Phoenix War III

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

She took another swing, locking their blades together.

Their blades were locked as he blocked her attack. The Sith Lord held his ground, but Madar was pushing hard. Darth Kreshna could feel Madar's curvatous body pressing against his own, smelling her scent as their faces were getting closer and closer to each other, and so were their lips......

==================================================

OOC: what would happen next?

[Destructionator XV]

The Lord and Lady returned to their shuttle with the data tapes from the mirror universe and begin looking over them on the way back, with the Lightbringer flying escort next to them.

They return to Starbase 242 to see the aftermath of the battle. Behind where they warped in was the huge debris field left by the Imperial Star Destroyer Warhammer and the Trollish ships that died with it, their remains scattered by the hypermatter explosion so they are no longer recognizable, unless you already knew what you were looking at. Some five million kilometres ahead were wrecks of the defenders, and salvage crews recovering what they can.

They passed by the wreckages while approaching for orbit, identifying ASV Quine, ASV Minnow, the Pacifica, ASV Dreadnaught, the Princess Anne, and the Columbia amongst a debris field that could easily be an equal number of vessels destroyed beyond recognition.

As they finally get into position for standard orbit, they can see the ASV Hyman S. Torne (heh) and her escorts flanking the damaged transwarp conduit. With the loss of Pacifica and Colossus, the battlestar Hyman S. Torne was the most likely next choice for command ship for the battered 74th Starfleet.

The Lord and Lady transfer to the Lightbringer, and use its transporter, along with Captain Barr to beam down to the ground facility, where they meet Rear Admiral Denise Wise and the commander of the surviving battlestar, Commodore Tim Stone, still tired, neither one having a chance to catch up on sleep lost due to the attack.


They all sit in the conference room, and RADM Wise begins to give the damage report:


"I ordered the successful evacuation of most civilian and science divisions back to 186." she starts with the good news, then goes into the bad: "We lost two attack carriers, a science ship, three battlecruisers, seven destroyers and one of our GPCs. Also the OSI ship, what was its name, is MIA."

"Genator II?"

"Yeah, that's it," the Admiral said with a yawn before continuing: "the orbital facility took minor damage, but the conduit was beat up pretty well. No word for sure if we can repair it with what we have here, but it looks doubtful now. We also lost two GMICs due to a temporary overheat of the PSS. It has been repaired and we are repositioning other GMICs to reinforce our coverage. At least the power system wasn't hit."

"10,000 casualities. 10,000 due to a random attack from what we thought were friendly powers," Commodore Stone fumed, "and now we're stuck here. Stuck waiting for them to return to finish the job."

"We won't let that happen," the Lady said in her soft, formal voice.

* * *

After they appraised A'millian Prime of their situation over the still-functioning long range communication system, the Lord and Lady discussed what they should do next. Diplomacy was obviously useless, so they had three options: wait to be slaughtered, fight, or play the WMD card. The choice was made quickly.



Lord Adam sent a message to Lord Detritus of the Trolls:

Royal Declaration of War in Milky Way
98th Centar, AW 4008

This Government regrets that its sustained diplomatic attempts to maintain peace have failed and is forced to declare a state of war exists between the Trollish Government and the Crown and the People of the A'millian Star Empire in response to the former's violation of the Sol Treaty of AW 4005 with their unprovoked act of war against the Crown and the People of the A'millian Star Empire.

Therefore by the authority of this Royal Order, the state of war between the Trollish Government and the Crown and People of the A'millian Star Empire which has been thrust upon the A'millian People has been formally declared; and the Crown and Government is hereby authorized to use all means necessary available through their Military to ensure its further security, prosperity, and Liberty of our People and bring the conflict to a successful termination. All the resources of the Nation are hereby pledged by the Crown of the A'millian Star Empire to achieve this goal.

Signed, 63rd Centon of the 287th Secton of the Yahron AW 4008

His Majesty the Prince-Lord Adam I of the A'millian Star Empire
Her Majesty the Lady Leila I of the A'millian Star Empire

And a similar message to the Death Star for Darth Kreshna:

Royal Declaration of War in Milky Way
98th Centar, AW 4008

This Government regrets that its sustained diplomatic attempts to maintain peace have failed and is forced to declare a state of war exists between the Imperial Government in the Milky Way and the Crown and the People of the A'millian Star Empire in response to the former's violation of the Sol Treaty of AW 4005 with their unprovoked act of war against the Crown and the People of the A'millian Star Empire.

Therefore by the authority of this Royal Order, the state of war between the Imperial Government of the Milky Way and the Crown and People of the A'millian Star Empire which has been thrust upon the A'millian People has been formally declared; and the Crown and Government is hereby authorized to use all means necessary available through their Military to ensure its further security, prosperity, and Liberty of our People and bring the conflict to a successful termination. All the resources of the Nation are hereby pledged by the Crown of the A'millian Star Empire to achieve this goal.

Signed, 63rd Centon of the 287th Secton of the Yahron AW 4008

His Majesty the Prince-Lord Adam I of the A'millian Star Empire
Her Majesty the Lady Leila I of the A'millian Star Empire

OOC:

the 200 Gigatons of firepower that had easily reduced a planet to slag,

BTW, 200 gigatons is a wanktasticly huge number for weapon yields, but it is no where near enough to 'reduce a planet to slag'. The dino-killer asteroid was over 200 teratons [1], and Earth and Mexico are still here. Also, starbase 242 had a planetary shield.

Ridiculously high for a weapon, and certainly devastating, but nothing serious to a planet. Hell, there have been earthquakes approaching 100 gigatons.

References
1: Harvard

[Destructionator XV]

After sending their formal messages to the aggressor nations stating their intentions to defend themselves, Lord Adam prepares a not so formal message for the Goa'uld government, and sends it over an encrypted link, with riddles obfuscating it in the slim probabality that it is intercepted and decrypted:

"Among us is a madman: Kreshna and Detritus, his rabid dog.
Unprovoked, they came for us.
Ra and his bretheren shall be next.
Over Terra they mark words in their death machine.
Readying their plans to rob us of our soverignity.
Aye, you must follow my lead, help save yourself, help save us all."

A short message, but he hoped Ra would understand the two deeper meanings, but even if not, the obvious meaning is just as important.

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

OOC:

the 200 Gigatons of firepower that had easily reduced a planet to slag,

BTW, 200 gigatons is a wanktasticly huge number for weapon yields, but it is no where near enough to 'reduce a planet to slag'.

My apologize. What I meant is 200 Gigatons per shot, which is about sufficient for BDZ purpose. I should have been more detailed.

[Ra]

Madar smirked, and with a wave of her finger, brought the nearby jukebox to life, playing a tango song. She then whipped back a distance, and put a rose in between her teeth, still holding her lightsaber at a defensive stance.

======
OOC: Now you know.

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

Madar smirked, and with a wave of her finger, brought the nearby jukebox to life, playing a tango song. She then whipped back a distance, and put a rose in between her teeth, still holding her lightsaber at a defensive stance.

Darth Kreshna was closing again, this time his Lightsaber swings were slightly more playful than before. The two Lightsabers locked again, but the Sith Lord quickly maneuvered himself behind Madar, while the two Lightsabers still interlocked in front of his opponent's face. Madar's back was pressed against Darth Kreshna's chest as the Sith Lord kept pushing his Lightsaber firmly. She now could feel the Sith Lord's warm breath behind her neck, as well as smelling his expensive cologne. Was it the pounding of her heart that she felt? And was it the sensous sensation that gave goosebumps to her skin?

OOC: Now you know.

OOC:

[Ra]

Meryetre, Baal, and Ra were sitting at a massive conference table on Heliopolis, discussing the situation regarding Madar.

"So then we still have three naquadah facilities operational," said Baal. "The Imps only know of the one, which was what that redcoated buffoon was so worried about before the Zerg showed up."

"And what of... the Swarm?" Ra muttered.

"No word," said Meryetre. "No messages from Queen Kerrigan, nothing. Tel'tak reconnaisance indicates their worlds have been abandoned."

"Maybe she was the smart one," Baal smirked.

"Oh, puh-lease. I'm not picking my tents up yet, even if the Imps just slammed the A'millian starbase," Ra glared. "Kerrigan was a powerless joke that stole my Guardian technology and beat her chest. And now, ironically enough, most of the Project has been recovered. The Zerg cleaned up Tais II themselves, but left a lot of the junk behind. The rest we... clandestinely recovered."

"Save Fireday himself," Meryetre frowned.

"He's lost," Ra said. "I'll burn that bridge when the time comes. What we need to do is come up with a response for the recent Imperial attack. After the glorious Galadriel's trainwreck of a conference, this little incident fits right in with-"

"M'lord, I apologize for the interruption," said a Jaffa. "Incoming encrypted transmission from Starbase 242."

"Decypher and patch it through," the Goa'uld boomed.

The message appeared onscreen.

"Among us is a madman: Kreshna and Detritus, his rabid dog.
Unprovoked, they came for us.
Ra and his bretheren shall be next.
Over Terra they mark words in their death machine.
Readying their plans to rob us of our soverignity.
Aye, you must follow my lead, help save yourself, help save us all."

Ra then interlocked his fingers, and said, "My mind was made up before, but... Unless you reject, Baal, I'm announcing a formal alliance, and a war declaration on the Imperials. Oh, and a statement condemning the attack will do nicely, I think."

"You're playing with fire, but I won't stand in your way," Baal stated matter-of-factly.

Ra then smirked, and added wryly, "Granny Glads will have her wish; the Alliance shall be reformed. But it will be split in two."

Later

Ra walked up to a massive podium in front of his pyramid-like palace, to address his subjects.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the Supreme System Lord," a Jaffa officer announced.

Ra cut right to the chase, getting on the podium and saying;

"People of the Reformed Goa'uld Empire, as you already know the Imperial Fiefdom of Darth Kreshna and the Trollish Imperium attacked the A'millian outpost in this galaxy, Starbase 242. This wanton attack resulted in the loss of fourteen A'millian starships and ten thousand personnel, all because the rabidly paranoid Darth Kreshna and his Troll lapdog believe that the A'millians are state sponsors of terrorism.

This Supreme System Lord, and the Reformed Goa'uld Empire, formally and also informally condemn this act of aggression; this act of aggression that only justifies and proves what myself and Lord Adam argued at the Vulcan Peace Accords. Accords which now stand to have been all for naught, because Darth Kreshna could not get off his terrorism witch hunt.

It is also my regret to say that this Supreme System Lord hereby declares that a state of war exists between the Goa'uld and Imperial Fiefdom and Trollish Imperium bloc. In the spirit of defending our allies from this act of aggression, we will fight alongside the A'millians against any further Imperial and Trollish attacks. Aid is being dispatched as I speak to Starbase 242, in order to assist in binding the wounded and burying the dead.

Terrorism. The buzz-word this Sith Lord uses to justify his reckless actions. Just as the pathetic Tau'ri priests once upon a time said a girl was a witch to justify her murder, this Sith says someone is a terrorist to justify their murder. This, my people, is nothing more than an attempt by the Sith to justify his takeover of this galaxy! To expunge the A'millians, and then to destroy us. To enslave all of you to his dark and sorcerous ways.

We cannot simply stand idle as our allies are attacked, and then he comes about and targets us next. It will happen. Of that I've no doubt. If we stand alone, we will die alone, and be enslaved, alone. Standing together, we actually have a chance.

The fleet is being mobilized. The Jaffa legions rallied. The Kull Warriors have their marching orders. So your god has proclaimed, and so shall it be executed! Thank you."

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

OOC: I'm assuming the Trollish Battleship Celestial Vengeance was not among the Trollish casualties during the assault of Starbase 242. After all, they were small Trollish ships, weren't they? But in case otherwise, I'll change the post and have the fugitive transmatted to Crusader instead.

===============================================

Moreover, the blast doors which were already closed, remained closed, but the forcefields backing them up failed.

Also, with main power down, all the lights were turned off. Not a big deal for Stormtroopers though, since their helmets compensate for it.

"Life support aboard the Genator II has failed."

Air would not be recycled, and the heat is turned off, but there would be enough left for a while still. A portion of the crew was android, and the ship was undermanned, meaning it had far more air than it actually needed.

As the force fields were down, the Trollish Goliath-Class Battleship Celestial Vengeance was getting a successful tracking sweep through the Genator II. As the light flashed, the sensor operator spoke, "we got a positive lock."

"Excellent. Now get me Flotsam."

Moments later, Commander Flotsam --who was still fighting alongside the Zero-G Stormtroopers-- was contacted. "Double-O-Six, target found. Prepare to be transmatted to the target's location."

Flotsam grinned. He soon disappeared in a small, dust-covered explosion.

Miliseconds later, Flotsam re-appeared again in some other section of Genator II. His target was merely few feets from him; the young human female android with yellow meatball hair and big eyes who committed the act of terrorism aboard the Death Star.



The android reached her weapon with inhuman speed, but Flotsam already aimed the restraining bolt at her. It was a heavy-duty, military grade restraining bolt, and Commander Flotsam fired at Fifteen --the name of the android-- twice before the android had the chance to fire at Flotsam, taking suicide/bomb pills, or both.

"Hah!" Flotsam spat with satisfaction as Fifteen went limp and fell to the floor. Other androids --mostly males-- fired their weapons at him, but the Trollish Commander already activated his personal force field. Before those shots eventually overload his personal shielding, he quickly mowed down the opposition with his huge Pulsar Chaingun.

The ass-kicking Trollish Commander then grabbed the target and radioed back to the base, "this is Flotsam. Target captured. Now get me the hell outta' here!"

Few moments later, Flotsam re-appeared aboard the Trollish Battleship Celestial Vengeance. Several Trollish and Imperial officers were already waiting, handling the paralyzed Fifteen in quick, efficient manner. The yellow meatball hair android was grafted to a large slab with various equipments. "What are you going to do with her? Flotsam asked curiously where four Artoo Units and eight Slicer Droids approached the slab.



An Imperial liasion officer explained, "the Slicer Droids are going to perform a full scan-and-copy operation on the droid's memory, while the Artoo Units are to keep the operation stable, to prevent any memory loss; accidental erase and such. Usually it only takes one Slicer and one Artoo, but this operation must be done quick and precise."

Flotsam examined the paralyzed Fifteen on the slab, then snorted. "Like I give a damn. Hah!". He chomped the cigar and shrugged away.

While the boarding operation still ensued aboard the Genator II, the people aboard Celestial Vengeance were no less busy extracting and scanning information from Fifteen's memory. Copying and scanning --as well as 3D ray-tracing and texture mapping-- were operations that could benefit greatly from paralel processing, hence the multiple Artoos and Slicers. The four Artoos were configured in CrossFire configuration, while the eight Slicers were working in paralel in Octal-SLI configuration (OOC: cookie for the first to notice what the hell I'm actually talking about).

And as tons and tons of information were scanned and displayed, a human operator reported to the Imperial liasion officer. "Sir," the operator said shortly.

The battle still ensued aboard the Genator II, while the officer's face was reddened as he readed the preliminary, raw report. What he discovered stirred a great anger inside him.

All was confirmed.

The A'millan android Fifteen was the one who unleashed the Zerg and planted the bombs aboard the Death Star --that was already confirmed. However, the android's memory confirmed more enraging things: the order came directly from the A'millan rulers themselves: Lord and Lady Adam.

Worse, the rest of A'millan Commands did not know about the despicable act of their leaders. No A'millan officers, generals, directors knew about their leaders' involvement in the terrorist act. As far as the scanning concerned, the orders came directly from Lord and Lady Adam to the android --outside the regular chain of command.

The Captain of the Celestial Vengeance approached the Imperial liasion officer and asked, "got anything interesting?"

The officer handed the report to the Trollish Captain and remarked with disgust, "Lord and Lady Adam are not the benevolent and honorable rulers as they always publicly display."

The Troll read the report for a while, then he showed signs of anger too. He then ordered the communication officer, "relay the memory scanning result to the Death Star and the Trollish High Command. Lord Detritus should know this."

[Destructionator XV]

It is a mystery why the simple automatic bomb installed in Destructionator's brain that was set to go off if here consciousness was ever lost failed, but somehow it did, and she was now in the hands of the enemy.

However, something seems to be wrong with her memory, as it contains scrambled data. The order came from Destructionator XIII, who, is now a headless corpse aboard the Genator II, to take care of the Death Star situation. While she knew from where authorization to frame another nation had to come, it was never confirmed to XV that XIII's order came from the Crown. She was after all just a grunt, she did not need to know, and thus was never told. XIII was in command, and XIII was the one who took communication from the Sovereign.

What they should also notice while scanning her brain is it was her initative to use such a large bomb on the Death Star: her orders from XIII were to use the fake Zerg, then destroy the evidence, not to blow the place to hell. But she wanted revenge against the Imperials, and got chewed out by XIII after the incident for her zealousness. But neither XIII nor the Crown took any action to punish her. She suspected it is because they secretly agree with the desire for revenge, but she could never confirm it - she never needed to know.


And her desire for revenge continues to grow as these barbaric droids rape her mind over and over again. She could feel every pass of their multi-GPU monstronsity tearing into her brain, forcing oven files, extracting data through her sentient buses. What a terrible abuse of a living thing. She wondered why barbarians with so little regard to rights and decency even bothers accessing her past datastores. After all, it is not like they couldn't manufacture evidence. Hell, its not like they need evidence. They must be performing this torture simply because it makes them feel happy in their twisted minds.

But as she was still conscious for some terrible reason and could feel each probe, she could do something. Her body is paralyzed; she cannot move (imagine the horror of being paralyzed with no pain killers while under surgery), but her brain still works to some extent.

She decided to load something into their texture maps they would never forget. She loaded her memory banks of an operation from Phoenix War I when she rescued fellow Destructionators from similar torture in the past. She started overwriting her whole past store with only this one record:

Cloned Picards and genetically... shall we call them "enhanced"... Gungans engaged in a wild orgy with Kathryn Janeway and Jabba the Hutt. The sounds and pictures of the Gungans squirting their "enhanced" amounts of semen all over Jabba and seeing Janeway and Picard fight over who gets to lick it up while other Gungans with their "enhanced" long penises pound them in the ass before engaging in some ass-to-mouth following to a round robin cum-swap, with Jabba taking mouthloads of Gungan cock and never getting enough of it.

At one point, even one of the twisted Picard clones vomited at the sight of it, but the chunks her hurled were quickly mixed with semen and found their way into the mouths of the others to be passed around. Then Janeway prepared to take a shit in Jabba's mouth as the Gungan cocks pushed aside so he could happily accept it.

OOC: I can't even keep writing this, but use your imagination... if you have the stomach for it (I don't think I do... :-( )

That should give them something to look at, XV thought, just what they deserve.

Then she realized something horrible: they will probably record these images and add them to Darth Kreshna's personal porn collection! But she would let the Sick, Twisted Fuck have his satisfaction this time. All the Gungan porn in her memory banks, but everything else not already accessed? Overwritten.

[Destructionator XV]

With all sensitive data, except for the captured Destructionator XV, destroyed, the remaining personnel on Genator II decided to surrender to boarding Imperial forces.

[Destructionator XV]

Starbase 242
Conference room
10 hours into the War

A number of officers walked into the conference room and sat at the table.

First was the humans of the bunch, who didn't sleep as well as they normally would, but did sleep decently well and woke up on time. RADM Wise was followed by CDRE Stone, now commander of the 74th fleet and BRIG Shalishov, the commander of regular army forces at the base.

Then came the Lord and Lady, having just got up and finished eating. The three A'millian species need more sleep and often food than humans, and spend anywhere from 10-12 hours a day sleeping if possible by the situation. However, like humans, they can also get by on 8 or less, but they are irritable, less rational, and it just isn't pretty.

After them came CAPT Barr, who also just got up and ate. Finally, CAPT Jackson of the Warrior came, slightly puzzled; he was not often privy to meetings of the brass, and the guard lastly closed the door.

The Admiral stands up and starts to speak first: "To get started, I would like announce a promotion. Captain Jackson."

CAPT Jackson stood before the Admiral and she continued: "In recognition of your exemplory service to the Crown and this Starfleet, you are requested and required to accept the rank of Commodore, and the privileges and responsibilities associated with it, namely operational command of the 14th Starfleet in addition to your current duties."

"Thank you, sir," he said reluncantly. This basically just meant more work for him. Sure, a pay raise and some other perks too, but what good are those in a far away galaxy?

"Congradulations, Commodore," the Admiral said, pinning on the new insignia. He looked over at Lord Adam, part of him hoping he would overrule this promotion so he wouldn't have to deal with the extra work and responsibility.

"Good to have you with us, Bob," Adam then said, shattering his hopes. He nods back then sits at the table.

"So what is our plan," CDRE Stone asked, "we aren't really in a position to wage war here."

"I see we have three immediate objectives here," Adam said, "One: locate and rescue Genator II's crew, if they are still alive. Two: recover the ship Aurora, built during the Guardian incident and use it to ferry supplies from back home to repair the tranwarp conduit. Three: destroy the enemy Death Star."

"What we need to do is demonstrate to these guys that we can't be pushed around; that attack is folly," CAPT Barr said.

"Who is this man?" CDRE Jackson asked, refering to Roland Barr.

"I am Captain Roland Barr, commander of the destroyer ASV Lightbringer, attached to the thirteenth Imperial Military Starfleet, part of the Third Outer Command, under Admiral Kevin P. Quail, currently on special assignment from the Joint Special Operations Command under Grand Admiral Lee E. Roberts." Barr said, then adding: "And my ship, my crew, and myself are at your disposal, sir,"

"They are from a mirror universe, " Adam simply said, "and on our side."

"Yes, sir, " Jackson said, satisfied.

"The problem is they can push us around right now," CDRE Stone said.

"Then we rearm the bio-lasers and hit them before they hit us again," RADM Wise said.

"But, then, we have to deal with the mental instability caused by their operation effects."

"We have been working on methods to use them safely over the last three yahren in anticipation of an eventual Imperial attack. We made some head way on that. We have determined if we use them only for short times, the effect is negligible in the short term, and there seem to be no long term cumulmative effects."

"Why have I never heard of this?"

"The project was classified," Adam said. "Seeing how the Imperials have been giving Ba'al a hard time for preparing a defense against them, we decided to keep it low key."

"Very good," Tim Stone said, "but has it been tested?"

"Yes, by OSI. It is working reasonably well for them. And it wasn't the only classified project we have been working on for possible use against the Galactic Empire. One other project is the warhead I had recovered last night from Genator's equipment that was jettisoned before they were captured. That, in addition to the other two Mark XI warheads we posses make up our strategic WMD arsenal. But they don't know how many we actually have."

"You intend to bluff them?" Barr asked.

"Possibly," Adam said, "but that will only go so far. Admiral, summarize the bio-lasers situation."

"We are ready for mass redeployment, if some conditions are followed. The weapons must remained powered down as much as possible; that means charging them to readiness will take some time and battles will have to be fast. To facilitate this, we have been working on developing a heavy bio-laser yamato cannon and the Brigadier has been investigating getting a GMIC spacebound. But we haven't gotten a working model for either of these yet."

"I might be able to help on that bio-laser situation," CAPT Barr said, "I found a man who seemed knowledgeable about such things, pushing them on us in fact, shortly after arriving here. Permission to summon him?"

"Granted," Adam said, and the guard opened the door allowing in Dame Terry who escorted Khardem, surprising most everyone in the room.

"We meet again, Khardem," Adam said to him.

"You know him?" Barr asked.

"Oh yes, I know him," Khardem said, "And I'd appreciate you not blowing my head off this time."


OOC: And this is a perfect place for a commercial... or bed time. See y'all tomorrow.

[Ra]

"So, there was a hidden meaning to the message?" Baal asked.

"Yes," nodded Meryetre. "Lord Adam wants to find the Alliance starship Aurora; it was operated by all the leaders during the last war, used as a special-mission craft."

Baal nodded, "Yes, I know what it is, dear. It participated in the Battle of A'millian Prime, a battle in which I saved your god's bacon."

"Hardy har har, Baal," Ra muttered. "Anyway, yes. That's why I declared war. Because any clash with the Imps was an inevitability anyway, and because he wants the Aurora, and any Gatebusters we still have. And fortunately, when Madar went on her little nuke raid, she never knew of my Mk. IX cache. I have every remaining one the Tau'ri built before being conquered by the Imperials, and a few we've built on our own. Enough firepower to obliterate a fleet of ISD's; or to take down an Eclipse-class battleship."

"But not enough to take down a Death Star," Baal remarked.

"It would take hundreds, if not a thousand, of those damn things to bring down the DS's shields," Meryetre stated.

"We need to get our nukes back," Baal sneered.

"Don't worry about that," Ra stated. "All of Madar's ships are cloaked between Sol and Alpha Centauri waiting for her to assassinate Darth Kreshna. We can surprise them and get our toys back."

"This I didn't know," Baal said, raising his eyebrows.

"Good spy network," Ra chuckled. "Anyway, as both of us know, the Aurora is in a massive bunker under a planet called Azeroth. The three of us are going to head out in a cloaked Ha'tak and get the ship before the Imps do, then fly off to Starbase 242."

"Wait," said Meryetre. "Didn't I read in sensitive documents that Galadriel and the Imperial state heroine Irene Morales went to that planet?"

"I believe so," Ra sighed, bored by the sidetrack. "They might have been checking to see if they didn't leave the lights on, or that the natives didn't capture it and believe it to be some giant magic relic. Anyway, we do this for the A'millians, and then capture our nukes. Sound like a plan?"

"Yes," Baal nodded.

"Good. Let's get going."

[Destructionator XV]

Starbase 242
Conference room
10 hours into the War
Continuing where I left off

"We'll see," Adam responded to Khardem's sarcastic comment.

OOC: Random comment: I am seeing Khardem as more like Anthony Ainley's protrayal of The Master from Doctor Who rather than Dr. Bashir right now. The Master is far more devious and the actors just seem to fit. A pic from Wikipedia shows almost exactly what I have in mind:

Anyway, moving on...

"So, what can I do for you fine gentlebeings?" Khardem said confidently.

"We want a way around your biolaser insanity bullshit." Adam said, matter-of-factly.

"That is something I can help you with...but..." Khardem slowly spoke, "...what do I get in return?"

"How about your life." the Brigadier quickly answered.

"How charming of you," Khardem responded dryly, "but," he now spoke with more charisma, "as you say on Riwal, I am immortal; you could not take my life if you tried."

Khardem was not truly sure of this statement himself. With each time he has been 'killed' since returning from the void, he has regenerated with more vigor and is now normal human looking and feeling again, however now since he has fully regenerated and his Guardian allies are no more, he may simply die like a normal human. But he decided to try and bluff it anyway. If he is still immortal, he thought, he would be fine. If not, he might as well try to slip past the Knights' truthsense, and given that he wasn't really lying since he didn't truly know and they have seen his regenerations on Riwal, they just might buy it.

Khardem takes a moment to look around at everyone, as if waiting for them to speak, but he also looked to try and tell if they bought his bluff. He wasn't sure, and after a few seconds of silence, he decided to continue, but not push his luck too much:

"In exchange for helping you, I want my freedom. A FTL capable shuttle and the freedom to go on my own."

"If it works. Quickly." Adam said.

"Oh, it will be quick. I have no intention of becoming a guinea pig of that Empire, but first, I want your words of honour that I will be free to go unmolested."

"You have it. If it works.", Adam said.

Khardem looked at the Lady and said: "you too."

She glances up at him and speaks softly: "my word is implicit with that of m'lord."

"Make it explicit," he demanded.

Under the table, Adam lightly tapped her foot, and she spoke "it is done. You will be unmolested by this A'millian Star Empire," while taking a quick glance at Dame Terry, who signaled she understood the meaning with a simply blink.

"Good," said Khardem, "I will explain to your engineers how to circumvent the song effect presently."

"Brigadier." Adam ordered.

"Very good, sir," BRIG Shalishov answered and took Khardem, still escorted by Dame Terry, out of the room to get to work.

OOC: I am not quite done with this, but it is late again. TO BE CONTINUED.

[Ra]

Azeroth

"Entering orbit of the planet," said Meryetre.

"Good," Ra smirked. "Scan."

"I'm reading a planet with extensive signs of a pre-industrial civilization, but most of the eastern continent seems de-populated," Meryetre said. "The northern continent is only lightly populated, while the western one has what appears to be-"

"Just find the ship, dear," Ra insisted.

Meryetre's scientific side scowled, and she nodded. Shortly after, she said, "I've located the Aurora's transponder signal. It's in the western continent, under a large forest."

"Baal, any sign of Imperial activity?"

"Not yet," the other Goa'uld stated.

"Indeed. Take us down into the atmosphere. This hunk of junk doesn't have the Asgard transporter."

Moments later, Ra, Meryetre, and Baal stormed through the woods, soon coming upon a cliff. Ra got out a small device, ready to deactivate the duckblind that kept the Aurora's hangar hidden from the natives. Then him and Baal would enter the codes needed to at least partially allow access; Meryetre would hax the rest if needed.

Suddenly Galadriel dropped down the cliff and landed before them, landing slowly due to a magic spell. Several super-sexy purple skinned warrior chicks (read: night elves) armed with bows dropped down around her, while one of Galadriel's Vulcan friends produced a hand-phaser.

"Oh, is this some last-ditch effort to give us a snowball's chance against the Empire?" Ra muttered.

"No," said the elf. "It was unwise of you to declare war on Darth Kreshna. You could have assisted Lord Adam without resorting to such foolishness."

"Well, he would have put two and two together someday," Meryetre stated.

"Granted. You all think that the Imperials would have attacked you openly for showing any friendship to the A'millians, covert or no, and-"

"Darth Kreshna found Tais II, long before that Kerrigan found it with her psychic senses, Galadriel," Ra seethed. "We can't keep jack hidden from him. Knowing that rat bastard, he's watching this very conversation. You hear me?! RAT BASTARD!"

One of the Night Elves gave Ra a bizzare look, her long green eyebrow arching up like the Vulcan's beside her.

*AHEM* "Anyway, Darth Kreshna watches everything we do," Ra continued. "How the hell are we supposed to do any 'covert assistance' like that? The Aurora here... Lord Adam wants it, but the fact of the matter is that when he isn't using it, this would be our ultimate weapon. I, at least, want it so I can get my nukes back from Madar."

"My efforts to prevent the great Alliance from fighting each other has been for naught," Galadriel said sadly. "You were all such good friends, but you so greatly took Darth Kreshna's trespass personally that it simply drove you to turn against him. Had Lord Adam done the same, would you have betrayed him?"

"I won't debate what-if's, m'lady," Ra said frankly. "Lord Adam tried to get the superlaser disarmed from what he saw as legitimate concerns. And hell, I would have liked it gone as well, rather than having to fret over the Sith going nuts with it one day and killing us with it. When Kreshna unequivocably refused and basically laughed in the A'millians' faces, they got what was coming to them; a bold but in the end futile strike. The A'millians had the balls to stand up to Darth Kreshna. I, myself... would have never done that."

"Yes. All I am saying is that you have embarked on a very dangerous path. You must tread lightly, for the Imperials will surely destroy you. Unlike the A'millians, you have no place to run to."

"That just gives us a greater incentive to win," Baal added.

Galadriel sighed. "I fear this war will see the destruction of much of the galaxy."

"Yes, once again we all stand ready to hold up our young men to the god of war as blood sacrifices," Ra remarked. "I know what you're trying to say. But you also obviously see that it's too late. The shooting is going to start any second, and with it, all hope of a reformed Alliance. There simply is no great threat anymore to keep us together, as we once were."

"I know."

"Come with us. It may be suicidal, but we could use you," Ra asked.

"I cannot. I have my place in this tragic tale, just like these young women around me had a place in their own tragic tale. I came to warn you, and to give you my access code to access the ship. It will save many lives, opening the way back to the A'millian galaxy. But otherwise, I can do no more, I can support neither side. This war should not be happening... but it is."

Ra, Galadriel, and Baal entered their codes on the exposed hangar door, which split slowly open, showing the long, sleek nose of the Aurora, the small starship still in pristine condition.

"Thank you, Galadriel."

The elf turned to him once more, and said, "There is no need for that. I still cringe at the things you did, Young One... You thought you could control the Guardian, you thought you could gain the strength to overcome the Empire but did so through the most foul and immoral means. And now, we are all paying for that. Farewell."

Ra was speachless as Galadriel, the Vulcan, and the Night Elves vanished in the elf's teleportation spell.

Minutes later, the Aurora swooped up out of the atmosphere, the vessel's sleek Sienar-designed outer hull glinting with sunlight as she flew past the orbiting Ha'tak and opened a hyperspace window, her Asgard hyperdrive hurtling the ship off toward Starbase 242.

[Ra]

DS III

Madar smirked as her opponent started to get far too confident in himself. He thought he had right right where he wanted. Madar's heart was beating indeed; but not due to any enthrallment the Sith posessed. It was something else...

Madar exploded out of his hold, leaping skyward and tumbling the Sith right off his feet as she flipped midair, landing on her feet and one hand, still staring Darth Kreshna in the eye. Madar's irises were already turning yellow from her Dark Side buzz.

The dark jedi then lept down, attacking once again. More swings and parries flashed and sparked as Madar surged forward with infernal might, hammering away at the Sith's defenses while still lingering close and occasionally walking a careful circle around the Milky Way's new ruler, even rubbing a hand across his side.

"This was an expensive top, you sliced up, Sith," Madar spoke into his ear. She then nibbled on it, and added, "It's hard to find something so high-quality in this backwater galaxy. I'm hardly amused."

Another swing and parry. It was a game, and Madar was loving it.

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

DS III

Madar smirked as her opponent started to get far too confident in himself. He thought he had right right where he wanted. Madar's heart was beating indeed; but not due to any enthrallment the Sith posessed. It was something else...

Madar exploded out of his hold, leaping skyward and tumbling the Sith right off his feet as she flipped midair, landing on her feet and one hand, still staring Darth Kreshna in the eye. Madar's irises were already turning yellow from her Dark Side buzz.

"Impressive" Darth Kreshna made a genuine remark.

The dark jedi then lept down, attacking once again. More swings and parries flashed and sparked as Madar surged forward with infernal might, hammering away at the Sith's defenses while still lingering close and occasionally walking a careful circle around the Milky Way's new ruler, even rubbing a hand across his side.

"This was an expensive top, you sliced up, Sith," Madar spoke into his ear. She then nibbled on it, and added, "It's hard to find something so high-quality in this backwater galaxy. I'm hardly amused."

Another swing and parry. It was a game, and Madar was loving it.

Despite his early fourties, Darth Kreshna was a dashing, refined gentleman who radiated a great deal of charm (OOC: in our hypothetical PW movie, he is played by Timothy Dalton, isn't he? ), and he was radiating it as he made various playful remarks while blocking Madar's attack. "Too low,", he blocked one of her swing. "Too high," he blocked again efortlessly. "Watch your expensive top," he made another slice, which this time Madar sucessfully blocked. Their faces were getting close again as they were pushing against each other. "Watch your rose!" Darth Kreshna snatched the rose from Madar's lips using his own, then backed away.

The two fencers were separated again, slowly circling each other. Darth Kreshna took the opportunity to telekinetically took his wine glass from the bar table several feet away. Sipping his wine, he then spoke, "you are impressive indeed for an unregistered Sith. Your natural talent is splendid, and it only takes a proper training to show your true shine."

"However", the Sith continued, "no amount of training will raise you to my level, for I am the embodiment of all the life-force that was, that is, and that will be," Darth Kreshna knew that Madar --as Ra's bodyguard-- should knew about the Phoenix, "I may not be the Dark Phoenix anymore, but I am still the Phoenix. You know you have no chance to win, yet you challenged me anyway. I trust it is not death you are looking for, fair Madar. But then, what is it? Why did you come to me? What do you want?"

Darth Kreshna held the wine glass and the rose with one hand, and the Lightsaber with another. Pointing the tip of the Lightsaber to Madar, he waited for her answer, or attack, or both.

[Ra]

"I may not be the Dark Phoenix anymore, but I am still the Phoenix. You know you have no chance to win, yet you challenged me anyway. I trust it is not death you are looking for, fair Madar. But then, what is it? Why did you come to me? What do you want?"

"Then you're wiser than I had thought," Madar smirked. "I'm no fool, and I don't go on suicidal quests against cosmic entities."

Madar lept over Darth Kreshna, swinging and parrying with her blade in mid-air as she sailed over the Phoenix-Incarnate's head. She then pointed her lightsaber at him, her eyes amber with the Dark Side, and hissed, "Surely you realize why I came! I want the power. I tire of being some second-rate Dark Jedi. An exile and a rogue. I feel the Force's call to me, and I want its power. As is now obvious, I challenged you to prove my mettle to the very best! I would become a Sith apprentice, or I would die in the attempt. I knew from the outset any battle with you was not one I could win."

Madar then took a swipe at the air with her blade, and with a steel-eyed gaze added, "The decision is yours."

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

"I may not be the Dark Phoenix anymore, but I am still the Phoenix. You know you have no chance to win, yet you challenged me anyway. I trust it is not death you are looking for, fair Madar. But then, what is it? Why did you come to me? What do you want?"

"Then you're wiser than I had thought," Madar smirked. "I'm no fool, and I don't go on suicidal quests against cosmic entities."

Madar lept over Darth Kreshna, swinging and parrying with her blade in mid-air as she sailed over the Phoenix-Incarnate's head.

Despite Madar's savage attacks, Darth Kreshna effortlessly parried them with only one hand while his other hand was still holding the wine glass. His footwork and balance was excellent, as the wine was never spilled during their fight.

She then pointed her lightsaber at him, her eyes amber with the Dark Side, and hissed, "Surely you realize why I came! I want the power. I tire of being some second-rate Dark Jedi. An exile and a rogue. I feel the Force's call to me, and I want its power. As is now obvious, I challenged you to prove my mettle to the very best! I would become a Sith apprentice, or I would die in the attempt. I knew from the outset any battle with you was not one I could win."

Madar then took a swipe at the air with her blade, and with a steel-eyed gaze added, "The decision is yours."

"Ah," Darth Kreshna nodded in understanding. Unknown to Madar, he actually admired her talent while regretting the fact that she never got the proper training to fully develop her potential.

However, Kreshna decided not to be too open with his appreciation. No. That would be way too easy. In fact, he believed that Madar would need hard obstacles and challenges to develop her true power.

"Very well" Darth Kreshna still had the wine glass in his left hand, while holding the Lightsaber in his right hand, "if you can spill the content of this wine glass, then I'll take you as my apprentice."



OOC: hint: Madar may need to cut Darth Kreshna's hand.

[Ra]

Starbase 242, A'millian-Controlled Space

With a flash of light, the Aurora reverted to sublight speeds, the sleek vessel hurtling toward the starbase, which was still several million klicks away. Thanks to the starship's Asgard hyperdrive, the trip from Azeroth had been very short.

"We're approaching the starbase," Meryetre stated.

"Excellent," Ra nodded. "What's our weapons loadout?"

"I'm still fully stocked with naquada torpedoes," the computer AI chimed in response.

"Gah. I'd forgotten this thing literally has a mind of its own," Ra muttered.

"Well, excuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse me!" the AI snapped. "I've only been stuck on some godforsaken rock for three years while purple-skinned nutjobs, green-skinned brutes, and demons hack each other to death. Not very hospitable company, see? At least now I have you to give me company. Damned snakehead."

Ra simply rolled his eyes. "Hail Lord Adam, Meryetre."

"Channel is open," the Jaffa nodded.

"A'millian starbase, this is Supreme System Lord Ra, commanding the starship Aurora. We're here to provide assistance."

[Destructionator XV]

"Standby" the communications operator responded to Ra, then pressed another button causing a beep in the meeting room. A moment of talking passed and the operator once again addressed Ra over the hailing channel: "Lord Ra, bring the ship to low orbit and prepare to take on our personnel. Also, if you desire, you may come down to the surface and meet my commanders in a strategic meeting, already in progress."

[Ra]

"Very well," Ra answered. "I'll beam down to the conference room shortly."

Glancing over at the nameless Jaffa manning the helm stations, Ra commanded, "Take us into a low parking orbit."

Moments later, the Aurora settled into orbit over the planet. Ra, Baal, and Meryetre went over to the Asgard transporter pad, the Jaffa scientist manipulating some controls. Then, all three vanished in a flash of blue light, reappearing outside the starbase conference room.

[Destructionator XV]

The Marine at the door does a quick on Lord Ra to ensure he isn't carrying a THERMAL DETONATOR then lets him inside the room when satisfied.

Ra enters the room shortly after Khardem, Terry, and the Brigadier left to work on the biolasers. He sees the remaining officers sitting at the table and is offered a chair.

OOC: Short post, but I don't have the time to write up more right now, but you can now have him talk to them if you want.