It was a cold dark night, but then again they all were these days. The MWS Liberator had just "liberated" another neutral sector just east of MWC territory on the galactic map and sent word to the nearest MWC systems to send in their colonists. There was no reply, there never was….the people of the MWC tended to keep their distance from those like me. Seemed my methods were too questionable for them. I couldn’t blame them, I hated myself for some of the things I had done for their benefit. The sentient creatures I had destroyed or enslaved to ensure a productive world for the colonists or the ruins of long gone races that I had desecrated just so my own people could flourish….but it all faded to blackness nowadays….there was no guilt or shame just a simple dark satisfaction with a job well done.

Only the neutral systems would be gone soon, too soon, and our attentions would have to turn to our new neighbors, the twisted race of mutagenized animals that called themselves the Freedom Force. They posed a serious threat to the natural wholesome ways of the MWC and would have to be dealt with to continue our expansion. And ever since our rise to galactic dominance the Pirates of GROSS had become surprisingly quiet on their comms, this was disturbing as it could only mean a devastating attack was looming. They knew our strength was in open warfare, where our Excalibur class warships and planet based missiles could tear through their quicker highly modified warships. Now that their fleet was scattered and silent…..they were more of a threat than ever.

Then there were the people of the Fellowship. Under the powerful leadership of a mysterious wizard by the name of Ray, they had flourished in the metaverse and had attracted quite a following. But they too posed a threat to the sanctity of the MWC as it had been determined that Ray and many of his followers were not human. They had been transplanted into this dimension from another due to a malfunction of Earth’s stargate and had become known as the Middle Earth peoples. How many had come through was hard to determine, as the malfunction went undiscovered for many years. And although they coexisted with the people’s of Earth for sometime, the advent of star travel and the allure of forming their own empire away from the mere humans became strong for some. For their magical ways and strange races had frightened many native born humans and caused a new wave of "witch hunts" throughout the world. So their numbers continue to grow as more people of Middle Earth leave the Sol system to join their kin in the Fellowship. However, they smartly established their new empire far from where the MWC laid down roots and tensions have cooled considerably. So until we once again are forced to come in direct contact, I suppose we could work together to control the threats that we all have in common, such as the terrible Undead CSF.

So I shall travel to the homeworld of those in the Fellowship and meet this wizard Ray. Perhaps there I shall find some way to redeem myself in my own eyes, but until then my soul weighs heavy over what I must do to keep the MWC strong.

TO BE CONTINUED

Senator plephart
Come realize your 'Manifest Destiny' in The People's Empire
Join the Mid-Western Confederation at http://idle.thehueys.com/midwest

A Brief History of Middle Earth

The Magical essences

According to ancient books of lore in the grand library of Minas Tirith, the Middle Earth was shaped by the consonance and dissonance of five magical essences. Upon finishing their creation, these magical essences lodged themselves in the flat Earth and established a stable harmony. The essences, however, emanated powerful life force energies that promoted the development of many many sentient species: elves, dwarves, halflings, humans, orcs, etc. Some of these sentients felt the powerful life force energies flowing around them and studied the its patterns across Middle Earth. Eventually these people would find a way to draw upon them to do their bidding and thus magic was born. After generations of practice and experimentation, several magic users became very adept at harnessing the life force energies and earned the title of a wizard.

No historian is quite sure how the Rings of Power were made, but all historians agree that a great evil power brought forth five Rings of Power and bestowed them upon the grand wizards of the five largest Kingdoms in the Middle Earth, Arnor, Gondor, Lothlorien, Erebor, and Hadar. The Rings of Power gathered the ambient life forces and concentrated the power at the center of the ring. Thus the wearer could call forth tremedous power at whim. Unknown to the five mages, use of the Ring of Power activated a far more powerful Ring of Power that could influence the flow of life force across Middle Earth. When the evil power did distort the waves of life force energies the five great wizards and many others with magical aptitude felt the disturbance around them. They worked quickly to determine the cause of the change in life force energies and found out its cause was the master Ring of Power.

The disturbance in the flow of life force energies had many adverse side effects. Magical tree creatures gradually lost their ability to move and settle into sessile beings. The Earth groaned and buckled creating towering mountains twenty thousand feet high. Coastal lands rose sixty feet while inland plains settled by twenty. Entire rivers began flowing backwards destroying countless villages and flooding much of Hadar.

After recovering from the first wave of cataclysms, the many kingdoms of Middle Earth banded together to counter the disruption that threatened all life on Middle Earth. The alliance between the five great nations and many other lesser nations became known as the United Alliance. The five major powers gathered around the White Tower of Isengard, and each nation brought forth its elite force of knights, wizards, drangonmasters, rangers, and clerics and a large army of footmen and archers. The nation of Hadar was greatly weakened, but contributed its most exceptional demolition teams, elephant cavalry, and amphibious trident warriors.

Not all nations supported the United Alliance, for the evil power had swayed many to join its cause. These nations provided large companies of lightly armored and heavily armored cavalry. The orc kingdoms supplied its most brutal warriors for the vanguard, and the trolls provided skilled axe throwers for range combat. The evil power also conscripted many dark trolls to be its juggernaught central force and many ghouls to be skilled infiltrators. In numbers, the evil power had a clear superiority. In versatility, the United Alliance held the upper hand. The evil power faced certain supply problems if military action drew on too long. The United Alliance needed to secure the master Ring of Power as soon as possible. Hurried by the circumstances, the two forces met on the Plains of Tolkien during the Spring for an epic battle to decide the future.

The Battlefield

Before the first wave of cataclysms, the Plains of Tolkien was extremely flat as far as the eye could see. After the cataclysms, the plains became a rolling prairie, and at the center a large rocky hill of two hundred feet rose above the surrounding low lands. To the west the great river Anduin meandered through the rolling plain occassionally turning parts of the prairie into a difficult marsh. A ranger unit of the United Alliance reached the hill first, but was quickly met by the rapidly marching vanguard of orcs. The main force of the evil power f0llowed stretching as far as one could see.

The United Alliance setup its rank at the top of an easy slope. On its eastern flank, the elite cavalry of Gondor stood ready. On its western flank, the amphibious trident of Hadar slinked through the marshes. At the center of the army, ten thousand archers stood in a loose formation. Behind them thirty thousand foot soldiers stood in a tight formation ready to run by the archers. On the smoother, drier portion of the plain, War Elephants riders prepared for their upcoming battle. The demolition team prepared its traps well ahead of the line burying its powerful alchemist concoctions below the rolling bumps. When the rangers reported back with news of the advance, the United Alliance was ready.

The United Alliance held the upper hand at the beginning. The marksmen at the front of the line were responsible for thousands of casualties and many more wounded. The elephant cavalry smashed through the orc vanguard before the main force could arrive with a counter. The elite cavalry of Gondor flanked the enemy light cavalry units, and the amphibious trident warriors harried the unsuspecting troll axe throwers marching by the marshes. The dvastating explosive traps that were triggered during the middle of the battle blew a huge hold in the lines of the evil force. Confident of victory, the United Alliance army charged routing orc warriors, troll axe throwers, and light cavalry units. They charged headlong into the juggernaught force of dark trolls at the foot of the central hill and the United Alliance army was beaten back with considerable losses. Steadied by the stalwart defence of the dark trolls, the routing units turned and fought as fiercely as ever. The ghouls extremely adept at disguising themselves attacked the United Alliance ranks from behind. The light cavalry of Erebor, which had been held in reserves was used in this situation with great effect and saved the charging army from certain defeat.

The fields surrounding the central hill at the Plains of Tolkien became the bloodiest place on Middle Earth that day. Both armies were decimated beyond recognition and many warriors fought and died upon the bodies of their fallen comrades. When the dust settled, the United Alliance emerged victorious with only five percent of its initial numbers. Of the evil forces, a mear two percent was estimated to have escaped with their lives. There were so many dead, the was not enough survivors to bury a tenth of them. Even so the evil power lingered still in control of the master Ring of Power at the top of the hill. The five grand wizards gathered together and ascended to the submit to destroy it once and for all.

The Aftermath

No one is quite sure what happened at the summit, or what became of the great evil power and the five grand wizards. The survivors at the foot of the hill could only marvel at the many miracles to come. Ray the Wanderer, Gengsta, CariElf, Philopoemen, and HawaiiFive-O were the lieutenants left in charge when the five grand wizards left. They watched as the life force energies began crackling around them swirling tumultuously towards the summit of the hill. The charges rended the sky and scarred the Earth. The souls of the dead followed howling as they all swirled towards the summit. Finally in an explosive flash of light, the hill and several hundred tons of rock and dirt below it disappeared from Middle Earth.

The five grand wizards disappeared, gone from the world forever. With them they took the great evil, the hill, and the hundred thousand dead soldiers on the battlefield. There was no bodies left on the Plains of Tolkien. The only evidence of the great battle were discarded weapons of the fallen and the aging blood on the soil. The last performance of the five grand wizards did produce something. Above the former summit of the hill was another magical essence. It dropped into the crater and lodged itself in the dirt. Not far from the essence, the master Ring of Power fell to rest as well.

The most senior wizard present was Ray and he took custody of the only remaining Ring of Power. It was an enormous burden because the sixth magical essence in Middle Earth signified the end of balance in the world. The Earth twisted and warped for the second time in the year. As many of the other lieutenants left for their native nations to prepare for the imminent cataclysms, Ray remained behind desperately controlling and dampening the effect of sixth essence. As strong as Ray was and as powerful as the Ring of Power was, the destruction of Middle Earth as it existed was delayed only three months.

Middle Earth cracked into six major pieces and many smaller ones. The Plains of Tolkien separated into its own. The Kingdom of Hadar split into two pieces. Gondor and Arnor were place on the same piece. Erebor separated from the others taking a large piece of the Lothlorein and the tower of Isenguard. Lothlorein separated from the others, but lost small chuck of its forests to a breakaway piece. Without the other essences for balance, the life force energies shaped each piece into planets rather than into the flat slate that was Middle Earth.

The runaway life force energies was not entirely spent. As the waves of consonance and dissonance settled, a surge of energy sent the six planets to another dimension. The Plains of Tolkien became part of the Tolkien system, although the "Plains" were no longer the bumpy prairie. Instead the essences had carved several hundred sizable holes into the rolling prairie. The two pieces of Hardar, the kingdom of the halflings, became part of the Gamgee and Frodo system. Arnor and Gondor became part of the Gandalf system, and Erebor became part of the Sauron system. Lothlorein became part of the Evenstar system, but the large chuck that separated has not been located. The forest was supposedly the home of CariElf and she was supposedly there when piece separated. As of yet, we do not have any news of her whereabouts and can only hope for the best. Many people have been heard to yell, "We love you, CariElf," for she was the cleric that provided healing to many of the survivors of the epic battle at the Plains of Tolkien.

The Aliens Menace

The six planets aided by the powerful life force energies were among the best in the Metaverse. By using the many plantirs, the six separated worlds were able to determine that vast distance separated star systems. The wizards endevored to devise a new method of travel. With a bit of luck - finding a fallen surveyor spacecraft and meeting several ship captains who turned out to be criminals - the wizards were able to create fast spacefaring ships with the aid of the Ring of Power.

From priliminary scouting, espionage, and testing of the life force energies, this new world was teeming with alien life and there was an even greater threat of evil from an ancient power - rumored to be the Draginol. To combat the new alien menace, the United Alliance was reforged between the six systems as the Fellowship of the Ring. The people of Middle Earth, again united, set forth to accomplish its destiny.
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Part VIII: All Roads Lead To Sol

Scientists at the esteemed Lunar University, a nongovernmental agency freely sharing research with all factions of humanity, were trying to keep track of the rapidly changing progress reports coming in as a result of the Torian war. Mapping these changes was very imporatnt. The problem is that humans cannot accurately visualize space in more than three dimensions. Hyperdrive and the Newcomers made it obvious that space was at least four dimensions (not including time) and probably a lot more. Humans prefer two dimensional representations because most only live in two dimensions. Unless a human's activities call for three dimensional thought (starpilots, divers, mountain climbers, and so forth), the third dimension is of little importance to most humans. Humans can visualize and keep track of a three dimensional map, but that can be difficult. So the scientists rationalized that the third dimension of the galactic map is so small compared to the length and breadth that it would be simpler for the vast majority of humans to see a two dimensional representation, much like projecting a globe onto a flat map. A new map system would be made, and Sol would be put in the middle of the map, irregardless of how far any one of the projected two dimensional sides was away from the vast expanses of intergalactic space. This became known as the Solarian Projection.

According to the Solarian Projection, humanity's hot spot region was in an arc running from roughly west to north around Sol. This was where several of the major factions of humanity as well as the pirates of GROSS and the infiltrators of the Fellowship had made inroads into Torian space. But on the eastern front, Finlandia, the New Texas Republic, the Terran Federation, and the ever wily ANZACs had built a vibrant, solid set of colonies between them. The parties involved had no intentions of fighting each other yet. There was plenty of space to go around while the bigger empires fought over Torian scraps on the northwestern front. But trouble was looming. Long range scouts had met the edge of both Yor and Altarian space to the far east. The Yor were to the northeast, the Altarian to the southeast. There would soon come a time when the Earthlings would have to face their former Council comrades. The Yor in particular were dreaded. There were rumors from brave adventurers and far traders (merchants willing to engage in very risky long range trade routes without any governmental protection) that the Yor were slavers. They loved to capture beings and make them work Yor labor camps alongside the machines of the lower castes. The Altarians did not enjoy a fearsome reputation, but rather one of an arrogant, hand-holding parent who would treat humans like children who knew nothing.

There was one Newcomer, though, who already knew what made the Yor tick. The technologically advanced Gamma Squad was having frequent clashes with the Yor. It was a low intensity conflict. The Gamma Troopers were too few in number to actively invade Yor planets, so they resorted to colonizing and holding whatever nearby planets they could with small outposts. A large percentage of the entire Yor race were classified as "bugs" under the Gamma Squad Code of Justice, meaning they were a high ranking criminal element, and were to be eliminated on sight. The Yor could not match the Gamma Squad's Ranger technology, so the Yor planets were safe, but any Yor ships that were caught by the Gamma Fleet were already as good as lost. The overall effect on the Yor was not substantial due to their large empire, but Gamma Squad was a thorn in their side. It was safer to expand away from Gamma Squad. The Altarians nearby were being pressured by Drengin tribute collectors, and the fractured empires of humanity were also close at hand, but far more tantalizing.

Meanwhile, the ANZACs were having problems. Though their guerilla warfare campaign had picked off some stray colonies in the Torian war zone on the northwestern front, the mutant problem on Earth was becoming unbearable. Freedom Force had a way to freely travel to and from their native lands on Earth that the ANZAC government could not stop. Something had to be done about this. More and more Earth mutants were defecting and Freedom Force was growing in influence. But no Sol-based faction really knew where the Lepton system was. Freedom Force itself knew that they had Yor neighbors, but little else at the time.

Soon the first Yor diplomatic droids showed up to reach an accord with some of their human neighbors. Finlandia and the New Texas Republic did not bow to the first Yor tribute demands, but that was more of a bluff than a show of strength. Finlandia in particular had been pretty much left behind in the colony race and never seemed to be able to catch a break in the expansion opportunities that still lie ahead. Someone else was always a step ahead. The powerful coalition of Earth-based multi-national corporations the Terran Federation had already secretly met the Yor earlier through covert trading companies and had made prior trade and territorial arrangements. The Yor had no intention of demanding normal tribute of ANZAC, though.

Yor espionage reports gave high marks to ANZAC's unusual tactics and their relatively strong standing among other human factions. The Yor offer was simple: ANZAC was to help fight the Gamma Squad, a heretofore unknown Newcomer to the factions of humanity. An expansion path leading right to the Gamma Squad would be provided. In return, special Yor hunter/killer droids would be dispatched to hunt down the mutants of Freedom Force. The Yor had a rough idea where Lepton could be from the various strange reports from Yor who had survived Freedom Force encounters. The ANZACs saw this as a no lose proposition: eastern expansion would be assured, the problematic Freedom Force would be dealt with (or at least tied down), and there would be peace with the Yor, all for the low price of fighting some two-bit Newcomer empire no human had ever heard of before. Unfortunately, the Yor neglected to mention that Gamma Squad ships were still light years ahead of current warship design for the rest of the known races and factions.

Legends of the Precursors, Part II:
Of Altarians and Men
CypherPax breathed a sign of relief as he cleared customs at the Netromancer International Space Station. Altarians generally welcomed human visitors to their worlds, but he had elected to use forged Altarians credentials instead, it would suit his mission better.

CypherPax needed to move through Altarian culture in such a way that wouldn’t identify him as tourist, or worse a GROSS spy. CypherPax was not here for his empire; he was here on Devoa to investigate the Altarians first hand.

CypherPax stepped out of the space port into broad arcade, it reminded him of Disney World’s Tomorrowland on Earth. He smiled to himself, in a way the Altarians were cross between optimistic children and religious zealots. Before he arrived, CypherPax had studied many of the holovids that Netromancer had shared. He had even exchanged holovids with various Altarian leaders and found that they were partial to Jimmy Stewart, Gregory Peck, and Tom Hanks and other 20th century actors who always played the good guy.

CypherPax had reserved a hotel, in fact, he would be staying at a human run hotel chain. It amazed CypherPax at how quickly Altarian and human cultures had become integrated. At a quick glance, the races were nearly indistinguishable. Altarians had a tendency to favor cybernetics, while humans favored biotechnology improvements. Thus, cybernetic implants generally indicated that the being was an Altarian.

Brain chemistry and even genetic make-up were nearly identical. While Altarians were a separate species, their genetic makeup was nearly identical to humans and much more closely related that even other Terran primates. This news itself had done much to discredit Darwin. Cults had sprung up on Earth dedicated to ancestor worship, the pyramids, the druids, and even, Atlantis. There was even a renewed interest in religion. The Altarians were more interested in philosophies, and were particularly intrigued by humanity’s eastern philosophies. However, until recently the Altarians had a largely monotheistic religion that a significant minority still practiced.

CypherPax wanted to verify these tales first hand. A rumor had spread that an Altarian and human had mated to produce live twins. Some scientists disputed the claim and others insisted that any offspring would be sterile, like a mule. CypherPax very much wanted to verify the heritage of these twins.
…. After a few weeks on the planet, the same differences between Altarians and humans seemed more pronounced. The Altarians had a love of technology, bright colors, and holograhics that made traversing the city difficult.

Even a simple task like using an Altarian library required invasive technology. CypherPax had needed to have a Cyberjack and an AI card implanted into his head under his ear so he could access the library system. It had been an outpatient surgical procedure, but it still has not pleasant and CypherPax could not get used to having to plug himself into the library.

The library had been an illuminating experience. CypherPax had a more complete view of the U.P.N. than most other humans; more fascinating was his newfound knowledge of Altarian history. Altarian history seemed a Utopian version of human history. There were viewer wars and even concept like socialism had worked in Altarian society. More striking was that the myths of both cultures were similar. Altarian society was filled with stories of magic and mythical beasts like dragons and unicorns. There was as much proof for any of this as on Earth. Was it possible that sometime in pre-history humans and Altarians had shared a world? What if Earth was not the cradle of humanity? The Altarian home world also had a biodiversity and climate similar to Earth. Astoundingly, they even had the same domestic animals including dogs, cats, horses, cows, and pigs. There had to be a common link somewhere…

It did not seem the Altarians had any additional information on the Precursors. It was possible this information was hidden, but the Altarians had a more open, less paranoid society. Unless, Altarian Elders had deemed the information particularly dangerous, in which case, it would be out of his reach.

The Arceans and the Drendin were also more similar to human's physiologically then one would except given separate evolutionary paths. Was there a world with unicorns were the Arceans and Drendins were goblins and orcs? CypherPax knew his next destination… Middle Earth.

To Be Continued…

Yoda, CypherPax, Wombat, Plephart, Gengsta, Gerakken

Great stories. Excellent, excellent. Keep 'em comin'!

Legend of the Precursors, Part III
The Search for Atlantis

‘The galaxy is not a tidy place’ thought Commodore Krung of the Arcean Navy. He maneuvered his battleship through the asteroid belt to intercept a constructor.

Seventeen months in space and his only action thus far had been to intercept a constructor. Krung cursed the Precursors for his misfortune. His ward, Starbase 331 guarded a military resource on the far boundaries of Arcean space. To Krung’s knowledge, no sentient race had settled further than this empty frontier. Krung was frustrated by the assignment, clearly he been demoted after his defeats at the hands of Staffa, Ralegh, and the Ray the Wanderer. Krung was frustrated, he was a genius and it was nothing that bad luck that led to his defeat. . Now his talents were wasted guarding a sector that contained the Starbase and a bunch of useless rocks while much of the core of the Arcean empire was in human hands.

The presence of a human’s constructor was puzzling, but of little consequence. A constructor was not an offensive weapon and even discounting his capital ship, the Star Base 331 was armed with a Lightning Shield and a half a dozen other defensive enhancements. Nothing could touch her. It was probably not worth the time to intercept the constructor except that it’s path came quite close to the Starbase and the Starbase commander enjoyed tormenting Krung.

Krung used the instant communicatior device to signal the constructor, but received no response. ‘Commodore Krung, three more Terraen constructors have been detected.’ Krung looked at the tactical map with renewed interest as the Communication Officer called in his report.

Just then another faster moving blip appeared on the display, it was broadcasting a signal. It was a G.R.O.S.S. survey ship named the Far Star. A survey ship? This was ridiculous though Krung, what was next a fleet of sensor drones?

‘Commodore Krung, this is Captain Cypher Pax of GROSS. Please surrender your ship and provide an escort to the Starbase and no one will get hurt.’

Krung signaled with distain ‘That’s a negative, Cypher Pax. Prepare to die, monkey.’ Krung ordered the Turbo Phaser aimed on the survey ship.

Before the battleship could fire, the Far Star launched a pair of micro-Anti-matter Missiles at the battleship completely vaporizing it. Krung’s last thought was ‘How did I end up on this map?’

CypherPax ordered all the concealed weapons deployed on the Far Star. The star base commander could see that the situation has hopeless. Despite his impressive array of defensive weaponry the Far Star survey ship would vaporize the station and all Starbase 331 could do was wait for the attack. The nearest Arcean system was nearly five sectors away and help would not arrive.

While distracted by the survey ship, the starbase did not notice the constructors launching cloaked escape pods towards the star base. This was a fatal mistake as the pirate commandos quickly blew their way into star base and took control of the station before the self-destruct mechanism could be activated. Within six hours, the space station was under pirate control and the pirates were celebrating with fine Arcean sprits.

Cypher Pax quickly opened a diplomatic channel to the Arcean ambassador and sent him a treatise on Interstellar Negiotation as a tribute to end the war. The Arceans in this quadrant were allied with the Torians and Cypher Pax did not wish a war, only this specific space station.

Cypher Pax docked the Far Star in one of the hanger bays that had remained unscathed. With some amusement, CypherPax noted that the bay held Micro Fighters that hadn’t even been deployed for the battle.

Cypher went to the Mining Modules and met up with his chief scientist. ‘Just as you suspected captain. The military resource is a dense metal with impressive energy channeling capability. It could be a fuel source, an energy source, or a weapon that rivals nucleics in power. This metal is seemingly unique, I haven’t seen a military resource, or any resource that was remotely similar.’

CypherPax smiled the Altarians also had a myth of Altantis and they had placed among the stars, not in the sea. It had likewise been destroyed. Cypher Pax wondered in the survey ship sensors would confirm that the asteroid belt consisted of the remains of a planetary system….

He picked up a circular piece of the metal in his gloved hand. It glowed like a crystal, yet gave off no heat. The chief scientist looked at him and said, ‘It’s remarkable, isn’t it. It is quite safe to touch, not radioactive in the least. The most amazing part is that is unrefined piece of ore.’

CypherPax smiled and said, ‘This metal is known of on Earth as ‘Orchalum’
‘That’s impossible!’ stammered the scientist. ‘There is no scientific record of this ore or even an element with similar properties.’

Cypher Pax replied, ‘That’s because it’s not in the scientific record, but a part of our mythology. I hold in my hand a fragment of Atlantis.’ Cypher Pax handled the ore to a personal assistant to have a necklace made. Wearing the crystal might attract the attention of those who knew it’s significance, the legends also suggested that it might increase his abilities a mentalist.

The Altarians had believed this system was an Altanean outpost that had survived the initial destruction, but not the exodus of survivors. The myths of Atlantis had at least some truth. Could the denizens of Altantis been Precursors who had seeded Earth?

Cypher Pax pondered his discovery. He would run some tests on the system. He knew he had to give credence to legends and myths. He also knew he need to visit the wizards of the Fellowship of the Ring. However, he had one more stop to make first.

To be continued...

Been battling Evil in KOTOR these past few days... I will get to posting these as soon as I find that Star Forge and finish the game........

BTW, the KOTOR Storyline has given me MUCH more to write about.. Expect some good stories from the JR asap after I finish the game!
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Part IX: Agents of Change

The Altarian stategy was more subtle than the Yor tribute tactics. Altarian colonization was not moving toward the factions of Earth on the southeastern front. The Torians, Yor, and especially Drengin attributed the stagnant Altarian growth on that side of their empire to reduced colonization ability due to paying the Drengin tribute. The children of Sol were colonizing almost unopposed toward the edges of Altarian space, and were not asking any questions about why they had such an easy time doing it. And then the time of the Great Adoption came without warning.

Earth colonies on the edge of Altarian space were suddenly bombarded with a shock and awe campaign of the wonders of Altarian civilization. While the frontier colonies of humanity were struggling in poverty and lacking services, wealthy Altarian colonies with a high standard of living were glad to send aid, allow trade routes, and take human tourists on trips to see the marvels Altarian life had to offer, highlighting the highly structured Altarian society were everyone had purpose and knew their place, and to remind humans of how the Altarians were always there for humanity to nurture and guide them in the days before humans joined the Council, during, and now after.

Finlandia was the first to suffer. After finally getting ahead for once, their foremost colonies fell first. Calling upon their Euro allies for support, all they got was caught in the middle of a Euro-Altarian war where the Euros grabbed the defecting Finlandia colonies for themselves. Finlandia soon became an empire in name only. There was eventually no Finlandia colonial presence left at all. Finlandia only had its possessions on Earth now, and even those were under Euro protection.

The New Texas Republic was also languishing. They too had lost a few colonies in the Great Adoption. Except the NTR did not have any allies to call upon and did not wish to make open war upon a rather large Altarian empire. So they stopped expanding and played it safe, their most precious colonies hidden in a pocket behind the Euros new conquests. The NTR hoped that the Euro colony shield was thick enough to stop their own people from defecting.

As always, the Terran Federation thought they had their bases covered. The same covert trade conglomerates had once again already established secret trade deals with the Altarians. And, to be doubly safe, the Terran Federation also focused heavily on interspecies trade and communications technology to start building a culture shield of their own to counteract the Great Adoption.

The pirates of GROSS also grew restless. Upon hearing tales of Altarians brainwashing humans and then taking over and exploiting human colonies, the raiders raced at full speed toward an alien enemy seen as far more worthy than the war weary Torians who were still licking their wounds from a massive onslaught. The Doom was already a fierce warship that no other single known ship to date could match. The pirates were out for blood, and any other color than red just made it better. The Jolly Roger flew proud, and few would dare stand in its way.

Worse yet, the infiltration specialists of the Fellowship of the Ring had infected Altarian space. They were fast working their way toward the conflict zone, ever hoping to expand Fellowship influence on another front. First the Torians served as the conduit for the Fellowship. Now the Altarians would also be lured into a false sense of security and be used as an underground railroad to deliver the agents of change to their targets. More worlds would discover the wonders and horrors of magic and not question why things had changed so suddenly. Afterall, life is change is an essential Fellowship belief.

There was one empire in the area that did get off unscathed in the Great Adoption. Not only where they far enough north to have plenty of buffers between them and the Altarians, but the ANZACs had invested so much time in their mutant hunts and in enforcing cultural indoctrination to keep their people in check that the Altarian culture campaign passed them by. That luck would prove fleeting however, as soon there would be a price to pay for picking up another race's war against an unknown but superior enemy. The ANZAC/Yor informal alliance against Gamma Squad would prove costly.

First Meetings

Ray walked to the front of the conference hall where he turned to face the representative members of the Fellowship. They had gathered that day on Tolkien to decide on the future of the Fellowship in this new age of space. Specifically they were there to discuss the attitude with which the Fellowship would treat alien species and the approach the races of Middle Earth would use to colonized uninhabited colonies. The first group of scouts were dispatched to the explore the closest stars six months before the meeting and had reported back a large wealth of information.

The Exploration

Preliminary stellar observations and the new scouting data agreed that stars were concentrated the plane of the eccliptic. Although many stars deviated from this plane by many parsecs, those with possibility of supporting life were concentrated so close to the plane that mapping the difference would be negligible. Nevertheless, the Fellowship adopted a three dimensional mapping of the galaxy in the third months of scouting. The strategic planning department headed by Gengsta suggested the additional dimension would give the Fellowship an advantage in manuveurability over enemies that used the much simpler two dimensional maps. Gengsta did not expect to the Fellowship use the third dimension often, but expected it could be used with dazzling effectiveness against the right enemy.

In the fourth month, the scouts transmitted news of the first alien race, the Torians. The Torians had control of seven systems along with their home system and had established nince colonies. The closest of these systems was four sectors away, but the Torians still posed a great threat to colonize the dozen or so habitable planets in the ten sectors between them. Later scouting suggested their expansion was directed away from the Fellowship and their star fleet was encountering stiff resistance from unknown forces. In the opposite direction, the space was open without any trace of alien races. Stars were sparse and habitable planets were extremely rare. Of the seventeen star systems scouted in the region only two planets were naturally capable of supporting life and only four were possible candidates for improvement into habitable planets.

Based on second month scouting data, the Research and Development department headed by Vincible determined the stars systems occupied by the Fellowship were located in one of the great spiral arms of the gigantic galaxy. These spiral arms contained an estimated sixty percent of the stars in the galaxy and the star density in the spirals was over fourty times that of the star density of the space in between. The galaxy also had an immense galactic core that contained an estimated forty percent of the stars and packed them so tightly the star density was four times that of the spiral arms. Colonizing planets in another spiral arm required a range not yet attained by the Fellowship, but Vincible kept the option alive and drafted a proposal for the exploration of other spiral arms.

The proposal acknowledged the improbablility of finding colonizable planets in the great voids between spiral arms, but the proposal emphasized the limited expansion available to the Fellowship and suggested exploration and scouting of sectors for the chance that habitable planets maybe found and bridge the gap between spiral arms. Vincible dismissed the exploration of the space away from the galactic core due to the lower probability of finding suitable stars. He emphasized the advantages of exploration towards the galactic core. Although the galactic core would be more to house alien races, habitable planets would be far more common and the bridging colony was far more likely due to the presence of a small cluster of stars in the middle of the void between arms. The proposal was approved by Ray and one scout was launched in the third month and sent towards the galactic center.

The Strategy Session

The representative members turned to attention as Ray began to speak at the head of the conference table. It would be a new era of expansion for the races of Middle Earth, and there would be around eighteen colonies available for the taking - if the Fellowship was quick. The conference table became transparent and on it the third dimensional map appeared in front of everyone at the table. Purple lights marked the known habitable systems within range of colonization. Yellow lights marked the known habitable systems out of range for colonization.

Philopoemen stood up and explained the results the scouts under his command. In the direction of the Torian sectors, there were ten systems within range of colony ships under the most modern technology. Under the most ambitious colonization plan, the Fellowship would be able to colonize all of them. In the same direction there were four systems that would be open to Fellowship colonization if the Torians continued their war against their enemies. One of these systems contained two high quality planets which would be valuable assets after some development. There were five other systems that the Torians were about to colonize or unreachable without the aid of starbases. The fierce fighting was estimated to be occurring two sectors away from the current location of the scouts and would not come into play for any Fellowship colonization attempt in the region. In the opposite direction, there were still only two readily colonizable systems and the star density had thinned out such that finding more would be extremely unlikely. The good news was that no aliens threatened to colonize the sectors and posed little or no threat.

The most uncertain colonization project would be the lone star system slightly out of range in the direction of the galactic core. The system held the best planet so far seen by the Fellowship. A colonization attempt in that direction would require a temporary colony on an uninhabitable planet as a stepping stone. Furthermore, there was no guarentee the Fellowship would be able to colonize anymore systems in the region and in such a scenario the defenses for the system would be isolate.

HawaiiFive-O assumed the position as speaker when Philopoemen finished his report on exploration. He explained the extensive communications with the Torians and priliminary hailings with their enemies on the distant front. Relations with the Torians were fairly friendly since first contact. Although they admonished Fellowship ambassadors against subsequent dealings with the criminals that had supplied the earliest interstellar technology, there was little ill will and no threat of force. In the many sessions, the Torians have hinted at the identity of their enemies. Apparently they appear as the men of Middle Earth and they formed a formidable force. Priliminary hailings with the alien race confirmed initial suspicions but provided additional problems. The crew of the ships sighted by Fellowship scouts were distinctly men, but no two ships ever hailed under the same banner or had the same markings. There were news of Canadian Star Federation, European Empire, Mid-Western Federation, and G.R.O.S.S. Several unmarked starships attempted to capture the scouts but were eventually outran by the fast light ships. It was believed the four powers were independent entities and the unmarked starships part of the G.R.O.S.S. pirate empire. It would thus be necessary to contact all four separately and establish some form of understanding.

Gibbie99 disclosed the final report on the military strength of the Fellowship. The relative power of the Fellowship was extremely weak and had only one fighting ship, the prototype Auduin. The advantages the Fellowship would have over enemy ships was their speed advantage and that would come handy in the defensive war that the Fellowship as likely to fight soon. Gibbie99, however, believed the military could be rapidly expanded at the end of the colonization phase without any danger of attack given the current condition of the Torians.

The Council Shouts

The elves were the first to give their opinion. Philopoemen, LanVik, and KseAli believed a moderate colonization plan would be the best option. Along with a steady development of military power and some social development, the Fellowship star systems would be powerful and prosperous. This option would minimize the risk of unwarranted attacks and establish a strong power base to fund an expansion towards the galactic core. Diplomatically, the elves wanted a very conservative approach, establishing friendly relations only when necessary. They wanted to keep alien influence out of Fellowship systems and continue to develop science and magic in relative isolation.

The halflings represented by HawaiiFive-O desired extensive social improvements to the current worlds reguardless of costs. They also wanted extensive diplomatic activity especially with the Torians and show them the halfling hospitality they were know for on Middle Earth. Many counciled an immediate start to the construction of social improvements but recognized the advantages of creating a greater empire.

The dwarves had a very simple request, to research the most advanced technology, forge the best weapons, and equip the best armors on the Fellowship star fleet. This simple request of course would require complex strategies and left the immediate strategy up in the air.

The humans were divided on every single subject and presented their case individually. Vincible firmly pushed for the earliest possible colonization in the direction of the galactic core. The probablity of establishing many colonies on the second spiral arm was very high and would provide great advantages in the future. The colonization project in the native spiral arm would be conservative and take every colonizable planet in range. As the second spiral arm was being colonized, the Fellowship could substantially increase its military in the native spiral arm. Research would a top priority and social development a distant second. Gengsta advocated the most ambitious colonization project plan. The plan would be aimed at colonizing at least twelve of the star systems in the Torian direction, while dispatching a large population towards the galactic center. If successful, the Fellowship would secure the most valuable planets in the region and gain a production advantage over its neighbors. Research would be conducted at a pace matching that of surrounding empires, and the focus of social projects would be increasing production capacity. Gibbie99 like the Gengsta proposal for colonization but believed the entire focus of the Fellowship after the colonization should be expansion of the military. Popup Target attacked the colonization plan as imprudent putting the Fellowship at risks of allien attacks and producing unnecessary colony ships at the expense of the military. Ray pushed yet another possibility for consideration. Although it would be fastest to colonize with barebone colony ships, the addition of life energy crystals would considerable improve life on the colonized planets, a long term benefit that could not be ignored.

The new proposal shot turmoil into the conference room as five members stood up to speak at the same time. And at the same time they did speak with each subsequent line increasing in volume. In a few minutes the argument was full force and the electricity in the room was crackling with anger. Finally, Ray struck the argument into silence and called for the meeting to adjorn for lunch. The halflings were struck with glee, the dwarves were stuck with indifference, but the elves and men retreated to prepare convincing arguments for the second session. Over lunch the lines of debate were established and three parties formed to promote their plan.

The elves held fast to their conservative plans letting few into their circle and maintained complete silence. The moderates lead by Popup Target formulated no solid position but tried to convince everyone the soundness of their plan. The ambitious colonization plan was promoted by the collaboration of Gengsta, Vincible, and Gibbie99. Rather than convincing the neutrals since they would have time for that at the meeting, the group refined their plan taking into account every known bit of information.

To Be Continued...

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Enter A New Age, Enter A New Empire

The Council Decides

The elves returned from the lunch with a long term strategy - one that could be best implemented by a relatively conservative colonization plan. The galactic powers in the surrounding star systems were incredibly aggressive and war hungry. The best way to avoid these wars was to develop a strong defense in a wealthy but inaccessible part of the galaxy, and while the others exhausted themselves on the phasers of their enemies, the Fellowship would grow ever stronger and eventually bring enlightenment to the other races and initiate new members to the Fellowship.

Without a word, Gibbie99 projected the three dimensional stellar map replaced the conference table. This time one purple system was marked in bright red, four Torians ships placed in orbit, and three lines were drawn from the marked system towards Frodo, Tolkien, and Evenstar. The lines represented open lanes of attack against key Fellowship systems if relations with the Torian empire deteriorated. Establishing Fellowship control over the marked star system would give the Fellowship a much easier task of defending the star systems in the region.

Gengsta then produced detailed plan for the rapid colonization of twelve of the colonies, one that secured the marked system for the Fellowship without doubt. The entire plan would occupy all twelve in under eighteen months and secure the bridging system to the next spiral arm in under two years. Life force energy crystals would enhance seven of the more prosperous colonies, and the others could be enhanced later. The plan would also deploy the warship Auduin to Torian sectors to interfere with their colonizing attempts.

Vincible followed up with a large chart of productive and economic capabilities. Compared to a conservative method of colonization, the aggressive approach would consume more wealth, produce twenty percent more in the long run, and could be on par in military strength as early as within two years. The high probablility of finding more habitable systems in the second spiral arm would promise even greater economic and productive capacity.

Then Gibbie99 moved to address the concerns many had voiced during the first session. The biggest concern was a war with the Torians before Fellowship military was ready, and the new plan addressed in two ways. The colonization plan would establish control over the marked system slowing down Torian advance considerably, and the Torians were most likely to still be fighting their war against the other empires of men or recovering strength after concluding these wars. The second concern was the possibility of another race beating Fellowship colonizers to the bridging system. But since scouts have not reported sight of any other races in the region, the probability of another race heading to the system was very low. The last concern was the contact with alien powers and the possibility of engaging in wars. Here the philosophy of isolation would be self-defeating and would result in falling behind technologically. The greater contact would also give the Fellowship more diplomatic power to avoid wars, all the while sitting behind a shield of Torian galactic sectors.

After a great deal of discussion, a concensus was reached to use the colonization plan drafted by Gengsta and follow the plan of Gibbie99 for immediate military buildup following complete colonization of the spiral arm. The military build up would be followed by social improvements. Long term strategy would focus on creating a better life for the citizens of the Fellowship Empire, while maintaining a strong military to dissuade alien powers from attacking. Diplomatic strategy would use the military power of the Fellowship fleets to impress peace upon all galactic powers.

The Green Fleet of Petra

Philopoemen looked down at his command console at Petra. The Fellowship managed to secure every single system under the original plan and setup the fleet command at Petra, the key system pointed out by Gibbie99 just over two years earlier. Philopoemen went through the normal system checks and dispatched the newly produced sensor drones out into the surrounding space. He cleared the few scouts that returned for refueling and dispatched them again to watch for any sign of Torian agression. There was little chance of it since current relations with them were so friendly, but one could never be too careful.

There were suppose to be three Fellowship arriving from the central systems. They were the newest ships available, fast nimble frigates, but extremely difficult to maintain properly. The instructions for the maintenance crew was just being transmitted from the Research and Development department on Tolkien. Philopoemen moved over the the communication console and brought up the transmission. After a brief scan, Philopoemen forwarded the long list over to Patman3, the master dwarf mechanic at Petra. No doubt the man would make his way over to the space dock and examine the new ships. Philopoemen moved back to the command console and drafted orders for new markings for the new arrivals.

The Green Fleet would become more powerful than the entire Torian military, but they were not the only concern. Scouts from the far edge were transmitting back news of large powerful empires of men. Although dvided in their petty strife, the men were as resourceful as the men of the Fellowship and each empire carved out a sizable territory for their citizens. Philopoemen reviewed the ship movements of each empire, but none treatened attack against Fellowship outposts. Their in fighting would buy the Fellowship much needed time to continue development of military and economic power. Meanwhile, Fellowship diplomats like HawaiiFive-O continued to work on establishing favorable relations with each power - careful not to become too close.

A transmission arrived from the most advanced Fellowship outpost, Anderson. The message told of nothing happening, of everything in order. Philopoemen had received messages like this before - all quiet on the western front - during the epic battle back on Middle Earth. For such an advanced outpost, the news was all too quiet, like the calm before the storm. He walked to middle of room and called up the galactic map, examined the positioning of ships, and traced several paths between the stars. There was something amiss! Philopoemen immediately dispatched three corvettes to hurry over with lightning speed and placed the Green Fleet on alert for active duty within the month.

Towards the Galactic Core

Barry Light looked up at the almost completed colony ship from his office inside the life support bubble. In one month he would be leaving with the rest of the colony and abandoning the small virtually lifeless planet and head towards the galactic core. The five months inside the life support bubble had been torture for most of the colonizers, but now with the colonization of the supposedly heavenly Gladstone system, Barry Light could leave and settle a habitable planet.

A year ago, Barry Light was assigned to the governorship of an undetermined habitable planet. The assignment also had the burden of establishing the bridge colony needed to reach Gladstone and building a second colony ship. Now there was more scouting data from the new spiral arm. There were plenty of planets to colonize and no significant alien power in sight. Barry Light reminisced of that fateful meeting when the plan for the colonization project had been announced. What a stroke of genius and recklessness!

Fellowship Headquarters

Ray looked up from the reports that department leaders had submitted the day before. All of them noted some unknown power warping reality and bending or creating life force energies to their will. Ray had felt disturbances in the energies flow for quite awhile now, and could tell that many of the wizards at the conference table had detected the anomoly as well. Given all the scientific data and observations, the presence of the alien power was undeniable, and Ray made the conclusion clear to everyone. The best option for the Fellowship would be to identify the alien power and determine the source of its power. Since everything except for this anomoly is proceeding according to plan, everyone should return to their tasks and adapt to the uncertainty with their best judgement.

Ray called back Richard Heaton, the master of divination magic. Together with the help of the Ring of Power, Ray projected his psyche into the surrounding space, across many sectors and reached one mind, Yoda. He was the head of large empire at the very edge of the galaxy. The empire was called the Jedi Republic and was the union of many races just like the Fellowship. Many of their star systems were located on the next galactic arm and like the Fellowship ventured across the great gap in search of the galactic core. From their present position and speed of travel, Ray determined they would arrive soon and extended a quick invitation to visit, before severing communications.

May Peace Be With You

The Jedi Master

Yoda docked his starfighter at Tolkien interstellar dock, but before Yoda could open the hatches, the dock operator motioned to him to remain in the ship. A large disc took hold of the ship and transferred the ship to a large spire that seemed to stretched endlessly towards the planet below. A simple warning to secure seat belts and to prepare for acceleration came over the communicator. A minute later the disc disappeared and small scout ship accelerated to a controlled but rapid descent towards the planet. The space elevator had been the marvel of engineering derived from the construction technologies the Torian Empire were willing to share. The halflings originated the idea, and the dwarves successfully built it. And now everything could be transfer from planetside to interstellar dock within five minutes, including a small starfighter.

Within minutes of touch down, Ray came out to greet the old Jedi Master and felt a strong source of power around his guest. The green elder had a strong control of a different type of world force, not the life force energies exuded by the essenses imbedded within the worlds. Yoda could access his his energies anywhere in the galaxy - the force was ambient. Ray extended a hand of welcome and guided the master into the great guest hall. Ray promptly apologized for the dismal attendance of Fellowship members at the guest hall. In total there were only four and Gibbie99 had left quickly to attend to his duties of coordinating the entire Fellowship military. The other three were Gengsta, Richard Heaton, and Thelebk, acknowledge their respects and sat down.

Ray and Yoda talked emptily for about half an hour but retreated to a private room and held conversation for over four hours. When the two leaders finished their discussion, both seemed thoroughly satisfied. Ray escorted Yoda back to the landing pad and bade the Jedi Master farewell and said, "May peace be with you." A minute later the starfigher with Yoda inside was well on its way back to the interstellar dock.

Gengsta approached Ray quickly after Yoda departed and asked for his accessment of the Jedi Republic. Ray thought the leaders were among the most righteous rulers in the galaxy, and the subjects were natural benign. Laughingly Ray mentioned the small war the Jedi Republic fought against the pirate nation of GROSS for their indiscriminant looting. In the six months of war, only advanced scouts were destroyed before a peaceful agreement was reached. Then very wistfully, Ray commented that it would be nice if the Jedi Republic would join with the Fellowship. But that situation seemed all but impossible their citizens has a strong respect for independence and their leadership has a will made out of steel.

Gengsta smiled with agreement and gave his advice. It would be best to lightly defend every planet with some form of interstellar troop transport and move away all offensive ships as a gesture of good will. The motion would bring better relations with the reliable Jedi Republic and strengthen up the Green Fleet that would face the brunt of military activity. Gengsta then mentioned news of mysterious developments near the Torian border and his imminent journey along with Gibbie99 over to Petra military command station. With that Gengsta wished Ray the best of luck at Fellowship headquarters, stepped into the space elevator shuttle, and followed Yoda to the interstellar dock.

A Disappearing Trick

Mad Prophet leaned back leisurely in his swiveling command chair at the Frey Space Station above Frey IV and reviewed the orders sent by Philopoemen earlier in the day. Just a few days ago, he sent in a report to Petra military command station stating, his scouts had observed nothing. What was so extraordinary about nothing? The aliens were probably just retreating to repair their ships at their home star systems. But that explanation did not make much sense because the peace was already six months old. Damaged ships would have returned a long time ago, and freighters would be roaming the space now. So it was just a lull in space transportation, and Mad Prophet dismissed it as just that until one of his scouts disappeared.

Mad Prophet stared at the cut short distress signal transmitted from the last know location of the lost scout. The brevity of the message shocked him because it meant the crew had only had five minutes to respond to the threat before they were incapacitated. No alien power had technology to build ships with such speed or effective cloaking to surprise the scouts like that. He immediately forwarded the distress signal to Philopoemen and ordered all crew to prepare for battle.

Philopoemen received the incoming transmission from Mad Prophet and marked the location of the disappearance, and forwarded the distress signal over to Gibbie99 at the Command Headquarters on Tolkien. Philopoemen ordered the immediate supply of all capable warships and sent orders to every ship captain to ready for an immediate journey to Frey in five hours. He duplicated his command console data and collected the information inside his magical box. Then Philopoemen handed the control over to his second in command, Redshift8, with orders to follow every instruction sent by the capital, and walked down to the dock.


Gibbie99 was prepared to meet the Yoda that Ray was expecting to visit that day, but just as the Jedi Master arrived, an urgent message came over from Petra Command Center and he had to excuse himself. When he arrived at his console, Gibbie99 was greeted by cut short the distress signal and the comments Mad Prophet and Philopoemen added. The disappearance of the scout was extraordinary, but did not severely reduce size of Fellowship military. It was no time to panic, but no time to sit still and wait either. Gibbie99 issued orders to Petra Command Station to continue scouting vigilance and as precaution send a significant force to Frey Space Station. To Frey Space Station, he issued orders to maintain scouting of surrounding area, but to retreat to a smaller radius. Gibbie99 then contacted Gengsta to make sense of the situation.

The Promecian Triangle

Gengsta met Gibbie99 at Central Command console at the strategic planning department on Tolkien. The galactic map dominated the conference table and one large dot placed thirty one parsecs away from the Frey star system. Gibbie99 motioned to Gengsta over to the communication console with the urgent message from Philopoemen. Aside from the location and the distress message, there was no more information given and no conclusion to make. Gengsta walked over to Gibbie99 to look at what he was doing.

"There isn't enough information in that message, is there? I'm pulling up all the transmissions originating from Frey Space Station over the past month. So far there isn't much. Just two messages and many reports of enemy ship coordinates. I am placing them all on the conference table."

"We are just going to have to sift through all this information. Meanwhile, it would be wise to prepare several ships and head towards Petra. If it was one of the known alien powers at work, the pirates are most likely the culprit and attacking to blind. But then again we have not heard of any technology allowing such stealthy attacks, so the best conclusion is that an unknown power is to blame."

Gibbie99 ordered several crews to stand at attentions and walked to the conference table to look at the message Gengsta was studying at the moment. It was the message that Mad Prophet had sent reporting nothing was to be seen within their sensor range. Gibbie99 had skipped over the routine status report, but now that he thought about it, the fact that nothing was within sensor range was very strange indeed.

"Gibbie99, check out this message carefully because I believe this report hides something very significant. I will be pulling up several maps from our archives to see if anything patterns start showing up. Maybe this isn't the first time a ship has disappeared."

Gengsta impressed his will on the computer and quickly generate a small program that compiled the data from a succession of scouting data and drew the path of each ship on a new map. The whole process took twenty minutes, and Gengsta moved on to scan the other messages between Petra Command Station and Prey Space Station. With the exception of the alert command and movement of corvettes several hours after the receipt of the previous message, there was no more messages that seemed out of the ordinary.

Gengsta sent the activity report to the conference table, and waited for the compilation to finish. Meanwhile Gibbie99 was looking for strange reports from other outposts, but everyone was reporting normal traffic and certainly no disappearances. When he was done, Gibbie99 scanned the activity report from Petra Command Station. It was telling, but not as telling as the compilation map that popped up on the conference table a moment later.

The lines traced the path of every ship for the past four months. Gibbie99 coud see the large fleet of frigates as they made their way towards Petra., the many freighters that were sent to Torian worlds to establish trade routes, and the long path colony ships were taking towards the galactic core. The border sectors between the Fellowship of the Ring and the Torian Empire was a high traffic region, with each sector crossed many times - except for one. There was a large patch, a triangle, of space was not explored, and the path of every ship that headed towards the sector stopped abruptly - as if the ship disappeared.

The triangle was bounded by three anomolies. Closest to the Fellowship was an unexplained anomoly. Closest to the Torian Empire was a large collection of space junk, maybe a graveyard for ships. Closest to the European Empire and Canadian Federation was the a large group of wormhole named Prometheus gates. Ships would enter this region and suddenly vanish. In the case of the scout, the crew had little time to communicate its situation. Certainly other empires must have noticed the phenomenon already, but none stopped sending their ships through the triangle.

"Gengsta, see the two European Alliance ships heading towards the triangle. We should have our scouts keep an eye on them to observe what happens when they enter. If we can observe anything from their folly, it would be very valuable."

"Excellent idea, I'm drafting the order to Petra Command Station and Peregrin Space Station, right now. I'm also contacting Philopoemen on the flagship, Auduin, to recall several battlecruisers and to notify him of our findings. We should leave immediately after the successful transmission of the messages. If the alien powers interpret the loss of their ships without knowledge of the phenomenon, war will surely break out in the region again."

"The frigate, Elendil, will be ready in two hours for departure along with an escort fleet of five corvettes. We should notify Ray of our departure and leave him a report. I'll leave that to you and head up to the interstellar dock immediately to hasten preparations. We'll be waiting."

Another Spiral Arm

According to the calculations of Vincible, the colonizers should arrive on another spiral arm, but extremely close to the galactic core of abundantly habitable planets. The number of habitable planets certainly increased a great deal. There were fifteen in the first five sectors explored by the scouts. Gladstone had already launched two colony ships and secured two prosperous planets for the Fellowship.

Barry Light woke from his uncomfortable sleep of five months in the stasis cells of the colony ship, Bridge. He walked over to the brdige and took a look at the galactic map. There were several prime planets to colonize, but none caught his eye as much as one closest to the galactic core. He ordered the crew to direct the colony towards the core. It would take another four boring months, but that would be a small sacrifice for such a good planet.

Imperial Subplot Part III: The Drengin Strike Back

PART I: The Demonstration
The general alarm sounded through-out the Jedi Council Building. Jedi from all levels came rushing to the General Assembly chambers to see what was the matter. Upon reaching their seats, the Jedi would have seen Master Windu at the podium, looking anxious and hurried.

"Please take your seats." Master Windu began.

"You must forgive the sudden call, however, a matter of great importance has come to hand. I will start off by telling you all the events that transpired earlier this morning."

(Earlier that morning)
Master Windu, in deep meditation in his chambers sensed a sudden disturbance in the force. It was very strong, as if billions of voices had cried in terror, and were then silenced forever. This shook Master Windu greatly, and he immediatly left his chambers to attempt and discover what had caused this severe disturbance.

Leaving his chambers, Master Windu was approched by Master Qui-Gong and Jedi Knight Kenobi. Before Windu could say a word, Master Qui-Gong inquired about the disturbance.

"Did you feel it Master Windu? It was like nothing I have ever felt before."

"Ah, so I am not becoming senile" Master Windu replied, "We must discover what caused that great disturbance in the force."

The small party proceeded together to the Intelligence Department immediatly. Master Windu asked the Intel Officer first.

"Have you picked up any strange readings Mr. Tarkin?"
(Back to the General Assembly)
"No, Master Windu he told me, no we hav.. Turning he recieved an update from another officer. This information is what has brought us all here on such short notice, and I will now tell you all what has happened. This will be hard to believe at first, even I was dumbfounded when I first learned of the news."

Master Windu drew in a deep breath before continuing.

"An entire Star System has been obliterated by the Drengin Empire."

PART II: Continuing the Speach
The room was filled with the sounds of gasping, many Jedi simply said "what?" instinctivly. Some stood up, and then dropped back into their chairs. After the room had calmed down Master Windu continued.

"Our drones recorded the resulting Supernova and based on its location, we expect that the Freedom Force home system of Lepton was destroyed, taking that Empire with it. Some of the FF members did survive, as they were out of the system at the time. We have reports flooding in that they fled to GROSS space once they returned to find their homes were nothing but a debris field. Billions were lost, but this poses new questions inself. If a race holds this much firepower undetered, then what is to stop the Drengins from obliterating every single system that is opposing them? Once Master Yoda returns, we in the Council will discuss what our next steps should be. You are dismissed."

PART III: Return of the Jedi
Reentering the Coruscant system, Master Yoda released his hyperspace unit in the space base that maintained them. Proceeding to the landing pad on the Jedi Council building, Master Yoda was well aware of the difficult times ahead.

"It is good to see you have made it safely, Master Yoda, we have much to discuss." Master Windu greeted his Master.

"Know this I do, a disturbance in the force I felt. Something terrible I feal has occured."

"Master Yoda, I regret that I must say this but a star system has been destroyed. The Lepton system has been lost and billions of the Freedom Force people have perished." Windu informed Yoda of the news.

"Hmm.. Unexpected this is, and very unfortunate."

TO BE CONTINUED...
[Message Edited]

Drifting....bump back up to the top

Part X: Freedom Without Boundaries.

The Yor were true to their word. Freedom Force was being actively monitored and target lists were being carefully drawn up. Yor espionage drones and driods mapped out the fledgeling Freedom Force empire while hunter/killer droids engaged in sabotage and destabalization campaigns. The mutants were soon unable to control their outlying colonies and Lepton itself fell to a Yor invasion despite heroic efforts by the Freedom Fleet to defend the homeworld.

The mutant leaders all escaped capture. Some managed to reach the hidden gate back to Earth and accepted an amnesty deal from the very ANZAC government that contracted the Yor to eliminate Freedom Force in the first place. Others ended up abandoning their destroyed ships, lost in the valiant defense of Lepton, now scattered into the void in escape pods. The rest managed to salvage the survivors of the Freedom Fleet and made a run for it after all was obviously lost. This fleet faced many perils as it drifted through Yor space and into Altarian space. Not wanting to be captured by any aliens and currently trying to avoid battle, the exiled fleet also had to avoid nearby ANZAC space on the border between the alien empires.

Whether it was luck or fate, the refugee mutants ran into the pirates of GROSS. The Doom was staging forays against the hated Altarians and picking off some nice ANZAC trade freighters as well. The pirates were sympathetic to the mutants cause. Afterall, GROSS was considered to be a band of criminals by the other empires, and the mutants were exiles hunted by their own former ANZAC empire and the Yor. An agreement was reached: GROSS would repair and augment the mutant fleet and adopt them, making them full partners. The mutant pirates with their nimble fleet of smaller ships would be able to cover more ground than the massive GROSS mothership alone. Both branches of the pirate gang would benefit.

Meanwhile, the ANZACs had hatched a plan. They had been given the coordinates of two Gamma Squad systems, Gamma Delta and Gamma Iota. The plan was a near simultaneous strike on both systems by two task forces of ANZAC battle cruisers. Gamma Delta was a relatively new outpost that had no fleet around it and looked ripe for the picking. Gamma Iota had a small defender force augmented by a nearby starbase. The task force heading to Gamma Delta was intercepted by two much faster Gamma Squad rangers that seemed to come flying out of nowhere, GSR Justice and GSR Order. After a brief engagement, eight ANZAC battle cruisers lay wasted, including the flagship ASS Nestor. ASS Psyche fought a brilliant rear guard action and managed to evacuate the transports and support ships.

On the other prong of the assault, a task force lead by ASS Spacehen managed to complete the first part of the mission and destroyed Gamm Iota's starbase with only moderate losses. As the surviving attackers fell upon the lightly defended planet, a pack of three rangers appeared on the scanners. The planet could be taken in time, but the invaders would then be stranded and cut off as the rangers would certainly drive off the task force and blockade the planet. The Yor never mentioned Gamma Squad having this kind of speed and firepower! The ANZACs reluctantly withdrew.

Peace negotiations soon followed. Gamma Squad neither gave nor asked for concessions at the summit. They did not want to war with anyone else right now and knew that the Yor were the real masterminds behind the attempted ANZAC invasions. Unfortunately, ANZAC had to placate the Yor. While the cunning machines did deceive the ANZACs into fighting a far superior foe, the Yor did deliver their part of the deal by effectively destroying Freedom Force. The reparations would set ANZAC back, but they would rise once again.

To the south of Sol, though, a new balance of power emerged. In a zone not currently controlled by any major factions of Earth, brave colonists dissatisfied with the status quo of the Sol system set up small, independent outposts. But they would soon run into the master deal makers of the known universe who thought everything had to be bought and payed for and owed no favors to anyone, the pragmatic Arcaens.


[Message Edited]

I have taken up the job of writing some of the main story installments. I will be writing myself the
next few main story installments in the WotW main story.

Part XI: Discovery of a Lifetime

Events in the galaxy were continuing as usual, wars were fought, disagreements settled, and
misunderstandings blown out of proportions. The life of a human during this time was sure to be
filled with strife and constant change. No mere mortal knew things were soon to become exponentially
worse...

Alex Kenor was an adventurous young Jedi. Having been a Padawan for many years, Kenor was already quite skilled in the force. His time at the Jedi Training Enclave on Dantooine would soon come to an end and he would travel to Coruscant to serve the Jedi Council as a Knight. Often lectured to by his Master against such behavior, Kenor loved to explore the many caves and ancient monuments scattered about the landscape of Dantooine. On one such outing, Kenor stumbled upon an ancient door that he had not noticed before. Walking up to the large stone entrance, Kenor studied it extensively. The slab of dark grey rock was engraved with the intricate decals of a language long extinct. Kenor pressed his hand into the centerpiece of the structure, and to his surprise, it depressed under his hand. A slight rumbling sound was heard, and the door disappeared into the surrounding earth.

Stepping inside, Kenor found himself within a great cavernous expanse, a great hall of incredible proportions. Curiously continuing down the hall, Kenor was greeted by a small droid.

"Phraf Uah Phraf Uah" the droid proclaimed in an unintelligible ancient tongue.

"What I don't understand" Kenor replied to the three-legged droid that stood in-front of him.

The droid made a few beeping sounds and then tried again in a completely different language.

"Buab Fo Buab Fo" the droid said in the same manor as before.

"I'm sorry, I still don't understand you. What are you trying to say?" Kenor said with growing anxiousness.

"Basic Basic" the droid tried once again, finally analyzing Kenor's words enough to identify his language.

"Yes, I understand you. I speak Galactic Basic." Kenor replied to the droid, relieved to finally understand the droid.

"Welcome to back, you don't appear to be a builder." the droid said in its computerized tone.

"Builder? What are you talking about, the people who made this place?" Kenor inquired of the droid's odd welcome.

"Yes, the constructors of this monument. I have not been put to use in a long while."

"This is a monument? What is your purpose, how long have you been here?" Kenor had many questions to ask of this apparently ancient droid.

"I have been programmed to look over the great monument, should the builders return, I am programmed to greet them. Since I was activated, I have recorded approximately seven-thousand orbital rotations. This is the monument of the Great Builders, the leaders and rulers of the infinite Empire and masters of the Universe." the droid answered all Kenor's questions.

"Seven-thousand orbital rotations! Thats over fifty-thousand years!" Kenor spoke in disbelief.

"Your years do not compute, but yes I have recorded seven-thousand orbital rotations since my activation."

"Well, what are the Builders?"

"Er, the Great Builders are the leaders and rulers of the infinite Empire and masters of the Universe. This is a monument to their power." The droid repeated.

"Infinite Empire? That obviously doesn't exist anymore."

"The Great Builders, the leaders and rulers of the infinite Empire and masters of the Universe. I must remain and await their return. How may I serve you, slave?"

"Slave?!? I am no slave, I am a Jedi and I want to know what is in this place." Kenor said annoyed.

"You appear to be of the same race of those that the Builders used to build this place, I interacted with many of your kind during construction. All the slaves were executed after the completion of this monument. What you say must be true, you may not be a slave. However, I must still maintain my protocol, so how may I serve you?"

"I want to know what is in here."

"This is the monument to the Great Builders, it is a dedication to their infinite Empire and to the Star Forge. In here is the Star Map, and the great Hall.." Kenor interrupted the droid mid-speech and questioned of this Star Forge.

"ERR ERR, no entry in memory. I'm sorry, but I can't seem to find an answer to your inquiry. The Star Map is just past this hall, perhaps you can find what you seek inside. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"No, thank you"

And with that Kenor walked past the ancient droid and continued down the hall. His steps echoed within the stone structure until he reached a door at the end of the hall. It was just like the one outside, and he placed his hand on the center feature. The door opened just as before and he stepped into the Star Map room.

Inside Kenor found a triangular black object. It appeared to be closed so Kenor searched for a way to activate it. In the center of the room there was a platform, right in front of the Star Map object. Kenor stepped on the platform and immediately the object went into motion. By splitting the sides into three triangular parts, the Star Map opened. After the sides had opened fully, a holographic image began to appear. The image grew clearer and finally displayed a 3D map of the entire galaxy.
[Message Edited]

Galactic Discoveries

Edge of a Galactic Core

Barry Light monitored the progress of Bridge toward their destination. Barry flipped through the ship maintenance data, scanned comminication bands, and brought up the sensor reports. Everything was proceeding just fine, just like an hour ago, just like two hours ago, and just like three hours ago. For two months, he watched the same data scroll across his console several hundred times, and none of it was out of the ordinary - no contact with any space-faring aliens, no scouting reports of alien sensor probes, nothing.
The colony ship was going to travel by the last habitable planet before reaching the edge of the galactic. Now would be time to abort their course towards the core and settle on Faramir III. But without anything threatening to derail his plan, Barry set finalized the course for the galactic core and planned for a return to his stasis cell. The boredom was wearing down his patience and with the big decision out of the way, Barry ordered the crew to disturb him with pressing new developments or with imminent arrival.
Barry settled into his stasis cell and smiled at the two members of the crew aiding with process. A few seconds later, the cell sealed tight and the life support gel lulled him into a deep sleep. Barry Light woke when the life support gel drained away and the cell doors opened to the small hallways. Shaking off the grogginess, Barry jogged to the bridge for a brief of the current situation. Before he could get there, the view through the ceiling window of Left Corridor halted his strides.
There it was. The swirling white clouds, the deep blue oceans, and the lush green terrain of Meriodac II spilled into the corridor from above. Expecting the pitstop, the Right Commanding Officer of the Bridge Smok-n-joe walked into the corridor from the bridge and saluted Barry while he marvelled at the view of the planet.
"Captain, we can establish a stable orbit around Ithilien II in twenty minutes and initiate the colonization process. Preparations of the landing gear are complete. The communication squad has scanning the frequencies for signs of life below. Headquarters on Tolkien have approved the colonization of the planet, and we are to begin at your discretion."
Barry signalled to Smok-n-joe to start the entire process and proceeded onto the bridge to make several final checks on the colony pods before sending the settlers down to the new world. On the bridge, the members of the crew were all smiles. Most of them had been awake for the entire nine months of the the journey from the last planet, and all of them had not lived outside life support bubbles for about eighteen months. The chance to set foot on a habitable planet ignited exuberance in everyone.
Even spending only two months of the journey awake was enough for Barry to miss living on a planet. For those eight weeks of boredom, Barry had stayed sane by dreaming of his time on Gandalf. The two Great Cataclysms changed life for everyone but could not change the wonders of nature. The smell of sea air, the cool breezes of spring, the lush green forest of South Ithilien - they were still there when he left Gandalf eighteen months ago and from the survey reports of scouts they were here on Ithilien II, too.
"The Bridge will establish stable orbit around Ithilien in three minutes. Will establish stable orbit around Ithilien in two minutes forty-five seconds. Orders to abort must be issued with fifteen seconds. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. The Bridge is locked on orbital trajectory and will establish stable orbit in two minutes and fifteen seconds. Everything is in order, Captain. Transferring control over to Orbital Specialists."
"Bridge entering stable orbit around Ithilien in one minute. Preparing sensors for launch into stellar orbit. Opening stasis cells for Ithilien II orbital space station operators. Established stable orbit around Ithilien. Calculations of stellar orbit for sensors ready and launching now. Begin surveying surface for ideal landing sites. Survey will be complete in eight hours. Begin landing preparations for colony pods. Adding galactic core gravitational force into trajectory calculation program."

Edge of a Galactic Power

The orbital space station engineers arrived at their positions at the stern of the colony ship in fifteen minutes. The head engineer began creating a magical shield around the end of the stern. A few seconds later large sheets of photocells unfolded inside the magical shield to catch the light from the star. A few seconds later the photocells powered up a deflector shield and the magical shield disappeared. A minute later, the life support systems in the stern switched on and the airlocks on both ends of Space Station Passage sealed shut. Within half an hour after waking, the engineers separated Ithilien Space Station from the colony pods in orbit.
A full twelve hours later, the orbital specialist notified Barry Light that all colony pod trajectories were calculated. The earliest colony pod would be launched within twelve minutes. The last colony pod would leave four hours later. The orbital specialist and he would secure communication frequencies between the other settlers before leaving and arrive on the planet in the last colony pod.
Although the galactic core complicated trajectory calculations by adding a new source of gravity, 95% colony pods landed withing 50 miles of target landing sites, and all of them landed a safe distance away from hazardous terrain. Several settlements were reporting the presence of pre-industrial sentient races on the planet. They would leave them alone until they were ready to accept interstellar technology. Everything was running within expected expected margins of error, and there wasn't any unexpected news except for the last transmission from Ithilien Space Station before the last colony pod was launched into its trajectory.
"Unidentified hyperdrive vehicle detected in nearby sector. More details to be transmitted upon your arrival planetside."

Edge of a Galactic Storm

The full report from Ithilien Space Station indicated the unidentified hyperdrive vehicle was of an alien design. The craft was an unmanned sensor probe sending large amounts of encrypted sensor data in the direction of the galactic core. There was an attempt to communicate with the alien power by transmitting signals on the same channel, but there were no responses to the communications yet.
Furthermore, the Ithilien Space Station was receiving reports from advanced scouts that military ships were present in nearby sectors. The military ships disappeared into uncharted sectors after initial siting. They completely ignored the scouts that sighted them and continued along their course. Before the alien ships disappear, the scouts were able to scan priliminary ship data and send it back to analysts on Gladstone. It would be a week before the results would be available on Ithilien II.
Barry Light drafted a report on the sensor drone and sent the report along with data on the sensor probe to Gladstone. Since the two sightings were so far apart, the two ships could be from the same alien power, but it was more likely that they were from distinct aien powers. Without a powerful military in the spiral arm, the Fellowship systems were open to attack. Regardless of the distance of the alien military, it would be wise establish good diplomatic relations and build up the military as soon as possible.
Smok-n-joe oversaw the beginning of the construction of a corvette on Ithilien II. Barry Light wanted to rename Ithilien II to Ithilien Garden, but the name was rejected. Engineers aboard the Ithilien Space Station continued to send signals towards the galactic core. Eveyone was keeping busy while waiting for the analysis results from Gladstone. Four days later, a message did come, but it was not from Gladstone and originated from the galactic core. The message itself was very simple:
"You have contacted the Altarian Empire. In the future, please use conventional diplomatic channels to communicate and please conduct business in Human Common."
"What is Human Common," yelled Barry Light, completely flabberghsted. "The alien power was known as the Altarian Empire. It was the first time they had made contact, but the Altarian Empire treated them as if they had met before. Furthermore, they insisted that diplomatic discussion would be conducted at some unknown place or in some unknown language."
Barry ordered communication officers on the Ithilien Space Station to fashion a reply to the Altarian Empire. The reply would explain the situation completely and pass the Fellowship diplomatic channel to them. As the communication officers began transmitting the message, a massive wave of energy spilled into the space around Ithilien overloading all long distance communication devices. Only part of the message made it to the Altarian Empire:
"This is the Fellowship of the Ring. We are not who you think we are. Although we may look like humans ..."

Edge of a Galactic Battle

Ithilien was without outside communications for three months. With system sensors capable of detecting a mear four parsecs, Barry Light governed Ithilien deaf and blind to the vast majority of the galaxy. In the first month, the communication officers examined the waves of energy and concluded that the waves of energy were the result of a large interstellar storm spanning at least ten parsecs in diameter. The probable cause was some stellar implosion, but since no star imploded nearby, the interstellar storm probably have spanned several sectors in diameter.
The three months came and went rather uneventfully. Nobody invaded Ithilien. No alien ships approached the system. Altarian sensor probes did not approach again. But the suspense at the governor's office was unparallelled.
As the interstellar storm subsided and communications of one sector in length were possible, Space Stations began relaying signals from one station to another, patching connections together whenever communication over a sector was necessary. The interstellar storm had affected the entire spiral arm including the communications of the other alien race. The news after three months of silence held even more surprises. There was yet another alien race, situated on the next spiral arm. During the communication breakdown, the uneasy relation between the two powers deterioated into a very disorganized war. With open communication channels, the two powers pounced upon one another with startling efficiency.
"Who were these two other races? What was the Altarian Empire up to? And what caused the galactic storm and disabled empire-wide communication?"

Used MeriodacII instead of Ithilien II once. Foolish me. Too late to edit now. Just make the switch.

(edit: too hasty the first time around)
[Message Edited]

This is a new one. The pirate is a victim of a Jedi hijacker! LOL

You are more than welcome to contribute, Yoda, but wouldn't it be better if you made some more sub-plots that develop your storyline and then have it integrated into the main chapters later?

Hmm.. well if you remember what I said, its kind of important...

The next one will include more Empires, but the first one needed a lot of explaning, so I couln't branch out.

PS. Some ppl only read the main story and not the subplots, so it ensures all know what the **** is going on
[Message Edited]

War of the Worlds

"We have to go back." Hurley looked around the briefing table at his comrades. "We have to face them and figure out what happened. Either the others are dead, or just not coming back, and we owe it to them."

Killa, ajm and Wombat nodded somberly. The Pegasus was in a parking orbit around Palain Nine, the smallest planet in the system. Scanners showed no trace of Yor missile emplacements and the pirates were careful - this time there were to be no surprises. They resolved to continue the mission - tracing the supposed legendary crystal to Iversonia, finding a Yor stockpile of Budweiser beer, and a napkin leading them here; to the last resting place of the Freedom Force Avatar, to the dissolution of their nascent mutant fellowship, and to their resurrection at the hands of their GROSS mates.

"This ship is not the Avatar. I've taken a preliminary look at the specs - she will withstand a hundred Yor missiles." said Killa. It was true - the Precursor ship's fabulous armaments and shielding should keep them safe from harm. "It's time to make this mean something - let's go!"

The Pegasus flashed into low geosynchronous orbit around Palain Seven and immediately cloaked. The four teleported down to the main population centre. The Frozen Icicle was relatively easy to find - there were so few amenities on this godforsaken ball of ice that most of the population found their way here eventually.

The four quietly slipped into the cantina, merging easily with the Yor, Drengin and human inhabitants of the planet...mostly miners and labourers. "We need a distraction...need to get into the back and have a look around." said Wombat. Killa smiled - that smile - and sauntered to the bar, whistling an old Billy Joel tune. He began warming up the crowd as Wombat had seen so often before, stories, laughter, quotations...the crowd gravitated towards him like the proverbial moths to the flame. Waves of palpable glamour rolled off the koala and drew the wretched audience to him.

Hurley, ajm and Wombat took the chance to slip behind the bar and without stopping for alcohol, discovered a long corridor leading to a storage room at the back of the cantina. They peered cautiously through the last door, left slightly ajar, and witnessed a senior Yor officer and two guards strolling around a large block of ice.

The Yor officer turned on the guards: "Fools! Why was the crystal embedded in this block of ice? What possible use to us is it in this condition?"

"Well Controller Nadreck, we were given instructions that the crystal was to be protected from harm at all costs and remain inert. The insta-freeze process seemed the easist way to achieve that", the guard smoothly replied.

"Besides", tittered the other guard, "Did you expect us to handcuff it? Tie it to a chair? It becomes SO difficult to rise in the Yor legions when one's superior has an IQ approaching room temperature! And on Palain Seven, room temperature is so very lo[ZING!]

Nadreck adjusted his aim slightly to direct his laser pistol at the remaining guard. "I trust you have no other constructive criticism to offer? No? Have the crystal loaded onto my corvette and I will figure out what to do with it later." With that, Nadreck strode out of the rear exit door of the cantina, leaving the remaining guard with the crystal embedded in ice.

"What now?" whispered Hurley. "NOW YOU DIE!" boomed a voice - a Yor guard had appeared behind them, pointing a laser rifle directly at Wombat. Suddenly, the Yor went down under an atomic piledriver delivered from behind by Killa Koala! He picked the Yor up and swung it into the near wall, delivering a forearm jolt as the mechanical beast bounced back off the wall. The Yor crumpled to the floor, Killa pinning it and counting "1...2...3...Yeah!...er...um..oh..."

Wombat grasped his friend's shoulder. He knew, of course, about Killa's history. He first saw him at a mud wrestling competition, long before they had established a friendship. The man's moves were lethal. Wild Wombat knew that Killa still occasionally wore the spangly tights of his wrestling days, but didn't like to talk about it with his friends, preferring to let his glamour to do the talking. "You saved us, mate - again. That's what counts." Wombat gave Killa a hug.

"That's one down - what about the other?" Hurley suddenly pointed to ajm. The air around ajm became alive...shimmering...his outline became fluid...and reformed in the perfect shape of a Yor guard. "A shapeshifter!" exclaimed Wild Wombat. He noticed a small tattoo on the "Yor's" shoulder. "Yes," said ajm, "that tattoo is an image very...special...to me, and I had it done with iridium ink - I can't shift it now. Still, want to see my favourite one?"

The Yor image, shifted, faded, blurred...and was replaced by a reptilian nightmare of thorns and armour.

"A Moloch!" breathed Hurley.

The six foot long thorny devil grinned - a frightening sight - and strolled into the storage chamber; the great spiked tail slamming into the remaining Yor guard and managing to throw it through the wall and into the street beyond.

Hurley looked at the block of ice - and violet lasers erupted from his eyes. They made a minimal dent in the ice casing around the crystal. "Too thick for me!" he cried.

Wild Wombat looked carefully at the ice casing...and started to sing:

We're havin a heat wave
A tropical heat wave
The temperature's risin
It isn't surprisin....

The block started to melt..slowly at first, then with more speed. Sounds of footsteps echoed down the corridor. The block had melted just enough to extricate the crystal when the door burst open to reveal a company of Yor guards - deciding that their mission was successful, the four activated their emergency teleporters and beamed back to the ship....

...to the sound of klaxons roaring an emergency signal through the great vessel. ajm reached the bridge first: "Three Yor squadrons have just appeared on the scanners - must have been hidden behind the inner planets - they were waiting for us to come back!"

"Evasive pattern Alpha 1-9!" yelled Wombat as the crew took up battle stations. "Killa - can we withstand the firepower of thirty battle cruisers?"

"Haven't read that far into the manual, Wombie!"

"They've triangulated our position and are closing..." mused Hurley, "Wombat...we have only one option."

"I know - head straight for the sun. Give us a passing orbit that will swing us through the upper trophosphere and slingshot us around...when we clear the trophosphere, activate the trans-warp drive - that ought to give us enough velocity to leave those Yor cruisers for dust."

The great ship flew like an arrow for the sun at the heart of the Palain system. Great shuddering sounds erupted from the ship as the tight orbit around the sun pulled huge gravitational forces on the outer hull. "WWoommbbaatt...llooookk aatt tthhee ccrryyssttaall..." mumbled Killa.

The strange crystal began glowing, emitting light though the visible spectrum, bouncing off the walls of the command deck. A sudden flash...the crystal itself disappeared...and the Yor pursuit fleet was left far behind. The pirates felt a wash of emotional..energy...flow through their mightly vessel...complex...hard to describe...

The crew allowed the vessel to coast while they surveyed the damage. "We came through pretty unscathed," remarked Hurley.

Indeed.
A rich contralto voice resounded through the vessel.

The pirates looked around. "OK..quit playing games."

This is no game. I thank you for my release.

Wombat scratched his head. "Look...I've had three mysterious things happen already today, and my head's starting to hurt...just what's going on?"

The sun's close radiation energised my millennial transformation. Every thousand years, I change my form. Now I invest your ship.

"You mean you spent the last thousand years as a crystal?"

That choice was...boring. This seems much more fun. I have examined your data banks, and am aware of what led you to this point. By the way, you got stiffed on the merchandising end of the franchise...the T-shirts are the sweetest plum.

"How come computer voices are always female? asked Wombat.

Let's see...I'm ageless...omniscient...what else would I be?

"Now I'm not sure we want some chick ordering us around on our pirate stuff!" exclaimed Wombat.

And who do you think controls the life support system? Care to step outside and discuss it? Fear not - I have already developed a liking for you. You are the Pirates of the Southern Seas. The GROSS posse! I sense adventure in the air. Life as a crystal was soooo boring I'm up for something different.

By the way, my port thruster needs cleaning. And there's a lovely area in the aft cargo hold that would be ideal for a pond, maybe with a gazebo and a pathway. And dinner is at six - sharp.

ajm looked at the others and sighed. "Well, having a sentient ship is great, and all - but we got no leads on Palain Seven about the Yor and their plans."

"Ah, but we did!" said Killa, placing a bottle on the table.

"About bloody time!" said Wombat. "Oww..it's that red stuff you like, Killa...come on mate..."

"No Wombat - not my red stuff. This is beaujolais. The Yor were drinking it - and nothing else - in the Frozen Icicle."

"Boogeewhat?"

Beaujolais: Regional wine produced only on France, European Union, Sol.

"Hey - you are a know-it-all, aay?

It's on the label, Wombat.

"Here's the thing, Wombat - why are the Yor stockpiling cheap American Budweiser beer, and yet drinking nothing but French wine?"

TO BE CONTINUED

Ahead

The Future of Technology

Vincible wrote the final comments into his report on the latest technology, Nano-Metal Composition. Thousands of researchers across the empire were part of the discovery, but it was at the MiddleEarth Institute of Technology on Tolkien, where their contributions could be compiled and trimmed into usable information. In the past few months, Fellowship research facilities were being funded quite well and made many discoveries in rapid succession. There were some problems like not receiving research data from the other spiral arm because of a giant galactic energy storm, but everybody staying in touch was very productive.

At the MiddleEarth Institute of Technology, Vincible had to indicate the next big scientific project to undertake. And this time, the decision was decidely much harder than all previous decisions. Nano-Metal Composition suggested an entirely different direction to scientific developments. As far as Vincible was concerned, the new technology had proved the relative inefficiency of more planetside improvements against the new orbital improvements that would become possible.

The Future of Social Projects

There was no doubt that interstellar ships would benefit from the shift of focus from planetside production to orbital construction. After all the great vacuum of space was the element these ships were suppose to thrive in. Ship constructors would no longer have to worry about the logistical problems of catapulting large bulky ship components into orbit for finall assembly. Instead the planetside factories would only provide necessary parts and transport them on the shuttles between planetside population centers and the orbital space stations. The entire assembly process would be completed in orbital factories by robotic arms, which worked better in null-gravity environments. The problems of manufacturing would not be the production capacity or production costs planetside but delivery capacity and delivery costs in orbit.

Tolkien with its awesome and improbable space elevator would invariably become the manufacturing capital of the Fellowship Empire. But the space elevator was be one of a kind and could not be built anywhere else. It was a matter of luck that the massive canyons and holes on Tolkien minimized the small fluctations in gravity as the planet rotated and revolved in the system. But even the small fluctations in gravitation could destroy the space elevator, and that is why the space elevator has the color it does. The main pillar of the elevator had to be reinforced by the strongest magicks, and the only method of reliably having such strong magicks was to build the structure on top of the magical essense itself. Many master wizards then drew powerful runes on the sides of the central pillar, and since the pillar has glowed pale blue.

On other planets, not only were the gravitational forces too unstable to construct the space elevator, the magicks would not be strong enough to protect against the smallest fluctations. However, there would be other ways improve manufacturing capacity. If the proper technology existed and was discovered, the Fellowship probably could harness fusion power to send the parts from planetside through the atmosphere and into orbit. The Fellowship probably could resort to anti-matter, a substance too dangerous planetside, to power much of the equipment in space, again if the proper technology existed and was discovered.

Researchers probably won't complain of the move of research labs into orbit. Vincible wasn't about to complain about having dedicated research labs as long as they existed. As a side effect, the low gravity would help his work on genetic mapping, microscoping organisms, and viral cultivation. New networks probably would not mind a move into space since they would benefit from the ability to reach a planetwide audience. The additional orbital satilites would aid planetside communications, too. Planetary economics would benefit from collecting all economic data in one location. Its location in orbit would prevent all that squabble over 'local' economic benefits for housing the economic capital of the planet and would make easier the integration of new settlements into the existing economic system.

Social projects that would encounter the most resistance in their movement into orbit would the social services. These projects were designed to serve the citizens of the planet, and intuitively they should be located as close to the people as possible. But the fact was that the void of space would allow these projects to expand capacity without costly renovations. Planetside structures of these social projects would be simple access sites that could be easily upgraded. New settlements could be connected simply by building an access site. It would be conceiveable that some ingenious man would invent an inexpensive remote access device that would make the access sites themselves obselete.

The Future of Magic

Many might ponder where magic would fit into the technological future. While technology has certainly and will certainly aid the progress of the Fellowship, technology does not hold all the answers. Men have always seen superior technology as an overwhelming advantage, but the ability to completely understand alien thinking will always be the only ascertain an overwhelming advantage. In the beginning of this era, magic helped to speed up the construction of interstellar ships, to create shields around ships for protection, to increase the effective speed of hyperdrive by maintain ships in sub-space for longer periods of time, and to stabilize the space elevator.

In the future, the Fellowship will find new uses for magic since Ray has indicated the Ring of Power has enough power to banish entire fleets of ships from this plane of existence. But the general influence of magic over the Fellowship could only be considered on the decline. Many new colonies are using shards of the essenses to bring magic to new worlds and promote the prolific growth of life. But the essenses have only so much life force energy, and their spread across the empire only evens out the low concentration of magical energy.

While the researchers of the future may find a way to replicate magical essenses, the ability to command magic remains an enigma to aliens. Its possible applications will be an unknown, and they could never ascertain an overwhelming advantage knowing magic is still at disposal. A guess at the future at best is a stab at a target in the dark, and Vincible presented his stab in the dark.

"Magic will probably have a significant contribution to our understanding of alien races and the look-alikes of men. Like when Ray reached into the mind of Yoda several months ago, Ray could reach into the mind of others and uncover their secret trains of thought. Although it maybe unlikely that Ray will commit such an invasion of privacy, we cannot expect the same ethical behavior from some of our researchers when they come upon prime research subjects. Maybe understanding aliens will even become a big scientific project for the MiddleEarth Institute of Technology to undertake."

The Future of the Fellowship

Even the Fellowship would have to respond to the changes in technology. Currently the Fellowship assigns governors with a full complement of staff workers to oversee the progress at the colonies. Every two years, these governors report back with their list of priorities, and orders are dispatched from Tolkien as necessary. With the expansion of Fellowship and the imminent expansion of the Fellowship military might, the Fellowship would not have enough man-power to devote to such mundane tasks. The Fellowship was already straining to find able ship captains for the two fleets necessary to defend the entirety of the empire. The new direction technology would take promised even more work to an already strained government.

But the new direction of technology promised new solutions. Since all future technology will be focused on developments in the vacuum and all future social projects will be developed in orbits, it was only natural planetary governors follow with a move into space, too. Without any social programs to attach the Fellowship to any planetside affairs, governors would not be compelled to interfer with anymore planetside affairs. They would have the simple task of collecting taxes, paying for production, paying for research, and maintaining the social projects in space. The large staff of workers would no longer be needed to handle the slew of complaints from disgruntal citizens.

The planet would have to establish its own planetary government, of course, and reject Fellowship leadership. But that would be unlikely since the Fellowship would be paying for all those social projects in space. Vincible thought about the possibility some more, but it was definitely still too early to suggest a drastic move. Many members of the Fellowship were still quite attached to the planet, but in time they would come to see that true power was not controlling the planets but the great expanse of space around them. By then the task of coverting the Fellowship into such a government would be an extremely complicated. Maybe another big scientific project for MiddleEarth Institute of Technology.

[Message Edited]

Writers,

I need to jump in here to lay down some ground rules so that our Wotw story can proceed smoothly.

Basically, there will be one main plot for WotW. The lead writer for the main plot is Gerakken. He will write the main plot with the intent of laying a generic foundation by which all other writers can build their own stories on.

All the rest of us would contribue sub-plots. The onus is on us to align our stories to the main plot written by Gerakken.

Gerakken will be the Moderator of the WotW story. This gives him the right to determine if a particular contribution fits in with the main storyline.

I hope this is clear.

Let's get the War of the Worlds going again and let's have fun writing!
[Message Edited]

Oh boy, more rules....can I ask when this one was decided, and by whom? I give in - I realise that Gerakken, Yoda and Ray conceived the idea for a WOW, which, if my recollection serves me right, basically meant that some one was going to total up theme vs location empire scoring on the Metaverse and perhaps we would do some writing around that to add flavour the whole process and generate interest in the competition. The recent player moves would seem to mean that theme vs location scoring is a dead duck (ie foregone conclusion) and now the fun, spontaneous, off the cuff writing is taking on a pretentious life of its own. Count me out. I'll continue to write what I feel like writing if and when I feel like it, and out of politeness, I'll keep it in the Posse thread (and maybe the GROSS thread. Or maybe I'll go back to exploding sheep, I dunno). So enjoy your writing, always wear your seat belt...and just don't write outside the rules, or you'll be moderated out of existence.

In any form of collaborative writing, rules are needed to maintain coherency. Before I stated them down in my post, they were simply unwritten.

However, in order to perserve the integrity of our story and to prevent another incident where writers stories contradict each other, I made it clear to all here how we going to play this game.

If you feel that these rules stifle your creativity, then the best option is for you to write your stories independently.