Tasuki Uso
10/15/03 18:03


[GSS Seigi] stay 

ON> GSS Seigi

"Would you rather be dead Uso?" He asked pointedly.

"I'm not going to die anytime soon." She said

"And how do you know that for sure?" Ritsu asked, heading for the fridge for a drink.

"Trust me I know" Uso said with her all knowing smirk

Ritsu grabbed an energy drink out of the fridge and popped it open and took a sip. "Nobody...not even you, knows what the future holds Uso." He said

"Sadly all the paths of the future are laid out before me and sadly to say I am going to be bored for a while." She said

"Well Uso, you won't be bored if you try and do something." Ritsu said, walking back over 

"I know what there is to do here and I don't feel like doing it." Uso said as she ran a hand down her braid for something to do

"Why don't you go try out the rec areas? I'm sure you could find something to do." Ritsu smiled at her.

"heh those are just games. I was talking about serious fun." She said with a chuckle.

"Like what Uso?" He asked, sitting down and putting his feet up on the table like she was.

"Like a firefight or my work." She said

"Your work? You mean cooking?" He asked with a chuckle

"No, I said MY work not the GSA's work not Seigi's work and not my job." Uso said.

"What is 'your work'?" He asked, tilting his head, making his platinum blonde hair pull over his shoulder.

"Sore wa hemitsu desu," Uso said with a smile 

Ritsu gave her a very confused look.

Uso just grinned

"You need a hobby." He sighed, then grinned at her. He found himself eyeing her up.

"I have one," Uso said, "And confusing you is fun" 

Ritsu gave her the confused innocent puppy look.

Uso shook her head and laughed.

He started to laugh at his own silliness, then spoke again after chortling for a moment. "And what do you do for a hobby?"

"I already told you that." She said

"I meant in English." Ritsu said with a pained look on his face.

Uso chuckled again.

Ritsurin just sighed. "You're impossible, I think that's part of your charm." he smiled

Uso shrugged, "Your now the cook on duty" she said as she stood up from her chair and headed towards the door, "I think I'm going to go check out the rec. rooms."

"I'm not a cook." He said, jumping up. "Tell the Seigi to do it, you're doing that anyway." Ritsu said catching up to her.

"You are now. You forget I outrank you so I can have you stay here." she said, stopping and turning to face him.

Ritsu couldn't stop in time and bumped into her. "I don't even have a rank yet Uso." He grinned as he stepped back

"Then technically you are still a system construct and are still under my control." She said.

"Psh. Forget that." Ritsu said. "My job is down in engineering as a technical sentry. I'm not about to stay here and cook." He said indignity.

"Then you are disobeying orders and I am allowed to beat you to a bloody pulp if I wish." Uso said calmly.

"And if you have no rank then you have no job on this ship other than to obey my orders."

"You and your rules." He said, brushing hair out of his eye. "But the rules don't state that I can't fight back." He smiled.

"Actually... they do say you can't fight back" Uso said

"Where? Show me." Ritsu said.

"I don't believe that horseshit." Ritsu said, getting a bit agitated.

"Seigi please recite the soldier to soldier combat law." Uso said "1. GSA Crewmembers are not allowed to physically or psionically attack one another, especially onboard GSA ships or in GSA facilities.
2. Unless these facilities are specially designed and designated for fighting. This requires the authorization of three officers with the rank of Taisa or above, adequate space, and adequate nearby medical facilities.
3. Striking a superior officer is grounds for grave punishment. A superior may strike a lower-ranking officer for disciplinary purposes only. “The computer replied.

Ritsu growled wolfishly. "So no fun sparring is allowed anymore?" 

"Correct and if you continue to disobey my orders I am allowed to hit you as much as I want." She said

"Ahh, 'strike' meaning a singular hit." Ritsu said. "It's says nothing about strikes being plural."

"I may strike you as many times as I want for the same disciplinary reason" Uso said, "It doesn’t give a limit either,” She said

"Damn you GSA politicians." Ritsu muttered darkly

"So anyways I order you to stay here and cook should anyone require It.,” she said.

"Nobody is going to need it Uso." Ritsu retorted tartly.

"That may be but you are still required to carry out my order." she said

"Fuck you and your orders." He said with a growl. "I haven't left the galley yet either." He said...so technically I am doing your orders.

"Very well then, stay here until I return." And with that she turned and walked out the door.

Ritsu looked around for someone to talk to. "Seigi, what is her problem?" He asked.

"Ms. Tasuki hasn't updated her body yet Mr. Ritsurin," The Seigi's A.I. said.

"Upgrade? huh?" He asked, sounding like a child.

"Correct." It said.

"Does that mean I need one too? Even though I was just born not a week ago?" He asked.

"Incorrect. Your body has already been updated accordingly.” it said

"I've been wondering about that." Ritsu said, taking a seat in a chair. "What am I?" 

"Currently you are in a NH-X body paired with Ms. Taiensho." Seigi said.

"Oh...ok." Ritsu said.

Meanwhile Uso headed to the rec. rooms wondering exactly how much of what she said to Ritsurin was actually true.

Ritsu merely sat back and laughed.


Kitsurugi Yui
10/12/03 17:24

[Phantom Regiment] The Deal of a Lifetime 

NEPLESLIAN SPACE - STAR ARMY OCCUPIED TERRITORY
STAR ARMY SIXTH FLEET
HEADQUARTERS BATTALION
1st ARMY STAR REGIMENT "Phantoms" (Regulars)


"Nerimian vessels," a female voice spoke in finely-pronounced Japanese syllables. "This is Chujo Kitsurugi Sharie, Phantom Zero Zero, state intent."

"This is Rear Admiral Tobias Reeves, commander of the N.S.S. Saiyshu, 8th NDI Spacy Fleet. We come here on a diplomatic mission by command of the Confederate Strategic Command."

In the background, more communications fluttered over the bridge on the Star Army side. "Phantom Zero Zero, Phantom Zero One. She's huge!" "Phantom Zero, Phantom Seven, commencing level ten scans," "Phantom three has Otomo"

There were four Otomo destroyers and two Kasen missile destroyers escorting the massive dreadnought, with the missile destroyers staying much closer to their ward while the stealth destroyers arrayed themselves in a much more open formation, taking positions above, below, and to the sides of the capital vessel.

"We share a common rank," observed Chujo Kitsurugi. Her face came into view as the Yui-class ship, guns at standby (but not at ready), sent visual feed. A striking resemblance to her infamous mother. "I am commander, sixth fleet, and authorized to speak for the Star Empire."

"As you probably well know, just 12 hours ago, Prime Minister Alexander Edwards and Executor Zauriel have brought the Nerimian Confederation and the Draconian League Alliance into a state of war with the Jaaq'tah Alliance. This mission is to determine the Grand Star Empire's allegiances, or lack thereof."

The audio stopped for a moment, giving the porcelain-faced catgirl enough time to moan at her bridge officers, "I thought Taisho Wolf was to handle these matters!" Then she spoke to the somewhat ignorant admiral. "Sir, we have found time passes differently between our universes. For us, it has been months." Perhaps that was a bad way to start... "We are aware of the incident, and are willing to offer assistance."

"We have found that Taisho Wolf isn't the most.......reliable," he replied, referring to Wolf's snubbing of the 12th Fleet in the Cryslon system. "What sort of assistance are you willing to offer?"

"Bastard lip readers." Chujo Kitsurugi mouthed, as once again the audio was cut. This time she faced away from the screen to give a few orders, before once again resuming the audio feed and addressing Admiral Reeves. "What sort of assistance did you have in mind?" The gray-shirts were scurrying behind her. Intel officers.

Outside of Kitsurugi's view, political liaisons attached to Reeves' unit were feeding him various lines via an ear piece. Reeves seemed to be thinking for a moment before responding. "Our analysis of your force structure suggests to us that you're a small, highly-mobile attack force. If you were to ally with us....we could suggest missions that would take advantage of such actions. Mostly deep strike missions to vital areas...."

"Phantom Zero Zero, Phantom Zero Three. Otomo scan complete. Results forwarding." came a subdued voice in the background. The communications officer seemed intently focused

on her station. "Relayed...Mistress-Chujo, your mother is listening in."
A bluish haze appeared off to Reeves' right side before solidifying into the image of a Vaishan officer, donning a brownish-yellow powered suit that sustained his corporeal form. The Vaishan were a powerful psionic race whose leader was currently the leader of the Draconian Senate. Reeves didn't seem to notice his visitor, but kept his eyes forward, listening to the words coming to him in an earpiece.

Sharie nodded to her small commo girl. Apparently the overwhelming majority of communications officers in the Star Army were tiny nekos, with childlike looks. Running a hand through her green bangs, the Chujo said, "I see. We would be willing to undertake such missions."

"There must be a catch...." said Reeves, waiting to see the conditions for the GSA's support. "There's something you want out of this deal."

"Well...ideally, we'd like some of your military to be our playthings."

There was an awkward silence after that was said. Reeves glanced over to the Vaishan whose eyes shifted from their standard blue-white to a dark violet. Reeves nodded. "Elaborate...."

"You are willing to sacrifice your units for your cause, correct? Sacrifice some of your forces to us, and we will more than make it up to you." Sharie explained, "Your ships are large and populous, filled with your children. These are not clones, but diverse individuals with histories and experiences that make them special. We need such individuals for our needs...thinking beings, rather than copies and drones. Do you understand?"

The Vaishan held up his clawed hand before Reeves could speak. His eyes turned a lime green and the Saiyshu's universal translator turned the Vaishan's previously undecipherable speech into something they could understand. "And what exactly are your needs?"

"The Star Army will survive, and expand. That is our need," smiled Sharie. "Can this request be endured?"

The discourse went silent again as Reeves and the Vaishan conversed. After half a minute or so, Reeves' face turned red and he appeared to be angry. The Vaishan's demeanour remained the same; then again, its mannerisms and body language were much different from a human's. 

This continued for quite sometime before another Human officer approached, trying to mediate the action. Reeves was face to face with the Vaishan, appearing to be yelling before the other officer pulled him away. After this display, the Vaishan turned back towards the monitor. "Entail to us exactly what you need, and we may consider your request...."

Sharie cut the audio again for a moment, for a brief dialogue with her first officer, a Taisa (captain). They appeared to discuss other alternatives, in case the Nerimians found the request disagreeable. After a few moments, sound from the Phantom Zero Zero was restored, but the Star Army soldiers were silent, awaiting the response

"Excellent," Chujo Kitsurugi grinned. The first officer, however, seemed disappointed.

Off-screen, Reeves was heated, yelling something about the Vaishan overstepping his authority. 

"How about," Sharie proposed, after a bit of discussion, "A battle group?"
Reeves reappeared on screen. "Absolutely not! Our people are not laboratory rats for you to test at your leisure!" The Vaishan's eyes turned red and glared at the Admiral, a sudden gaze of fear coming across Reeves' face as he retreated away. 

"I assure you your people will be treated properly," the green-haired neko frowned. "The crews would be integrated into the Star Army."

It was obvious what the dispute was. In the view of the Vaishan and the rest of the Draconian League, the Humans had no sense of 'sacrifice.' Humans cared so much about their individuality and sovereignty and those damned 'human rights' that it got in the way of getting the job done. The Vaishan would have to take charge here. "We believe a battle group would be excessive.....perhaps a light squadron.....?" 
"On a per-mission basis, you mean?" Sharie bartered. A disturbing rattling noise came over the comm as the powerful quantum scanners of the Phantom regiment swept over the largest NDI vessel's body.

"We are still unclear of exactly what you want with allied forces.....do you simply want your forces to be integrated with ours or do you intend to do something else?" replied the Vaishan, glancing to his left. Their quantum scanners were met with a high degree of static and distortion from the onboard electronic warfare crews.

"We want ownership of them. A donation," Sharie told the Vaishan. "They will be ours for eight years, and then be free to go about as they please." 

The Vaishan ordered a holographic projection sent to the GSA vessel. The holographic outlines of six Kyushu destroyers, two Lightning cruisers, and a Tatsumaki frigate (Flight Ia) appeared. "Satisfactory?"

"That's not even a light squadron." The Phantom 00's first officer remarked. Chujo Kitsurugi asked the obvious, "are they fully crewed?" An officer in green whispered something into the admiral's ear. In the science neko's hand was a tablet PC.

"Fully crewed and complete with one ATAC division on the two cruisers," replied the Vaishan, trying to sweeten the deal. "We'll be willing to send one of our reserve Desperado and Firesword classes...."

"Throw in a Darkwolf, and your finger is on our trigger." the reply came.
The Vaishan's expression was blank. "What is a Darkwolf?" The Darkwolf hunter-killer cruiser was considered to be an intelligence asset and was a classified warship design.

"Damn." Inside, Sharie kicked herself. "I'm sorry." she apologized. The name had only recently been put together with the ghostly hull that had been spotted on occasion by deep recon. "I must have been thinking of another design." she covered, attempting to save face for the sake of the Nerimian interest.

The Vaishan turned to one of the other human officers who whispered something to him. "We will be generous and trade a Prometheus class......but that is our final offer."

"Very well," Chujo Kitsurugi nodded, not willing to press her luck toying with the Nerimian's sense of ethics. She knew that this sort of deal was a once-in-lifetime sort of thing, as militaries would normally never trade their ships and people to other nations. "It is agreed, then? Give us the first mission."

The Vaishan turned to one of the other officers. "Your first mission has yet to be determined, but we shall prepare your mission parameters within 8 Earth-standard hours once our forces begin the assault on the Tau Ceti system."
"You will send us all data concerning your enemies." the GSA admiral half-requested. "We will prepare a fleet for Tau Ceti."

Another datapulse was sent towards the GSA command vessel. "These are our latest intelligence of all Jaaq'tah warship designs...."

"I'm sure these will be useful." The first officer commented, browsing the file as it was downloaded. Sharie nodded in agreement. "Thank you. As a token of our gratitude, I'd like to invite you to tour some of our worlds sometime."

"Perhaps later......right now, we must take our leave and return to Mu Delphi," replied the Vaiishan. Seconds later, a rift opened up before each of the seven vessels, created by a Vaishan wormhole generator in the Mu Delphi system. As the flotilla passed through the wormholes, a final datapulse was sent giving the GSA the proper friend-or-foe identification protocols for the Draconian Alliance.

"May the wind be at your backs..." Chujo Kitsurugi said before the transmission ended. After the ships were gone, she turned to her first officer and added, "carrying arrows."

Elsewhere, Reeves stared daggers at the Draconian Alliance officer who had effectively overruled his opposition to allowing the GSA to basically use Human soldiers as guinea pigs. "You do know that they've been wanting an insight into our Oracle and DEIMOS systems for quite some time......and you're just giving them an opportunity to reverse-engineer it."

To her communications officer, she ordered, "Miko, send the Jaaqtah designs to Geshrintall. I'm sure they'll be very much appreciated by SARA. Also, send them to SAINT. Send SARA the level 10 scans." Turning to the science officer she asked, "Did our ADN device activate? I thought I felt telepathy die out for a moment there."

The Vaishan gave what could be considered a chuckle. "You worry too much, Human. This goes both ways. Your brethren will be fine......and even if they aren't......it's a small price to pay."

Suddenly, Taisho Yui's voice and face intruded on the Phantom 00's bridge. Sharie had forgotten her mother had been listening the whole while. "That was somewhat unexpected," the Chujo's mother began. "Do you want your fleet to do the missions, Sharie?" she asked. "Third fleet needs upgrades badly."

"Hopefully.....these GSA characters can make life hard enough for their supply lines that we can break their defences at Tau Ceti and Alpha Erdani....." replied Reeves, clenching his teeth. "But we're giving them nearly 30,000 personnel.......for eight years. Lord knows what they'll do......let's just hope they don't interbreed....."

"Yes, mother." Chujo Kitsurugi Sharie nodded. "And what of the Nerimians?"

Yui paused for a moment before deciding, "We will bring them home and show them our world. Before we give them assignments, they must become familiar with our culture. I will enrol them at the Academy on Kosame, perhaps.

"You Humans are a strange breed," replied the Vaishan. "30,000 is such an insignificant number. You lost five times that amount fighting the Chaos Hordes......"

"Maybe not to you, but we tend to value lives in the Confederation," retorted Reeves. "Each soldier brings something different to the table. It's why we're able to adapt, because each individual is different in capacity. Every soldier that died in Coral City and the Black Diamond Mountains will forever be remembered. To you, if you lose 100,000 troops, it's just a matter of creating more. To us, it's a tragedy."

"I hardly think they should take the place of Nekos in the classroom." Sharie frowned. Her ideas of humans were not as involved as Yui's were. To her, they were simply inferior. Yui had grown up around them and interacted them throughout her life and was more concerned with them. The 14th, 15th, and 16th Infantry Regiment, also veterans of the Chaos wars, were part of 3rd Fleet, and would probably see more action in this war...They were likely to be under Sharie's command this time.

"Interesting," said the Vaishan. "You remind me of the Pozarid and their Hive mentality. What pain one feels, they all feel equally."

"Not quite. We simply have ethical rules which we follow. Ethical rules which we have violated by turning them over to these perverted barbarians. You've seen how they have corrupted the KIF," said Reeves with a disgusted tone. "Cat women.......doing lord knows what with our soldiers. Not even under the strictest of mandates can we stop fraternization. When they come back, they'll no doubt be sympathetic to their cause, in which case we'll have to probably do brute-force re-education."

"Inform the GSS Seigi that Sixth Fleet will no longer wait for them at Nepleslia. Ready the fleet for full-scale war within the next 24 hours. The second fleet may wish to take our place occupying Nepleslia. Contact them as well." Sharie kept poor Miko busy on the comm, mentally preparing for the first mission in enemy territory since receiving their new ships.


Derran Tyler
10/16/03 19:11

Giving Them What They Asked For 

“I’m going to make this very clear to you, commander,” said Rear Admiral Tobias Reeves. “I don’t trust the GSA, I don’t like them, and I think they’re every bit as bad as the Jaaq’tah. If it were up to me, I’d exterminate them along with the lizards.”

The holographic image of the Supreme Commander Nathan Rakuseki was before the commander of the N.S.S. Saiyshu, slightly larger than the lower officer to project an image of superiority. “No one trusts the GSA, Admiral. After trying to infiltrate GoldenG.A.T.E. during the Chaos/Hive Wars, they’ve been on our hit list for quite some time. They did no real damage, but the simple fact that they tried means that they’ll have to settle up sooner or later. The reason why we’re establishing friendly relations now is because we don’t need the hassle of them working against us in this war.”

Admiral Reeves frowned, stroking his chin with his thumb. “Understandable, but giving them ships, commander? You know they want an insight into our society and our technology. Why are we just handing it to them?”

“Ever heard the phrase, ‘Give them what they asked for, but never give them what they want”?

Reeves had a puzzled look upon his face. “Yes, sir, but….what do you mean?”

Rakuseki grinned. He might have not been as hardcore as his predecessor, but he certainly had a few tricks up his sleeve.

*        *        *        *

Mars’ Orbiting Shipyards was the Sol system’s primary shipbuilder and was jointly owned and operated by the Nerimian Defense Initiative and Neo-Star Macrotechnologies. Known for building such powerful vessels as the Otomo destroyer and the Memphis missile cruiser, the shipyards had been operating at full tilt since the formal declaration of war.

Twelve special order ships had been pushed to the head of the massive nanolathing build queues following the deal made with the GSA. Known internally as the Kai-series, they were in appearance identical to the Kyushu, Lightning, Desperado, Tatsumaki, and Prometheus vessels but had several key differences.

The main difference was that the vessels were devoid of all third, fourth, and fifth generation technologies such as the hyperspace tap, gravimetric drives, and lightning shields. Therefore, it was not a stretch to say that these ships weren’t up to snuff when compared to the remainder of the NDI fleet – and that was just the way the NDI wanted it to be. 

But the GSA would have no real idea. They’d never actually been onboard or seen the schematics of the ships in question, so they could only assume that these ships were in everyway typical of all other ships of that class. 

The crews of these vessels were handpicked from various fields of command all across the NDI for this task specifically. Enlisted personnel who in officer evaluations have consistently scored in the lower echelons received top priority and received orders for transfers into a special new unit known as the 1st Expeditionary Corps. Officers were third and fourth-rate as well, which meant that the NDI intentionally sent the worst among its ranks to the GSA. 

In this way, it was very systematic in the way the NDI went about their task to give the GSA exactly what they asked for but not what they wanted. The GSA had received nothing of real worth except for ships that looked like the formidable warships that formed the core of the fleet. 

And in return, the NDI would keep the GSA occupied and placated for the time being while it went about its move to defeat the rogue Jaaq’tah Alliance.


Aeriyon Elisias
10/15/03 9:22

[Somewhere along the frontier] Making a short message. 

Riyon had obtained an elysian fighter through sheer dumb luck, he hated to admit it, but hey, it got the job done. He silently regretted having to trade a perfectly new shuttle for a worn fighter, but he had the technology he originally set out to find. Fortunately, piloting the agile fighter wasn't too difficult once he got into synch with the fighter's battle AI. A system that operated at full capacity during heated battles, but also assisted in normal piloting.

He looked at the various sensor arrays and found a few GSA ships in the vicinity, again, luck apparently was on his side as he had thought to cloak before going further from the station. ~Maybe it's time to report in to Taisho Wolf, that way someone knows what's going down out here.~ He thought as he engaged the communications network and prepared to send a short message to the Taisho. 

"Admiral, this is AE. I have a vessel of Elysian origin, and going out for the bigger fish." The short message read.

Riyon was still in his Elysian form, just in case he got engaged by an Elysian ship. But he figured it was unlikely as he was still in GSE space. He turned the fighter about and flew off into elysian space, hoping to find an Angel frigate or battlecruiser without getting blown to pieces.


Jadg Wolf
10/15/03 18:07

Sent to the origin of @#%$'s message, the message was short.

"Don't come back. People're after you. I'll get it sorted out. Continue on mission. Communicate if trouble, none else. Will contact again, if ship destroyed send communicate."


Aeriyon Elisias
10/15/03 19:18

Riyon received the message... ~Shit. I wonder what I did now to get the dogs out now?~ He wondered as he engaged the burst drive to give him a huge leap into elysian space. He came out of it and let the engines recalibrate, a process that took a moment.. He quickly got underway, looking for an elysian ship.


Dr Shinichiro Nobumoto
10/17/03 13:48

ON>Elysian space

Riyon had received word from Taisho Wolf not to return to GSA space and to continue on the mission he was originally on. He punched a few buttons and sped off into Elysian space, still wondering just how he was going to get onto an Elysian ship. He got a bit lost in his thoughts and meandered into a meteor field, Riyon was quickly brought back to attention as the sensors shouted to evade the nearest meteor.

Apparently he was going into a dangerous area of space, the fact was made plain by the fact that he had to evade and dodge the larger space rocks. His ship got damaged a bit as the smaller ones collided with the outer hull of the fighter. Riyon hadn't seen the big one coming and took a serious hit to the starboard side of the fighter, making him lose power in that thruster. "Damn" He swore as he began to drift a bit, thankfully though he had managed to get through the area... barely.

He wasn't sure if there was anyone around, he had maintained the outer form of Magnus, he thought it may help...

As Riyon entered the meteor field at a rushing forty percent of light speed, a tiny particle of dust collided with his ship at near one hundred and twenty thousand miles at hour. The energy released in the impact was equivalent of a thousand nuclear bombs.
Riyon swore and sent out an SOS asking, almost pleading for assistance...he knew that it would be likely that it'd be picked up by someone…

He had been violently shaken up by the collision and was bleeding from head after hitting it against the back of the seat. As he moved he winced realizing that he had broken a lot of bones, it was painful to breathe. The fighter's sensors read out that the fighter had taken an incredible amount of damage.... He wasn't sure if he'd survive...

Apparently, he got some last second chance from whatever forces controlled the universe. It turned out the ship had taken only a glancing blow. Something absorbed the impact. The shields, apparently, had turned themselves on at the last moment. Maybe it was some built-in feature. Or, more likely, he had hit the button accidentally. There didn't seem to be a communication system.

The fighter was totally ruined. Some hissing noise let Riyon know the air was slowly leaking somewhere behind him.

Riyon merely laid back.....hoping that someone....some ship would notice the crippled fighter.

Nothing seemed to be around. More debris bounced off the ship's fragmented shield grid, and on the armor of the battered fighter. The ship was moving slower now, but still hurtling through space, out of control. Just another meteor. The air continued to seep out. There were rattling noises. This was not good.

He hoped that the ORS system would repair some of the damage and punched a few buttons hoping to activate the systems.
He attempted to slow the ship down a hell of a lot more...

The electrical system sparked when he touched it. The lights of the control station went out.

He weakly punched the console and lay back conceding to fate...he knew he was worthless to everyone....

His eyes wandered over the dim controls...hoping for a type of communications system, there still appeared to be none

The controls began to sizzle. Wisps of smoke trailed from the station, swirling past him, and into some of the small air leaks behind him. 

~As if this could get any worse....~ Riyon thought. Dark and alone in the depths of space, feeling strangely peaceful. He had set out to do something for himself and the worst happens...stupid luck..

The only thing Riyon could do was to hope that someone found him...though the chances seemed astronomically against him.

The fire in the control panel was making the hazy air in the cockpit difficult to breathe...or perhaps it was the air loss from the leaks…or the broken bones.

Riyon languorously searched with his eyes for someway to engage something to slow the leaks.

Riyon found that it was harder to breathe or move and slipped into unconsciousness, he didn't care about his mission anymore, he just wanted the pain to end. 

A basketball-sized meteor, travelling a vector close to his, seemed to be drifting closer to the fighter...

The fighter hit the meteorite from behind with the windshield, causing the clear pane to shatter. The boring little brown meteor ended up parking itself right next to Riyon, who woke up to explosive decompression. The pressure drop wasn't as much as it could have been, due to the air leaks, but was still a shock. Suddenly, there was no air.

Riyon was suddenly awake...someway. He painfully disconnected himself from the fighter and shifted forms to the neko form and attempted to use his hemosynth system to create some breathable air. A vision of a young lady with long snow white hair refuelled his desire to survive, He also hemosynthed a basic spacesuit, thinking he didn't have one. He looked around the cockpit and found a suit. Apparently luck favored him that Arianna had put one in there just in case, He quickly got into it and looked around...dissolving the half made one as he did.

A sharp jerk from behind knocked Riyon against the control station, nearly throwing him out the broken front window.

~What the hell was that!?~ Riyon wondered as he reacted to grab something to hold onto.

Somewhere, in the center of the asteroids, a battered ship was scrounging through the field, collecting metallic debris. A salvage ship of some sort. Along with a bunch of metal scraps and asteroids, the shuttle was dragged inside the processing bay. 

He shifted to his angel form, hoping to throw the people off and jumped out of the ship and looked around and collapsed to the ground, he still had several broken bones.
As the ship's bay doors noisily closed, the graviton beam deposited the wreckage in a pile for sorting. The ship went through some sort of forcefield, and air rushed into the shuttle as he exited through the broken window. He was inside.

He pulled himself to one side and started healing the damage slowly.

Nearby, another air-forcefield separated the salvage pile from a row of melting pots. A robotic arm picked up the shuttle, and tossed it into the first one.

Riyon watched this with horror when the dawning that he could have still been in it when it went in. He proceeded to quickly heal the damage enough to stand and walk, but still giving the image of being hurt.

He looked around as he did, hoping that nobody would notice

No one seemed to be around. The giant overhead arm reached down again, and deposited more metallic salvage and rocks into the pot.

He feinted a groan of pain as he removed the spacesuit and stood up holding his side. He looked for the nearest door out of the bay.

There was a door on the side of the bay. It looked like something on a submarine.
He walked over to it and tried to open the door, testing to see how tightly shut up was.
The door first seemed not to budge. The giant lever that opened the door was huge.

Riyon looked at it thoughtfully, he wondered what the hell it took to open the door.
Suddenly, the door opened, and Riyon found himself face-to-face with a giant gray-skinned creature of some sort. The thing had a strong body odor.
Riyon took a step back and looked at this being. 

"Um....Greetings." He murmured holding his ribs as if in pain.

"Urggh?" the giant had an exaggerated-looking expression of confusion.

Magnus rolled his eyes, it was obvious that he couldn't communicate with the giant. He waited for the thing to pass so he could get through the door.

Another one of the 12-foot figures stepped forth, and peered through the doorway. "Eereesian," it commented from behind.

"Urg!?" the first one exclaimed. The door slammed shut.

"That's correct sir." Magnus grinned painfully. "Damn," he swore.

He shifted to the neko form the shadowshifter allowed and waited.

Moments later, the trolls barged in the door carrying obscenely-large chainguns. They didn't seem to look before hosing down the room with bullets.

Riyon's neko body cloaked and disappeared off to the side to avoid the bullets.

"Vutdafuk?" troll number one said, looking around in confusion. He wore an all-black outfit. The second, in a blue and gray armored suit, frowned and called the other back toward the door. "Must be seraph." The first troll's eyes widened. "Bastard stealther!" The trolls backed into the door. The one on black adjusted his weapon. A soft beep came from the mega-rifle.

"No, wait." He said uncloaking showing a light green haired neko.
A stream of liquid fire spouted from the black-clothed troll's gun, filling the doorway, as soon as he began to uncloak. these guys were paranoid.

"I don't mean to cause trouble." Lucia said dancing out of the way.
"He try change form!" the first troll told the second, dousing the room with flaming gel.
Lucia opened her CRT and flew straight up. "NO NO I"M A NH-8" She yelled at them.

"Burn well!" the second roared. He, too, stuffed himself in the doorway, next to his comrade. Together, they wildly sprayed their flames after Riyon. They thought it was some sort of seraph shapeshifting trick.

Riyon dodged out of the way, but made no attempt to counterattack, just evading
"What do you guys want as proof?" She asked.

Once the entire room was covered in flames, the door shut again. Outside, the troll in black asked, "You think we kill?" The other frowned. "Not sure. Reload." Both of them exchanged magazines.

Lucia landed and stood peacefully outside, holding her hands out in a sign of being unarmed--Well not landed, per se, but landed on a girder above the fire

"No one supposed to know we here. This intruder must die." The troll in black said to the armored one, who was actually wearing a WickedArms uniform. "Look, if this person tells others, we screwed." The WickedArms troll frowned, "Need to waste him and then move regardless." 

Lucia looked steadily at the door waiting....

"My contract over anyway, I want go home. This ship sucks." said the WickedArms troll. "I got what I came for."

"We get there. I thought more battles would happen. We salvaged good stuff. Now I can make new ship for my group." the troll in black reassured his comrade. First, we take out spy person in salvage room. Ok?"

Lucia's eyes widened. "No please, I beg you...I won't tell anyone what you're doing here." She pleaded through the door, in a completely sincere voice.

"Ok." The armored troll said, putting on a helmet. The door swung open, and the Troll shot a flurry of bullets at Lucia's body as the door sent her flying. The troll in black watched intently, his gun also fixed on Lucia, but not firing. One mega-rifle was plenty. 
Lucia CRT boosted out of the way and landing behind a metal box for cover. "Please stop!" She screamed.

A flashbang grenade bounced into the room, and blew up, filling her vision with a wall of white. The effect wasn't want the trolls wanted, since she had cover. Both of them were now in the room, looking to gun her down.

Lucia closed her eyes and relied on her TOS mind to guide her. She hemosynthed heavy armor for herself.

She started crying softly, curling up like a little child.

"I don't mean to cause anyone any trouble.." She said between sobs.

The troll in the armor suit charged forward and delivered a soccer-style kick to the metal box, hitting it with the force of a car ploughing into a highway barrier.

Due to the way she was, Lucia rolled out from behind the box and dove behind another box. "Please STOP!" She screamed in a frightened tone.

The troll's foot collided with that box, too, with a loud BANG as the dented case was propelled like a rocket from the big thing's armored boot.

"Aww." The troll in black started to take pity. Maybe they could find a way she could live.
Lucia had nowhere to go and quickly climbed on top of the launched box and leapt up onto a girder, swinging up, careful to maintain balance. 

"Bitch." the armored troll torched the ceiling.

"I'm a GSA soldier." She said, trying to remain calm, but not getting anywhere.
She dropped leapt off and rolled behind one last box.

The trolls closed in on the flaming woman.

"Shit, what if she telepath? We not want to hurt GSA." 

Lucia's foam system activated, putting out the fire.

"Ehhh...."

Lucia continued to hide behind the box.

The troll with the black garments grabbed the charred little body by the waist, and lifted her up. "Sorry. We thought you were Elysian."

"Hey. I can stand on my own she said tartly. "That was my alternate form." She said.

"URG." the other troll nodded, his gun trained on the neko's forehead. The first troll smacked her face, hard. "Shut up."

"please set me down and I'll prove it." She said.

"I'm a neko-8 series." She said.

The WickedArms troll was more concerned with protecting himself. WickedArm wasn't supposed to be way out here. The ship was in Elysian territory, making and selling torpedoes to the enemy.

The giant in black, however, kept the armored troll from killing Lucia. "What you doing here!?" he demanded, violently shaking her.

"I'm....out looking for an elysian ship, I was hoping to switch sides." She said.
"Is not good idea. Elysians going to lose soon." the troll in black said.
~dammit.~ Riyon swore in his mind...to survive this he'd have to spill the truth..
"We should not let traitor neko live." the WickedArms troll said. The secret was not meant to get out.

~But do I dare risk it?~ He thought. Lucia sighed. "ok, ok I'm out here to gain some information on elysian technology."

"Under orders from Taisho Jadg Wolf." She added.

"She insane." the WickedArms troll declared. "We should kill."

"I can prove it." She said desperately. "Contact him, he'll verify my claim."

"Just say you're a privately own scrap ship and you found my destroyed fighter." She amended hastily.

"Up yours, this ship is unregistered raider ship. They probably think we from some Nepleslian crime fleet."

"Then let me talk to him." She said.

"CAPTAIN!" a huge, booming voice came over the intercom. "Elysian ship approaches!"
~This isn't good."~ Riyon thought

"What they doing here!" the troll in black said. he went back through the doorway and up a stairwell.

Lucia struggled to get free of the captain's hand as he drug.

"hey, let go of me. ow!" She said.

She was dragged all the way to the bridge. There was an Elysian on the screen. "What you want." the troll demanded.

"We're taking control of this asteroid field for our manufacturing needs. You need to leave or be destroyed." The archangel said.

"You said this was free space. You can kiss big mouldy troll ass!" the captain retorted.

"What!?" the high-class archangel captain was shocked. "Why, you disgusting heathen!"
Lucia thought for a minute on how to get free of the troll's grasp. She grinned and literally slipped his grasp via an oil-like secretion and stood up behind him and cloaked. Then shifted forms to Magnus and appeared. "Sir." He said in a crisp voice, talking to the archangel, then in a low tone. "just go along with it. he told the troll in front of him. "I have to get to that ship." he whispered in a low tone.

The troll smeared the oil all over Magnus' back. "Eww."

"What the? What's an Elysian doing on that garbage heap?"

"They found my wrecked fighter and captured me." Magnus said.

"NO! We not capture. Just taking care of her for you!" the troll captain tried to explain.

"I see." the Elysian captain said incredulously.

"I have no arms and no means of escape." He said in a smoothing tone of voice. Magnus pulled a small tranquilizer gun from a pocket and pressed it up against the troll's neck and pulled the trigger, shooting the troll full of powerful sedatives.

The WickedArms troll saw the move. "ARGH" He was right behind the pair and fired his chaingun straight at the back of Magnus's head.

Magnus quickly ducked to let the captain take the shot and fired another tranq at the WA troll.

The troll's armor totally covered the giant, and he was totally unaffected by the shot. All hell broke loose. The troll bridge crew whipped out guns and turned around as the troll's gun shot up the screen where the Elysian's face had been.

Magnus cloaked and ran off after dropping a few... grenades on the bridge and grinned as the sleep gas poison bombs went off on the bridge where he stood.

The troll didn't follow him immediately because he stopped to put a mask on the captain. Only a few seconds behind, the armored troll chased after Magnus, only to find that he wasn't anywhere to be found. "We should have killed." he said to himself. Meanwhile, the Elysian ship's main gun charged up. The bridge crew of the salvage ship were too busy with their gas masks to put up the shields.

Magnus looked for a communications console to contact the Elysian ship…There were no panels in the hall. Everything was on the bridge, it seemed.

Magnus strode through the halls quickly, looking for an armory of sorts.

He felt his leg and felt the old desert eagle type pistol...perhaps it would work against the trolls.

The Elysian ship fired, disintegrating the helpless salvage ship and everything onboard. There was a brilliant white light as world ended for Riyon.


Great Crimson Fleet
10/17/03 16:23

The Redemption of the Imperial Legacy Is At Hand... 

System: Tau Ceti – Perimeter Defense Zone: Red

Tau Ceti was an old bird that simply would not die. The red giant had existed for hundreds of millions of years in its present state, almost all of its hydrogen fuel fused into helium. As a result, the red giant burned much more coolly and had a mass nearly one-hundred times that of Sol. It was truly a sight to behold. The Tau Ceti system was theorized to have nearly seventeen planets before the star made its transformation. Six of those planets had been vaporized, leaving eleven planets and twenty some odd smaller terrestrial bodies in the system.

The friendliest planet in the system was the fifth planet, Tau Ceti V, which was mostly a rocky, mountainous world with substantial underground water supplies. Its atmosphere was composed primarily of carbon dioxide and nitrogen with enough oxygen to sustain the large population of Jaaq’tah citizens.

The Jaaq’tah was a rugged race of reptiles, amphibians, and other assorted races with similar genetic traits. The Draconian League’s records stated that the Jaaq’tah had originally been a single race on the planet of Sssla before interstellar travel was discovered. As the Jaaq’tah race migrated to different worlds, their genetic code began to mutate rapidly so colonists could adapt to their worlds. Initially, the ruling reptilian clans on Sssla saw this as an abomination but eventually saw it as a symbol of their race’s inherent superiority. Instead of persecuting the mutated segments of their population, the Jaaq’tah Emperor pushed for solidarity amongst all members of his race. From that day forward, they became known as the Jaaq’tah Imperial Alliance. 

As time passed on and genetic engineering technologies were perfected, each of the clans began to become highly specialized. The original reptilian strain began to resemble what Humans would call dragons. The Dragon Clans were the aristocratic ruler class and were considered the elites.

Clan Chameleon was the next highest order of Jaaq’tah. The Chameleons were the ever-present internal security forces and intelligence forces of the Jaaq’tah. Their ability to blend in with their surroundings over time developed into the ability to polymorph into any humanoid creature, which made them ideal spies.

Clans Alligator and Frog were the middle class groups, forming the mainstay of the Jaaq’tah Alliance’s population. Alligator was well known for their incredible physical prowess and entire legions of these elite shock troops were deployed in conflicts where they fought with a tenacity that could only be surpassed by the Gr’andal. Clan Frog, on the other hand, wasn’t as physically capable as their Alligator cousins, but they were known for their unparalleled ability on aquatic worlds and their exceptional agility. 

Clans Salamander and Serpent were the lowest classes and they formed the mainstay of civilian society. Clan Salamander consisted of those who could survive on inferno-type worlds with great ease and had a moderate degree of psionic power – specifically powers that dealt with the manipulation and creation of heat energy. Clan Serpent consisted of those who were masterful scientists and engineers. Some elements of Clan Serpent had even forgone their biological bodies in favor of full cybernetics, which had brought a computer-based revolution into the Jaaq’tah Alliance.

And together, these clans lived in perfect harmony, each devoted to the task of spreading what they perceived as the true will of their Draconian creators. The traitors that now occupied the hallowed halls of the Draconian Senate, having stolen the mantle that rightly belonged to the Jaaq’tah Emperor.

But soon they would take it – by force if necessary.

*        *        *

The Jaaq’tah Alliance was ready. 

The one thing the Jaaq’tah had on their side was the ability to amass a tremendous number of forces in a very short amount of time. Tau Ceti was a system that was important to both sides because it provided the jump node nexus that allowed access to the core worlds of the Jaaq’tah Alliance. If the war was to be won by the Draconian Alliance, they would have to take this system and hold it.

The strategy of the Jaaq’tah Alliance was simple: Tau Ceti would not fall under any circumstances.

The numbers of Jaaq’tah forces in this system were simply staggering. DAAF sensor probes were literally overwhelmed as they projected an estimated defensive fleet in excess of one hundred thousand warships in system. Jaaq’tah ground and aerospace forces stationed on planets, moons, and star fortresses were estimated to be in the hundreds of millions. The battle that was about to take place in this system would make the Battle of Ursa Prime seems like a Sunday skirmish by comparison. 

Space would turn red with blood; Human blood if the Jaaq’tah Alliance had their way.

An intricate array of defenses lay in wait for any enemy fleet that would dare come their way. Most were obvious in the form of planetary defense batteries and missile bases, but others were intricately hidden in the vast depths of space, waiting to spring their deadly traps upon an unsuspecting enemy.

The Admiral of the reconstituted Great Crimson Fleet, Ta’rak H’vei, stood onboard the mammoth Slaakanesh command vessel waiting solemnly for the allied assault to come. He would redeem his unit’s prestigious heritage which had been tarnished two Earth decades ago. He would crush the enemy here and ride the tide of victory all the way to Sol. It was the only acceptable outcome. Victory or death. Those were the only options.


Lavinia Taiensho
10/18/03 16:12

[GSS Seigi] Annoyance... then recollection 

Ritsu was highly annoyed by Uso's order to stay in the dining hall while she went out to have some fun, but it was his fault in the end seeing as he had suggested that she go down there. He sighed loudly and lay back in his chair, bracing against the table to hold his balance. 

Ritsurin sat there looking at the ceiling, and began to think about some of the things he'd heard since he was "born". The most troubling recollection was one about him doing something to another tech named Hikari... something about fire and burning. He simply could not put his finger on what Juni Acara was speaking about, and it was becoming more and more frustrating the more he thought about it and tried to sort it out.

~He, she, it said that I had done something to Hikari, but I don't know what he's talking about for the life of me... it's troubling to know I did something that I have no memory of...~ Ritsu thought silently as time passed as it always did.

Meanwhile

Lavinia disconnected herself from the Seigi's central controls and sat in her plush seat for a moment, thinking about what was going to happen next. 

~ Ok, we are in orbit around Nepleslia, what do we do now?~ She wondered as she stretched. ~And what's this about a potluck? What in the universe is that?~ Lavinia wondered as the thoughts crept into her mind.

Lav swivelled around in her seat and stood up, stretching the kinks out of her legs and looked around. "Now where did that little bugger run off to now?" She wondered to herself, noticing that Siaga was no longer on the bridge and probably was out sniffing around in the manner of all canines. Lavinia shrugged nonchalantly and strode out the door of the bridge and looked around, hoping to see the puppy come running up, but to no avail. Due to the close bond they shared, Lavinia picked up on Ritsu's thoughts and went into the galley to see what was up. 

"Hello." She smiled at him cheerily, but the smile faded quickly as she noticed the haunted expression on his face. Lavinia walked up behind him and hugged him over the shoulders gently and kissed his cheek, trying to get him to lighten up some. "Hey, what's wrong?" The green-haired neko asked, concerned.

Ritsurin snapped out of his thoughtful trance as he felt her touch, and her kiss. "Oh... nothing, I'm just bored. Uso ordered me to stay here and cook while she goes out and has fun." He said ruefully.

"Well, that happens I suppose." Lavinia said with a decidedly feminine sigh. "Hmmm..." she pursed her lips in thought. "What was on your mind?" She asked finally, her curiosity getting the best of her.

"Hmm" He groaned inwardly. "I was thinking about something Juni Acara told me...something about hurting another crewmember...the strange thing is: I have no recollection of said event." He said in a tone revealing how frustrated it was becoming. 

"Oh...well I don't really know what to tell you, I haven't heard anything along those lines. I'm sorry." Lavinia said in a sincere voice.

He turned in his seat, sitting abreast to it, looking at her...or more likely looking her over, he had always been turned on by slender nekos, then again all of them were so he had to find another reason to be, especially with Lav. She blushed a delicate pink when she noticed that he had gotten a glimpse of her cleavage via a slightly opened zipper, not enough to let them out, but enough to show an embarrassing amount. Lav quickly turned her back and zipped up the offending zipper having a bit of trouble because the uniform was formfitting and tight, and she sometimes unzipped it on her own without knowing and turned back around, still a bit pink. She laughed ruefully, trying to cover her embarrassment.

But it dawned on her that she had no real reason to be this way, they were alone and she loved him and didn't really mind if he saw her like that. "Well I hope you got your excitement for the day." She chuckled.

"By seeing your open zipper? Nah, if I wanted excitement..." he said standing up and walking over to her. "You would notice it" He said as he hugged her gently and copped a feel on her firm rear. He chuckled and gave her one good squeeze then let go and backed off. 

These actions of course brought a rosy pink flush to Lavinia's cheeks, she liked it when he gave her that kind of attention, but not so openly. "Ritsu... come on grow up a bit...we don't know if the Seigi is watching us." She said with an embarrassed schoolgirl tone.

Ritsurin did nothing but smile openly at her blushing, holding back a laugh at her. 

"How would you like it if I did that to you in public?" She said indignity. 

"I wouldn't mind in the least." Ritsu blatantly lied.

"Oh yes you would" Lav giggled.

Ritsurin shook his head, laughing and went back to his seat and took a long draw from the energy drink. Lavinia walked over and sat on his lap and hugged him gently and nestled into his warm uniform. "Do you mind if I nap here?" She asked. "I haven't gotten any sleep at all in days." 

"I don't mind at all Juni Taiensho." He said with a suppressed laugh at her rank. Lavinia giggled once and sat there for a while before falling asleep.

Ritsurin looked down at her and smiled, she was so cute when she did this. He gently stroked her hair and caressed her back lovingly, eliciting a happy purr from the sleeping neko.


Alexis Jaren
10/19/03 0:23

[GSS Seigi] PR for a Potluck 

ON>GSS Seigi

It had been a couple hours since he had helped Ms. Yuuko, Kai was sitting in his office preparing a message to request information from SAINT on the events on Nepleslia. He thoughtfully stroked his chin, thinking about what the best way to word it would be. Kai sighed and fed a bit of "food" to his whip, triggering it's usual transformation. Kai grinned a bit and send off a message: "This is Taii Ashigari aboard the Seigi, I am requesting current information on the events taking place on Nepleslia. It is of importance to have the information." He stood up and inhaled deeply, taking in the fresh scent of roses in bloom. The smell always relieved his stress and reminded him of his homeship. Kai was always alert to the thought patterns of the crew and sensed a presence coming his way, he sat behind his desk expecting this individual to enter.

Alexis stood just outside the bridge, wondering how to begin a potluck. The best way would be to start inviting people, he thought. Hmm...Alexis pulled a couple sheets of paper out of his pocket and smiled. A minute later he had taped fliers up and down the main hallway of the Seigi. If the computer didn't want them there, it could take them down itself...They all had the following: "ALL CREW DINNER. Time: 1800hrs Place: Main Shuttlebay Additional information: Each crewmember is encouraged to bring their own favorite dish. Doesn't matter if it's breakfast, lunch or dinner dish, feel free to experiment! RSVP with Wazu via the Seigi computer. Additional Note: No, Uso, you don't have to cook for this. Not that you do any cooking anyway..."

Kai relaxed, apparently the person wasn't coming to see him and stood up and exited the office and noticed the fliers and chuckled a bit. "A potluck hmm?" He mused.

The shifter looked back down the hall and grinned. "Genius!" he murmured to himself, then proceeded to spread the flyers on the second deck's main hallway, then the side halls, then returned to the main deck and did those side halls.

Kai noticed the person putting up the flyers. He grinned and approached the person. "Excuse me...but what are you doing?" He asked politely.

Alexis left one for himself, re-reading the information as he headed back toward the bridge. A picture of a copper cauldron with a steaming soup and several dishes around its base was also on the flyer. Kai woke him from his planning. "Huhwha? Oh, I'm reading the flyer."

His eyes widened slightly as he noticed the rank pin. He immediately saluted "Please excuse me Taisa Jaren." He said. Kai had seen the shifter on the bridge before and recognized him. His expression was one of curiosity, as he turned to read the flier. "You're the one organizing this?" He smiled.

"It's alright," Alexis smiled. "At ease, Taii." He shrugged. "Sort of...not that there's much planning to do. Half of it depends on who shows up."

Kai looked at him bemused. "It's been a long time since I've been to a potluck, would you be so kind as to refresh my memory of what one does during one?" He asked.

The shifter pointed to a line on the flyer. "You bring your own food, in a bulk form. Oh, right. Forgot to add that the dish was supposed to be big enough to feed at least twenty to thirty others. I'll have to go back around and fix that," he muttered, half to himself. Abruptly Alexis looked back up at Kai. "I don't believe we've formally met...M'name's Alexis...though you already knew that..." he trailed off, remembering that the Taii had called him by name when they first ran into each other.

Kai shook his head a bit and extended his hand to shake. "I'm Kai." He said pleasantly.

Alexis took the offered hand and gave it a firm shake. "Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Kai," he replied with a smile.

Kai released Alexis's hand after a firm shake. "Food for thirty eh? I believe I can handle that, but shouldn't something like that be organized and carried out in the dining hall where there's more room for everyone?" He asked, thinking he had a point.

He thought a while. The Seigi had a crew of at least 155 right now...assuming two-thirds of those brought food, that'd leave fifty-two who wouldn't eat if only one serving was brought. "Maybe just enough for ten, then. This is supposed to be a casual event...Dining hall? We have one of those?" Alexis shook his head after a thought. "I don't know if that place could hold the entire crew at once."

Kai laughed good naturedly. "Of course we have one it's the room to the south of my office, or north of the bridge." He chortled lightly. 

Alexis frowned. "Oh. I was wondering what that big room was for. It's right next door to my quarters." Then he shrugged. "I'll check with Wazu, see if everyone will fit. If so, I have a lot of flyers to change." Sighing, he nodded to Kai. "As for the cooking, we could have them place orders through Seigi and the food replicated...Hey, there's an idea! That way, no one will have to plan for a set amount of people, we can just synth or cook a dish as it is needed. Interesting. An attendee-made menu."

Kai nodded approvingly. "That sounds like a productive idea. But I'd prefer to cook my own, there's something special about homecooking." He said, his emerald green eyes going distant for a moment.

"I'll be sure to leave that option open," Alexis said. "If you make something too good, though, you might not have time to eat yourself. Or just make sure it's labelled 'limited edition' on the menu."

"That's fine by me, it's good to see other people enjoying something I made by hand." He grinned. "Perhaps sweet and sour chicken with a side of low-mein. I know a great many recipes from growing up with a loving mother who liked to cook." He smiled.

Alexis smiled too, then looked down at the paper in his hand. "Well...I guess I'd better get to redoing those flyers," said the shifter, then fingered the one in his hand. "And gotta talk with Wazu about that dining hall thing. Thanks for your help, Kai."

"Mind if I join you?" Kai asked politely. "This sounds interesting."

Thinking it over, he nodded. "First, though, we need to talk to Wazu. I don't want to have to go over these more than once more if I can help it," said Alexis.

"That would be annoying wouldn't it?" Kai grinned.

Alexis nodded, then began walking to the bridge.

Almost fifteen minutes later he and Kai were finished putting up the new fliers. The "crew dinner" was now going to be held in the main dining hall on deck one. There was an option to cook one's own dish, but suggestions for the menu were also to be taken with the RSVP because of limited space in the kitchens. The RSVPs for this informal event (no uniforms required) could now be directed to Alexis as well as Wazu. The date was two days from the current day.


Spacy Fleet Command
10/19/03 16:33

Cutting off the head of the serpent 

...Beginning Secured Transmission...
OPERATIONAL DEFENSE INTEGRATED NETWORK V6.1 SIGMA
Transmission SENT!!!!!

To: STARCOM (Star Army Command)
FROM: "ROMEO-CHARLIE"
SUBJECT: "DELTA-SIERRA-ROMEO"

As you are well aware, the operation in Tau Ceti is of utmost importance. There are several key targets in systems that need to be wiped out before allied forces can begin their assault.

***BEGIN MISSION PROFILE***

Tau Ceti V is the most heavily fortified planet in the system. Intelligence has given us information that the Jaaq'tah's new highly-advanced BEHOLDER MARK XXX command station is located here. The capabilities of this command station are extensive and we believe that the enemy intends on using this station to coordinate all defensive operations in the upcoming battle. Disabling this station will greatly hinder enemy efforts to coordinate their forces when the attack begins.

The new station is heavily guarded by a large contingent of light Jaaq'tah vessels, but is vulnerable to a measured precision strike -- which your forces excel in. We believe that a small raiding squadron can break through Jaaq'tah defenses and launch a quick, devastating attack on the station. This is one of many pre-strike missions our forces are conducting before the invasion begins. We trust you can accomplish this mission in a timely manner.

- "ROMEO-CHARLIE"


Kitsurugi Yui
10/20/03 21:43

[Tau Ceti Task Force] Learning Experience 

The Beholder Marx XXX Command Station resembled a large hourglass in some respects, being some five kilometres in overall height, though the ends of the station were broadened while the centerpiece was something like 175 meters in diameter. While certainly massive, it looked rather benign in appearance, with the standard complement of defensive turrets mounted on its hull, but none of the ship-busting cannons of the vessels that were tasked to her defense. The station was equipped with the best command, control, and communications systems available to the Jaaq'tah Alliance, which gave the Great Crimson Fleet near unparalleled capability to coordinate its defenses when the Draconian Alliance's assault came.

Vaishan and Nerimian Central Intelligence spies estimated that the Beholder system was even more powerful than the NDI's awe-inspiring DEIMOS and DEUS systems, which were quite extensive in their capabilities. With the Jaaq'tah in possession of such a powerful C3i system, it would act as a force multiplier that the allies could not allow to be put in place.

So this is where the GSA comes in. Their advanced array of sensors would note some 350 vessels in relatively close proximity to the station (25,000 km or so), most of them of the Kranhkt destroyer classification (official NDI nomenclature is the Executioner). There were a few Sche-Ki (Black Death) missile frigates, and a couple of Durash dreadnoughts for good measure. With a healthy array of firepower at their disposal, a pitched battle with them wasn't in the GSA's best interest. This is why this was a raiding mission.

The 5th and 6th Fleets were cloaked and prepositioned at the edge of the system. As the operation commenced, the majority of the 1st Expeditionary Fleet Transuniversally teleported into Tau Ceti. The Fleet stayed cloaked as well. Yui's fleet was there to watch and make sure Wolf and her daughter didn't get into trouble. The Taisho sent a very short encoded subspace message to the Nerimians, "Have you ever heard the expression, ‘you get what you pay for?’ This is the last time you pay poorly for good services." To her fleets, she sent another message. "Destroy station. Avoid prolonged combat. 1XF will distract if needed."

The Beholder Command Station suddenly detected multiple disturbances of the fabric of space-time as multiple ships transitioned into the systems. The system of remote early-warning sensors on the edge of the system relayed this information to the command station via high-speed tachyonic communications, which processed the data and put it in a form the station's commander could understand. With the early-warning sensors breached, other sensors equipped with hyperwave, subspace mass, and zero-point field arrays began to sweep the area in question, but could find little, if any trace of any foreign vessel. Nevertheless, the Jaaq'tah knew something was wrong. Forces throughout the systems went to their highest state of readiness, prepared to intercept an allied fleet moving to attack them.
"SAINT-6, probing station shields and armor." Chujo Kitsurugi Sharie of Phantom Regiment announced to Chujo Alexis Jaren, who was acting commander of Shadow Regiment. The RDD sensors locked on to a chunk of the station's hull from 5 Astronomical Units away. It was close enough for the latest Yui recon-Scout to see gluons. Ghost Regiment was assigned to watch the Jaaq'tah ships, and reported the movement. "Looks like mom got their attention." At 50 AU out, the 1st XF had some time to scoot out of the way while the enemy investigated. "Silent running."

"All Shadow-group ships cloaked and under silent running," reported the Shadow-00 Megami. Alexis sat at the Ops station, calming himself for the impending raid. He had convinced the computer to allow him to directly interface, much like the Seigi systems only wireless, and ran the data as an overlay on his normal vision field. "Alright, everyone to stations! We've got the signal to go." Everyone double-checked their stations. A pilot hooked herself up in the pit, and Alexis felt her presence emerge in the computer system as the connection was made, followed by nine other signals as the other Shadow-regiment pilots engaged their links. Everything was prepared. 

Roving patrols of Executioner destroyers probed the emptiness of space with high-powered beams of hyperwave radar energy in an attempt to actively root out the invaders. This of course lit them up like a veritable beacon to the GSA vessels, but that's what they wanted in a sense of the word. Not only did it let the enemy know that they knew they were there.....somewhere, but if the enemy was foolish and decided to attack, it would allow the rest of the Great Crimson Fleet to move in and strike with overwhelming force. That was the beauty of space. One was relatively hidden until he did something to give himself and his position away.

The 1st XF sat dreadfully quiet, ships with shields off, stealth on, and emitting no distortions or energy. This was a time to lay low. The TTD systems of GSA starships were good at disappearing acts, but historically made a big show of energy when entering a universe. This time had been no exception. Yui paced the spacious bridge of the Yuumi-class battleship Empire, taking in all the holographic battle data that floated around the place. Meanwhile, her daughter's ships continued to scan the station to find out just how much the shields and armor could take.

"What d'we got?" Wolf had just stepped on to the bridge and going between bridge crew, hunting for information. "Get in touch with Alexis, tell him we need to get in position. Right now, working plan is GWB. Ask him how many he has." The communications officer sent the encoded short message : "Plan, grand white. How many can you lend?"

The station was heavily armored -- much like a capital ship would be. It could take quite a beating from the traditional array of anti-warship weaponry, but the simple shape of its construction would no doubt point out several structural weak points to the MEGAMI computers onboard the GSA vessels. Shielding systems were considerably more powerful than the systems on most Jaaq'tah and even Draconian League vessels. It would take several shots to break the shield integrity, in which case they would have roughly 25 seconds before the shields regenerated their strength.

"Ten" came the equally short reply.

"At 5 AU out, it will take a beam around 45 minutes to hit them. We've got to move in closer. The ships are being led way out looking for the XF. Other ship may be cloaked. I will ask SAINT-XF to scan for additional hostiles," Sharie replied via a transphased tight-beam laser transmission. It would not be good to be overheard.

Wolf's exact words this time: "We're moving in. Go in slow enough so that we could form anti-starship variables by the time we get there. Start forming them now, all move out. If they find us somehow, utilize TTD or whatever available to get in front of that damned thing and hit it with all you got for as long as you can. If you're damaged, move to the back. Keep scanning." 

The problem with the hyperwave radar was that unless you knew a general direction of where your target was at, it was very hard to find him using the otherwise powerful sensor array. The search volumes were simply so big that it could literally take an Earth-standard day to find what you were looking for -- assuming it remained in that general area while you were looking for it. A ship could stay hidden in space even without a wide array of specialized cloaking systems simply by running silent (much like a submarine) and not giving out much EMR for other sensors to pick up.

"Wolf, can you take some of your ships and move in to ten million miles? That's about a minute of target time. Stations are easy targets." Yui asked, just as his ships began moving. "Thank you," she smiled, her eyes on the holographic icons of 5th Fleet. She switched over to contacting 6th Fleet again. "Sharie-chan, where is that sensor data? You have thirty Recon-Scouts at your disposal." the mother chided. Meanwhile, the Recon-Scout destroyers in Yui's fleet were using a wide-area RDD scan to search for cloaked vessels. Anything over 45,000 kilos within 500 billion miles was fair game.

There were a large contingent of vessels along the pathway to the station that were running in passive mode, using their passive sensors to try and pick up anything the GSA vessels gave off. RDD scans would pick up the ships laying dormant, almost as if their ships weren't even active. These ships, however, were waiting to spring into action once they got a bead on their targets.

"Too bad we don't have any active Ender-class Destroyers" Yui frowned. The Enders were valuable indirect fire ships--they used teleportation-based main guns, which could deliver a payload right on top of (if not inside) the target. Unfortunately, nearly all of them were destroyed in the last large battle with the Elysian Celestial Navy. Taisho Yui sent a quick transmission to Taisho Wolf, "Are you going to need some distraction?"

"Yeah, we'll take all we got and move in to ten million as quick as we can. Try and hit a ship or two, you know, draw them to you. We'll move in and hit them while they're going to you. They probably won't move so many ships toward you anyway but we can at least make it a bit easier to get close enough." The ships had been and still were going a bit slow, but they would pick up the pace when the weapons had formed and some of the enemy ships had moved out of the way. The variable weapons were a few minutes into forming…

Sharie quipped, "Three fleets is serious overkill. We've never used three entire fleets together before. We could take these forces with ease." Yui, listening, came back immediately. "At what cost? We won't waist our resources." The Sixth Fleet began charging their CDD drives and revving up. Sharie's Intel officer reported to her counterpart on the Kiyomizudera (Wolf's Ship). "Weak points transmitted to you. Center portion, hardpoint lines of the frame leading out from center. Armor composed of a new substance, not previously encountered. Analysis suggests it may be stronger than NDI heavy armor found on fourth and possibly fifth generation vessels."

Phased Pulse Sensors began to report back data to the Beholder command station, which then began to filter information rapidly back through the Jaaq'tah integrated combat network. The hyperwave radar transmissions suddenly began to cease and energy levels throughout the spectrum of Jaaq'tah vessels began to fade into the background of space as EMS was constantly downshifted to match the background radiation of space.

The intelligence officer of the Kiyomizudera came forward to Wolf. "Best point of attack is probably the center. New armor, nothing we've seen before. Could be more powerful than NDI vessels." She nodded and returned to her station. Wolf sent another message "We'll go in at .05 of light and position to hit the center of the station once you got them." A bridge officer spoke out, "We've lost them on all but RDD. They may know we're here." Wolf obviously didn't care. "So what, they disappeared? Coming in would've made them suspicious, don't worry about it."

Suddenly, a massive bright-white beam hit a Durash right in the command tower. A furious little explosion appeared where the five-foot-wide all-destructive beam had been, moving down into the ship itself as the beam went through its five-second firing cycle. The attacking Yui, Dragon Zero Four (GD-216) glided softly away as the beam spat out of its shield bubble, and disappeared again.
They would see the dreadnought become engulfed with the energy from the GWB, almost disappearing in the blast, but after the firing cycle was over, the dreadnought emerged from the blast largely unscathed, the repulsor shields keeping a great deal of the energy from the hull while the armor was able to weather the remainder of the energy bleed-off. The entire front of the Durash and its sister vessel suddenly began to glow with an orange-yellow light before the GSA vessels felt multiple pings from phased pulse sensors from remote drones scattered throughout space, illuminating their positions. Two mammoth phased particle blasts several hundred thousand kilometers in diameter tore through the fabric of space, trying to flood the area where Dragon Zero Four was with destructive energy.

Meanwhile over Nepleslia the GSS Seigi had just received a fresh compliment of Minion's from the Genesis. It took moments for the craft to finish attaching themselves to the outer hull. Wazu walked back onto the bridge and sat down in his command chair, letting Seigi attach herself to the data ports in his shoulders. He then asked the computer a single question out of curiosity, "Where did the 6th fleet go?"... A few minuets later the Seigi TTDed in several light years outside of the Tau Ceti system putting the conflict just on the edge of their sensors. It took only four seconds for an entire Samurai Squadron and all of the Minion's to launch and take up a defensive formation around the ship while additional fighter wings were launched and turrets deployed. Wazu didn't bother sending a

Message to the fleet knowing that they were clearly visible on any Yui class’s sensors. Hopefully they would be kind enough to point out targets.
"Shock and Awe." Yui yelled out, drawing her sword. At nearly the opposite direction the initial attack had come from, the entirety of the 1st Expeditionary Fleet began pummelling the Jaaq'tah from behind for a full ten seconds. With a flash, they dispersed in a maelstrom of spatial distortion, using their CDD engines to carry them out of the way of the anticipated return fire.

Phantom Regiment took off, decloaking. At two thousand times the speed of light, it took a tiny fraction of a second before dozens and dozens of shield-penetrating Zero-Point torpedoes encountered the station. "AH!!" Sharie shrieked as the ships were flung wildly off-course by the tear in space that Wazu had opened. The first volley of torpedoes TOTALLY missed the space station.

The Kiyomizudera sent a message to the Kitamura, another Yui-class. "SDD, go above the station and when you get close hit the center with the GWB, get extremely close though, we need to know if it'll work on the station. After you pass, CDD towards the Sixth Fleet for cover, but watch for fire because after that stunt I wouldn't be surprised if they end up hitting you themselves." Wolf said to the comms, "Get in touch with him, ask him what the hell he's doing, please."

The Shadow Regiment followed Phantom's lead. "Firing torpedoes." The torpedoes were adjusted for the disturbance so most of the second volley was unaffected, and the vollies were arranged in a ring aimed toward the center of the station. ~The Seigi's here?~ thought Alexis as he suddenly picked up a large mass of fighters and a ISFB on sensors.

The Jaaq'tah war machine came alive with the first shots fired and the general alarm was sounded throughout the sector for all vessels to prepare for combat. Now the GSA would see the brilliance of the Jaaq'tah as in the path of the 1st Expeditionary Fleet came upon a wormhole opening in front of them revealing a literal wolfpack of Kranhkt destroyers volleying multiple particle blasts directly into their path. There was a two second delay between the time the 1st XF appeared and the wormhole was opened, but the Beholder command station was just warming up. It's reaction times next time would be much faster.

The Seigi was another issue as multiple Omino drones generated wormholes for more Jaaq'tah vessels to come into play. A multitude of Jaaq'tah vessels ranging from destroyers to cruisers descended upon the Seigi unleashing every weapon at their disposal upon the GSA vessel in an attempt to wipe it out in one grand, simultaneous instant. Secondary blasts streaked outward towards the Minion corvettes in an attempt to destroy the smaller vessels as well.

As torpedoes streaked towards the targeted Beholder command station, multiple rings of anti-matter explosions consumed the missiles in a spectacular manner, the resulting gamma ray burst creating a dramatic EMS spike. Sche-ki missile frigates moved into position around the station, launching multiple Hermes drones into the fray.

"What the hell is Chujo Wazu doing here?" Yui asked, watching her daughter end up a light-month away from the battle; fleets were tripping over each other. She sent out a message to the Seigi and all other GSA vessels "Use shield-penetrating weapons to attack. They use distortion shields similar to ours. Keep moving at high speeds to avoid fire. These opponents are probably not experienced in FTL warfare." The assumption was based on the fact that everyone in the NDI and their area preferred Hyperspace travel. At high enough speeds (and this was Sharie's idea), the Jaaq'tah could not track the GSA ships and fire on them because they were out of range too fast. Sixth Fleet turned around, and prepared for another torpedo dash at two thousand times light speed.

The Krankts, in showing up in front of the 1st Expeditionary Fleet, had done the worst thing they could possibly have done: putting themselves in front of the business end of two Yuumi-class battleships. The Legacy Cannons fired at the behest of the MEGAMI computer, strategically combined to destroy every single speck of matter in an area 80 miles wide, creating a rift in space that not only ripped apart the wormhole, but devolved into a colossal suction of gravity that was pulling on every ship with a time/space anchor within 200,000 miles. The 1st XF split into regiments and spread out in different directions.

Wazu had no intention of letting the Seigi be destroyed so quickly and simply TTDed the ship away, letting it simply disappear then reappear exactly one light-year directly behind where it was earlier then started to use its own CDD in a attempt to evade fire at high speeds long enough to recharge and fire again. The new Minion’s with CDD’s of their own started making runs on the worm hole openings slowing down for only a brief few seconds to fire their GWB’s at the Omino drones and wormhole openings before moving off at full speed again. The nine slower Minion’s had a much harder time, they stayed close to the tear in space, putting it between most of the Jaaq'tah and them while doing their best to evade incoming fire. Three of the small ships were vaporized in the first Jaaq'tah volley

Following the rest of the fleet, the Shadow Regiment began adjusting the variable weaponry. Under Alexis' direction, they split into two groups of five, positioning one behind and slightly above the other with weapons set to fire transphasic beams and act as cover fire as the other, including Shadow 00, reset to fire transplanar phase pulses. All ten ships fired GWBs into the incoming drone clouds with multiple-beam spreads, each a thin, piercing white lance of annihilation.

"Spread out. Approach from all directions and at different distances fire at the center with whatever you can." The Kitamura had seemed to go unnoticed, and at a healthy distance away fired it Grand White Beam cannon directly at the center of the Beholder station. Normally it could destroy anything, but this station could and most probably was just as strong as its protectors were. While firing the GWB, the lower hull variable weapons, 12 in total, also fired the transphasic beams formed a short while ago at the center. As it passed it increased it's already nice speed to the max in an attempt to get away as soon as possible but still unload.

The other Fifth Fleet ships started moving toward the station, firing their GWB's at different locations, but mostly close to the center. The smaller carriers and fighters formed what little of a defensive formation they could with the fleet spreading out.

The Beholder watched as the Yuumi battleships launched their Legacy Cannons and readjusted fleet resources to take care of those pertinent threats. As the destroyer squadron fired wildly to try and take out elements of the 1st XF, a series of subspace ripping detonations suddenly erupted around the Yuumi battleship, Empire, the detonations capable of blasting through the distortion fields of the battleship and dealing direct damage to the Impervium-based hull. 
The detonations were the byproduct of multiple tandem-detonated Aether torpedoes launched to their positions by wormholes generated by Omino drones (which were scattered throughout the system by the hundreds of thousands) and Durash dreadnoughts. Secondary wormholes opened up seconds later as a Lochta cruiser squadron emerged surrounding the vessel and opening up with heavy particle beams.

The Jaaq'tah kept up their attrition of the Minion corvettes, sweeping down on each individual corvette by the dozens as they slowed down, meeting GWB fire with their own phased particle blasts. The GWBs were powerful in their own right, but there wasn't enough destructive power to go around in proportion to the firepower the Jaaq'tah held at their disposal. 

Shadow Regiment was starting to become a problem, but multiple wormholes opened up as thousands upon thousands of Parasite drones began to flood out into space, accelerating to speeds approaching .775c, putting themselves at a time on target on the various vessels at just 1.25 seconds. The Parasites would try to penetrate the hulls of the Yui scout destroyers and lay siege to the electronic components of the vessels, eventually hoping to bring them under the control of the Parasite drones.

The Kitamura was besieged with volley after volley of particle cannon fire as it launched its attack against the Beholder command station. Lochta cruisers launched aether torpedoes at the vessel, which detonated long before impact, but the aetheric detonation would send a devastating shockwave through space and subspace that would rend through the distortion field of the vessel.

"KAMI," Yui addressed the Empire's computer system. "Why did your weapons array not intercept the torpedoes?" The male voice answered, "Unexpected delivery method. The problem has been addressed." Outside, the Empire was pummelled by the cruisers which surrounded it. The GSS Empire bumped into one as it attempted to get clear of them, using its speed advantage. The particle beams had minimal effect on the Impervium armor, but tore up everything that wasn't covered by it. Sensors, armor generators, shuttlebay doors, and exposed parts of the drive system took significant damage. The Empire's sister ship spiked the cruiser in front of it. As the battleship's awesomely powerful FDS shield extended, it punched in the Jaaq'tah ship's nose.

The shielding systems of the Beholder station rippled as the GWB fire struck it, but the station was still at one hundred percent integrity. If the GSA wanted to accomplish their mission, they would have to bring to bear the bulk of their firepower rather quickly, because the longer this lasted, the more it favored the Jaaq'tah.

Re-dividing into five two-ship pairs, each using the same cover-fire/attacker formation, the Shadow Regiment broke off from the rest of the 6th fleet and began firing on the Omino drones. Goal: Total extermination of the wormhole-making pests. "Remain in your pairs and take out those drones before they can bring in any more reinforcements," said Alexis. "But be careful, don't take any unnecessary risks, we need every ship operational to win this."
The craft moved in on their prey at high speed, all constantly moving to make hard targets.

The Omino drones began to shift their movement, moving like a rabid beehive. The combination of very small, very mobile targets would make the job of the Shadow Regiment very hard especially given that the regiment was under continual attrition by the Jaaq'tah's fast-moving, blitzkreiging navy. The Beholder station had now broken it down, using complex mathematical computations to anticipate where the targeted vessels would be at any given time. The GSA's speed advantage was slowly eroding with every second that past. Enemy vessels found themselves literally running into the path of aether torpedo explosions and mighty particle blasts as they manoeuvred because of the extraordinary leading efforts of the Jaaq'tah vessels being commanded by the high-tech command station.

Phantom and Ghost Regiment were slathering heaps of shield penetrating-torpedoes and beam fire onto the station's weak spots. Abandoning the drive-by plan for something with faster results, the ships slowed down to a fraction of light speed and did strafing runs on the station. As the GSS Kikyô (the other Yuumi Battleship) turned lazily, bashing and smacking other ships with its huge shield array, its main guns came to bear on the station. The Empire, on the other hand, was busy pouring out turret fire onto its pursuers while the command ships (the Empire's escorts) wailed on the cruisers from behind. The beleaguered GSS Empire was also bringing its main gun to bear on the station. It was, perhaps, what should have been done in the first place.
"Empire to F...." "Taisho, communications are fried."

Wazu watched as two more Minion’s were destroyed, ~Change tactics. Fire your GWB’s while moving away from your target. ~ The Minions waited until they were pulling away from their targets at maximum speed before firing. This allowed them to retain their speed with only a small loss in accuracy. The ships all took their own target, half fired at the drones while the others targeted the wormhole openings by firing into them and while passing by laying anti-mater ribbons along the openings. The Seigi’s gun was now fully charged. Kai quickly scanned the area for the most effective target, ~Seigi target that station.~ The much faster I. S. F. Battleship quickly set itself up on a attack run on the station, ~Fire when they do~ He thought into the machine, wanting to focus the firepower of the 
Fleet

The station's defensive turrets were quick at work, orange beams of particle energy cutting torpedoes out of their flight trajectories before they reached their targets. Beam cannon fire had slowly, but surely began to degrade shield integrity, but the Hermes drones that had been spread into the fray had begun to move into optimal positions. As the Great White Beams lanced towards their targets, their entire discharge were suddenly absorbed by the drones, then re-emitted as multiple destructive blasts back into the GSA naval forces, which were moving much slower than before and making them easier targets. 

The Yui-class scouts weathered the fire. What the shields didn't take, the Impervium hull did. If the drones didn't blow up under the barrage of GWBs and Transphasic pulses, they certainly were diverted or crushed by the Spike and shields of the pairs as they passed through the clouds. Shadow 7 was the first to loose shields, and lost their comm system soon after. But they continued, Shadow 8 covering their back while helping to keep the front cleared out. "Shadow 7, pull out and cover our backs, you'll take less damage there," sent Alexis as he noticed the accumulating damage.

The comm may have been down, but the Megami system hopefully was still up...
More wormholes began to open despite the loss of several dozen Omino PTP drones, putting more targets in front of the Shadow, Phantom, and Ghost regiment who were unleashing wave after wave of destructive ordnance into the enemy forces, hoping to overwhelm them with the sheer ferocity of the attack. Perhaps the assessment that this force would be 'easily defeated' was a large miscalculation. Whatever losses the Jaaq'tah had taken were insignificant given their horde-like numbers. The focus of the Beholder's efforts were the three battle ships Seigi, Empire, and Kikyô as more torpedoes were delivered by wormhole followed by spinal-mounted particle cannons from the larger ships of the Great Crimson Fleet.

"All main guns fire." Ordered Taisa Kessaku Anri, Yui's substitute, from the Intel ship GSS Philosophy. The 5 legacy cannons all let loose their full power on the station. It was overkill, but the GSA needed something decisive.
The lone Yui passing over the Beholder succeeded in bringing it's beam to bear for a few seconds before it was prematurely interrupted. The battered spaceship utilized CDD to get behind the bulk of the Fifth Fleet, but it still took significant damage. The Kitamura sent a short message to Wolf. "We can't do any more. The ships in bad shape, most systems are ceasing function." Wolf shook his head as he watched the Sixth Fleet. They hadn't responded. What the hell was that fuck doing here? "Frontier class vessels, approach the station and wait for my mark to fire DFC. Other vessels guard the Frontiers or just move as fast as you can randomly, still fire. If the TFC's work, we can get outta here, but be ready to fire if we need something else." 

The constant weapons fire had since crippled three Wakizashi and two Yui class. While moving to the back, one of each class was destroyed before they could retreat.
.
Shadow 7 remained where it was, but couldn't keep up and dropped back anyway. Once in the wake of the lead ships, it resumed firing. The extermination wasn't going as well as Alexis had hoped..."Alright, regroup and protect the First Fleet and the Seigi. Kill all enemy vessels if possible; the wormhole drones have priority. All pairs, spread out." Shadow 00 banked off to head back to the main fight, coming in on top of the conflict and mowing a path as it went with the rest of the regiment following. Once they were inside, all fighter pairs split off on their own random attack runs aimed at keeping the First Fleet as free of distractions as possible.

"If anyone from the NDI asks about this battle, tell them only one fleet was here," joked Kitsurugi Sharie, who was trying to keep spirits high in light of the current situation. Half of her ships were towing the flaming, charred hulls of the other half. Her first officer added, "I think we put a dent in the original 350 defensive ships." The Ghost Regiment wasn't in much better shape. Shadow regiment was more seasoned, and was faring better.

The entirety of the command station seemed to bend backwards then go back into its original shape before the center seemed to implode, drawing in the rest of the entire station in a brilliant detonation of energy caused by a variety of reactions that resulted from the command station's destruction. The light was even more blinding than the red light that emitted from the star Tau Ceti for about sixty seconds.

Once the main gun had fired Seigi started to put some distance between the majority of the conflict and itself to once again give it’s main gun time to charge. The Minion’s once again changed tactics. Instead of attacking the wormholes they now started to protect the big guns, focusing their efforts around the two battleships. They sprayed the area with turret and GWB fire trying to knock out as many incoming missiles and ships as possible on their strafing runs.

The Jaaq'tah fleet seemed to go into a rage as they continued the assault upon the GSA vessels. Now there really would be no escape as vessels blazed towards their targets relentlessly, the C3i duties suddenly dropping to the planetary command stations on Tau Ceti V and Tau Ceti VII, which didn't have near the amount of processing of the ill-fated station.

~heh and I was just having fun~ Wazu thought sarcastically as the Seigi began to pick up her fighters. The Minion's unleashed a massive GWB volley into the enemy fleet before moving in close to the Seigi for TTD travel out of the area.

"Shadows 3, 6 and 8 reporting damage to CCD engines, 4 and 7 have lost shields," reported the tactical officer. "We've lost three of our weapon pods." Alexis shook his head. "Everyone gets out, tow the cripple ones. Prepare to TTD back to Geshrin Space." As the Shadow Regiment regrouped over the First Fleet, the damage was evident by the burn marks and sparking engine drives on a third of the ships...but surviving at all was as good as getting out undamaged at that point. The Shadows gathered and all prepared to make the jump outta there as soon as the First was safely out of range...

"Memory has Ghost, Viking has Shadow, Dragon has Phantom. 6th Fleet ships meet with Strike Force Cruisers for TTD piggyback of inoperative towed vessels." The Watchful Eyes regiment disappeared, followed by the 1st XF's command regiment, to include the GSS Empire, which had the appearance of a charcoal nugget in a grill by now. Once the 6th Fleet ships had limped over, the rest of the ships departed. The process of gathering up made easy targets for the Jaaq'tah, and even more ships were taken out as they were pelted by the Jaaq'tah, who appeared to be swarming all around. Finally, the ships made it back to GSA space, where the Capital-Class Infantry Carrier ships were waiting to assist them.

Right now, the Jaaq'tah Fleet Command was using its Omino drones to begin to mark the surviving vessels as they began to cut and run while a large dark purple nebula-like field began to appear above Tau Ceti V. Meanwhile, smelling blood, a destroyer squadron descended upon the damaged Shadow vessels and began unloading every ounce of ordinance ranging from particle cannons to anti-matter gauss cannons into the damaged vessels. Their intent was to destroy as many as possible before they could escape. Those that did escape wouldn't escape from the prolonged wrath of the Jaaq'tah Alliance. This would not be forgotten.
The Seigi moved in on the Shadow fleet trying to get as many of them within its large TTD field before leaving. The various Minions in close formation did their best to provide cover fire. The Seigi's main gun had charged again and created a massive rip in space between the shadows and the Jaaq'tah that would protect most of the ships.

"All units disengage! Don't bother firing, nothing works. We'll regroup in GSA space. Assist those in need!" Wolf sent a message to the Kitamura, "Is your TTD operational?" "….yeah, I….think so…." "Good, get out." He sent a message to the Revenge II, "Is your TTD operational?" No response. Other ships had started moving out, one of the crippled Wakizashis requiring assistance which was being given. The Kiyomizudera seemed to be waiting.
Shadow 4 suddenly exploded as it was hit by the onslaught. Shadows 6, 7, 3, and 8 were underneath the other five in a towing position and were shielded...All vessels began vibrating as if ready to shake apart at the seams, Alexis fairly shouted the order. "GET US OUT OF HERE! NOW!" The TTD flashed and the Shadow regiment was gone.

The Seigi followed a few moments later pulling it's Minion's with it. ~Kai I want a report on battle statistics as soon as possible~ He thought through the Seigi's computer. The ship made sure not to immediately head to GSA space but instead took a detour in case they were followed.

The Revenge II never responded. The Kiyomizudera hadn't been totally in the thick of things, but had seen enough action to overlook the destruction of the Revenge II and the Wakizashi Kinkakuji. Wolf shook his head and gave the order as the other GSA ships disappeared. "Let's go."

The Shadows didn't go straight to Geshrintall either, despite Alexis' hasty order. The pilots were smart enough to lay in a course for a completely different universe, then rest up before making the jump to the GSA universe.


Kai Ashigari
10/21/03 13:55

[GSS Seigi] Reports. 

Kai had rushed back to the intelligence office as the Seigi entered the battle and was greeted with holograms as they erupted out of the projectors, showing him everything that was going on. He did his best to aid in targeting, based on the information he was seeing. It was a mini-war outside the ship encircling the Beholder Capital Station, he had noticed that the center area was the vulnerable point, and unfortunately; the most heavily defended.

He watched the battle via the holo projectors, taking notes on the various tactics of the enemy vessels. Afterward, while the GSA ships had fled back to homespace and licked its wounds; Kai was very busy preparing a comprehensive battle assessment.

"According to my observations, the Jaaq'tah use horde-like numbers combined with what I enter 'swarm and destroy' tactics. The key to their both defense and offence seems to be centered around their ability to get those drones out to open the wormholes. As everyone noticed, the wormholes act like gateways for fighters, more drones, dreadnoughts, whathaveyou.

Defensively they seem to be able to react swiftly to new threats. -Perhaps varying the methods of attack in a relatively quick sequence may throw off the system.- 

What follows is a short list of enemy weaponry used:

1) "Wormhole" Drones: Not a threat in themselves, their real power lay in their ability to open a wormhole for other things to come through.

2) Dreadnoughts: The heavily armored/armed battlecruisers, a big threat in themselves. Very hard to destroy.

3) "Infection" Drones: Small, highly mobile drones, they seem to attempt to infect target ships, purpose unknown.

3) Aether Cannons and Missiles: Shield penetrating energy rounds, apparently a hit opens a hole in the defender's shield, allowing some more damage to carry through, at least until the shield regenerates.

4) "Absorption" Drones: Energy absorbing drones, they seem to be able to absorb high amounts of transphasic energy and fire it back at the attacker.

Further investigation needs to be done for full information.

Personal Opinion: In my humble opinion, the best course of action against those particular enemies is to pull out the heavy artillery. That may seem obvious, but I feel it's worth mentioning.

Recommendations: I recommend that we hold off on initiating anymore combat until we are up to full strength, we cannot defeat the Jaaq'tah at this point in time."

Kai sent a copy of his report to Chujo Wazu and Taisho Wolf.


Kai Ashigari
10/21/03 16:36

[Seigi-Kiyomizudera] Reports. 

"According to my observations, the Jaaq'tah use horde-like numbers combined with what I enter 'swarm and destroy' tactics. The key to their both defense and offence seems to be centered around their ability to get those drones out to open the wormholes. As everyone noticed, the wormholes act like gateways for fighters, more drones, dreadnoughts, whathaveyou.

Defensively they seem to be able to react swiftly to new threats. -Perhaps varying the methods of attack in a relatively quick sequence may throw off the system.- 

What follows is a short list of enemy weaponry used:

1) "Wormhole" Drones: Not a threat in themselves, their real power lay in their ability to open a wormhole for other things to come through.

2) Dreadnoughts: The heavily armored/armed battlecruisers, a big threat in themselves. Very hard to destroy.

3) "Infection" Drones: Small, highly mobile drones, they seem to attempt to infect target ships, purpose unknown.

3) Aether Cannons and Missiles: Shield penetrating energy rounds, apparently a hit opens a hole in the defender's shield, allowing some more damage to carry through, at least until the shield regenerates.

4) "Absorption" Drones: Energy absorbing drones, they seem to be able to absorb high amounts of transphasic energy and fire it back at the attacker.

Further investigation needs to be done for full information.

Personal Opinion: In my humble opinion, the best course of action against those particular enemies is to pull out the heavy artillery. That may seem obvious, but I feel it's worth mentioning.

Recommendations: I recommend that we hold off on initiating anymore combat until we are up to full strength, we cannot defeat the Jaaq'tah at this point in time."


Jadg Wolf
10/21/03 21:53

Wolf's intelligence officer had also observed the battle and had written a report which agreed with Kai's. Nonetheless Wolf appreciated the report and sent a short message back to Kai.

"Thank you for your report Kai. Nice to see another agent who does his job right. Hope you've sent the thing to Yui and Wazu as well.

Speaking of Wazu, can you ask him what the hell he was thinking, coming in on an operation just like that? I sent an inquiry during the battle but it was overlooked.

Thanks, always watch. --Wolf."


Lavinia Taiensho
10/21/03 20:38

[GSS Seigi] Talking and Eating 

After the Seigi had fled the battleground and reached safe haven, Lavinia disconnected herself from the computer. "Phew, that was hectic." She said and looked over at the small neko at communications with a curious look, she had seen her on the ship a couple times. "Hello." She said pleasantly after a moment. Lavinia absently brushed her long bang behind her ear, only to have it fall over her face again.

"Eh?" Yuuko snapped out of her fixation of the control panel.
"Hi there." Lavinia repeated, smiling brightly. "Oh, did I disturb you?"

"Oh. I was thinking about the battle. It didn't go very well."

"I know, I got scared a few times." She said, agreeing. "It can only get better, now that we have experience right?" She asked.

"I think next time, we will be much more prepared."

"I agree." Lav said optimistically. "My name is Lavinia. And yours?" She asked politely.

"Yuuko," the girl said. She rose from her seat, leaving her station alone. It didn't require much attention now that the battle was over.

Lav stood up as well and stretched, popping a couple joints in her legs. "Pleasure to meet you Yuuko. How long have you been doing your job?" She asked, tilting her head to one side giving Yuuko a questioning look, her deep green hair spilled prettily over her shoulder.

"Not long. I was transferred on here from Central Uesureya," Yuuko answered, looking the other neko over.

Lavinia was about 5'10, slender, with an exotic look about her, her blue eyes twinkling in the light of the bridge. "Oh, so you're still getting used to it. That's ok, it'll get easier." She said brightly.

Yuuko shifted side-to-side, hands clasped behind her back. "I was going to grab some food."

"Do you mind if I join you?" Lav asked. She wiggled a bit, stretching her muscles that were feeling cramped from sitting for too long. She giggled suddenly, for no apparent reason.

The giggle made little Yuuko smile. "Sure."

Lavinia broke out into laughter. "I'm sorry, my twin is making jokes in his mind, passing time." she said between giggles.

"Wha?" Yuuko made a confused face, passing through the doorway into the hall.

Lavinia calmed down and walked out after her. "I'm a NH-X." She said.

"Oh."

"What's your...hey, what are these?" Lav asked noticing a flier.

"A group dinner..? Why?" Lavinia asked.

Yuuko stopped in place and peered at the paper on the hall. "How is the crew supposed to make food? I guess we'd have to go to the kitchen."

"Well, the kitchen is adjacent to the dining hall." Lavinia said, just down the hall there." 

"It takes part of the fun out when everyone sees each other making the food..." Yuuko said. "Maybe it would be fun to cook with friends, though."

Lavinia smiled. "I enjoy cooking, but I think it's funnier with more people."

"But surprise is fun." she added with a sunny smile

"Depends on the kind of surprise." Yuuko said, starting to walk again. "When the enemy drones redirected GWB fire back at us, that was a surprise, but very bad."

"I meant pleasant surprises." Lav said reaching the door to the dining hall and waiting.

"Pleasure is good." Yuuko grinned.

"What makes you happy?" Lav asked as Yuuko approached.

"I like dancing and being close to people I trust. Friends."

"I enjoy that too." 

Lavinia paused for a moment...sniffing the air. "Something smells good."

Yuuko looked around for any sign of warm baked goods.

Lavinia turned toward the door, making it slide open and saw...Ritsu in the kitchen...cooking... "So that's it." she said softly. "I wonder how long we can stay here before he notices..."

"Hmm?" Yuuko asked, grabbing up a roll from a basket under a heat-lamp. "Mmmf" she stuffed it in her mouth.

Lavinia smiled and sat down quietly at a table. ~come here and sit down, I want to surprise him~ She thought to Yuuko.

Yuuko disliked telepathy. She frowned for a brief moment, but sat at the table.

Lavinia looked sorry, the look on Yuuko's face told her she didn't like it. "I'm sorry." She said softly. Ritsu was busy preparing a tasty smelling dish, and not paying attention to them...not even noticing them there.

Yuuko nodded quietly. "I'm thinking about becoming a mecha pilot." she blurted.

Lavinia looked at her with soft eyes, almost motherly eyes. "Is that what you truly want?" she asked. Ritsurin finished his dish and let it cool, pulling the covering off, releasing volumes of delicious scent. Lavinia inhaled deeply, pushing her chest out in the act, taking in the scent. "Mmmmm" She purred.

he smaller nekos's eyes fixated on Lavinia's bosom.

Lav turned to her, feeling eyes on her and blushed suddenly.
Ritsu had completed the food and turned to face them and smiled as his eyes feel on Lavinia and Yuuko. "Well, Well." He said. "Made a new friend eh?" He mused to Lav looking at Yuuko.

Yuuko looked down at her own tiny mounds. "Hmm," she pondered. She wasn't really jealous, just feeling the effects of ridicule by others.

Ritsu came over and set a plate of food in front of Lavinia, it was clearly Japanese. "Here you go." He smiled. Lavinia smiled and took a bite. "Mmm." She purred. He then looked at Yuuko. "Any for you Ms.?" He asked curtly.

"Thank you," Yuuko nodded.

Ritsu nodded and set the plate in front of her, it was a plate of low mein, a bit of sushi, 2 egg rolls, and sweet and sour chicken. Lavinia looked at Yuuko, with a noodle hanging out of her mouth, looking a bit silly. She slurped it up and asked. 
"Sorry about that." Lav said, thinking the noodle hanging from her mouth had looked silly.

Yuuko was starving. Immediately, she snatched up an egg roll in her small three-fingered hand and popped the end of if in her mouth. "Mmm?" she hummed, the roll sticking out between her tiny lips. The communications officer found it somewhat odd that it had been deliberate.

It wasn't really, it was just a subconscious thing, Lavinia didn't realize she was doing it. "Oh, this is my twin, Ritsu." Lav said pointing to the guy standing beside her.

"Hello," Yuuko looked for a rank, but didn't see any, "Mister Ritsu."

Ritsu nodded to Yuuko and took a seat adjacent to both of them. "I'm the guy that got hauled off the bridge earlier." He grinned and chuckled. Lavinia grinned as she ate an egg roll.

"I remember." Yuuko noted. She didn't want to seem rude.

"I'm sorry for making such a scene." Ritsu apologized.

"It's good isn't it?" Lavinia asked Yuuko. Ritsu stood up and went back to cooking for the potluck.

"It is delicious. Where did you learn to cook?" asked Yuuko.

Ritsu turned to Yuuko. "When I was a little boy." He said, apparently he was remembering his life before joining the Yui crew. "My mother taught me."

Lav looked up at Ritsu. "you never talk about your life before the academy." She complained a bit.

"I don't have one." Yuuko mumbled. She felt Ritsu should try and cherish what he had and so many nekos didn't.

"Your mother is the one who raised you." Lavinia said, trying to cheer her up. "If you don't have family, your friends become your family." Ritsu looked pained...and sad and went back to working.

Yuuko wasn't raised, she was born one day, almost the same as she was today, and within a week of her creation, she was working as a sentry.

Lavinia finished her food and pushed the plate aside. "Yuuko, you can count the people on this ship as family." She said. 

"I suppose." Yuuko asked, "What is so great about family?"

Lav looked at her, a bit of a loss, she didn't really have a family either. Ritsu looked over and spoke. "Family is a wonderful thing to have, it's a group of people you can talk to. Even when you feel bad, scared, happy. Family is a bunch of people you're close to, who care for you, you trust with your life." He said, tears forming in his eyes as he spoke, clearly he was remembering his own.

"The feeling of peace and serenity that accompanies one." He added after a sigh.

"I don't truly know anyone on this ship." Yuuko scowled. If the normally-cheerful Yuuko was getting upset, it may be time to change the subject.

Lavinia shrugged and looked at Yuuko. "You said you liked dancing?" Ritsu was suddenly very busy.

"I do."

"So do I." Lavinia agreed.

Yuuko, finished with her meal, got up to leave. "I will see you guys around." She had to run a check on a damaged radio system.

"Bye." Lav waved cheerily. Ritsu waved as well.


Kai Ashigari
10/22/03 6:52

[GSS Seigi- GSS Empire] Report to Yui. 

"According to my observations, the Jaaq'tah use horde-like numbers combined with what I enter 'swarm and destroy' tactics. The key to their both defense and offence seems to be centered around their ability to get those drones out to open the wormholes. As everyone noticed, the wormholes act like gateways for fighters, more drones, dreadnoughts, whathaveyou.

Defensively they seem to be able to react swiftly to new threats. -Perhaps varying the methods of attack in a relatively quick sequence may throw off the system.- 

What follows is a short list of enemy weaponry used:

1) "Wormhole" Drones: Not a threat in themselves, their real power lay in their ability to open a wormhole for other things to come through.

2) Dreadnoughts: The heavily armored/armed battlecruisers, a big threat in themselves. Very hard to destroy.

3) "Infection" Drones: Small, highly mobile drones, they seem to attempt to infect target ships, purpose unknown.

3) Aether Cannons and Missiles: Shield penetrating energy rounds, apparently a hit opens a hole in the defender's shield, allowing some more damage to carry through, at least until the shield regenerates.

4) "Absorption" Drones: Energy absorbing drones, they seem to be able to absorb high amounts of transphasic energy and fire it back at the attacker.

Further investigation needs to be done for full information.

Personal Opinion: In my humble opinion, the best course of action against those particular enemies is to pull out the heavy artillery. That may seem obvious, but I feel it's worth mentioning.

Recommendations: I recommend that we hold off on initiating anymore combat until we are up to full strength, we cannot defeat the Jaaq'tah at this point in time."


Kitsurugi Yui
10/22/03 12:05

SAINT-X1 indicates the absorption drones might actually have been reflecting, not absorbing the GWB energy (not transphasic). By capturing one of their drones, we could find a resonance frequency that would destroy the drones' reflecting mechanisms.


Kai Ashigari
10/22/03 19:30

[GSS Seigi] Relaxing...and something more. 

Uso sat down at the bar. The club was empty except for the Seigi randomly playing tunes like a jute box and a few people drinking and talking at the bar. The recent battle had most of the crew busy but for Uso, right now, none of that mattered. "One of those" Uso said as she pointed over at a small blue bottle. Koh brought it over and sat it down in front of Uso, "You look... out of it" Koh said as Uso reached into her pocket and pulled out a small container. "You could say that." Uso said as she opened it and pulled out a small white pill and dropped it into the drink.

Kai had completed his report to both Taisho Wolf and Yui. He decided that he needed some relaxation and walked out of his office, whistling an old tone as he wandered through the halls of the Seigi. He subconsciously headed for the rec area, he soon reached the club doors and peered in.

The drink started to fizz and Uso picked it up and took a long drink, "What was that?" Koh asked as she pointed to the small container Uso had sat on the bar.

Kai yawned and stretched his tired body and strode in, pulling his gold and crimson robe over his rank pin. He walked right up to the bar and noticed Uso, "Hello Uso." He yawned.

"Hi" Uso said in-between drinks. Koh picked a pill out of the container and sniffed it, "Go ahead its safe" Uso said

Kai nodded and sat down nearby and listened to the music for a bit, he looked rather tired. He looked up at Koh, noticing that she was acting as barkeeper. "Can I get some red wine?" He asked, sounding a little sleepy.

Koh nodded and put down the pill to go get a bottle and glass. Uso finished up and put the empty bottle down on the container.

"Been having fun Uso?" Kai asked as Koh got the bottle

"Ya I guess" Uso said without much enthusiasm, "Koh one more please" She said. Koh walked back with a large bottle of red wine a glass and now another blue bottle for Uso, trying to balance all three of them as she walked over to them. 

Kai smiled and levitated the bottles to help Koh out and set them on the counter without seeming effort. "What's been wrong?" He asked Uso.

Uso looked over at him then back at the bottle, "I have nothing to do for.." Uso checked her internal clock, "A while" she said as she picked up another small tablet from the container and dropped it into the bottle.

Kai took his bottle and glass and started to pour it himself after offering Koh a couple KS as payment, or tip. "And why is that Uso?"

"Keep it," Koh said as she looked at the coins. She leaned back against the wall of the bar and listened in on their conversation, "because I can't do my work without being in the right area" She said as she drank down the fizz from the drink.

Kai shrugged and pocketed the coins. "You want to be more than just a cook Uso?" He asked with a perked brow.

Uso chuckled and took another drink

"You know you're not going to get anywhere but just lounging around. But hey, I suppose that's what cooks do when they're not cooking huh?" He chuckled as he took a sip of the fine wine.
"And what's in the drink?" He asked.

"One of these." Uso said as she pushed the container over to Kai. "And cooking is just what I am assigned to do here. My real work doesn’t start till later," Uso said, seemingly uncaringly, as she downed the last of her drink.

"You mean causing trouble?" He pointed out, looking at the container....caffeine?

Uso nodded with a smirk.

Kai chuckled and shook his head, making his flaming hair dance around. "I have a distinct feeling that trouble will find you." He mused.

"Trouble isn't my job" Uso said, "As for the caffeine... It is something I got from Wazu. They aren't that bad when you put them in a energy drink" She said.

"You need some real sleep...just like I do." He smiled wryly. "oh, it isn't? what is your job? annoying the hell out of the chujo?" It was clear that Kai was starting to relax.

"That is one of my jobs." Uso said with smile as she traced her finger around the top of the bottle." As for sleep" she said, returning to her normal more serious demeanour, "I don't need it."

"Yes you do Uso, we've had this discussion before." Kai said. "You'll feel so much better if you just try."

Uso shook her head, "I'm fine... really" she said

Kai looked curious and at Koh. "Do you nekos need sleep?" He asked curiously

Koh seemed a bit startled like she had been awoken from a trance, "um... We don't need sleep exactly but it is suggested that we get sleep." Koh said a bit timidly

"See, Uso, it's suggested." He said with a grin.

"But not necessary." she added

"Call me weak, but we humans need it." Kai yawned.

Uso picked up the container and closed it, "That is what Wazu used these for." Uso said, letting her voice trail off a bit as she put the container back in her holster.

"Hmmmm." Kai said. "You know Uso...." He said, eyeing her up, the wine had taken effect quicker than normal, probably because he was relaxing and tired.

Uso gave him an odd look while Koh giggled.

"You have a hair in your mouth and you look silly" he chuckled. 

"oooooookay I think you've had one to many." Uso said as she pushed the bottle of wine toward Koh.

"Is that what you think Uso?" he asked and pulled out a flask of something.

Uso shook her head, "Kai. Go. To. Bed." Uso said

"NEVER!" He laughed and took a long draw from the flask, the flush in his cheeks dying a bit.

Uso shrugged, "Koh don't hesitate to shoot him if he gets out of control." Uso said as she got up from the bar and headed towards the door.

"I outrank you remember?" He laughed. Then turned to Koh and winks.
"Try and get some rest Uso." He said.

Uso walked out into the hallway and headed across the hall to the media center. Koh seemed confused by Kai but instead just took the bottle and reshelved it before getting the glass and returning it to the HCS

"Just for the record, I was never drunk." He smiled and stood up.

Koh nodded. "Then what were you?"

He looked squarely at her. "Acting." He smiled.

"ah... why?" she asked

"Because I wanted to have fun with her. I've had a long last couple days." Kai said. "The flask is filled with a chemical compound that erases the effects of drunkenness."

"ok." Koh said as she went back to her work

Kai nodded and walked out and over to the media center and looked at the books.

The Seigi didn't have any books on it to save room, all of them had been digitized. A few crewmembers were walking around with datapads in hand while others, including Uso, sat at a couch watching TV

Kai shook his head and walked over to the couch and looked at the crew watching TV. ~Uso, what I was going to say back there is that I think your beautiful.~

~I'm a neko. I am created that way~ Uso said, not really paying attention to Kai's complement as she brushed her ponytail behind her as she watched the GSA news.

~Fine, you're probably clever as a fox, and about as cunning and sly as one too~ He said silently as he watched the television.

~Now that is a complement~ She thought at him with a slight smile as she watched the TV.

~You could probably show up Eve. But, I wouldn't try it~ the thought to her.

~Perhaps~ Uso thought as she leaned back to make herself more comfortable. On the floor in front of the couch two nekos were leaning against each other as they watched TV, "Is there anything else on?" one asked as she reached for the remote.

"How cute." Kai mused as he watched the nekos.

Uso didn't really care

~You know you want someone to be that way with someday~

Uso looked at the two nekos and sighed, not bothering to respond

Kai looked over at Uso with soft eyes and sat down next to her and ever so gently leaned against her, then gently kissed her on the cheek.

Uso looked surprised and gently held her cheek as she looked at Kai with confusion.

He smiled gently at her, gentle, affectionate feelings in them. "I said I loved you and I meant it Uso." He said softly.

"I think you have had to much..." Uso said 

"I was never drunk Uso." He said gently,

"Then why are you acting so weird" She said.

"Because I have feelings for you Uso, I have for a while now....." He said, his heart in his eyes as he looked at hers.

Uso looked into his eyes, not sure what to do.

Kai moved in closer to her again. "I know you trust me Uso." He said gently. "And I trust you..." 
he reached to her and brushed a hair out of her face.

Uso stayed there stunned, "um... " she looked down at her feet, "I don't know..." she said

Kai ever so gently embraced her, it could be taken as coming on strong, but he couldn't help himself. He combed a hand through her hair then let go and continued to look at her.

Uso put her arms around him she figured that they both might as well be confused together.

Kai's hands moved up and down Uso's back gently, caressing her lovingly, he turned to her and kissed her cheek again.

Uso rested her head on his shoulder, "awwww how cute" one of the passing nekos said.
Kai blushed furiously.


Lavinia Taiensho
10/23/03 10:07

[GSS Seigi- GSS Ketsurui Chiharu] Just a letter. 

As Lavinia sat in the dining hall aboard the Seigi, she quietly reflected on everything that had happened so far, she found herself missing some of her old friends from the Now-and-Forever and the Yui. She got up and walked out of the Hall and went out into the corridor.

~Maybe I should send a letter or two to my old friends, just to say hello.~ She thought as she made her way back to her quarters. She walked through the door to the bridge as the door slid open after recognizing her as command personnel. Lav nodded hello to Wazu, who was again attached to the Seigi computer. Or so she though since she didn't technically look at him.

She walked through the door to her room and looked around and spotted the duffle bag that held a couple datapads. Lavinia grinned and pulled one out and flopped down into her nest and started to type a message.

"To: Taisho Ketsurui Chiharu,

Hello, this is Juni Taiensho from the Seigi. How are you? Been taking care of your crew like you always do? Anyway, it has been absolutely hectic here, first we get ambushed on our way to Nepleslia by a number of Elysian ships. It was so scary, even more so when you're interfaced with the ship's AI. Then we blunder into a battlefield and get involved ina mini-war around a Jaaq'tah Beholder station. We are currently recovering from a defeat there. 

But I began to miss you and the rest of my friends who you took with you. Please give my regards to Taii Aya, Sgt. Akari, Juni Kuru, and Arume. I miss you guys and hope to hear something from you soon, if you're not too busy. 

Oh! by the way, I got promoted to ship's pilot here! yay!" 

Your friend,

Juni Lavinia Taiensho.-

Lav sent the message with certain feeling of happiness at re-establishing contact with her friends, but also a feeling of apprehension at the possibility that they wouldn't read the letter. She casually tossed the datapad onto a table and laid in her nest, snuggling into the soft pillows.


Lavinia Taiensho
10/23/03 10:14

[GSS Seigi- GSS Empire] Letters continued.. 

Lavinia rolled around in her bunk, wondering about the welfare of other nekos on the ship involved in the battle. She sat up and grabbed the datapad she had just sent a message to Chiharu on and typed up another one to the Empire. 

Lavinia thought for a moment on what to write since she didn't know that many people on that ship, Ritsu had told her about a couple of nekos, but she wasn't sure if she should make contact with them. She sat down and wrote a short one.

-To GSS Empire-

"Hello, Taisho Kitsurugi, if you're there, otherwise this is to the officer in charge...Ms. Kessaku if my memory serves. Anyway, How are you over there? Did you suffer many casualties or wounded? I hope that you fared well in that last battle. 

I write just to say Hello and see how you're faring."

Sincerely, Juni Lavinia Taiensho--

Lavinia set the pad down now, her strange desire to write letters satisfied. She laid back down in her nest. 

~ I hope nothing too bad happens anytime soon.~ She thought as she lay there, staring absently at the ceiling.


Tasuki Uso
10/24/03 17:04

[GSS Seigi] sleeping 

ON>GSS Seigi

Kai was sitting down next to Uso, hugging her gently and rubbing her back gently.

"Uso.." He mused running a hand through her hair gently.

Even with the unusually high amount of caffeine Uso was starting to become drowsy. She let herself lean against Kai as she watched the TV, "What is it?" she asked

"I enjoy your company. Whether I say it or not." He said.

Uso continued to watch the TV, not really responding to Kai but listening carefully.

He continued to hold her gently. "Happy new year Uso." He said softly in her ear.

"Happy new year to you two." Uso said with a slight chuckle, she had never really paid attention to such trivial things.

Kai smiled and yawned a bit feeling sleepy.

Uso started to look around the room, watching the various neko's go about their activities. Someone mentioned a party starting in the galley.

Kai looked around the room as well. He didn't want Uso to get up and leave, so he held her a bit tighter.

Uso felt strange... she let Kai hold her and moved a bit closer to him.

He smiled and ran another hand through her hair.

Kai's finger stopped at the binding of Uso's braid. "Uso, do you always wear your hair in that braid?"

"ya..." Uso responded sleepily as she watched the TV. The news station was covering a large new year’s party, although it wasn't the usual one held by the empress. Uso couldn't figure out where or perhaps she just didn't care. 

"Do you mind?" He asked, going to undo her binding.

Holding the hair

"I'd rather you not." She said, gently taking his hand in hers and moving it away from her hair.

Kai nodded and continued holding her gently. "May I ask why?"

"Long hair gets in my way," She said

"You have pretty hair it's so soft, almost like silk." He smiled

Uso chuckled and shook her head, "If you say so."

"I do,” He said

"I'm getting sleepy, how about you?" He asked, looking up at the TV.

Uso nodded, "I am too..." she reached down to get another caffeine pill.

Kai caught her hand gently. "No, you need normal sleep. You can stay here leaning against me. Why don't you like to sleep?"

"You already know that...,” she said

"I do, but there's something else."

Uso pulled away from Kai a bit, "I like my privacy. I'd rather not sleep with the other neko's in my nest." she said

"Well, maybe I can help you. You can request a lone nest." 

"There aren't any of those on the Seigi." She said.

"Well not counting the officers quarters...."

"Hmmm, well if you fall asleep here I'll see what I can do for you." He said.

"Hmpf...I'll just stay awake." she said, popping another pill in her mouth at the same time.

"You're going to suffer because you don’t like to share eh?" He mused.

"I'm not 'suffering ,’" she said

"No sleep is making you irritable." He said knowingly.

"And caffeine is making me normal." She said.

"Well, I'll stay up with you." He said.

Uso rested her head against Kai again as she watched TV.

Kai smiled and held her warmly. And started to sing softly and under his breath.

Nearly half an hour past before Uso started to drift off to sleep.

Kai let her lean against him using him for a pillow. "You're so cute when you do that."

Uso didn't respond, she had succumbed to sleep finally after nearly a week and was sleeping peacefully against Kai.

Kai shook his head and gently stood up and cradled Uso in his arms, she was fairly light.

The two neko's resting at the foot of the couch both uttered at the same time, "awww"

He held her tenderly walking toward the door and through it. He made sure to be gentle with her as he walked toward the bridge.

Uso had fallen into a deep sleep as all the sleepless nights had caught up to her.

The door slid open for Kai and he walked onto the bridge and nodded to Wazu silently, heading for his room.

Wazu looked over at Uso and then at Kai. He would keep an eye on her like always but it seemed that Kai had good intentions.

He went into his room and gently laid her into his nest and pulled a cover over her gently.

He watched her for a moment before opening a cot away from the nest and laid in it and eventually fell asleep himself.


Alexis Jaren
10/26/03 14:07

Choosing Loyalties 

After making sure what remained of the Shadow Regiment had docked and repairs had began, Alexis disconnected himself from the Megami system. The events of the last few hours were busy sorting themselves in his head. The transfer, the promotion, the battle...everything was still flash-burned in his memory, but it was a chaotic memory at the moment.
Looking around this ship's bridge, Alexis felt comforted by the familiar feel of the room despite the edge of not seeing any familiar faces among the crew manning the stations. Chiharu should be in the chair he was now in, he should be in the Pit, Aya and Arume, Wazu and Uso at their stations...everything was the same, yet still different in the most important way. Silently as he thought over what had brought him here, Alexis accessed the comm controls and started writing.

Dear Chiharu,
I am happy to hear that everything's going alright over on your side of the universe and that Sai and Nashi are getting along well. Could you tell them I said hello?
Taisho Kitsurui abruptly moved me out to command a regiment in the 6th Fleet, gave me a promotion to Chujo, then sent me off to fight in a "simple raiding mission" that exploded into an outright battle. Barely got out of there intact...Ya know, seems to me I didn't even want more than a replacement for the Cat's Paw when I started out, and now I've commanded a regiment? I guess what I'm asking for are your prayers for this next assignment...the Taisho is offering command of the entire Fifth Fleet. I'm considering turning it down because I don't want to get anyone in my command killed because of me (I suppose now I know what you feel every day, eh?) and my inexperience.
How have you been doing lately? Mentally, I mean...You seemed different when you came back from your kidnapping and I never got to ask you about it... Alexis paused. He thought a bit, then added, If you want, I'll be open for face-to-face communications for a while here. Maybe we could talk...In the meantime, I'll be waiting for your reply. Stay safe...sincerely, 
Fluffy (aka GSA no Chujo Jaren Alexis)

Finishing the letter, then watching a replay of the battle, the shifter began thinking about the effectiveness of the GSA fleets. They would have to change tactics if they didn't want to allow the enemy to adapt. The Legacy cannons were the only truly effective weapon against the large targets with the Grand White Beam being absorbed like that; but the variable weapons seemed to do well against the smaller drones and ships...As Alexis thought about the battle, something Timdri had said echoed in his head. 

If they are at war, why have you not tried to leave? This is not your fight. Why become involved?

Alexis knew he had no allegiance to the GSA. They had rescued him when he was drifting, then again, anyone could have...he had paid that debt with the service and time he had given them, right? Especially in that last battle. But, while the shifter's main reason for just not jetting out right away had been curiosity over the GSA's technology, he had added his friends as reasons for staying. Alexis knew people here, and he knew he would see them the next day instead of moving on to the next town and never knowing if they would even remember him the next morning. This promotion was just going to break him off from them, sticking him in charge of something that wasn't any of his business.

What do I do now?


Ketsuri Chiharu
10/29/03 0:52

[The Seigi, Ketsurui & the Cat's Claw]A House Divided? 

ON> GSS Seigi, GSS Ketsurui Chiharu, Geshrintall

Wazu was plugged into the Seigi's computer system like he always was, however this time his demeanour was much more serious than his usual self, ~Seigi I need you to take care of things on the bridge for a while~ He thought into the machine as he unplugged and headed to his quarters. He straightened up a bit before sitting on the bed he had placed in his room and requesting a real time communication line with the Ketsurui Chiharu.

Alexis sat in the Cat's Claw, which was housed in a warehouse on Geshrintall until he came to a decision on the offer of command. In the meantime, he was sitting in the rear compartment, staring at the computer pad in his hand that was currently trying to connect with either the Ketsurui Chiharu or the Seigi. He had told Chi he would try to talk with her face to face, and he wanted to hear how the Seigi crew had pulled through. But the Cat's Claw comm system wasn't made for extreme long range, so he had made some backdoors through comm relays and even hijacked the antenna for the Shadow Zero which he had spent the last few days. "Come on, work you obstinate piece of polymer!" he moaned at the pad, tapping it on his knee

Taisho Ketsurui sat on the bridge of the ship named after herself, a frown on her face as she thought over the mess that she had gotten herself into with the QnS offer to sponsor the 1st and 2nd fleets. 

The other crew on the bridge knew that their captain was upset and simply, worked quietly, a few rotating on and off the bridge as the shift changed. Izumi had just returned to her spot at the Communications console when it lit up. The neko looked at it curiously, a bit surprised by the 2 simultaneous requests for a line. "Taisho Ketsurui, there are 2 other ships trying to connect with us, the Seigi and the Cat's Claw. Do you want me to connect you?" She looked to Chiharu, looking for a response.

Chi smiled brightly at Izumi and the neko smiled back, relieved that her captain was smiling again. "Aye, aye captain. I'm opening the connections now." 

Chiharu nodded to Izumi and waited a moment before she spoke. "This is the GSS Ketsurui Chiharu, how may we help you folks?"

While waiting Wazu had sent 4 quick messages to Ralifaris to have them encrypted and resent elsewhere. He knew that he would need all the help he could get on this one., "Hello Chi," Wazu said, his face devoid of a smile, "... you wished to talk about the fleet sponsorship."

Good, it got through, Alexis thought with a smile. "Greet'ns, Chi...how're you doing?" he asked, clearly glad to see her again.

"Hello Wazu, Alexis." Chi looked at the 2 men's faces on her console's display. "It's nice to hear from the both of you. I'm a bit troubled by the can of worms that I've opened in regards to the fleets getting sponsorship from QnS. Did I ever mention to you two, just how much I hate politics?" 

"It is a necessary evil." Wazu said with a slight chuckle before returning to a more serious posture, "I didn't mean to cause you any problems Chi but that isn't how things turned out..." Wazu said.

Alexis looked puzzled. "Wazu? Is he on the other line? And what's going on?" He hadn't heard about anything related to 'sponsorship'...

"I know you didn't Wazu..." Chi nodded to Alexis. "Yes, Wazu is on the other line. I am talking to you both at the same exact time right now. Right now, Kitsurugi Sharie is quite upset because Wazu offered the 1st and 2nd fleets a sponsorship with QnS. Of course, KFY is the corporation who created the fleets so they are quite mad that QnS might get "possession" of their ships but I've just found out that Wicked Arms is already sponsoring the 1st fleet..."

The shifter frowned. "Oh...How mad are they? How serious are those problems Wazu mentioned just now?"

"This leaves me in the middle of a political war between KFY and QnS. My loyalties are too my friends, my soldiers, and my government... but unfortunately, the corporations are involved with all of those things and they are trying to wipe out the competition..."

"There is more to it than just that," Wazu added, "Kessaku Electronics has been putting pressure on Qelnoran Technologies to give up its own electronics programs, Irim has become increasingly... aggressive in her negotiations. Kessaku is trying to monopolise electronics in the same way that PUNgen and Wickedarms try to monopolize their own sectors. Little by little they are trying to take away Ralifaris's independence."

This was getting ugly...Alexis accessed the Cat's Claw computer and started to try and access the news nets for more information, if they had any. "What does this mean for the GSA? It's starting to sound like a private little war...we are fighting the Elysians already, and we've just dove into the NDI's conflict...what's this going to do?"
"Let me connect you boys together so we all can talk face to face..." Chi inputted the necessary data to send the connection from the Cat's Claw to the Seigi to open as well so that all 3 could talk to one another and see each other.

"As far as I know, the GSA is only involved because of the people who are behind the corporations are the ones who have made it. We'll be fighting 3 wars soon. The political battle of the corporations, the Elysians and the NDI... we're going to be in big trouble unless we can get the Corporations to chill out a bit and work together and compete... a little less violently."

"Hya, Wazu," Alexis said with a nod as Wazu appeared on his screen. He stood and went to the cockpit and activated the holographic screen there, transferring the comm to that console and placing Chi on the left side of the screen and Wazu on the right with the results of his research and 'hacking' in the middle. Previous to the signal merge he had just overheard what the mics picked up. It was a bit better to see who he was hearing. "Either get them to resolve or get one of the others to help us," he added to Chiharu's statement. "It's not like the GSA is strong enough by themselves, but this way it has no chance of survival."

"That isn't possible." Wazu said, He pressed a few buttons on a nearby data pad and sent some data regarding current events on Ralifaris, "My mother and her maid were murdered yesterday and then 10,000 KS left Kessaku's account for 'PUNgen services' to put it simply QnIs does not tolerate threats. But, I doubt that they will be the only dead from this..."

"I'm afraid the GSA might fall from within if things get too out of hand. And right now, the 2nd fleet is the only one without a corporate sponsor and it is up to me to decide who will be the sponsor. I'm not sure if this can be resolved by accepting a duel sponsorship from KFY and QnS." Chi paused hearing Wazu's news. "I'm sorry Wazu."

"Is this a secure line?" Alexis said, suddenly paranoid. Not for himself, but for the two he was talking with. "And can we trust the computers and crew?"


"I'm pretty certain this is secure and I can trust my crew and my ship. I am not saying anything that would get me killed right now." Chi sighed again. "All hell is going to break lose, I think...”

"It is useless to try and hide this," Wazu said, "your ship uses a Kessaku computer Chi. I am in the process of dealing with this but I am going to need your help before it is all over."

"Oh...I'm sorry to hear that, Wazu..." said the shifter, sobered as he realized how far this was going. If he was thinking of leaving before, he wasn't now. His friends were getting into some deep stuff here." Useless to hide, as in the comp would report us?"

"Kessaku Electronics is starting to sound like Microsoft..." he muttered under his breath.

"I wouldn't be surprised if it already is. Alexis I could use your help too." Wazu said as he moved to look at Alexis instead of Chi for the moment.

"There's really nothing to hide. I'm at a loss as to what to do right now. But, I can try to help you as best as I can Wazu. There is only so much I will be able to do right now." Chi smoothed her hair back behind her ears, looking from Alexis to Wazu, her gaze shifting between the two. "I will still need to discuss the matter with the other parties involved as well."

"Consider "d'Jaren Mercenaries, INC" open for business, I'm at your service," Alexis said to Wazu with a wry grin. "We offer a full range of infiltration and recon services as well as assassination and plain annoyance, all for a reasonable price."
He turned to Chi and asked, "What other parties are involved here?" 

Wazu smiled, "they should be contacting you soon Chi. I would like you to seriously consider the QnS sponsorship. I assure you that we will refrain from such aggressive business practices." He then turned to Alexis, "you will know what to do when the time comes."

Alexis blinked. "I will?"

Wazu nodded.

Chi shook her head. "I need to talk to Sharie and Yui too. But don't do anything extreme guys; I don't want this to turn into guerrilla warfare. We're already at war with the Elysians... the last thing we need is for our people to get slaughtered by our own people. Please don't get yourselves killed?" 

"They have already slaughtered my own people." Wazu said, "I'm afraid that there is only room for one of us. Now I must go I have other work to attend to" Wazu then ended the transmission with a quick goodbye before heading back to the bridge.

"See you later, Wazu." Alexis waved as the connection to the Seigi cut. Then he moved Chi's window over to fill half the screen that had opened up.

Chi sighed again, this was just bad. She looked to Alexis as Wazu's connection closed. "What fools these mortals are...”

Alexis quirked a brow. "'Mortals'? What are you?"

"I'm a neko. It's a quote from an old play that I found somewhere. Now, what is this Microsoft thing you referred to earlier?" Chi looked at Alexis curiously.

"Oh, right...I thought it sounded like a quote." He smirked slightly. "Mmm...No one important here. It's the name of a @#%$ that nearly took over an entire planet, their "use our stuff exclusively" policy sounding a lot like what Kessaku Electronics is doing." He tilted his head as he looked at the Taisho. "But back on the first thought, you are immortal, in a way, aren't you?"

"In a way... it all depends on what happens to my ship. I can die if my soul gets erased..." Chi sighed

"Oh." Alexis frowned. "How big is the file?"

"I don't think my file takes up too horribly much space. But I have been alive for 20 some odd years... but I'm dividing a part of myself into an NH-X twin.

Maybe he could make an emergency backup...his shuttle comp might be able to handle it. Alexis put the idea off to the side, then returned to the matter he had originally contacted Chi for. "I've got a slight problem. It's not as important as that of corporate war, but it's still causing a problem."

"Okay. What's causing you problems Alexis?" Chi looked at him curiously, wondering what it could be.

"Remember I mentioned I was offered command of the 5th? I don't know what to do. I was seriously considering requesting a demotion instead...but I guess that the more fleets we control, the better, huh?"

Chi chuckled. "It is a bit overwhelming to get power dropped on your lap. It's up to you what you want to do, if you don't want the 5th then don't take it. The last thing you want to do is be stuck with a load of responsibility that you don't want."

"That's true...I'm still puzzled why the GSA trusts me...I mean, I'm not even an official citizen, to my knowledge, yet they're laying this in front of me. It's not like anything I've seen a government do before."

"What can I tell you? You made the mistake of being a responsible officer." Chi shrugged.

Alexis chuckled. "That I did, didn't I? But I really didn't do much. Not from my view. I just had a couple important things go well. And my first promotion was totally undeserved; I'm still puzzled about that."

"You're a good officer Alexis. And you are dependable, you came back to us when you really owe the GSA nothing... if you were in its debt, you've already paid it back in full." She smiled brightly, it was nice to be talking about something else than the corporations... "Oh! I just had a thought of how I can resolve my issue! I can start my own corporation!" 

"I'm just about ready to flip a coin on the whole matter." He said, dropping his head and leaning back in his chair, then looked up. "Say what?"

"There is no major food corporation right now and if I start one I'm not really in competition with anyone and I could buy supplies from both QnS and KFY so I'm not favouring one or the other. It might be the best way to remain neutral in this." Chi pondered more; the revelation was like gold right now

Alexis smiled. "Hey, that is a good idea. Maybe you could sponsor the Fifth Fleet. I know they're not taken by anyone."

"We'll see. I have to get the corporation alive first before I start to think about sponsoring any fleet." Chi grinned; this was going to be fun although it was going to be a lot of hard work.

Sighing, the shifter shrugged. "I guess I'll take the position. If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out, but at least I'll have tried..." He half-smiled and looked at Chi. "Whatever happens with the @#%$ thing, I'm behind you. I hope it works out. If you need anything, any favors, just ask."


"Thank you Alexis, I appreciate the support and I'll do my best to help you out with your fleet if you need any." Chi smiled brightly again. "I hope you find whatever it is that you're looking for in this universe...”

"Thanks, Chiharu. Until we meet, take care." The smile broadened, and then he cut the transmission. Now, to take care of business...


Ketsuri Chiharu
10/29/03 1:20

[GSS Ketsurui Chiharu] Response to Lavinia 

Once the Taisho finished her conversation with Alexis and Wazu and had sent her decision to the other Taishos she looked over what else she had to do... she saw that she still had yet to send Lavinia a response. She smiled softly, it was weird to be getting all this mail from her old crew but it was a nice feeling to know that people cared enough to write.

"Lavinia,

My apologies for the lateness of this response to your last correspondence. I have been a bit preoccupied with recent events concerning the corporations but I have resolved to remain neutral in the matter. I have something up my sleeve, but, I'll leave it as a surprise to you when you get to see what it reaches its adolescence. But aside from that, everyone here is well and they wish you well. We've been pretty busy and luckily, it's been uneventful but that'll probably change soon enough. I wish I could think of more things to write you but I have much to do. I will try to keep in touch.

Take care and watch your back. The skies are never safe anymore."
-

Kitsurugi Yui
10/29/03 11:05

[GSS Empire] Letter to Lavinia 

"Hello, Taisho Kitsurugi, if you're there, otherwise this is to the officer in charge...Ms. Kessaku if my memory serves. Anyway, how are you over there? Did you suffer many casualties or wounded? I hope that you fared well in that last battle. 

I write just to say Hello and see how you're faring."

To: Lavinia Taiensho
From Kitsurugi Yui

Casualties were minimal for the 1st XF. We're already back at full operational status. The Empire is finishing up repairs and I should be back on her in a week or so. I took the opportunity to refurbish some of the interior too. I was a bit...surprised to see the Seigi out there. I'm glad you guys didn't get beat up too badly. Thanks for the mail.


Tasuki Uso
10/29/03 19:51

[GSS Seigi] waking up 

ON> GSS Seigi

Uso's body started to stir. She stretched her arms and slowly opened her eyes, ~I'm in Kai's room? ~ She asked herself, a bit curious and shocked. Uso calmed down a bit after she made sure he hadn't raped her. She looked around and saw Kai sleeping on the cot, "how....cute" she softly thought out loud 

Kai continued to doze lightly; he stirred a bit and rolled over to face her. His hair falling over his face covering it a bit. After a few more moments he stirred and woke up, rubbed his eyes and sat up and noticed Uso awake. "Oh, good morning." He yawned.

"You moved me to your room?" she asked 

"Hai, you feel asleep on my shoulder in the recreation room, so I brought you back here. Didn't you say that you didn't like to share your nest?" Kai said, still waking up more.

"That’s right...,” she said as she rubbed her eyes, no matter how many times she did it she never got used to synthing new ones each time she woke up.

Kai shifted around and grabbed a data pad to have a look at the request he made before doing to sleep..."Hmm, PNUgen hasn't made my assistant yet. Oh well." He mused, putting the pad down and turning to Uso. "You're cute when you sleep."

Uso giggled, "well I'm glad you think so.,” she said as she moved around a bit to show off her 'cute' body.

He watched her for a moment then yawned and stretched a bit more. 

Uso then stood up and rolled her head around to pop her neck, "well thanks for the bed Kai." Uso said as she headed out the door

Kai caught her gently and stood up and kissed her on her cheek gently. "You're welcome you sly fox."

Uso smiled and generally enjoyed the attention Kai was giving her, "sly fox?" she asked innocently.

"I'm sure you could pull of anything you set your mind to." He said and let her go. "If you need to relax, come see me and I'll give you a massage or something" He grinned innocently

"Well I am seeing you now.” she said with a smile.

"Oh, so you wish to cash in my offer now?" He asked.

"Sure." she said, "I see no reason not to." 

"Alright then, lay down, face down on the cot." Kai instructed.

"Unzip your uniform enough to expose your back and lay on your chest." He said professionally.

Uso walked over to the cot and pulled her braid to the side, "could you help me with this?" she asked, motioning to her uniform.

He nodded and moved up behind her and unzipped it slowly, only enough to show her back.

Uso then lay down on the cot, letting her braid drop down to her side

He knelt down beside her and laid his hands on her back gently, rubbing, and probing with his fingers looking for the knots of muscles.

He could feel the bone plates below the skin that were her VDF's

"Hmm...” He said and gently massaged her back with his fingertips, she could feel them become charged and slightly warm as he massaged her gently.

Uso laid there and closed her eyes, letting Kai work.

Kai began to fully work on her, using techniques taught to him by his mother and reinforced by years of practice. He began to whistle an old tune Uso had never heard.

Uso let out a soft purr as he worked her over.

He continued working her over for a good little while.

Uso's eyes snapped open, "Ack I should get going." She said while sitting up in the cot and reaching behind herself to zip up her uniform, "I left Ritsu in the kitchen..." 

Kai nodded and let her up...”Come back when you want to finish." He said.


Kitsurugi Yui
10/30/03 7:55

[GSS Seigi] Behavioural Problems 

ON> GSS Seigi

"Taisho Wazu," Yuuko whispered in Wazu's ear. "Private transmission from Taisho Yui."

Wazu nodded, "I'll take it in my room," He said before heading back off the bridge and back into the room he was in only moments ago, "Hello Ms. Yui" He said as Seigi activated the screen in his room and patched through the transmission.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? Your proposal in the Council is insane!" Yui glared. 

Uso looked directly at Yui, "I do not tolerate threats." Wazu said slowly and clearly so there would be no mistake.

putting the emphasis on threats^

Yui laughed at him. "Ok, how about this. I _order_ you to fully cooperate with SARA."

"Aww and I thought we both had the same rank Taisho Yui." Wazu said his voice heavy with sarcasm.

"I am Mistress-Taisho, the master of all of the Star Army. We are only equals in the council."

"I will cooperate with Sara however Kessaku Electronics _will_ be property of QnIs before the end of the week." Wazu said. After all he only had an argument with Kessaku's practices not SARA's

"No it won't. Do you want to loose everything?"

"I have no intention of loosing anything, Quite the opposite actually." Wazu said, "and please don't make me repeat myself, I do not tolerate threats."

Yui was becoming frustrated by this pretentious bullshit from Wazu. "Don't you give me that tone."

"You may have been able to push around other corporations in the past but right now Kessaku is outclassed and it is going to pay for that by becoming part of QnIs. Now if you'll excuse me I must speak with our allies about conducting joint target practice exercises. Maybe the NDI would like to practice over Geshrintall?" Wazu asked letting Yui take it as she may. "Goodbye Ms Yui I must be going now." and with that he cut the transmission and walked out of his room.”

Yui sent out a message to all fleets: "Effective immediately, Heram Wazu is demoted to the rank of Taisa. The Star Army does not tolerate insubordination and disrespect toward superior officers."


Lavinia Taiensho
10/31/03 10:27

[GSS Seigi] Passing time idly. 

Lavinia had been laying in her nest half-awake, half-asleep when her private datapad buzzed with a new message for her. She sleepily sat up, rubbed her eyes and looked around; the datapad had been buried under a small pillow. Lav pushed it aside and opened the message on her pad. She smiled joyfully as she read the message for Chiharu. 

Lav always liked the Taisho that treated her crew like a mother would. Lav was happy that all of her old friends wished her well and that they were all safe.

As if she realized something...most likely something she had been half dreaming about while she rested. Lavinia rummaged around in her duffle bag and pulled out sewing equipment and a couple brown beads? With a soft grunt of determination she began to work on something...After an hour or two or straight working she had a plushie doll in the form of Chiharu. How it got to be her? Probably because she was what Lavinia was thinking about at the time when she started.

Lav spent a few more minutes doing retouches and making the little glass beads she had used for eyes balanced. She had used some soft pillow material taken from a shredded pillow of hers. It was a perfect chibized version of the Taisho, Lav giggled girlishly and hugged the plushie, testing its softness and was pleased with her work. She got out of her nest and went off to show her accomplishment to someone, almost childlike...