(DS RP)

            A cargo ship appears in a flash on the edge of Finley's gravity well. It turns toward two stations and proceeds while sending out a message. "This is transport DL-332 requesting permission to proceed to Finley I."

            A message comes back from one of the square structures, "This is Starbase Angarsk. You are clear to proceed to Finley I. Stand by for navigation updates."

            Small bundles of information pass between the two vessels as the smaller continues on with its course, soon arriving at near the point of entry for the phase lane to Finley I, where it tears a opening in the path and disappears into the void. Soon it reappears, this time at a distance from a terran planet with a rocky moon hovering at a distance. The transport manages a path between the trade ports, accompanying traffic, and repair facilities working on three capital vessels and a variety of smaller warships.

            Inside, Admiral Draakjacht manages his equipment. His duffle bag is already full and closed while he pulls a shirt over his head, ensuring the garment comes down around his hips. He follows with a light jacket of tightly woven black fiber, leaving the breast open after putting it on. A few pieces of clothing lie before him, all but one folded into neat squares. He picks up the unfolded jacket, the starched shoulders and collar resisting the pull of his fingers and small pieces of metal pinned on at various points turning one way or another to the shift in balance. With a pinch at the corners and a quick turning of his wrists, the garb folds and he places it on top of the others, smoothing over the material before lifting the bunch and placing them into a nearby steel container. The container is closed and secured against a wall when a voice comes over a speaker on the ceiling.

            "Sir, buckle in. We're beginning descent."

            In a short time, the blocky design of the transport makes its way to the ground, approaching the landing platform with speed, but managing a quick brake to allow for a smooth touchdown. When the engines power down and the dust settles, a party approaches the platform and watch as one of the smaller hatches on the side opens. A few marines exit the vessel, their weapons slung across the back of their shoulders. Soon after, a man in a dark jacket and heavy denim jeans exits with a duffle bag secured by one hand over his shoulder. A woman in the entourage makes the approach, extending her hand as she comes within reach of the man.

            "Fleet Admiral Draakjacht, I presume?"

            With a modest smile, he nods and takes her hand, giving a single shake. Without letting go of him, she continues, "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Molly Pierce, planetary administrator for the Free Traders. I'm very happy that you're here and hope you find your stay very much to your liking. Might I ask what you have planned?"

            Alexander's smile tightens at the corners while he glances at his captive hand, replying, "I really haven't planned very much yet."

            Molly releases his hand, Alexander taking the opportunity to tuck into the safety of one of his pockets. She says, "Well, if there is anything you need, I will be more than happy to help. We have many fine establishments here, all of which I can ensure you enjoy at a discounted cost. If you wish for a change of atmosphere, I can arrange for a transport to Finley II or any one of the moons at a time of your choosing."

            "No," Alexander says, "I'm quite fine, thank you. I think I'll just get myself acquainted for the time being."

            "Good. If you need anything, feel free to call Henry, Roesh, or myself. Here's my card in case you need it," she says before pulling a small piece of cardstock with her contact data upon it, handing it to Alexander who takes it with a small smile accompanying the card's acquisition. "I hope you have a great vacation and enjoy your stay here."

            He casually salutes with the card in hand as she turns away, rejoining her group before they head off. He tucks the paper away in his back pocket and turns to a marine, taking a deep breath as the soldier hands him a small transmitter which he attaches to his belt beneath his jacket.

            The marine smiles, "Good luck, sir."

            Alexander's eyes look up at the man with a deathly seriousness across his face before he turns away, heading further into the city. Glancing from store to store, he absorbs the options presented before him, most of which he finds little to no interest. After a short time he spies a grocer and turns into the establishment. He winds his way around to the dry goods, picking through the selection of foreign meats and fruits, picking a few items to include in his adventure of discovering the world. After, he glances down a length of aisles, reading the signage without any success concerning his next goal. An employee happens by and he stops the woman, "Pardon me, would you happen to have any soft water containers."

            The woman's head cranes back as her eyes open wide. "I don't know. Follow me."

            She leads him a few aisles down the way to where a man stocks one side of the aisle and a variety of containers are located across the way, varying from sports bottles to emergency water containers. As the two scan through the options, she speaks, "You don't sound like you're from here. One of those Free Traders?"

            "No," he answers, "Just visiting for a short bit."

            "Ah, that's good. They've done nothing but clutter up the area with their company and all their little deals. Load of trouble, if you ask me."

            "He didn't, you know," came a voice from behind, causing both Alexander and the female employee to turn towards the man stocking.

            "What was that you said?"

            He replies, "He didn't ask and if you ask me, the Free Traders have done just fine. We're getting more people passing through and all sorts of good have been coming in since they arrived. It's good for business. Finally feeling like more than some backwater moon."

            "Well, I don't see it that way," she refutes. "I think they've mismanaged every little thing. They say we get more of a say in things around here, but I think it's just the same thing from someone bigger. And I don't care how good it is for business, when they bring Advent through here, I get creeped out."

            Alexander extends his hand, physically breaking into the conversation, "Did you say Advent?"

            "Yeah," she says. "Haven't seen any around here personally, but some others are saying their ships have been coming and going elsewhere. Crazy to think anyone would let them get too close.  There's even a few photos of those Free Traders sitting down with a Vasari having a meal and people are saying one of them is an Advent."

            "Bollocks," the man inserts, "no one in that picture looks even close to what an Advent looks like, and I've only heard that from the same people complaining about them from the beginning. I think you're just making this stuff up to make it easier to complain.  The town got all fixed up, it's steadily growing, jobs all pay more, we can live where ever we want, we're not being taxed through the roof, they're paying people to live out in the newer settlements...  I just don't understand all of this complaining about everything."

            "Maybe you should try watching the news once in a while. Get yourself a little teaching.  This place was a whole lot better off when it was just us."

            Again, Alexander interrupts, "Thank you. I don't see what I was looking for. Hope you two have a good day."

            "Oh," the woman says, "Well, have a safe one."

            Alexander continues on to the registers to purchase the dry goods and after pauses briefly to slip the objects into his duffle. He heads away from the center of the city, thinking to himself about the supposed Advent presence in Finley. He's tempted to get in touch with his men and address the issue, but he's certain that they will find out just as much, if not more, about what is really going on and even then, that they would insist on leaving him where he is if there is no security threat. Just to be on the safe side, he switches on the transponder built into his transmitter in case they need to make a quick pick up. In the meantime, he continues on with his involuntary vacation.

            Shortly after the transport that delivered Alexander departs, six flashes of light announce the arrival of a small fleet in the Finley System. They contact the nearby starbases, "This is Senior Captain Siegel of the David's Lions, Green Fleet. We are here to receive servicing of our vessels. Please acknowledge."

            "This is starbase Angarsk, we've been expecting you. Please stand by for navigation data and orders," came the reply.

            The orders broke the fleet evenly amongst the four repair stations, with two each heading to Finley I and its moon, while Finley II and the third moon of Finley IV each receive one. The vessels adjust their paths and continue to their port of call. The DLS Aaron finds its way to Finley I in little time and joins the queue of Kols near the repair station while the DLS Elisha, a Dunov Battlecruiser, comes to rest near a Sova. On the bridge of the Aaron, Siegel is looking over a few reports with Lieutenant Commander Harari, when the pitch of Lieutenant Pollock's voice carries across the bridge, "Sir, we have a priority two communication from Captain Zuckermann."

            Siegel looks up from the display panel, "Put it through."

            Not having the visual system yet installed, audio alone comes over the room, "Sir, we have a situation. We've spotted Advent vessels in the region."

            Siegel's feet carry him away from the tactical station as he responds, "Are we talking warships?"

            "No, sir," Zuckermann says. "Only trade vessels so far. They're not responding to our presence, so I imagine it's no surprise to them we're here."

            Siegel takes a moment to consider the situation before turning to his tactical station, "Harari, do we have any signs of Advent fleet elements?"

            "No, sir. The psidar's been quiet."

            Siegel nods, "Hold your position, Zuckermann, I need to contact fleet command before I make any decisions. In the meantime, stall any access to your vessel. Pollock, have all vessels restrict movement of personnel."

            "Yes, sir," came her reply before turning to her work.

            Zuckermann begins, "Sir, I'm going to..."

            "Don't do anything," Siegel corrects him. "You've already made enough noise for a bit."

            Zuckermann can be heard sighing over the communication, "Yes, sir."

            Minutes pass before Captain Levin walks onto the bridge of the David, the brace missing from his arm for the first time since his injury. "What the hell is going on?"

            Frishman rises from the captain's chair, making space for Levin to pass as he reports, "Captain Siegel says Advent trade vessels have been spotted in the Finley System. No hostiles, but he's concerned about security."

            Frishman proceeds to the tactical station as Levin reacts, "Yes, I imagine someone selling TEC information to the Advent would be bad for us. Lieutenant Gross, can you get a transmission through to Kyrene?"

            "Yes, sir, but I can't guarantee any security on the feed," he replies.

            "Of course," Levin replies while absently massaging his elbow. "I hate to do this, but have a message sent to J'rah concerning the need for information about the Roesh Free Traders. If he can't tell us why they're Advent in the system, maybe he can get a Vasari signal through securely. One way or another, I want to know the answer to my first question."

            Gross nods before asking, "What was the first question?"

            "What the hell is going on?"

(Personal / DS)

    "On Finley 1, the uneasy tensions between the two groups continue to build.  Whispers of a separatist movement can be heard with the blowing wind.  A large portion of the population are growing more concerned over the recent sightings of Advent and Vasari vessels moving through the system.  The simple fact that these have all been civilian craft is a point lost on most people."    --NewsNet

    Roesh reads his daily reports and stops after he reads the news feeds.  Not sure of what to make of it, he sets up a meeting with Henry and Riona.  An hour later the three of them are sitting at a small round table.

    "So what's this crap all about?" Roesh asks pointing to the news feed on the datapad in the middle of the table.
    "What do you mean?" Henry asks.
    "What do I mean..?  I mean, why are there two groups, who are the two groups and why is this the first I'm seeing this, and why am I seeing this rather then someone telling me about it?" Roesh aks.
    "By someone, I assume you mean me." Riona states.
    "Well it is your arena, I pay you for it." Roesh states coldly back.
    "Some people don't care for what you're doing out here." Riona says.
    "And what is it about improving the infrastructure and increasing the population and business that they don't like?" Roesh asks.
    "It's the business part."
    "Well, that's sort of the deal.  I'm not going to pay for everyone's improved quality of life without giving myself a source of income."
    "No one asked you to."
    "Seriously?  Are we going to do this again?"
    "Do what again?" Henry asks.
    "We just had this talk the other day about what her job here is." Roesh says.
    "Well, at this point, I'm not sure that I can say that I don't agree with them." Riona says raising her voice.
    "Who is them?" Roesh asks as loudly as Riona's last comment.
    "There's a large portion of the population that are thinking about separating from you and going back to living with Kieran in charge because he wasn't a sympathizer."
    "Sympathizer for who?" Henry asks.
    "For the enemy." Riona states.
    Henry and Roesh look at each other for a second then look back at Roina.
    Roesh says, "Let's get one thing clear here and you need to work your ass off to push this since you've let things get to this level...  We're not a government.  We don't care for the political feelings of anyone, not even ourselves.  We're not a military.  We're not fighting anyone's war.  We are a business.  We're here to make the best of things.  We're doing what we can to turn a profit, grow this company, and make a better life for ourselves in the process."
    "And that better quality of life trickles down to those supporting us." Henry adds.
    "Well, the people don't see it that way." Riona states.
    "Make them see it that way or I'll find someone who will." Roesh says.
    "Don't you think your demand is a bit unreasonable?"
    "Not at all.  You should have come to me when you first found out.  You've failed in your duties to this company, I'm giving you the opportunity to fix your screw up.  Do it, or you're fired."
    "To hell with you and your company.  I quit!" Riona yells as she storms out the door.
    Roesh stands up, "Politicians...  They're just like weeds.  They're annoying as hell, and if you kill one, ten more take their place."
    Henry laughs, "I guess that means I have more work to do until we can have another election..."
    "Fuck the elections.  It's my boardroom I'll pick someone who can do the damned job."
    "You have anyone in mind?"
    "I have a name, but I want some choices first."
    "I'll do some research and leave you a list."
    "Thanks." Roesh says as he walks out of the room.

    Roesh hops on a transport to take him to the location where they set up an establishment for Kieran.  As he expects, he's greeted only with dirty looks and mutterings as he makes his way to Keiran's home.  He knocks on the door and waits for the answer.
    "What do you want?" Kieran asks as he opens his door.
    "We need to talk, may I come in?" Roesh asks.
    Kieran opens the door up all the way and steps to the side allowing passage.  Roesh walks in and sits down at Kieran's table.
    "So what is it you need to talk to me about?" Kieran asks.
    "I'm pretty sure you've heard the rumblings going on."
    "I may have some familiarity with them."
    "Here's the deal.  I'm now finding myself in a position that I don't want to be in because of the failure of your successor.  I'm not going to put you back in control, but given our history, I can offer you a job.  Credits only, under the table, no one but us has to know."
    "Go on..."
    "I don't know how involved you are with the separatists movement that's going on, but if you're not, I want you to get involved.  Come out against me, work your way in, then provide me with anything you can find out."
    "You want me to betray my people?"
    "They're not all your people.  Many of them I brought in from trader space.  Many of your people seem to be enjoying the fact that there's more business here now and the system is open...  For the most part."
    "I don't know."
    "Think of it this way, I'm paying you for your help, I'm already paying for your 'retirement', and I'll owe you one at the end of all of this."
    "Now that I like." Kieran says with a grin.
    "I figured as much." Roesh says as he hands Kieran a data pad.
    "What's this?"
    "It's a list of secure codes I used to use back in trader space.  Use them to contact anyone you need to including me.  They bypass the standard security protocols."
    "I could use these to take over."
    "No you can't.  They're still restricted to this system unless I specify otherwise.  So no calling your little buddies who supplied you with ships.  I'm not paying you to start a riot, I'm paying you to feed me information until I can get this bullshit all sorted out."
    "You know if you stay too long, people will talk."
    "I know, I'm leaving." Roesh says while standing up.  "I know you don't like me, but I personally have nothing against you."
    Keiran opens his door up and let's Roesh walk outside before yelling, "and don't come back you worthless pile unless it's to tell me you're leaving the system!"  He slams his door shut causing Roesh to smirk slightly.

    Roesh head's back to his transport and returns to the main city.  Once there he switches to another transport heading into orbit.  On the way he receives a message on one of the frequencies he gave Keiran.

    "Just like that, I'm in." -Governor Kieran

    Roesh chuckles when he reads it and mutters to himself, "We'll see how well you rally the masses to you before we start calling you governor again."

OP has been updated. Readers and Posters please take note.

Also if your Character Bios and Maps are not included in the DS Lore post, that Ive created to centralize the info. PM me with needs to added. I will update those post within a week or so.

(DS RP)

"Sir, we're getting a response from J'rah's men," Lieutenant Gross announces.

"Go ahead," Levin responds.

"They say the Advent in the Finley System belong to a group which has broken from the main Advent group. Apparently they're not hostiles."

Levin looks over with his eyebrows furrowed, "Are we serious, Lieutenant Gross?"

Gross shakes his head, "That's the information I've been given. They're not going into a lot of detail."

Levin's mouth straightens out as he orders, "Have our vessels proceed for upgrades. I want the traders watched every step of the way and any software upgrades can be installed on portable units for transfer once our techs have had a chance to look them over. Everything gets logged, everyone gets checked coming on or off our vessels. Make sure Captain Siegel gets that, detail for detail."

"Yes, sir," Gross replies before busying himself with the task.

Levin turns to the tactical center and asks, "What do you think of this?"

Frishman shrugs, "We can't risk a security threat, but we could really use the upgrades. We just need to make sure we compartmentalize the work they do."

"What about this research they want to do? Think that'll end up in Advent hands?"

Frishman shakes his head, "We have some time before we're ready for field trials. We can figure out how to approach it with the time we have, but if we just take their upgrades and run, we know it's probably not just their men we have to deal with."

Levin sighs, "We'll go ahead, but certainly play it cautious. Draw up security protocols for transferring field data. We'll assume they're a danger to us until we find reason otherwise."

"Yes, sir," Frishman replies.

On the surface of Finley I, Alexander hikes alongside a road stretching out from the city. The duffle he carries with him is hugging close to his back, the two straps wrapped around his arms as if it were a backpack. The air is slightly warm with only a hint of humidity, thus his jacket is folded up and secured beneath one of the straps. As the city narrows on the horizon, he finds himself passing juts of land with one side or another scarred by activity long past. To his right appears a jut, taller than the others, which rises rapidly on one side, rocks dressing the sparse grass of the rise, and suddenly drops after reaching its peak, creating a steep cliff cut stone barren of life. Alexander smiles and turns towards the feature, stepping through tall grasses which grow on the level ground between the violent hills. He winds his path around the obstructions, stepping high and with care for holes or other signs of wildlife. His path beelines towards the sloping side of the rise, where he begins to climb the feature, his cautious stepping saving him the hassle of utilizing his hands for much more than securing his cargo.

Along the way he drops his hands quickly in response to the occasional misstep, sometimes catching himself on the back of a stone and other times managing without much more than a brush of his fingers against the ground. His path turns and winds as he attempts to find the path of least resistance up the terrain. The effort up the last few yards of the slope are the hardest, ensuring the path to the top takes as much effort as his entire voyage out from the city. The jagged rocks and loose components ambush him step by step, failing despite their best efforts to halt his travels. After nearly slipping on one last stone which decides to roll out from under his footing, he makes it to the peak where the edge hangs hazardously over empty space. He pulls the duffle and jacket from his arms and set them down on the ground behind him before dropping down and allowing his legs to hang off the edge. He leans back, his arms bracing his body, and watches as the sun settles on the horizon, the lights of the sky blending a variety of hues together to create a tapestry which backdrops the various clouds which gather to see the glowing orb on towards its departure. The way the forms turn and wrap in the presence of the sun reminds him of images he's seen of the galactic core, but never anything first hand. As far as he was concerned, the sun sinking beneath the roiling forms of those clouds and disappearing beneath the horizon is as glorious and as melancholy as the whole of the galaxy, now and when it fades to darkness.

The twilight settles in overhead and the air cools, prompting him to put on his jacket and zip up the front. When the last light fades to naught, he finds a comfortable bowl amongst the rocks to lay a blanket in and settles down for the night.

    Rear Admiral Usyma walked into the Advent Technology Recover Room that was rife with activity. Thanks to Xenon's crazy way of destroying things there was far more collectible debris and Lord Ryat's salvage groups descended on the mess with it's usually effiency. The room was fill in an organized manner with all sorts of Advent Psitech. Advent had three ways of controlling their abilities. One was genetics, though that had a tendency to be a bit random and a bit long term, though there were those amoungst the Advent that were looking for a Kwisatz Haderach or superbeing that would need nothing to control one's psychic abilities still out in the old desert planets, so many left it as a long term plan to be done by someone else. The second was drugs, which was fine in controlled situations, prisoner interrogation, farseeing, etc., drugs had a tendency to fog the mind which caused issues during uncontrolled situations such as warfare. Hence the third such form of control was developed, Psitech. Through the use of nanites and crystals, psychic energy was channeled and controlled through machines. Some were massive, such as the ones that controlled the myriads of drones that the Advent used for strike craft. Others were small, such as the witch sticks as the TEC had come to name.
    The witch sticks were what Lord Ryat was looking for. Often used only by those that were high up in the Advent hierarchy, they allowed a vast ability to control any and all that is Advent, though they were short ranged and not very powerful, as that was made up by the power of the controller who was often very powerful in their own right. But they also could be modified to allow anyone to control Advent PsiTech, hence Lord Ryat's desire to get them. Usyma walked up to the commander in charge of the operation.
    "Report please," she asked quietly.
    "Excuse me?" he said as he turned to face her, "Oh, sorry My Lady. Didn't see you come in." He quickly braced in salute to her.
    She returned the salute. "That's okay, I like to sneak up on my subordinates. Keeps them on their toes," she said with a smirk, "So, a report please."
    "Yeah, well we got a treasure trove here," he responded eagerly, "So far we have 25 witch sticks and we aren't even a quarter of the way through all this junk."
    "That's impressive," she said. "Though I only see 24 witch sticks." she followed up with a look over the table that held all the witch sticks.
    "Wha-!" the commander exclaimed as he rushed to the table. He quickly counted the sticks and came up with 24. He began looking around the table on the floor muttering to himself.
    "Commander, it's okay," she said.
    "No, no I could have sworn-" he began
    "Commander I said it's okay, Usyms repeated herself.
    "No, I swear there were-" he continued to protest until Usyma grabbed him by his face forced him to look her in the eye, a difficult feat considering he was a good foot taller than her.
    "Commander, I said it was okay," she said slowly, "You probably over counted because you are tired. Just calm down and fix the manifest."
    "Yeah, most like over counted cause I was tired, good point," he said.
    "Good, I will go inform Lord Ryat that we have a nice haul and don't worry, I won't mention your mistake," she said with a smile then turned and left the room. The commander stood there for a minute or so then turned back to his work.

    Lord Ryat was looking out the window when Usyma walked in.
    "We are getting quite a haul in Advent tech here," she said happily. Lord Ryat grunted in response.
    "Xenon was found and is a' okay," she added. Ryat merely nodded.
    "What's wrong?" she asked.
    "We walked into a trap," he said.
    "I thought you planned for that," she said, "Isn't that why we have that Antorak from Lord J'rah?"
    "Yeah," he said as he turned from the window, "Guess I just feel like I'm missing something." He sat down in his chair. "Guess I also expected a bit more resistance as well."
    "I guess we overestimated the Advent," she said, "that means fewer casualties, fewer ships lost, more experience for our troops, what more could you ask for?"
    "Knowing what the Advent are thinking?" he said.

    The Advent fleet hovered behind the gas giant Kyrene V. Forty Radiance class battleships, forty two Halycon carriers, thirty Motherships, twenty four Raptures, and twleve Revelation battlecruisers. The High Psintegrat sat on her throne on her Rapture flagship letting her mind drift through her crew. She knew the loses were hard an her crew, they were hard on her, but the reward would be immense. Lord Ryat and -Ue_Carbon had been thorns in the side of the Advent for years, and the removal of them would be most pleasurable. Plus if her spies were correct, getting Lord Ryat would be doubly pleasurable. After this, she could focus on this Rebirth that that stillborn Thenos had begun. She wondered if either Thenos or Lord Ryat knew of their connection.
    An image of Kyrene III with Lord Ryat's fleet appeared in her mind and she watched Lord Ryat's fleet move to the edge of the gravwell and begin the jump out. She smiled and sent orders to her fleet to begin moving, then settled herself to send a very important message forward. And the massive Advent fleet with its hundred and fifty elite capital ships and almost ten thousand frigates and cruisers began moving in for the strike on Kyrene IV.

109.3 light years north of the Proximus system...

The bridge of the Redclaw is violently shaken by the strike of successive energy beams. Sashana herself strafed to the left to avoid toppling over.

"Sihram, shields are at 3% and failing. Atmospheric breaches detected on-"

The bridge is shaken by another strike and one of the large engine gears is rattled loose, cascading across the bridge and crushing the helmsman in his seat then falling against the side wall. Several electronic monitors explode at front and back, blasting three of the helmsmen backwards across the bridge.

"Redirect power from weapons to DarkSpace drive! Emergency retreat, into the karosite clouds!"

"Sihram, if we trigger-"

"DO IT!"

I think, Thenos said, that we may have forgotten who the real enemy is...

I could've been there... Setsuna said.

Your fleet was in bad shape, there's nothing you could've done, Teldin replied. Teldin's team had just received shocking news from its hacked news feed. The events of Kyrene were now shown on the monitor, the murder of so many plain to see. How could the High Psintegrat have lost so many ships? Even with the strange detonation in one of the gravity wells, how could the High Psintegrat have been so easily outmanoeuvred?

A testimony to how unfit the High Psintegrat is for command, Major Kolt commented, the sooner she dies, the better.

I think we can all agree on that! Teldin said.

Hmm... Thenos said.

Well, Setsuna said, my fleet is ready. We are departing soon. Shall I delay it until you are ready to head to Rebirth?

If you wish, Thenos said, and Teldin, I would like this to be made public. I'll have to deliver a speech promising vengeance and... stuff. The High Psintegrat may be a foe, but the ultimate enemies are those that seek to destroy us as a people.

The Revenge and the Harbinger drifted along on either side of the Progenitor that was being taken to Finley for its retirement. The RFT had agreed to have a look at it and see if it was valuable enough to be purchased. After all, Casey would know what the different things onboard did, and Todd would probably want to get his hand on some new tech, even if it's not TEC. The Progenitor had had some parts removed by Thenos however. It no longer had its kinetic bolt projectors, used for bombarding planets, or its device used to re-house the psychic essence of a deceased capital ship crew into other bodies. The other Progenitor lacked this device, and the one that came from this one was too badly damaged to work properly. There was no guarantee that all of the souls from a ship would be picked up. The two capital ships accompanying the Progenitor were there solely in case of emergency. If the already unstable wreck of the Progenitor suffered any more system failures, the two ships would launch rescue teams to help the few vital members of the ship's crew that were needed to navigate the ship to its berth at Finley. The ships, reaching the edge of the star's grav well, set a course to Finley, and made the jump to phase space.

Thenos sat back in his chair, eyes closed.

Are you alright, sir? Daala asked.

Yes, I'm fine, Thenos replied, a headache, that's all...

The malignant presence of the High Psintegrat in Thenos' mind was causing trouble in any way it could. Thenos had had a splitting headache since waking up, which meditation and medication had failed to affect, but he could live with it. He had the beginnings of a plan forming in his mind, a way of ridding himself of this psychic entity. As the three capital ships arrived at the Finley star, a message arrived. It was displayed on the main screen.

"Welcome to Finley. I am Fleet Admiral Tim Hodgkins of the Roesh Free Traders, and I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that the Finley system is a neutral zone. No unauthorised weapons fire will be tolerated. Thank you for your time. Please enjoy your time in the system."

That's new, Thenos commented, I'm assuming it's a recording, right? Now, let's get to the fourth moon of Finley 4. We have special permission to drop it off at a repair station there.

The ships headed for the edge of the star's grav well and made their first jump. It didn't take long to reach Finley 4's military moon, and once they did, the Revenge was hailed by the crew of the repair bay.

"This is Steven Griggs. Thanks for turning up, Thenos. If you could guide the Progenitor into the repair bay, then we'll do the rest."

Once all this was finished, and the crew of the Progenitor extracted, Steven hailed the Revenge again.

"I'm sure one of the top guys will turn up eventually to analyse it. Once they've valued it, they'll let you know how much they'll give you."

"Thanks Steve. Say hi to Roesh from me."

"Sure thing buddy," Steve said, and cut the feed. Damn, those guys were freaky. He had found the news of the Advent woman with Roesh creepy, but real, full-blown Advent? The guy could’ve been playing with his mind! Even if his eyes weren’t glowing, and looked normal, he still seemed different to a proper human. Steve couldn’t quite place what it was… He hadn’t acted strange. He seemed quite normal actually… No! They're Advent; of course they're freaks! Steve shook the thoughts from his head and went back to work.

By the way, sir, Daala said as the Revenge and the Harbinger left the system, I noticed some TEC vessels while we were in the system. They matched up in our database as the David’s Lions.

I saw them. So Roesh has more business. Suppose it benefits us, said Thenos, and from memory, the David’s Lions don’t like fighting Advent, so we should be okay.

Sir, according to the broadcast from Kyrene, the David’s Lions were involved.

Ah, said Thenos, then that’s a different story. Nevertheless, we can’t engage a fleet like theirs on our own, and not in RFT space. And, of course, the reports may be false.

True, sir.

It is of no concern either way to us at the moment. For now, we stay hidden. We don’t want any unwelcome guests arriving in the Daros system.

“Well, would you have sacrificed all of those ships?”

“Of course not, but it might be part of a plan! She has all of her enemies in one place now!”

“Yes, but at what cost… This isn’t a game! She’s killing real people in her mad plans.”

The two Knights broke off, but too late. One of the High Psintegrat’s personal guards had overheard. Speaking vocally prevented your conversation being intercepted psychically by the High Psintegrat herself, but you could always be overheard… The guard strode over. From the helmet alone they could tell that this one was wearing the new, strange armour that had recently appeared on production orders at the factories of the systems near Kyrene. Both Knights knew that the crystal and alloy plates would make their pistols useless unless they got lucky.

“You displeased with her Ladyship’s methods?” the fact that the woman didn’t use her mind surprised them, but nevertheless.

“Of course not,” one of the Knights replied, “our lady is the true, guiding light for the Flames of Vengeance.”

“Thought you were,” the soldier said, and continued, as the Knights’ expressions changed, “and you’re not the only ones. Come with me. The head of the guards shares your opinion.”

(Personal / DS)

    On Finley 1 an attendant walks into Henry's office and waits by the door for him to finish writing stuff down on his papers.  Once he's finished, he looks up and acknowledges her.
    "Sorry to interrupt you sir, but you have an urgent message from a Captain Seigel." she says.
    "Thank you, I'll look it up here." he says punching in some commands on the computer nearby.
    "Also sir, we're getting reports of upgrade teams not being allowed onto DLS ships and some individuals even being kicked off for reasons that we're not being told." she reports.
    "Hmmmm.  We do have a time table in place, if they refuse to let the crews do their jobs, then we'll just have to take the matter up with Alexander when he's finished with his vacation.  In the mean time, just tell everyone to leave and go back to work on our ships until we find out what the problem is." Henry responds.
    "Also the Garran Collective has delivered the Progenitor they wanted to sell us for scrap.  I have no further information on that."
    "Okay, thank you.  I expect Tim already has people on board giving the ship a good once over and just hasn't had the chance to call me yet."
    The attendant leaves while Henry reads the message sent to him from the David's Lions.  Connecting the dots in his head with all of the recent events he calls up Roesh.
    "What's up buddy?" Roesh asks from a comm terminal on the research lab in orbit around the Finley 1 moon.
    "Could you come to the meeting room here, it seems the David's Lions are uncomfortable in our system and have stopped work on their ships..."
    "Oh joy, you know how much I love meetings."
    "That's the price you pay for having your name on the company logo."
    "Next time we create a company, your name is going on it."
    Henry chuckles for a few seconds.  "So I'll be expecting you as soon as possible."
    "Yes sir, Mr. Boss, sir." Roesh says with a salute and cuts the comms.

    Roesh makes the trip down to the planet's surface while Henry responds to the message sent on Captain Seigel's behalf informing him to come down to the main town's hall on Finley 1 where he and Roesh will be waiting.  About an hour passes before Seigel and a few members of his senior staff arrive.  They're ushered into the meeting room where Roesh and Henry have Tim on the video showing off parts of the inside of the Progenitor and talking about certain pieces of equipment.

    "Looks like your guests are here." Tim says over the video prompting them to look at the door.
    "Ah, welcome, welcome...  Please have a seat." Henry says while motioning to the small table surrounded by chairs.
    Captain Seigel and Lt. Cmdr. Harari walk in followed by two marines who take positions on either side of the doorway and stand at attention.  All four of them immediately take notice of the screens showing four separate video feeds of teams walking through the progenitor.
    "Is that...?" Siegel says trailing off.
    "The inside of an Advent ship, yes.  Our latest purchase.  It should provide us with lots of valuable knowledge on how things work." Henry states.
    "Introductions...  I'm Roesh, this is my right hand man Henry, and on the screen there is Admiral Hodgkins." Roesh states.
    "Just call me Tim." Tim says right before he's interrupted by a tech wanting him to have a look at something.
    "I'm Captain Seigel, this is my tactical officer Lieutenant Commander Harari." Seigel says.  "I'm going to be blunt, so forgive me for that, but I've got questions that need some answers."
    "I've got some as well, but since you're the guest, we'll let you go first." Roesh says.
    "Thanks...  First of all, we're not very excited over the fact that you've got Advent warships showing up in your systems and our ships are having their sensors and communications turned off.  We're being caught with our metaphorical pants down and then being blinded and gagged."
    Roesh and Henry look at each other quizzically before Henry states, "We were unaware that this was a problem.  They were routed past all of your ships much in the same manner that all of your ships were routed to their current stations.  Plus we have our own, fully operational warships sitting right next to yours at every location in case something unexpected does happen."
    "That's beside the point." Harari states. "They just show up and we have no guarantees that they won't attack us."
    "You're a tactical officer...  How's this for tactics.  They were allowed past our gatekeepers without a single shot fired.  What do we know about the situation?" Roesh asks.
    "That you two are not on unfriendly terms." she answers.
    "And you guys were allowed into the system past the gatekeepers without a single shot fired.  What do we know about that situation?" Roesh asks.
    "That we're not on unfriendly terms." she replies.
    "You are aware that everyone entering the system is given a path to follow and deviation is not allowed for warships, right?" Roesh asks.
    "Yes sir." Harari responds.
    "Do you recognize the markings on their ships?" Roesh asks of both Seigel and Harari.
    They look at each other before Harari answers, "No sir."
    "Then why the cause for alarms and kicking our techs off of your ships?  What events provided to you declare that you must tactically respond by locking everything down rather then just asking?" Roesh asks as he stands up and walks over to look at something on one of the screens.
    "Because tactically, we don't know them nor do we know of their intent." Harari states.
    "A fair point yes, but that doesn't excuse the fact that clearly we do know them and were comfortable with the current activities." Henry comments.
    "But we don't know them, and aren't comfortable, so we have to respond." Seigel says.
    "Oh, where is the trust..." Roesh mutters without turning away from the screen he's watching.
    "Excuse me?" Seigel says with clear annoyance.
    "What my colleague is eluding to is that we're a business...  Performing a service for you and we're very serious about your comforts." Henry interrupts.
    "Okay, for starters, to make me more comfortable, how about you tell us who these Advent are and why they're here." Seigel demands.
    Henry picks up the remote control on the table and aims it at the screens and changes one bringing up the logo of the Garran collective.  "These Advent prefer to be called the Garran collective.  They're an offshoot branch who have created their own society which is opposed to the current Advent powers that be on nearly every aspect.  They arrived in this region at the same time we did.  They came to us, proposed an offer that just made sense.  We were both new here, neither of us knew anything, providing mutual defense with our small fleets and early trade income helped both of us to settle in faster."
    "And they're located where? Harari asks.
    "I'm sorry young lady, but I cannot tell you that without their approval.  Just as we wouldn't tell them where to find you without your approval.  If you'd like a meeting, we could request a representative come here to meet with you."
    "I'll keep that in mind." Seigel says.
    "What about the warships?" Harari asks.  "What was their purpose?"
    Henry continues, "The Progenitor you're seeing on the screens behind us was a sales transaction.  It had several of it's critical components removed and used to repair other ships.  What was left was sold to us as scrap.  However, since safety protocols had to be turned off since several critical systems were removed, the ship required escorts to move with it in case something happened which would require an immediate rescue or immediate destruction of the ship.  Now if you know of a better way to pilot an Advent capital ship without the use of Advent personnel, we're all ears.  It would be a cost savings to us by not having to rent a crew from the Garran Collective to do it for us."
    "Now for one of our requests." Roesh says as he returns to the table. "You guys need to ease up on our techs.  They're just doing the work you guys asked to have done."
    "No two ships are exactly the same and they need to get into places that might seem unorthodox or even unnecessary, but they've made the determination that they need to get there and they need to be allowed." Henry says.
    "Why would they need to get into places that seem unnecessary?" Seigel asks.
    "Because no two ships are the same.  These are skilled competent technicians who know not to overload power conduits or take shortcuts in hooking things up.  If it's required of them to run fifty more feet of cables to ensure that no one system is overloaded and everything is hooked up correctly, they will do it.  If it is required of them to unplug a terminal and reroute all of it's cables to allow for the new equipment to also be installed, they will do exactly that...  These technicians serve on our warships and have seen the tolls battles can have on the equipment, so they will do on your ships what they would do on our ships to ensure that they make it home alive." Henry states.
    "Besides, none of them are Todd." Roesh adds.
    Henry chuckles before continuing, "Twenty pairs of eyes on him wouldn't be enough to catch him in the act of doing something he shouldn't be doing.  But our technicians are responsible for our own warships and know better then to poke around where they're not supposed to, so you don't need to have a guard on every single one of them at every moment.  All you need is one of your own technicians to give a cautionary tale and then hang out with the crew's supervisor.  You have every assurance we can give you that we want repeat business so we're not going to do anything funny."
    "Speaking of assurances, what can we get about ships entering the system?" Seigel asks.
    "The easiest solution..." Roesh states. "That would be to simply station crews at our sensor and communications stations at the starbases.  They'll have first hand knowledge on ships at the same time we have it.  They can observe the operations in progress and report to you directly.  What you do with what you're told, I don't care, but aggressive actions won't be tolerated."
    "What assurances do we have that our technology isn't going to the Advent?" Seigel asks.
    "Because at this point, no one makes it past the blockade in or out without permission.  Any ships that deviate from their predetermined courses will not be allowed to exit the system until they're inspected and the reasons for that deviation are determined to be acceptable.  Which, right now, there's no excuse that's good enough." Roesh states.
    Tim interrupts the meeting. "Besides, we're getting technology from them.  We've swept the ship and I'll send you my report in a couple hours.  After that we can open it up for VIP tours."
    "What kind of technology?" Harari asks.
    Tim smiles and replies, "If you have the clearance, you can read my report."
    For the first time this meeting a hint of a smirk crosses Seigels face. "We may take advantage of that tour offer, but allow me to rephrase the question: How do we know you're not selling high grade TEC technology to the Advent, offshoot or not, after working on our vessels?"
    "As I was saying before I got interrupted," Roesh states, "at this point we feel our technology is superior to yours.  We have a potential agreement in place to use you as a testbed for our further expanding research to cut back on time and expenses.  If we wanted to sell them higher technology, we'd sell them ours, not yours.  Just because our ships haven't been retrofitted with it yet, doesn't mean we don't have the means to build it.  Look at this from a business perspective and not a military one.  We don't need to field the biggest baddest fleet out there, just one capable enough to protect ourselves and our lines.  It costs us far more to keep pulling ships back into drydock then to just reach a distant point and do it once.  We're not building up a fleet right now, even though we could.  The reason?  Because we haven't progressed far enough with our technology for me to justify a build up and recall all of those ships for retrofitting later."
    "One last question I have.  We're aware J'rah's been here, and I'm just curious about when he started sending his ships through here?" Seigel asks.
    "He visited a couple of times to arrange a deal for some mining production tests and inspected the results first hand once we had some.  We've since been providing him a portion of the increases in production.  I can't go into more details then that since it's private corporate information." Henry states.
    "Fair enough." Seigel says while standing up and walking over to the videos still being shown.  After a few seconds of studying the screens he continues, "Here's where we stand. We'll let the technicians do their part, with our men working alongside them, for the sake of both speed and our safety concerns. The programmers will continue to be isolated, so they may work on or off the vessel. Our software personnel can take care of the install and we'll call if we need troubleshooting. And just to let you know, while men were not allowed to come aboard the vessel, the only one required to leave was a man whom made a lot of noise about our security. We didn't hurt him. I thank you for your time."
    Harari stands up and exits the meeting followed by Seigel and the two marines.  Roesh looks at Henry with a disappointed expression and shakes his head.
    "I know, I know." Henry says.  "It's just better to tell them what they're probably going to find out anyway."
    "I'm gonna head over to the Progenitor and check out a few things." Roesh says as he walks out of the room.

(Personal / DS)

    Rumors continue to swirl on Finley 1.  Vasari have been confirmed, but the Advent...  A line in the sand has begun to form.  On one side, there are those that believe that the powers that be are being controlled and are manipulating the population.  On the other, the people that just don't care as long as their quality of life continues to improve.  To make matters worse, both sides are divided on the whole issue of the Vasari.  They're the ones that invaded, they're the ones that provided the distraction allowing the Advent to return in the first place.  Whatever the belief of the individual, it's clear that you're being labeled as a TEC purist wanting to close down your borders to all but other Traders, or you're labeled as an Alien sympathizer, opening your borders, but subjecting yourself to being enslaved by the other two races.  Standing quietly above it all are the Free Traders.

    "Hey, Tim.  Nice ship you got here." Roesh says as soon as he enters the bridge of the Progenitor.
    "Yeah, there are lots of pieces missing, but I think we can fill in the gaps." Tim replies.
    "What gaps are we looking at so far?"
    "Primarily command is missing a lot of it's controls thanks to Thenos's boys for ripping out the orbital bombardment system and parting out lots of the control panels, but like the old saying goes, 'What one hand taketh, the other giveth.' we've been replacing the missing pieces with replica control boards from the drone he gave us and replacing the psionic connections with voice activated ones at least until we have a way of retrofitting the entire ship with our own systems."
    "Sounds like fun.  How are the POW's doing?"
    "They're behaving for now.  I think it's because we put them in our facilities where we'll be housing and training recruits rather then building up prisons.  It's like they're on a vacation, only that they have marines with guns standing over them and they can't leave...  Why are we holding onto them anyway?  We've never done that before."
    "To force the UE into negotiations rather then a gun fight.  In Trader space we had the big guns and could enforce our contracts, you had the benefit of joining us after we had the capabilities to do that.  Out here, right now, we're the bottom feeders working our way up.  So until we find ourselves on par with the top groups out here, I have to go back to early methods.  Make back room deals, take prisoners, put my own beliefs aside for the good of the company..."
    Tim pat's Roesh on the shoulder. "In due time.  For now we've all got lots of little projects to focus on."
    "Yeah, have you seen the updates on that floating city over Finley 3?"
    "I have, it's starting to actually look like a small town rather then a large flat metal pizza.  When do you expect to have the first group of people moving in?"
    "Well, now that there's a core area built up and progress from this point is just going to be building out and up and down, I expect a few thousand people to head over in the next couple of weeks.  Once it becomes a self sustaining town of it's own, I'm going to stop offering that moving incentive.  I'll keep them tax free for about a month or so and then slowly raise it as the population builds.  Then we'll see about building some more."
    "Nice.  We're almost done putting up all of our facilities here so we should be able to open up our military schools real soon and start rebuilding our fleet...  The only condition is you doing whatever it is you have planned for unloading these POW's."
    "What's the status on the UE?"
    "Intel reports a split that goes deeper then we first thought.  It seems that your new buddy Xenon has been listed as gone rogue as well as their former fleet admiral, Carbon, and a half dozen other divisions under him."
    "Lovely, so who's in charge of things right now?"
    "That would be Iron, but I don't recommend we make waves by trying to buddy up to him yet."
    "Why not?"
    "He's got the shoot first talk second attitude that is shared with much of the rest of the UE.  Information that we've managed to mine up from various places state that he's got the largest fleet UE has and isn't afraid to use it.  So for now I'm recommending we maintain a fair amount of anonymity and only deal with those that already know about us."
    "Alright, what else do we know about Carbon and Xenon, aside from they're now rogue and dealing with them is likely going to put us on UE's shit list more then what we already are..."
    "They're still being tied up in Kyrene with Lord Ryat.  Some info leaked to us is that the initial assault has gone far better then expected."
    "Good for them I suppose."
    "Maybe not, I don't have many details but it seems the resistance was far lighter then expected."
    "A trap?"
    "Possibly.  Could be just bad intel as well.  At any rate, all we can do right now is sit back and watch.  We've got some problems of our own brewing."
    "You know it.  Riona's stirring up some trouble by actively funding a Resistance." Roesh says while settling into the bridge captain's chair.
    "I hear she even managed to pull in the old governor into the fold." Tim says while taking a seat in the first officer's chair.
    "This could be both good and bad.  If she's pulling everyone together, then we'll know who is siding with who, and who just want's to stay out of it.  Of course, grouping everyone together means they'll become much more organized and become a spreading disease."
    "Should I be thinking about sending in the marines?"
    "Think about it, sure, but right now, no one has done anything to provoke that kind of a response.  I can't afford to let things continue unchecked for much longer, but sadly, we're actually spread a bit too thin at the moment with all of these projects going on.  We've been fortunate that none of our allies have been attacked forcing us to pull our fleet over there."
    Tim chuckles a bit, "Yeah, that would suck.  We don't have any reserve forces.  Though we have been stockpiling all of the resources you've been giving my department so we can pump out the ships once we have trained crews.  I suppose in an emergency we could always press the POW's into service."
    "I'd rather not.  Once your facilities are fully built, start building a place to house these people and relocate them so we can open up our training facilities.  Once they're gone we can turn it into base housing or something."
    "You got it."
    Roesh stands back up, "I think I need to see just how resolved Riona and those around her really are."
    "What do you got planned?"
    "Don't know yet, gotta make a call first." Roesh says as he walks off the bridge and heads for the hanger bay.

(DS RP)

Levin watches the sensor data projected within the David of the construction vessels making adjustments to the wreckage of the DLS Isaac for its coming raising. Meanwhile, the Red Fleet disappears off of the local sensors, having jumped to the star for their departure to the Finley System for a joint escort and refitting mission. Amidst the calm moment, Lieutenant Gross' voice reaches across the bridge, "Sir, we have a priority one communication from the J'Kar Phasic Communication Station. Lord J'rah is requesting to speak with the admiral."

Levin straightens his posture, "Put him through, Lieutenant."

J'rah's face appears on the projection in place of the sensor data. The Vasari immediately opens with, "I need to speak with Admiral Draakjacht immediately."

"The admiral is not available," Levin replies. "I'm Senior Captain Levin. How may I help you?"

"Due to unforeseen circumstances, Lord Ryat, High Paragon Carbon and Paragon Xenon have been left in Kyrene without a means of withdrawal. I have reason to believe the Advent have them trapped and I am organizing a rescue operation," J'rah answers.

"How did you come by this information?" Levin asks.

J'rah gives out what is undoubtedly a sigh and replies, "The Antorak Marauder, Kradja, was sent with the intention of allowing them a secure means of escape through a stabilized phase lane. It arrived without them before exploding."

Levin's eyes widen a small degree as he looks to Frishman, who begins attending to his post with busy digits. A short time passes before Frishman replies with a silent nod in Levin's direction. Levin turns to the projection and responds, "We'll prepare to leave immediately. Travel through Portage III is open, have your men meet us at the star."

J'rah nods, "I will meet you there." His imagine disappears, replaced by the local sensor data and accompanying vessel tree.

Ensign Karlin looks back from his station and questions, "Do we believe this is all happening?"

"We have confirmation of their ship coming back," Levin says. "Lieutenant Commander, did anything else come through on the psidar?"

Frishman shakes his head, "No, sir. Sensor logs confirm the jump. One ship."

"Then we go with what we know," Levin confirms. "All hands at yellow alert. Form up to jump to the star. Lieutenant, have the Red Fleet hold off their mission and meet us in transit. Send a message to Captain Seigel, having him tie things up to pick up the admiral and catch up at Kyrene. Lieutenant Commander, where did that Marauder jump in from?"

"Kyrene IV, sir," Frishman belts out.

"Prepare a course for that moon when we get moving. I want all fighters battle ready before we leave the system."

Affirmations come from multiple directions as crewman move with energy across the bridge, many scurrying to other parts of the ships and others attending consoles with swift, even nervous, fingers. The David begins to turn before the other vessels, which all soon join the pattern of converging towards the edge of Portage III's gravity well. The buzz of activity overflows to other ships, trade vessels slowing to glimpse the activity and construction vessels rattling about with the knowledge that soon they might come under greater demand.

On the surface of Finley I, Alexander walks along the thin soil, the compass now strapped to his hip, spinning without rhyme nor reason, until he comes to a downward slope in the land where he can overlook a slightly hilly land with dark soil and tall plants, organized in rows and columns, which surround a small homestead off in the distance, barely jutting up from the flowing landscape around it, signaling both a return to some form of civilization and the emergence of livable territory and the comforts it brings to the sun wary soul now looking over it. As he takes his first steps down the slope, the compass finally finds a direction to lock onto, not the northern pole of the planet, rather the direction from which he came, a hold which manages to break after some meters have finally come between the two.

Alexander walks down the path, a simple dirt clearing which passes between fields. Approaching the direction of the house, he happens across a field, cut down to ankle length, and a man working among the crops. The man pauses at the sight of the stranger and tilts his hat back to gain a better view.

"Hello, there," he calls out.

Alexander replies, slowing his pacing as he does, "Hello. How are you?"

"I'm doing fine, and yourself?"

Alexander smiles, coming to a complete stop, "Doing fine. Just enjoying the view. You have a nice place here. Do you maintain it all yourself?"

The man shakes his head, "No, I have help come before the week's end to prepare for the grange visit. My son use to help, but he lives in town now."

Before Alexander can continue, a woman emerges from taller crops nearby, a leather wineskin in one hand while the other bats away the ends of the plants trying to cling to her hair. "Virgil, I have your... oh, you have company."

"No," Alexander replies, "I was just passing through and thought to say 'hello'.""Well," the lady continues, "it would be impolite to let you be on your way without offering you a drink. Too warm out here to do otherwise."

"I wouldn't want to impose."

"Oh, it's no problem at all," she says while lightly slapping the back of her husband's arm.

The man shrugs, "You're invited."

Alexander drops his head, a light laugh escaping through the smile beneath his now shadowy, facial growth. He returns his attention and replies, "I guess I have no choice then."

The lady bursts with a moment of excitement, before leading the way, leaving the two far behind in her path. The entourage eventually arrives at the short structure where Alexander is briefly shown around before settling at the kitchen table. Virgil joins him and the woman gathers up glasses and a large pitcher of water for everyone. As the woman approaches the table with the assembled materials, a strikingly beautiful, young woman enters the room from the rear of the house.

"Oh, I didn't know we had company," she says with wide eyes and a smile.

Her mother replies, "Yes, dear, we met this man wandering out by the road. What was your name, sir?"

Alexander gives a casual salute, "Alexander Draakjacht."

"Ah," the woman continues, "My name is Mildria. You've already met my husband, Virgil. This young thing," she pauses to put an arm around her daughter's shoulders, "is my daughter, Helaine."

Helaine dips one shoulder towards the admiral and says, "Very nice to meet you." The daughter takes a seat next to her father, across from Alexander and continues to smile at him from across the way.

Returning to the task of filling the glasses, Mildria says, "You don't sound like anyone I've met from around here. Are you from another region?"

Her hand reaches across with a glass of water and Alexander takes it in hand while replying, "Not another region, rather another planet."

"Oh," Mildria says with her voice gaining volume, "are you one of those traders we've heard about?"

"No, I'm not. I'm from somewhere else altogether."

Helaine says, "I'll bet you have your own ship, don't you?" while giving a little imitation of the salute earlier seen.

Alexander smiles and looks down at his glass, "Yeah, something like that."

"You've probably been to the most amazing places. I can't imagine the things you've seen," Helaine goes on.

Alexander nods, "There is a lot to see out there. It's just hard to find time to take it all in. My duties keep me on the move. Of course, I rarely get off of the ship. There's a lot to attend to and those vessels aren't built for comfort."

Virgil comments, "Captain of a ship. Has to be a hard job for a man."

"It has its moments, both good and bad, but it's always a little hard to manage, yes. Nothing a strong back can't bear," Alexander says as he lifts his glass towards Virgil. Virgil returns the gesture without a change in his demeanor.

Mildria follows, "Well, I'm sure it provides well for you and your family."

Alexander shakes his head, "I don't have a family."

Helaine's smile fades, "It's hard to imagine a man like you could be single. Someone so handsome, and a captain of his own ship."

Mildria's eyes float towards her daughter, a brief frown showing before she returns her attention to Alexander who gives his response, "It's hard enough to simply achieve the position I have, but trying to balance such a duty and a family life is nearly impossible. I find that..." Alexander takes a sip from his glass, his eyes continuing to focus on the clear liquid and his lips rubbing together before he finishes, "I find that the life of a commander is a solitary one."

Helaine frowns and Mildria, her eyes soft with melancholy, speaks, "I'm sure it has its own rewards."

Alexander grins out of one side of his mouth, "Yeah, I'm sure it does."

Helaine gives a weak smile, "Well, when you have time off, you could always come to visit."

Mildria gives her daughter a wide eyed look while Alexander begins to quietly laugh. Virgil looks back at his daughter, a questioning brow, bushy and with slight touches of gray, lifting higher. The moment is disrupted by the sound of a device creating a high pitch in his bag, sitting upon the floor next to his chair. He reaches down, his hand rummaging through the bag for only a moment before emerging with the transponder he acquired at the beginning of his journey. Across a small screen, text floats by with a message. As the sentence passes by, his slight grin fades.

Helaine tilts her head downward to attempt eye contact with Alexander and asks, "Are you being called for business?"

Alexander speaks with a flat, low voice, "Yeah, something like that."

Eyes follow him as he pushes his chair back, lifting his duffle to his shoulder and quickly downing the last of the water in his cup before placing it on the table with a thud.

"It was a pleasure, but I have to be going," he says.

"Are you sure you can't stay for a just a bit longer?" Mildria asks.

"I'm certain of it, but I do thank you for your hospitality. If I come back this way, perhaps I will stop by again."

Virgil raises to shake his hand before he bolts out of the door with his bag over his shoulder. As he runs between columns of tall crops, he activates the transponder in his hand, the device emitting an intermittent beep as it works. By the time he reaches the path, a small vessel dives down through the air, gently sitting itself down on the air just above the crops while the engines cause the plants to whip around in all directions. A rear hatch opens, a marine running to the edge to lend a hand to the admiral who throws his bag through the hatch before taking the marine's hand and climbing up into the ship. The hatch is sealed and men are buckled in as the vessel ascends.

I’m sorry that the accommodation isn’t… that good, Thenos said.

No really, Karla replied, it’s fine. I like it here. I like how the wildlife isn’t at all scared of people.

Yes, it is nice. I especially like those birds, the ones that seem to go invisible. They’re very interesting.

Thenos had started spending more time with Karla, much to the amusement of both Teldin and Kolt. Of course, his duties as a Knight were never far away.

Sir! an administration officer said as he ran up to Thenos, then paused, oh, sorry, I didn’t want to interrupt you. I’ll-

No, we were just talking. What’s got you this panicked? Thenos asked.

Enemy vessels have been detected moving into the deep space sector! It appears to be a pirate fleet. It’s got four capital ships and many frigates and cruisers.

Ching Shih looked out as the Advent fleet arrived in the grav well. As the reports had indicated, it was a pitiful sight. There weren’t even any starbases, as had been predicted. The Kyrene documents had been full of interesting data, including the location of a wormhole system close to Kyrene which linked to Daros. By taking this route, Ching Shih could avoid the star, which would have more defences. The Radiance moved to a safe distance of the pirate fleet. Its supporting ships seemed to be no more than twelve Destras, six Illuminators, four Aerias, and six Disciples. This would be a walkover if things got nasty, as indicated by the Kyrene data, which said that Rebirth had a very small population to call upon. After all, she had requisitioned the aid of another pirate to help her. Lord Thayce had a Jolly Roger Battleship and a Dunov under his command, along with twenty Rogues, fifteen Corsairs and ten Pillagers for dealing with Rebirth. Ching Shih had under her command her own Jolly Roger, an Akkan, ten Corsairs, five Reapers and fifteen Rogues. She opened up a comms channel to the Radiance.

“This is Ching Shih, commander of these forces. We come to you to propose a business proposition.”

“A proposition?” the man on the monitor questioned. He looked to be in his late twenties, younger than Ryat. Not a typical Advent, judging by the normal appearance, but nevertheless, he couldn’t be an experienced commander.

“Yes. We propose that you stand down and take our terms, which are: your military is disbanded, and we become your personal defence force. Of course, there will be fees that you will have to pay for this service, but you are guaranteed a service above all others of its kind,” said Ching Shih. This was standard for a pirate looking to get a source of income and a base of operations. Force some outlying planet into paying you to hold it. A simple but effective plan. Not what Ching had initially intended to do, but she needed Thayce to agree to come along, and that had been a perfect incentive.

“So you want our unconditional surrender?” the man said, “well I’m Knight-Reaver Thenos Garr, and I don’t seem to be in a position to refuse. Do you wish to discuss the terms?”

“Imminently,” Ching Shih said, and cut the image, opening up a new link to Thayse and saying, “he wishes to discuss the terms. Seems he realises he can’t put up a fight.”

Once Ching had opened a new channel to Thenos, he spoke, “I don’t wish to cause bloodshed amongst my people. However, I still think that we can work towards an agreement that betters both of our peoples.”

“Perhaps you are right. What would you suggest?” Ching Shih said. She was interested to see what this Advent thought he could get away with in the situation.

“I merely wish to find a good cut of our resources for you that leaves enough for us. After all, suck us dry and you won’t be able to use this place as a base for long.”

“You seem to be knowledgeable in these matters. Ha-”

“Oh, I am,” Thenos said, “incidentally, do you know this man?”

An image appeared on screen. It was a photograph of a body, intended for identification purposes. It was a pirate that Ching had seen at a pirate meeting long ago. Her eyes narrowed, “I know of him. Where did you get this photograph?”

“So did you know he was dead? This was photographed shortly after his death at the hand of my marines.”

Ching Shih knew that this could be a bluff, but she couldn’t be certain. Thenos spoke again.

“If you want, here is a recording from the battle,” Thenos said, sending a video clip. It played, showing a Jolly Roger coming under heavy fire from several ships, including what was undoubtedly the Radiance she saw before her. Her eyes widened as she recognised the markings on the ship. It was one of the most feared mercenary pirate vessels. Had these Advent really taken it down? She couldn’t risk moving ships in case he interpreted it as an act of aggression, and she had no idea of how he would respond. He had taken down pirates before?

“Now then,” Thenos said, “I believe that we can now try to arrange an agreement that benefits my people more.”

“Of course,” Ching Shih said, “we have some information that you might be interested in. We could exchange that, and allow you to keep your fleet. A sort of co-existence. It would be like working toge-

She was cut off as Thenos laughed, a sinister sound considering the situation. Then she found out why.

“Captain!” cried a crewmember, “two enemy capitals and a large fleet have jumped in from the wormhole! We’ve got enemies ahead and behind!”

“Work together?” Thenos laughed, “work together? Your kind are relics of the past! You have no place, even in this anarchistic time of war! Your deaths shall be just another step on the path to a new, better era!”

“Very well. It seems I must propose a new deal. You allow us to leave, and neither of us suffer any losses,” Ching Shih said.

“You know, you must be a fairly new pirate. You left no rearguard in an attempt to intimidate me with your full force, and you also forgot that a wormhole is a double-edged sword. Sure, you can bypass my defences, but I know where the other end of the wormhole is. Two phase jumps from the star, and my fleet had set up the perfect ambush,” Thenos taunted, then said to the fleet, open fire, focusing on their capitals. We’ll start dealing with the frigates and cruisers. Commence Cleansing Brilliance!

The beam of light shot out from the Revenge as the rest of the fleet opened fire. The Revenge had, upon arrival, angled itself to be in the perfect position for eliminating frigates. The beam cut through the largest group of smaller ships, leaving only wreckage in its wake.

“Then it seems I must play my last card,” Ching Shih said, she grabbed a woman who was handcuffed and held a gun to her head, “Thenos! This is a prisoner from Kyrene! Let us go or she will be killed!”

“You were at Kyrene? Interesting, I’ll remember that,” Thenos said, “and that’s not a prisoner, you’ve just dressed a member of your crew like an Advent.”

Ching’s eyes widened, “how did you know?”

“I didn’t. You just told me. A calculated guess, as I know your kind don’t like taking prisoners. It seems you are trying to play mind games with me, pirate,” Thenos said, and smiled, “but what you forget is that I am an Advent, and we are the masters of the mind!”

“Retreat!” ordered Ching Shih, as more of her ships were reported crippled, “we cannot win this battle.”

“Coward!” Thayse shouted over the comms connection, “if you stay we can win this!”

“No, I won’t suffer these losses. We will head for the other wormhole.”

On the bridge of the Revenge, Daala reported the retreat of Ching’s forces.

Let the capital ships go, but order the strike craft to harass the smaller vessels. We need survivors to tell the universe that we aren’t to be trifled with, Thenos replied.

Yes sir.

The battle did not take long as Ching’s forces retreated. Thayce put up a good fight, but his forces were in disarray, torn between running and fighting, and ultimately doing a good job at neither. The explosion from Thrayce’s Jolly Roger going down signalled the effective end of the battle.

Very good work, Thenos congratulated the entire force through the Collective, as it was too big for normal psychic communications, we have vanquished a great foe here. This has been a great victory for us, and the Advent as a whole!

What are your orders now, sir? Daala asked.

Take in damage reports, analyse losses, search the wreckage for information or anything useful, then tell Roesh he can loot the rest.

Yes sir. Also, you are wanted back at Rebirth. Lord J’rah has requested to speak to you regarding Kyrene.

    Duke Edmenton stroked his red beard was he looked over the holoprojector display. He had already set his fleet to a loose turtle formation as had other ship groups. The loose turtle formation was a good defensive formation, though not as good as a tight turtle, that allowed quick maneuvering for different formations, something it did have over a tight turtle formation. The Advent on the other hand seemed to be forming a massive wall between them and the two phase lanes going out. He wondered when Ryat would get on the ball and start calling the shots, this waiting was getting everyone nervous.
    "Has anything come in from Phoenix yet?" he asked though he already knew the answer.
    "No my lord," came the reply, "Not a word."
    "Raise Phoenix," he requested. The comm officer quickly followed the orders. On his personal viewscreen the captain of Phoenix appeared. He looked a bit harried but was doing his best to look cool.
    "Ah my lord, I'm glad it's you who is calling," he said with a sigh of relief, "I assuming you are calling for Lord Ryat? Because I can't get a hold of him."
    Duke Edmenton frowned at this. "Who have you told this to?"
    "No one my lord," came the reply, "I tell them that Lord Ryat is currently thinking up something and will get a hold of them soon. Don't know how long it will last."
    "Good," Edmenton said, "give me the details please."
    "Yes my lord," the captain said with relief, "After I informed Lord Ryat and the others of the incoming Advent fleet is when the silence began. We had assumed that he was just coming on up but it soon became apparent that he wasn't arriving in a timely manner. I had him commed but no answer. Commed the guards and they reported the Lord Ryat had not left yet and that the doors won't open. Nothing we have tried works. Not even the E.O.s" Duke Edmenton frowned, so even the Emergency Overrides were not working. That spoke of some sort of treachery. And as thick as those walls in the conference rooms were, for it was sometimes used as an internal bunker, trying to cut through the walls would be extremely difficult to do. The battle would be long over by then.
    "Okay, well I guess I'm in charge now," he said. "Give me all the squadron leaders." he ordered his comm officer. The many squadron commanders appeared on the main viewscreen including the captains in Xenon's and Carbon's fleet.
    "Well gentleman," Duke Edmenton began bringing himself up in full regal, "I have the duty of informing you that Lord Ryat, -Ue_Carbon, and -Ue_Xenon are currently out commission on board Phoenix, most likely for the duration of this battle. How is not known for certain, though Advent treachery is suspected." This commented made many commanders glare over at their tactical screens showing the awaiting Advent fleet. "As such I am the most senior TEC officer and as such I am hearby taking command of this fleet until one of the three listed is able to return to duty."
    "So what do we do now?" commented one commander.
    "We attempt a break out," Edmenton said, "It's apparent that the Advent fleet are attempting to hold us here for some reason. They have not moved to engage us but instead have set their fleet in a broad wall formation in an attempt to block both phase lanes."
    "If I may make a suggestion my lord?" began the captain of Phoenix and Duke Edmenton nodded his head. "Phoenix, Event Horizon, and Orisis all have critical information on board them that could be vital to the TEC war effort. I highly recommend whatever you decide to do that you factor that in."
    "Agreed," Edmenton said.
    "My lord," the captain of Event Horizon," we are awaiting Superior Halogen Braken to arrive from the planet surface with the last of the artifact info."
    "Okay well as long as the Advent give us time then we will wait for collection," responded Duke Edmenton.    
    "MY LORD!" cried the tactical officer, "STRIKE CRAFT FROM THE ADVENT!"
    "Dear God!" exclaimed Edmenton.
    The Advent had many carriers and so filled space with strike craft and sent them hurtling towards the TEC fleet. The TEC fleet responded with a full complement of fighters and gunships. TEC flak frigates and Kol's formed up to build a wall of flak while the Sovas spread out a bit to bring their newly installed anti-strike craft weapons to bear in the rear areas. Half way between the two fleets the strike craft met. Though heavily outnumbered the TEC was all fighters and gunships where as the Advent were mostly bombers with a few fighters and so the TEC strike groups tore through the Advent strike groups with ease. But still the Advent strike craft continued onwards to the TEC fleet with robotic fearlessness. Soon the Gradas and Kols began engaging the strike craft and more fell. By the time the Advent strike groups had reached their targets they were too few to do any serious damage and the Sovas added to the battle and the initial wave of Advent strike craft disappeared in a hail of gunfire. But more were being launched.
    Edmenton studied the data grimly. Yes the TEC had withstood the initial wave but it was clear that the Advent had adapted and their fighter/gunship ratio to bombers had changed quite a bit, but considering that the Advent had so many strike that there was still enough bombers to cause serious damage the next round. And he couldn't muster enough strike craft to return the favor. Further study revealed something else. All capital ships were attacked except Phoenix. He made a decision. Soon the Kols, Kodiaks, Cobalts, and Gradas formed a wedge pointing at the Advent with Dunovs, Hoshikos, and Ceilos just behind for support. Sovas, Akkans, and Marzas with Javelises brought up the rear for long range support and Phoenix, Event Horizon, and Orisis were placed in the middle for maximum protection. The massive wedge began moving towards the Advent fleet which also began moving to meet in battle.
    The TEC struck first as their incredibly long range missiles from the Javelises aided by the targeting computers of the Akkans smashed into the targeted area of the Advent fleet by the TEC fleet. Advent ships died under the barrage but other ships quickly filled the gaps. Soon the frontlines began to clash as the Kols, supported by the Dunovs flux fields, began hyper-firing their guass guns and added to the carnage. Kodiaks sprinted forward bringing their massive firepower to bear as well and forcing the Advent to focus on them as the Cobalts followed closely to engage the Advent support vessels. Gardas and fighter strike craft began engaging the Advent strike craft in a vain attempt to keep them off from the TEC fleet.
    The Advent fleet responded and space lite up with multiple blasts of Cleansing Brilliance Beams pierced the TEC fleet, damaging and destroying many ships. One Kol was caught under six of such beams and disappeared in a massive blast. More ships died as the Advent bombers coalesced around the TEC fleet slashing down on the many Kodiaks and Capital Ships. Edmenton couldn't help but notice that Phoenix was ignored except for continues blasts of the Advent Reverie, effectively taking it out of battle. The Marzas reached the point designated as their release point for their dreaded Missile Barrage and fired. But the Advent were ready and their Iconus Guardians activated their Shield Projections. Many of the missiles smashed into the shield bubbles. About half of the Guardians exploded due to overload issues and many Advent ships still fell to the barrage. But not enough and soon the Advent began to overwhelm the TEC. More Kols and Dunovs died as they were on or near the front lines along with many Kodiaks, Cobalts, Hoshikos, and Gardas.
    On board Duke Edmenton's Kol Thor's Hammer, things did not look good. Though the crew had been through many battles and were operating at their highest level, it was not enough. The massive ship shuddered as another hit struck it.
    "My lord I don't know how much more damage we can take," said the replacement tac officer. Edmenton merely nodded as he looked over the melee on the holotank. The TEC fleet was almost to the scatter point in which it was every ship for itself. Except there was a Radiance Battleship waiting for them.
    "Target that Radiance Battleship," he commanded.
    "But my lord we are almost dead," came the response.
    "Then ram the damn thing," he shot back.
    "He's firing up his Cleansing Brilliance Beam," came the report.
    "DAMN THE CLEANSING BRILLIANCE!" he roared "FULL SPEED AHEAD!"
    The Advent Battleship began to realign itself to Thor's Hammer as it began to target the Radiance. The two ships continued to fire upon each other, then the Radiance Cleansing Brilliance burst forth. It smashed into the underside of the Kol and shot through the top like a brilliant white spear. But it didn't stop the Kol. Thor's Hammer rode the beam down and smashed into the Radiance with its own beams firing. The explosion of the two ships eclipsed the battle momentarily.
    "Thor's Hammer has just been destroyed!" declared the tactical officer on board Apocolypse Now. Marshal Kilgore nodded her head sadly. Now she was in charge.
    "Give me a status report," she said calmly.
    "The fleet is taking a beating Ma'am. We've almost lost the whole frontline but we are almost at the scatter point," came the report, "Phoenix is still being stalled out and has left the formation, Event Horizon is almost gone and Orisis has taken moderate damage." The tactical holoprojection showed several capital ships disappear. "We just lost Event Horizon and several of our Akkan's"
    "Status of Missile Barrage readiness?" Kilgore asked.
    "Almost at full," came the answer, "and most of the Marzas are still fully operational.
    "When the fleet arrives at the scatter point all Marzas are to activate their Missile Barrages," she ordered calmly, knowing that the order put her ship under a death sentence, "Also ordered any and all Dunovs and Hoshikos to make Orisis a priority. It must survive to get through."
    The Advent fleet continued to pound the TEC fleet. All but one, Phoenix, of the Kols had been lost. Kodiaks and Cobalts were shattered and broken. The two remaining Dunovs vainly attempted to keep the shields of Orisis up but they were out of antimatter and were in sore straits themselves, along with the few remaining Hoshikos. There were no Akkans left and a lone Sova held close to Orisis. Six remaining Marzas and still a good portion of Javelises continued to fire as the Advent fleet turned towards them.
    "We've reached the scatter point," the tac officer reported.
    "Inform all remaining ships to break off attack and run for it except all Marzas are to open up with Missile Barrages," Kilgore ordered.
    Immediately all TEC ships dashed for the gravwell edge. The two remaining Dunovs didn't make it and the rest of the Hoshikos disappeared in a column of fire coming from a Radiances Cleansing Brilliance. The six Marzas opened up with their Missile Barrages with devastating effect. The Guardians were short on antimatter and had taken many losses as well so the second round of missiles smashed into a now battered Advent fleet. Even capital ships, normally able to withstand such barrages, fell underneath the final blow from the TEC fleet. Enraged the Advent fleet poured fire upon the Marzas. One exploded then another, followed quickly by the obliteration of what of the Javelises. A third and fourth Marza died. But the last two continued to fire. Even as the fifth one died the last Marza continued on until it to was destroyed. And it seemed that a haunting melody filled the now calm region of space as the last of the TEC fleet was destroyed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8ecXITshe8
    In the Kyrene I gravwell a lone Sova exited phase space. It was a wreck, almost complete destroyed with its name barely legible.
    Orisis