Topic: Lacerta

Azjah · Date: 2007-07-24 21:32 EST

Lacerta is a gardener?s dream come to life. There are five continents on this small world, but none of them are within the arctic regions. The vast majority of land masses are nestled about the equatorial regions, with some reaching to the 50 degrees latitude lines. Above 50 degrees latitude are several island archipelagos, but no appreciable land for populating on any scale.

The equatorial land masses are dominated by jungle and rain forest everywhere except on Aikkon. Aikkon?s equatorial areas are almost exclusively desert.

There are 5 major land masses or continents; they are called Aikkon, Meson, Tavar, Danikos and Istania. Seven island archipelagos inhabit the seas above the 50th parallel, and 12 smaller island chains inhabit the southern oceans.

Aikkon is located on both sides of the equator of Lacerta, and is approximately 10,810,000 square kilometers of land. Of that mass, about 14% is arable land, 23% is permanent forest, and 17% is pasture or grass land prairie terrain. The population of Aikkon is roughly 7.1 million people, who are clustered along the eastern coastal areas.

The coastal areas of Aikkon boast some of the whitest sand I have ever seen. The beaches almost appear to be made of snow because the sand glistens like freshly fallen snow against a rich azure sea. The continental shelf extends quite some distance from the eastern and northern sides of Aikkon and attracts a great many vacationing Lacertians. The southern and western sides of the continent have a continental shelf that drops steeply down 8 ? 10 km deep into a vast abyssal plain. Here the deep, cold water upwells and brings vital nutrients to the surface, but the water is very cold and not conducive to vacationers desires. These cold waters are however abundant with deep water fishes and krill like organisms which form the basis for the pelagic food chains.

Although the rugged coastline is stunningly beautiful for rock climbing and bird watching, the sheer cliffs provide wonderful sanctuary for a wide variety of sea birds where land based predators cannot reach them. The upwelling currents below the rocky cliffs provided a plethora of algae, krill, and fishes to feed fast growing babies. But these cliffs also face some staggeringly fierce winter storms that cause rock to collapse into the surf, and lash nesting birds with gale force winds and rain or sleet. It is a tough place to grow up and learn how to fly.

The color of the sea is a deep sapphire blue due to the extreme depth of the water, and the light plays in dancing sparkles on sunny days, but on stormy days, these coasts become dangerous for all to navigate as the skies turn leaden gray and the water becomes a seething cauldron of darkest gray. To risk this coast in a storm is to risk death at the hands of Poseidon himself.

Rain moved across the continent predominantly from west to east, so these western shores are more like rain forest than the eastern forests which are predominantly palms. The west side has the giants of the plant kingdom. Here the metasequoia glyptostroboides can grow up to 200 meters tall, and reach over 8 meters in diameter. Some have been dated as living over 3000 years before they were cut down. I do not think anyone actually knows how long they can truly live. The coastal trees are predominantly coniferous and proto-conifers for about 50 kilometers inland where they begin to give way to the true rainforest species.

Azjah · Date: 2007-07-24 21:34 EST

As one moves inland, the forest takes on the appearance of an Amazon jungle. Great mahogany, teak, and cashew trees dominate the upper canopy of the forests, and in the under-story are the milk trees, figs, and unnamed fruit trees. The clouds literally form in the tree tops from the evapotranspiration of this immeasurable biomass.

The Lacertians who live in this part of Aikkon make their livings farming trees and the fruits of the forest. They have found harmony with nature here, and they protect their land zealously. The idea of clear cutting their forests is an alien and destructive idea that they will never allow. Speaking to the rare few who will take to an outsider demonstrates their love of this place that I have seldom found anywhere else in my travels. They have become part of these forests as much as their arms are a part of their bodies. I wonder if in time they might become more like their trees in appearance and mannerisms. Evolution does strange and wondrous things.

As travelers continue eastward, there is a range of mountains, called the Riphean Mountains that bisect the continent. They are analogous to the Ural Mountains of Eurasia in size and rock type. They rise sharply from the jungle plateau as gigantic teeth, biting into the blue skies above. Indeed, the highest peak is named for its counterpart, Mount Narodnaya. It reaches over 1905 meters into the skies above the rainforests.

These are the oldest mountains on Aikkon, and were formed over 300 million years ago, in what is called the Carboniferous period. These mountains also contain most of the larger mineral deposits such as gold, platinum, coal, iron, nickel, silver and precious stones such as beryl and topaz. While the Lacertians will mine these resources, they are very strictly controlled on how much can be recovered and then most of that is used to trade off world for what little they cannot produce for themselves.

The mountains are usually snow covered all year long, and there are 156 recorded glaciers in this chain of mountains. They divide the rainforest region of Aikkon from the desert and savannahs of the eastern part of the continent.

The Olanna desert sits in the rainshadow of the Riphean Mountains. The desert gets less than 10 cm of rain each year, and temperatures can soar to over 48 degrees Celsius during the height of summer. There is a small permanent settlement at the edge of the mountains where a river winds its way through this arid land called Vorkuta. Approximately 200 people call this harsh land home, and earn a living from the desert.

There are few plants hardy enough to survive the heat and the dryness, but they are simply amazing plants. The largest of these is the saguaro like cactus that can grow to a height of 14 meters, and diameters of just over 3 meters. These giants are very slow growing and produce multiple ?arms? to help these huge plants store up enough water to survive the heat and arid nature of the Olanna desert. They are night blooming cacti, and are pollinated by the desert bats. The flowers are stunningly beautiful, in contrast to the heavy recurved spines this cactus grows to keep animals from taking a bite out of the juicy flesh! Needless to say, this plant does not provide an easy meal for hungry herbivores.

In the short rainy season of the desert, this giant cactus makes the most of the water by producing flowers that are over 20 centimeters long, and when fully open in the night air, are over 25 cm across! They produce one of the true delicacies of the Olanna desert, the fruit from the pollination of these unique flowers. The seed pods are bright crimson red and about the size of a small pomegranate nestled deeply within the wicked spines. If they are harvested just before the fruit is ready to burst open, it is a juicy and rather tasty treat that can only be enjoyed around March. The sweet strawberry like flavor has a faint undertone of red raspberry which is too delicate to ship far from the source, and the cactus is protected due to its slow growing nature. The seeds are very fine, and remind me of poppy seeds. It can take over 75 years for a seed to become a fruiting plant, which is why these are so strongly protected by the Lacertians. They must assure that enough seeds are released to continue the species in a healthy population and with sufficient genetic diversity. But that does not dissuade me from advising you to try these fruits if you ever have an opportunity to savor the fruit of the Olanna desert!

Azjah · Date: 2007-07-24 21:37 EST

The desert is also home to one of the most poisonous of all serpents. The Sand Asp is a master of desert camouflage as it buries its body under the sand to keep out of the dangerous sun, where it waits with only it?s eyes on the surface of the sand. This serpent will strike at any warm blooded prey, including humans, horses, stray cattle and even the giant desert esons. This snake?s venom will kill a human in as little as five minutes if a full dose is injected by the snake. There is never enough time to get someone who has been bitten to medical help. Death is by neurotoxin and paralyzes the diaphragm, which results in suffocation.

The sand asp is also the largest snake on Aikkon with adult females reaching 3 meters in length, and nearly as big around as a man?s arm. The Lacertian?s lose an average of 28 people a year to the Sand Asp.

Gradually the Olanna desert merges into short grass prairie as the effects of the Riphean Mountains diminish and rain once again falls. Here the Lacertians practice animal husbandry as they make use of the plentiful grazing for herbivorous livestock. Even the giant Eson is domesticated on these planes and sold in the market places as a source of meat.

These prairies stretch for hundreds of kilometers as far as the eye can see. The abundant grasses are resilient and grow rapidly for most of the year with only a slight respite in winter when the days shorten. Deer and antelope mix with the domestic herds, but so far there have been no documented cases of disease transferring from the wild stock to the domestic stock.

Annual rainfall continues to improve and the short grass prairies give way to the tall grass prairies where the deepest, richest soil is found. Here the agrarian farmers are centered, and the ?bread basket? of Aikkon provides all of the grains and legumes consumed by the people of Aikkon. There are niche farming areas in different climates, but here is where the biggest, most productive farms are located.

Eventually the grasslands give way to forest again, only this time the forest is mostly deciduous hardwoods. The grand hickory and walnut trees blend with maple and oak species. The northern forests are home to the hazelnut and butternut trees and the southern forests are more pistachio and pecan. This side of the continent has the majority of Aikkon?s population base, but the simple life style has kept all of Lecerta?s population centers fairly small. Fewer people want to embrace this agrarian life style while the rest of the worlds around them move into the future. It is hard work and there are not many frills, which is not the way most people today want to live.

The eastern shores are lined with palm species, including a date palm that produces the most succulent dates I have ever tasted. A gentle slope of white sand leads you into the warm blue waters of the Tethys Sea. There are small fishing boats bobbing on the gentle swells on most days, and sea food is the dominant diet of people who live near the ocean.

I could spend days on Aikkon, soaking up the sun and dining on fresh seafood complimented with a dessert of fresh, ripe dates and cream. Alas, time does not currently permit me such leisure activities!

Azjah · Date: 2007-07-24 21:38 EST

South and east of Aikkon about 1200 kilometers begins the northern reaches of Tavar. This is the largest continent on Lacerta, and it covers 11 time zones! It contains 33% of the planet?s entire land mass and has the greatest population centers. Although, by Rigelian standards, these population centers are fairly small, for Lacerta, they are huge. The capital of Tavar is Trent on Hillside, which has a population of slightly greater than 800,000 inhabitants. The capital is located in the heart of Tavar, amidst the rolling hills of New Festungmaurer. Many of the current Lacertians emigrated from Rigel or Rigelian territories and brought along the familiar names of places they left behind, or have family still remaining behind when they began new lives on Lacerta.

Tavar is so vast, it encompasses almost every imaginable climate, microclimate, terrain, or scenery. There are three major mountain ranges which were raised by plate tectonics when smaller land masses were pushed together and collided along a subduction zone. The uplift caused by these collisions resulted in raising the rock high into the air in a ceaseless dance between orogenesis and erosion. The highest mountain on the planet is located on Tavar. Mount Olympion soars 6.328 kilometers above sea level and attracts off-worlders who love to mountain climb. There is an entire industry centered around these climbers, as well as a concerted effort to keep them focused on their climb rather than having off worlders wandering too far from the capital.

The mountain range that is home to Mount Olympon is called ?Spine of the World? by many of the inhabitants of Tavar because it runs for 7,166 kilometers across the landscape before disappearing into the ocean at the subduction seam just to the east. Here the great ocean plates collide, and one dives beneath another, resulting in heating of mantle material that results in the volcanic rise of The Spine. Awesome forces result from these collisions, and these forces must be relieved, either through volcanism or earth quakes. Both are manifest in this growing mountain range.

Trent on Hillside is located at the junction of 2 large landmasses that have been relatively stable for many years, although scientists do warn that the quiescence can mean catastrophic release at some point in the future. Small releases more often are always safer than catastrophic release of pent up forces. But for now, life in the capital city moves along peacefully.

Azjah · Date: 2007-08-09 19:50 EST

The main products from Tavar are grains and meat production in the east and central lands with major mineral mining in the west along with logging. The land and climate are conducive to agrarian needs, and essentially Tavar is the bread basket of Lacerta. Gentle rolling hills, mild climate with sufficient rainfall have produced fabulous prairie lands that lend themselves either to grazing or cultivation.

The largest space port is located in Trent on Hillside, and this is usually where I land when arriving on Lacerta. My company is located outside the capital about 80 kilometers away in the town of Stafford on Tyne. This was chosen because of the proximity to one of the largest rail systems and terminal complexes on the planet. Rail is the best means of transportation for bulk goods on Lacerta, and being at the hub of the system ensures timely delivery and receipt of goods. Obtaining raw materials and shipping finished goods became less of a logistical concern by locating here.

I have leased a home about 10 kilometers from the plant. It is not as formal or as grand as my other homes, but it is well built and meets my needs when I am in Stafford on Tyne.

Stafford on Tyne is a picturesque town straddling the Tyne River. The city has an old world charm to it because there are no skyscrapers or ultra modern style buildings. As I?ve said, the Lacertians left Rigel to form a simple, more pastoral life, which also means forsaking many of the modern conveniences and vices.

My home here is a two story affair made of brick and stone with a fabulous thatched roof. It is straight out of another time and place, complete with walled enclosure forming the front yard and it is planted with a myriad of flowers in every color imaginable. A stone path weaves its way through the flowers behind the low stone wall connecting the street to the front entry of the house. All in all, as the Lacertian sun sets over Stratford on Tyne; my home looks very much like a painting by Thomas Kincaid.

I hired four to staff the house, and so far they have done a fine job of keeping out the curious and making the place appear to be lived in at all times. They have also accepted my computer system and security devices much better than I had anticipated. This is fortuitous as I have brought in some technology that I know would be rejected by the Elder Council. I will remove it after hostilities are resolved, but for now, the Lacertians are safer if I maintain my secrets.

Most of the defenses I have currently in place are sourced from Tavar, which is most logically the place the Cepheans have to gain control over when they make their move. All off world trade is centered in Tavar, and since this is the largest and most populous landmass, it is here the Cepheans must ultimately come in their quest to conquer Lacerta.

Danikos is probably the next most obvious target for Cephea. This continent is located south of the equator, and about 5800 kilometers east of Tavar. Danikos is a rugged, mostly mountainous country that due to the processes of igneous activity has a high preponderance of mineral wealth. This will attract a great deal of attention from the Cepheans.

Azjah · Date: 2007-08-09 19:50 EST

While the Lacertians strictly regulate mining, the Cepheans would commit rapine of the land. Plundering as much as possible as fast as possible in their quest to become a power house in the system is the way the Cephean leaders have worked in the past. Their ways may be barbaric and savage, but they have high aspirations which could be significantly supported with the riches of Danikos.

Fortunately, the population of Danikos is composed of a tough breed. The people there have built the mining industry from nothing. They will give the Cephean?s more than they bargained for if they attack there first. I have set up a geostationary satellite observation system above Lacerta, and keep a keen watch on Danikos.

Danikos has a surface area of approximately 7.2 million square kilometers, but most of this is rugged mountains or strong foothills. The southern half of the continent is south of the tropical latitudes and the elevation means much of the continent experiences winter and frozen periods. The snow covers most of the higher peaks most of the year, and in some years, never leaves the mountains above tree line. Mining is done under some difficult weather conditions, and these people are no strangers to adversity and hard work.

A traveler continuing in an easterly direction from Tavar, only this time in the northern hemisphere will encounter the continent of Meson next. Meson has a land area of approximately 4.6 million square kilometers and is inhabited by the true purists of Lacerta.

These people on Meson keep the old ways of farming and animal husbandry right down to using no artificial means what so ever. There is no use of machinery and all work is done by animal and by hand. They use no artificial products in their homes or clothing. There is no power beyond sunlight or water dams with water wheels, and even transportation is accomplished using wagons, or buggies or some beast of burden.

These people will be the most difficult to protect because they do not allow visitors to bring any of the ?evils? of the outside world within their borders. They will not permit any of the outside Lacertians to bring defensive means onto their land, but they cannot stop the Cepheans who will come with high technology weapons, and so it will be up to the rest of the Lacertian people to do their best to keep Meson safe. It is a statement of solidarity that the rest of Lacerta will defend the people on Meson despite how difficult the Mesonians are making it for them to accomplish.

I am not permitted to land the Star Dragon there, and getting to the continent means going by sail boat. No motored craft are allowed to moor on Meson?s shores. We have no time for a leisurely sail and I will have to rely on satellite intelligence to know what is happening there. I tried to make contact with the ruling leaders of Meson to send them at least rudimentary communication devices, and even that was rebuffed. I do not think they believe that Cephea could conquer Lacerta, but the situation is dire.

The Duke of Sorwind is the leading military contact for me here on Lacerta. He has been educated on Rigel and chosen to take this posting of his own accord. That means that he has a keener interest in protecting Lacerta than any of the other Rigelian Warlords. This is more than just a territory belonging to the Empire. This is his home. Right now, we will take any and all advantages we can accrue.

I have provided some of the more advanced weaponry which I know the Duke will use to best advantage, but still I worry that what they have is not enough. I ponder ways to drive the Cephean?s away before they can begin their attack here, and have still not found a good way of accomplishing that task, but there has to be a way to convince the Cepheans that Lacerta is not a bit of fluff they can take simply because they desire to do so.

Azjah · Date: 2008-01-08 15:54 EST

Time grows short as the Cephean presence can now be seen when the sun sets. Hundreds of moving ?stars? cruise above Lacerta, and still no communications are made between Lacerta and the congregating Cepheans. That worries me the most. No demands, no negotiations, no threats voiced. It is as though they intend to invade Lacerta, and slaughter every person, man, woman and child, as they have done several times in their past, rather than simply conquer the planet and incorporate these people into their rule. Unless something changes dramatically, we will fight to the death it would seem.

The island archipelago of St. Albans is the northern most land mass in Lacerta. This series of islands extends from the 12th up to the 8th parallel, which puts these islands well to the north of any inhabitants of Lacerta. The frozen wastes are not home to any permanent residents because the climate is not amenable to farming or ranching. The archipelago is home only to small groups of seals and arctic type birds. It is the perfect place to set up the satellite feed station where it will cause the least impact to the Lacertians, and where I can most effectively hide it from prying eyes.

The Duke has granted my request to use the archipelago as my base of operations. I have spent the last several weeks having equipment delivered to the remote islands and now my communication link beeped. The station was set up and ready to begin testing. It was time for me to leave Tavar and go to St. Albans.

Renting transportation on Lacerta that is outfitted for the extreme cold of St. Alban?s was impossible, and so I had Baumann send the craft from Rigel. It had landed earlier in the wee hours and was waiting for me in the hangar beside the Star Dragon.

Azjah · Date: 2008-01-08 15:55 EST

Azjah gave another look around her rooms at the Palazzo. Unease slithered with clammy chills along her spine. Nothing was out of place. Nothing missing, nothing overtly wrong, and yet the distinct restlessness that she had learned to heed in her youth continued to nag incessantly at her. Something was wrong, she only needed to identify it.

A soft knock tapped at her door, and she glanced at the time. It was only 2:00 AM, well before they were scheduled to leave for the hangar where the Star Dragon sat prepared and ready for its flight back to Lacerta. They would make the 4:20 AM departure window if Rena arrived on schedule. If Azjah knew her guest at all, Rena would be slightly early rather than late. She also knew before she opened the door who stood on the other side of it. It would do no good to pretend she was asleep or hadn?t heard the soft rap of knuckles on the carved door. ?Enter.? She didn?t need to say any more.

Gabriel slid the door open quietly and stepped inside her rooms in utter silence. His movements as soundless as a hunting owl in flight brought him inside the room before he turned and closed the door with the faintest whisper of a click as the latch snicked into place. Fathomless black eyes considered her an immeasurable moment. ?You are restless, and your unease can be felt from one end of the Palazzo to the other. What preys so upon your thoughts tonight?? His concern was genuine, even though it lacked any emotion.

Azjah paced around the elegant private space like a caged tiger that had known freedom and had it removed from her in the recent past. She had a restless energy that bristled inside of her and required an outlet but could not find a constructive way to vent. ?I cannot put anything specific to what I?m feeling Gabriel. Something is wrong, but I cannot resolve precisely what.? She wrapped both arms around her waist as she paced across the Aubusson carpet, leaving foot prints in the plush wool.

Gabriel remained where he had been standing when the door closed. He no longer bothered with appearances in front of her, and so no rise and fall of his chest to imitate life stirred within his chest. He could have been made of marble for all of the movement he exhibited. At one time, that stillness had troubled Azjah, but she had grown accustomed to Gabriel?s stillness. And he had grown comfortable enough to be himself at all times.

?Do you believe this is your innate senses or is it concern because you have a passenger on this trip?? Gabriel tried most of the time to leave Azjah?s thoughts to herself, but tonight her unease had brought him to her side long before they would need to leave for the hangar. He could pick her thoughts without asking her, but out of respect for their relationship, he usually did not intrude. Instead, he waited patiently for her to sort through her thoughts and impressions.

Azjah paused in mid-stride and turned toward Gabriel with a deeply reflective expression. ?I am, of course concerned about Rena. I do not know how she will adapt to the emptiness of space and so much time in artificial gravity. But, this is not her presence that is causing this disquiet.? Rena?s presence on board would create other concerns, but not the kind of anxiety that haunted the Marchioness and caused her this sleepless night. Guests she could accommodate, even the most difficult of Court guests never caused her this kind of angst. It was not having Rena along for the flight, of that Azjah was certain.

Another hushed rap of knuckles came at the heavy door, and Azjah gave Gabriel an astonished glance. She had never allowed Dominik to take her blood. He should have no special connection to her that would bring him from the rooms she had afforded him when he had arrived the previous month. One look at Gabriel confirmed that it was indeed Dominik who stood on the other side of that door. She motioned for Gabriel to admit him despite not knowing what had brought him so early to her door.

Azjah · Date: 2008-01-08 15:58 EST

?What brings you here so early Dominik?? Azjah cut right to the point, her ice blue gaze meeting the brilliant metallic green of the mage.

The elderly Dragonseeker stepped inside with the same silence that marked Gabriel?s arrival, and closed the door gently behind him before giving her a formal bow. ?Forgive my intrusion Marchioness. I could not ignore the distress I feel in the air, and came to see if there was something I could do to alleviate it.? The mage?s eyes held ages old secrets, but no solution for the Marchioness. He too was perplexed by the stress that radiated off of the Rigelian woman before him.

?Only if you can find the source of this feeling milord,? came her frustrated reply to his query. She reached for the small bag she planned to take with her to the ship, but Gabriel reached it first using his preternatural speed and picked it up carefully. She gave them an assessing glance, ?shall we go early and make sure everything is stowed away and ready so that when Rena arrives we can launch with all alacrity?? There was no point in remaining at the Palazzo now. All three of them were awake and there was nothing more to do at the house. She gave the suite of rooms one last look before moving toward the door, which Dominik now held open for her.

The trio headed for the garage at the other side of the estate. They were surprised to find Dyson awaiting them with the keys to the Maybach in one hand, and a wrapped package for Azjah in the other. ?I chose not to awaken Eoin tonight. I will drive.? He turned and opened the doors that led into the garage, where he opened the rear door opposite the driver?s seat for the Marchioness. He handed her into the back seat before walking around to the driver?s side and settling in behind the steering wheel of the big car.

Gabriel took the front passenger seat beside Dyson, and Dominik settled comfortably into the seat behind the driver in silence. The mage held his ubiquitous hat in his lap as they pulled out of the garage and traversed the driveway to emerge into the silent public streets of Rhydin.

The ride through RhyDin was accomplished in a tense silence, and Azjah?s thoughts chased themselves round and round, but still came up with no solution for the unease. Dominik?s unusual green gaze slid over her twice during the drive, but he remained silent as she continued to seek answers for the intuition alarms that would not relent.

They walked up the ramp single file into the Star Dragon and headed for their sleeping quarters to stow last minute things they had each brought onboard. Azjah took the package that Dyson had brought for her and walked into her tiny quarters. She paused as the door slid shut behind her with a soft ?whoosh? and she was alone again. The ship was a private craft, and for all its luxuries, it was still small, and everything had a defined place. If anything was left out, it would make the entire room look cluttered. Her space was absolutely organized at all times. Even the single image of Klinton that she kept onboard had a fixed place on the small shelf near the bed. She looked at his image a long time. There still had not been any contact from the ship he had taken, its homing beacon had been silent, nor had there been any word from the search parties she had sent out months ago. It was as though he had vanished into a black hole, ship and all.

Azjah unwrapped the package from Dyson and smiled at his thoughtfulness. He had sent along an extra bottle of her favorite scotch. She knew that when they reached the arctic satellite base, the alcohol would be a welcome taste of home. The base was sparsely populated, and just as sparsely appointed with amenities. There hadn?t been time to bring in some of the creature comforts. They had done well just to get the essentials there and the base up and functioning in the time they had been allotted.

Azjah · Date: 2008-01-08 16:02 EST

She sat on the edge of the bed in silence. She could hear Dominik?s rich baritone in the room next to hers. He was singing a poignant song in Ancient Romanian. She could not understand the words, but the lament of the tune was unmistakable, and she discovered that she had become so wrapped up in the melody that tears were sliding down her cheeks. She dashed them away abruptly and rose. Her flight suit was hanging in the small closet and she slipped into the body forming suit that was designed to keep her warm in space, and to prevent her blood from pooling in her extremities during lift off, gravity free flight, and landings. It fit a bit too loosely now she noticed as she peered into the mirrored door. Dominik?s lament could have been for anything, but tonight, the haunting melody sang to her of the daughter she would never know. She turned away from the reflective surface and picked up the flight gloves from the shelf above the hook where the flight suit had hung.

She could begin the preflight checks while they waited for Rena to arrive. That would give her something constructive to do while they waited for the launch window time to arrive. She slid the door open and headed for the cockpit with that goal in mind. Azjah settled into the Left seat, laying the gloves on the console beside her as she radioed the facility security office and advised them of their expected guest. They would radio her when Rena entered the security check point. Gabriel would go to escort her to their bay and make her comfortable aboard ship.

Rena?s evening prior to departure: After the incident with Piper, and whatever it was that had "played" with her Piper's mind, Rena had resolved to take the potter home with her for the night, she did not want Piper to spend the night alone in her own cottage. Once entering her house, Rena made sure Piper was comfortable in the spare bedroom before going to speak with Byron. Rena gave him instructions that would assure that her guest had an escort home in the morning, ostensibly to make absolutely certain nothing more happened to the potter.

Rena then moved into the bedroom she was using, and glanced at the two bags she had been packing and repacking for the last couple of days. She mused that once again, she was leaving the city-this time she was going further away than any of the previous times-but this trip was for a different reason, or so she imagined. Azjah had invited her to make the next trip to Lacerta and Rena jumped at the chance. They had discussed Azjah's trips while both had made use of the new Teas N Tomes place and the trips had sounded interesting to Rena.

This trip promised to make Rena forget all the things that were bothering her here, or at least push them to the back of her mind. Azjah had mentioned that Rena would have a chance to organize information gathered by the computers at the remote compound where they would be staying. Rena had agreed, but was repeatedly wondering why she was asked; there had to be folks more skilled in such work that were already on location. While Rena was putting the finishing touches on her packing, her conversation on the Isle with Gabriel came back to mind, and Rena discovered that she was looking forward to the training sessions on board the space ship using a new weapon-Rena couldn't remember ever holding a gun. There were also books and manuals she needed to read to be able to do the job that was waiting for her. All in all, there was going to be a lot to keep her busy in both body and mind.

Since she had been warned not to bring heavy outerwear because it would be provided, Rena removed all but one heavy coat that she had packed before and replaced them with more sweaters and jeans, along with some long sleeve shirts and the ever comfortable sneakers and a second pair of boots. Her backpack contained some personal items, along with some books she had planned to read, and a journal she was told to write in. Hefting the pack onto her shoulder, Rena picked up the second bag and stepped out the room, pausing to close the door behind her. She peeked in on Piper and saw that she was sleeping comfortably then sought out Byron. Rena gave him instructions to manage while she was gone, she spoke to Stalker as if he really could understand what she was saying, then she moved out the front door.

The cab she had requested was waiting and she slid onto the back seat, giving the driver the address of the space port where the Star Dragon waited. All she could do now was sit back and wait until she arrived at the port. This would be her first off world flight and to say she wasn't worried would be a huge misstatement, but she was also excited for the same reason. Azjah and she weren't the best of friends, but of late they had been conversing, starting out with small talk then venturing into longer and deeper talks about a lot of things. The bitterness between them was long gone by now and the anger she felt towards the other lady was buried deep inside her: what happened between them was nobody's fault.

The ride to where the ship was docked didn't take very long. Sliding out of the cab, Rena paid the driver his fare and an appropriate tip, then she picked up the second bag that she?d brought along, took a deep breath, and then moved to the front gate. Rena gave the security guard in the booth her name and asked for Azjah Caer. She was ahead of the appointed time, but Rena had remembered from former conversations about flight plans and time windows and she didn't want that messed up because she was late. A radio call was placed by the guard, and it wasn't very long before Gabriel arrived at the gate to escort her to the ship. Rena wasn't one on small talk and the few times she had seen him on the Isle knew he wasn't either, but Gabriel explained a bit about the ship and what was to be expected on the take-off. Rena heard all that but her eyes were darting back and forth among the other docked ships and spying the workers who were maintaining the vessels to keep them space worthy. Rena would have to come back to this part of town and explore one day: it seemed to be a part she had missed in her extensive wanderings.

Azjah · Date: 2008-01-08 16:06 EST

Azjah was finished filing their flight plan when the radio crackled to life at 3:35 AM. ?Miss Rena Cronin has arrived.? The security operator advised them, so Gabriel rose from his co-pilot?s seat to get their flight guest while Azjah finished the check list. Everything checked out fine, but still the specter of unease refused to relent.

Rena and Gabriel soon arrived at the Star Dragon. Rena had read up on it some but it still amazed her to actually see it up close and personal. It was an impressive sight to see the vessel that would be her dwelling for the next two weeks. It was a shame she didn't allow enough time to actually walk around the ship, to see how well it was put together, how maintained it was: maybe when they got to the location there would be time to indulger her curiosity.

Taking the ramp to the inside of the ship, Rena glimpsed the ground for last time until they landed on Lacerta then turned her gaze to the interior.

Azjah heard Gabriel?s return only because of the sound of footsteps from Rena alighting onto the entry ramp, and his black velvet voice explaining the ship to Rena. Azjah rose and left the captain?s seat to greet her. ?Welcome aboard the Star Dragon, Rena. I do apologize for the earliness of the hour, but we are limited for departure times based on our flight trajectories.?

A smile was offered to Azjah. "Thank you for inviting me. There is no need for apologies as we've had this discussion before and I understand the limited amount of time you have to make the flight work. I really hope I won't be a bother."

Gabriel motioned for Rena to follow him as he led her down a hall on their left to the private quarters corridor on the ship. Dominik exited from his room as the pair passed and came to join Azjah in the common room. ?She hides her feelings deeply, does she not?? Dominik?s gaze followed Rena and Gabriel until they vanished around a bend in the passageway.

Azjah gave Dominik a knowing smile. ?You have no idea.? She then pulled a tall glass of sparkling water from the replicator and sat down to await Rena?s return. Azjah hoped she would be able to talk with Rena before they had to launch, but if not, there would be plenty of time during the flight. Four periods of twenty four hour segments to be exact lay before them for conversing.

She then followed Gabriel to what would be her home away from home for the duration of the flight. There was a nod offered to Dominik who she had met once in the Tomes. Dominik proceeded forward while Rena continued to follow Gabriel until they stopped at a door that the Carpathian explained was hers until they arrived back to RhyDin. The door opened and she walked inside, having been told to just place her bags into the closet for now: the flight was set for departure at 4:20 and Rena needed to put on the flight suit also located in the closet and be back up in the cockpit for takeoff instructions. He also said any other questions Rena had would be answered then but for now he needed to return forward to finish the preflight checklists. Rena thanked him then turned to change clothes, storing what she had been wearing into the cabinets that were for her use. She glanced around the room and even though it was small it was livable and rather nice. After zipping up the suit and buckling the boots on, she did as requested with the bags, looked over the room to make sure nothing was out of place then exited the living quarters. In the hallway, she was a little disoriented but remembered the way they had arrived so the steps were retraced until she found herself back at the cockpit. The ramp had been raised and the ship was getting ready for departure. She offered a smile to Dominik, who was the one to give her instructions on how to strap herself into the chairs behind Azjah and Gabriel before he did the same in the other chair. She leaned back in the chair, hands gripping the armrests just a little and stiffing her back. The voices between the control tower and the two in the cockpits flowed over her and she closed her eyes, deciding she would watch the landing when they returned. This was a different flight than the one Jesiah took her on: that one took her above the city and allowed her to look down upon it, away from the sounds and smells that saturated the city. This flight would take her up even higher, through the clouds and stars that she looked at when she walked the streets at night on her way to the place she laid her head.

Azjah headed for the cockpit as lift-off time approached, leaving Dominik and Rena to settle into comfortable launch chairs in the common room. Dominik had been through this ritual twice since his arrival at the Palazzo, and he would assure that Rena was properly secured in the chair before they moved from the docking bay. They would have to be strapped in for the escape velocities required, but once they did escape into the vastness of space, the artificial gravity would allow them to maintain a semblance of normal life activities for the next couple of days.

Azjah · Date: 2008-01-08 16:09 EST

Gabriel was already strapped into the Right seat. The cockpit lights were dimmed to enhance the indicators on the glass cockpit, and Azjah strapped herself in securely as Gabriel powered up the Star Dragon?s primary engines. The rumble of impulse engines hummed throughout the ship and Azjah received clearance from the tower for departure. The ship rolled smoothly out of the bay and onto the launch ramp. They would leave RhyDin behind for two weeks if everything went according to plan, but still the sense of agitation gnawed on Azjah?s nerves.

She listened to the computer?s countdown. Escape velocity required the use of powerful thruster engines in addition to the impulse engines that would power most of their flight. The roar of ignition obliterated all other sound inside the ship as the sleek craft turned its nose toward the heavens and lifted from the launch ramp in a laboriously slow climb into the night.

Launch went completely according to plan. Not a warning light illuminated during the launch. The Star Dragon lifted into the blackness of early morning sky and headed toward the stratosphere without the slightest glitch. As they passed through the upper limits of the atmosphere, the drag of gravity and air caused the ship to buck and fight the grasp gravity held over the ship and its occupants. Azjah briefly wondered how Rena was taking the roughness of exit, but she had warned her in advance. Dominik was also there to reassure her if needed, and she refocused on watching the monitors as they slipped the planetary boundary to escape into the endless vacuum before them.

It was good her stomach was empty; even though Azjah had warned her beforehand that the liftoff could be rough Rena wasn't expecting this. No reading about it or talking about what to expect could beat first hand experience-it was like a first sword or fist fight: you could talk about the incoming cuts and bruises all you wanted, but nothing compares to receiving the first thrust or jab. Words still do not do justice to the experience of feeling the ship leave the ground and fly higher than she had ever been before. But, no sound escaped her throat as the noises of the takeoff exploded around her. They were different noises than any she had heard before: the loud engines revving up, the rumbling as the ship rolled over the pavement to reach the necessary speed, the voices still transmitting though the radio. She could feel eyes on her and she was grateful for the concern but Rena kept her eyes closed until she was told everything was alright.

Forty minutes later, they were free of RhyDin?s gravitational field and its atmosphere, and the planet was rapidly receding into the distance. They now had four days of cold, dark space ahead of them. Azjah gave the autopilot a second check before unbuckling herself from the Left seat. She glanced at Gabriel, who was inputting flight coordinates and checking shipboard systems before stepping through the hatch and heading for the common room where she found Rena and Dominik in discussion.

?How did you like launch Rena?? Azjah retrieved another tall glass of sparkling water, to which she added a slice of lime before she curled up in a chair near Rena and Dominik. ?Just so you know; re-entry will be more of the same, only we?ll be re-entering in a ball of fire due to our velocity and angle of entry. Our heat shields will protect us, but it?s quite a fireworks display if you?ve never seen it before.?

Azjah sipped the water as Gabriel appeared unexpectedly from the cockpit. ?Power banks are charged and ready, Marchioness. We will not be surprised this trip.? With that, Gabriel returned to the cockpit without another word. He would keep vigil throughout most of the trip, and very little of the Carpathian would be seen by any of them.

Azjah · Date: 2008-01-08 16:13 EST

Azjah glanced at Rena, who watched Gabriel vanish once more into the cockpit, and Azjah hoped fervently that the Cepheans would not make this trip a rough one, but hostilities were inevitable. The only question in anyone?s mind was when they would attack Lacerta. There had been a rising number of small scale attacks on vessels passing close to Lacerta, but the main invasion had yet to take place.

?Has Dominik shown you how to use the replicator?? Azjah queried Rena. ?Let me show you my fleet?s pride and joy if you?ve found your space legs yet.? The smile was friendly, but Azjah knew some people had trouble in the artificial gravity that was not nearly as strong as what most humanoids were used to living in. But, the sooner Rena was up and moving around in the partial gravity, the better it would be for her enjoyment of the journey.

The passageways wound through the ship in curved sections with hatchways spaced periodically through out the curving maze. Every passage seemed ultimately to return to the central common room, which they did, but the number of sub-passages could be confusing since they all looked the same at first glance. The clean lines of the ship were augmented by the high tech composite skin that made up the walls of the ship?s interior. They were all a pale silvery shade, and the doors were marked with small panels that responded to touch. Some were sealed, but most of the hatches remained unsealed given the occupants of the craft not requiring security from one another. Azjah showed Rena where the cockpit was, and two small viewing rooms in the wing sections where a person could go to watch the stars sail by in the obsidian sky, or find a private place to read. There was a storage room and the cargo bay, which was sealed, but that was due to the fact that the munitions were boxed and stowed there. For safety reasons Azjah had sealed the cargo area off from accidental entry.

She did not show Rena where Gabriel and Dominik were resting. These were their private spaces, and Azjah wasn?t certain how Rena would take seeing crates of earth instead of beds. Dominik?s door was beside Azjah?s own, and Gabriel?s was at the far end of the arc of the passageway. The Dragonseeker and the Carpathian?s habits were no secret, but that didn?t mean Azjah had to confront Rena with the reality. Rena knew that Gabriel was Carpathian, and that he lived on living blood, but Azjah had assured her that neither Gabriel nor Dominik would be dining on her blood during this trip. That left only one other source of living blood, but perhaps Rena wouldn?t ponder things along those lines on this trip.

Azjah paused at a door that appeared to be no different from the others they had opened, her hand hovering over the touch screen. ?I know Gabriel suggested that you and he get some practice with laser weapons on board during the flight. I hope it won?t be needed, but this is the room where you can safely practice.? She touched the screen and it illuminated with a pale bluish glow, reading her fingerprint and comparing it to the shipboard files before sliding open. This room was completely different from any of the others. The walls were a dark gray, almost a rubbery look to them as the lights came up slowly to take the room from near blackness to a twilight kind of intensity. There was no furniture of any kind in the room, no view ports either. Azjah led Rena toward the right and a cabinet slid toward them as they approached, and the lighting above the cabinet increased further to allow them to see the selection of weapons laid out inside the drawer in detail. ?All of these are locked on stun only to avoid damaging the coating on the walls. You can safely practice in here. There are targets in the next drawer down that can be set up to pop up, or be at a fixed distance for you.? Azjah?s fingers slid over the weapons where they lay in specialized pockets that held the weapons secure during flight. ?Gabriel is very good as an instructor. I practice with him myself.?

The next days passed in amiable discussion, and in sharing some of the beauty of space with Rena. They flew toward the constellation Cygnus first before they would make the next course correction that would take them to The Lizard as Lacerta was known. It was on the second twenty four hour segment that Azjah called Rena into the observation room on the left side of the ship, ?That is the Owl Nebula, to my mind, one of the prettiest deep space objects we will pass on our flight. I thought you might like to see it.? Azjah pointed out the bright point in the sky, ?it?s a 12th magnitude planetary nebula located in what most on RhyDin would call the constellation Ursa Major, but it?s over 1300 light years away from RhyDin.? Azjah studied the nebula a moment, ?if you like, I have a small portable telescope that I can set up in here. If you look closely, you can see the ?eyes? of the owl?s head in the nebula.? Azjah knew all of the constellations in that sector of space, and many hours had been spent peering through a telescope into the vastness of space. She hoped that Rena would enjoy the views.

Gabriel came looking for Azjah in the early hours of their fourth ?day?. He found her in her room catching a bit of sleep. His touch on the door activation panel brought the door sliding open with a quiet hiss, and Azjah was instantly awake. ?We have picked up a distress beacon Marchioness, but it does not feel right.?

Azjah · Date: 2008-01-08 16:17 EST

That had Azjah?s instant attention. If Gabriel didn?t feel right about it, it was almost a guarantee that something was horribly wrong with this distress beacon. She excused herself from Dominik and Rena as she passed quickly through the common room en route to the cockpit. Azjah did not want to alert either of them to the concern she felt in Gabriel, but somehow she knew Dominik would sense it. Hopefully he wouldn?t share that bit of information with Rena just yet. She would have to thank Dominik for spending so much time with Rena on this flight. He could talk about anything it seemed to Azjah, and he made for good traveling companion it seemed. His centuries of magical study should prove entertaining to Rena, who spent a fair amount of time around mages at the school, and on Twilight Isle.

As Azjah settled into the Left seat and Gabriel reseated himself in the Right seat, the distress beacon was relaying location and coordinates only for the vessel allegedly seeking assistance. But the beacon was notably failing to define the kind of emergency they were experiencing. She listened to the distress call as it repeated every few minutes, but the voice seemed off. Synthesized almost, which was not uncommon, but still, it had the small hairs on the nape of her neck standing up as she listened to the repetitive message. It wasn?t the contents of the message that had both of them on edge. She wondered if this was this it? Was this the nagging sense of unease that had plagued her for the entire trip? No answer presented itself as they listened to the message again.

Azjah debated responding, but failure to respond to an emergency beacon was not an option in her view either. ?Power up the weapons Gabriel,? she didn?t need to look at the Carpathian to know he understood that she agreed that this felt all wrong. The weapons had been on standby, power ready, but not armed. Now she wanted them armed and ready to fire. Rigelian?s as a race have some tendency for telepathy or empathy. It?s not a strong trait, but most have an innate ability to pick up empathically some things around them, and to pick up sensations rather than reading minds per se. Azjah is a mild telepath, and a mediocre empath. But right now, her intuition was shrieking at her.

She opened a hailing channel to match the distress beacon?s frequency, ?Lindamann, this is Star Dragon, please state your emergency.? She waited for a response, but none was forthcoming, which also did not surprise her. The distress information simply repeated and the open channel remained silent. She frowned at the radio. ?Vessel Lindamann, this is Star Dragon, please state your emergency. I repeat, please state your emergency.? Still nothing but silence greeted her hail.

?Make for the coordinates Gabriel, but keep your senses peeled for a set up.? The weapons were activated and double checked as she put out an alert to Dominik and Rena. They should be strapped in just in case this was a trap, and they had to make evasive maneuvers, or worse, took hostile fire. The Star Dragon banked toward the coordinates relayed in the distress beacon. They were less than half a day from Lacerta, and the Cephean?s had created several bands of raiders outlying the planet. She watched the screens rather than out the window because the sensors would pick up another ship sooner than her eyes would see it against the stellar background. A prickling sensation settled between her shoulder blades as they approached the coordinates.

Azjah · Date: 2008-01-08 16:20 EST

The distress signals indicated a point in the dark side of Lacerta 2, a small star in the Lacertian system. That location would put the Star Dragon out of radio contact with Lacerta Alpha and Azjah didn?t like that ?coincidence? one little bit. She sent a message to the Rigelian Commander on Lacerta. Their flight plan didn?t allow for this detour, but the alert to the forces on Lacerta Alpha would mean they?d be listening for them and if another ship was in the area, they would advise her away from the distress call.

No ship was immediately in the area, and they gave her clearance to deviate from her flight plan. They also launched a small craft to intercept, but they too were half a day away from reaching them. The forces on Lacerta were committed to maintaining a presence around the planet. She should have realized they would be on their own with this distress call.

Gabriel scanned the ship?s systems, and then he focused on the blackness of space. His Carpathian senses tuned to pick up on other intelligences more than anything else, but the vastness of space made his skills more limited than they were on solid ground. Concentration turned his usually harsh facial features into something more intense than stone. Azjah slid her glance away from him as she resumed her study of the instruments as they searched for the vessel declaring an emergency.

They slid behind the small star known to her as Lacerta 2, and the electromagnetic field around the star quickly cut them off from radio contact with Lacerta Alpha. Goose bumps rose on Azjah?s arms as they searched for the ship broadcasting the distress signal. They circled the coordinates in an ever growing spiral and found nothing. No ship showed on the sensors, and none could be seen through the forward viewing port. No debris indicated catastrophe either. She frowned as the distress beacon continued to play across the radio. ?We need to go; I don?t like this at all.? She glanced at Gabriel and he immediately changed the course of the ship back toward their original destination. The sooner they re-established radio contact with Lacerta Alpha, the better she would feel.

Just as they were about to clear the electromagnetic shell around Lacerta 2, the Star Dragon lurched and a stomach-turning grating screech rocketed throughout the ship. They?d been hit by something that had not exploded, and warning alarms went off immediately. Gabriel silenced the alarms, but the warning lights that blinked on in the cockpit remained lit or were flashing as they demanded attention. Their shield had been compromised, but the hull had not been damaged according to the sensors. Their speed had slowed somewhat since the impact, and the finely balanced craft listed distinctly now to the right. Gabriel could compensate easily enough, but something was upsetting the flight balance of the sleek craft. Propulsion was unaffected. Life support had not been disrupted either. She frowned. They hadn?t seen anything on the sensors. But, something had definitely hit them. Systems checks revealed only the initial damage to the shield system, and the incessant list to the right side that could be compensated for, but that they could not explain. Further investigation would have to wait until they landed.

The Star Dragon cleared the radio interference from the star?s electromagnetic field and she immediately advised the command post and the Duke of Sorwind of their lack of findings in terms of any ship requiring assistance. They also reported the impact incident, and the fact that all systems except the increased drag and listing to the right had been corrected. They were warned to make for Lacerta Alpha as quickly as possible. They were also advised to avoid the Capital city of New Festungsmauer. Gabriel lifted a brow hearing that directive, but remained otherwise silent. They hadn?t planned to land anywhere but the base in the arctic station, but still, the warning raised more questions than it answered. Azjah knew she would have to reach the Duke Sorwind via secure channels to find out what that was all about.

The next three flight hours were completely uneventful as they closed on Lacerta. The lack of activity was wholly out of character from the previous trips. In fact, the last three flights had been harrowing as they crossed into Lacertian space. Cephean war ships had fired on them repeatedly with the big main guns, but this time, clear space and silence greeted the passage of the Star Dragon. They had never been chased by the smaller Cephean attack craft, but they had been fired upon every time. Azjah?s nervous habit is to roll a pen over her fingers repeatedly, but since she didn?t have a pen readily at hand, she settled for tapping her finely manicured nails on the yoke of the ship as they drew closer to Lacerta.

Azjah · Date: 2008-01-08 16:25 EST

Gabriel glanced at her, simply saying, ?We will find out soon enough.?

She gave him a sardonic smile. ?Great. Just great.?

They settled into an approach orbit around Lacerta Alpha. The descending flight grew rough and began to toss the starship around as they entered the outer atmosphere in a steadily growing blaze of fire. Flares of super heated plasma leapt past the view ports, obliterating the blackness they had grown accustomed to seeing during the flight, as they slid into the oxygen rich atmosphere still traveling at 22,000 km/hr. They would use the thickening atmosphere to slow the ship as part of standard re-entry. Abruptly the ship rolled sharply to the right, nearly flipping the craft over completely. Gabriel hissed as he fought for control of the ship. This was the same direction they had been listing since the impact on the far side of Lacerta 2. White hot jets of plasma licked at the top side of the ship, which was not shielded for re-entry, nor for the 1500 degree Celsius temperatures. Another alarm sounded as the overhead hull overheated and Gabriel fought to right the ship.

The Arctic Circle loomed below them as they dropped to within fifteen kilometers of the ice and began lining up for the descent onto the frozen archipelago. They were dropping at a rate of 70 kilometers per second, much too quickly through the layers of atmosphere than they should have been falling. It was as though the ship was carrying excessive weight that had not been calibrated into the flight program, and Azjah bit her lower lip as she changed their trajectory to compensate for added weight she couldn?t explain, correcting their rate of descent to 50 kilometers per second.

They flew into the teeth of a snow storm, landing by instruments alone as the visibility was virtually zero due to the swirling ice and snow that was scouring the island. The craft touched down on the icy runway as Gabriel switched on the reverse thrusters and the ship decelerated sharply. He had to maintain a constant correction to the left as the right side of the ship dragged and tried to throw the ship off course. They quickly rolled to a stop in the icy white out conditions, and the snow flashed instantly to steam as it hit the super heated shields. The silvery vessel was surrounded in a cloud of steam and blowing snow, which made seeing out any of the view ports impossible. In this weather, the ship would ice quickly in the frigid temperatures combined with the snow storm, which could last for hours in this climate.

Azjah powered down the ship?s engines and suddenly froze as the engines went silent. Something was moving on the outer skin of the ship. Clanking noises like the sound of armored feet came rattling overhead. It was then that she saw black cables drop down over the rapidly icing nose of the ship, and Cephean?s swarming down the cables to reach the ground before any of the four of them could possibly do so. It looked like a jail break as the Cephean?s slithered down the ropes with weapons slung over their shoulders.

?Damn!? Azjah swore as she grabbed the comm., ?We?ve got intruders, armor up!? She shouted from the cockpit out to the common room. This was the source of her unease. Her most awful nightmares had come to pass. The Cephean?s had managed to land on Lacerta undetected by the fleet, and they did it on HER ship! This was only a small group scrambling for escape, but if they could gain access to the ground this way, there was no telling how many Cephean invaders were already here. And to make matters worse, she had brought them to the heart of their surveillance systems!

She grabbed the arctic jumpsuit that had hung inside the cockpit on the last day of flight, and slid into it with all haste, zippering up the front and folding the flaps over the zipper. Next came the arctic boots as she kicked off the flight shoes. Before she grabbed the gloves she?d require to go outside, she pulled two pulse weapons from her stash in the cockpit beneath her seat. There were four extra power packs charged and ready to load into the weapons. She pocketed those in the outer pockets of the jumpsuit. She pulled the fur lined hood over her head and pulled the sun goggles down to protect her eyes from the brilliant glare she knew would come if the snow stopped while they hunted the intruders before they could get away.

Gabriel had likewise donned his arctic gear. Even his Carpathian ability to regulate his body temperature could not compete with the temperatures here on St. Albans, which could drop to below minus 45 Celsius. His eyes were the soulless black of a man-eating shark as he slid the visor down over his face and prepared to give chase to the Cephean?s that had hitched a ride on our ship. He had one pulse gun that was powered up and ready to fire, and one blue laser weapon that he was removing the safety from as he exited the cockpit. His strides were silent but no less deadly for their intent as he met Dominik with a soundless nod.

Azjah · Date: 2008-01-08 16:27 EST

The Star Dragon?s exterior hatch slid open with a hiss of hydraulics, and the ramp dropped onto the snow and ice of the makeshift landing strip. A blast of frigid air whipped through the opening, stealing through even the arctic protection to send shivers down everyone?s spine as Gabriel and Dominik faded from the visible spectrum and vanished completely into the blowing white out conditions. Azjah heard the pulse gun fire twice somewhere in the whiteness and knew that two Cephean?s had gone down. She could not even begin to guess which direction the blast had come from as the wind howled around them and muffled even the crack of gun fire. But there was no doubt that the Cephean landing party was missing two of their group. Gabriel never missed.

She crouched now near the opening, peering into the wall of white, her own pulse gun aimed at the only entrance point the Cephean?s would have to board her ship, waiting for either an all clear from Gabriel, or an invader to appear on the ramp. She could sense Rena moving into a vantage point where she too could be hard to see, but still have a clear aim at the hatch. The two women waited, poised for the next moment on the brink of an adrenaline rush that only close quarters battle could inspire.

Before Azjah could glance toward Rena, all hell broke loose. Looming out of the snow came three Cephean?s storming up the ramp en masse, screaming in their barbaric language as they advanced. They raced up the ramp together after leaping sideways from a blind point beyond the hatch, intent upon capture of the star ship. All three of them had weapons drawn, but had not bothered to take careful aim before charging onto the ramp. Their abrupt appearance and the racket they were making was sufficient to wake the dead on four planets, but Azjah kept low and took careful aim on the first one.

Cephean?s are huge creatures that reminded Azjah of clothed Sasquatches. They are very tall, some of them going almost 2.2 meters in height. They are also very strong brutes with long hair that tended to remain ragged and ratty. Their language was guttural and harsh to the ear, with no soft consonants at all that she could make out. What they lack to go with those gigantic bodies are brains and sophistication. They would shred and destroy their enemies, and women and children would not be spared when they finally mounted their invasion of Lacerta. This race was only interested in conquest.

Azjah took aim on the first one and fired just as he cleared the hatch entry into the main ship. She?d aimed first for his legs, mid-thigh with the intention of breaking his femur, to drop him as an obstacle for the other two in an attempt to slow them down and bunch them up on the ramp. The second shot was aimed at his head, which struck him above the right eye. He collapsed in a gigantic heap on the thresh-hold of her ship. His two comrades paused for a briefest moment in stunned surprise, as Rena?s weapon fired nearly in harmony with Azjah?s third shot. They had expected their invasion of her ship to be easy pickings, and were shocked to find armed resistance from a private ship.

Dominik called out from somewhere in the howling wind beyond the hatch, ?Marchioness? Miss Rena?? She couldn?t be certain just where Dominik was based on his voice as the sirocco winds distorted sound and made conventional locating impossible. The blowing snow and howling wind played tricks with her ability to focus in on the sound of his voice, and she wondered if it had truly been Dominik, or just a trick of the wind.

Azjah yelled back into the storm that they were both alright, and the Dragonseeker solidified in the doorway caked in ice, his metallic green eyes sweeping over the three Cephean?s at his feet. ?Gabriel is hunting two others that have vanished into the storm; we should get you both inside the station.?

Azjah · Date: 2008-01-08 16:31 EST

Azjah stood up and glanced at Rena, ?leave your things for now; they?ll be retrieved once the last two have been found and it?s safe to return here.? Then she followed Dominik through the raging blizzard toward the safety of the small station. They reached the door and Azjah punched in the access code with fingers that shook with cold. It was too bitterly cold here to use finger or palm prints and she had to make use of an older technology. But since the station was meant to be camouflaged by the icy world, it had been an acceptable concession. The door hinges groaned before sliding open to admit them into the slightly warmer corridor, where at least the wind could no longer assail them.

The door slid closed and blocked out the screech of the wind and the stinging ice crystals that felt more like miniaturized razors. Azjah slid the fur lined hood off her head. Her teeth chattered from the chilblains they?d gotten on the run from the ship to the station. Then she shook the snow off her jumpsuit before pulling off the insulated gloves. ?Welcome to our home away from home Rena.? She gave her a sardonic smile as she picked up on a slight emotion flitting across Rena?s face. In that moment, she wondered if Rena had ever killed anyone before. She would keep an eye on Rena in case their skirmish began to gnaw on Rena?s conscience.

They walked down the white hall of the station toward the sound of other voices and the soft glow of computer screens. The entire station had been built deep into the glacial ice to minimize its surface profile, and the hall had a distinct downward slope to it as they entered the working area of the small nerve center. The lighting inside the station was kept very low, and there were four Rigelians seated in front of various screens; their faces showing the strain of long hours of evaluating data. They never looked up as the foursome made their way into the inner sanctum. The satellites above Lacerta were feeding back images of both the planet and the space around the planet. The blink of an eye could mean the difference between seeing the start of the attack and missing it. No one in the room wanted to miss the slightest nuance of what was happening over their heads.

Azjah paused near the closest screen, her pale blue eyes rapidly scanning the information displayed there before she spoke quietly to the male seated there. He spoke too softly for anyone but the Marchioness to hear in her native Rigelian, but his eyes never left the images on the screen before them. Then she motioned to Rena to follow, ?let?s get you settled in before we show you what we need your help to put some order to. I?d hate to put you right to work without a minute to collect yourself.? Azjah smiled and headed along another corridor that also sloped sharply downward, going even deeper into the ice sheet.

She led Rena off to the left, down another white hallway that did have a carpet runner to keep echoing footsteps down to a whisper of sound. The station was clearly erected in a short period of time, and was not destined to have a long life span based on the look of things. The fifth door on the right had Rena?s name on it as Azjah gently pushed the door open. ?This is yours; feel free to make yourself as comfortable as you can. I realize it?s not grand accommodations, but it?s home for the next couple of days.?

Azjah stepped back, ?I?m at the end of the hall on the left if you need me. I?ll be back for you in, say, 30 minutes?? She left Rena in her rooms and opened the door to her own small suite of rooms. They were entirely white; everything in the station was white in an effort to help camouflage the outpost as much as possible. The only concession to comfort was the carpeting, but that too was used to keep down the sound of footsteps incase the Cephean?s had homed in on the location and were listening for human activity in the icy wastes of St. Alban?s.

Azjah · Date: 2008-01-09 19:54 EST

Gabriel knocked gently on Azjah?s door moments after she had closed it, ?Marchioness??

She opened the door to find him standing there with her small bag from the ship. Snow and ice had stuck to his clothing and was just beginning to melt as he left a small group of puddles on the carpet before her glance reminded him to dry his clothing in the way of his people. He handed the small package to her before giving her the report on the last two Cephean?s. There had been 9 of them in all, and the grating sound they had heard had been the parasitic pod attaching to the hull of her ship. It was not a tactic the Cephean?s had ever used in the past as far as any of the records reported. Someone was coaching these barbarians. Whom?

He told her that it would take a break in the weather to remove the pod from the Star Dragon and to ascertain how the pod had penetrated the shields to accomplish its attachment to the ship?s exterior skin. The technology at work here was far beyond anything the Cepheans could have accomplished alone. Kendrick?s name flashed through her thoughts. Would he be so bold as to arm these brutes for an attack on one of the Kaiser?s colonies?

The appointed thirty minutes had flown by and Azjah pulled a heavy cashmere sweater over the silk blouse before going to see if Rena was ready. There was a lot of data to be organized and sent back to Lord Sorwind?s team. The sooner they began putting some order to the massive quantities of data, the sooner they could get Rena off this frozen rock. Today?s attack brought about a firm resolve to get all three of them clear of the impending invasion. She would not allow them to come back while Cephea threatened Lacerta. Today was simply too close for comfort.

Azjah took Rena into the control room once more and offered her a chair that faced the most modern computer system available anywhere. Three screens lit up as they sat down. ?This is the system we need your organizational skills for Rena. Every bit of data coming in from all of the satellites as well as the space craft Lord Sorwind has orbiting this planet is fed into the main data storage. What I need your help doing it putting sense to the logs, photos, images and reports that pertain to the Cepheans massing around Lacerta. We need to find a way to organize it so that the data is most useful.? She frowned as the screens flashed three primary kinds of feed to the systems. ?We have the photo images, the purely data feeds, and the listening systems. But there is so much information; we need to distil it into usable bits rather than massive quantities.? The computers were very advanced, but they could still not reason the way sentient brains could.

One of the technicians walked toward them, speaking in hushed whispers, ?Putting the information into consecutive days is not going to help, can you work the data into clusters based on the kinds of ships and the numbers supporting the main Cephean fleet, integrate the images and listening feeds with the hard data??

Azjah gave a quiet laugh, ?Rena, please meet Klaus, Klaus, this is Rena, and she is here to try to put order to all this chaos we?ve generated.? Klaus gave her a nod of greeting and switched to Common as he walked her through the systems and storage locations.

For the next several hours, the wind and snow howled outside the small facility. There was no chance of getting to the ship and receiving a really good look at the pod that had allowed their stowaways to land with them. Gabriel had warned that the station needed to be on alert. The pod was likely carrying a homing beacon, most ships did, but until they could get into the ship again, there would be no certainty. The temperature had dropped even further in the banshee winds, and so everyone remained inside, focused on their incoming data and images.

Azjah watched the satellite images with a slight frown. If that pod had a beacon, it would lead an attack right to the heart of the surveillance network. That dark specter hung over her as she sent off several communiqu?s under encryption that would be nearly impossible for anyone to crack; anyone but Kendrick that is. Again she frowned; if Kendrick was selling weapons technology to the Cepheans? That took her down a path she hadn?t wanted to contemplate, yet it continued to lift its ugly head as a possibility.

Azjah · Date: 2008-01-25 22:41 EST

Just as they had settled into sorting and organizing the colossal volume of information that had been gathered thus far, Andreas, the technician closest to where Azjah and Rena currently sat, abruptly yanked his headset off and bellowed out in a panic stricken tenor for everyone to take cover. We had incoming hostile fire. There was no time to head deeper into the station to seek cover. There was barely enough time to register his words as an earsplitting explosion rocked the small outpost. Alarms shrieked and chaos erupted around them as the previously hushed atmosphere exploded into ear splitting shrieks of metal as it was rent by the blast, and the station?s structures catastrophically collapsed around them. Bernhard, the most reserved technician in the station, had not even had sufficient time to turn toward Andreas when the station?s roof collapsed above him, sending a seven ton fragment toppling in to land on top of the man where he sat.

Gabriel grabbed Azjah unceremoniously, as Dominik reached for Rena with the same determined haste, and using their preternatural speed, the Carpathian and the Dragonseeker practically carried their charges into the deepest recess of the station. The shelter had been built into the ice at another level below the living area for just such an event as an attack on the station. They had hoped it would never be required, yet not to have given the technicians a shelter against the Cepheans would have been irresponsible. The three other technicians followed them into the deep ice as quickly as they could, but Gabriel and Dominik arrived minutes before the others came around the corner and into the safety this space might afford them from the ongoing assault at the surface.

The Cepheans had indeed had a homing beacon on that pod, and they had just landed a direct hit on the station. Two more explosions rocked the small set of buildings as Azjah and Rena sat in the shelter along with three of the technicians. They had all seen Bernhard die in the first explosion, and now they sat in stunned silence as the assault on the station turned the Spartan outpost into unrecognizable bits of debris above their heads. Power flickered and failed before the battery backup system kicked in for the small room. Emergency lighting illuminated the space sufficiently to navigate the room without tripping over others, but little more than that, but even in the dim light, the grim expressions on the other?s faces gnawed on Azjah?s conscience. She had brought the pod and beacon in, and that had drawn the Cephean attack. This was her doing.

Azjah studied Gabriel long, tense moments, ?we?re going to have to make a run for it. They?ll be landing shortly to finish us off and steal anything they can carry away with them.? She bit her lower lip hard enough to draw blood, which had both Gabriel and Dominik glancing sharply at her. ?Do you think they will blast the Star Dragon, or avoid it until they know what happened to their landing party?? If the ship was unflyable, they would have to make use of the small escape craft secreted away in the deep ice caves.

Dominik dissolved into a misty cloud and streamed out of the shelter as he made the connection between making a run for it, and the Marchioness? query. He returned several minutes later, and in hushed tones told her that the ship remained intact for the moment, and the pod was now visible since the wind had died down. They would have to move fast to get off the island before the next wave of Cepheans arrived, or another volley was launched if they sensed survivors remaining. He did not tell her that the station was utterly demolished. She would have already surmised that much, but the degree of destruction has shocked even the old Dragonseeker.

The acrid smell of melting metal and burning plastic reached the seven of them as they remained hidden deeply in the ice sheet of the island. Above them came muffled hisses and clunks as the burning or melted debris settled over their heads into the ice and snow. The big explosions that had rocked the station had stopped for the moment, but the remains would continue to settle as fire consumed anything flammable, and melting ice would soon flood the room where they remained out of sensor detection range. At least for the moment, no one would realize that they had survived the attack.

Their options were pitifully few, and Azjah quickly sorted through them. The Star Dragon could get seven people off the island, but could they get to the ship, remove the pod and its homing beacon, power up, de-ice and get off the ground before the Cephean?s homed in on them again? The answer to that was most likely ?no?. The moment they went to the surface, the Cephean?s who had attacked them would pick up life and movement here. Since they had already targeted them so successfully, the Star Dragon would readily be sacrificed by the Cepheans to keep them from escaping, yet the last thing Azjah wanted was for those same Cephean?s to get a hold of her personal ship.

The other option as she saw things was to make use of the fast escape craft. It was lightly armored and almost no armaments, but it was fast, and it would be unexpected. That would play in their favor. Perhaps, just perhaps, they could make a get away using it. She frowned to herself. That option meant leaving the Star Dragon behind.

Gabriel moved closer to her as another crash of laser fire rained down on the shattered remains of the station. These Cepheans seemed to enjoy destruction for the sake of destruction. Surely their sensors told them that little remained of the once hidden base by now? She took a step toward the entry way only to find the Carpathian blocking her path. ?We should remain here, without poking around above and let them convince themselves that no one survived. They cannot land undetected, and they are not ready for the full scale assault on Lacerta.?

Azjah · Date: 2008-01-29 19:23 EST

Azjah gave Gabriel a frustrated look as she peered past him toward the stairs that led back up to the surface. She hated sitting down here hiding, but it was the only logical thing they could do right now. The station was never outfit with weapons, it had been meant to remain hidden as long as possible and relied on the military above them to keep them safe. But that had obviously not worked. She sighed, ?How long before we can begin to make our way to the ice caves?? She was ready to go now, but Gabriel?s ability to discern the intentions of others was crucial for her to know before they dared to leave the safety of the shelter. She had made her decision; they would leave behind her beloved Star Dragon in favor of getting the survivors off the island. She owed it to the technicians to get them to safety first, and she was the only experienced pilot besides Gabriel, and she couldn?t see the Carpathian leaving her to fly the Star Dragon while she flew the emergency evac ship and separation was essential if they were to try to get both ships off the ice together.

?No Marchioness, I will not fly one ship if you are not aboard.? His black eyes held a spark she hadn?t seen in many long months. If the man were capable of any emotion, this one would be fury. He remained beside her while the Cephean?s pounded the place where the station had once stood. Smoke tainted every breath they took, but the ice and snow and wind kept the smoke from suffocating them where they remained hidden from detection. It was a waiting game now.

To Azjah, it felt like hours had passed, but she sensed it was more on the order of half an hour before the thundering laser strikes stopped raining down above them. Silence fell like a pall once things stopped falling down. They would have to make their moves to get to the ice caves and get airborne. Thankfully no one else was injured. That would have made an already dangerous situation even worse.

Gabriel motioned for everyone to remain where they were as he slowly faded from the visible spectrum to have a look above. The minutes ticked by in slow motion as Azjah inched her way closer to the stairs while Dominik kept a sharp eye on both she and Rena. Andreas, Klaus and Udo whispered together, all of them giving the stairs a worried look now and then. Gabriel walked back down the stairs, which was a good sign to Azjah. ?We must hurry. There is nothing to be saved from the station, and personal effects are lost in the mangled remains of the living areas. We go with what we have right now.?

Udo groaned hearing that. The technicians had brought personal effects since they lived here that were now lost. Azjah turned to the group, ?We cannot risk trying to de-ice the Star Dragon, but there is an escape ship hidden in the ice caves about 500 meters from here. We will make all haste to get into the caves undetected, from there I will fly you back to Trent, where I will see you housed while you decide whether you wish to stay or return to Rigel.? She wouldn?t require them to remain after what had just happened.

Azjah glanced at Gabriel, then spoke very softly, ?can we retrieve Bernhard?s body?? He simply gave a single negative shake of his head. Bernhard must remain here until the site could be excavated. Azjah pulled the white jacket closed. ?Stay close.? Then she headed up the stairs, into the mangled and shattered remains of the station. The devastation was complete, and the violence shocked even the Marchioness, but there was no time to pause and survey the damage now. She would return, and she would have vengeance.

Arctic winters have very short days, when they have daylight at all. The sun was dropping into the horizon as an orange glow spread around them. The skies took on the rich purple shade that presaged the appearance of a clear and starry sky rather than overcast and cloudy. Normally Azjah would have stopped to watch the setting sun, but not tonight. They made their way hastily across the frigid snowfield, toward the ice caves that only Gabriel and Dominik could see. No laser fire rained down on them; perhaps the Cepheans were not looking to see if anyone had survived.

Dominik whispered an incantation in Old Romanian, bringing a small crystal to glowing life as they raced into the overhang of the cave. The light was not bright, but it illuminated a small circle that allowed the others to see as they went deeper into the cavern. Night fell quickly in the arctic, and outside as now as dark as the inside of the caverns. Azjah led the way toward the small ship. It would be crowded, but small and fast was what they needed, not creature comforts.

A pang of guilt stabbed at her as she keyed the hatch open on the Belraj. She climbed the ladder and disappeared into the darkened ship, unerringly making her way to the cockpit with Gabriel right behind her. The others followed, and quickly strapped themselves in to the serviceable launch seats as Azjah began to power up the craft. Gabriel quickly surveyed the controls and began his usual checks in preparation for emergency launch. The hatch was closed and Azjah gave the controls one last visual before easing the engine power up enough to navigate out of the caves. Once free of the caves, she would send the ship into an acceleration that could potentially cause the technicians to lose consciousness, but better that they blacked out than to be caught in Cephean fire.

Azjah · Date: 2008-01-29 19:27 EST

A blanket of obsidian was littered with brilliant white stars as the Northern Lights chased ribbons of ever changing color across the night when the Belraj exploded out of the icy cave where she had been stored. The flight path took them away from the remains of the station, and Azjah said a quick prayer to what ever deity might be listening that her beloved Star Dragon would be salvageable. Udo had indeed blacked out during the escape velocity forces, but he was coming around, and Dominik looked after him as they made their way toward the continent of Tavar.

No Cephean fire impeded their progress, and as they approached the coastline, Azjah sent an encrypted message to the Duke of Sorwind. The satellite monitoring would have to switch to the secondary post quickly. Within minutes of sending the message, two Rigelian fighters ghosted out of the darkness to flank the Belraj on its approach into Trent. They were cleared to land on runway 26 South, and they corrected their course to land in the militarily controlled sector of the airport. The two fighters remained off either wing tip as Azjah descended toward the runway. As they dropped below 500 meters, the fighters peeled off and rose swiftly to vanish into the blackness.

Gabriel taxied the craft toward the directed markers as military transport surrounded the small ship. The flight engines were shut down and Azjah took a deep breath. Exiting the lead vehicle was the Duke himself. It was going to be a very long night.

She opened the hatch and descended the ladder to stand on the ground and await the Duke. They were on tenuous footing here as technically the Duke should outrank her, but the fact that she was a Marcher put her on an even footing. And her family had held titles far longer than his. Would he yield, or would she?

The Duke approached in very business like fashion before briskly going to attention, clicking his boot heels together and bowing formally to her. ?Marchioness, we are pleased you have been able to escape the attack on the station. You will come with me now for debriefing; the others will go with Viscount Breuning.?

Azjah gave him a brief nod, ?Gabriel and I will join you.? She glanced at Dominik and Rena before once again meeting the Duke?s eyes.

The Duke lifted a brow at the big Carpathian, but offered no objection as he opened the door for them both. Once inside, he removed his hat and regarded the pair. ?We have been seeing more and more of these parasitic pods arriving on inbound ships. I could not warn you over the general air waves. I am sorry you lost Bernhard, and your ship.?

Azjah gave him a cold look, ?You could have sent encrypted word to me.?

He shook his head. ?No, they have found a way to break the encryption we use. Someone has sold them not only advanced technology, but they?ve sold them OUR technology.?

?Kendrick.? Azjah?s blood froze in her veins. It had to be. Gabriel remained silent, but she saw flashes of his intentions via their bond.

After giving the details of the attack, and how the Cephean?s gained access to the island, Azjah told the Duke that she needed to return to St. Albans. If she could save the Star Dragon, she intended to do just that. The Duke shook his head. ?No, you cannot return to the archipelago, but I will send my people to check on your ship. If it can be flown, I will have it returned here to you.?

She frowned, but civilians simply couldn?t interfere when the military assumed command. They were driven to Azjah?s home in Stafford on Tyne, approximately 80 kilometers from Trent on Hillside, where Rena, Dominik, Gabriel and Azjah would cool their heels to await word on the Star Dragon.

The next morning, Azjah checked her messages. The Duke had made good on his promise. Her ship was going to be flown today off the island. She would be allowed to retrieve it by sunset. The Cephean pod would remain with the military for evaluation and analysis. They were welcome to the thing as far as she was concerned.

Azjah · Date: 2008-01-29 19:29 EST

The day passed too slowly to suit Azjah, but she took Rena out to show her around Stafford on Tyne. The small city was fashioned after an old English town, and had the quaint feeling of a country manor. Even the threat of invasion had not killed all of the local businesses, and the two spent several hours in the market district. Azjah found a small shop that sold the rare dates from the edge of the desert, and she bought enough to provide a rare treat for Rena and to take back to Andre. The chef would enjoy the seasonal fruit even more than Azjah did.

The trip back to Trent on Hillside seemed to take forever. She wondered how much damage had been done to her ship, and how significant the repairs would be. But the craft had been flown rather than hauled, and that much was promising. They paused at the security gate and she handed over her identification, and Gabriel had simply faded from the visible spectrum, allowing the guard to see only the Marchioness. As she drove through the gates toward the indicated hangar, she saw the Duke awaiting her arrival.

?There is minimal damage to the outer skin, Marchioness. The pod used non-invasive methods to attach itself. You are fortunate.? His glacial blue eyes swept over the sleek craft as they walked around the outside of the ship. ?Your onboard guns have been re-charged. I took the liberty since you have an off world guest that I presume you will want to return.? He had his fingers laced together behind him as they walked and studied the condition of the Star Dragon.

Azjah was satisfied that her ship was ready to fly and she thanked the Duke for returning it to her so promptly. They would be on the morning flight window and back in RhyDin. She had much to consider during the upcoming flight home.

Azjah · Date: 2008-11-12 13:58 EST

The Duke had done his part. The tracking system had been modified to allow surveillance of The Star Dragon, and in a frequency that would almost certainly not be scanned for such purposes.

He then set about making arrangements to upgrade the back up location. They needed that satellite surveillance functional. Tensions were reaching the breaking point, and the Cepheans would come in any time. Greed was a powerful motivator, and they wanted the resources of this world.

Could they hold them off long enough for the Marchioness to bring in the resources they needed? He hoped so.

Azjah · Date: 2009-01-12 18:37 EST

The Commander, the Duke of Sorvind, leaned back in his chair to consider the Marchioness? words. If the Cepheans were already on the ground, where would they most likely go? He peered up at a global map for some time before summoning several other ranking officers.

For several hours they studied the maps and assigned most probable locations for covering and hiding a force already on the ground. They had limited time and resources to scan those areas for signs of the invaders, and the Commander frowned. What if they were wrong? What if he had not guessed correctly? If he were doing the invading, these were the places he would secret troops, but he did not know if the Cepheans thought as he did. The brutes were just as likely to be flagrant about themselves and not worry about hiding.

The main land masses were the most probable location to hide invasion forces. Aikkon, Meson, Tavar, Danikos and Istania. The seven island archipelagos inhabit the seas above the 50th parallel, and 12 smaller island chains inhabit the southern oceans, but they were actually too far removed to make good bases for launching ground assault which would be the reason to have risked putting forces on the ground rather than waiting in space for the actual invasion.

The Riphean Mountains on Aikkon would put them in the center of the continent, which would allow them to go either direction and still find major cities within easy striking distance. The Olana desert was too harsh to keep troops hidden for long; he studied the region and dismissed it again. The Sand Asps were usually a big deterrent for even native Lecertians to head into the Olana.

Tavar was the next most probable landmass of consideration. It is the largest area, but due to the fact that it covers 11 time zones meant that getting troops where you wanted them could prove a time constraint. But, Trent-On-Hillside as the capital of Tavar would be a tempting target. But the rolling hills that surround the capital city would not do much in terms of hiding invaders. They could conceivably hide in the mountains around Mount Olympion. The Spine of the World attracted a lot of tourists and visitors though, and he frowned. Could they vanish into the surrounding mountains well enough to avoid being seen?

Danikos was probably the primary reason for the Cephean invasion. The mineralogical composition of that rugged continent was worth a fortune to anyone willing to destroy the environment and rape the land to bring the vast resources here to the surface. The landscape was rugged and inhospitable, but if he were going to launch a ground assault, he would want to secure the primary objective, and it was probably Danikos.

He frowned as he studied Meson. Their staunch refusal to allow any technology on their land would make it extremely difficult to know what was going on there. The Cepheans certainly could hide troops there, but to what advantage? None that he could think of; but that did not mean he was right.

Next he scanned the main island systems. St. Albans had been thoroughly destroyed weeks ago when the Cepheans had managed to land a small force attached to the Marchioness? vessel. There were ice caves there, but as a polar region and far flung from the main land masses, it did not make a great deal of sense for them to land there. The only exception being that they knew that island system better than anywhere else. It was in short reach of Tavar if they had managed to get fast transport onto the ground without them seeing it. He narrowed his eyes at St. Albans, then moved it up in the priority list.

The other island chains were dismissed for various reasons, and he was left with 14 likely locations to begin their search for a ground party of Cepheans. Could they get through their sweeps before all Hell broke loose? They would have to try. He tapped the communicator on his desk as his secretary responded, ?Send this list to the Marchioness, advise her that we will begin in these areas with our sweep. Any extra help she could send our way would be appreciated.? Cailla nodded as she entered the message as he dictated it.

The Duke paused, ?And Cailla, set this for deep space, the Marchioness is not on Rigel at the moment.? He ended the transmission and steepled his fingers before him. ?Even mercenary help would be useful right now.? He was willing to submit the settlers to technology despite their wishes to remain ?simple? in their lifestyles. The choice was rapidly boiling down to bring in the technology and destroy their simple lives, or let Cephea have Lacerta, and see the inhabitants slain or sold into slavery. Personally, he would prefer bringing in the technology.

Azjah · Date: 2009-01-19 13:23 EST

Azjah considered her discussions with Hex. The Emperor had troops engaged on other fronts, and Lacerta was her responsibility to protect. She had read the reports on the blockade, and she had read the dossier that the machine had provided on his group of mercenaries. She tapped the keys on the microcomputer. She decided it was time to see if Hex could deliver.

She sent the Duke of Sorvind the encoded files.

Your Grace,
Enclosed are the most recent surveys for the blockade by Cephea and the Cih. Satellite intelligence has identified 14 capital ships; there appear to be three Ralarrad class ships that most likely belong to the Cih. They are heavily armed with at least 1 tachyon turret and 6-7 heavy laser turrets. The fighter escorts for these three appears to be fairly minimal.

Protecting the Cih capital ships appear to be 2 Vaktoth heavy fighters per Ralarrad. We have only seen 6 Vaktoth in total. The fighters are formidable, expect plasma cannon, ion cannon, 1 tachyon cannon, and 2 meson blasters per Vaktoth. They are very good dog fighting fighters, do not underestimate them, they have jump capabilities.

The Cih are minimally represented here, but they are undoubtedly the brains behind the blockade.

The Cepheans are the bulk of the flight. They have cobbled together an assortment of spacecraft, and it is unknown whether any have been modified beyond initial specifications.

The Cephean capital ships have been identified as one Southampton class. It should carry an Anti-matter turret, and 8 heavy laser turrets. This is a fast and very agile vessel. I would expect the Cephean commander to be aboard this one.

The majority of the capital ships are Clarkson class. Minimally armed with 2 heavy laser turrets. Suspect the invasion fleet is being transported in these. The fighters are clustered protectively around these ships, so probability is that they have not been upgraded with improved armament.

There are 18 Ferret class fighters escorting the Clarkson class vessels. They are lightly armed and shielded. Should only carry 2 mass driver weapons, and missiles. No super Ferrets have been detected. But several of these may have jump engines.

2 Arrows have been seen, likely Cih, but cannot confirm. These light fighters appear to run between the Cih vessels and the Cephean. They are hard to spot and are extremely fast. Expect laser and ion cannon in these fighters.

There is 1 Hellcat in the mix. It flies with the Arrows, and is reputedly the handpicked ace of the Cephean contingent. It is armed with 2 neutron guns, 2 ion cannons, and missile weapons. While it?s not jump capable, its fast and hits hard.

There are 6 Demon class fighters. They fly rear guard on the Clarkson capital ships. They are normally equipped with 2 laser cannons, and 2 meson blasters. They do not have jump capability, but they are very fast and agile. Depending on their missile loads, they could take out smaller capital ships.

The biggest worries are the 22 Gothri fighters. They are heavy fighters with 2 particle cannons, 2 mass driver cannon, 2 laser cannon, and missiles. They are fabulous raider type fighters, and do not appear to be engaged in protection of the capital ships. They are likely the fleet that will initiate battle when we send defenders into Lacertian space.

I have also included a dossier on a team of mercenaries that I met in RhyDin. Since we are on our own for defending Lacerta, I believe now is the time to employ Hex and his Iron Dragons. They need the employment, and we need the extra firepower. Please contact him at this location. Tell him that you are acting on my behalf. With any luck, Hex will be able to respond with timing for their ability to join us. Lacerta will have to pay the fees for the Iron Dragons, but that will be better than dying.

Confirm receipt, and when you have it, Hex?s reply.

The message was signed, ?Azjah Telyria Danaan, Marchioness von Triberg?

HX-909-A · Date: 2009-01-20 17:52 EST

((OOC Note: This post is cross-posted from here.))

Outgoing encoded message:
FROM: The Duke of Sorvind, Rigelian Colony on Lacerta
TO: Commisar HX-909-A, Iron Dragons Platform One
~Hex, I am sending greetings on behalf of the Marchioness von Triberg. You may know her as Lady Azjah Danaan in RhyDin. She has requested that I seek your services for the defense of Lacerta. Please review the attached dossier on the Cepheans and advise your status.~
~At your service, Alexandre, Duke of Sorvind.~

Hex looked over the screen and the communication from the Duke, quickly reviewing the attached data and considering. So this was the force the Marchioness had spoken of? Indulging in what amounted to a mental shrug, the machine used the comms relay to send a reply, with an attached carrier invitation for live transmission.
"Duke Alexandre, the Iron Dragons are currently available for active service. If you are able, please respond with real-time communications so we may discuss the particulars."

Alexandre was just about to leave when the system indicated the incoming message, and the invitation, he opened the channel. "I was not expecting you to be immediately available. Greetings to you from the Marchioness."

"Greetings Your Grace. As you should know, I am Commisar Hex, of the Iron Dragons. My forces have recently completed a contract campaign, so I was aboard our station when your message arrived. I thought it prudent to respond quickly." Hex's hands folded on the desk it sat behind, humanoid features calm and expressionless, "Now, how may the Iron Dragons be of service to Lacerta?"

"Commisar, your expeditious reply may prove truly life saving. As you can see from the file, the Cepheans have effectively surrounded the colonial world of Lacerta. We are uncertain when they plan their invasion and landing, but the build up has been ongoing for 3 weeks now. The Marchioness does not have equivalent support to fend off this assembly. She has requested that I seek your support to defend her marches."

Hex nodded to the man on the other side of the screen, "I have reviewed the data you sent, and while formiddable, I am confident that our naval forces can breach the blockade."
Now Hex paused for a moment, "I must however bring up a related matter. I will need to know in advance the specifics of our employment. What is our stated mission to be?"

"The Marchioness can field 10 fighters and 4 capital ships with 3 destroyer class ships. Our contract with your contingent would be the breaking of the blockade by any means. You would be authorized to harass, drive off, or eradicate the Cephean and Cih forces in orbit, or on the ground. I am the commanding officer for Lacerta. I would expect coordination of efforts to minimize losses for both the Marchioness' contingent as well as your own. The final decision however, in the event of descrepant actions would have to come from the Marchioness. Your fees are acceptable to Her Grace. Does that adequately provide you an answer?"

"In part, yes. Our primary objective is the removal of the Cephean blockade. Are we going to be tasked with eliminating any ground forces?"

"According to the intelligence obtained by Her Grace, there are troops landed on Lacerta. Currently we are trying to locate where they may be hiding. For time contraints, we have identified 10 likely hiding places, but Her Grace could not provide information on the size of the landing party, nor the location. Most curiously, she obtained her information from a Cih."

Hex shook it's head, while the information was interesting in itself, it hadn't quite answered the question. "My apologies Your Grace. I will need to know in advance if our contract is to include the engagement and elimination of any ground forces, or are we simply to eliminate the blockade?"

Alexandre considered. "Commisar, plan for a ground assault by the Cepheans, and that means you should consider that part of the contract. Lacerta is a very low technology world. They could not defeat the Cephean/Cih invaders. Your contract is the eradication or removal of the invaders."

Now at last Hex nodded, "Understood. The contract details are then this: We are to use whatever forces necessary to remove all enemy presence from the colony world. Contract duration is unknown, and will extend until all objectives have been reached." Canting it's head slightly, "Is this accurate?"

Alexandre gave him a wry smile. "Your contract is with Her Grace, and she allows great latitude. She informed me that you had the experience to deal with our invaders. If Her Grace trusts you, I will support you as needed. We will seek the location of the ground forces already here. Yes, duration is unknown based on how long it takes us to remove the Cepheans. Yes, you may use whatever means neccessary to remove all of the invaders."

Hex nodded again at the confirmation. "My apologies for repeating myself. I use several factors when determining our fees, the first is specific objectives, the second is contract duration, and the final is expected enemy forces. You had already provided data on the third. Now that I have all the required information, I can reach a price, one moment." For show, the machine made the motions of typing into a console, but in reality it already had the figures. "Your Grace, our fee for this contract will be three million credits. Is this acceptable?"

Alexandre nodded. "I am authorized to meet your fee structure. I presume that you require some of these credits in advance?"

"Yes. Our standard is ten percent in advance."

"Where do you desire the first installment?"

Typing out another command into it's console, "I am transmitting routing instructions now. You may deposit the payment at your leisure. Do you wish to co-ordinate our initial strike?"

When the information arrived, Alexandre immediately transferred 15% as good faith before looking once again at Hex's image. "The initial strike will be determined by your availability. How soon can you be in Lacertian space?"

Hex turned to another screen, out of the camera's field of view. Frowning slightly as it pulled up the navigation data Azjah had already given it. Looking back to the screen, Hex shook it's head, "I'm afraid there are no readily direct routes to your realm of space. It will take us approximately two days to reach your system."

"I will advise the Marchioness' forces to expect you. Two days hence. We will continue our efforts to locate this ground force she believes is here."

Hex nodded and was alread issuing orders electronicly. Elsewhere on the ID orbital platform, soldiers were already scrambling to prepare supplies and ships for launch. "Your Grace. Good luck."

The Duke nodded in response, "We look forward to your arrival."

Hex made a half-bow from it's seat, then closed the connection. There were a lot of preparations to be done, and not much time.

Azjah · Date: 2009-01-25 13:28 EST

Alexandre ended the communications link on his end as well, leaning back to consider. The idea of having the machine for support in this was a little strange. Lacerta had gone to extraordinary lengths to get away from mechanization and technology, and yet, the Marchioness had chosen these mercenaries for a reason.

The Duke of Sorvind would follow orders, especially now that she was not reachable, and somewhere in the Nu Ceti system. It was his show now, and he intended to come out the victor.

Payment in the amount of 15% of the agreed price had already been accomplished, but he needed to set up a payment schedule, just in case. His secretary established a biweekly payment of 10% until paid, unless they could drive the Cepheans away before then.

Next he summoned the Viscount responsible for the hunt for the land based Cepheans that allegedly were somewhere on Lacerta.

"Report?"

The Viscount gave a smart salute before beginning, "We have carefully surveyed 4 of the first locations. The archipelago of St. Albans has the satellite personnel and unless they have killed the Cepheans, there looks like a landing force is hiding in the ice caves on St. Albans. So far, they are leaving the technical crew alone, but we should evacuate them before something happens. A larger contingent appears to be hiding in the mountains surrounding Olympion. They will be the hardest to find, and the hardest to determine their numbers. The other two locations have not yielded any hint of presence. We are continuing to search the other sites now Your Grace."

Alexandre nodded, "You have that information encoded for me?"

The Viscount handed him a chip.

"You are dismissed." Alexandre waited for him to leave before sitting down at his computer and sending the Commandant of the Iron Dragon's the information they had.

Azjah · Date: 2009-02-14 15:50 EST

Hex's humanoid frame sat in the command chair of the IDCr Defiance, the current flagship of the Iron Dragons fleet. They were about to make the final dimensional crossing into the realm where Lacerta lay. Their scouts had already reported that Daedalus FTL systems would operate in that universe, so they should have an upper hand on the hyperspace-reliant local forces. "Viola, please open a comm line to the Duke Alexandre of Lacerta." The woman nodded and started the FTL comm link.

Alexandre had reviewed the latest intelligence on the suspected forces already on Lacerta. The colony planet orbited around Lacertae alpha. A spectral type A2 V star with 8 planets around it. The namesake planet has 3 moons. He frowned as he pictured the stars that form the constellation known as the Lizard. They were between Cassiopeia and Cygnus and Cephea. They were the Rigelian Marches with two hostile neighbors. The Cepheans and the Cih were not good neighbors. That much was proven with their ships orbiting Lacerta alpha in an every tightening blockade.

Alexandre was still frowning, and when the comm link flashed an incoming signal, his expression did not change. Reaching for the console, he opened the channel.

On Hex's side, the incoming visual feed was transformed into a hologram of whatever the camera on the Duke's side saw. Hex stood and sketched a quick bow, "Duke Alexandre. How are events on Lacerta?"

?Commissar Hex, your timing is impeccable. I was just reviewing the latest information on our unwelcome landing forces." The camera showed a central control type room with computer systems and display monitors manned by approximately 15 people.

The outgoing feed was focused on Hex, if holograms then it would just be Hex, if standard visuals then a few control stations behind the machine on the bridge. "I see; what have you learned about the ground forces?"

"Right now we know of 4 pods of Cepheans on the ground. Best estimates put their numbers around 28-32K." He shook his head as though he could not believe the numbers. "They will be very hard to root out of those mountains."

Hex frowned as it heard the numbers. At that strength, the Iron Dragons ground troops would be outnumbered almost two to one. Their only chance was air-superiority and to out-tech and out-gun the Cepheans. "Understood. I need to know something before we make out jump. Are we authorized to make any bombardment of the area? Either aerial or orbital strikes?"

Alexandre canted his head at the Commissar. "The mountains are not heavily populated by Lacertians, I am assuming you mean to make use of aerial strikes at the pods of Cepheans? If so, I would need to know where you planned to hit them. Too close to population centers would be undesirable. These people came here to avoid technology Commissar. Friendly fire deaths would be difficult to manage here." He glanced at the information again, then back at the camera, "We have the ability to field 15K from the experienced Rigelian forces on the ground. And there are reinforcements coming."

Alexandre gave a dubious look at Hex, ?There are also another 8,000 Lacertians, but they have no experience and are volunteers.?

Hex nodded and sat down at the command station. "Our orbital weapons are accurate to within one hundred meters, and our airstrikes can be accurate to within one meter. If you allow, my intention is to thin their numbers with an initial surgical strike."

"I concur if you have that kind of accuracy. It will make cleaning up the stragglers more efficient rather than a full scale assault on the mountains." Such an assault could result in heavy casualties.

?That was the hope. At their current strength, the Cepheans outnumber our forces by an unacceptable margin. I want to even the field before we engage. I expect that our attack on their orbital forces may force their hand Your Grace, please have your defense forces ready to delay or repel their initial attack."

Alexandre nodded ?We have been preparing for your arrival and we are ready. The Cih are the ones you need to be most observant of because they have the better technology. The Cepheans are the numbers and the brute force.?

Turning and nodding to something off-screen, "We will be arriving in your star system in four hours. We will arrive on the outer edges of the system, to make final assault preparations. Our initial attack will depend on weather they detect our arrival that far out. Do you know if either enemy has FTL sensor technologies?"

?Their technology has improved significantly, but we have been getting vessels in and out under their noses. I would say it is improbable that they have FTL sensors on any of the ships.? Nothing so far indicated that the Cih had FTL, but that could change at any moment.

Now Hex smiled and nodded, "That will improve our element of surprise. Expect us to attack in five hours. If you have any space forces, match your attack with ours. I am transmitting our planned attack vector from behind the second moon."

We will have our forces divided into three groups near each moon. Transmit your information and we will be waiting.

"Transmitting now. Good luck to us all." Hex saluted, then closed the connection.

The screen blanked and Alexandre rose. It was time to take positive steps toward defending Lacerta, and stop waiting for their first move.

HX-909-A · Date: 2009-02-18 00:15 EST

((OOC Note: This part of the SL is cross-posted HERE and HERE.))

In the outer ends of the Lacerta star system, in near orbit around one of the system's gas giants, the Iron Dragons fleet exited the Daedalus Transit Corridor back into 3-space. Two of the other battle groups were already waiting when the Defiance emerged from the corridor, the glowing tunnel soon collapsing with a ripple of disturbed spacetime behind the cruiser.

"Tactical, constant grav-scan of the system until the other three battle groups rejoin us." Hex looked over it's own readouts at the same time as it issued the order, the tactical officer nodded and busied himself with his console.

"Shipwide," A pause as the comm system through the whole ship went active before Hex continued, "Attention all personell. We have arrived in the Lacerta system on schedule. All crew to ready stations while we wait for the other battle groups to arrive from transit." The comm line closed and Hex pulled up the datafeed from tactical, showing the ship's sensor readouts.

The ID fleet was 'behind' one of the gas giants, in relation to Lacerta itself. It was unlikely that the Cephean/Cih fleet had detected their arrival unless they too had gravitic mass sensors. Those same sensors even now allowed the ID ships to detect the comparitively tiny gravity fields exerted by the masses of the enemy ships. Those miniscule fluxuations in the planet's gravity that indicated masses in orbit traveled seemingly instantly across the entire distance between Lacerta and the ID fleet.

Over the next five minutes, the Defiance and the other ships of the ID fleet observed the movements of the enemy ships, and nothing in those movements indicated that the Cepheans or Cih had detected the newcomers. In that same five minutes, the remaining battlegroups had emerged from their seperate transit corridors and come alongside the rest.

Back on the Defiance's bridge, Hex again opened the comm, this time throughout the entire fleet. "Attention all personell, this is Defiance actual. So far the enemy forces have not detected us, so we will begin the attack as initially planned. Set condition one through all ships. All hands to battle stations. Prepare all strike craft for combat launch on command. All weapon systems are to be charged and ready. The attack begins in fourty five minutes. Defiance actual out."

Throughout the Defiance and all the other ships of the fleet, bulkheads and blast doors were being sealed in anticipation of hull breaches; damage teams were being distributed; strike craft were fueled, armed, and loaded into launch bays; weapons were charged and loaded with munitions... All the preparations of a fleet of warships to perform the duties for which they had been built and assembled.

In fourty-five minutes, a new kind of hell would be unleashed on the currently unsuspecting Cephean/Cih blockade.

Azjah · Date: 2009-02-20 20:02 EST

Alexandre studied what was available to him; he had 1 heavy cruiser, three light cruisers, and ten destroyers that doubled as transports. The fighters to protect them numbered 55 fighters. The Duke shook his head; the Cephean?s were coming with far more than the 15,000 troops he could muster. Commandant Hex was going to be needed once this began.

He would take an Arrow to the heavy cruiser. He needed to be in space for this. He couldn?t command from the ground, and the ?Lorasy? was the largest capital ship available. He pursed his lips, the ?Lorasy? was the smallest capital ship in the Rigelian arsenal that was really capable of offense. But Lacerta never needed the really big ships, no one had ever paid the colonial world any attention until now.

Alexandre chose the ?Lorasy? because it is especially well shielded and armored for its size, and he could take advantage of the antimatter guns and the heavy lasers during the battle that was to come. He decided to put the ?Lorasy? into orbit around Tanlere, the largest of the Lacertian moons. He would keep the two arrow class fighters and 8 of the Gothri fighters around the ?Lorasy.? He also assigned 4 of the light bombers to his own group.

Two of the Ralarrad class ships he decided to send off to Denilu, the smallest moon. Experienced officers who had come to Lacerta to retire two years ago captained the ?Lercer? and the ?Keryl?. Alexandre knew them well, and wanted them at his flank for this upcoming battle. Their ships were the lighter, more maneuverable multipurpose destroyers. With 5 of the Destroyer transports for back up, they would be formidable against anything the Cih could field. Their missile strike capabilities would make them valuable against the Cih capital ships.

He looked over the smaller fighter compliment, and sent 3 Vaktoth class and 10 Ferrets as fighter support for the ?Lercer? and ?Keryl?. Since he was going to assign most of the heavy fighters to the last team, he decided to send the one Hellcat with this group.

That left him with 1 more Ralarrad, the ?Streyl? that would have 5 destroyers at her back. They would lay in wait around Tesyr, the outermost moon of Lacerta. There with the ?Streyl? would be the remaining fighters and bombers. 3 Vaktoth class, 6 light bombers, 4 Ferrets and 14 Gothri fighters to support the one small capital ship furthest away from the main assault forces.

Alexandre left the surface and headed for the Lorasy. Once aboard her, he opened a communication link with Commandant Hex. ?Commandant, we have put our fleet into place. Our positions are encoded here, and you have IFF transponder frequencies for our ships. You will know friend from foe. We will focus on the Cih ships initially. Our attack will begin when you make your presence known. Until then, we will simply remain on hold around Lacerta?s moons.? He studied the image of the machine a moment, ?Commandant Hex, we have 15,000 good people here that are ready when you are.?

HX-909-A · Date: 2009-02-21 05:06 EST

((OOC Note: This part of the SL is cross-posted HERE and HERE.))

?Commandant, we have put our fleet into place. Our positions are encoded here, and you have IFF transponder frequencies for our ships. You will know friend from foe. We will focus on the Cih ships initially. Our attack will begin when you make your presence known. Until then, we will simply remain on hold around Lacerta?s moons.? He studied the image of the machine a moment, ?Commandant Hex, we have 15,000 good people here that are ready when you are.?

Hex simply nodded to the image of the Duke, glancing once at another display showing the locations and arrangements of the Cephean vessels. "Your Grace, it appears that the Cepheans have detected your vessels moving to the third moon. Two of the light cruisers, as well as six Vaktoth and the two Arrows are vectoring for an intercept. I suggest you deploy your forces immediately. If you can draw the remaining fighter escorts off the remaining capitol ships, we will have a clear line of fire to destroy them."
"I am deploying my forces, and we will arrive on the battlefield in two minutes. At current speed, the enemy ships will reach your forces in orbit of the third moon in five minutes." The machine commander was already issuing orders even as it spoke to the Duke, "The moment our ships arrive, we will launch strike craft to engage the enemy fighters, while our capital ships engage theirs. Best of luck to all of us, Hex out."

At the same time Hex had been talking to the Duke, it was opening a fleetwide channel and using electronic communications to speak to the ID fleet. #Attention all personell. All craft are to immediately Transit for high orbit around Lacerta! Use pre-designated coordinates for exit vectors. All strike craft are to launch on re-entry to three space, and all weapons batteries are weapons free as of this moment. Iron Dragons, move out and engage!#

Moving almost in unison, one hundred eight ships split into six battle groups turned towards the distant world of Lacerta. As before, the Daedalus systems bored a tunnel through higher dimensional geometries. This time however each vessel travelled through it's own corridor, since the transit deviation was negligable over such a short distance. Total transit time would be a mere one hundred twenty seconds, two full minutes.

The forces of the combined Cephean and Cih fleet had been focused in stationary orbit over the largest city of Lacerta, the better to intercept any ships bound for the starport found there. When the Cih sensors had detected the movement of the 'Streyl', two of the light cruisers were dispatched to investigate. Along with them flew the two 'Arrow' interceptors and the six 'Vaktoth' Light Bombers, these fighters would deal with the five destroyers the 'Streyl' had as escort, while the two cruisers focused on sinking the 'Streyl' herself.

Due to the lack of short-range FTL systems, both Cih and Cephean ships were forces to move at sublight speeds towards the third moon. It would be five minutes before the enemy ships closed to weapons range with the Lacertan task force. The mission was counted a success even before combat had been engaged. Unfortunately for the invaders, their commanders did not know that even now the Iron Dragons were travelling through Daedalus Transit Corridors to bring death to them all.

~~Cephean Fleet, Two Minutes Later~~

The two cruisers dispatched to sink the 'Streyl' were halfway to their target when the sensor distortion was detected, an unusual gravitaitonal distortion approximately one hundred thousand kilometers away from the invasion fleet. As sensor crews monitored the anomaly, their readouts suddenly detected the presence of a massive fleet of large ships. This sudden appearance was practically on their doorstep, and half their remaining fighter escort was on the wrong side of the fleet, chasing after the other Lacertan ships which had appeared around the other two moons!

~~Aboard the Defiance~~

Hex watched the main status displays which showed orbital space around the planet Lacerta. Most of the enemy fighter craft and several of the transport destroyers had been drawn off by the Duke's actions. "Fleetwide." Hex spoke out loud, then switched to electronic comms, #Carriers, launch all strike craft! All warships, all weapons, target the heavy cruiser and open fire!#

Azjah · Date: 2009-02-22 16:43 EST

Alexandre glanced at his tactical officer for confirmation, at his nod, the Duke gave Hex a salute and closed the com link. ?Warit, keep me updated, we make for the ?Streyl? bring along the ?Arun?, the ?Ormil?, the ?Atlye? and the ?Hoyb? advise Viscount Dan?ack to hold Tanlere.? He would only take four of the Gothri class fighters with him. The ?Lorasy? was gunned sufficiently to engage the Cephean Ralarrad class making for the ?Streyl?. The Viscount aboard the ?Lercer? would hold orbit around Tanlere.

The four fighters were ordered to fall in with the ?Lorasy? and they broke away from Tanlere in a sublight jump toward the third moon of Lacerta. The Cephean Demon fighters and two Clarkson classes were well ahead of them on an intercept course for the ?Streyl?. Tactical reported closing distances as Alexandre considered the weapons aboard the Demons and the Clarkson ships. The Clarksons would be the most dangerous, each one sporting at least 2 heavy laser turrets. The Demon fighters would carry missiles, 2 meson blasters each, and 2 laser cannon each. They were light, maneuverable and very customizable, which was why the Cepheans loved to get their hands on them.

The Cih General aboard the command ship ?Cerad? swore nastily. Where the devil was Feizi? The General of the 11 Armies of the East was not ready for the engagement to begin. The Cepheans had jumped the gun by going after the Lacertian contingent in orbit around Tesyr, and Feizi was late!

He opened a link to the Cephean commander, ?Pogek, call your forces off, we are not ready to engage until General Feizi arrives with his contingent.?

The Cephean turned dark eyes on the image of the Cih General Veng?ti, ?You may await your forces, this ship is ours for the taking.? The link closed down and General Veng?ti uttered another vicious oath. ?Idiot,? he snarled. Veng?ti motioned to his tactical officer, they powered up the Antimatter gun. ?Keep the Lacertian ships clear of Pogek and his stupidity.?

The ?Cerilt? and her pilot adjusted course to move on an intercept of the ?Lorasy?. The invasion officially begun, and the Cih officially entered the fray.

Azjah · Date: 2009-03-01 11:25 EST

Pogek sneered at the point where the Cih General?s voice emanated. ?We?ve waited too long, this invasion should be over and that planet should already be ours.? He nodded toward the weapons officer, ?Focus everything on the ?Streyl?, we take her out and those fighters will run back toward the planet.?

The tactical officer frowned, ?Sir? We are being pursued by the ?Lorasy? and four Gothri class fighters.?

Pogek shrugged, ?They cannot get to the ?Streyl? in time.? It was a self satisfied smirk he wore as he was already counting his luck.

Second Commander Jrebu stopped the tactical officer from objecting, ?It would seem sir that the ?Lorasy? and her escort have jumped and are on an intercept course for us.?

?Check again, Gothri can?t jump, and the ?Lorasy? isn?t coming without her war dogs.? Poguk remained focused on the ?Streyl? ahead of them.

The communications link with ?Delch? flickered and went dead. ??Delch? has just been destroyed.? Alarms sounded on the ?Honuth?, as they realized that not only was the ?Lorasy? right behind them; but there were 4 Gothri class fighters targeting their own fighter escorts. ?Delch? became the first casualty of this invasion.

Pogek swore vilely at Jrebu, ?Get me a firing solution on the ?Lorasy?! NOW!? He then opened a channel with General Veng?ti, ?Target their war dogs, I?ve got the Lorasy.?

Seven fighters broke away with the ?Cerilt?. The Hellcat fighter was already on an intercept for the Lorasy, and warmed up the Neutron guns. He would have to get close to use it, but Lt. Colonel Dargat was a seasoned fighter pilot. His systems told him that 3 of the Cih fighters had taken up position behind him. Their Particle cannons were newer than his Neutron guns, and could recharge faster, but he only needed two good hits to disable the ?Lorasy?. Her shields couldn?t take too many direct hits before he would have her sitting dead in space and easy pickings for the Cih fighters.

Alarms sounded as his systems detected a weapons lock on the ?Cerilt?. Dargat scanned the readouts and simultaneously took evasive action as another Hellcat fired on him. The ?Nyslor? scored a hit that rocked Dargat?s fighter, but systems held as the shields regenerated around her.

Colonel Conradt Altenhartfurt swung his fighter around for another go at the ?Cerilt?. He?d scored a hit, but the fighter?s shields had held. The particle cannons needed a few more seconds of recharge time. Sensors told him that the ?Cerilt? was armed and loaded, he couldn?t afford another pass just yet.

The ?Lorasy? continued toward the ?Streyl?, leaving the fighters to deal with the gnats swarming around her now. Duke Alexandre watched the tactics of the Cepheans and shook his head, ?No discipline. They will be a rabble to deal with rather than an army.? But he watched the Cih vessels carefully. They would be the threat. The Cih may have older weapons and equipment, but they were seasoned fighters, and more often than not, victorious in their engagements.

Commandant Hex was due any moment. His forces should be completely unexpected by either the Cepheans or the Cih. He only hoped the Cih had no such similar surprises awaiting them.

HX-909-A · Date: 2009-03-03 21:47 EST

((OOC Note: Cross posted HERE and HERE.))

"Sir, the target heavy cruiser is no longer in expected position." Taldren, the human tactical officer for the Defiance reported to Hex, "The vessel is identified as the 'Cerad'. She appears to have broken formation and is in pursuit of the 'Lorasy', Duke Alexandre's ship."

Hex frowned and nodded to Taldren then turned to the comms officer, Shaya Nevaroux, "Comms, relay new orders to the rest of the fleet. All warships are to distribute even fire on the three Ralarrad cruisers. Missile destroyers will open the first salvo, then all ships are to fire at will."
The elven woman saluted, then turned back to her console and began speaking in hurried, hushed tones. Next Hex turned to the navigation station, where Erik Krievar waited expectantly, a grin on the human's face. "Navigation, set course. We're to circle the enemy fleet until they are thinned out. Comms, relay that to the fleet. Additionally, I want half our bombers and interceptors to break formation after launch and rendezvous with the Lorasy. They are to engage the Cerad and her escorts to hold them off as long as possible."
Both officers nodded again and got to work, with Erik engaging his neural interface and 'diving' into the ship, essentially controlling the cruiser as an extension of his own body. Finally Hex turned back to Taldren, "Tactical, target the first cruiser's engines and weapons systems equally, then fire at will. Vonkar, you have the bridge. I will be taking command of the fleet directly."

Hex stepped down from the command station and Vonkar, the ship's original commanding officer, saluted then sat down. Hex walked over to an auxillary station, then opened several command channels and faceted it's conciousness. Each fragment of Hex's overall mind connected with the command systems aboard the cruisers in each battle group. In this manner, Hex could observe the overall battle in a simulated space, and issue orders much faster than an organic commander.

Even now, the Iron Dragons ships were turning to new vectors, orienting on the main blockade fleet. At the vanguard of the ID fleet were the twenty-four destroyers, each armed with a wide assortment of anti-fighter and anti-warship missiles, as well as multiple point-defense cannon turrets. In addition to their primary armament, each destroyer was escorted by three heavy bombers, armed with twelve anti-warship missiles.
This comprised only the first wave of the Iron Dragons attack, for behind the destroyers were six light cruisers, eighteen cruiser-class carriers, and thirty-six frigates for outer defense.

As the destroyers closed into weapons range, the forward sections of their hulls opened outwards into four 'arms', running away from the central spine in an X. These arms, which housed the missile launcher systems, began to slowly spiral on a central axis, while hatches along the arms began to open. When the ships reached maximum firing range, puffs of gas began ejecting missiles from the launchers, running up one row of an arm, then back down. The rotation of the arms made the launch paths of each missile turn into a spiral as they floated away from the ship. After reaching a safe range, the missiles' primary engines lit up, flying away towards their targets in widening arcs.

Each destroyer launched twenty anti-warship missiles, for a total of four hundred eighty warheads which now drove on towards the Cih's Ralarrad vessels...

Azjah · Date: 2009-03-11 18:48 EST

Veng?ti watched as Poguk moved to engage the ?Lorasy?, which effectively put the ?Streyl? at his back. ?Idiot!? He turned and ordered the Amaya Tarake (a bomber class capital ship) and 10 Gothri fighters to engage the ?Streyl? to keep her off Poguk?s back. He shot a hard look at the communications officer, ?Where the bloody hell is Feizi? Get his people on an open channel, now!? The Cih officer snapped a salute and began another effort to raise the fleet of the Western Provinces.

The voice of Lt. Tsada intruded on Veng?ti?s thoughts, ?General? We have ships on an intercept, they just came out of a jump in this sector! I count twenty-four destroyers, seventy-two heavy bombers taking attack vectors on the blockade.?

General Veng?ti gave an incredulous look at Tsada, ?Identify affiliation!? Those were not Cih ships, and they weren?t Cephean, who had joined Lacertian forces in those kinds of numbers? He wasn?t ready to call in the ambush fleet, not yet.

?They are targeting and preparing to fire, Sir!? Tsada?s voice cut through the noise of the command bridge.

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/RhyDin/Lacertaplana.jpg

Azjah · Date: 2009-03-12 17:53 EST

Veng?ti scanned the sensors, ?Call in Worlord Ichiro Hashiko. The ?Sarobi? a Kiranka class cruiser must move into place early.? The ?Sarobi? was the only battle cruiser within 2 days flying that he knew of, and her contingent of 88 fighters would help considerably now that this new force had joined the Lacertians. Also laying in wait was the ?Suloip?e?, another Ralarrad class ship and her contingent of 32 fighters. Behind the sun?s corona sat the ?Nizuri? with 16 fighter escort, and the ?Mayako? with 14 fighter escort.

Poguk had followed the ?Streyl ?until he spotted the ?Lorasy? approaching, then he altered course to attack the ?Lorasy?. His ambush fleet was due to jump any moment, they could deal with the ?Streyl?.

The fleet Poguk had waiting for this moment had sat about 4 AU out, ready to jump into Lacertian space the moment the battle started, and it was time. There were 10 Clarkson class ships, 1 Venture class, the ?Umenon?, and 36 fighters as a surprise, and he knew that the Cih general had his own ambush fleet due to arrive on his command. This would be easy pickings, and he set course to destroy the command ship. With the ?Lorasy? destroyed, they would be leaderless, and this would be over soon. He gave a grin, ?Plot a solution and fire!?

From the original location of Poguk?s ?Honuth? came the rest of the invading Cepheans. They appeared behind the ?Vath?, ?Loral? and ?Iskely? ships and opened fire on them.

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/RhyDin/Lacertav2a.jpg

As the Cih ambush fleet came into play just behind Veng'ti, the Lacertians were suddenly out gunned.

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/RhyDin/Lacertav3a.jpg

HX-909-A · Date: 2009-03-13 09:35 EST

Hex watched the battle unfold. From the viewpoint of the sensors of six seperate cruisers, Hex watched as the Lacertan forces were broken into smaller groups, then suddenly outnumbered by the arrival of considerable enemy reinforcements. Just where had these new enemy ships come from? The machine began to issue orders to the Iron Dragons fleet.

As the machine watched, four of the ID battle groups broke formation and turned to engage the Cih battlecruiser, the 'Sarobi'. This group was assigned the strategic callsign of 'Cataclysm'. The remaining two battle groups were given the callsign Ragnarok and continued on to engage the Cerad and the other ships flying with her. Meanwhile one hundred eight heavy bombers and interceptors each were tasked with moving to engage the Cephean reinforcements, and given the callsign 'Armageddon'. Finally, a fourth group was formed from the two hundred sixteen heavy fighters from all six battle groups. These were placed in the command of Viola Draygon under the callsign 'Apocalypse' and ordered to engage the Honuth and her escorts.

It was at this point that the initial missiles began impacting the shields and hulls of the three Ralarrad cruisers in the blockade, followed quickly by the attacks of six beam frigates each armed with a single spinal mount weapon: a heavy stellar plasma cutting beam. Like most of the Iron Dragons weapons, the cutting beams took hydrogen and helium gasses and pumped these through the primary reactors, exciting the matter until it became a super-heated plasma with similar energy concentrations to that found in the core of most stars! Six beams lanced out towards the Ralarrads, raking across their whole lengths with focused star-fire.

Next up in the ID arsenal were the assault cruisers. These two ships were each armed with two heavy cutting beams on a fixed forward mount, as well as ten dual-barreled heavy plasma cannon. The cannons fired the same stellar plasma as the cutting beams, but instead of a continuous beam the plasma was fired as small orbs, resulting in a rapid-fire weapon. As the cruisers closed into range, their weapons were trained on the Ralarrad ships, beams and cannon lashing out with intent to turn these targets into drifting wreckage and expanding clouds of gasses.

After launching their initial missile barrage, the sixteen destroyers tasked to 'Cataclysm' broke off the attack and re-formed with the new battle group. Already the automated loading systems were re-arming the heavy missile launchers for the attack on the 'Sarobi'. In addition, the smaller launchers, fourty anti-fighter launchers per destroyer, were being loaded with Scatterpacks - a multi-warhead anti-fighter missile. If the Sarobi launched her fighters, they could be quickly cut down by clouds of tiny, extremely agile missiles.

Meanwhile, the eight destroyers that were part of group 'Ragnarok' re-loaded their anti-warship missiles in preparation of an attack on the Cerad. Already these eight destroyers were locking onto as many of Veng'ti's fighter escort as the targeting systems could handle, and swarms of Scatterpack missiles were sent downrange against the escorting fighter craft. Just before intercept, each of the one hundred missiles fired would split open and launch four smaller warheads, each of which were almost an equal to any anti-fighter missile Cih or Cephean fighters could launch. In a very short while, the blockade fighter escorts would be ambushed by four hundred screaming warheads.

Group 'Armageddon' sped away towards the battle taking place between the 'Streyl's' forces and the new Cephean reinforcements. The interceptors were tasked with destroying incoming bombers and missiles, while the heavy bombers would engage the ten Clarksons and attempt to destroy them. While not as quick about it as the missile destroyers, the multiple wings of heavy bombers could field a full two hundred sixteen heavy anti-warship missiles identical to those fired by the destroyers. These missiles would be spread evenly across the Clarksons for a total of twenty six missiles a piece. Hopefully the fight would not be long.

While the heavy fighters of group 'Apocalypse' were not as suited to sinking warships, the ID heavy fighter was more than a match for even the Hellcat and Vaktoth craft the enemy were fielding. Each was armed with four light stellar plasma cannon, and was also equipped with a single stellar plasma shield. This shield drew the same star-fire plasma as the weapons systems, and contained it within a magnetic field a meter from the hull. Physical projectiles attempting to breach the field would be vaporized, and the strong magnetic field of the plasma would scatter incoming energy fire. The shield's only weakness was it's size: a single shield emmitter could only cover one-sixth of the fighter, one facing. This one facing was selectable, and the shield could be moved by the pilot or co-pilot to intercept incoming weapons fire. A second drawback was that when the shield was put in forward facing, the fighter's weapons could not fire, and the pilot was essentially flying blind.

Hex watched from a virtual space as the battlefield evolved...

Azjah · Date: 2009-03-13 19:52 EST

Alexander withdrew the ?Lorasy?, trying to draw Poguk away from the ?Streyl? and put the ?Streyl?s? contingent at his back. As he neared the ?Lercer? and the ?Keryl,? he plotted a firing solution on Poguk?s command ship, the ?Honuth?. His tactical officer announced the arrival of Commissar Hex?s fleet as the Cephean fighters began dogfighting with the Gothri class fighters belonging to the ?Lorasy?. Brilliant flares of energy lit the blackness as shields weakened under the onslaught of weapons from both sides.

But just as Alexandre fired on the ?Honuth?, more of the Cephean fleet materialized out of jump. A Venure class cutter called the ?Umenon? was escorted by ten Clarkson class ships, and thirty six more Demon fighters. That put one heck of a hostile contingent on the back of the ?Streyl? and her fleet. The Graf did the only thing he could, he turned around the ?Dezina? and sent the ?Morlor? and ?Tiair? along with the ?Estlor? and ?Lyesul? fighters to buy time until the ?Honuth? could be incapacitated. Keep them off the main battle until either the Iron Dragons could engage them, or the ?Lorasy? could come to their aid.

Hex?s initial plans had been altered when Poguk went after the ?Streyl?, but the machine quickly assessed the situation and broke off four battle groups. The information flooded in across the communication channels as the Cataclysm headed straight for the ?Sarobi.? Apocalypse headed in for the ?Cerad?, Ragnarok came to the ?Lorasy?s? region and Armageddon went after the ?Umenon? fleet. This was in close fighting, the invaders were within the orbit of Tesyr, and it would be very easy to slip more invading forces onto the surface of Lacerta. It was a worry Alexandre kept to himself for now.

The ?Keryl? and the ?Lercer? were confronted with Veng?ti?s fleet. The ?Cerad? was the invasion fleet?s command ship, but backing up that Southampton class ship was something Alexandre had not expected. Somehow, the Cih had managed to acquire a Kiranka class battle cruiser, and that was bad news indeed. She identified as the Sarobi?. She was 980 meters long and weighed in at 380,000 metric tons. She wasn?t fast, but she had armor over 500 cm thick. And the ?Sarobi? was armed to the teeth with 46 dual mount laser cannon, 16 plasma cannon, 6 IR missile launchers, and sporting 88 fighters in her compliment. Alexandre opened a comm. link to Commissar Hex, ?We have unexpected company Commissar, your timing is impeccable. We are focusing on the ?Honuth?.?

As the Duke of Sorvind resumed his focus on Poguk and the ?Honuth?, there were 26 fighters out there protecting the ?Honuth?, but the Gothri fighters he commanded were more than a match for the light Ferrets and Demons. The last scout ship came around the back side of the sun and relayed that nothing now lurked hidden behind the Lacertian sun, and then ?Awdan? caught sight of the ?Sarobi?, and a tremendous explosion as the pilot in the ?Shyobel? crashed into one of the launching bays. The damage would delay the ?Sarobi?s? launch of some of her fighter contingent, at least short term.

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Azjah · Date: 2009-03-22 16:00 EST

Alexandre hated suicide runs, but the Shyobel bought them badly needed time. Abruptly sensors picked up the concussion of exploding metal as the three Ralarrad ships took heavy fire from Commissar Hex. The Amaya Tarake must have taken a direct hit because debris exploded every direction almost instantaneously. Her fighters were thrown into chaos as they tried to dodge not only the fighters flooding from the arrival of the Iron Dragons, but the shrapnel of their own mother ship. He heard a communication from Hex, the battle group Ragnarok was to engage the Cih cruiser Cerad.

The remaining two Ralarrads that flew with General Veng?ti were under heavy fire as Alexandre focused on Poguk and the Honuth. Poguk had nine Clarkson class vessels in his group, and Alexandre focused on the first three that flew into his sector. The antimatter turret locked onto and tracked the Snisq as it was first up to engage the Lorasy. Four of the heavy laser turrets began tracking the Emgha while the other four heavy laser turrets homed in on the Ektel. ?Fire when ready!? Alexandre gave the orders to weapons control.

As the Lorasy fired on the Snisq, another series of blasts rocked the sensors. Battle group Ragnarok engaged the Saxuc, the Kyhoc, and Su?lan with devastating results. Missiles impacted the shields and finally penetrated to the hulls of the Saxuc and Su?lan before they exploded violently. The sensors registered the carnage with a spike as two more of the Cephean ships vanished off the tracking scopes.

Alexandre watched as the Snisq took four direct hits from the Lorasy?s main antimatter gun. Power flickered and died on the Snisq.

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