For DS Personal/Trader Space

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RDA Flag Ship Sun Tzu

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     “We are going in Admiral.” Said Captain Tiebiris.

     “Thank you Captain.” Said Shara. As the ships went thou the worm hole every thing went dim then they where on the other side.

     “RED ALERT RED ALERT.”

     “Oh my god.” gasped the Captain.

     “What is it Captain!?” Yelled Shara.

     “We are detecting 8 Vasari Star Base's and 20 Capital ships.” He said in almost a whisper. Just then Commander Oranos's voice came over the general comm.

     “All ships fall back thou the Wormhole!!!” He Yelled. Then he showed up on the ship to ship comm. “I'm sorry Shara looks like things just went very bad. We need to get the hell out of here. Now. I'll let you coordinate the retreat I'll lead the defense so the others can get away.” Oranos said grimly.

     “Yes sir.” Shara said. “All Frigates and Cruisers Fall back thou Worm hole now. All Capital ships Support the Wyvern. We need to buy enough for the Frigates and Cruisers to escape.” She said across the general comm.

     The Wyvern sported by the other capital ships moved in to line to block the enemy ships they where out numbered almost three to one.

     "Warlord, Reaper move to the front to distract the enemy. To all ships do not launch strike craft repeat do not launch strikes craft. Captain a littleplease. For what may be a unwinabel battle." Said Oranos.

      "Yesssss Comanderrrrrr." Said captain V'har of the Wyvern. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83JBxHqNeAA&playnext_from=TL&videos=hRkySDX4Bjo )

     The Warlord and the Reaper (Kol) moved to the front to use there adaptive force field to block some of the enemy fire. Ten Kortul  Devastator's came in to range and opened fire on the Warlord. Laser's , plasma and beams fulled the night sky. As all the RDA Capital ships opened fire. The Warlord's Adaptive force field blocked most of the incoming damage. However the Warlordstill took great damage. Then the 10 Skirantra Carriers launched their strike craft.

     "Warlord fall back behind the Reaper. Reaper, Warlord prepare to use flakburst on my mark, mark!"He said over the comm.

     The Warlord and the Reaper used their flak bursts and cut down a good number of the strike craft however many bombers still got through. The Sun Tzu and the Wyvern took damage from the bombers. " Protector move forward and help the Sun Tzu and the Wyvern" The Protector (Dunov) moved in to help regenerate their shields.

     "Doomsday  move forward and engage the enemy closely." The Doomsday (Marza) moved forward and launched its missile barrage. The enemy capital ships took damage a few even lost their shields during the missile barrage. Three of the Kortul's moved forward as the others attempted to move around and encircle the fleet. The Warlord and Reaper moved to the sides and opened fire on the encircling ships.

     Just then one of the starbase's came into range and opened fire with its main weapon batteries. The protector took most of the damage. It turns trying to escape from the range of the starbase. " Captain, Drop a missile batterie and attempt to distract the starbase" The Wyvern drops a missile batterie and it opens fire on the starbase's trying to distract it.

     As this is going on hundreds of strike craft are plageing the frigates and cruisers. The flak frigates fire back at the strike craft destroying many, however all the ships take damage. Finally all the frigates and cruisers escape through the wormhole. Though some are lost.

     " All Capital ships fall back to the wormhole repeat all Capital ships fall back to the wormhole." Said Shara on the general comm channel. " Warlord, Reaper take up the rear and cover our retreat. Protector restore their shields as we go. Wyvern deploy missile batteries to help cover our retreat." Said Shara.

     " Captain fire an ion bolt at the starbase." Said Shara. The SunTzu then fired the ion bolt it had been saving during the fight, into the starbase. Shutting down all of its weapons. The capital ships then moved into formation, and started to run for the wormhole. All of the Kortul's came after them. The Reaper took great damage protecting the fleet. Finally the ships made it to the wormhole, and went through.

     "New Hope station we're coming in hot. Call home fleet for assistance." Said Shara on the general comm. Just then three of the Kortul's came through the wormhole.

     "All ships open fire on the enemy." Said Oranos on the comm. The Kortul's turn and tried to flee, when they saw the starbase. One escaped, the others were destroyed, by the fleet and New Hope station working together." All ships stand down. All damaged ships move to Gaia for repairs. All other ships guard the wormhole we may get more un-wanted visitors soon. "Captain call the Sun Tzu." Said Oranos.

     " Yesss Sirrrrrrr." Said captain V'har as Shara's face came up on the screen.

     "Comander i.... i dont know what to say." Said Shara.

     "I do we got our but's sliced off and handed back to us on a silver platter." Said Oranos. "If it hadn't been for your quick thinking it would've been a lot worse."

     "Me? But sir all i did was command the retreat you were in charge of the battle" Said Shara sadly.

     " Ah but the retreat was the most important part, if you hadn't commanded it so well we'll be dead." Said Oranos.

     "I......... i guess so but we lost so many 52 ships gone.” she said

     “It is terrible but you did your best. If its any ones fault its mine we should have gotten more info before jumping in like that.” Said Oranos.

     “Its not sir. No one could have know they'd have 8 star bases and 20 Capital ships there.” Said Shara

     “Thank you Shara but its my responsibility to make sure stuff like this doesn't happen." Said Oranos. Just then an ensign burst onto the bridge panting.

    " Sir there's been an emergency message from home fleet!"He said.

     "Well what's the message ensign?" Said Oranos.

     "Katun station detected a Trade Order scout ship in Mellonos's (the star) gravity well. It managed to escape before it could be stopped. We've been found sir."

    All sound on the bridge stopped at this news.

(Full post no longer needed.  view edit for original post)

Simply stating DS lore or DS means it's for the overall story that we're all in, such as the joint operations that are taking place with Carbon, Xenon, Ryat, Draakjacht, and who ever else may join in, like me to some small degree, or really any large joint posting where multiple people have something going on and they're all posting for that same story line.

DS Personal or something to that effect like what I typically put in means it's part of the overall DS story, however, I'm doing my own thing separate from the main so whatever I do, no one really has to pay much attention to it and respond to it right away.

Just stating Personal means it's your own thing unrelated to the main lore going on and may or may not be DS related.  Such as if anyone has any artwork, or poems, or songs, or even short stories of their own that probably wouldn't fit in well with what we're all doing or even if it does, Personal is a good general tag to use.

Most importantly, if most of the description of systems, names being used, battles or movement don't take place in DS it'd be very helpful to not use DS Lore as an opening tag, but instead use Trader Space or something to that effect.

(DS RP)

"Lieutenant," Alexander calls.

"Yes, sir," Gross replies.

"Have they begun construction of the Argonev at Portage IV?"

"No, sir. They report all craft have been completed and preparations for the deconstruction are being made. No activity otherwise, sir," Gross replies.

"Good. I assume we have the layout for the Envoy Cruiser?"

Gross appears surprised for a moment before saying, "I do believe so."

"Have them build an Envoy Cruiser and deliver it to me. Then they can proceed with the demolition of the frigate bay. Until further notice, I want the trade port to remain," Alexander orders.

"Yes, sir. What do we do with the Raloz in the meantime?"

"I want the Arcovas and Raloz to report here. Have Green Fleet assemble their standard vessels and reallocate crewmen where necessary. Then I want them to watch over Portage IV. If anything occurs there, have them call for reinforcements."

"Yes, sir."

Xenon was sitting at his desk, he had been talking to the Underworld for some time, getting all the new info that was coming in. On the top of his list was the destruction of a small fleet he had sent to pick up some advent that had somehow warped into the Distant Stars sector. According to the little bit of info that they had received, when the fleet had arrived they had been met with hostile communications, so when his men did the correct action they where fired upon and destroyed. Lucky for Xenon his men was able to transmit who was shooting them. In addition to the unknow advent forces that where there, the Roshef Free Traders where also engaged. Xenon had heard of this group before. They claimed to be traders, though if they where just traders, why are they aiding Advent vessels, and not just with pick up crew members, but repairing them and defending them? This could only mean that either they are being dominated by the advent ships, or they are actually terrorist, helping the advent with the front of 'traders'. Either way Xenon knew he couldnt let this group continue to group at an increasing rate.

His first plan was to send a message to Carbon, he had to be told about what was going on. He also needed to talk to the people who had dealings with the 'traders'. Admiral Draak had done lots of business with this group. Xenon had also herd that Draak was not going to help with the assault on Kyrene. His people had some sympathies toward the Advent. This could also be another group that was receiving aid from the Advent. Xenon knew that Draak had helped in the past, but that was when he was new to the sector and had no ties to any other faction here. Could he have been swayed to help the Advent by not helping at all?

Lord Ryat was also a question, with all of is recent activity away from his fleet. No, Ryat was a crafty individual but he had a general dislike for the Advent also.

Xenon cleared his head, he hit a few buttons on his desk, opening up a communication channel. He sat for a moment as the connection was made. Mercury picked up on the other side.

" Yez, Mercury zpecking" Said the man on the other side.

" Xenon here, just wanted to go over a few things with you" The metal man said looking at his reports

" Ov courze" Mercury said, " Vhat do you require to knov?"

" Just double checking some of the stuff im getting here, hows dealing with Iron?" Xenon asked, still not looking up

" Moztly mall scurmazhez. He haz not made any real pushez. Zeemz he iz rebuilding at zhe moment." Mercury said quickly.

"Most likely to try and retake White Impulse, keep eyes out, we are expecting him to take a indirect path to the device. if you get anything let me know imediatly." Xenon replied, as he now looked at the man on the otherside

" Am I to zend info to zhe Underworld, Or you?"  Mercury ask.

" The Underworld is fine, Xenon out" Xenon cut the connection. He needed to get back to the Underworld, but he was needed for the taking of Kyrene, and he couldn't miss a chance to kill Advent.

Xenon went back over a short list of divisions that where loyal to Carbon. The only confirmed ones where himself, Gold, and Mercury. It was fitting that the three Paragons stayed at the side of the fearless leader. Xenon knew Carbon had gone back to try and get the board to stop splitting the company apart, but he also knew that it was going to be fruitless. Iron had already shown that the board was not afraid to destroy the lives of billions just so they can keep a shred of power on what they used to control. Damn Advent, why do they always have destroy everything.

(No longer necessary view edit for original post)

Trader Space
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Gardenia Ship Yard's of Carta (Desert Planet) Mellonos Star System
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     “Kalder it looks like things are progressing. We are building 100's of Jarun Migrator ships and Protev's . We are even Salvaging many of our older ships for more parts, but will it be enough for every one?” Asked Oranos.
     “I Believe ssso ourrr ssystem isss sssmall and many own there own sshipsss and we sshall be using Cyro Stasis to ssave sspace on the sshipsss. Now you just need to find usss ssome where to go.” Said Kalder.
     “Yes your right and I think I have a lead. RDA intelligence has told me more about where I got beaten before. Its Called the Distant Stars Sector, and there is word that the TEC and Trade Order has little or no say over Humans living there. A company called the United Explorers used to own one of the path's there but there breaking up due to some kind of internal conflict but there path is still heavily   defended . There are other ways there. So I'm going to go find out what and where they are.” Said Oranos
     “Yourr going yourr sssself?” Asked Kalder.
     “Yes this is en emergency the TEC has-int come for us yet but they will and there's no way our fleets can stop them.” Said Oranos grimly.
     “Yourr rright we can't. Ssso go find usss a new home my friend. I will make surree we are rready to go when you find it.” Said Kalder.
     “Thank you. Now to go.” Said Oranos as he got up and left.
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A week later
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     Deep in Trader Space, Oranos heads into the core planets of the Yitobav System.  Disguised as a small time trader from the fringe worlds he docks at a hanger bay of a nearby trade station.  He exits his ship and heads over to a computer terminal to start looking up known smugglers and pirates in the region.  Several names appear and as he scrolls down the list briefly noting their records, his eye catches the wording 'former military service'.  Stopping to read more detailed information, he finds what he's looking for.
      A person he can possibly turn to for help.  The problem is, the records are incomplete at best.  He leaves with a name, and a last known location.  Back on his ship, he plots a course to take him to 'The Hub'.  Weeks ago it was the center of an extremely busy trade network spanning several systems until it's owner showed up and split the routes up and sold everything off.  Now it's just like all of the other localized trade networks, more interested in bringing in high profits for the local systems at the expense of it's neighbors, and only having a fraction of it's former reach.
    The trip didn't take long, and Oranos was soon looking at a large star base fully equipped with trade facilities surrounded by a half dozen more trade stations.  Figuring he's in the right place, he docks at the star base and begins soliciting for information on it's former owner.  A couple station officers stop him and offer to tell him everything they know for a small price.  Having his back against the wall and needing the information quickly, he pays them off and gets what he wants.  He's told that their former boss decided to relocate to the new hotbed of activity. 
     A region of space called the Distant Stars.  The battle lines there are constantly fluctuating and the opportunities to take advantage of more then just one group are considerably larger.  Oranos thanks them for their help and as he's walking away, one of them tells him that there's a catch.  Turning back he can see that the other has his hand extended as if to say it'll cost him more money.  Taking the obvious hint, he passes over more credits and is told that to get there he has to use the wormholes that were discovered and is handed a holopad displaying the locations of them. 
     Oranos thanks them again after copying their locations and heads back for home.  The two begin to laugh as they walk away knowing they they neglected to inform him of yet one more important piece of information...  Who you have to go through to get through the wormholes.
     As he leave's in his trade ship Oranos hack's the Star Base's Computer's using a nanobots unlink and finds a little more information on a man named “Roesh” and a direction, the Ryes wormhole. Just as the star base detects his hack he jumps to phase space.
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thanks gos to Stant123 AKA “Roesh” for his input and for coming up with part of the story for this post.

(Personal / DS)

    The remnants of the fleet return to the Finley system.  The ships scatter and head to predetermined repair bays.  Todd get's on the comms and authorizes all ships to be upgraded with new systems as the retrofits take place.  Casey heads out to check on her refineries as soon as she finds a transport that'll be headed by one.  Roesh heads on down to the surface of Finley 1 to talk to Henry about everything that just happened and hash out some ideas on what should be done next.  Tim heads back to the military moon in orbit of Finley 4 to oversee the prisoner transfers.
    "Got some good news for you." Henry says as soon as he sees Roesh enter his office.
    "Oh?  I got some not so good news for you." Roesh replies.
    "We were visited by Lord Ryat's friend, Lord J'rah.  He gave us these." Henry states as he holds up the two cylinders full of nanites.
    Roesh stares for a couple seconds, "Large paper weights with crystal and ore in them?"
    "NO!" Henry says with a laugh.
    "Okay, then what?"
    "Nanites."
    "Nanites?"
    "Yes, nanites for Casey's division.  We just take a little bit out to each mining site, sprinkle them over the veins we find and they help separate the valuables from the rocks."
    "Nice.  Does Casey know we have these?"
    "Not yet.  I figured we should get together and see a little test run to evaluate their effectiveness with our operations."
    "I agree.  What was the cost to us?"
    "Short term.  Nothing.  Long term, half of the increase in production."
    "Okay, so we need to start having Casey's department start taking careful notes on just how much they're pulling out of the asteroids so that we have data to present as a before snapshot before we use these things widespread...  Speaking of widespread, how is it we only need to sprinkle a little bit over each vein?"
    "They self replicate.  They also destroy themselves when they're tasked with anything besides mining the appropriate mineral.  So no weaponizing them."
    "Perish the thought."
    "Yeah, I'm sure you weren't thinking of that just now." Henry says with a bit of annoyance in his voice.
    "No reason why we can't study them, right?"
    "I don't see why not."
    "So let's divide these up in the mean time, make sure every research station get's a small amount and do what it takes to let them replicate themselves up in preparation for wide-scale deployment if we see favorable results."
    "I'll have an aide get on that.  What's Casey off doing?"
    "She headed out to her operations to check in and see what's happened while we were out.  We took a beating out there again Henry."
    "So I suppose Todd and Tim are going to be real busy for a couple days."
    "Yeah, we also have quite a few new guests with us."
    "And I suppose a whole new set of problems."
    Roesh links Henry's computer to one of the capital ships computers and downloads the data recorded during the operation.  Henry watches as they find all of Setsuna's fleet, the marines taking control of the ships.  The engineers and medics doing everything they can to restore operations to the ships and revive the crews.  He hears the transmissions between Tim and Roy, and watches as the battle unfolds.
    "No doubt they're going to blame the entire thing on us..." Henry states.
    "Yeah, they always do.  They fired first and boarded without permission.  I don't blame Tim for defending his fleet."
    "I don't either, but this looks bad.  Us fighting one of the power houses in the area."
    "If it comes to it, and people start getting pissed at us, we just show the video of them firing their demo bots on us and forcing their way onto all of the ships.  Let who ever is mad decide for themselves who was in the wrong.  Personally, I think we need to start paying more attention to these other guys out here and start mining our own data on them rather then just looking up what we can on the data network."
    "I'll leave that one up to you Roesh, you're the one who tracked front line fleet movements for the TEC and infiltrated pirate networks.  I just fought the battles I was ordered to fight."
    "Yeah, I'll make some calls and get the ball rolling on that one.  For now though, let's go take some of these to Casey." Roesh says as he opens up the tubes and sniffs the air to see if they have an odor of any kind.
    "They use different kinds for medical purposes." Henry adds as he locates Casey.  "She's currently en route to Liam."
    "Off we go.  Our girl should be excited to see these."
    They take a small sample out of each container to take with them and hand the rest off to a staff worker with instructions to distribute them around the system like they discussed before heading off to meet up with Casey at the asteroid Liam.  They use the faster back route and Henry gets to see the damage done to the ships as they pass by most of them catching up to Casey.  Henry and Roesh continue to discuss their options on how to go forward from there during the trip.  They arrive at the refinery orbiting the asteroid and find Casey waiting for them just outside the hanger bay.
    "Got a present for you while you were away." Henry states as Roesh hands her the containers.
    She looks at them closely not really sure what to do with them until she figures out what they're are and grins widely. "Vasari mining nanites!"
    Henry laughs, "She's definitely smarter then you, buddy!"
    "Yeah, but I'm older and wiser."
    "Oh yeah, forgot to tell you.  Swiped this data off of Setsuna's ship." Casey says as she hands Roesh a data disk.
    "What's on it?" Roesh asks as he takes it from her.
    "A list of Advent techs and orbital structure schematics.  I believe Todd was busy grabbing every bit of data he could on their ships." she replies.
    Henry chuckles again. "Well you were right about being older, looks like the wiser part can be debated now."
    Casey smiles and salutes. "What are we doing with these?"
    Henry answers her, "Lord J'rah paid us a visit and made a deal that we get to have these in exchange for half of our production increase."
    "So I suppose you want my numbers since we stabilized production?"
    "Yes, but we're only going to use these in a small test setting first." Henry states.
    "Sounds good.  Let's use them on the Savannah moon first to see what the raw increase is, then try them here to see how they increase production in a refinery setting." Casey says.
    "Sounds like a plan." Roesh concludes.
    They grab some gear and some station personnel to specifically oversee the project and head to the Savannah moon over Finley 4.  The people are briefed and instructed to be as detailed as possible in their notes since they'll be shared with J'rah and they're not entirely sure how well the nanites will adapt to TEC mining operations.  The initial test start up is interrupted when Roesh receives a priority message from Lord Ryat.  The message detailed his and Xenon's conversation about what had just happened in Russundova.  Roesh sends a message back to Ryat.
    ~We're going to deal with this unfortunate situation as soon as we can, Admiral.  Don't worry about Kyrene, we haven't met anyone from there, nor have we actively sought any contact with anyone.  Russundova for us was purely a rescue operation until Xenon's overzealous fleet fired on us and forced their way onto our ships.  Tim did what he had to do to defend our ships, and if Xenon feels that we're making inroads with the Advent, then maybe he needs to take some time to evaluate his actions a little better.  From where we're standing, he's forcing us to be allies by attacking us both.  I'm sure Tim's busy right now trying to get a hold of someone from UE's Fleet Division to figure out what our next step is.  Good to hear from you and we'll have to get together soon so I can buy some starbase equipment off of you like we discussed the last time we talked shop.~
    Roesh attaches the data from the ships so he can watch it and decide for himself.

(NO LONGER NEEDED, SEE EDIT FOR OP)

(No longer necessary view edit for original post)

(NO LONGER NEEDED, SEE EDIT FOR OP)

    "Why do you continue to deal with these smooth skin creatures is beyond me," Lord Vilk said in a demeaning tone, "the fact that they have pulled this treachery shows that they are unworthy of the stars. We here in the council demand action. Take this fleet that we are building and smash this Draak's fleet into dust and reclaim those planets. And take whatever humans that have stayed around as slaves."
    Lord J'rah sighed to himself as he kept his back to the lord and looked out into the gravwell of Portage VII. The J'kar clan's industry was at full bore here now, building many frigates and cruisers. With the new influx of materials from RFT there had even been two new capital ships laid down, a Kortul and a Antorak. The Kostura Cannon with its odd fitting orbited nearby. The fleet that was being built was for the attack on Kyrene. This collection of Advents had shown themselves to be nothing more than vicious warmongers that wished to exterminate anything that wasn't like them. They had to be stopped and this artifact that they had had to be taken away. Besides Draakjacht had fought with honor many times, to do this was unthinkable in J'rah's mind. And yet the political dogs had to be fed some how. He turned back around to face his opponent.
    "I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation that is at hand. If we were to just out right attack Admiral Draakjacht, all of his allies, including Lord Ryat, would come down on our heads. They not only outnumber us, but much of our resources comes from them. They hold the upper hand!" Lord J'rah said, "We must move cautiously."
    "So what do you plan on doing?" asked Lord Ano. Lord Ano unlike Lord Vilk understood the need to work with the humans and even respected them, but he to was having difficulty in dealing with this recent occurance. And since Lord Ano controlled a strong portion of the Council that was favorable to J'rah's plans, he did deserve an answer, and a good one at that.
    "Most likely I will allow them to have the planets, just with some stiff penalties for breaking the deal," Lord J'rah said as he seated himself in his chair. Lord Ano nodded his head, though looked somewhat disappointed. Lord Vilk scowled.
    "Well My Lord," Lord Ano began, "That's not what we want, but I agree, its what we are going to get. If that is what you have to do to keep the J'kar clan alive, then so be it. I believe our time here is done."    
    "Thank you lords for hearing me out," Lord J'rah said, "Hopefully this will help you understand why we are doing what we are doing." All three exchanged pleasentries and Lord Ano and Lord Vilk left with their aids. Lord J'rah sat in his chair thinking. His advisors came in while he mussed over the conversation.
    "So how do you think that went?" he asked.
    "We are walking a thin line my lord," said V'laph his senior advisor, "Lord Ano may get most of his allies to work with us but Lord Vilk will do his best to become an even bigger block and may sway enough votes in the Council to override certain issues."
    "Though the more important issues will pass," J'ilk mentioned, "but it will be close."
    "I guess it will be enough," Lord J'rah sighed, "Any news on this Thenos Advent person?"
    "He seems like a reasonable human," Sliventra his intel chief reported, "Recommend going ahead with contact."
    "Okay," Lord J'rah said, "Guess I will make another trip to Roesh and ask him for help to set up a contact. What next on the agenda?"

    Lord Vilk shifted nervously in his seat as his shuttle carefully docked with the mysterious shuttle. He didn't want to meet with this person but Lord J'rah had left him no choice. Something had to be done to save J'kar clan or they would forever be pawns of these useless smooth skinned aliens. The shuttles finished connecting and the hatch opened.
    "Come," a voice commanded from the opening. Lord Vilk's guards shifted nervously, then froze.
    "Don't worry about your servants," the voice said, "they will remember nothing." Lord Vilk got out of his seat and entered the darkened shuttle. Inside a figure sat in the shadows.
    "So how did the meeting go?" the voice asked.
    "Just like you said it would go," he answered, "he has become a pawn for the humans. He cares nothing for the Vasari and our ways."
    "Indeed it is sad when one leaves one's roots like that," the voice said soothingly.
    "And sadly there is nothing I can do about it," Lord Vilk continued, "My political power is not strong enough to stop him from doing what he will."
    "That is alright," the voice said, "We will just have to try a different tactic." And the voice outlined the plan carefully while Lord Vilk listened carefully though horrified.
    "But that...that would lead..." he stuttered.
    "Yes it would," the voice said cutting him off, "but it must be done. Lord J'rah must be forced to view his allies as enemies and this is the way to do it." Lord Vilk nodded his head.
    "Yes that is true," he said sadly, "but the cost..."
    "Is of no concern," the voice said harshly "Now go and do this, or your clan will suffer." Lord Vilk bowed quickly and left the darkened shuttle. The release on his servants and guards was removed and his shuttle left quickly.
    Onboard the mysterious shuttle the figure emerged from the shadows as it began to move out revealing the High Psintegrat.
    "Yes you old fool," she said chuckling, "run off to betray all that you know. And Ryat, Carbon, and Xenon will be in my little trap. And I will have the White Impulse for myself." Her laughter echoes in the small shuttle.

(Personal / DS)

    After the prisoner transfer has been well under way, Tim asks Captain Powley to find out who needs to be contacted about these people and get them to head over here at their earliest convenience for a little face to face sit down.  Captain Powley nods, exits the bridge and makes his way to a comm terminal at the broadcast center nearby.  Sitting down he begins to bring up information on the UE Corporation.  He looks up all of their recent troubles back in Trader Space.  The theories presented as to the attackers being Advent, but more importantly, their published chain of command.  "Hmmmm...  Well it still appears their go to guy in fleet is still Carbon." he mutters to himself.  Digging a little further he manages to find out that the UE fleet in the Distant Stars region was actually increased by Iron's appearance, rather then it's forces diminished after the attack so close to their home.  Captain Powley sends a quick message to Tim updating him with the new information he's just found out.  After that he sets up a broadcast aimed at Portage.  The message simply requests that Admiral Carbon of the Unified Explorers Corporation contact the Roesh Free Traders as soon as he has the time and included a frequency for a secure connection.  Much to his surprise, it only takes a few minutes to get a response.
    "This is Carbon, who am I speaking to?" he asked.
    "Robert Powley, sir. Captain of the Roesh Free Traders battleship Foe Hammer."
    "Okay, what's this about?"
    "We're hoping you can enlighten us on some of your recent fleet activity."
    "You're going to have to be a little more specific.  We've had a lot of recent activity."
    "Okay, basically we answered a distress call in Russundova.  Nearing the end of the operation, some ships belonging to Xenon showed up and opened fire on us."
    Carbon laughed, "Really?  Please continue."
    "Well, long story short, a lot of ships were lost and a lot of people died needlessly."
    "I'd have to agree with you there."
    "My superiors are a bit curious as to why we were fired on when we've so far not done anything except create a supply hub and help out whenever asked."
    "I may have to get back to you on that if you want a detailed answer.  All I can say for sure is that right now, Xenon's a little more then upset with the Advent."
    "I've been reading about the attacks on your headquarters."
    "So you can understand why he's acting this way..."
    "Not really sir.  I believe this whole situation could have been avoided had his men at least tried to tell us any reason at all as to what they were really there for rather then telling us they're doing a safety check and then when in range, basically attacking unprovoked."
    "I suppose you handled yourselves accordingly?"
    "I'm sure you've read the reports that his ships are no longer responding or showing up on any sensors."
    "Maybe..."
    "At any rate, sir, we have all of the survivors from the conflict housed in our system.  When you've got some free time, we'd like to have you and Xenon come here so we can come to some sort of understanding."
    "What kind of understanding?"
    "To be honest, how come your intelligence officer is failure."
    Carbon's face shows clear signs of being upset by that comment.  "I don't think he's a failure and you'd be wise to refrain from ever saying that again." he states coldly.
    "My apologies, sir, but it's the truth.  Had he done even the slightest bit of his job, he'd have known we're directly supporting your allies.  I know he's pretty pissed at the Advent, but there again, had he even bothered to do his job, he'd have known that the only Advent we have any kind of an agreement in place with is an Advent offshoot that is opposed to the current regime in the most complete of ways.  Their destruction would be our ally's pleasure.  And to further that argument, the Advent we were assisting are actually former TEC members."
    "I don't get the what that last part has to do with anything..." Carbon says with some annoyance still in his voice.
    "Former TEC now Advent means they were let down by the powers that be and the Advent offered them what the TEC couldn't.  After just doing a little bit of research while sitting here I've dug up all kinds of information on them.  I suggest you have your intelligence officer do the same.  It'd be wiser to support them and show them that the failures of those in control of their former system aren't problematic throughout the entire organization."
    "However true as that may be, the UE doesn't follow any orders given by the TEC."
    "Just like the UE should understand that we won't just blindly obey their orders either."
    "I understand, nor would I expect you to.  However Xenon may feel differently about this then I do.  You have his people and he's lost some ships because of you, and honestly, I think he feels a bit slighted that you guys never introduced yourselves to us."
    "Didn't know there was a policy in place like that..."
    "There isn't but it would have been nice."
    "Well, from what I understand, my superiors came here because they're business associates of Lord Ryat's, and a few hints were dropped that moving our operations here could earn the company better profits then running anti-piracy operations back in Trader Space.  Our first actual contract here was initiated by our Advent friends.  Our second contract was initiated by your allies out here lead by Admiral Draakjacht, and our newest contract if I read the briefing correctly was initiated by Ryat's allies lead by Lord J'rah.  This past operation was actually our second attempt and initiating contact rather then just receiving it, and you guys came in shooting...  This conversation is only our third attempt at initiating contact, so forgive my bluntness sir, but if I knew I was going to get my way, I'd say you guys are the one's who have a lot of apologizing to do."
    "I don't think so.  You may have gotten one had you let Xenon's men do what they were ordered to do."
    "Sir, if he had told us what his real intentions were, we might have, however saying he's there for a safety check and then destroying our ship's engines with demo bots killing the crews at their stations is an extremely unorthodox method of checking safety."
    "If they were safer they wouldn't have been killed..."
    "A valid point, one that we're addressing, one could argue that we initiated a safety check of our own and found flaws.
    "I suppose you could."
    "Requesting that we hold our positions could be equally as effective as destroying engines, plus it has the added bonus of not getting anyone killed."
    "Interesting.  I'll have to add that to my notes so I'll know to use that tactic in the future."
    "Please don't do that sir..."
    "Do what?  I'm just agreeing with you...  What was your first reaching out attempt?"
    "Admiral Draakjacht.  He had a demand for resources and we had the supply.  We had a demand for technology, they had the supply.  Simple law of economics dictated that we could get the most by dealing with them rather then going through Ryat."
    "Oh, a civics lesson on top of tactical operations.  Thank you."
    "Sir..."
    "Oh lighten up, I'm just teasing you.  I really have to get going, but tell your superiors we'll be in touch."
    "Of course, sir."
    Carbon makes a gun out of his hand and says "Peeew" as he fires it at Powley and then cuts the comm connection.  Powley, not really having anything to do for the moment leaves another message for Tim stating that Carbon will be in touch soon.  He goes back to looking up as much as he can and placing some calls back to his contacts in Trader Space to get as much information as he can on the UE corporation.