Unstable Boundaries

[Nelle Kozera]

“Invader? The Correct term would be liberator.” The Insect laughed about a bit, as if it was a joke, “And yes they are one in the same, both of our universes run parallel to one another as a result there are many over lapping traits between the two. In this case, language is a shared trait and I see you’re curious…” The Insectiod waved its clawed hand, the Black fluid floated from its finger tips. The fluid begins to glow, “Ichor has so many uses, it can do so much more than liberating your mind.” As it glowed it displayed a hologram. It displayed the tiers; it was not vertical but horizontal. It was a sliding tier system based on technological specialization. After a moment it disappeared, looking at the Altin “I can see that you’re wondering what I mean by liberator…Its best that I show you.” It waved it hand again, and the hunter drones walked over to it, Ichor was rapidly flowing up their legs. As it flowed up the body the Ichor formed new glowing additions to the Armor plating.

“Commonwealth shielding upgrade complete, engaging Warp Barrier.” The drones spoke, as they finshed a set of shields engaged causing a Sonic Boom. Next was a rapid upgrade to the Drones weaponry system. While this “Upgrade” was in progress the ichor was also working its way up Nabi’s legs. He would hear an alarm telling him that the seals on his suit where breached. He could feel the Ichor working its way into his suit.

“Drones, show our guests the way.” The Drones opened fire on the Altin team in the AI core.

As the Drones fired Nabi could hear wispers “Welcome…”

---

The Phantoms in the Engineering section would find that the core was Destabilizing, and with this destabilization the Shielding around the power core was only increasing in strength but now the power core was beginning to leak powerful X-Rays. The Altin drones outside the shield wouldn't find any viable entrances as the shield had sheared off all external entrances. They would detect traces of X-Ray radiation impacting the inside of the shield...

---

It would take about five minutes to navigate the conduit but upon exit the microprobes would find themselves in the area that the FTL core inhabited. In this room they would find a partially stable dimensional rift. This unstable rift was the source of the tachyon radiation, as inefficiency in the system was causing excess energy to bleed off as Tachyons. From what could discerned the reaction in the core was self sustaining so they would need to find away to dampen the reaction in order to shut the core down….

---

As Dlaria’s gantlet touched the Ichor the shock simply passed through the Ichor not even halting its progress. The Ichor was grounded, but in touching it she allowed it to come into contact with gauntlet accelerating the breaching of her suit. The second she touched it she could feel the black fluid working its way inside her suit. A moment later she heard a whisper. “You have achieved your completion…”

[macrorufus]

Nabi felt the alarms on his suit sound. He'd been breached, and he felt a momentary panic, that was almost immediately replaced with a sense of serenity. It was as if his whole life he'd had this... gap in him, and now it had been filled. He felt complete, whole and calm. He knew now the drones would not attack him.
He heard the messages from the CCA commanders aboard their vessels, demanding to know why the drones had ceased responding in the Commonwealth ship, and demanding Nabi report in. He smiled. He was above all that now. That was all behind him.

In space, the commanders were faced with an alarming situation, as they lost complete contact with the drones aboard, and their ensign was refusing to respond. They opened a comm channel to other vessels. The commander of the group faced the screen and seemed a little torn as to what to say.
"CCA group here. We've lost contact with our drones aboard the UC vessel. ... We would like to request that any of your men aboard who see or meet our drones help them re-establish contact."

[Shade Leshyr]

Dlaria panicked, hearing the breach alarm of her suit sound. She tried to pull away from the Ichor, screaming as some of it landed on the faceplate of her helmet. Sheer irrationality took over, her free hand falling to the pistol at her side, ripping it from its holster and firing at the substance at her feet, even going as far as to blast her own arm in her fear. Tears welled in the spike-dog's eyes as she watched as more of the Ichor simply rushed to fill the space where her shots had separated it. Her hope was gone, hearing the echoes of the voice in her ear, everything was starting to go black as her body threatened to go into shock, her thoughts wild, but as she started listening, feeling hope edge out, she heard an internal debate within her..

"You have achieved completion, you will be assimilated."
"To the Abyss with you, whatever you are! You will not have my daughter!"

"Father..." Dlaria choked out weakly, feeling the substance creeping into her helmet. Her eyes came back into focus, her free hand dropping her pistol and rising above her head to slow the ichor from reaching it. Her thoughts focused, her suit whining in protest as she gave it a command. Something in her free gauntlet flipping into her grasp and she grabbed it like a life-line. The object in question was a primer for the self-destruct in her suit, the power supply glowing a sharp red as the vents around it super-heated as well. Dlaria stared straight ahead as she spoke,

"I am in control! You will stand down or I'll blow us all to the fringes of the galaxy!! YOU-WILL-OBEY!!" She forced every essence of her being into those words, willing herself silently to win this strange battle of wills.

[BIos_Reaper]

The synthetic units at the A.I. core were anything but not ready for an offensive action. The moment the drones opened fire the soldiers ducked down and locked their armor, the forward shields of their personal defense systems receiving all the power from the rearward guard, tightly grouped the three first ones became a veritable cover-field, while the remaining three ducked behind them. "Hostile action, lethal force authorized, destroy the drones and disable the rogue A.I." were the words non-verbally communicated between each of the units in less than 1/100th of a second. The units at the A.I. core were nothing short of a small squad, a technician class, a heavy weapons class, a soldier class, a medic class an anti tank class and most prominantly a strategic intelligence class.

The intelligence class was a coordination unit, moving battlefield assets without needlessly risking them was it's purpose, and as such it figured only one option was available. The anti-tank class carried a Tundra series PX-54 triple-burst anti-tank rail rifle designed to take down most light vehicles in an instant, leveling it's rifle over with it's shields overcharged it let off a three round burst, followed by the heavy-weapons units heavy laser rifle lashing out in ultra violet seering hot pathways. The intelligence unit had a perfect plan for disrupting and defeating the enemy drones, if it all went off without a hitch, but it knew better than to expect it's plan to actually survive contact with the enemy.

Lobbing a Lokey grenade above the barrier, three of them as a matter of fact, the three spheres would land way off target, and not explode... instead a shockwave of intense proportions would rip through the entire chamber, yet not cause a single point of damage. It was a force-field grenade, designed to emit billions of molecular-grade force fields designed to contain and prevent nanotech from functioning by cutting off both coordinated communication and preventing any mechanical interlinking. It had a limited time span but three grenades meant almost half an hour, meaning that hopefully for that long, the Ichor within the room would be reduced to a harmless sand-like appearance due to zero interconnectiveness. The soldier class was using it's long-bore rifle to assault the drones as well, it was a full on fire-fight with the technician class bolstering their shields with his additional shield emitters and the medic unit running recursive nanograde scans to make sure none of the Ichor was getting close to their exposed backsides, afterwards it monitored the nanotechs hopefully inert status, and would be ready to alert the team if the need for quick evac became essential.

[Brome Teks]

In the power core, the Phantom inside was just finishing his scans when his suit’s radiation alarm went off. He flicks his wings, and uses a secure line to contact to ask the agent at the shield generator whether or not the shields were showing any signs of weakening. When the answer that they weren’t was returned, the Phantom sighs. He knew the risks coming in, and this was a pretty good way to go as compared to dying slowly in bed. He messages the Perseus ships outside.

“The core is destabilizing. We have sent you all the data we can. It seems we will not be returning alive. Good bye.”

+=====================+

At the FTL drive, the microprobes begin to do their job scanning the drive and sending the data back to the Perseus ships. The phantom outside hears the Two in the power/shield core’s last transmission, and utters a short silent Reaver prayer for comrades who die in the line of duty.

+=====================+

The Phantom at the main weapon finishes his scans and begins to work his way back out of the weapon and out of the ship, where he would be picked up by the Perseus that dropped him in.

+=====================+

The two phantoms in the AI core conclude their scans, and watch as all hell breaks out beneath. They look over the situation and quickly decide that they would be no help, and thusly decide to exit the room while everyone is fighting.

+=====================+

In Kyne’dra space, the AGSF ships throw up their shields as the Absolution begins to fire upon them. A couple of ships fall before Vice Admiral Stalkva sends out a general order to all ships in the vicinity.

“The Absolution has gone rampant. Disable it’s engines and weapon systems before it can do more damage!”

On cue, the AGSF ships form up, and maneuver around to the rear of the ship, and break to attack. The Absolution would receive a whole lot of tungsten and depleted uranium flying into it’s engines at incredibly high velocity while lasers work to keep the energy shield weak enough for the rounds to make it through.

Without the Horseman of War in the space around the planet, the AGSF was relying on it’s huge numbers to assault the massive SRC ship.

[Crusadra]

==Kyne'dre space==
There was a chuckling over the comms, "Thank you... all I needed was someone to start this for me... couldn't have asked for more... also... mind telling Grand Ambassador For'dez that we have his daughter hostage? That would be splendid well of you!"
**A light frigate would detach itself from somewhere near the hanger-bay and quickly heads away from the Absolution... its shields were up and it was already charging the jump-core.
The Absolution became motionless as it's weapons shut down... just as a piece of the SRC fleet warped in to see the AGSF bombard the Absolution. This piece consists of an Assault Carrier, 10 destroyers, 5 cruisers and 12 frigates.

A comm would come from an Assault Carrier, the Geo'Granda, "This is the Admiral Hin'dren Von'goul upon the Assault Carrier, Geo'Granda, all AGSF ships are to stand down immediately, or you will be eliminated under SRC code and jurisdiction granted by Kingrian Martial Law."

==King'ras Major==
The President smacks the screen just in time to catch the bombardment as well, "Dramned comm sat... what the fick!? The AGSF ships have fired upon the Absolution! Something must be wrong..." He'd quickly tap a black square on his desk, "Dinnie? Tell the Grand Admiral to get the Assault Battleship, Grand Des'Rallies and the mobile Super-shipyard Hes'dron head for Kyne'dre... there has been a great misunderstanding, me thinks..."

[Brome Teks]

++Kyne'dre space++

Vice Admiral Stalkva flicks his wings. He returns a message to the SRC ships. "The Absolution has mutinied against the Se'Rallies Confederacy. It opened fire on AGSF vessels, and reportedly has one or more hostages on board." He looks to one of his bridge crew. "Send a command to All ship AIs to send their data from the past 15 minutes to the new SRC ships. No one is to power down their weapons or shields. Do not let that small frigate escape.

Suddenly the SRC ships would begin to receive comprehensive and consistent data showing that the Absolution had jumped in, declared mutiny, and begun to attack AGSF ships, before stating that they had a hostage. Meanwhile, while they had the chance, a large number of AGSF ships get into position to continue firing upon the Absolution's engines.

A small detachment of AGSF talons move in around the detached light frigate, powering up their Higgs-manipulation drives to create a reference frame drag, preventing the frigate from accelerating.

[Crusadra]

---Kyne'dre Space---
"I have ordered you to stand down and yet you do not comply!? You're all traitors to the SRC! Under SRC Martail Law, you shall be disposed of! All ships... open fire!"
All SRC capital ships would then begin to fire upon the AGSF forces as well as scramble their fighters, and bomber craft.

The Absolution's weapons the came online to fire at the ships blocking the Light Frigate. As the Absolution began to fire, a few SRC Heavy Frigates whom were headed towards the currently motionless frigate.

**The Grand Admrial final boards the Grand Des'Rallies before its turns to a set coordinate with the Moble Super-Shipyard Hes'dron and then jumps.

[Nelle Kozera]

The drones reacted with extreme swiftness entering a quadrupedal stance going below the field of fire jumping to the Lokey grenades. As they jumped past them they would pick them up with shield hands before tossing them out of the AI core room through a now open door and down the corridor like professional pitchers before turning back to their assailants. Because of their actions the Ichor remained active. But now they were on the other end of the room from where they were originally.

The total time elapsed for this little maneuver, about three seconds. After reorienting themselves they began to jump again moving from wall to wall. Shooting as they did, if the androids were look at were the AI core was, they would see that it was gone.

---

Dlaria would watch as the vents returned to a normal color along with the power supply, her own suit stopped responding to her commands. “Please we calm down…” a sense of tranquility would flow through her very being. With this sense came a feeling of belonging, as if this was what she wanted in life. “You’ll see life among us isn’t bad at all. But I must warn you, you will need to escape right now If you want to live. Even if you don’t wish to join us, your life is in danger and if you don’t move right now you will die. And it would be better if you did this of your own will then us forcing you to do it for you to do it, that would cause you vast amounts of unnecessary pain.” She could feel the changes taking effect in her body already she felt physically powerful, like she had more energy.

Another effect of the new awareness was that the Ichor would obey her commands unless those commands went against the voices directives. As this moment, the Ichor was pointing her in the direction of the nearest FTL capable vessel which wasn’t the one she had came aboard on. another thing she would feel would be the presence of Nabi whom she was connected with through the ichor though it was immanently apparent that Nabi wasn't the source of the voice.

---

“Nabi… such a distasteful name, the Vat mother will bestow upon you a new name in the future but for now it will have to do. You are in danger, for the moment the Drones will cover your escape but they are irrelevant.” Nabi would see the line on the ground, it was only visible to him. “Follow the lighted path, it will lead you to a ship, that ship you will allow you to make your escape from this vessel. HURRY you don’t have much time. Now go, post haste!"

Depending on how long it took him, it would take between five and ten minutes to reach the hanger, it was the same hanger that Dlaria was directed to. In this hanger they would find a captains yacht that the ichor was directing them too.

(OOC: Both Dlaria and Nabi have the same abilities)

---

The powercore finally went critical though it wasn’t a conventional explosion, instead the fabric of space around the core destabilized causing an area of hyper expansion around the power core and the surrounding space. The effect was rather spectacular, it would cause all matter in the area, and this included over ninety percent of the tangent to literally break down like sand in the wind….

Along with the damage done to the tangent, a large section of the command ship was caught in the destruction zone causing the front end of the ship to detach from the rest of the remaining vessel.

---

Aside from the damage to the FTL core, this little other information to gather in that section of the ship…

[BIos_Reaper]

The Tangent may have vanished, along with it's captain but the guiding intelligence was faster than any mere tear in reality. It had uploaded itself to the androids communal intellect, granting each a piece of it, now they were truly sapient. With their means of relocation gone, they would've had to seek an alterantive but the Tangent did not die in vain. It's powerful sensors had managed to get a conclusive reading on the technology that destroyed it, compacted it and taken it with it to the androids since there was no time to send a coded transmission package. Admittably the enemy drones were better than anticipated, but they weren't anything more than that, non-sapient drones incapable of creative thought. One of the androids, the soldier wasn't too keen on letting the ugly machines best them, so he unslung a micro-grenade rifle and fired a burst of proximity triggered versions of the devices fired previously, this time they would not be able to stop them from going off...

But that wasn't all, the shoulder-mounted micro-turret on the heavie's shoulder aimed and fired a couple of "Breecher" shells, fullerened, forward-focused nano-scaled anti-matter missiles, enough power to put a hole through a five foot bulkhead, and they were guided, not being stupid he set them for proximity detonation as well, there would definately be collateral damage but they had the data they needed, the primitive brain-washed A.I. was of no interest to them anymore and as far as they were concerned it had to be put down.

The synthetics within the weapons bay had acquired a detailed scan of the ships capacitor banks, the interior design of it's main gun and more than a few other tidbits, hacking wasn't necessary when all you needed to look at was the hardware. With that they began to double back to the A.I. core, the units there weren't necessarily in need of back-up, the drones weren't good enough to take them all out, or so they hoped... But still, safety in numbers was a well-worn tactic with Altinians and synthetics alike, better safe now than be sorry later.

[Brome Teks]

+===Final transmission from Phantom in power core section===+

"My God, it's full of stars!"

+===Kyne'dre space===+

Vice Admiral Stalkva chirrrls in annoyance. "Traitors? Ho---we--." he flicks his wings. "Are you without eyes? The Absolution is attacking your own ships now!"

The tactical officer calls out. "Sir, if we're not going to fire on the other SRC ships, our tactical options are limited. "

Salkva flicks his wings again. "Very well. Order the fleet to return to AGSF space. Keep the Perseus ships around, if Doctor Katikas is right we'll need to be able to return quickly when the UC arrives. Send my regards to the SRC Admiralty."

The AGSF ships break off the attack and activate their step-through drives, exiting the battlefield.
Unseen to any of the SRC ships, the Perseus cruisers deposit little devices on the hull of the Absolution and the other light frigate.

+===The Disabled UC Ship===+

The Phantoms that had completed their jobs make their way outside of the command craft, and perform a brief space walk over to the waiting Perseus cruisers. When they come into the airlock, they don't get in contact with the ground or walls. Instead, a grey gob of AGSF nanites meets them in midair with a nice splak and begins to check them for any enemy nanites that had hitched a ride, both outside their suits, and inside once the outside is cleaned of any enemy nanotechnology. The one who inspected the weapon takes the longest time to clean, but luckily his suit held true.

Only the one at the FTL core remains, waiting while the microprobes complete their scan. He holds onto something as that section of the ship suddenly lurches, having been detached from the rest of the ship. He makes no comment, and when the probes have gathered all the data they can, he has them self destruct due to the risk of nanotechnology contamination.

He too begins to make his way for the nearest exit, using the data from the sonic sensors to find his way out. Idly, he regards the indications of gunfire in the AI core, and the numerous footsteps and other noises. When he asks, the other phantoms inform him of the situation in that section of the ship. He makes no further comment, continuing his exit of the enemy ship.

+===The Nubian===+

Zazzak regards some of the data on his aide as it's streamed to him. His disembarks from his Pathfinder and steps onto the ring.

"Interesting,. I'll have to run some tests, but this indicates that my idea may actually work..."

[Shade Leshyr]

Dlaria hesitated, wondering why nothing was going right today. So far, she'd failed to find any useful samples that wouldn't kill whoever tried examining it, been captured by an unknown entity, and failed to follow protocol to keep spike-dog technology from falling into enemy hands. On top of that, throw in the fact that the damn thing was now giving her orders that she knew she should refuse and at least die with a shred of honor, knowing her suit would be vaporized in the imminent explosion. However, as in all tense situations, survival had become her top priority, ichor or no ichor. Her feet began to move, invigorated legs shifting in a numbed way, but slowly gaining the will to move back and before long Dlaria managed to break into a run and tear down the deserted halls into what appeared to be a private hanger on the vessel.

A yacht-class vessel stood before her and, despite seeing no obvious markings that she recognized, the strange sense of unity between her, Nabi, and the Ichor told her that this particular vessel belonged to the ship's captain. Still she hesitated as her traitorous feet brought her to the boarding ramp, staring up into the yacht as though she was looking for some kind of obvious trap that would ensnare her. Seeing none, she still hesitated until she felt the ichor a little bit away starting to fall out of contact. Gritting her teeth, she charged up the ramp and looked for the controls, muttering quietly to the ichor, "Fine, we'll play by your rules for now, but once we're free and away, I'm the Alpha here and if you don't like it, shut up."

[macrorufus]

-UC Disabled Vessel-
Following the dictates of the ichor, Nabi had thrown himself out of the room before the Ichored Drones attacked the Altinians. He'd ran, fast. His heart beat was erratic as he ran, the ichor subtly improving his own biochemistry. The ichor may have given him a new lease of life, but his sense of self preservation still ruled. And true to his nature, he ran. Away from the problem, away from the trouble. Unconciously, he headed towards the yacht, letting the ichor guide him through the vessel.

-CCA Vessels outside UC disabled vessel
As far as the CCA group was aware, a large section of the vessel had just turned to dust, damaging the AA vessel as well. However, the concern of the Captains for the plight of a foreign nation's vessel was not particularly high. Science officers on the three ships were attempting to wildly understand what the UC's power core had done, this being a level of science far above the CCAs.

Once more, the Captain of the cruiser leading the group of three CCA vessels opened a broad communication channel, to any and all possible receivers in the vicinity. The message was electronic, though still managed to convey a sense of sheepishness over the lack of contact the CCA had with its drones aboard the vessel.
""Commander Yan Tian Ji of the CCA Squadron to all friendly vessels. Please be advised that we've lost contact with our drones aboard the UC vessel. Both the drones in the advance party and drones in the hangar bay. ... We would like to request that anyone aboard who sees or meets our drones help them re-establish contact to the CCA command network. We are not sure why we have lost contact. Our mechanics are attempting to refine the command arrays."

[Nelle Kozera]

It sound like the voice that was speaking to her in mind was amused by the declaration. “Whichever path leads to greater cooperation is perfectly fine.” Dlaria would lose all control of her body if only for a brief instant, she could observe the world through her body, but her body wasn’t responding to her commands. “If the Path you have set for yourself works against the goals of the Vat Mother. Be very aware of the fact that you nothing more than a tool for the Vat Mother and like a good tool you can be made to comply even if you do not wish too. Now we would like for you to do this of your own accord, as you can see this is rather traumatizing for you right now. Then again, you haven’t fully been enlightened yet, unlike your cohort.” Once the voice was done Dlaria would have her body back and would do what she wished, was that a dream? Elsewhere in her mind, she would feel a new presence. It was warming, comforting, it seemed like all it wanted was for her to reach her full potential…this presence had a name…it was the Vat Mother…

---

“Nabi…” The voice from inside said his name, though it said it with distaste. “You shall be Dawned a new name shortly, in the mean time you are charged with the piloting of this vessel. It’s a simple task to be honest. Just sit in the pilots chair and think about your new Home, Des’Cartas...” Suddenly his mind was flooded with imagery. The World that appeared before him was not the world that his birth. That floated below him was black orb that floated in the inky void of space. The Entire planet was covered in black gases and dark grey smog like clouds and yet. It seemed like the entire worlds was inviting. Like the world was made for him…

The imagery vanished and he was returned to the vision that was the inside of the small ship, he was the one tasked with taking them home…

---

The Drones looked at each other, their charge had made to safe point and thus they had no reason to be there anymore. Their mission complete, they turned to their opponents who had just opened fire on them. Just before impact that two drones merged compressing themselves into a shielded ball. Thanks to the smaller surface area they were able to drastically increase the strength of their shields thanks also impart to their doubled up power supply. If the assaulters where tracking the drones they would notice that the drones had rolled out of the area in their new form, at rather high speeds.

Though the immediate impact of the over use of weapons was structural damage to the interior of the ship. The AI core was in shambles, Ichor was pouring out of every torn opening in the walls, though the underskin remained intact. The Blast doors had shut behind the drones and the weapons fire from the impact had did little damage to the blast door itself. The part that was damaged the most was the walls of the Core. The resulting shockwave had caused the entire area to warp and flex to reduce as a measure to reduce the over all damage to the section. The volume of weapons fire had actually pushed this system past its limit and had actually deformed the struictual support of the room, but it was still holding for the moment. The thing that was apperent though was the fact that the exit that had been used before, was no longer an option for exit.

They would needed to crawl through the AI core pumping system to leave the room…or attempt to blast their way through the walls, which seemed to only deform the room before, will it work with more fire power?

[Crusadra]

---Kyne'dre Space---
The Massive Shipyard flies out of its jump and heads directly to the Absolution. The Grand Des'Rallies comes in right after the massive shipyard, soon it'd take a count of all ships, designations and ranks before sending its mulitple orders to all ships, scattering them to Stratgic and other importent locations.

The Grand Admiral sneers as there seemed to be one ship missing, which was the Aboslution's very own escape vehicle, "I want it found... it has nothing that makes it a true ship... I also want an account of all King'vers and King'ras that are presently on the Aboslution... I want it up and running soon." A few other officers nod before going about and doing the tasks requested.

---UC Disabled Vessal---
((This is a bit late, due to some minor confusion amounst other things.))
**The small SRC squad picks a location and stops, the Technical Officer of the group sends out a universal frequency, "This is the SRC Squad Alphas upon the United Commonwealth vessal. Are there any others who remain upon said vessal?"
The HWS (Heavy Weapons Specialist) of the group sighs, keeping his large weapon at the ready. The Stealth soldier meerly toyed with a knife as she waited for the Tech-Off. to figure out what to do next.

[Shade Leshyr]

Dlaria nearly hyperventilated as she lost control of her body. She willed herself to move, snarling silently as she failed to even twitch, anger boiling at the voice's threat. She stomped her foot angrily as she regained control and shouted, "TO THE ABYSS WITH YOU ANCESTOR FORSAKEN VAT MOTHER AND EVERYTHING SHE DAMN WELL STANDS FOR!! THIS IS MY BODY, MINE, DO YOU HEAR ME!?," Feeling the soft connection to Nabi, feeling rather than hearing the meaning of the words, she seized the poor boy and yanked him around to face her, "FIGHT THIS, ANCESTORS DAMN YOU!! WE'RE IN CONTROL HERE!!" Seeing no reaction from Nabi, she hissed, shoved Nabi away from her, and ran to the controls herself, flinging herself into the pilot's chair.

Powering up the ship in a vengeful fury, nothing but the thought of defying the damn voice in her head and its oh-so-special leader filling her mind. She fixated on a single idea: the isolation hanger designed for a situation like this in the side of her Flotilla. That was home! Not some backwater planet somewhere out in the middle of nowhere! This damn ichor may be able to take her body, but her mind belonged to her and she started repeating one phrase over and over like a life-line, a buffer between her and that maddening warmth of some creation she knew nothing about, "Dlaria Evantil, Dlaria Evantil, Dlaria Evantil..."

Even as her lips moved, her thoughts went out to a place where the machine that had taken hold could never understand: she reached out to the last home of her anscestors, invoking them one by one between her own name, "I will die as my grandfather Gorgolin Ravverie did, with honor, not a slave for you. I am Dlaria Evantil! I will fall as my great-great grandmother, Sheeva Baliel, did, with a heart full of confidence, not cowering in the shadow of some AI! I am Dlaria Evantil!" Her voice trailed off into her native tongue, but she delighted in allowing the ichor to understand, the words drifting into an old warsong she'd learned as a child:

The ancestors be with us now,
show your foe your refusal to bow,
let them smash upon the wall of your resolve,
show them what their destruction will involve!

Not one drop of blood will they be allowed to take,
For each fallen ally, fear for them our shadows make,
And now let them hear your voice rise for war
lift now your blade, let us settle this score!

Hear our voices rise up as one,
We will burn you like the eternal sun,
To war, to war, even when broken is our spear,
so that we warriors may be back in time for beer!

Be afraid, be afraid, your ending time has come!
Flee to the swamps where you came from!

Her voice broke into a hearty laugh as she fixated on taking control. Let the ichor do its worst, she would best it... she would best it if it killed them both! She lifted off in a hurry, trying to get as close to the Flotilla as she could before the ichor stopped her. Gilsk would see them, then they'd be picked up and she could relish in watching the scientists disassemble the AI piece...by...little...damned...piece...

[Nelle Kozera]

Dlaria would find that she was locked out of the control. Only her cohort could pilot the ship.

(Sorry for the small post, just necessary for Rufus' post)

[macrorufus]

Nabi's calm was pierced by Dhlaria's words, and he felt in him a zealous fury. His mind such as it was, was too far gone to even consider resisting the vat mother. He was a part of us. He couldn't even think of the Commonwealth as a 'them' just an 'us.'
"How dare you sister! You are one of us! Don't sully yourself with any illusions of past self. Mother loves you, always."
Nabi touches the controls, and as ordered in his head, locks the ship's destination to the destination the Vat Mother had given him.
"I have no desire to harm you dear sister. For all your misguided beliefs, you are one of us too."

The vessel flew sedately out of the hangar moving slowly parallel with the ship. As this happened the ship disappeared with a tachyon burst, this was a Universal transition meaning that the ship was gone from this Universe.

(Vessel leaving etc confirmed by GM)

[Shade Leshyr]

Dlaria jumped to her feet in a savage fury, seizing Nabi in a fit of uncontrollable, undeniable fear. Shaking the poor guy, her own body shaking with the phobias that held her tight, "Damn you, we're not one of them! Our people are back there! Wake up and turn this hunk of junk around! I am not going to be a prisoner of war, do you here me," she let go of Nabi and grabbed at her armor angrily, "that goes for you too! Get off of me, I command you! You'll get nothing from me! Nothing! I won't build for you, I won't work for you, I won't FIGHT for you, so either kill me or release me!"

Dlaria snapped, rushing the wall of the ship and slamming herself into it full force. Not even waiting for the pain or lack of it, she reversed direction and threw herself against the far wall. She slid to the floor, starting to sob lightly. The ichor was working against her and right now it held all the cards, even her own body. She looked up at Nabi through her tears and, in a final, desperate attempt, she said, "I have a mother, and it's not that thing. You have a mother too, and a father. They're back their somewhere," she stood, staring at Nabi, "they're back there, worried about you, a lot more than this slime is!"

"I'll show you," she said, suddenly excited, "I'll show you just how far I am from being one of them! Then you'll see!" Her hands shot up to her helmet and keyed the seal...

[Brome Teks]

The AGSF Perseus ships pick up the final phantom. Their jobs done, two of the Perseus ships accelerate away from the UC ship and engage their step-though drives, exiting the star system. The third one remains behind to continue observing.

[Nelle Kozera]

Des’Cartas High Orbit, Universal Commonwealth…

The Yacht more or less fell into Universe the Universal Commonwealth called home. If either Nabi or Dlaria looked out the window in orbit they would see an extremely large vessel. Dlaria would be able to notice after a few moments that it was extraordinary similar in design to one of the Flotillas that she had lived on for the majority of her life. Even some of the markings where similar, though there were some drastic differences as well, the main item was that is about 10% smaller than those she was native to. It was also docked to one of the Universal commonwealth’s command ships.


The next item that was immediately noticeable was the world below them. It was Black as ink, on the surface they could see the lights of the world below, it turns out they had jumped into the universe on night side of the planet. Above Des’Cartas they would see three small moons that seemed had been mined almost entirely through. Much of two of the moons had massive holes craved into the surface leaving giant visible holes in the surface of the moons, only one the furthest from them was still intact and that was because there seemed to be a large settlement on the distant moon.

When Dlaria took of her helmet she would notice something in Nabi that she hadn’t seen before. His eyes had changed colors as did his iris. The whites (Or whatever color they were before) of his eyes where now an inky black. His iris had changed to glowing yellow disk with an X shaped Pupil in its center. Nabi would see the same thing in her eyes.


Both Dlaria and Nabi would get a Message beamed through their minds. [Ah this is just delightful, your transformation has begun, and once the Phythsios is complete you will be able to join the cause to bring Enlightenment to the known universes…] The Voice was cheery, reassuring. [I’m pleased that I will be able to greet you once you reach the landed on Des’Cartas. I’ll see each of you soon.] The Language was something they had never heard before, but they understood perfectly.


When the message was finished they would feel the ship changing course heading for the surface of the Inky black world. Any attempts to change the course of the ship would be met with failure.


---

Data burst transmission: Source unknown, data stream untraceable, security systems failed…


The Nations of the Galaxy would be getting forced download of an information package from an unknown source. Contents are as follows.


Universal Commonwealth Homeworld:


Name: Des’Cartas


Location: Unknown, suspected nearby parallel universe, Probability: 87%


Possibility of success of combined frontal assault: 0%


Size of Universal Forces: Unknown, suspected resources, in excess of three galaxies, possibility: 67%


Species composition:


Preliminary reports and initial research show that the UC seemed too made of Mirror versions of major players in this universe with some exceptions. Probability are as follows.


Zrackli: 100%, forces have already been deployed to this universe.


Altinian: 95% introductory research concludes very strong possibility of Mirror Species involvement.


Raudin Sallix: 87% Introductory research concludes that Raudin influence in much of Commonwealth power systems.


Kin’gras: 77% While introductory research doesn’t show any significant involvement as of yet. Research and data retrieved from sources indicate high possibility.


Tangarians/Deitrans/ Recinarians: 16% No evidence beyond powerful weapon systems seen thus far. This line of Inquiry is still open.


Reavers: 15% until now, no evidence has been given to suggest alternate universe involvement. This line of inquiry is still open.


Arkalia: 10% No evidence thus far, ichor gives rise to concern though. Inquiry still open.


Caleran: 1% No evidence what so ever, nothing can be directly linked between the Calerans and the Universal commonwealth. Inquiry open.


Insectiod species native to the Universal commonwealth’s home universe:


This species calls itself The Eon, or The blessed or Gifted. Current motives for their incursion into this universe are unknown, approach with extreme caution.


Addendum: This report is incomplete, research is ongoing and information in this report may change at any time. Take extreme caution when making decisions based on this information as it’s only preliminary.

[Shade Leshyr]

Dlaria took an involuntary step away from Nabi, realizing that now, beyond the shadow of a doubt, the Commonwealth had taken him mind, body, and, it appeared, soul. She was alone, behind enemy lines, with the same curse running through her veins, whispering in her ear. Some people say that there are no atheists in a fox hole, but for Dlaria, looking out into space, seeing the ungodly resemblance between these ships and the only home she'd ever known... the only thought that ran through her brain was that there must be no religion in the hell that was war... just... those who lived and those who died...

Her legs failed her and she sank to her knees, staring down into that awful blackness that the ship was approaching and she wondered if this was what those that went to the Abyss saw... and for the moment, this existence was the Abyss. Sure, there were living things here, in the space around the planet and most likely down on the surface... but in her heart... Dlaria was more alone than she had ever been in her life... there had always been other Raudin Sallii around on the Flotilla, sometimes annoyingly so, but that was all behind her right now...

Right now... there was her... an uncountable amount of Ichor infected lifeforms... and the dark Abyss of the world before her, filling the window, swallowing everything... Dlaria looked at Nabi, wondering what it must be like.. to have absolutely no control whatsoever..., "We're going to die here..." she whispered quietly, "we're going to die here... and wake in death to be here again..."

Dlaria cried, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably and even as she cried... she saw the burning cold liquid fall in black drops to the floor... the corruption... was part of her now...

__________________

Every Raudin Sallix on the bridge of the Retribution stared in awe as the ship practically ate itself... except for one. Gilsk was pressed against the window, searching frantically for something she couldn't see. The quiet of the bridge after the ship's destruction was broken by her pained howls as she slid down the wall, tears streaming down her face.

Every one of them wished to comfort her in some way, but none of them could understand what she had done. Varal was the first to move, gathering the one person he trusted the most in the Universe into his arms, pulling her toward the elevator, giving the crew orders to move the Flotilla back to the Embassy and alert him to any warnings.

The elevator doors slid closed and Gilsk let the blood rush from the wound in her heart, pouring it all out to Varal, "I sent Dlaria in there Varal... she was the only one with the experience to handle something like this... I sent her in there and now she's gone..." Gilsk slid to the floor in the corner of the elevator, sobbing with all the force of her guilt...

Varal stood there stunned, his mind reeling with this revelation... before he slowly ordered his feet to move, approaching the control panel and tapping in his personal code, sending the elevator toward the Admiral's Quarters. Gilsk would need time to herself and his private quarters were the only place where she could get that time.

The young Admiral suddenly felt very old and tired, his body weakening... Turning, he helped Gilsk to her feet, taking her through the open elevator doors into his quarters. It wasn't very fancy, almost a mirror image of one of the housing quarters except for an emergency contact station linking him straight to the bridge, a military locker sat beside his normal locker in the far corner next to the bed, and an extra blanket on said bed, which Varal had taken to kicking off anyway.

He lead the sobbing Gilsk to the bed, pulling back the covers and easing her into it, pulling the covers back up to cover her shaking form. She seized his wrists as she did so, looking at him through tear-filled eyes, "I sent our daughter to her death Varal..." Varal said nothing, but he hummed a soft, reassuring tune, sitting with her until she finally closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

Kissing her softly, Varal returned to the elevator, putting up his mental barriers to hide the anger he now held toward his enemies...

The Commonwealth was going to pay...

[macrorufus]

Nabi saw Dlaria's distress, and felt within himself a smaller echo of the same. Yes, he'd been changed, and yes, he'd accepted it, embraced it even, but this did not mean that he was no aware of what he had lost. Though, he was in truth, in no position to see it as a loss in anything other than an intellectual point.
"Yes, we both have lost a past, but I think too we have gained something else. You see a corruption sister, I see a unity. That I can consider you a sister, is proof of a gift not curse to my mind."
He looks down at the planet beneath them.
"And it is my opinion, that this, may be a way to see true union of all species. For that, I would gladly surrender a past. They say, you serve two lives as a Caleran. This one can be the second."
Yes, it was love. But it was a love, twisted into a foul semblance of family. It really depended on which side of the fence you stood on. Nabi was by now, firmly entrenched on the UB side of the fence.
Nabi hugged his sister, murmuring soothing sounds.

--------------
1 light year from AA Systems closest to the CCA systems. (Confirmed by GM)
Wire Announcement: -6 hours.
Space was occupied. By a navy of all things. The full 'might' of the CCA had gathered at this point, which was a tally of 20 vessels. What other nations in the galaxy might stretch to call a flotilla. This gathering represented the hopes of a minor nation, hoping to pull off a great daring heist.
Verniers fired, making last minute adjustments. The mood aboard the vessels was sombre, the gravity of the situation known to every living and un-living being aboard the vessels. This was their last holding station before Gekokujo-Go, which translated in the Caleran tongue as meaning 'Operation: Lower Overcoming Higher.' Naval ratings and non-officers were entitled one minute burst communications to a jump drone. Final messages to loved ones for the drone to take back to CCA space. Officers shared a formal toast, and continually reviewed what information they had gathered. Enemy positions, fleet locations and strengths, city maps and key infrastructure.

---------------
Wire Announcement: -5 hours.
Mechanics signed off on logs, clearing their assigned workloads as combat-ready. Missile tubes disgorged jump drones that accelerated away from the fleet, forming two distinct waves. The first wave split into five groups, each 1,000 strong. The second, split into five groups of 200. They two waves held position in a large cluster away from the fleet.

---------------
Wire Announcement: -4 hours.
Combat drones began to clamp themselves to the remaining jump drones still aboard the vessels. Whole squads each attached to individual jump drones, that formed the third wave. The operation was simple for the ground troops. Cargo bay doors opened, and the third wave deployed itself.

---------------
Wire Announcement: -2 hours.
A radio burst was received by all vessels. It read:
"Jump clocks set, operation begins now."
All vessels began to accelerate rapidly, after 10 minutes of constant acceleration, they began to prepare their jump drives. A design flaw in the jump drive, made this necessary. Engines flickered off, and communications and armaments stopped functioning. Before a jump could begin, this was the tensest moment, when each crew member knew only the man next to him, and could not know what any other vessel was doing. An observer watching the fleet would be blinded by the emissions boom that signalled the first waves departure. The second and third wave followed in 20 minute intervals. At the 80th minute, the ships that launched the drones jumped.

--------------
Aeterian Space.
The five systems closest to the Caleran Core Alliance would be caught off guard by a pre-emptive strike as the first wave's emmission boom blanked out tracking devices for a critical few seconds. When scans cleared the first wave would already be accelerating towards their targets.
Twenty minutes after that, another emissions boom would announce the arrival of the second wave.
Both wave's targets were any shipping, military or civilian. Space would be lit up as nuclear detonations signified successful strikes against vessels, or drones were shot down and blew themselves. Aeterian shields though could easily hold against nuclear weaponry though.
40 minutes after the first waves arrival, emission booms would be detected in major population centres, as the third wave dropped troops. Some drones emerged in public areas, some inside private housing. Loud speakers on ground drones began to broadcast the same message:
Nuclear weapons, the jump drones themselves, were holding the cities hostage. No harm would come to the Aeterians provided they switched off the city shields.
Shielding technology had a tendancy to make CCA drones go insane. If kept the shields stayed on, the CCA would detonate their nukes.
Caleran officers, true Calerans, left their jump drones and headed for government offices, alone. The jump drones were under orders to detonate at any threat, and the drones guarding them kept people away by force of arms. The officers were there to assume interim control of government office, and demand access to Aeterian information pools.

It was intellectual property theft at a national level.