ARCHIVED: The Future: War, Trade, and Exploration

Without Syrixian interference on Tek, Nebula was free to expand. Fighters swooped across the skies, clearing large swaths of the planet. Robot-controlled military outposts were established in desolate areas, scanning the skies for any sign of enemy activity and taking samples. A portion of the Nebulan fleet was dispatched to Tek for defending the colony there.

Meanwhile, Nebulan vessels were sent out to the outposts that reported back with certain mineral traces of value. Some of the more promising areas saw digs to search for valuable minerals and ores. The ores were taken back to the main colony (dubbed Azurus) for processing.

Back in Azurus, a small tunnel system, away from the attention of the main population, had been dug. Only the scientists and the workers who ran the facility there had any idea what it was for--- and the workers didn't know much either.

All uranium ore found by the probes and the miners was brought there for processing. Gas centrifuges lined the walls as well. In a chamber at the bottom of the cavern, a carefully monitored breeder reactor generated power and turned partially enriched uranium into plutonium.

Nebula, while enriching themselves on the lithium and iron processing, had also taken the opportunity to stock up on thermonuclear bombs and missiles.

(OOC: Just for reference, the Empire sees no potential in Tek. Like Mercury, it's just a small planet scorched by heat on one side and frozen by the cold vacuum of space on the other. More desirable planets that harbor real potential like Eko, Ao, Oa, Obscura, Irata, etc. are what the Empire likes to see. Those planets and Imperial dominance over them will, in the eyes of the Empire, give it more influence than if it were to colonize Tek.

(And Erythro? Erythro is a LIVING HELL.)

The ocean was vast, and teeming with life; delicious life. Few fish had been harvested to sate the colonists and system's taste for fish. Mostly it had been individuals fishing for pleasure. One man stood on the shore looking over the ocean. "Seth, we're going to be rich, just look at that ocean, it's unfathomable." Darin and Seth arrived on the recent colony transport with plans to make their fortunes while fortunes remained to be had, and they chose fishing. "Just think of all the sushi rolls and fish filets swimming out there. It'll be like catching money with a net! I'm sure the other nations as well will be eager to see fresh fish on the dinner plate." Their dream had begun just as the equipment broke ground for their new fishery, and very soon the system would see fish entering their markets.

Oceanic research continued steadily, detailing the ecosystem of the oceans, mapping the ocean floor, and recovering samples of ocean life for research. A crate sat in the corner of the loading bay, it was marked 'EI-664' and in several places 'Fragile, live specimen,' but it seemed forgotten. "Where is the shipment for the Ennigaldi Institute?" boomed a voice from across the cargo bay. "We're not leaving until it's on board! If it doesn't arrive on time, the institute won't be open to receive new deliveries for three days, and the contents of 664 won't last that long." Crews began to search all the remaining cargo in the huge loading bays.

There have been a large number of shipments all over the Ceretian empire of plants, fish, and animals from the new colonies to zoos, aquariums, and botanical gardens. Researchers wanted the chance to examine these new species and make discoveries, the people however were just eager to see new discoveries first hand. The colonies themselves even opened their own zoos, aquariums, and botanical gardens so they may do long term research as well as let the colonists see up close what they're here supporting.


Turning to the foreman, the freighter's captain relaxed a little "I know, it's been rough on your guys coordinating all these shipments. But the empire is paying handsomely for these live shipments to be just that, alive. I just don't want to be delivering dead fish in a box, ya know? How about this, if you put a few more guys on the search so we can leave on schedule, I'll bring you back something nice from Eve when I return." Nodding, he placed a call and several more workers began scouring the cargo bays. They found the crate, and began to load it into the freighter. "See you in three days, Jim" With a wave he turned and left, the docking doors began to close as he walked down the corridor to his ship.

(OOC: Tek's remoteness makes it useful for secret production of nuclear materials.)

The Nebulan Colonial Administration has announced missions to place space stations in low orbit of the gas giants.

The first moisture farms were coming online. Just a few drips of moisture began to collect in their reservoirs, but eventually it'd be much more. Centuries of meteor showers had left the planet with solid deposits of lanthanides, scandium, and yttrium, while their surveys showed deposits of metals deep underground. The economy on Irata was looking up, and the colonists had hope for this desert world. These critical materials would be a boon to the tech industry if they were able to get it out of the ground.

Sitting across a stately oak desk from Irata colony's chairman were two representatives from the mining council. "We're able to mine the deposits well enough to support your industrial plans sir, but not effectively." The chairman looked a bit dejected, had he set his hopes too high? How would he explain this to the colonists? Seeing the look starting to come across the chairman's face he knew there was another option. "If we contact our allies the Xentheridians, I'm sure they have the experience and equipment required to bring our mines up to full capacity. In fact, I've seen them work a similar operation elsewhere; it's quite impressive." The chairman's eyebrow raised "Well, you'd better get a detailed report ready, we'll need to contact them right away if we're going to complete these plans before the new colonists arrive. And who knows, maybe we can help them with something down the road."

Within two hours a message had been dispatched to the Grand Federation of Xentherida requesting assistance with the mines.

---

The 'Stalwart Dawn' was on final approach to Tek, it was barren and battered by the sun. Contained in their hold was a delta series manufacturing rig designed to assemble the outposts facility and help launch minor survey work of the surrounding area. The colonists weren't laborers, they were scientists; even if they were, it'd be dangerous just being on the surface let alone building an outpost.

Their scans showed Nebulan activity in the area, but seemed to lack sizable development on the surface. "The Nebulans don't seem to be taking any drastic action, let's hope it stays that way." Pushing a few more buttons. "I'm guessing they're underground, the buildings we see are too small and too few to be a whole colony." The ship's mission commander looked over the situation. "Still want to go down Mr. Fenn?" With a moment of hesitation Fenn spoke "Yes, it'd be a shame to science if we did not." The commander shrugged "OK, just try and keep away from the Morlocks." Equipment began launching to the surface, the delta rig began to set up their home. The Tek outpost has begun.

In the mean time, the first of the daily shipment (known as a "drop-off") of minerals was arriving on to the HMS Triumph from the mining probes. Every three "drop-offs" from the probes, the Discus will return to Xentherida. So far, iron and nickel had been collected in abundance, along with scandium, titanium, most of the lanthanides, vanadium, and other elements. While more probes are still to arrive from their asteroids, the amount of elements collected is expected to rise.

The Xentheridan Government would also like to announce the success of the launch of the HMS Victory, despite some inconveniences with the Mark 7 AI. It is expected to reach Tek and Erythro within five hours before distributing yet more mining probes. These ones are to mine odium, potassium, calcium and magnesium, and potentially carbon, among other materials. It will then return to Xentherida in an expected two days time to pick up the colonists and building materials; the pick-up is currently being prepared back on Xentherida.

Meanwhile, scientists have announced that they have made astounding gains in knowledge about dark matter drives, and in the summoning of aforementioned dark matter. This discovery will lead to a more efficient and stronger dark matter drive, meaning a faster acceleration (but the top speed is limitless).

Finally, Xentherida would like to announce its willingness to assist Ceretis in their mining efforts. Not only will we be sending three hundred unmanned mining probes to Irata, using the newest delivery ship; the HMS Godspeed, but also multiple prototypes and blueprints of aforementioned probes will be sent, along with several laser drills (powered by their own tiny fusion reactors). In return, we ask only for a prototype of their moisture farms, for these would enable us to colonise Irata.

"Sir, a Ceretian exploration ship has arrived."
"Ceretis!" the colony's military commander spat. "They've done little to endear themselves to us at this point. Send out three squads. I want them brought back here as soon as possible. Do not harm them."

The soldiers suited up and grabbed their weapons, heading out the airlock from the military base just under the surface. The door of a nearby warehouse opened slowly, revealing two space-tanks rolling slowly out. One soldier looked up to see five Nebulan zeppelins taking to the skies to prevent escape.

(OOC: I'm going to justify my ability to safely and effectively use zeppelins in the OOC thread, if anyone is thinking "Zeppelins are, like, so 1915".)

The soldiers mounted their treadbikes and powered them up, heading across the barren wasteland, the tanks followed at their top speed. Within half an hour the soldiers had reached the Ceretian ship.

The captain in charge of the mission spoke into a radio transmitter that broadcasted the message on all frequencies: "Halt! What is your business here?"

Doraan began to collapse into the moon of Tibu, Kyette, the collapse of Doraan was devastating, it was the second largest Cro Arms city with a population of 24 million with the largest being Anderius with a population of 83 million. Oxygen slowly began to leave the ship and escape into the void whilst the back-end of the ship began to crack and overflow further with water whilst the ship slowly descended into Kyette - large chunks of the buildings within the Industrial Sector began to fall out of the ship and crash, rapidly, into the moon with varying impact craters.

Anderius had then received the comm from Doraan about the malfunction and were unaware of the fact it was about to collide with Kyette.
"Send the Northern-Carriers, Fleet 1 and 3.5!" The CEO commanded several of the many humanitarian fleets that Cro Arms had, the company was well renowned for giving charitable support in any way they could, it was to boost reputation and popularity and not to show actual compassion.

The fleet finally entered orbit over Tschai, they could see the New Haven colony station. "Look at that station, it'd be nice to meet the neighbors" the tactical officer looked up from his controls toward the science officer "they haven't made much contact, even from their station over Eko colony, try not to get your hopes up. For all we know they're stockpiling weapons or isolationists."

Construction ships began their work building an orbital station, this would be the first step toward atmospheric harvesters and a colony. The mission commanders only knew they were to support and protect the construction workers as they built the facilities. Down in engineering, the chief engineer's curiosity was piqued, he knew the construction guys were building the new 'G-Class' orbital stations, but he'd never seen the specs. He managed to catch up to one of the construction managers after a meeting. "So what are these G-classes supposed to look like? I hear they're big, but that's relative." Pulling a data tablet from his satchel "Well they're designed to allow for docking with out super carriers for resupply repair." With a few taps he pulls up an image. Here's what they're supposed to look like when they're done:"

He was shocked, it was enormous, he didn't expect the G-class to be so large. "And they expect this will be done soon?" A look of disbelief came over his face. "No, unless it miracles its way into existence, it's going to take a while. The whole things is being built in phases. Once the first part is close enough to complete we can start work on the atmospheric harvesters. I hear we're going to outsource work to the Tlacopantecs, and the Trinnish, and for our part probably buy some more materials from the Xentheridians."
"That's one complicated soup. With a station as large and complex as this, do you think the Eumenorians will want to set up a comm network out this way? It'd be nice to get some of their news and entertainment out this way since we'll be here for a while."

Meanwhile, an Imperial fleet entered Tschai's orbit right behind the Ceretians. The Emperor had ordered his armies personally to attack any non-Alliance stations they found, but the troops were wary. The way Ceretian ships maneuvered around the station made it seem like they liked the station, and perhaps wanted to explore it. A commlink was patched to the Ceretian commander. "This is Admiral Jonathan Veers, Syrixian Empire. We wanted to contact your fleet over our next move." he paused. "The Emperor himself has tasked his armies with destroying any and all non-Alliance-owned station we find, and this is one. Perhaps we would be able to split the loot inside once we send boarding teams?"

"Fenn, there's someone at the door for you..." Fenn's assistant was less than interested in being the one to answer the Nebulans. He quickly scurried away from the landing craft's door. "Oh, gorram, you can't even have peace on a burning rock. Send a burst transmission to the Stalwart Dawn informing them of the situation. We should send a small group of representatives to talk with them, maybe that's all they're looking for."

Putting on exosuits he and two other scientist exited the landing craft with their hands open, held slightly away from their body to show they were unarmed. The airlock closed and locked behind them. "We mean you no harm, we're just scientists here on a peaceful mission. Is there something we can help you with, neighbor?" He made sure to smile and give no appearance of hostility for this tense situation.

---

The Admiral's message was heard over the bridge's speakers, the Commodore had been unsure of what to make of the situation to that point. "Open a channel to the Admiral's ship. and give me a split view of the station and of the imperial fleet on the viewer." The comm officer routed the transmission as the main viewer's HUD switched over. "Channel open sir."

"Admiral, it's good to see friendly faces so far from the core worlds. It's quite a long journey trekking out this far; it makes inner world travel seem almost instant doesn't it?" Getting up from his chair he stood halfway between the pilots and his seat.

"Well we found something unexpected upon our arrival, it appears to be one of those 'New Haven' stations. Our people haven't had much contact with their people even though they have a station over Eko. We've been considering our options here, and are so far concluding we need to send a landing party to the station to determine threats, technology, and our course of action. We have no clue what to expect or what we'll find. Have they made contact with your people, and would you care to join in on the mission?"

"This is Nebulan military patrol. You are encroaching on Nebulan colonial territory. Please leave at once; much of the rest of the planet is uninhabited."

Astonished, Fenn spoke up "Good lord man! How large is this colony?" Looking around he could see no signs or markers denoting Nebulan territory. "We landed a good distance from what appeared to be the outer perimeter of your colony just so we wouldn't provoke your people. Might you have a map to mark where we might find open land?"

"There's a plateau about 20 kilometers that way," said the captain, gesturing with his hand. "We've sent a probe out there, and it's quite defensible."

Cro Arms' Kesot city of Impala was minuscule compared to the others with a mere 13,000 citizens and workers, most of which were highly educated and kept under full surveillance as they conducted high-risk experimentation and research - there was a reason Impala was so far away from the rest of the cities and civilizations. This city had been left uncontacted by the rest of the corporation for five years but would soon be as it expected a large shipment of chemicals and food that would allow it to grow and conduct more research, research entirely unrelated to the weaponry the company produced.

"HUMAN Specimen V-QR5T was a failure John." A strange man dressed in a long, stiff lab-coat and a balding head with grey hair muttered to himself, his conscience began to encase him in an iron shield as he felt terrible guilt for the constable failures and deaths of his human subjects. His aging, violet eyes teared up slightly as he stared at the fried corpse that was strewn across a small chamber, this was his job until he died and he hated every second, every moment of his waking life dedicated to it. It was unbearable.

"20 kilometers that way?" Looking in the direction the captain gestured. "That will work for our purposes. We'll be placing marker beacons along the shared border in that area so our research teams don't cross into your territory causing similar misunderstandings. If that's all, we'll prepare to move our equipment shortly, and should be moved within the next few hours. Anything else gentlemen?" With a searching look he awaited their response.

"That will do fine, sir."

The troops began to head back to base, but one of the zeppelins stayed above the ship, watching to make sure that the Ceretians didn't go back on their word.

Meanwhile, the supplies just kept coming in. The tunnels kept growing and the mines kept producing ores. On Eko, construction of the underground city and mining efforts continued. Soldiers began making missions out beyond the edge of the colony to find other suitable places to build cities on.

And in lunar orbit, a portion of the Nebulan star fleet was deployed. Its intent was to establish space stations above the gas giants and begin bringing in valuable profits from the gases that could be harvested.

At the colony HQ, the five governors have gotten word of the arrival of the new neighbors, and they were quite interested in them, been a while since non-New Haven technology was around. Governor John Adamin of plate 1, was a bit suspicious of their activity. "Why is it they haven't made contact yet...?", he though to himself. After talking with the other governors, they agreed to make the first introduction. "Patch me a line to the Ceretians, lets be welcoming guests, nothings worse than a bad neighbor... also, open a channel to the Eko station, I'd like to make the Captain jealous, him being stuck at the station and all, tell him we have some visitors." (PS, even though Iriel has a pop. of 90,000, it's equipped to hold about 5 mil.)


Eko Station: Tarial
Population: 1,000 semi permanent residents/workers, 1,700 visitors(Equipped to hold 5,000)


Standing in this office, a tall older man looks through a window, staring down at the oceanic planet, just pondering to himself "Wonder how long it's gonna be until they destroy the place...."
"Captain Andrews, please report to the bridge."
"Right."
The captain went to the bridge from his office and went through with the standard reports, "Any new activity?"
"A few transports passing by, and a Nebulan vessel is requesting permission to dock, it's carrying lithium."
"Request accepted."
Just then, the com light started blinking, Andrews goes to check the message and sees it's live feed, "Huh, that doesn't happen very often, who's it from?"
"Governor Adamin, from Iriel."
"Let me guess, he has more "Adventures from the colony" to report."
"Maybe"
"Fine, let it through."

Midway through the conversation with the Syrixians the command ship's comm station signified an incoming hail. The commodore was a bit surprised when he heard the tone, turning his head "who would be hailing us now?" Looking at the signal readings the comm officer replied "I believe it's New Haven, sir." With a gesture toward the main viewer "why not. Admiral, we're going to do a joint transmission, standby." The Syrixian admiral and the New Haven representatives were now on screen.

"Greetings, we are a little surprised to hear from your people. How may we be of service?"

The Nebulan sub-fleet had been divided into three groups, one for each planet: Consileen, Xuen, and Fui. After deploying a series of robotic mining probes in the inner asteroid belt, the ships split up, hoping that they would be able to establish a station without incident.

The star base commander had been in his office having breakfast and reviewing the morning construction reports when the door chime activated. Looking up from the reports "Enter." A young officer brought a data tablet in with him, placing it on the desk. "Sensors detected the Nebulans have crossed the inner belt."

"Fleet intelligence reports suggest moderate resistance in establishing space colonies by the Nebulans if we don't start the ships heading toward their next planetary missions now, sir." Always something in this space race he thought to himself. They hadn't sent their ships yet as the bulk of the colonists were waiting for a critical supply shipment. They couldn't wait anymore if they didn't want a possible fight. The empire had been interested in many of the outer planets, but truly held significant interest in two: Consileen and Uundar. These would have to make due for now.

With a few taps on the tablet he handed it back to the officer "Set the fleet for these two locations and the 'DSE ship' for project 'farpoint.'" The military support and construction crews had been given their marching orders, get to the planets ASAP. The remaining colonists, supplies, and equipment would be sent along later, but at least they could start building something. The ships broke orbit and oriented themselves to their destination, and with a burst of speed, they disappeared into the outer reaches.

Ceretis:

Midway through the conversation with the Syrixians the command ship's comm station signified an incoming hail. The commodore was a bit surprised when he heard the tone, turning his head "who would be hailing us now?" Looking at the signal readings the comm officer replied "I believe it's New Haven, sir." With a gesture toward the main viewer "why not. Admiral, we're going to do a joint transmission, standby." The Syrixian admiral and the New Haven representatives were now on screen.

"Greetings, we are a little surprised to hear from your people. How may we be of service?"

Click to expand...

"Hello, how are you today? I am John Adamin of plate 1 of the orbital colony Iriel, and I would just like to welcome you to the deep space around Tschai. It's just like you to know that if there's anything you need, we're willing to offer any assistance you need."

Nebulan vessels began to arrive at Consileen. Construction on a space station began.

"The Emperor has given us and the Consileen Fleet direct orders to destroy anything that does not belong to the Alliance in the Outer Planets." said the Admiral. "However, seeing as you appear to have a peaceful stance, we would like to offer New Haven America membership in the Alliance, so that they may escape utter destruction."

---

As negotiations went on and an Imperial station was under construction at Tschai, the Consileen Fleet, which was much bigger than the Tschai Fleet, headed for the distant planet. They were under orders to take over the Cro Arms station on Consileen and kill all Cro Arms personnel inside, turning the city into an Imperial space station, and perhaps their gateway to interstellar space. Settling into orbit around the dark-green gas giant, the Cro Arms city was within visual range. They moved closer, sending legions of boarding ships holding armed stormtroopers to the city itself.

The Nebulan ships moved to defend the Cro Arms station, on the basis that the fleet was in trouble anyway. The Nebulan space station, which was practically nonexistent, was temporarily abandoned.

Admiral Piett chuckled. The Nebulans were trying to be kind. They had to be told to escape- with their lives. Patching a commlink to the Nebulan flagship, Admiral Piett remarked, "We have no quarrel with Nebula following the Treaty of Eko. Leave us and the Cro Arms city alone and we will leave you alone."

"We will accept your terms under the condition that you allow a Nebulan presence over Consileen."

The station's skeleton was beginning to take shape, slowly but surely. Not as grand as the 'G-Type' stations; although it contained defenses, it wasn't a military support station but more of a civilian and commercial endeavor. Watching the progress from aboard one of the cruisers protecting the construction rigs was the future stationmaster. He was proud to have been chosen for this assignment, and a bit eager to see it completed. There was a lot of work to be done, and he kept an image of what the station was to look like in his pocket... a promise of the future.

He could see the enormous CroArrms station in the distance, and the Nebulans setting up their own. What sort of place would this be he wondered as he saw the imperial fleet being approached by the Nebulans...

The other half of the fleet that left Tschai were now traveling toward the outer reaches of the system, headed toward their next goal, Uundar. It was quite a distance from the rest of the planets, but was worth the trouble. With them was 'DSE Sacred Promise' whose time had come. The commander of the fleet sat in his ready room talking with his friend, the captain of the Sacred Promise over comms. "We're comping up on the coordinates Bill, we'll miss hanging around with you guys, but you've got your orders and so do we. I suppose we'll see you when you eventually get back to Tschai. Until then we'll be listening for your updates on the relay stations."

The XO of the Sacred Promise signaled the ready room notifying the captain they were approaching the coordinates. "Well Glenn, it look like I gotta get going. Hold down the fort for us while we're away, try not to blow anything up; we'll tell you all about what we find when we get back. Godspeed." Exchanging a final nod the captains transmissions ended. Bill exited his ready room taking his seat at the center of the bridge. "Helmsman set heading, 223-mark-85; engage." With a gentile bank, the DSE Sacred Promise departed the fleet headed for the unknown.

Since the last announcement two mineral deliveries have been shipped to Xentherida. These included a vast variety of different minerals, of 50 different types. However, despite the diversity, the main minerals collected were nickel and iron.
While other nations may consider these amounts to be extraordinarily high, Xentherida would like to state that our mining probes use extraordinarily powerful lasers to dislodge a vein of ore, of which is then scooped into the probe's enormous storage area. This is a very efficient way of mining, and coupled with the fact that the probes only return once every three days, this makes them incredibly efficient.

In the mean time, four colonies have been established on the east side of Eko, and are reported to be functioning on their own sustainably. Each colony has an estimated seven thousand people, which fish from the oceans and grow crops for their main diets. While that is happening, probes dig beneath the surface in search of new minerals, and seeds of various new plants - including rare berries, fruits and vegetables - are being collected and cryogenically frozen. One such species - nicknamed "Purpleberry" for its deep violet colour - has so far shown to contain extraordinary amounts of vitamin C and calories, thus proving it to be an essential food for colonisation. As this announcement is broadcasted, thirteen hundred of such seeds are being brought back to the Silvia Peninsula to be cultivated and grown. These will also be cross-bred with other plants, so that new varieties are produced with large amounts of each vitamin.

"That is fine." said the Admiral, before sending his teams onto the Cro Arms station. The goal was simple, take over the station, kill anyone who tried to fight, and force Cro Arms to make weapons for the Empire in exchange for being allowed to exist. Failure to comply would result in a genocide of the Cro Arms city.

---

Meanwhile, the smaller Xuen, Uundar and Fui fleets continued on to their respective planet. The Xuen Fleet arrived first, arriving in orbit around the planet...

Nebulan ships quietly returned to their work, ignoring the Syrixians beating down on the Cro Arms station.

(OOC: I'm gonna revive this; however since Cronaal is not participating now I'll just genocide the Cro Arms station.)

Imperial troops, waiting outside the Cro Arms station's entrance, heard their response from Imperial Intelligence: No. Cro Arms had chosen not to surrender. Cro Arms had chosen death. Imperial stormtroopers poured into the station, killing every Cro Arms employee who did not surrender as a prisoner of war. Within a couple of hours, the station was theirs. Cro Arms was no more. The last remnants of Cronaal had nearly been swept away.

Meanwhile, the Uundar and Fui fleets had arrived and colonies were under construction. The Xuen colony's headquarters was done, and the colonies Eko, Obscura, Irata, Ao and Oa had blossomed into small cities, with Eko's boasting the largest of the five, although it still was dwarfed by the dark, evil imperial capital, Byss. Every Cro Arms station excluding the Kesot station had been taken following orders direct from the Emperor himself.

As the Kesot Fleet, whose destination was beyond Kesot and whose goal was to make the Empire the first interstellar power, passed Kesot, it reached the station. The Emperor had special plans for this station. The Cro Arms station at Kesot was a symbol of what Cro Arms was supposed to become under the Emperor's vision: submissive or dead. Cro Arms had chosen death, and unlike the other stations, the last Cro Arms personnel would receive the worst fate as a way for the Empire to symbolically end the existence of Cro Arms.

The Star Destroyers prepared to fire.

"Sir, our ships have arrived at Xuen and Fui."
"Excellent. Have them set up in defensive formation around our new space stations."
"What if Syrixia attacks?"
Grand Admiral Ackbar checked his watch. "If things are running on schedule, our first shipment of thermonuclear warheads is leaving the lunar facilities in seconds."

Kesot
It was executed in a blaze of fiery glory. The Kesot station had been destroyed within five minutes and its ruins salvaged. No personnel had been left alive. The Fleet then continued on through the Belt, stopping right at the edge of the interstellar border. The Emperor had said he'd wanted to see this, and, according to him, so would his state-controlled media.

---

Fui
Admiral Anthony Griff, leader of the Fui Fleet, prepared to deliver a message to the Nebulans over commlink. "This is Senior Admiral Anthony Griff, Syrixian Empire. This fleet and our fleet at Xuen mean you no harm." Griff paused. Now he was to deliver his threat. "If you choose to attack us, we will fight back. We are carrying thermonuclear weaponry assigned to us by His Magnificence the Emperor." Griff paused once more, noting that he had said two very different things within the same minute. This was deliberate. "However, we would prefer not to fight, and instead deign your fleet worthy of sparing. We are being generous." Griff paused for the final time, as he was now going to deliver his witty wrap-up. If the Nebulans chose to fight, they would be playing right into his hands. If the Nebulans chose not to fight, they would still be playing right into his hands. The Nebulans' hands were tangled. "Now then, on that note, if you would excuse us, we are about to begin building the Imperial Fui Station."

"We intend no harm," replied the Nebulan admiral. "Please allow us to build space stations in orbit."

A strange substance has been identified in the Tiber Crater, it has been named Tiberium, the substance appears to contain many valuble resources. a group of scientists and a Mobile Construction Vehicle, the latest development from the Department of Science, have been dispatched to investigate.

"We will allow you to build space stations in orbit," said Griff, "but on the condition that they must not be armed, so there is no threat of...deception by either side." he paused, then continued, "We will not arm our stations either."

"A request we can agree with," replied the Nebulan leader, who had every intention of placing concealed weapons all over the station.

"Then I believe we have a deal." said Griff, who was already secretly arming his station to the teeth with the latest in Imperial weaponry.