Stewart’s raised hand. Stopping in front of the K’luth, Devine asked, “I ask for your permission, sir.” Yaaknar’Lan was momentarily confused. Coming from a society where the most inner confines of the brain were as easily seen as the sun, someone asking for permission to see his thoughts was unheard of. Not wanting to appear hesitant, he gave his answer. “It is given.” Devine raised one hand and lightly placed it on the side K’luth’s head near the temple. There was an awkward silence as no one knew how long this was going to take. Both Devine’s and Yaaknar’Lan’s eyes were closed and to see the two standing totally motionless, staring at each other was disconcerting. But abruptly Devine’s hand lowered and he stepped back. “Thank you, councilor.” Addressing the admiralty, Devine said, “He is telling the truth.” “How can you tell?” Stewart asked. “I could never find the words to explain it properly, admiral. All I can say is that it is an absolute certainty.” Davies looked skeptical, though that wasn’t unusual, but Stewart simply nodded and turned back to Yaaknar’Lan. “Do you have a plan, councilor?” “I do, and you need not worry about depleting your ship reserves. This will require a minimum of force to succeed. One ship capable of transporting a moderate amount of soldiers will do. While the base was unguarded while I was there, I do not believe the admiral nor would the creature he has created be foolish enough to have it remain that way since he has lost control of me. He knows I will have retained all knowledge of the facility and what it contains. And he knows I will attempt to destroy it by any means.” “How do you suggest we destroy it, councilor?” Stewart asked. “It is located deep underground the surface of Yoth, so bombarding the planet from orbit will not work. The planet itself has no defense bases protecting its surface, however, so my plan is to drop a company of your infantry near the entrance to the facility where they will proceed down the elevator shaft and destroy the fusion generator powering the base. The explosion will vaporize the creature, any stockpiled brain matter, and all data pertaining to it.” “How will we reach Yoth in the first place?” Morhaime asked. “It’s a bit more than a stone’s throw outside of Sol. How will one ship be able to break through?” “As I saw during my encounter with Mr. Devine, you have already guessed at one advantage you possess. There is indeed a minimal military presence outside our blockade fleets of your and the ICC’s home systems. The other advantage you have is myself. I will provide the ship you take with the necessary ECM frequencies to evade detection from our ship scanners long enough to reach Yoth. The ship, however, must not be bigger than one of your cruiser hulls; dreadnaught size masses would be too easily picked up by other types of scans.” Stewart thought for a moment. “Why is Devine important to this plan? You haven’t mentioned the role he would play in this.” “Because the creature is made of both K’luth and human brain matter, I fear it would be able to control the minds of your infantry while they are in close proximity to it. No matter how much self-control they possess, they would not be able to resist the creature’s efforts. However, Mr. Devine has nearly the same abilities as the creature, and with his presence beside your soldiers he would be able to fight the abomination, hopefully distracting it long enough for the soldiers to do their work.” “What about the ships inside the system itself? The captain of the scout we rescued mentioned a dreadnaught was in system, we wouldn’t possibly be able to fight it off alone in a single cruiser not to mention any other ships at the same time. What could we possibly do about those?” Stewart asked. “You must take me with you,” was the K’luth’s answer. “They will not hesitate to fire on your ship, no matter what you tell them beforehand.” “But if you speak to them first,” Stewart asked, “they’ll believe you?” “Not if I communicate from your ship. You will have to allow me to transport to their ship before you even set foot in the system. They will test me and probe my mind to be certain it has not been tampered with, at least by you that is. But once they see what has been done, I believe they will assist any way they can. However…” Yaaknar’Lan trailed off. “However…?” Stewart prompted. “However, it is possible that the creature will have gained enough strength by now to control not only those on the planet, but on those ships as well. Perhaps not all of them, maybe even only one ship, but even that could pose a significant threat. If any of the other ships come into direct contact with the infected ship, the creature’s influence could spread, each new K'luth it controls acting as a relay to the next. We must leave as quickly as possible.” “And if it already controls the ships in the system?” Davies asked. “What do you suggest we do then?” The councilor stared hard at Davies, it was a frightening look. “If that is the case, then you have already lost. But we must try, for there is no other choice. Your ships will not last forever; nor will your weapons stay loaded indefinitely. Either we destroy this creature before it can spread its disease or your race, mine, and quite possibly the entire galaxy are condemned to annihilation.” _________________
Coeus {NCX-Charger} Admiral, I can't read, Sundered Weimeriners Joined: February 16, 2004 Posts: 3635 From: South Philly	Posted: 2005-07-29 15:40 Damnu, now I gotta re-read everything GJ bro! _________________ Darkspace: Twilight

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