Freelancer - The Void

By the way, those were great stories everyone. I really like them. (You can trust me, writing is what I do with about half of my free time).  =D>

I saw Seraphear ram into the first two Nomad Pirates, his momentum sending them flying. I ducked under a blow aimed for my head and took my assailant out with a swift kick to the chest, feeling bones snap under my attack. Seraphear had picked up a man in his claw and was busy slamming him into the wall.

"We need to get a move on!" Seraphear cried

We ran down the corridor, unholstering our guns are firing at the Pirate defenders as we went. Any we missed were slammed to one side as we ran past. The Nomad Pirates seemed taken aback by the fury of our assault, buckling beneath our attack. Before we knew it, we were standing at the door to the bridge. Seraphear was bleeding from a dozen wounds, and I was in no better condition. There were sparks shooting from the metal carapace covering my chest, and my right arm made an awful whining noise as I moved it.

We looked at each other, and in perfect unison, threw ourselves against the door. It slammed open, revealing the bridge. A Pirate with captains ensignias turned to us, a murderous glow in his eyes. He leapt forward, throwing me off balance and sending me to the floor. I looked up to see Seraphear grappling with him, and snarled in triumph as the man was crushed.

The officers around the consoles stared at us, and slowly the red faded from their eyes. Seraphear lifted up the captains arm, and there under his shirt was a gauntlet.

"This ship is now under Seraphear's command." I stood up and glared around the bridge. "You will follow his orders to the letter. Is this clear?"

Still shocked, the men and woman nodded dumbly. I saluted lazily to Seraphear.

"The bridge is yours." I turned and ran back down the corridor to my ship. I couldn't wait to see what Seraphear would do with this ship...

Albermarle Dixon's office looked like a bomb had hit it. There were charts and notes everywhere, hastily assembled comlinks and m-wave recievers and a jury rigged interactive star chart on the back wall.  Dixon paced up and down.  Andy Anderson was standing by the dest pondering the latest reports and trying to coordinate it all on the star chart.

"Where were the Rhinelanders? What were the Kusari up to? Why had there not been a more concerted effort on behalf of the Unwanted coalition of pirates appart from their timely actions in Tohoku? Why was Bretonia only at Bikini Black and not Black Alpha?" Andy was thinking out loud.

"We are being surrounded. They are trying to draw us all in to the one place." Dixon turned to the rather puzzled Andy. He strode over to a bookcase and removed an ancient hermeticaly sealed paperbound book.

"This has been in my family for centuries. It belonged to one of my ancestors before the diaspora. Its an account of a battle that happend on Ancient Earth. The battle of Isandlhwana."

Dixon explained the tactic. The Horns of the Bull engage you in battle and attempt to surround you. As this is happening you are distracted by being engaged by the Head, the main body of troops. The Head will attempt to strike a decisive blow as quickly as possible taking no heed of their own casualties. The coup-de-gras comes when you discover that you cannot escape and the Loins of the Beast, their fiercest and most experienced warriors come in to finish you off.  

"I doubt if the Nomads are even aware of such an example, but my fear is that they are attempting to draw us in.  They are attacking in sufficient force as to prompt a reaction from most of the House systems and whilst we are angry at their lack of movment leaving most of this up to the Europans and the Liberty forces, you must understand that they too are probably wary of a trap."

"But surely they have to send something, anything to at least show consolidation?"

"The truth is Andy, we need to keep the Nomads occupied until we can figure out where their next planned strike will be. We need a feignt or at least a major incursion into Nomad territory.  Trouble is no one will listen. If the Bretonian authorities get wind of what I have been up to it will be prison for me and no questions asked. Your hide will be worthless if this goes horribly wrong.  Our only hope is to get contact with the Europan Commander, what was his name?"

"Gannon. Commander Gannon."

"Get me a line through to AoF and see if you can raise my man in Primus. If we could get the Monkies and Robots to co-ordinate an attack into the Dyson Sphere via Nomad 1  and at the same time get Zeb to launch an attack into Tempest, we might be able to put the Nomads off their game enough to gain time to assemble the House Systems, and I need to talk to Watchwolf, this is going to take some doing!"

It was going to be a big task. Andy got the messages out and not before time.  There was a screem from the outside the office. Andy went to grab for his pistol. The Inspector stopped him. The secure entry to the office slid open. An overide switch. Four men in plain clothes followed by a dozen SO19 armed officers entered the room.  One of the plain clothed officers stepped forward.  "Mr Andrew Anderson?"

Andy nodded.

"Inspector Albemarle Dixon?"

"You know who I am Sergeant, dont play games with me!"

The other three plain clothes officers stepped forward. The Sergeant spoke. "You are being arrested for High Treason. You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned, something that you later rely on in court. Anything you do say will be given in evidence. Do you understand?"

Both men nodded. Andy was in a state of shock and minor panic. Albemarle Dixon looked totaly unflustered, he indicated to Andy to stay quiet.

They searched both men, removing Andy's pistol and taking the blaster out of the drawer that belonged to the Inspector.  They were plascuffed and taken to the lift. Andy could not believe it. The Inspector was grinning from ear to ear. In the quiet of the lift Andy whispered, "Whats so bloody funny?"  

The Inspector replied, "Well we are only dropping ten floors to the custody suite. It just amused me, thats all."

They were processed. Andy got to call the legal department of BMM.  You could hear his attourney almost faint. "Say nothing! I'm on my way and I'm bringing one of the AoF lawyers too, no point in denial now!"

Albemarle Dixon called his lawyer, who in turn contacted the Federation of Police officers and also his superior, Cheif Superintendant Ollie Miller.

Both men sat in the holding cell. Snoring in the corner was a rather bad smelling but well dressed drunk.
"High Treason. Well they certainly dont mess about do they?" Andy had at least calmed down. "I thought you said that your office was secure?"

"It is. They got the tip off from an outside source. Some of my erstwhile fellow officers dont like me too much, but dont worry, we are not totaly friendless. I am of course speaking to those that are listening to us even now." Dixon smiled and the realisation on Andy's face.

"But this delay is costing lives! Dang it Alb, we've got to convince them!"

"Oh Im certain that what we have done will be put to use, but we wont get any of the credit for this, so if I were you I would get some sleep till the lawyers get here."

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"We cant just sit here and do nothing! They are getting slaughtered out there!" yelled Blackstorm

Hellboy, Mikey and the other squadron leaders went quiet.

Zeb sighed, "Believe me I have no desire to see them massacred, but there are two thing that cause us a problem. One, we would have to get this mixed up little flotilla across the heart of Liberty Space and there are those amongst us who are less than welcome there.  Two. Do you think that a cloaked squadron of Nomad ships was watching the Shipyard for no reasom? Are you prepared to leave the back door wide open for a massive Nomad strike into Liberty Space? I thought not! Now, for once in your short military career, sit down and shut up! Listen to what is being said here and keep a level head for pity's sake!"

No one bar a few close associates had ever seen Zeb look so angry or frustrated.

There was a knock at the door and a VLF ensign entered. Smart salute to Zeb and then to Blackstorm.
"Sir there is a visitor to see you all." the boy looked terrified. He knew he had just broken every protocol going. Before Blackstorm could react, Zeb cut the kid some slack, they were at war after all. "Thats ok, Ensign, send our guest in." For the guest to have gotten this far past security and for Zeb not to have been told of this persons arrival, they had to be pretty well connected. They were.

Admiral Lou Crenshaw was a tough old buzzard. A veteran of many wars and a well known figure throughout Sirius. As a junior flight officer he had seen combat during the First Nomad War with distinction, being one of the Navy's youngest recipients of the Medal of Honour.  Love him or hate him, you couldn' t ignore him.  Tough as they came, but always the show of polite gentility that took people off guard. He stepped into the conference room. Zeb and most of the military and some of the ex-military reverted to type and the room came to attention. Even those with no connection at least nodded in the generals direction.

"Gentlemen, at ease. Thank you. Now before the place erupts with questions let me tell you exactly why I am here. Liberty Navy has acknowledged the potential threat to Liberty and the rest of Sirius and thanks you for your invaluable assistance.  We are now taking command of our own space." He glanced at Hellboy. "You are all more than welcome to stay and assist, but you will have to subject yourself to my authority.  I have already been advised that those who do stay here and who have previously been at odds with our authorities will be granted a full pardon."

There were surprised looks around the room. Zeb spoke up. "Thank you for that Admiral. I will bow to superior command in this instance. Alaska is in good hand sir." They shook hands and looked each other straight in the eye.

The Admiral spoke. "Go to your squadrons and tell them the news. I would like a list of those that are prepared to stay and support the Liberty Navy. The rest of you are still under the command of Zebulon Antarxes."

The room emptied. Zeb offered the Admiral a seat. It was just the two of them now.  

"So, you old sea dog! What took you so long? I have been polishing this seat for too long and I cant hold this bunch of miscreants together for much longer. I had no one to palm them off to!" said Zeb.

The Admiral laughed. "Zeb, you old fox, its good to see you again! So whats been happening here?"

Zeb filled the admiral in about the "ghost" squadron of Nomads and the fact that with their presence the whole of Alaska was on a knife edge. There had already been one friendly fire incident when a couple of Valkaries of the Bundschu had been mistaken for N1's. No deaths but plenty of recriminations. They had tightened up their reporting and acknowledgement proceedures after that. At the end of the conversation the Admiral looked at Zeb.

"There is something else you are not telling me you son of a gun,what is it?"

Zeb shrugged. "I dont know what you mean?"

"You went to see that Pirate Queen, the one that hangs out with the Europans in Freeport 7. Tig. Yes, dont look all surprised at me." He passed a holopic of Zeb and Tig talking in the Freeport 7 bar. "Thats why my government sent me here.  If she is involved and you involved her then its something very serious. Whats on your mind Antarxes?"

Zeb told the Admiral of his concern at a Nomad sneak attack via Tempest. The Admiral nodded and passed a couple of holopics to Zeb. They were slightly blurred which was unusual for HiDef pictures. They showed what appeared to be a large force of Nomads. Organic Battleships and fighters by the dozen and squads of N1's mixed in with some Anubis and Anubis MkII's. Zeb smiled. Tig. The little minx! Zeb relaxed. She was no dumb bunny this one. Knowing that Zeb would have his hands full trying to restrain an all out assault into Tempest by his Alaska Security Force, she had gone to the next best source. AoF? Nope. The Liberty Navy. Whilst she was on their "Most Wanted" list, they would not ignore information from her as they took her seriously, even as an enemy.  The Admiral spoke.

" I have a battle group heading this way. They will assemble at Norfolk Yard and at Bush. I have requested that the Libery Rogues. Xenos, and the Hackers, allow any of their volunteers to be under your command. My battle group will set one blockade at the Alaska gate and one at the Omicron Minor gate with an advanced force in Omicrom Minor itself. Here is the list."

Zeb read it. What a list it was too. USS Kansas, the Washington, the Delaware, USS John F.Kennedy,  USS Liberty Bell, USS Jackson, USS Martin Luther King, USS Colorado, the McKenzie, the Georgetown, USS Gettysburg, USS Pearl Harbour, USS Ronald Reagen, the Tinconderoga, the Merimac and a host of other smaller vessels and support craft.  Zeb was astounded.

"My friend, this is all due to your ability to hold things together here while we got these suckers together. This kind of mobilisation doesnt happen over night.  Ive placed them out of view so as not to panic your lads as you make your way to Demosthenese. We need you to get out there and help hold back the oncoming tide. Im sending a couple of ships with you. These were de-mothballed a month ago and have been retrofitted with all the latest kit.  The Persephone and the Dryad  - they are old but they pack a punch. Oh, before I forget, I was also asked to give you this. It came via Bretonian intelligence and through our own Central Intelligence, for your eyes only. Best you go pack your stuff. You are leaving on the next boat out of Alaska."

The two men rose and shook hands. Zeb offered the Admiral his chair and went to get packed.

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The massive bulk of the Nomad battleship sailed right over the top of Tigs Tomahawk. "Phew" she said to herself. They had seen all they needed to see. By encrypted m-wave she contacted the rest of her team.
"Time to leave girls and head for Alaska. Freeport 7 is going to buy it if this lot get through. Lets go!"

"Just time for a little suprise of our own boss..." came the reply from Jezebel

As Tigs  cloaked vessels lined up of the Jump Hole, there was a blinding flash of light that came from their starboard bow. Three Nomad battleships exploded and the knock on took out fighters and support vessels in a vast radius and it was spreading fast. Luckily they jumped in time.

"That wil give 'em a headache for a bit." said Jez.

They set off for the Shipyard in Alaska.

Planet Leonnatus Under Seige (SNS) -

As the smoke clears f1from the latest bombardment by orbiting Nomad Cruisers, I can see signs of life in the rubble arund me. Slowly people are emerging from their hiding places. Unfortunately, fewer now than the last time. And, I fear, more than the next.

It's been four days since my stay here in the Capital City of Leonnatus in Alexandria. Originally to report on the increased tax rates in order to pay for the increased securtiy of convoys to and from Leonnatus, I now find myself on the front lines of what people are already calling the Second Nomad War. And in that capacity I have been presented the oppurtinity to bring the grim realities of this fateful conflict to you, the people of Sirius.

I recently visited the down town part of Leonnatus, and let me tell you, the scene was utterly harrowing. The once bustling streets are now reduced to what I would describe as lifeless. A few civilians go about their business, but for the most part the streets are empty. I watched as a crumpled piece of paper with a picture drawn on it floated down the street until the wind was gone. As I thought about that moment, I realized that the memory of how things were before this cursed war is like the picture was then. When the paper is crumpled up, it can't be perfect again.

Continuing my way down the street, i noticed that most of the small shops were closed, with signs saying "closed until further notice." This once peaceful yet busy neighborhood was now silent in a worse way: ominous is the best word to describe it. It just do happened that, as I passed a small office building, I noticed a man in a suit bust at his desk through one of the windows. As he was one of the few souls I had seen that day in this part of town, I entered the building.

It was dark inside but for the sunlight streaming through the dusty windows that looked like they hadn't been washed in weeks. A few lights flickered here and there, and except for the noises from the man in his office, there was no sound. I entered his office, and saw him standing behind his desk franticly looking through papers which were hastily strewn upon the ground. It was obvious he had lost something.

"Hi, my name is Van Dyke. I'm a journalist for one of the colony news services. Mind if I ask what you're doing?"

The man looked at me like I was from another world before replying. "Its none of your damn business!" he shouted. Calmly, I said "Hey, no need to get hostile. I'm just trying to find out what's going on with the people of Leonnatus these days, and you're one of the few I've seen in this part of town."

The man's face calmed, and he said in softer tones "Sorry. I'm just trying to find my plasma rifle. I'm going to be ready when these nomad bastards invade the planet."

He continued rifling through his desk drawers, and finally found the object of his search, a sawed-off plasma rifle. I would not want to be on the recieving end of that.
The man looked almost comical in his light brown suit, blue tie swung back on his shoulder, while at the same time holding a dangerous weapon. His once-combed dark brown hair was all rufled up, and the collar of his white shirt peeking up from his fancy suit jacket was unbuttoned.

He stared at me for six or seven long seconds before saying "I need to get back home, before another bombardment starts."

He brushed past me, walked out of the building, and began running off towards the north. Word was, the northern end of the city got hit the worst.

And so this shall be the first installment of my continuing reports from the front.  For so long as I am able I am determined to bring you the Faces of War. My advice: get yourselves armed, and be ready for the worst.

PJ Van Dyke, journalist

Zeb opened the instructions. Weird how in this age of technology the securest way to pass on highly secret information was on paper.  His eyes widened at the note. He turned to Mikey.

"I'm going to need a favour from the Corsairs. In particular your Guardia de la Angelus. We have a task to set up. This is going to be a real tough one, cos I cant give you the details yet.  Its volunteers only. Are you in?"

Mikey looked thoughtful. "Its a 'point of no return' mission, isn't it? You don't think we'd be coming back, do you?"

Zeb nodded. "That's right."

"Heck, after what we've all been through, you can count me in! I'll ask the others, but they would follow me into the mouth of Hell if I asked them."

Zeb thought, "Thats just where we might be headed...."

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The Persephone had a history, longer than most that were serving on her.  She had been a blockade runner during the Brotherhood conflict and had previously been supply vessel to the outer rims during the First Nomad War.  She was a class 2 Liberty Supply ship of the Goddess class, about half the size of the big battleships and just slightly bigger than the cruisers.  Her lines were tight and her sleek shape gave her the appearance of a shark.  She bristled with retro fitted weapons and countermeasures. Not much to look at on the face of it, but totaly state of the art under her aging skin. She was not the only thing the Liberty Navy had brought out of retirement.

Admiral Rufus T. Milburn (ret) had been enjoying a fishing trip with his grandsons on New York when the "suits" turned up.  He was never impressed by anything that had to be done on the quiet and in the dark. That went for women too.  He had resisted all their offers until they had produced the specs and a picture of the Persephone.  They knew that he knew her well.  He had been her Captain for most of the First Nomad War and knew her every move, just  as good  as he knew the moves of  that snake of an ex-wife of his.  

The cutting short of the fishing trip had upset the boys, but he promised them a trip to the fishing grounds on Planet Leeds in Bretonia when he returned.  His family on the other hand were not impressed.  His eldest daughter was upset. "Papa! Not again. Please say you wont do it! There is no shame. You have done all you could and you have served and served well. You know how I feel about the Service and what it did to you and Mama...."

He cut her short. "Dont bring that woman into this! You know full well that it was her own doing that caused us to part!"

His son-in-law went to cut in. Brave lad. Rufus had grown to like the boy, but he was still one of those weasly lawyer types. One look from Rufus was enough to get him to butt out.  Rufus signed up. It was enevitable. It was in his blood and would be with him till the day he died.  The old man was proud that his uniform still fitted as he entered the Naval Head Quarters in Norfolk New City.  

Rufus shook himself out of the reverie.

"Sir, Admiral Antarxes is docking. Shall I direct him to the wardroom?"

Rufus nodded, "Yes. Do so."  The ensign scuttled off. Rufus was not too happy. He was back to being a Captain again. What had pleased him though was the fact that the control seat was still the same one that he had sat in, refurbed of course with new leather, but still the same seat and he was loathed to give it up.

He paced down the corridor to the ward room. Rufus had deliberately kept this Antarxes bloke waiting. Admiral indeed! If there was anyone to be Admiral round here it should have been me!  He entered the wardroom.  Sitting at the large table with a cup of cinammon coffee and reading through the staff log was a man that was imposing even when he was sitting down. Zeb was a sturdy build, six foot tall and about 170 pounds. At his age not all of it was muscle. There was a shock of grey hair running through the once fine head of brown hair. There were some scars on his face. To Rufus they looked like blast marks. This guy had done combat and up close and personal too.  The beard. It was a goatee type, long but neat, well groomed, with traces of auburn and silver running through it.  He looked like the Admirals of Old from the pictures that Rufus rememberd as a child, pictures his grandparents had shown him from before the Exodus.  The man looked up as Rufus approached the table. The old Admiral saluted. "Captain Rufus T Milburn at your service, Sir!"

Zeb stood up. "Glad to meet you Admiral, please take a seat." That foxed the old boy. This Antarxes chap recognised his old rank.

Rufus had an eye for detail, it came with many years of watching for the small things that could wreck a manouver or miss time a gate docking, causeing damage and chaos.  He scanned the uniform.  Bretonian. Naval. Fighter Escort Duties. Freighter Pilot and Trainer.  Babylonian Campaign Ribbon, Valour Ribbon and an Order of Merit. So this guy had been through the mill.  Rufus looked again.  The uniform was that of a Lieutenant Commander First Class, and if he was not mistaken this guy was former Bulldog Squadron. What realy caught his eye was that instead of the collar tabs showing the Bretonian Navy Dolphins, this guy had Phoenix crests in gold. He was AoF!

This took all of about three second for Admiral Milburn to take in. He sat as instructed.

"Sir, I have the rank of Captain and I would prefer that you use that title when in the presence of the men. No insult intended, sir."

Zeb smiled. "None taken, Captain.  I just want you to know that I know where you are coming from and I am very happy to have you in command of this vessel. You have the greater experience here and I am not about to usurp that.  I will take charge of the necessary operational information and instructions. You, my weathered friend, will command and stear this boat to the best of your ability. Are we clear?"

"Crystal, Admiral"

"Dont call me that. If you must, refer to me as Commander. Mr Antarxes in front of the men if you want and in private, you can call me Zeb." He leaned forward and offered the Admiral his hand. Rufus shook it and sat back down. "Are we underway as instructed?"

"Yes we are. We have instructions to head for Norfolk shipyard and await further instructions."

Zeb handed Rufus a piece of paper. "Please read this.  We will be making a short stop between the Alaska gate and our instructed destination. We have some people to collect. As you will appreciate this is all "hush hush". Dont look at me like that Rufus, I know how you feel about this sort of thing. Its written all over your records. You are the best man for this work and we need you on board. Its going to be a tough one and some of us might not be coming back."

Zeb could tell that the old boy was not impressed. But then orders are orders....

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"Yo! Alphonse! Get your stuff packed we are on the move!" shouted Argh into the laboratory.

"Give me a moment will you! I can't just pack all this gear away in five minutes you know..?"

Argh sighed. "Flaming scientists. All books and cr*p and not an ounce of common sense..."

Alphonse sat looking at the figures. Almost there. He looked up at the Hacker who was pondering the numbers on the wipeboard.  "Its something simple, isn't it?" asked the Cruncher. "This second equation works, perfectly, but when you combine it with the first set of parameters you get a major fluctuation in the M field that will destablise the gravity fractions and tear the whole construct to pieces, taking what ever survives and throwing it to the four winds."  The two men struggled with the numbers.  

In the corner sat Senior Bosun Clark. He was bored, but he had been assigned to assist these two gentlemen with their equipment. Next to him sat  Matey Buckle, a grease monkey for the Liberty Rogues. They both had the same detail but they eyed each other with suspicion.  Now, knot tieing is an ancient art, stems back from the ancient days of sea going ships on the Ancient Worlds. Clark always fancied himself as a knot master.  Out of his pocket he produced a piece of string. This was no ordinary string. This was first class knot  making string. Finely woven, strong, clean and exactly the right length. He started to tie. Bowlines, half hitches and the rest. All basic stuff that even Matey was not overly impressed with. That was until he started with the Cats Cradle. As fast as you could look, intricate paterns were formed with the string between the arching fingers of the Senior Bosun. This got Matey's attention. Matey rememberd his brood mom doing something similar. Not to be outdone by this shoe shine boy, Matey produced a handful of elastic rubber bands. In a moment he had fashioned them into a linked rope of sorts. He started to connect the bands via his fingers in pretty much the same way that Clark had done. He was fast and the patterns were just as intricate.  They both smiled as each tried to out do the other with their skill. It was passing time till these two nerds and bookworms got their act together.  Matey and Clark soom became aware that they had an audience.

da Silva and the Hacker had been attracted to the sudden activity in the corner from the two very bored seamen. It was some kind of nautical nonsense.  They watched closer. The Cruncher said something.
"Strings, Anchored Strings...."  da Silva watched and then started scribbling furiously. He passed the notes to the Cruncher, who's eye widened.  They knocked over most of the equipment in their haste to get to the board.  The Cruncher wiped it clean. Alphonse started scribbling.  "Its got to work! Its got to work!" he kept saying to himself.  

Argh had packed his own gear in less than five minutes. A man of his standing had no time for fancy clothes so the basics was what counted. The ship was ready to go, but there was no sign of da Silva and the Hacker. Argh worried that the Hackers might try to kidnap da Silva if he ever cracked his theory.  Argh went to look.

There was singing and noise coming from the laboratory. Argh stepped in to what would have been easily  mistaken for a New Year celebration. Matey and Clark were swigging back some rum and the Crucher and da Silva were dancing a jig. "Oi! Aren't you packed yet?" yelled Argh. They all stopped and looked at the large man in the door way.  The Cruncher and da Silva burst out laughing.  "We've done it! We've figured it out! We are going to call it the  "Matey and Clark Principal of String Physics". At the word "string" Clark, the Libery Rogue, the Hacker and da Silva exploded in gales of laughter.  Argh just scratched his head.

"Well, whatever bit of string  you've discovered, its time to go. We have a rendevous in two hours." He turned and left them to it.

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Tig got the encrypted M-wave from Zeb. She smiled. What was funny was that she and the gals were holed up in one of her favourite holding spots. During various settlement wars the number of House System wrecks were almost impossible to chart or count. Only the real large and important ones were charted and logged. This old boat suited Tigs purpose just fine.  Liberty's most wanted was sitting right under there noses and had been for years.  They were slightly due "south" and a good step to the "east" of Fort Bush.  The Rhinelander vessel had wanderd here centuries ago and had been taken out by the Defenders of Freedom who would soon become the Liberty Rogues.  When Jezebel had found it, they had all made their way to check it out. The engines were gone, but the power plant was still functional for basic life support. All the escape pods had gone and the centre of the vessel had been sealed. The bridge had taken a direct hit and most of the equipment was shot to bits. Tig had been pleased to find that the Nuclear core was still sealed and operational.  Using an old Zoner trick, she disguised the vessel by "faking" a Radiation Risk that would keep even the boldest ships away. They cleaned up the interior and made it home. Two working Docks for the fighters, a cargo port and a storage area. They all had quarters that some of the richer ladies in New York would die for. Whilst deadly, they still had good taste, stealing only the best.  

So they were merely minutes away from Zeb's chosen rendevous. Tig always liked a challenge and this one was cryptic at best. " We need your skills again. We have something for you to do for us. The money is good but the price might be too high. Meet us at the following." She closed it off. Sipped her Martini and relaxed. When the girls got back from picking the stores in Ophelia clean, they would make their way to see Zeb.

I'd given up trying to see how many pilots I would have to mark unfit for battle. It was much easier to count those who weren't too drunk to fly. I'd found a handful of Blood Dragons pulling the night shift in the maintenance shop, and not grumbling about it, pouring over immaculate Eagles with the distinctive Rampant Dragon emblazoned on the side. I snagged two of them and covered in gun oil and smelling of hydraulics they set out in a sweep of the rest of the base. I was amazed at how many BD's they were able to round up until one of the senior pilots set be straight. Sounding a bit offended he informed me about the code of his elite force. Dedication to the principle of pureness of mind, body and spirit burned in the heart of every true warrior, he explained, since long before the days of space flight on Earth. Of course, as gaikokujin I was not expected to understand this. That so many gaijin littered the bars and hallways of Tekagi's, I was informed, spoke loudly of the unclean, base nature of my people. Embarrassment quelled any protest I might have thought to give as I silently climbed into my ship and told Annie to set course for New Madrid.

I didn't get much time to think it over, however. I knew the flight might be a bit dicey. I wished it could have been that simple.

I hadn't reached the outer perimeter of the rock belt between the base and the planet when I was intercepted by a flight of four Nomad Fighters. From the first moment of contact two bore straight in while the others split off in opposite  directions. Annie saw it coming and warned me of the contacts' changing vectors. I recognized at once they were trying for a classic pinch. With the two in front holding my attention the other two would look for easy access to my 4- and 8-o'clock, catching me in a wedge. Able to maneuver into close proximity they could hammer through my aft-quarter shields and hull at point-blank range.

A glance at my scanner verified what I expected to see. While I had to admire the precision of their execution I grinned at the lack of imagination. There they were, heading 0.0 mark 0, 120.0 mark 0 and 240.0 mark 0. Perfect execution. And a perfect opportunity to turn it against them. I punched my thruster to maximum, heading straight for the pair in front and told Annie to count down the range in hundreds. Another look at the scanner told me the two behind had kicked their thrusters as well. With a slightly faster top-end speed they could make up the distance easily, and they did. I could see their range slowly counting down below 900m. Annie was ticking off numbers much more quickly: 20... 19... 18... 17... 16... My hands tightened on the sticks and I braced myself.10... 9... 8... Perfectly executed, all four fighters reached weapons range at precisely the same moment and their blasters opened fire. Simultaneously I pulled left and back hard.

With each at a closing velocity of 280 m/s on what had a moment before been their target's position, they closed in all on each other at 560m/s. That gave them each about 1.4 seconds to do something about it.

Nomads fare no better than people when it comes to the laws of physics and the speed of electrons. Granted their silicon-based anatomy conducts those tiny messengers through their synapses with a slightly better efficiency than the carbon-based protein that makes up our neurons. Still, it takes about 1.2 seconds for sensory perception to be sent to the brain, recognized, a decision made, the command generated and sent to the appropriate muscles to respond to the decision.  The actual contraction of the muscles to perform the action can add another few tenths of a second depending on the bulk of the muscle being moved. Add to that the inherent response time of the ship to the command inputs....

The four ships vied for the same exact point in space with poor results. For them anyway. Two disintegrated on impact. A third spun off out of control, smoke billowing in a tight cork-screw pattern from its engine. The fourth, miraculously, emerged almost unscathed.

I was already spinning around to bear down on whoever was left. Although it took a full two seconds for my ship to complete the arc and the first bit of thrust to send me toward my target, the completely unexpected situation the Nomad found itself in gave me ample time to take advantage of the surprise. Pressing in at top speed my four Cannons and two Diamondbacks traced an arc toward him as he tried to maneuver out of my path. Within another couple of seconds my guns found their target and ripped into its unshielded hull. By the time he could jink away my scanner showed his hull integrity dangerously low.

I  looped in a wide circle for another pass. Having recovered he did the same. I made my signature zig-zag approach, looking for an opening. Typically, he came straight in. We fired at the same time, his Blasters connecting with my shields in a spray of purple and white sparks. My projectiles missed the mark, but just as we were about to pass each other I let loose a Sunslayer torpedo and yanked hard in the stick. The torp hit his damaged ship square on the nose. The blast wave sprayed my shields as I soared through it. "Shields Failed" Annie announced as I watched his ship evaporate into a ball of burning vapor in my rear-view screen.

I turned my attention to finding the other ship. My scanner showed it almost out of range, fleeing away through the rock field. My cruise disruptor struck a stone before it could reach it. By the time my launcher was recharged it was out of range.

Annie announced another contact inbound bearing 295.5 mark 0. My shields had just popped back up and were recharging. My hull had taken some damage but was well over 80%. Still, I didn't want to try my luck again. I still had a long way to go to Madrid.

"Mark 0, huh?" I thought out loud. Unable to tell who I was talking to, Annie replied, "That's right Boss, and coming in hot."

"These guys seems to be thinking in strictly two dimensions, wouldn't you say, Annie?"

"Yes, I'd say so, Boss. All targets encountered have been on the same plane."

"OK, maybe it's time we stopped playing by their rules."

Now, there's no "up" in space. In fact, there is really no direction at all. Everything moves in it's own unique three-dimensional bubble. Any vector of travel has to be described in relation to another object, which is almost always in motion itself as well. When I launched from Tekagi's I had set out along the same plane as the planets' orbits around the suns in that system. Since my attitude was aligned with that plane the planets were at mark 0 elevation relative to my attitude and flight path. The Nomads were coming at me along the same plane. It was as if we were all flying along on the same table top. I decided I could probably outrun these guys so I pulled back on the stick and set my wounded WA1 straight "up" relative to the incoming enemy ships.

I watched as the contacts receded until they disappeared from the scope. I continued along the same direction until I was about 50K "above" the orbital plane. I then assumed a slow arcing path toward Madrid. I never saw another hostile contact. I approached the planetary docking ring from a high angle of attack and turned in toward the rings a mere 500m away. Before the ring's automated flight director could announce I was cleared to dock I had rushed through the small opening between the jaws of the ring. The Gate never even opened.

I taxied to the maintenance hanger and asked for repairs. The rather green pallor of the Outcast crew chief told me he was on the tail end of a Cardamine hangover. I told him what I needed and gave him the credits he said it would take to cover the repairs, plus an extra 50K tip to encourage him to do an extra good job. I told Annie to keep a close watch to be sure nothing came up missing, put all systems in standby and made for the primary Ops Center.

I detest Cardamine. Not only does it smell repulsive, but the chemicals that give it that smell are similar to those used in the strongest blast residue solvents. True, the actual Cardamine was organic, but the stuff they cut it with and the additives used to make up for the dilution I wouldn't feed to a Curacao Puss Leach.

But I have to say, the euphoric effects and the resulting hangover from the chemicals all together are a mere fraction when compared to the stupor and incapacitating hangover of alcohol. Additionally, a vast majority of veteran users could function relatively well under the influence and, in fact,  most Outcasts and Golden Chrysanthemums spent virtually all their waking hours inside the satisfied bubble of protracted use. So addicted were they that they would be far less able to fly if you took it away than not. That was why I found that over 90% of our Outcast and GC "allies" were fit to fly at a moment's notice, which was the best news I had had so far that day.

I set the senior offices in Ops to sending planet-wide orders for all pilots and crew to Alert-1. I then commandeered the Duty Officer's office and set the m-wave to the secure channel I, Cortana and Fear had agreed on  a few hours ago.

Cortana had set off for Penzance. She'd also encountered several patrols but had eluded them all without any need for battle. What she'd found was an entire planet in some stage of drunkeness or recovery. She was able to scrape up less than 10% of the registered compliment of pilots and crew who were completely sober, and another 7% who were within some reasonable tolerance for duty. She had sent all the senior officers who weren't also steeped in celebration out to collect their troops and hand out mass doses of pharmacokinetics to purge the poison from their bloodstreams.

Fear had even less luck. Although the percentage of disabled pilots was about the same, the core population of rogues and fugitives was much smaller. Added to that was the fact that no one was really going to tell any self-respecting rogue (now there's an oxymoron for you...) to stop drinking and get ready for combat. The only combat they were interested in was with Fear and although he is perfectly able to handle himself, he had much more important battles to fight. He took what he could get and rallied them all at one location.

And so within six hours we had assembled about 35% of our original fighting force. The only bright side was that nearly 80% of the capital ships would be available. We'd have to come up with something and come up with it fast.

I decided it was time to call in a few markers.

Its been mths since the battle of alex started and it hasnt been pretty,the noms has
overun the north and we have been pushed backed to the south.ZON now defends
planet Ptolemy together with the Europa navy which is headed by Admiral Kessler.Our
reinforcements and supplies has arrived 3 days ago from zeta-leonis thru New Berlin
and they arrived with another battleship,the battleship ULMO commandered by WC
Algammon.
I was in the bar relaxing for awhile after the last sortie when my bro came to me saying
that i was needed in conference room.

"Yo Vile,alphelion wants to see you in the conference room."

I finished my fav mug of zonsberg and hurried to the conference room tapping my bro's
shoulder as i left.I arrived the room and saw officers from both europa navy and ZON
forces, ADM Kessler and WC Algammon was there too.

"Men,as we all know that we have lost the north of alexandria we must not let
ourselves succumb to fear and lose our confidence and courage.Today I had come up
with a plan,as we all know that we usually targeted their figthers and some targeted
their battleships.As of today we focus only on their battleships,all wings will be divided
into 2 subgroups, bomber groups and fighter groups.The bomber group will focus on
their battleships and they will be armed with bomber ordinance,the fighters, your task is
to provide support for bombers by killing off the nomads fighters.Fighters are allowed
to chip in with destroying the battleships but please do not forget your main
objectives.Have i made myself clear?"

"But ol' great one" Kessler replied "my forces do not have that much firepower to take
out the battleships but we do have much to atleast take out their destroyers.If we took
out their destroyers we could atleast distract them from targeting your men,aliens or
what so ever.So what say you?"

"Hmm sounds good,I say when we going to do this?"I replied back

"Ok fair enough" Alphelion nodded in agreement " Kessler you will do what you have
suggested and as for the ZON forces each battleship will have 2 Wings for this
mission.For BALEGAER,Chaos and Delta Wing,for ULMO,Apocalypse and Foxtrot
Wing.In which I understand is lead by MSC Crimson and WC Drejj. Vile,as usual you
will lead Chaos Wing and you,WC Zagoris, will lead Delta Wing.The rest will be task
to protect the battleship.First sortie will be your Wing Vile at 0300hrs.ASC Zon,Zon Killadon  will
be your mission commisioner.Im i clear?"

"Yes master!!" as the officers of both sides shouted in unison.
"Good, dismiss."replied Aphelion in satisfaction.

I returned to my office as i cant simply walk to every quarters and tell them wat i have
to annouce,theres is like 2'000 men under my command.I sit on my chair,after thinking
thru what i'm going to say I bend over to the mic.

"Men of Chaos,today we will have a big sortie in our hand at 0300hrs.We will do this
sortie with our brethen from ULMO and our human ally.I want Alpha and Bravo squad
to meet me at the recreation hall 1 at 0100hrs for mission breifing.Squad leaders please
make sure your mates be punctual.Over and out" thats not bad after all. I looked at the clock its only 1030hrs,"hmm plenty of time" i thought to myself ,i figured I could do with a nap as i'm rather
exhausted from the previous sortie....

                                                            =====ZON=====

Its 1230hrs,i rushed to the recreation hall and was rather surprised when i arrived.As
200 strong men from both squads was already there.

"Hmm seems they are rather enthusiastic bout this mission" I thought to myself.

"Alright,i am rather happy to see you guys here already.Im proud of you.As you all
already know that we had a big sortie today i will tell you bout the plan.We used to kill
only fighters and some of us their battleship.As for today our main focus is their
battleships,yes their battleships.We will be divided into 2 groups,bomber and fighter
groups.Bomber,your task is simply destroy the battleship but do not engage their
destroyers as ADM Kessler's men will do it for us.Fighters you are to provide our
bomber boys some cover from the nomads fighters as they do their favourite thing, that
is blowing up 'big mommas' into space debris.I will be assigning Alpha as fighter group
and Bravo as bomber group and i need 30 men from each squad.Alpha you guys are
under me and Bravo will be under MEX Unleashed.Any question before we get
ourselves mentally and physically prepared?"

The first question were asked followed by another and slowly it became FAQ session
as more and more questions pour in.I look at the time,it was 0230hrs.

"Ok guys time's up lets get rolling.You all know wat to do rite?The rest of you dont
worry your turn will come soon enough for the mean time pray for us wish us luck"as I
run towards the hanger with my bro and 60 of my brave men.

                                                     =====ZON=====

2 hours has passed and it seems we doing fine ,we managed to destroyed severals
battleships and casuality was low.My fighters are doing fine as we took out the fighters
steadily but the other wing from ULMO was not doing great,they lost almost half of the
wings to the nomads and had to retreat but they manage to take out 3 nomads
battleship nonetheless.Just then another battleship was taken down.

"Yeehaaw another battleship kills under our name"said Unleashed
"Hey lets do another one i got plenty of torps to paste onto the big mommas"said
Hunter

"All Chaos wing,master has ordered you to investigate a sigthings of a large ship at this
coordinates and attempt to take it out as well"said Zon our mission commisioner

"Affirmative..guys,disengage and and follow me" as i set my flight course towards the
said coordinates.

"Large ship?I wonder wat it is" Trin asked
"Yeah me too,hope we can destroy it" said Hunter

As we are getting nearer we could see that its a sleeper ship found in Omicron
Major!!Just as we anticipated,we knew that the nomads are going to use it for a major
invasion!! The Order had tried to destroy it but to no avail it was protected by some
kind of unknown shield technology....

"OMG!! guys pull back its the sleeper ship found in omicron major,PULL BACK!!" as i
screamed thru the comms channel.

Just then a huge blue beam just stream thru...followed by a thunderous explosion with
screams of pain was heard thru the comms channel.Almost half of Bravo squad were
wiped out!!!

"DAMMIT!!! Unleashed get your men outta here..DO YOU COPY?!!"

"Yes-ss-sir,what juz happened?he asked in his trembling voice

"Half of your men are dead,dats what happened" i replied "Ok guys lets return to base
and fly in loose formation i don't want to see another beam wipe out an entire squad
again"

"Yes,sir"came the replies

I could hear fear in their voices and i know they were shocked,how else can they not
be? We were only 20k away from it when that blue beam just streak thru,and wiped out
half of Bravo squad, it was totally unexpected!!!

"Vile whats going on out there?Alphelion asked

"Ugly,the nomads sleeper ships are here,the ones from Omicron Major" i replied "and it
just took out half of Bravo squad"

"Dammit!! These nomads are pissing me off every single hour..disengage and return to
base,i want you to meet me at the conference room with the others and tell me
more"ordered Alphelion

"Affirmative"I replied

As we fly back to base dodging any incoming blue beam we could, hoping we can make
it back alive,I saw 8 of my men were killed.It finally stop when we almost reach planet
ptolemy.

"Good god what kind of weapons is that,it could fire 20k away and killed half of Bravo Squad?"asked Cpt.Hops who was still in a shocked state

"I dont know my fren,but we will soon found out.Lets fly back in close formation"I replied

We fly back in close formation and head straight for BALEGAER
I sigh in relieve as i knew how close we were to meeting our end back there....

                                                     =====ZON=====
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If ya wondering ZON in the story is organised in this manner, a baattleship can have lots of WINGS,and WINGS is divided in several squads,e.g Chaos Wing ,Apha and Bravo are Chaos Wing's squads

WC,MSC,ASC and MEX are ZON''S Rank

WC----Warchief aka General
MSC--MasterChief aka Captain
ASC---Aspiring Champion aka Lieutenant
MEX---Master Exarch aka Master Sergeant

as for Cpt.Hops dats is his nickname all ZON has their own nickname like me my "real name" is Kevlar Uranus aka Arch_Vile

if ya wanted to know more bout ZON rank read all bout it HERE

*I have finally arrived at this place!!!
Under the directions of Zebulon and -
-after months of desperate search and and escape from exile i have arrived.*Geromix thought.

Though he really don't know what to do and so he decided to buy his first drink from this bar or is this a bar?

Confused he decided to sit in one corner and drown in his miseries and sorrow of losing two good members of AoF.

He was alone.....he knew and this pain of loneliness stabbed hi heart.
A job was to be done. :-<

Geromix talks to Xenon-
"U know one thing i never understood is whether this is the future or what?Is this 800 years after the colonization of Sirius{ as the SP game tells u} or is this the year 2112{Void Mod 2112}?

I am confused.I think i shouldn't have taken the cardiamine along with the drink,i cant think clearly @-) ."

He continues-"If this is 800 A.S then Orillion lives and if this is 2112 A.S then the only  ORDER that would exist would be guys from ESF,ORION etc.The original ORDER is well kind of subdued at the moment"
"What do u think?Me thinks it should 2112 A.S how come those Monkeys and Robots get so powerful so quickly unless its the year 2112 A.S.
Seriously its get just worse,i have heard there could be a new time leap{i.e. new mod arrival}.
This is what happens when u try to make sense of all of this  :-? ?

Xenon looks thoughtfully ready to give an answer........

Its was 1400h, I was at the bar of Monkey Outpost drinking my beer waiting for some nomad action
In nomad 1, there were no nomads and barely any mission. The news report was offline because of a short circuit. Out of the bleu a youth man came to talk to me.
"Hey there sexy mind if I sit next to you" he asked me.
Like always my Data next to my brain started scanning the person I was talking to.
"Scanning............................................Scanning..........................................Match found, Bounty Hunter, name: John Near,
Combat skill: poor, Wanted: no, Reputation: neutral, Motivation in talk: sex", said my Data to my brain.
"Leave me alone", I said calmly to him
"Oh come on baby, let me buy you a drink"
"I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE!!"
I got up and pointed my gun at his head but i wasn’t going to shoot, I dint have any bullets in my gun but the little
Bounty hunter dint know that, so he ran of out of bar fearing of getting shot at. For 10 minutes, I continued to drink my beer with out anyone disturbing me when I saw that the news was back online. The front news shocked me, HUGE NOMAD ATTACK AT ALEXANDRIA SYSTEME. I tried to send  Xenon a message but it failed, must have been the nomad jamming . So I got in my ship and headed for Freeport 9 where Xenon was with Geromix drinking Bloody Mary for a few Hours.

)------------------------------------------------------------------------o0O0o----------------------------------------------------------------------------------(

"Alpha 1.1 you are permitted to dock"
After my Anubis mk2 was docked, I told the working robots to repair my ship and then I headed to the bar to met where
Xenon and Geromix were they were arguing. Xenon wanted to know where the bartender went when he was in front of him
And Geromix was wondering if we were in the year 2112 A.D. when we were in the year 805 A.D.  .  After a small slap at the face they began to think well again.
"Ahhhhhhh dam I was so drunk, ok whats wrong Electra", asked Xenon a little dizzy.
"Alex is under attack by the Nomads and all the long range communications have been jammed by the Nomads", I told them.
"Sh**, that means the Order wont know what’s going on until its to late", said Xenon.
"ill go to the Osiris to met with Orillion and tell him what’s going on", said Geromix.
He felt the bar and headed for unknown 1 leaving me and Xenon alone with the bartender in the bar.
"lets go to  Alex I know a short cut form here" said Xenon.
We left the bar and met outside in space to go to Alex.

30 minutes later we were almost at the gates where the Europa mother ship was staying.
One's we arrived there, we were ask to identify ourselves by a Europa patrol.
"This is Beta 1C, please identify yourself".
"Beta 1C this is ESF leader Xenon, permission to see Zebulon on the mother ship".
"Permission granted,  there is room on dock 3 and dock 4 and Zebulon should be at the meting room".
We dock at the mother ship and headed for the meting room to met Zebulon.
Zebulon was with other officers and commander trying to conduct a plan against the nomads.
"Hey there Zeb", said Xenon.
"Hey Xenon glad you made it".
Xenon and I sat down and lisened to the converstion.
"My units are being destroyed by there capital ships we can’t get near them without them knowing and with there new radar they destroy your rings when our fighters dock for ammunition", said a general.
"Why not use the new Code name weapon the Reiland created a few weeks ago, that weapon can shoot 5k away far form danger" asked a youth commander.
Out of the bleu my Data activated itself for no reason; it started scanning an object that Zebulon had in his pocket.
"What’s in your pocket Zeb", I asked.
"A artifact I found a long time ago, now please don’t disturb, were trying to get a plan here ", said Zebulon.
For some reason my Data started scanning Zeb's artifact.
"Scanning................Scanning...........................Scanning......................Scanning.................... Scanning..................Unknown object...............Error..........Error............Error.............a virus has been detected....................sending anti-virus...........................anti-virus unable to destroy the virus...............................resending anti-virus....................anti-virus disabled by virus......................rebooting systems....................rebooting systems failed......................activating emergency shut down systems.........................systems activated successfully...........................shutting down", said my Data to my brain while shutting me down. I immediately fell to the floor, unconscious.

)------------------------------------------------------------------------o0O0o----------------------------------------------------------------------------------(

"What the hell is this Xenon, you let a nomad get on the mother ship", said Zebulon's voice.
"Calm down Zeb she's not a nomad”, said Xenon's voice
"Then what the hell is she”, asked an other voice.
"She's......she's something else then a nomad, Electra never told me what she was, I only know she's able to shape shift ",said Xenon's voice.
I knew they had many questions to ask me, so I opened my eyes and saw that I was tied up to a chair surrounded by Zebulon, Watchwolf, Xenon, officers, generals, commanders and 10 guards pointing there guns at me.
"What the hell are you", asked Zebulon.
I looked at him right and the eye and I knew that I would be tortured if I dint tell them.
"Fine then, my name is Electra last of my kind created by the Dam Kavash 2000 years ago to contain the nomads form destroying all life in the Sirius. The moment they left the nomads attacked us and outnumbering us 10000 to 1.
In less then 2 days, my whole kind was exterminated in front of my eyes by the nomads and unable to contain them myself I went hiding in a planet in Alexandria. For some reason your artifact send a virus to my Data that shut me down to protect it self", I explained them.
"Your Data", asked Watchwolf
"Yes, before the Dam Kavash left Sirius, they implanted an A.I. chip in my brain called the Data that holds all there
technology in case they would never come back", I explained.
"And what would that Data contain", asked Watchwolf intrigued.
"Everything they knew and found, there technology, all the locations of jump holes, planets and systems, how to use artifacts and information about the nomad chip unfortunetlly im unable to get these information in the Data", I told them.
"That’s great! Lets take that Data for her brain and destroy the nomads one's and for
all", said a commander pleased.
"NOO!! That will kill me!!,I screamed in fear.
"Fine, fine, guards bring her to the lab so that the scientist may exam and scan her Data", ordered Watchwolf to the guards.
"Yes Sir"
The guards brought me to the lab and told the scientist about my Data and to find out what it contains without taking it out
and to report to Zebulon if they find anything. They told me to lie down on a the bed of the scanning machine and also asked
for me to shape shift back into a human so that they may inject without problem the serum to make me fall asleep.

)------------------------------------------------------------------------o0O0o----------------------------------------------------------------------------------(

(4 hours later on the Bridge of the mother ship)
"Nomad ambush!! Team Zeta 2 retreat"
"Noooooooooooo, they killed Joseph"
"They just disrupted me, little help plz"
"Zeta 2 get the bloody hell out of there"
"Im trying.....(explosion) "
"To many nomahhhhhhhhhhhhhh"
..........
"Team Zeta 2 didn’t pass Sir" said a commander.
"Dam it, we need a new plan", said Zebulon mad.
He picks up the ships speaker and ordered all officers, general and commander to met at the meting room. He left the Bridge
and headed for the meting room when a scientist cam to him.
"Sir, we found a bit of information on the subject you wanted us to scan"
"What did you find", asked Zebulon.
"Its impossible to take the Data form her brain without killing her, making it hard for us to really know what it contains
but we collected a bit of information while we were scanning"
"And?"
"It gave coordinates for some jump holes that were not found previously, leading to the Osiris systems and Nomad hive systems"
"What about the Dam Kavash technology and nomad chip", asked Zebulon.
"It must be deeper in the Data, Sir"
"Good work, bring her to a solitary cell and ill ask some guard to guard her"
"Right away Sir"

When i woke up, I was in in cell guarded by 3 guards in the next room to entre my holding cell. For one hour I had nothing to do but through rocks on the wall until someone really wanted to see me. A man opened the door of the 2nd room and started shooting at the guards. One's the door to go to my cell opened I saw who killed the guards, its was one of the commanders.
His eyes were not human eyes, they were bright bleu. He opened my cell but I was ready to attack him. Unfortunately he acted first; in his pocked he had a knit and threw it at my hand. The knit passed though my hand and was stuck on the wall, I unable to get away. He pulled out and gun and shot at my head but it only made a *click* because he dint have any bullets after shooting at the guard. The nomad-commander saw that in my pocked I had a gun for myself and took it out of my pocket.
"You should have stayed hidden bit**   ", he told me with a big smile.
He aimed my gun at my head and  pulled the trigger.
BLAM
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

man took me forever to type this down hope you like though  :-??  :-??
if you read well youll know whats going to happen to me
ill see if i can come up with a other story though

Fortunately for Geromix Orillion was in Nomad 1 and not in one of those far flung remote ORDER battleships.
He told quickly whatver there was to be told and knew that it was in AoF's interest if he along with AoF fighters in alliance with ESF fought off the nomads.

AoF had suffered terrible losses due to a new merciless clan called REAVERS.They had in one go taken away AoF's President and Vice-President and he was left to lead a much weakened AoF force.But he knew what had to be done and got whatever AoF fighters he had in Alpha wing to fight against this Nomad onslaught in Alex.

Well he reached Alex without many troubles{in between took out an enitre squadron of Corsairs } and was met by a squadron of ZON,AoF's new allies,and Xenon and his fighters,together they finished off the Nomads.

Or so they thought.....

"Whats that?"Geromix said pointing out to something directly in front of them at a distance of 6K.

"Why thats only our Europa Mother Ship"said Arche_Vile.

"That cant be the Mother Ship......"said an aghast Xenon.

"That is our Mother Ship but ..but.....its...written...."said Geromix unable to finish off what he had to say and equally shocked.


".....its written REAVERS on the Mother Ship!!!!"everybody said in unison.


And they knew they were betrayed and the new battle had begun.

The figth was over, the nomads were  fleeing back to nomad 1, tartarus, and Dyson sphere. the Europa and
Order fleet had lost many pilots and the death toll on planet Leonnatus was extremelly high but  The Order and
Europa were still looking for any survivers at Leonnatus. The clans that joined the figth where headed to the mother
ship for a big party but when they were 6k form the mother ship they saw that something was wrong. There were no Europa patrol guarding it and that there was a big making of REAVER on the mother ship. The REAVER are a group of legendary rogues and mecenaries planing to take over sirius and it had been rumor that Watchwolf and Zebulon were the leaders of that group. The  mother ship activated there ligth speed engines and left at the speed of ligth before anyone could have stoped them. They left behind a small ship and inside of it was a recorded video. In that video it was Watchwolf and Zebulon explaining that the rumors were true and that they have left AoF clan to become the leader of Reaver. The news shocked everyone, how could trusted armie leader turn evil, people asked.
_________________________________________________().()_______________________________________________________

At my holding cell the nomad-commander took my gun form my pocked and aimed it at my head.
"you should have stayed hidden bit**  ",said the commander with a smile.
He pulled the triger and BAM. But he only shot a blank shot witch made him furious. He took the knite out my hand
and quikelly put it next to my neak. he was going to cut my neak and i count do anything, my rigth hand had a huge hole
in it and full of blood. Just when i though it was going to be the end of me, Zebulon entered the holding cell, he got out his gun and shot accurately 6 bullets in the nomad-commander's head. At first I was so happy to see him but then I saw he had a
X reaver tattoo on his rigth arm. guessing he was in the Reaver clan, I picked the knite that was on the floor and through it to
Zebulon. At a incredible speed, caugth the knite with 2 fingers and started laughing.
"hahahahahaha, oh come on Electra you though it was that easy", said Zebulon laughing.
Before I could react, Zeb took out his artifact and immideatlly my Data started going crazy.
"Scanning................Scanning...........................Scanning......................Scanning.................... Scanning..................Unknown object...............Error..........Error............Error.............a virus has been detected....................sending anti-virus...........................anti-virus unable to destroy the virus...............................resending anti-virus....................anti-virus disabled by virus......................rebooting systems....................rebooting systems failed......................activating emergency shut down systems.........................systems activated successfully...........................shutting down", said my Data to my brain while shutting me down. I immediately fell to the floor, unconscious.


The scientist were told that if they dint  work for Reaver they would all be killed, so all of them accepted.
(at the lab)
Watchwolf entred the lab to see how the scaning was going.
"Found anything",asked Watchwolf
"we have found information on how to make a shield-clok"said the head scientist.
"What is that?"
"A new kind of clok that seem to have been created by the Dam Kavash, this new clok seems to be bether then any other
clok ever created"
"Will it work on this mother ship",asked Watchwolf.
"Yes we just need a hour to construct it and install it to the mother ship",said the head scientist.
"Good one's your done installing it to the mother ship continue scaning her Data for other information you may find form her"
"Srry to ask but why is she so important to scan none stop" asked the head scientist.
"Its simple, she may hold the key to conquer Sirius, in her Data she holds information on how to control the nomads
with there chip, new revolutionary thecnoligy for weapons and a full map of all of Sirius, all that information we can use
to conquer the whole Sirius esally", explained Watchwolf.
"I see, well i should start on constructing the shield-clok"
"Oh and if Electra wake's up just show her the artifact thats on the table, it should bring her back to sleep".

__________________________________________________().()_______________________________________________________

(Monkey Outpost)
There was a big meating at the Monkey outpost for all the navy and order  clan leaders.
all sat down at a round table. There were, jedi yoda leader of Orion clan,Salgado leader of n*o clan, aielman
leader of samurai clan, BabaRoga leader of 4s clan,Xenon leader of ESF clan, Geromix leader of AoF clan, Silverdeath
leader of TSF clan and OuterStar leader of SEF clan. They were all there to discuss on a new threat.
The Reaver threat .

the battle with the nomads at Monkey outpost lasted for nearlly 8 hours.
The navy, Order and monkeys were all there figthing but for diffrent reasons.
the navy and order were figthing to protect the clan leaders and the monkeys were figthing to protect MO. The nomads were figthing as hard as they could but the clan leaders were destroying a capital ships one after a other in less then a minute.
The nomads were sending reinfocements each 10 minutes but slowlly but surlly the nomads were getting beated.
''Dam got one on my tail little help plz''said a Order pilot in fear.
Yoda changed targets and headed to help to Order pilot.
''hahahaha, die nomad scum'',said yoda destroying the nomad.
5 minutes of kiling nomads later, all the nomads at monkey outpost were destroyed.
''Everyone go back home or to your clans if we stay here the nomads will send more'',said yoda.
Everyone went there own way back home but Xenon had no intention of going back home, he changed course and headed to Omicron Major to the secret ESF scientist base at Order outpost.
)----------------------------------------------------o0O0o-------------------------------------------------(

''What the hell is taking so long'',asked Watchwolf angry.
''We have a small problem with the shield-clok'',said the head scientist.
''What kind of problem''he asked still angry
''We can't activate the shield and the clok at the same time, they go off when the other is activated, were trying to make it work''
''Make sure you do or you won't be working well'',said Watchwolf leaving the engine room.


''Alpha 1.1 you are permitted to dock''.
After his ship was dock he asked for his ship to be repaired and headed to the toillet.
When he got in he looked if anyone was there,there was no one, he walked to a specific place in the toillet and pushed on the wall and a small area opened.
In the opening, Xenon put his hand in it and a computer program started scaning it.
''Scaning....Match found, welcome Xenon'',said the automated program opening a door in the toillet witch Xenon entred then closed when he entred.
The room it was full of computers and scientist working.
Xenon walked to a man named Dr.Maris.
''Maris, happy your here in one peice'',said Xenon happy.
''Me too, I was told you needed me to find someone named Electra, I found her but i cant locate her or have contact with her because she must be sleeping or she is K.O''
Just when he said that the bleu screen changed to a video.
''Ahhhhhh my head is killing me'' i though.
The sound was on and Xenon heard what I though so he put the speakers on and talked to me.
''Electra, its me Xenon, dont answer with your mough use your mind to talk, now lisen to me where are you'',asked Xenon.
''Im in a holding cell on the Europa mother ship, Zebulon and Watchwolf have me prissinor so that they can get information what,s in my Data'' i though.
''I got a fix on her, she's at Zeta-Leonis sector B2''
''Ok Electra we know were you are were coming for you just stay alive'',said Xenon.
Xenon closed the communication and seneded a message.
''Who did you send a message xenon''asked Red dragon curious
''i just send a message to the best mercenary to get Electra 10 mill each im sure they will get her back''
''Are you sure?''
''Oh yes im sure, there the one's that captured presedent Jacobi in her own office in the first nomad war'',said Xenon with a smile.
)------------------------------------------------------o0O0o--------------------------------------------------(