Chaotic Systems - Playground 2

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Chaotic Systems - Playground 1

Up, up and away.

Nicholas L Archer
Archer II

Nicholas Archer managed to patch through, finally.

"Good, Prime Minister, glad to see you're answering. Don't bother trying to trace this, you'd be wasting your time. So I suppose ypu want to know why we'd tell you there's a Rykar Fleet currently in the Solar System. Is that it?"

Rey, Capital City, Mars

"No, I wanted to chat with you about your favorite kind of cupcake. Are you a chocolate or vanilla icing person?" His phony smile gave way to a serious face. "Yes, I want to know why you willingly give us this information."

"Are you going to answer or is this another one of your games?"

Arthur, Research Station 413

Arthur stared unblinkingly up at Satyana for several long seconds before speaking. The left side of his face was red, and being handcuffed, he could not wipe the blood that was trickling into his mouth.

"Women," he spat. "Your about as bad as they get, you and your uncontrollable temper."

Nicholas L Archer
Archer II

"You act as though I'm some terrorist meaning to destroy you. Well, the first may be true, but a terrorist like me doesn't pick between being boiled in water and fried in oil. Alas though, you still don't quite understand my cause, do you?"

Archer began fiddling around the computer in front of him. "Now remember, they could be anywhere but they should be outside of Mars, around there. If they didn't stay, seeing as how they can't use any of the regulated warp-gates, I assume they're about one fifth of the way back to the Empire. I doubt they left so soon, but if they had that's where they'd be.

"Of course, it's all in the datafile. Anyway, you remember that revolt all those people, had on Mars about getting their wages lowered? Yeah, I bet you're in the pockets of so many corporations it's no wonder Police action was taken against them. That's where we were, where I was, getting some publicity, flying in one of my big ships, flying back home after a stand-off with Intergalactic Police, feeling on top of the world, when I was blind-sided by the Rykar Squadron. We fended them off but they destroyed most of the men with us and left my ship in ruins, running on one eighth oxygen all the way back. You know how hard it is to fly on one-eighth oxygen? It's like trying to push a boulder up a hill by blowing against it, eventually you just pass-out."

Archer smiled. He didn't really want to go into the breakdown he had with the Rykar government.

Frey, Capital city, Mars

"So the beasts that you hug, finally bit you for it." Frey answered, and you want your revenge. I guess I could give it to you if you lay down your arms; obviously the Rykar Empire doesn't want your help. Well, I do, and I don't want anymore violence between the HDF and the Peace Fighters. What do you say?"

Hopefully this stupidity with the Peace fighters would end...

Edward, Rann's ship

edward opened his eyes, everything was foggy and spinning, he looked around him trying to get his bearings,

"Where am I?" when he did not recognize the room he was in. He stood up, but the dizziness made him wobble and he stretched out his hand to regain his balance. he shielded his eyes from the light filtering through a porthole, He once again looked around the room. He could make out Rann,

"What happened last night? and were are we?"

Rann, his ship

"Nothing happened." he answered, getting up out of the pilot's chair. "I guess I'm just being paranoid." he said, unbuckling his gun belt and hanging it from one of the control levers.

"oh well, I'm going to get something to eat."

Nicholas Archer
Archer II

"You are such a narrowminded fool. You don't get it do you? We never hugged the Rykar. To the Rykars, it was as surprising that we wanted to strengthen their defenses as it probably is to you that there are actually Rykars in support of the Blood movement. Yeah, knocks you flat doesn't it, that some of these "beasts" actually show understanding. Obviously most people born on the top of a caste system wouldn't, but in any population there are a select few that show understanding and empathy no matter what. It's simple evolution, Frey. Within every population there are always a select few that are different, and when the time changes that population can no longer oppress people, the time of the empathetic Rykars will be at hand, and it will be them that transforms the Rykar Empire into one of Equality.

"But you can't have that now can you? You're lack of understanding of the peoples in the Rykar Empire is proof, Frey, proof that you never meant to free the oppressed races, only force the Rykars to become on of the enslaved!"

At this point Archer was standing up, spitting at the screen he was so angry.

"And that is why I cannot give up this cause. The Peace-Fighters are all, I repeat, ALL that stands in the way of either your oppressive, greedy ways, or the Rykar's oppressive, greedy ways from taking over both Solar Systems. What do you have to say to that, Prime Minister? Want me to be at Peace with you? End the War."

Edward, Rann's spaceship

Edward looked around,

"oh...right, yah give me a sec and I'll go with ya," he picked up his notebook and threw it in his bag, which he then threw over his shoulder. he picked up his glasses from the floor and put them on. he rubbed his temples, he had a killer headache.

"alright well then let's get some breakfast shall we," he said, trying to sound enthusiastic, but failing miserably.

Frey, Capital City

"You twist my words Archer. Yes, there are Rykar that support the Blood, and when I say beasts, I refer to the ones enslaving in the first place. If I wished for slavery to become a part of our society, I would merely set up trade routes with the criminals of the Rykar."

Frey sighed, he only said the previous statement to try to get Archer to give up; it was an annoyance he would be glad to be rid of.

Rann, his ship

"How much did you drink last night?" Rann asked. HE himself only had a few sips; that was as far as he got before the message came.

And if nobody as here, who messaged him? It was too far of a stretch to be any kind of college prank...

Edward, Rann's ship

"I... I don't remember," Was the only meager answer he could give Rann, he tried to recall how much he had drank.

Much more than usual no doubt

He had celebrated, three awesome projects had been put under his control, he deserved to celebrate. Well at least that is how he felt the night before, Now he was regretting it.

Nicholas Archer
Archer II

Archer took the sigh he saw over the screen as an insult. "Oh come on Frey, you used to love arguing for me when I was running to be a representative. I suppose you enjoyed it more when it was all idealisms, and I wasn't making anything come to reality."

Archer turned to the left, "Give me a minute," he said to whoever was to the left. "I can tell you're bored though, Frey, so I bid you adeiu. Please, if you find the Rykar squadron and decimate them, make sure before you blow them up that you tell them Nicholas Freaking Archer says 'Hi.'"

He shut off the communicator.

"Now then. Albert, you have a report for me?"

Rann, Walking on campus

"Have fun in class today then. Hangovers work wonders on your concentration." Rann laughed.

Edward, UM campus

Ed glared at Rann,

"haha, very funny" he then walked off, leaving Rann to himself.

Ed stopped by the dorm taking some pills from a drawer. he took a few from the bottle. Then went off to the chemistry lab,

the lab was empty as usual, and edward turned the lights off, as it only agitated his headache. and then he lay his head down against the nice cold counter.

"Somebody kill me so i can get rid of this pain," he said quietly to himself. hangover's really were a pain.

Rann, Campus

"Fine, don't eat then." he said after Ed left as he walked into the nearest diner. He had just talked to somebody about it; it was extremely old-fashioned.

He sat at the bar and just ordered whatever was on special. He paid and waited for the food to cook; they actually used frying pans in this place.

when he finally got his food, he took a long time eating it; what else did he have to do? Go to class?

He left the diner and went back to the dorm where he took a nap to regain some lost sleep.

Wes Hansek
Neptunes Rings

The sound of sensors going off became what they sleeped to for the next several days. It had grown so tiresome that when they finally stopped, the silnce made Wes Hansek away from his sleep. He noticed through almost pitch-black that Chev was awake as well. Their games of tic-tac-toe scattered all of their paper. Chev reached for one with a little room on it and scribbled, "They stopped."

Wred rolled his eyes, "I know they stopped!" he said aloud, then froze, expecting droids to center in on his location. There was nothing. Everyone in the ship woke up and listened in, still nothing.

"Marx, switch the oxygen back to main, Lebbon, put the ship back in flight-mode, we're leaving."

Edward, chem lab

Edward looked up from where he was laying his head. the pills weren't helping, if anything they made him feel even more ill. Edward was getting nauseous. he let out a moan,

"Will this torment ever end," then he realized he had taken the pills dry and on an empty stomach. no wonder he felt worse,

"Oh god," he said with a moan as his stomach cramped up. he began to look in his bag for any snacks he may have had, but found none. How could he have forgotten breakfast. He was beginning to get feverish and his face was covered in a sheen of swea. he managed to make his wy out of the lab and began to slowly work his way down the hall way, down several flights if stairs so he could wallow in the misery of his own bed.

Students stared at him, some even asked if he was alright, he nodded and waved them away. he got to the flight of stairs, the elevator was an option but Edward never took the elevator. he looked down the flight, it was spinning nd out of focus.

Concentrate dam it but his feet gave way under him, he slumped down next to the staircase. a congregation of students already beginning to form around him. All edward saw was a blurry blob of people, before darkness took him again.

Two students hoisted the unconscious edward and dragged him to the infirmary. were he woke up several hours later.

OOC: talk about a bad day lol. and no the fact that I have a headache and my jaw hurts, my hydrocodone made me dizzy and nauseous, has nothing to do with this

Wes Hansek
Neptune's ring

The ship opened up, the lights came back on, the engine turned on, and the people began to stretch themselves out. Marx flushed a smelling toilet and turned on the air-cleansor, while Kramer donned a space-suit and decided to end his restlessness by doing some repairs on the outside of the ship.

"We have to refuel," groaned Johnson. "We don't have enough fuel to take us to the Rykar Empire. We need more weapons, more fuel, more everything, and for that we need money, which we are completely dry of."

"Okay," said Lebbon, "So, our ship is on Police files, so we can't stop at any regulated ports in the Solar System. Our Ship is so damned unique that every single mob organization in the Solar System has probably caught wind of our exploit by now and is keeping an eye out for us, so we can't stop at any unregulated ports. We can't float out in space forever or we're out of food and water... tell me Captain, please explain to me why, why didn't you just take the money?"

"I ain't being cheat no more Lebbon! Who the Hell, tell me Lebbon, who the Hell found the Cog in the first place when all statistics and regular pirating experience says there'd be nothing? Who found the Frozen Bacteria, something the Rykar Empire has specifically asked for from the Mob? Tell me Lebbon, who?"

Lebbon shrugged his shoulders, "You."

"Then freaking trust me!" Wes demanded.

"I want to trust you, but what exactly are you going to do? What's your plan?"

"Well, that depends. Is Earth still a sustainable atmosphere?"

"Err... sort of," interrupted Marx. "They have like 8% carbon-dioxide in the air. It's safe to walk around and stuff as long as you wear some of that really good sunscreen and sun-glasses and make sure you carry a back-up oxygen tank because it's about 13.5% oxygen, barely enough to keep a human sustained."

"Okay, what about atmosphere, how is it when entering?"

"Uh... hard. Doable though."

"Okay, Lebbon plot out a refueling station we can restock out on Earth. We're going to land at a Desert somewhere and leave the ship there."

"Good idea," said Marx, "Only problem is we'll need a ton of money to buy Launching Equipment to get our ship back in the air, and there's a lot of paper-work, no possibility we'll be able to slip by when it comes to buying launch equipment."

"Alright, well there are Gangsters on Earth, we go through one of them to get in touch with the black-market and buy ourselves some launch equipment."

"We need money to do that," said Lebbon.

"There has to be something we can do for him. We'll figure it out when we get there."

With that, the Peregrine Warrior set off for Earth, their last chance.

Avlin Cox - SS Swashbuckler , Space, Near Mars

Avlin leaned back into his seat and looked at the stars from the spaceship's windows. The sight fascinated him, as usual. Being the captain, he was the only crewmember who could justify doing nothing, although he usually didn't have much time to do nothing.

"Yo, cap'n." , the first mate's voice came in over the intercom. "Know what's in them crates we're transporting?"

"Those for the Uni of Mars?"

"Yeah."

"Laboratory equipment?"

"Heck no! It's Rithum, boss! Rithum I say!"

"Rithum?!" Avlin sat at the tip of his chair at this, interested.

"Yeah, boss. We've been fooled. They're usin' us to smuggle black market Rithum to them..."

"Without us getting a share." , the two of them said at the same time.

"Well, not the right share anyway..." , Avlin said.

"Yeah. What say we just keep the supplier's share eh?"

"Are you nuts or just ugly?! You're talking about pissing off the most powerful crimelord this side of Neptune!"

"Well, eh... we could lay low or somethin' for a while... Righto?"

"Well, ya know... Word's that he's based here on Mars.. It's just a Neptunian employee of his we got it from, in that case..."

"hamster."

"Ah well, we'll see. Now stop playing with the intercom. Took me three weeks to get that thing working proper..."

The connection closed and Avlin returned to doing nothing again.

Veda
Solar System - Warp Gate

Veda manouvered his ship up to the warp gate after getting clearance by the control station. He acelerated to almost full speed when entering the gate. Entering it felt like a drag before it went more smooth as the ship cruised through the channel heading for Mars.

Veda typed some on the small keyboard he had to his left opening a small screen of his route and the solar system.

"We'll reach Mars within a hour from now..." Veda said before locking the screen and setting the ship over to follow the route and keep it stable in the warp channel before leaning in the seat.

Avlin Cox - SS Swashbuckler , Space, Near Mars

Avlin was toying around with a microwave, using something alike the swiss army knives of old, when the first mate again called him up on the intercom.

"Yo, Cap'n. I just remembered... I said hamster but then I heard 'hamster'. What the hamster's up with that?"

"Oh, I installed a word-filter into the intercom...now where's that part..." , Avlin replied casually, continuing to tinker.

"Whenever you say 'hamster' it'll change it to the word 'hamster'."

"What the hamster is a hamster anyway?"

Avlin shrugged.

"I found the word in some old Earth dictionary. I liked it, so I used it. Prolably meant something bad of itself. "

"Whatever. Anyway, we're nearin' the dock."

"Well, y'know the drill. Try to put the emphasis on perfectly legal trade, hm?"

Wes Hansek
The Peregrine Warrior, empty regions of the Solar System

Wes Hansek sat in the Bridge, just watching the empty regions of space with a placid look. He didn't seem to have any emotion fixed upon him. On the contrary, he was relaxed, studying the deeper regions of space. He was meditating, trying to focus on what was infront him, calculating what to do. An idea struck him.

"Fraternity," he said.

"What, sir?"

"Fraternity is one of the Peace-Fighters better known Space-Stations. They aren't attached to the mob or the police. They take-in radicals and free-runners from all over the Solar System. They organize unions and stuff. We can go there."

"Only problem is we don't know where the Hell Fraternity is," said Lebbon.

"No... no we don't. I met a smuggler a few years ago... well we didn't exactly meet, it's a long story. He, he knows where Fraternity is. We can find him."

"So the plan is now to track down some smuggler you barely know from years ago and tell him to please lead us to Fraternity so we can refuel and restock so we can make a trip to the Rykar Empire and sell goods worth more money then any of us have every seen in our entire lives?"

"No, the plan is to find him, and have me distract him while you guys steal a copy of his charts," Wes said.

"Oh Brother," said Kramer.

"Do you have any idea where he is?" asked Marx.

"Yeah, he's somewhere between one side of Pluto's orbit and the other."

"Well that's a relief," said Lebbon sarcastically.

"You scum!" Satyana spat, "I detest you barging in here attacking me and my family.....besides what have you done to my brother? In what way did you fool him? If you harm any of my family I assure you I will kill you right on spot!"

Arthur, Research Staion 413

"Yeah, with my hands bound. Free them and then let's have a go." He laughed, smirking haughtily.

"I am not going to share classified information with you, whether or not it concerns your brother."

Satyana
station 413

"You better!" Satyana massaged her shoulders they were stiff from the hands-over-head position.

"What classified?, what is this about?" Satyana was really angry now...


OOC: of course he´s me brother....keep forgetting..

Arthur, Research Station 413

Arthur grinned mockingly.

"What did I just say, it's classified. Don't you know what your own brother is off doing?"

Edward-UM

Edward woke up and looked around at the antiseptic room he was in. he swung himself sideways so he was sitting on the side of the bed, his head still hurt.

"Oh good you're awake. How are you feeling?" the nurse asked Edward.
He looked at her, a rather plump friendly woman with red hair,

"alright, my head hurts though, what happened?" he asked her, still confused about the day

"Well I don't know how to put it to you edward, it seems you ingested some type of poison sometime over the past two days. And the alcohol in your system was not making it any better."

Edward sat there listening, poisoned it didn;t make sense, why would someone poison him. he thought about the painkillers he had taken earlier mayb that is what had caused this, or mayb it was the coolant. but Rann hadn't gotten sick so that couldn't be it.

"I took some painkillers this morning on an empty stomach, could they have caused this immune response?"

the nurse was taking edwards blood pressure, pulse and breathing,

"No unless you decided to take a whole bottle of pain killers, even then the reaction would not have been like the one you had. It was definetly a slow acting poison, but it has seemed to pass." she said satisfied with the data she had obtained. "Well you are free to go though I want you to drop by in a week."

Edward nodded and then began to look for his bag, he couldn't find it.

"Excuse me ut have you seen my rucksack around?" he asked the doctor,

"Rucksack, no you weren't carrying anything when they brougt you in, maybe you left it at your last class,"

Edward cursed under his breath, "Dam it," he said as he put his glasses on and began to trot back to the chem lab.

Ezhu->mars University

Ezhu smiled, this couldn't be any more perfect. The target was in the infirmary and the notes and stuff were in the lab.

Stupid human, you didn't even notice I slipped to powder into your drink, now I can dig through your stuff at my lesier(sp?)

After a few careful paces he was into the lab and at Edward's lab room. He slipped on his claw add-ons, cut a nice hole near the lock and was inside in seconds.

now, were are the notes, there are the Crystals and then were are the.. ah notes!

Ezhu hurried to the crystals and tossed them into his sack, with a happy shatter of one of the test replicas. He then added the remaining notes and the real crystals and went tward to his ship



(ooc:he is still in the lab area. So if you want to see him then well go ahead.)

Edward- Chem lab, UM

By the time edward had reached the chem lab he could see that the door was slightly ajar, he opened it quietly and steped into the dark lab. he ehard the distinct sound of breaking glass and begant o move towards th e back of the room, where his room was.

"Hello? whoever you are show yourself," he said as he approached the last coutner, he then saw the reptilian skin of the creatures and couldn't help but jump back,

"You're one of those, ryki. How did you get in here," he asked it rather nervously, read to run should the creature turn on him.

Ezhu->lab....

Ezhu heard the noise of a human, and turned, "WHAT! I thought, but you, infirmery, poisen, strong. what!" Ezhu was stamering and took out his paralizing pistol, and shot at Edward. he turned back to th bench, not careing about if it hit and tossed the rest of the stuff into his bag and ran out the door. and tossed back a grenade, not noticing if it was a blackout grenade or if it was an lethal one.

Satyana
station 413

Satyana looked at Arthur astonished, she got an uneasy feeling in her stomach.....what now....what have they done?

"Ehh...no I don´t know every step of my brother, he´s almost adult so he minds his own business, now will you bee so good and tell me what this is all about?"

Edward,UM

The blast had missed him by an inch or so, he was clenching the side of the table with his hands.
So hthis is the creature that poisoned me but the lizard had alread escaped, throwing something behind it's shoulder. Edward only got a glimpse before he realized what it was, he sprinted across the lab and dove into one of the bulletproof testing rooms, kicking the door shut behind him. he slid on the ground and hit the wall, he covered his head with his arms, hoping it would be enough.

the door had not completely hsut when the grenade went off, the concussion shook the room and slammed the door back open. debris felw all over the place and the room was filled with dust. the fire alarm went off, Edward was in shock. he was covered in dust, and had gotten little knicks from the flying glass. he eventually managed to stand up rather shackily, and pulled out a piece of glass from his arm, his face grimacing in pain.

that creature had stolen his work, and tried to kill him.

Juac Andrews
Space

Static ran across his systems for almost the hour that the Juac had been floating in space. Finally the crackle stopped and he received communications from Mark.

"Damn, sorry man. Did you get that static? It's a killer."

Juac pressed seemingly random buttons on the ships control console trying to find out what was going on at the Research Station. "Hmm, it can't be a Rykar incursion, to far in HDF space.."

In the middle of the reading the Mars Hourly the computer spoke up and attemped to to open up comunications with the entire battlegroup, the 501st and the Wildcats combined,

"Good evening soldiers, this is Sub-General Anilise of the Wildcats experimental Battlecruiser group. I am sure you are wondering our mission, but it is not in my authority to explain it to you. However, I trust that whatever the HDF asks of you, you will complete. Prepare to move out. That is all."

Juac switched to his private channel with Mark, "Stuck up honoured user.."

(Sorry, been gone over the weekend... )

Kratos
"Good. I was never a fan of long space flights"

"Static? Oh, uh...right," Mark replied. Then the transmission from the Sub-General of the Wildcats came up and Mark listened and heard Juac's personal critique on the speech.

"Yeah. So lemme get this straight, we are on a mission but we don't know what the mission is? Isn't this a bit odd?" he asked Juac over the private channel.

Syke, Research Station

"I work with a delivery service, and this guy didn't pay me." Syke said, in a half-truth. He figured that if Rann got put into the picture, Syke would merely say that he brought him along sometimes, but made him stay in the ship.

He knew of course, that this Arthur wouldn't let him get away like that, and would feel the need to shout out what he ws really doing...or would he? Accepting illegal items would just add to his list of crimes.

Rann, UM

Rann woke a few hours later, feeling quite refreshed, and suddenly realizing that he had already missed his first class. Out of sheer boredom, he decided to go to the second, just to see if college was any different than any other school he had been to.

It started in an hour, so he occupied himself with looking over the map of campus to figure out where everything was.

He looked at a clock; forty-five minutes left. So he sat and waited, maybe Ed would come back in or something.

Edward-UM

Edward let out a cough, and began dusting himself off. he stepped out of th lab, to find the doorway surrounded by curious professors, staff,a nd students. Ed composed himself and worked his way through the crow,d though most cleared the path for him.

"Excuse me," he said to the open-jawed students, "coming through" Dr. Trepe stepped up to ed,

"What happened in there,"

Ed looked at his professor and smiled, "In there, oh nothing just a ryki stealing all my work and then blowing the place up, now if you don't mind I'd like to go clean up a bit."
as he brushed by his professor. He walked away from the crowd,


"Edward, don't you dare leave, get back here right now. That is by far the most farfetched story I've ever heard. Ryki can't get in here, they'd be killed by the guards before they entered the dome." EDWARD GET BACK HERE! YOU'RE HURT! EDWARD!"
What a strange day today has been
But edward wasn't listening instead he walked down the stairs and back to his dorm, on the otherside of campus, where the alarms had not gone off. the door to the dorm slid opened and ed stepped inside,

"Ah good to see you well Rann, how was class?"

OOC: he is covered in dust and has minor cuts %!).

Juac Andrews
Space

After the message came through Juac began initiating the onboard Dash-Drive. The Dash-Drive simply modify's the interior of the fighter to hold its accumpants stable in an accerlerated speed, somewhere around 700m/per second.

The destination was set by the master console on the flagships deck, by most likely Sub-General Anilise.

Juac settled back and got comfortable, it would be a several hour trip so he might as well get some sleep.

Rann, Dorm

"I wouldn't know." He answered before noticing Ed's appearance. "How was Kran-fighting class?" he asked with a grin.

Edward-UM

"It was a blast, you should come sometime. " Ed replied witha sarcastic smile.

"You wouldn't happen to know any Rykar that would love to get their hands on synthetic rithum plans do you?"

Rann, Dorm

This was a fun game, Rann decided.

"Since synthetic rithum is the most common substance in the system next to feces, I would say not many."

He stopped for a second before realizing that Ed was serious. "How about every single one in the Empire?"

Edward-UM

"Hmm figured as much, I'll just have to start from scratch again." he said to himself,
"I wonder if they will give me a new lab?" he said aloud, as he took of his shirt, and proceeded to clean his wounds with antiseptic pads from a first aid kit in the first drawer.

"Say Rann, as thing are I'll be needing some help with research, Want to help? It will give you credit for the class you skipped this morning." he grimaced as his wounds stung,

Rann, Dorm

"Not really; I wouldn't be much help. I'm no good with chemistry and such; mainly computers and mechanical things. Once you make the stuff though, I'll be happy to use it in various projects." Rann didn't wait for an answer, something popped into his head.

"Be right back." He ran to his ship, retrieved his guns that were haning from a lever, and ran back to the dorm, holding them under his jacket.

"Alright, seeing as you were just attacked by Rykar, I would suggest either taking one of these, or hiring a bodyguard." he said as he took a holster off of his belt and held it out to Edward.

Nicholas Archer
Archer II

"How are the repairs on the Pearl Dagger going?" Nicholas Archer asked.

"Oh fine, just fine, " said Albert, "She'll be ready in a week."

"Well I want you to tell the mechanics they need to upp her defensive fire-power and increase the armor around those shield generators. They were able to fire right into our dock once they broke the shield generators."

"Yes Sir, specifically what do you want as far as upgrading the defensibility?"

"Any fighter shouldn't be able to come within 50 metters without being blown to compassion."

"Are you sure that's in our budget?"

"Yeah we're still running off the reserves for the contributions made in the Dresh Restoration Effort. Oh, that reminds me, on your way down, get my Financial expert."

"Yes sir," said Albert, and he left down the elevator. Minutes later a young woman came up.

"You wish to see me? Dr. Archer?"

"We're about ready to enter stage four when it comes to expanding our army, but there's a problem, currently we're running off contribution, trade routes and marketing from Fraternity. We need to find some ways to generate better income."

"Well, we could always invest?"

"Invest in what? The NDC? One of the mining corporations? They're the fastest growing. Some weapons corporations that sell to the HDF? We're not here to support those institutions."

"Well it's simple commerce," she said, "There's no way we can make money without giving sometihng to the consumers, and the consumers in turn support the HDF, except for the ones that get their supplies from Fraternity."

"Then that settles it, we're changing our attack strategy. It's time we attacked the core of the Milky Way's economy, and chop off the hand that feeds it. We pillage the Vessel corporations. Stop their army from being built, then sell their scraps, hold ransoms, you get the deal."

"Yes sir, but isn't that a little," she paused.

"Speak," said Archer.

"Unethical?"

Archer chuckled. "Unethical? It's all a matter of supporting the greater good. If we don't attack them, we'll never be able to expand our fleet to size capable of standing a chance against them in battle. My goal when I started the Peace-Fighters was to end this war, financially support the Blood movement, and set up stronger trade with the Rykars, but the government refuses to listen to our demands no matter what we do, so it's time we showed them who they're dealing with."

Edward-Dorm

Edwward accepted the holster,

"I've never used a weapon," he said as he lay the weapon down on the bed.

after he had covered up the knicks he put on a new shirt and turned to face rann,

"The research isn't just rithum. I need help working on a forcefield generator and on lasers. It would be an honor to have you work with me Rann, perhaps maybe you can learn a thing or two as well." he plopped down next to the gun and picked it up to examine it,

"Besides as you said I'll need a bodyguard, I am no good at using a gun," he then returned it to Rann,

"Though I thank you for the offer I cannot accept this,"

Rann, Dorm

"Fine, I'll help on one condition." Rann answered smiling while putting the holster back on his belt. "You have to promise that I'll get to blow the compassion out of an alien sometime."

Ezhu->leaving mars


Ezhu flew through the air and, just because he knew it didn't matter, he "reved"* his overdrive and left a spike on the energy readings and zipped out of the solar system and flew through space, knowing he wouldn't get caught.



*will this work? I couldn't resist

Edward-dorm

Edward laughed, "Next time we meet an alein you can blow the compassion out of it,"

Edward got a notebook out from his desk, opened it and tossed it over to Rann,

"So Techie, what can you tell me about that," on the page was a diagram of the shield generator.

Rann, Dorm

"What the hell is this? You use paper?" Rann shook his head and looked at the notes.

"I don't get one thing." he spoke up after examining it for a second. "What's powering the shield, and what in it causes it to reflect lasers but not other things?"