Copani Story

[Zack Ryan]

Zak left the flight deck and went to his quarters, shutting and locking the door behind him. He stripped, got into his sonic shower and let it beat his body up. After ½ an hour of ships time he no longer could take the pounding his body was receiving and he finally stepped out. He looked into his mirror and his body was covered in large orange and red welts. It did nothing to erase his feeling of dread and helpless loss.

Boro’Sug Aglianan had returned from her flight training exhausted. Oncanon had launched target drone after target drone, each with an unrepeated flight path. At first the drones eluded her until she finally became more familiar with the Demon. She had named her ship Mo’adred, after the ancient Copani God of War. As Mo’adred and she became accustomed to each other the drones lasted less and less time until Oncanon signaled her to come aboard. There was no longer anything the drones could accomplish. It was time for live pilot against live pilot training. Aglianan went to her quarters, dropped into her bed and was instantly asleep.

“Ontanon, call the Boro’Sug’s android and have her on the hanger deck in ½ an hour. And have our Demons set for simulated combat training.” While Ontanon took care of Zak’s orders, he dressed in his flight suit, and made his way to the hanger deck. His Demon was there, next to Aglianan’s. He saw the name had been painted on the nose, with a pretty good representation of Mo’adred. He had chosen a much simpler name, Forcant’s Son, in honor of his mother.

“Boro’Sug Aglianan reporting sir,” and she stood there, a little ragged, but alert and ready.
“Boro’Sug, it is time to work in live simulated combat. Your weapons are disabled and in their place are weapons of light. If you had been on Earth you would understand me when I equated what we are doing to a Paint Ball War. We will fire and only light will with be emitted. Alarms will sound and engines will go to idle. We will keep this up until you have beaten me three straight times. To your ship Aglianan, and good luck.”

They took off out of the hanger deck and immediately Zak immobilized her Demon. As he watched her, she displayed a pattern of moves that allowed him to disable her time after time. She would perform the same sets of maneuvers and he would anticipate them and shoot her down each time. It was almost 5 hours after they started that she finally caught on and varied her moves and scored a hit. He sent his congratulations and, immediately upon gaining his control once again, pulled a long slow arcing move and shot her twice.

“Anticipate Boro’Sug, Anticipate,” he chanted at her and she became angrier and lost again and again until she learned this too. His chiding her caused her to make mistake after mistake. As he congratulated himself once again he was shot out of the air by her repeating his own maneuver, then again just as his engines regained power. He noticed a very distinct new pattern and shot her down. Three more hours passed and finally the student defeated the teacher. As they returned to the ship Zak called her, “Good job Aglianan, now get some rest, you and I have the first set of your squadron going to the simulators tomorrow, and you need to be able to get them up to speed with me.”

As they alit, Zak turned to her and saluted, then turned and headed for his quarters. As he shut and locked the door, he stripped off his flight suit and congratulated himself on picking Aglianan. She is a fine pilot and will make an excellent commander. He dropped into his bunk, and was almost immediately asleep.

He heard it over and over, invading his sleep, “Boro’Ank, Boro’Ank, Boro’Ank”. Slowly he woke, recognizing Ontanon’s voice. “Yes, Yes, Ontanon, you have sufficiently woken me. What is it?”
“We have received another message from Te’Zsing.” He was immediately awake, heading for the flight deck. He was not sure he wanted to hear the news, but he knew he must. Sitting in his chair, he allowed the ship to Com connect to him and immediately disconnected, leaning back and smiling broadly. He said some things to P’Mela in his mind, especially about being careful, and then he leaned forward again, allowing the lights to enter him and received the entire message. Zak sent the engine specifications to the science and engineering computer to have it work out the computations. Also instructing it to work out a shielding matrix.

He listened to the added messages and could not make any sense of them. Possibly because he was tired, or just didn’t feel like thinking. He left the messages in the open data file and told Ontanon to study the messages and to have a report for him when he awoke again. He had read an Auroran message about crop failures on two of the rim planets, so it was time to visit the outpost on Pluto’s dark side. He had known they were there, merely as an observation and data-gathering site. But he could get some information that might make the other messages make some sort of sense.

“Ontanon, inform the Boro’Sug’s android, Stylian is it, that the Boro’Sug is to report to me on the flight deck one hour after she wakes, and to inform you when she does awake.” Ontanon answered, almost as an after thought and Zak thought to himself that he must already be working on the problem.

He returned to his quarters, Com connected to the ship, unlocked the encrypted file from P’Mela and said to the ship, “full senses” and the lights connected to all his senses once again. P’Mela was there, this time wrapped in his arms, her back to his front, her head laying comfortably on his arm, his senses smelling her, feeling her, seeing her. He fell asleep almost immediately, lost in his thoughts of her, knowing now she would return to him, soon.

 

[Cnaeus Valerius]

A few days later...

“Warlord Ghar…”

I opened my eyes and found myself staring into a pair of featureless black Appian eyes over gleaming tusks and two sets of jaws. The woman’s tusks had two sets of thin gold rings and the tips were painted some neutral shade of tusk polish which marked her as one of the younger Appian females. For most people waking up to such a sight would probably elicit at least a scream, but it was possible to get used to anything. Something in the expression of that alien face did cause me some concern.

“You have something to report Ailo-Val?” I shifted slightly in the bed and P’Mela stirred beside me. Her face was troubled as she slept, but these were becoming troubling times.

“The Sonjon Glory received an urgent message from one of the ships in your Third Alae, Warlord…the ship captain wishes to speak with you…Issa-Fal is trying to route the signal to Lady P’Mela’s comm unit.” Ailo’s jaws moved in the Appian equivalent of biting her lower lip.

“There is something more?” I glanced from the Appian woman to the Draskan. P’Mela was awake now and her cool blue eyes were bright and alert. Ailo-Val looked expectantly at the both of us, waiting for me to decide if it was permissible for her to speak in front of P’Mela. It took less than a moment for me to decide. Trust had to begin somewhere. I wanted to trust P’Mela.

“She is near death, Warlord. The j’Son’jon are killing her.” Ailo nodded her head respectfully toward P’Mela. “I speak of our ship Noble Lady. They are killing her!”

“Tell Issa-Fal we will be there in a moment, Ailo.” I ordered and Ailo quickly departed the sleeping chamber. As she left I leapt from the bed and crossed the room to where my shirt and sleeping shorts had somehow found their way during the evenings activities. P’Mela engaged in a similar search in another part of the room and slipped into her yellow silk robe with the embroidered flowers and birds. Once dressed we made our way to the comm station in the sitting room where Issa was busily programming a non-traceable routing for the in-coming signal.

“There seems to be an unusual amount of interference, Warlord. The Sonjon vessels are going to great lengths to prevent Tor-bar’s ship from sending any messages out of the sector.” Issa made a few adjustments and snapped her horizontal jaws in frustration. A heavily distorted image appeared on the main display and after a moment it partial resolved into the face of my friend Tor-bar.

“W-w-w-warlord, my ap-p-p-pologies forrrr distur…your sleep.” Tor-bar’s distorted image bowed through the static toward P’Mela. “Lady P’Mela, that-at-at robe l-l-l-looks farrrr better on you-you-you than it did on the Warlord-d-d-d.”

“Thank you Tor-bar. Admiral Ghar still insists on wearing it I’m afraid.” P’Mela placed her hand on my shoulder as the bridge lights in the picture flickered on and off. Tor-bar’s laughter was not quite enough to mask the tortured sound of hull plates failing somewhere on the starship.

“We need to clean up this signal Issa-Fal. Invert the secondary decryption algorithm and offset it by one half cycle.” I looked over my shoulder at Issa and then sat down in front of the monitor while P’Mela took a seat in the chair next to mine.

“Yes Warlord.” Issa clicked her jaws as she concentrated. After a few commands the visual portion of the signal was still distorted, but the audio channel was much better.

“I haven’t much time, Warlord. The Sacred Void calls us home to her embrace.” Tor-bar stumbled as an explosion rocked his ship. “My ship knows her time is near and she is eager to do her duty.”

“Yes, of course. What happened Tor-bar?”

“I was conducting a training exercise with the ship and her crew as you and I had planned. When we came out of hyperspace we were attacked by three shielded antimatter pulse mines.” Tor-bar paused a moment as someone the bridge yelled something in Appian. It sounded like their shields were about to fail.

“Shielded pulse mines? Around an agg-world?” I glanced over to P’Mela. The Chief of Staff was the only being short of the Emperor with the authority to deploy such mines and their status and location was reported each morning to P’Mela. Her cheeks glowed with a flush of anger and the expression on her face hinted at an unpleasant death for someone.

“When I find out who has been falsifying those reports…”

The screech of a warning siren lanced out through the comm unit’s speakers. We both returned our attention to the display.

“Zwanri, zamgra-nazgavi krov uzrofiv ranram’mag!” One of the Appian bridge crew shouted in her native tongue from somewhere off screen but very close to Tor-bar. He glanced down at his display panel and hissed.

“Switch to manual containment. Helm, bring her around. Engineering, prepare the axial transmitter for firing!” Tor-bar directed his crew in Appian but his comm system automatically translated his words. I felt a cold pit form in my stomach as Tor-bar saluted me as a brother. “In the place beyond the Sacred Darkness I shall see you again D’Nel. Fight well Warlord.”

The image cut off and switched to the bridge display. The stars streamed past as the Appian vessel rotated to face the ships pursuing her. P’Mela and I both gasped when we saw the distinct shapes of a Sonjon battleship flanked by a pair of cruisers. The images of the ships shimmered as their captains ordered the shields charged beyond the maximum recommended capacity. They assumed the Appians were going to ram one of them. They were wrong. There was a brief flash of light and the signal went dead.

“What just happened, D’Nel? What is an axial transmitter?” P’Mela placed her hand on my shoulder as I sat back in my chair. Tor-bar and I had been friends for a very long time. My eyes met P’Mela’s, but the answers to her questions were not mine to provide.

“It is not something for Outsiders to know Lady P’Mela,” Issa spoke very softly from in front of the control panel. “The Appe-yan are ancient race. Not as old as some perhaps, but far older than you might think. At the peak of our strength my people began to fight among themselves. The fighting quickly grew into civil war; a war which only stopped when we no longer had the technology to fight it. We had brought about the collapse of our own civilization and denied ourselves access to the Sacred Void between the stars…”

Issa appeared to stifle a sob and placed her hands lightly on her temples as she closed her eyes. The typical Appian expression of sorrow seemed especially poignant coming from the perpetually mischievous Issa. She opened her eyes and folded her hands on her lap.

“Much of what we had then is still lost to us, but we are slowly regaining the technologies, such as our cloaking shields, that were once commonplace.” Issa gestured toward the blank screen. “An axial transmitter is part of a system my people once used to travel long distances. In order to work properly it requires the use of something called a dimensional translator. Simply put, the axial transmitter converts the ship into a massive pulse of energy. The dimensional translator then absorbs the energy, translates it to the desired coordinates in space, and then the translator at the destination reforms the starship.”

“If you have this technology…” P’Mela began but paused when Issa held up one hand.

“Thus far we have only been able to reconstruct the axial transmitters. The workings of the translators elude us for the time being, but it is simply a matter of time. After all, we discovered it once already.” Issa opened her jaws to bare her teeth in that disturbing Appian smile. “We equip all of our starships with the transmitters so we will not have to refit them all at a later date. In the meantime our starship captains have discovered that the transmitters have other uses.”

The comm panel chirped a greeting and Issa paused to check the identification of the caller. She told us it was P’Aylie, and P’Mela nodded for her to allow the signal through. P’Aylie’s image appeared on the screen and the Draskan woman nodded her head respectfully.

“General, Fleet Admiral, my apologies for calling you both at this hour. I thought you should both know we are just receiving reports of Copani activity in Imperial space. A battleship and her escorts apparently encountered the Copani vessel while on a training mission. The Copani opened fire on them in a, and I am quoting the official report, treacherous and unprovoked attack.” P’Aylie rolled her eyes as she read the words. “Our ships were destroyed by a massive burst of energy when Copani vessel exploded. I shall have a full report for you in the morning, General.”

“Thank you, P’Aylie. We will discuss it further then.” P’Mela exchanged farewell courtesies with her assistant and then cut the signal.

“I think I should take a closer look at that Agg world…there is no reason why it should be so heavily protected.” I tapped a few commands into the control station and pulled up the sector nav chart. I frowned when I saw all the agricultural planets in the sector were tagged with “military only” access indicators. How fortunate for me that I commanded a military starship. “Preparations for the invasion are going smoothly enough and the Sonjon Glory is due to go out for gunnery practice in a few weeks anyway.”

 

[FoxyShalimar]

Aglianan was lying in her bed in her quarters, having just awoken and going over the events of the previous day. She didn’t feel secure in her human form yet but that would come, as the Boro’Ank had explained to her. She got up and stood in front of her mirror and thought the command to revert to her human form. As she made the change she realized that she needed to work on the change so that it would happen smoothly. She looked at herself in the mirror, shaking her head and wondering what the Earth people saw in this form.

She felt sorry for the earth females having to deal with so much hair, which served no purpose other than to make them feel that they looked more attractive. It certainly had no use in battle and, if anything, would prove a hindrance in the cockpit of a Demon.

She changed back to her Copani form and looked proudly at her reflection. She assessed herself critically but realized that Zakrianan had looked at her in a very non-military way more than once in the past two days. Smiling, she realized that not all of his attention was on her military record.

Stylian appeared at the door to her sleeping quarters and said, “Boro’Sug Aglianan, Boro’Ank Zakrianan wishes to see you in 45 minutes on the hanger deck. With your permission, I’ve been asked to inform Ontanon when you are awake”.

“Thank you Stylian. You may inform Ontanon that I am awake and will be on the hanger deck in 45 minutes. I will give you a data crystal on my human persona to input while I am gone. Not much will change besides my appearance. When I’m in my human form you will address me as Aglianan”.

”Understood Boro’Sug.” Stylian replied. “Her voice is so much more pleasant now,” Aglianan thought.

“When will I receive this data crystal? “ Stylian asked.

”Before we leave for Aurora, Stylian.”

Aglianan mused out loud, “I find it so difficult to call Boro’Ank Zakrianan Zak when he is in his human form. And I have to forget he’s First Prince, as if I can do that easily, and now this.” Aglianan shook her head in amusement.

Stylian came a bit closer to Aglianan and said, “This is only for the good of the mission and probably most of our safety. Respect is paid in many ways, Boro’Sug, not only in a name”. After saying those words, Stylian turned and left to continue her duties. Aglianan stared after the android and, of course, Stylian was right but it still amazed her how far androids brains had progressed since she went into stasis.

The feeling Aglianan had when she stood on the hanger deck in front of her ship was the same as when she stood there the very first time she saw it. She felt the rush of excitement when she looked at the Demon class ship. It looked like she thought the ship of a War God look and that’s why she named it Mo’adred. She felt flattered the Boro’Ank trusted her so quickly with such a gem.

Oncanon had been training with her relentlessly, as had the Boro’Ank. She actually didn’t mind since she enjoyed the new experience of flying a highly maneuverable aircraft again.
She was, however, disappointed with her simulated combat results. It had taken her too long to realize what she had been doing wrong. Maybe she had been getting tired, yet that was no excuse. In a real battle she would have been dead many times over. She was planning to devise and practice more surprise and unconventional moves so it would be more difficult for the enemy to anticipate her flying.

She had the impression that something had been bothering the Boro’Ank but she didn’t feel comfortable enough to ask. He had looked the happiest she had seen him since she had come out of stasis one and then after she returned, sad. She entered her sonic shower and got dressed to go to the hanger deck even though she was early.

Her door opened as she reached it, and Stylian appeared.

“You have to eat first, Boro’Sug, there is still time”

“I really don’t want to leave the Boro’Ank waiting Stylian” Aglianan sighed.

”It is my duty to take care of you. You had a heavy days training yesterday and you need to eat before any other training, or you could make a fatal mistake.” Stylian replied stubbornly.

Aglianan gave up, knowing she would never win and said, “Fine I’ll eat first”.

After eating a large breakfast and, with Stylian’s approval, she left to meet the Boro’Ank.

 

[Zack Ryan]

Zakrianan was already on the hanger deck when Aglianan entered. Again he thought she filled out a flight suit better than any other pilot he had ever seen before. She approached him and greeted him as a superior officer.

“Boro’Sug, have you ever dealt with the Aurorans before?”

“No, I have never seen, nor heard, much about them.”

“Then you will need to have background on them before we meet with them.”

He turned away and went to the nearest comm. console, inserted a data crystal and indicated that she should sit. He had her lean forward and pressed the correct studs and the beams of light entered her eyes, making the internal connection and began to explain to her about the Aurorans. The information on the crystal was fed into the console, it was translated and sent directly to her brain.

The Auroran’s are a reptilian race who, on the surface, are a fearsome looking people, yet are as altruistic as the Copani and are new to space travel thanks to the Copani. They are a race of Farmers and Artists, their grains and vegetables sought after commodities throughout the regions of known space that they are able to travel to. They are great artists and musicians; their art hanging in a number of museums while their music is played by orchestras throughout the known planets.

Belying their appearance, they are soft spoken with eloquent and poetic voices. When first heard, if they are not seen, the mind would picture a race of beings that would appear as the sentient species own race of gods and angels. The other trait they all share in common are small delicate hands. These hands are the size of a human child’s hands, small and almost delicate, with three digits and an opposable thumb. The fingers are longish, and end in round tips, much like an Earth persons.

The male stands approximately 6 to 6 1/2 feet tall, the female 5 1/2 to 6 feet. Male and female Aurorans work side by side with no distinction in intellect or abilities. They both have longish faces, ending in a triangular mouth, which has two slits just above and to either side of the mouth for breathing. Their teeth are round and prominent, the better to eat and chew the main staples in their vegetarian diet. Both males and females have red-rimmed eyes and dark colored irises. The colors of their eyes vary from black (the most common) to a very, very dark red (the rarest, and considered the most beautiful. Only females possess eye colors in the red shades.) The female has a bony crest starting between the eyes and extending back to the base of their necks. These bony ridges are decorated with various types of jewelry, depending on their status in Auroran society. The males have 2 ear holes, located just behind their eye sockets, while the females ear holes are just to the side of the highest projection of the bony ridge.

Their outer skin is about 1/8 of an inch thick, smooth of texture, but very flexible. The males possess a prehensile tail that is slowly shrinking from generation to generation. The females are egg layers, so their tail still exists, allowing for easy laying of the eggs, which number upwards to 300-400 during their lifetime. As with work, Male and Female Aurorans share the birthing process, each spending as much time as needed to hatch their eggs, whether it is tending to the eggs or, after birth, feeding and caring for the small ones.

The light shut off and Aglianan blinked once or twice and stood. “They are quite a race of people Boro’Ank. Such a fierce looking race, but Farmers and Artists, I would never have guessed. May I ask why we are going to visit their outpost?”

“At first it was to be just a friendly visit, and I know the scientist in charge of the group so it was to be sort of a reunion for me. But I got some very strange communications from Boro’Ches P'Mela’s ship and Oncanon’s analysis indicates that there is civil strife and food riots on the jSon’Jon planets. I think our friendly visit has turned into something a bit more dire.”

Aglianan had been listening closely and was anxious to begin their trip. She felt down to the center of her being that what they found out during this visit would be a portent of the future, and the reason that this sector of space would soon be the site of a major war.

“Let us go Boro’Sug, I am eager to get answers to my questions.” He turned then and headed to his Demon, she to hers. She looked at his ship, from the name, Forcant’s Son, to the scarred and obviously used exterior. Then she looked at her ship. Deep unblemished Black, the only real break in the color the name she had chosen. She turned again, looking longingly at the Boro’Ank’s Demon and wishing it was hers. It was seasoned and had seen many battles and any pilot would rather have a seasoned ship that a new one. Hers had performed well enough in the training exercises but there were some things she needed to get used to that the repair robots hadn’t been able to determine had any cause other than a glitch in the Boro’Sug’s brain.

 

[Zack Ryan]

They were headed to the ninth planet in this system, a short trip that took only an hour or so. As they rolled to a stop in the underground hanger, they saw a greeting party waiting for them. They were truly fierce looking creatures and, when the Boro'Sug saw them, the sight sent a shiver along her spine. The Boro'Ank greeted the one Auroran who stood separately from the others, his old dear friend Lovan, the Commander and Chief Scientist of the outpost. Zak introduced Aglianan and she was truly amazed at the voice emanating from this creature. The data crystal was not wrong in that respect; she knew if she closed her eyes she would imagine the voices of the pure white deities of her childhood religious training. The commander led them up to the main living and working quarters of the outpost. Zak looked around and saw an equal number of male and female Aurorans and realized that this was a family outpost, meaning they have been here for a while and will probably be here for quite a while longer. The children were probably in school and, when he asked about Lovan’s son and daughter he was told that they were in the outpost’s school and would be thrilled to see him when they came back for the midday meal.

They chitchatted until they heard the noise of many youngsters’ voices approaching. When the children entered they immediately went quiet upon seeing the tall golden and pale yellow beings. Then one child broke loose and ran to Zak, jumping up and landing in Zakrianan’s arms. A slightly older female child approached Aglianan shyly and said, “Why are you that color when Zak is that color?”

Zak began to answer her when Aglianan held up her hand and explained that in the Copani race the males and females had different coloring, that it was as much apart of their race as the crest on her forehead. The little girl shook her head, smiled and bowed her head in the Auroran show of respect, one of the highest tributes they can show to another.

Aglianan had felt it necessary for her to tell the youngster, rather than Zakrianan, to establish her presence and that she was not just “along for the ride”. Zak nodded to her, indicating that she was correct in what she did. They all sat at the table, Zak greeting Dinam, Lovan’s mate and the children’s mother. They ate a large meal, although the Boro'Sug found it terribly spicy for her taste. The Auroran’s have a spice that they cook with, sprinkle on certain foods and, in general, use as the Earthlings use salt. It adds spice to a meal and, for the unsuspecting, a highly spiced food.

When they were finished eating, and the children had returned to their classes, Zak asked if they could get some time alone, he had many questions to ask and, based on Lovan’s answers, possibly many preparations to make.

When they were alone with Lovan, Zak came right to the point. “I have received a communication that indicates there are widespread food riots and civil disorder on many of the jSon’Jon planets. Do you know what is causing the riots, or the civil disorder?

“Yes, I do my Brother,
We get burst messages twice a day, but the data is 1-2 days old by the time we receive it. It appears the Son‘Jon introduced a biological contagion into the atmosphere of several agricultural planets to cut off the Empires enemy’s from supplying grains, vegetables, and other foodstuffs to their own planets. Well evidently the contagion also attacked their own agricultural planets and caused widespread destruction before they isolated the planets. Fortunately it affected only two of our Rim planets, but not so fortunately, it is also affecting our eggs. The shells have become thin and brittle causing many broken shells, killing the fetuses. Every scientist on the Rim Worlds and ones close enough to get controlled samples are working on a cure for this contagion. There is a group on a small planet, who think they may be close. Sadly I have no more information for you.”

Zak sat back, absorbing and contemplating what Lovan had just told him. This could explain why the Son’Jon were so active. With apologies to Lovan, Zak stood and left for his Demon, telling Aglianan to stay and enjoy herself. When he reached his ship he contacted Ontanon and told him to record the following.

“Te’Zsing, gather all information you can on the food riots and civil unrest. Also all data you can gather on biological contagion that is attacking grains and vegetables on non Son’Jon agricultural planets.”

“Set for burst transmission and do it,” he ordered Ontanon. “We will return in several hours.”

He returned to the main room and saw Aglianan conversing with Dinam, rather animatedly, The children had returned and then he remembered, Dinam was a teacher. The two were talking with hands, arms and laughter. “Good,” he thought, “the Boro’Sug could use some non-warrior friends.”

 

[Scarlett O'Hara]

ByCnaeus Valerius:
“I think I should take a closer look at that Agg world…there is no reason why it should be so heavily protected.” I tapped a few commands into the control station and pulled up the sector nav chart. I frowned when I saw all the agricultural planets in the sector were tagged with “military only” access indicators. How fortunate for me that I commanded a military starship. “Preparations for the invasion are going smoothly enough and the Sonjon Glory is due to go out for gunnery practice in a few weeks anyway.”

Later that day:
P’Aylie heard a crash from P’Mela’s office and immediately ran to investigate. As the door crashed back against the wall, she stopped in nearly a skid. P’Mela was standing behind her desk, and throwing decorative objects at the wall, one after another, simply to watch them smash and crumble. Her face was red and the veins in her temples were pounding. “General? Are you alright?” asked the young woman tentatively.

P’Mela took a deep breath and grabbed her uniform jacket off the hangar, pulling it on as she walked. As she stormed by P’Aylie, she snapped “I’m going for a flight to the spacestation. I need to visit Te’Zsing....I mean I need to visit my old ship. I’ve notified the Shahidan’s office.” She stormed out without another word. Issa, the Appian jumped up to follow her. P’Aylie shook her head. The General was strange, especially for a Draksan. Always passionate, she had taken on the entire Command Headquarter’s staff just last week over the exclusion of Appians from the building. And once winning the battle to have them admitted like any other Sonjon citizen to non-classified offices, she then took on the Shahidan to have passes issued to those who were bodyguards for herself and Admiral Ghar. P’Aylie shook her head again. The things she had seen and read during the brief time she had worked for P’Mela was enough to scare even a Draksan.

The personal flyer was ready and waiting for P’Mela but Issa refused to let her board before she and her staff made a thorough examination of the flyer. Once finished, she announced that she would be second seat during the trip. P’Mela smiled shyly. She had hoped the Appian would go with her. There was much to discuss and she needed Te’Zsing’s help but not through planet controlled channels.

Planetside to the spacestation would only take a couple of hours. Once preflight checks were cleared and the flyer launched, P’Mela directed “Ship, play Ske’Ratia, Selection “Altimoe Sunrise”. As the music began, Issa made a horrible expression and cursed softly but just loud enough for P’Mela to hear it. “Sorry, Issa. I forgot that Appian ears are just different enough from Draksan and Sonjon that those notes would irritate. Perhaps something by.....”

“I would prefer to talk, General.” Issa said unemotionally.

“So would I, Issa. But not here. Wait until we are on board Te’Zsing.” P’Mela then directed the ship to play anything of Appian on record. There was a long wait and then the reply “Nothing on file, General.” She heard Issa moan behind her. This was another example of how the j’Son’jon Empire was not an equitable association of nations. Music by an obscure musician from a small backward planet near Auroran space was on file, yet nothing by Appian artists. P’Mela found herself wondering if there were any Appian artists. Then mentally she reprimanded her rascist attitude again.

“If you are wondering, General, if there are any Appian musicians, then you should know that we have a long and illustrious history of music and art. I have found warriors have the most music in their souls, just waiting for an opportunity to be heard.” That was the most P’Mela had heard Issa say at one time.

“Then would you sing for me, Issa?” P’Mela asked quietly and respectfully. “I would like to hear something which means something important to you.” And Issa sang, softly and beautifully for the entire two hour trip to the spacestation.

 

[Scarlett O'Hara]

After a very brief landing and clearance through the spacestation control, P’Mela and Issa were on the outer rim walkway headed for the secluded dock and Te’Zsing. The gently curved arch was dimly lit this far from the center ring. This area was designated for highly classified military ships. At present, only Te’Zsing and Admiral Ghar’s Sonjon Glory were in dock.

As P’Mela stepped through the airlock and into the ship’s portal, the internal lights automatically came up to her desired setting and she could feel the cool air rushing from the small vents. Issa was watching P’Mela’s facial expressions, which were always interesting to a trained sociologist like the Appian. To be in such close proximity to a Sonjon officer and a female Draksan, was an education for Issa. One which she fully documented each day in her private logs. She watched in fascination as P’Mela smiled warmly and noted the change in her voice as she said softly “Hello Old Friend, I have missed you, Te’Zsing.” The Appian nearly jumped when the ship replied back immediately “Yes, Love, it has been too long. Welcome home.” She also noted the changes apparent in its voice when it spoke to P’Mela personally versus when it answered her in regards to a question. It seem to have a personality unique from any Sonjon vessel the Appian had been in before. The other Sonjon vessels’ computer voices had a very metalic, automated sound about it. This ship sounded personal in some way. She was also surprised when P’Mela introduced her to the ship. And the ship responded. She noticed the hesitation and suspicion it carried in its voice when speaking to her or about her.

P’Mela slowly made her way around the consoles that covered the command room. Issa was fascinated and watched each of her movements, noting the soft familiar interchange between the captain and her ship. They discussed the new jump engines like a husband and wife discussing new furniture for their home. “And Te’Zsing, you have reviewed the specs to ensure I won’t need the stasis chamber for jumps? I’m not convinced that....”

“P’Mela, I have reviewed them several times. I am convinced that you can travel safely without the stasis chamber. I have also requested and reviewed data from other fleet ships which use this technology. Nearly the entire fleet is now equipped with this technology. And there has been no reported side affects.” Te’Zsing answered soothingly.

“With what I have seen and heard recently, Te’Zsing, that is little comfort.” P’Mela added under her breath. When the ship started to ask what she meant, she interrupted him and changed the subject. “Te’Zsing you are correct. I have been away too long. Please prepare my bathing pool. I have a lot of reading to do and nowhere better than to sit in my pool. Please see to Issa’s needs. She has access to all records except my personal logs, of course. She has my full confidence and trust.” With that said, P’Mela suddenly ducked through the nearest door and was gone. Issa was caught off guard on the other side of the command room, looking at science consoles. By the time she saw the movement and moved around the perimeter of the center chair and consoles, the hallway was already dimming.

“Ship, location of the captain. Directions!” ordered Issa. The console nearest her lit up and a diagram showed the way. She nearly broke into a run, catching up with P’Mela just as she was about to enter her private quarters. She insisted on checking security of the room, something P’Mela had grown accustomed to, though she explained just how secure her private ship really was. As the Appian watched the large water pool fill, P’Mela had begun to undress. Then in the Draskan fashion - desert people understand the need for water sharing - P’Mela invited Issa to bathe along with her. The look of surprise on the Appian face made P’Mela burst out laughing. She then explained the Draksan sharing and the Appian apologized for her shocked behavior.

“Issa, we all have customs that make us seem....racist...or judgmental of others. I don’t think even the best of us can rid ourselves of each thought. I’m sure you are aware of D’Nel’s.....displeasure at someone tasting his k’nafa before he does.” The Appian female seemed surprised but then her two jaws clicked in merriment when P’Mela added “But then he doesn’t like it when I sip from his cup either.”

Issa’s laughing faded and she seem to think on something for a moment. Then she undressed as P’Mela did and slipped into the other end of the bathing pool. P’Mela slipped a data crystal into the tiny slot next to the pool, leaned back against her pool cushion and started reviewing files. Issa took in every detail of the room and the woman as she listened to the occasional Sonjon voice on the data crystal. She noticed how intially P’Mela seem to relax. The lines around her eyes and across her forehead seem to disappear. But as the data continued to flow across the small display, the lines returned.

Issa jumped when P’Mela suddenly snapped “Tell me about the shielded antimatter pulse mines and the axial transmitters!” Issa knew she had been out manuevered. The Draksan female had gotten her off world, alone, and onto her own private ship, into a warm pool of water and relaxed, then pounced. With only a moment of hesitation, Issa told her everything she knew about the technology. P'Mela reclined back and closed her eyes, listening to every word the Appian said.

Te'Zsing listened and recorded, just as P'Mela had instructed him to do as she lightly touched the last console inside the command room.

 

[Scarlett O'Hara]

It was well after dusk, and in the midst of torrential rains, when P'Mela and Issa arrived back at Command Headquarters. P'Mela checked the locators and found that D'Nel was in the amphi-theatre giving in the inbriefing for all the new officers assigned to his Alae.

She slipped into the back of the large arena and sat in the darkened back row and listened for several minutes. Two things she noticed; firstly, he knew his data and could answer the officers' questions succintly and secondly, he appeared to be extremely bored.

Pulling the console out from the seat back in front of her, she quickly keyed in her question and submitted it. Then sat back and waited. Each person's question was filtered to the podium in the order received. It was about ten minutes before her question was queued for him.

"Our next question is from......" he began and then abruptly stopped. She watched him from the dark back row and noticed that as he read her question, the small smile started and ended with him looking up and around the amphi-theatre. But it was too dark even for his Draksan eyes to spot her. Still smiling he said simply "About an hour." and then queued his next question, the smile still playing around his lips. P'Mela slipped out of the nearest door and with Issa in step with her, she made her way home.

He was home in 55 minutes!

 

[FoxyShalimar]

Anglianan and Dinam

Aglianan was watching the children as they played when Dinam softly touched her shoulder and gestured for Aglianan to follow her. Aglianan looked at Zak and Lovan, who were engaged in a obviously serious discussion, then turned and followed Dinam into what appeared to be some type of room or shrine.

In the middle of the room there was an altar and atop the altar were 3 colored stones, one blue, one yellow and one red. The light in the room seemed to come from the various stones mounted in the walls, light without glare.

“Aglianan, I overheard Zak and Lovan talk about how your training progresses” Dinam started “and it seems that you need to focus a bit more”

Aglianan bowed her head and a soft “Yes” came from her lips. She didn’t like the fact that the Boro’Ank was discussing her short comings with someone else but her.

“Don’t get angry Aglianan” Dinam said “Zak is on old friend of Lovan so no shame is put upon you, merely Zak’s way of getting advice on how to help you.” Aglianan’s head came up and she looked into Dinam eyes and Dinam laughed softly, the sound like little crystal bells.

“But that’s not the point, my friend. The reason I brought you into my small shrine, is because I may know something that will help you achieve that point of focus in battle.” Aglianan looked a bit puzzled. From what she had seen in the data crystal, the Auroran’s were not a Warrior race.

“I see the doubt in your eyes, let me show you” Dinam said.

Dinam kneeled in front of the altar and she invited Aglianan to do the same.

”Now clear your mind of everything else but your battle maneuvers but keep your eyes open and focused on the alter,” Dinam continued as Aglianan did as she was asked.

Dinam nodded “Yes, good, exactly like that” her voice became softer and she continued once again. ”Now concentrate on the 3 stones on the altar with me.”

As Aglianan joined Dinam in concentrating on the 3 stones, they elevated, stopping in mid air and beginning to rotate, while the rest of the room seemed to fade into nothingness.

”Very good young Boro’Sug,” Dinam’s voice sounded as if it were coming from a far distance, ”Now focus on the aspects you wish to improve, recognize your mistakes and correct them with the best response” Dinam continued once again.

Aglianan went over her exercise with the Boro’Ank as if she were someone else and suddenly her mistakes became clear in her mind. She knew what she had been doing wrong and she knew how to avoid doing those same things again. Aglianan was in this state for quite a while when she heard Dinam’s voice in her mind saying, “It’s time to come back now Aglianan”.

The room reappeared and the stones stopped rotating and slowly floated back down onto the altar. “You can use this exercise to review your own actions and improve, or find some peace of mind if that is what is needed, ” Dinam explained to her. Then she continued, “You did very good for your first time Aglianan, I found that I hardly had to help you.” Aglianan thought she noticed a hint of pride in Dinam’s voice, but then she quickly thought that she was imagining it.

Slowly Aglianan got up and said to Dinam, “I really found that I let myself go, ” she said “and I think it would be of great help to me when the war starts. It is a shame I don’t have the stones and altar on my Demon”. Dinam looked at Aglianan, turned around, and went to the far side of the room where she opened a door Aglianan had not noticed, and took a small box from behind the door. She walked back to Aglianan, saying “I would like you to have this gift so you can take it with you wherever you go”

Aglianan took the box from Dinam and opened it. In the box was a cloth with Auroran writing on it and when she opened the cloth she found 3 stones in it. She looked up and stared at Dinam, her eyes full of surprise.

”You can’t take an altar with you Aglianan, but if you put the cloth on something that would replace the altar and the stones on the cloth, you can do this exercise anywhere,” Dinam explained. Aglianan closed the box and put it down like it contained the most valuable treasure in the universe. She stood in front of Dinam and bowed her head, “I don’t know how to thank you for this gift Dinam, but to offer to you my friendship and eternal loyalty”

Dinam just bowed to Aglianan and smiled. “Now let’s go back to main room”

When Aglianan and Dinam came back Zak looked up and noticed a change in Aglianan. While his eyes wandered down he noticed the box in her hands.

 

[Scarlett O'Hara]

Two weeks after P'Mela's trip to Te'Zsing

Originally posted by Cnaeus Valerius
...“Shielded pulse mines? Around an agg-world?” I glanced over to P’Mela. The Chief of Staff was the only being short of the Emperor with the authority to deploy such mines and their status and location was reported each morning to P’Mela. Her cheeks glowed with a flush of anger and the expression on her face hinted at an unpleasant death for someone.....................

“I think I should take a closer look at that Agg world…there is no reason why it should be so heavily protected.” I tapped a few commands into the control station and pulled up the sector nav chart. I frowned when I saw all the agricultural planets in the sector were tagged with “military only” access indicators. How fortunate for me that I commanded a military starship. “Preparations for the invasion are going smoothly enough and the Sonjon Glory is due to go out for gunnery practice in a few weeks anyway.”......

Originally posted by Scarlett O’Hara
The General was strange, especially for a Draksan. Always passionate, she had taken on the entire Command Headquarter’s staff just last week over the exclusion of Appians from the building. And once winning the battle to have them admitted like any other Sonjon citizen to non-classified offices, she then took on the Shahidan to have passes issued for classified areas for those who were bodyguards for herself and Admiral Ghar. P’Aylie shook her head again. The things she had seen and read during the brief time she had worked for P’Mela was enough to scare even a Draksan.

Originally posted by Scarlett O’Hara
...Issa jumped when P’Mela suddenly snapped “Tell me about the shielded antimatter pulse mines and the axial transmitters!” Issa knew she had been out manuevered. The Draksan female had gotten her off world, alone, and onto her own private ship, into a warm pool of water and relaxed, then pounced. With only a moment of hesitation, Issa told her everything she knew about the technology. P'Mela reclined back and closed her eyes, listening to every word the Appian said. Te'Zsing listened and recorded, just as P'Mela had instructed him to do as she lightly touched the last console inside the command room.

P’Mela ran her fingers through her hair and sighed deeply in frustration as she looked at the large THD, still checking warship placements throughout the empire. From the smaller display behind her, P'Aylie sighed “General, I don’t see more than 4 possible common denominators in this.” P'Mela stepped back and looked at a smaller display, both shaking their heads at the results.

“And I don’t think going back another 3 months would yield any other obvious possibilities. Our answer must be here!” P’Mela declared. Then she indicated that the two should have k’nafa and focused on others things for a while.

They two had been going back in 3 months increments and cataloging information on the assassinations which plaqued the j’Sonjon homeworld, Ch’chockpi. So far they had been able to place most victims in one of 4 categories, with several victims not seemingly fitting any kind of pattern. But P’Mela was sure the assassinations were related to the other disturbing things she was seeing and hearing. And her instinct told her if they could figure out the common denominators in the assassinations, that she would have some people to investigate.

“We have to talk!” D’Nel said behind them. P’Mela smiled as she turned around but the smile faded as she saw the look on D’Nel’s face and the anger in his body pose. P’Aylie quickly dismissed herself, pulling the door closed behind her.

“What’s wrong?” P’Mela asked as the door was closing. As soon as the door was firmly closed, D’Nel exploded in anger, his voice harsh and raised.

“I just found out about your trip with Issa to your ship in spacedock. I know you, P’Mela. That trip was to get information from her.”

“Yes.” P’Mela yelled back. “Yes it was to get information. I need to know everything I can about what is going on. She is my bodyguard afterall. Is she not?”

“I plan on rotating your security detail so that they do not become attached to you.” D’Nel threatened in his anger, cringing at the very words as he spoke them. He'd never jeopardize her over an argument, but he was as frustrated as she over the dead-in of his own investigations.

“I didn’t ask for your help, D’Nel. Take the Appians back.” P’Mela turned away from him and stared at the THD.

"F'anck! I'm not taking your security detail away, P'Mela. It was a hollow threat. And you know it! But damn it!" He hit his fist against something hard and shook his head. This woman was so frustrating. "P'Mela, I know you and you were trying to get information about Appian technology. What you do with that knowledge is my concern. They have sovereign rights!" His blue eyes were intent on her, trying to determine if she would trust him and tell him the truth. He wasn't surprised when she stood proudly and gave back as well as she received!

"Yes, I wanted to know about the situation with axial transmitters. I even had my ship record the entire conversation so I could have him analyze it!" she snapped as harshly. "But upon our closer examination, I realized that the technology is indeed unique to Appians and thus under the j'Sonjon Empire Constitution it is their sole property. I deleted the information from my ship's computer."

He was just about to say something when the first explosion ripped through the building, sending a wall of concussed air through her office, along with fragments of everything in its path and a large fireball behind that. A large piece of structural wall began moaning in its own pain, as it began to cave inward.

A structural ceiling beam roared and D'Nel dove for her, grabbing around her waist and sending them skidding on their sides across the floor, to an abrupt stop under the large conference room table in the far side of her office. As he listened to the screaming and moaning of the wall slowly pulling in on top of them, he quickly accessed her injuries. She was bleeding from a variety of small schrapnel scrapes and seem to have dislocated a shoulder.

The building rumbled with additional explosions, some rippling only microseconds apart and with each one they could hear the screams of more Sonjon military people. They felt the pressure of more debris falling on the conference table. Both pushed, trying to force the table up and off themselves, feeling several strong hands pull them from the rubble.

D’Nel was yelling orders at the Appians. Issa, though badly injured herself, was carrying P’Aylie who appeared to be critically hurt. Together they began to push their way through the building. They stayed just ahead of the collapsing building as subsequent explosions ripped through Command Headquarters. The screaming of injured and the ripping screeching sounds of secondary explosions blocked all other sounds. The walking injured were quickly pulled into their group and all of them together pushed through to the next floor down. Their progress was slow and painful, finding most of their fellow officers dead.

Both D'Nel and P'Mela were thinking to “I’ll kill who ever is responsible for this! Slowly and painfully."

By the time they had dug down to the first floor through mountains of debris, their group contained fewer than 40 survivors out of nearly 4000 assigned to the building! D'Nel and the Appians kept trying to dig through piles of debris looking for others but P'Mela knew it was hopeless. The building was little more than a shell of smoldering and flaming seen everywhere.

D’Nel saw the outside light streaming through what had been the front wall earlier and thought “It’s not raining for a change!” P'Mela was wondering how explosives could have been gotten into one of the most fortified buildings on the entire planet. But that was their last thoughts before another large explosion ripped through the shell of the building.

 

[Zack Ryan]

When Aglianan and Dinam came back Zak looked up and noticed a change in Aglianan. She seemed more relaxed and while his eyes wandered down he noticed the box she was carrying and he smiled to himself, recognizing the size and shape and thinking of his old, chipped and faded set, which he might even give up his life for. Again he found himself studying her closely, not analytically, but as the person beneath her flight suit. He felt many conflicted feelings for her, P’Mela being foremost in his mind, yet with Aglianan intruding often. He finished speaking with Lovan, suggesting some relaxation before they left to return.

As they sat with the Aurorans and watched as they indulged their children, Zak kept stealing glances at Aglianan and then mentally slapping himself. His feelings were so inconsistent he did not know which way he wished to go. Standing suddenly he ordered the Boro’Sug to prepare for the return flight. As she stood she said some private words to Dinam, who smiled and bowed her head once. Lovan and Zak parted with Zak thanking Lovan for his valuable information and Lovan thanking Zak for the honor of his visit.

As the two Copani entered their ships, the Boro’Ank hailed the Boro’Sug and told her that they would be practicing battle techniques on the return trip. The Boro’Sug smiled, planning on fooling him on the way back.

Zak, once they were off planet and flying again called Boro’Sug. “Aglianan, from now on whenever we are on planet you need to call me Zak and I will address you as Aglianan. It’s absolutely necessary that you do that so we can avoid discovery. Aglianan responded, “Understood Zak.” Then he heard his target alarms go off and his killed light flash. She had beaten him handily on that exercise and he deserved it. He shut his mind off to anything but combat then, and was beaten several more times until he saw yet another pattern she had fallen into. It took her 4 more times before she realized what was happening and then she beat the Boro’Ank 5 times in a row.

When they finally landed aboard the great ship, they both felt that they had been in combat with a master. Zak walked up to Aglianan and congratulated her on an excellent exercise; she bowed her head in humble acceptance. “I do hope the cubes helped you Aglianan, they have been helping me for over 700 years, ever since I met Lovan and Dinam ancestors.”

Her mouth dropped open and then she began to smile, “You took me there with the intention of me being presented with the cubes, didn’t you Zak?” Nodding yes, he told her of their plans for that night. “Now, go get ready. I will be at your cabin in 1 hour’s time. Zak turned then, leaving Aglianan standing there, thinking of the evening yet to come. Finally she turned and headed back to her cabin, to shower, and dress for the evening.

 

[Zack Ryan]

Zak was dressed in casual clothing, worn, faded Levi’s, comfortable loafers and light blue golf shirt and, fortified with several Diet Barq’s to make his skin coloring a normal looking hue, he pressed the call button on Aglianan’s cabin. The door slid open and she stood there and her visage made his visages of her under her flight suit fade into the background.

She stood before him, framed in the doorway, wearing a black leather mini skirt, her legs long and shaped perfectly. Her upper body was covered with a black fabric tank top and a sheer white lace blouse, tied at the bottom. She wore black leather heels and black stockings, which not only gave her legs definition, but exuded sex. Her hair was long and hung just past her shoulders, very much like P'Mela’s.

He felt a stirring in his body and smiled at her, “You are beautiful Aglianan, and will probably cause me untold grief everywhere we go tonight. But I’ll worry about that, let’s go and just enjoy a night off, tomorrow it’s back to work.” They left then, Zack walking behind her, watching her hips moving and her legs propelling her. “Yes,” he thought to himself, “a great deal of trouble tonight”

They set the shuttle down and quickly disembarked, Zack quickly touched a stud on his watch and the shipped lifted and cloaked at the same time, coming to rest on the roof of the building above Zack’s apartment. It used a partial anti-gravity device to keep it from falling through the building and into the ground.

When he opened the door to the apartment the stale air rushing out almost gagged him and he rushed in and turned the A/C on high. Aglianan stepped in and he saw her nose wrinkle at the odor. Turning to her he asked her if she was hungry and did she want to eat. Answering yes, she’d like some of those long things in the soft container. Thinking to himself, he took her hand and pulled her out of the apartment and headed to the carport.

His car was there, still covered in the tarp. They got in and headed towards the nearest Taco Bell. As they walked in and up to the counter a table, with 3 men sitting at it, erupted into whistles, some rather lewd comments and threats. Zack sighed to himself and whispered to Aglianan, “First problem of the evening, I’m afraid. I’ll deal with it, but maybe we need to get you clothes that are a bit more conservative. OH, and I’ll be calling you Aggie in public. Aglianan is a very beautiful Copani name, but much too foreign for these people.”

Zack turned to the men and noticed that they were large and rather rough looking. Stepping up to the table, Zack lowered his voice and said, “Gentlemen, I see you have an interest in my lady friend there. How much cash do you have on you?” They looked at each other, smiled broadly and dug into their pants. “$147.00,” the closest one answered. Zack nodded and invited the men outside and that he would be right along with her. They practically fell in the aisle as they hurried from the restaurant. Zack nodded to Aglianan and exited after them. They were together just out of the light and when they saw him they started to talk and laugh. When they saw he was alone they lost their good humor and became angry. Zack waited, knowing his superior strength would prevail but not really wanting to fight. “UH, gentlemen, the lady said, “Go to Hell. NO, that’s not quite right, she said ‘Go to Hell, Assholes!”

The largest of the three moved in straight at Zack, the other two from the sides. Zack looked side to side, appearing to panic and then went straight at the one in the center, smashing his fist into the man’s nose, hearing a satisfying crunch as he connected. The man howled in pain and Zack turned towards the one on his right, kicking out as the man rushed him, connecting with the mans chest, hearing a soft cracking sound and the rush of air as his lungs were violently emptied. He felt a fist crash into his back where, if he hadn’t been who and what he was, would have felled him instantly. Instead he just staggered and turned, taking the man by the neck and lifting him off the ground. Walking slowly over to the dumpster, he opened the lid and deposited his trash. Then he got the other two and did the same to them. Knowing they could get out and cause more trouble he saw it was a locking trash bin. Looking around, he found a discarded hanger and cinched down the lid. Walking back into the Taco Bell he saw her sitting with a large tray of food and two Super Size drinks. Sitting down he said to her, “Well, our first problem has come and gone. I guess we need to see how many more we can attract before the night is over.

They sat and ate their burritos, tacos and tostadas and talked, getting to know about each other, she about her unerring aptitude for piloting the fighters, he about some of the humorous things that a Royal has to put up with, until they decided to move on. “Next stop is just up the street, a little club that plays music that I find rather soothing. Knowing that anything was possible, they drove the short two blocks to the “LV Blues and Jazz Club” and parked a few doors up the street. As they walked into the club several heads turned, and Zack knew there would be another problem, but probably not until they left, so he sat her down at a table and decided to enjoy himself until he had to face the next group of idiots.

 

[Cnaeus Valerius]

Meanwhile on Ch'chockpi

* * * Personal Log, Fleet Lieutenant T’Mot Phan, IFS Sonjon Glory * * *

Today I captained a starship in battle for the first time and was awarded the Imperial Cross by the WarMaster General of the Empire herself! A’Rel was insanely jealous – she absolutely worships the WarMaster General. Perhaps at dinner tonight we might see both the General and Admiral Ghar and I could introduce A’Rel to the General…

I keep playing everything over in my mind, trying to find some reason for it all.

“Lieutenant Phan...sensors are detecting launch transients in orbit...” The engineering technician at the main console looked up at me in confusion.

“Are you sure you aren’t seeing ghosts from the sensor diagnostic?” I asked in a cool professional tone as was befitting the officer in the command chair...even if the ship was currently docked for resupply and routine maintenance.

“Yes sir. I just finished the diagnostic and was doing some test sweeps with the main array.” The technician looked down at the controls in front of him and frowned. After a moment the main display flickered to life and the images from the sensor log were displayed. A small surge of energy appeared for and instant and then vanished.

“The characteristic flaw of Sonjon cloaking shields is the inability to completely mask any sort of launch…the question is why would a Sonjon Naval vessel be cloaked above Ch’chockpi?” Dac-Vel drummed his fingers on his console and hissed through his multiple jaws in a thoughtful Appian manner.

“I think a better question is: what did they launch?” I glanced over at Dac and he hissed thoughtfully again. “Raise Orbital Control and see if they know of any ship scheduled to…”

“Incoming emergency message from the WarMaster General’s security team…and the Admiral’s team as well!” Dac listened intently to the message coming through his headphone. His jaws parted in the Appian expression of shock. “There have been major explosions at the Military Headquarters building!”

“Detecting more launch transients!”

“Signal Battle Stations!” I slapped the comm panel and called up Engineering as the bridge pressure doors slid shut to the blaring sound of the klaxons. A’Rel was there instantly. By all that is Holy she has the prettiest eyes of any woman alive…a strange thought given what was going on at the time, but even under the combat lighting her eyes looked so blue…anyway…I asked her if the engines had been brought back on line yet.

“They are still cold, T’Mot, but as long as we don’t need to go into warp I can give you all the power that you will need.” Before she cut the signal she whispered with more than a hint of mischief in her eyes, “And don’t think you can use some little battle to get out of dinner! The Admiral and the WarMaster General fought off a dozen assassins and they still had dinner.”

“More explosions at the Headquarters building!” Dac cut through whatever momentary reverie might have begun at that point and looked at me with panic in his eyes. “I’ve lost the signal from both security teams!”

 

[Cnaeus Valerius]

Personal Log, FLT LT T'Mot Phan continued...

“What is Orbital Control directing?” I turned to T’Rei, the Comm Officer, who was busy cursing under her breath and punching her console. Someone must have been jamming the comm channels. I knew T’Rei would find a way to break through the jamming, but I also knew if I questioned her on it she would most likely throw something at me. People from the Eastern Continent on Draska were famed for their tempers. I turned instead to Dac who still seemed to be in shock at his console. “Dac-Vel They probably aren’t jamming all the Appian frequencies. Get the nearest troopship to enter orbit and send down as many engineers and medics as they have. The Admiral needs help down there.”

“Aye, sir ” Dac shook off whatever he had been feeling with a sharp click of his jaws. He rattled off a string of Appian phrases too quickly for me to follow more than general concepts. I hoped the entire Alae would not be arriving in orbit around the planet soon.

“Lieutenant, the Te’Zsing is powering up engines and weapons systems, but I don’t…” The engineering technician stared at the display in front of him in confusion. The Te’Zsing was no doubt showing up on the scanners as having no crew.

“The Te’Zsing is an older model with an extremely autonomous main computer. The ship is probably reacting to protect the WarMaster General.” I suddenly recalled the Admiral’s stern warning not to let anything happen to the Te’Zsing. I tapped the comm panel and brought up Docking Control and Engineering. “Cut the docking tractors and make ready for best possible speed. Helm, set course for the last known location of the launch transients.”

Amid a chorus of acknowledgments a bell sounded to signal the release of the docking tractor beams. The deck vibrated slightly as the engines unleashed the energy needed to get the Sonjon Glory underway. The THD sprang to life and a steadily growing red sphere marked the volume of space that might have contained our target. I noticed no other ships in orbit were making any move toward the sphere.

“I have punched through some of their jamming routines. None of the other vessels in orbit have detected any launch transients. They only know something has happened on the planet’s surface.” T’Rei looked up at the THD and scowled at the symbol representing the Te’Zsing. “The WarMaster General’s ship is coming through clear enough though.”

“Inform the Te’Zsing to take up station at a position along the Estimated Location Sphere along a ninety degree angle planetside to our own. And do it nicely T’Rei.” She sighed but relayed the message about as politely as I expected. Those old ships become notoriously over-protective of their crews if the main computers were not reformatted periodically. Although too many lives have been saved by an over-protective ship for anyone to seriously consider following the reformatting routine. Over-protective though the Te’Zsing may have been, the ship still possessed the logical reasoning of one of the finest computers ever designed. My plan was good one and the WarMaster General’s ship altered course.

“The jamming patterns have shifted ” T’Rei took deadly offense to the initiative of her opposite on board the cloaked vessel. “We have lost contact with the Te’Zsing.”

“Put the Te’Zsing up on the Main Screen. The ship’s computer may try to send us a message using Flash Code.” I thought it was just the sort of thing The Admiral would do if he were sitting in the command chair. Of course Admiral Ghar would most likely have also known Flash Code. I thought perhaps T’Rei might know it...if I could get her to stop cursing the comm officer on board the other ship long enough to look up at the Main Screen.

“You know, she almost reminds of my mother when she gets like that.” Dac whispered from his console while motioning toward T’Rei. His jaws clicked in Appian laughter. “Except my mother doesn’t know so many curses.”

“You’re not helping Dac.”

“Sorry T’Mot.” Dac assumed a more dignified posture, although his jaws were still clicking quietly for a few moments. “A troopship will be arriving in approximately seven minutes.”

“The troopship will end up a debris field if we don’t find that cloaked ship before it gets here.” I sat back in the command chair and tried to puzzle out what to do. The red sphere had grown larger and continued grow with every passing second. I glanced over at the image of the Te’Zsing. “What is the Te’Zsing doing?”

 

[Zack Ryan]

After they ordered drinks, Zack suggesting White Wine as the best tasting and the one that seems the least invasive on his nervous system, they continued to talk about their pasts. He found himself more and more attracted to her human self, not just her looks, although that would be enough to set off any male’s lust alarms, but to her brains and personality as well. They talked for almost 2 hours, occasionally being interrupted by men who wished to dance with Aggie, but she would turn them down politely and then return to their conversation. Zack learned about her family, her life, the betrayal that put her in stasis, and she learned about him, his family and what set him off on his 700 year long quest.

Finally he paid the tab and they got up to leave. As they were almost to their cars, he heard footfalls behind them, then she heard them. She had taken his arm, as she had seen other couples do and she squeezed his arm and signaled that she was ready. Aglianan felt arms go around her, low on her hips and high on her chest, and Zack was shoved forward. To her credit, Aggie yelled in protest and fought, but not too hard. Taking them off guard had been stupid on their part, but they more than made up for it in the next minute or so.

Because they were pretty much alone on the street, Zack told Aggie to revert, which they did instantly. As they moved to their full height, the man holding Aglianan let go of her. She pivoted and picked him up by the neck and threw him against the side of the building. Zack had grabbed the other two, who had just stood there and stared at the golden giant. Holding them up, he tossed both, one at a time, through the window of the shop they were standing next to, setting off the alarm. Aglianan picked up the one she had tossed and pitched him through the window as well and then they both grabbed the clothing that had fallen off, reverted and jumped into the car. Zack started the engine and glanced over at Aggie, who sat there oblivious to the fact that she was nude, but then so was he. He quickly turned down a side street and stopped between two buildings.

“You better get dressed Aggie. She looked down and quickly pulled on her skirt and top, the tank top lost and probably left on the street where they had been confronted. He pulled on his shirt and Levis, and then his shoes. He looked over at her and pulled her over the split seat and kissed her. “Would you like to go back to my apartment Aggie?”

Aglianan, knowing what was coming and wanting it desperately, nodded yes slowly. Starting the car, he sped to his apartment and, because they felt the same emotions and feelings as a human in this guise, and because Zack refused to revert to Copani, feeling that having sex in this way kept him from cheating on P’Mela. He took her hand as they entered the, leading her to the bedroom. A few hours later, as he woke and felt her laying in his arms, breathing softly into his neck, he realized that he was ready to make love once again, so he gently roused Aglianan and they made love once, twice, maybe three more, times that morning.

 

[Cnaeus Valerius]

Personal Log, FLT LT T'Mot Phan continued...

“He’s singing to me…”

“What?” I glanced over to T’Rei and saw her staring with a sense of wonder at the display in front of her. On the screen the Te’Zsing was still firing energy weapons into the sphere. “Who is?”

“Te’Zsing. I broke through their jamming again and he started singing to me. He has a marvelous voice.” T’Rei frowned a moment and puzzled at something on her display. Dac motioned with his hands to signal she must have lost her mind. I signaled for him to stop before she saw him. T’Rei looked up from her console with a grin. “He is using the singing to keep the channel open. Their wide field jammers don’t have enough power to block it and if they use their localized jammers we can track them. Te’Sing has masked a secondary signal within the primary. We should be able to communicate with him on it.”

“Him? The ship?”

“Yes, with a voice like that…”

“I get the picture. Open a channel with…ah…him then and lets see what he is doing.” I leaned over to Dac and whispered. “Who would know better how to hunt a starship than an intelligent starship?”

“Valid point…” Dac nodded his head and hissed thoughtfully. Appians loved to hunt and enjoyed watching master hunters at work.

“It is about time you asked for my advice.” Te’Zsing spoke in what I thought sounded almost like a petulant tone of voice. “Your suggestion to form a two ship entrapment proves you have some common sense. I have not yet had time to fully analyze your hull design. Do you have enough missile batteries to perform a respectable saturation spread?”

“A saturation spread? Not for an area this large…” I glanced at the red sphere in the THD and made a rough estimate. “Perhaps half that volume in a loose spread…”

“That much? I need to make a more serious study of your starship.” Te’Zsing paused for moment and then a tactical plot appeared on the small display panel near the command chair. It was a standard envelopment pattern designed to force a cloaked target into a known portion of space. In this case the target would be forced toward Te’Zsing.

“Are you sure?” I asked the small starship. In response my display was suddenly filled with a streaming list of combat victories. Dac chortled gleefully over my shoulder. I looked up from the display. “He seems to be sure. Weapons, fire all forward missile batteries. Envelopment Pattern Five, half second intervals.”

“Aye, sir.”

The small streamers of light on the THD were the only signs that we had opened fire. A patchwork of explosions burst to life along the outer surface of the sphere. The next series of explosions appeared closer to Te’Zsing. The third series of explosions drew fragmented transmissions from Orbital Control. They probably wanted us to cease firing since they did not know what we were doing.

Unless they were somehow involved in the attack. Then they woudl want us to cease fire so the ship could escape.

I do not know what made me think that. I still do not know. Perhaps it was their complete lack of initiative?

The fourth series of explosions were something out of a textbook. The empty void of space suddenly shimmered and for a moment a Copani cruiser appeared on our screens, bracketed on either side by explosions. The cruiser vanished again after an instant, but the brief sighting was enough for Te’Zsing.

The small hunter-killer ship sprang toward the cruiser like a beast of prey. Energy weapons raked through space until they contacted with the shadowy outline of the cruiser. Our view was obscured briefly by the explosion of the fifth wave of missiles – the hemisphere of fire would no long advance and would keep Te’Zsing’s prey from turning and running. When the flash faded I saw the Copani ship venting gases from her powerplant. There was a cloud of sparkling debris hovering near the ship on the side closest to the last round of explosions. The outline of the ship was now clear.

“It cannot be…” Dac stared, all his jaws hanging open in shock. They snapped shut suddenly and he bared his fangs. “It can not be!”

The ship was a Copani-class cruiser. An Appian Copani-class cruiser.

“Cease fire!” I yelled at the Weapons Officer as the sixth round of explosions rocked the Appian vessel. Why would an Appian ship attack the Military Headquarters building?

 

[Cnaeus Valerius]

Personal Log, FLT LT T'Mot Phan continued...

“They do not answer any of my hails…” Dac scowled at his displays, “and I see no signs of an Appian transponder signal.”

“T’Rei, try to raise them on a standard frequency…” A warning tone interrupted me and I quickly turned to the pale-faced engineering technician.

“They are firing their siege cannon at us sir!”

“Sound collision and brace for impact!” I shot a quick glance at the ship’s defensive status with only a skeleton crew aboard we had no defensive systems operator. The Sonjon Glory had automatically powered up most of her defensive systems when we went to battle stations. We lacked the power for full combat speed so we were an easy target. Fortunately the Appians had upgraded our shields when they installed their cloaking device.

The deck trembled ominously as impact energy leaked through our shields. The leakage was minimal for now, but the shields were being steadily drained. We could not move out of the way and that meant my only option was to stand and fight.

“All weapons return fire. Concentrate all firepower on the forward sections of the cruiser.” I turned to Dac. “The siege cannon are all mounted along the central axis…”

“That was a feature of the original j’SonJon design copied from the Copani. Appian shipbuilders relocated the siege cannon emitters in ventral and dorsal turrets.” Dac drummed his fingers as he hissed, seemingly oblivious to the increasingly energetic vibrations of the Sonjon Glory. “From this we may conclude two things. First, the vessel is not Appian but someone wishes it to appear to be so. Second, whoever that someone is has not seen an Appian vessel for some time – meaning they have not been near the Rim or any of the Imperial borders lately.”

“My thoughts exactly. The Admiral will want to talk with the crew of that vessel.” I glanced over to Dac and noticed he seemed somewhat pale. “Are you okay Dac?”

“I’ve heard stories…”

“Te’Zsing is coming around for another pass at the enemy vessel!” The engineering technician prevented me from asking Dac what stories he had heard. On the THD Te’Zsing was moving on a course at right angles to ours and would soon be facing the port side of the enemy. I wondered what the mad little starship was doing positioning himself in a place where he could be subjected to a full broadside.

“Excellent work Sonjon Glory! Keep them busy just a little longer…” Te’Zsing’s voice suddenly called over the open comm channel.

“Put him on the main viewer and magnify the image to fill the screen.” The hunter-killer ship appeared on the display as ordered and the picture cleared showed lines of cooling fins in various locations on the ship glowing red-hot against the darkness of space. Te’Zsing was apparently priming several weapons for firing.

“What is he waiting for?” Dac whispered, apparently concerned the ship would overhear him. The deck lurched violently beneath us and my comm panel lit up to show a very worried A’Rel.

“T’Moc, the siege cannon are causing our shields to put too much of a drain on the engines. We cannot keep up with the recharge rate.” She glanced down as something on her display panel flashed red. “Our shields are down to fifty percent…we will start taking damage when they get down to twenty-five percent…”

“Enemy shields have collapsed!”

“A’Rel, take the NPL batteries off-line and redirect the energy to the shields. With Te’Zsing’s help we should be able to finish them off with energy weapons alone.” I looked up when someone gasped. The were not many ships with enough power to employ constant beam weapons, but Te’Zsing appeared to be one of them. Lances of energy lashed out from the hunter-killer ship and simply sliced off sections of the cruiser’s hull. Te’Zsing was as efficient as any predator eviscerating its prey and soon what had been a cruiser was nothing more than a collection of debris.

“Thank you for the assist, Sonjon Glory. You did well.” Te’Zsing’s cheery voice spoke to a stunned crew. “I suggest you gather up the escape pods quickly and bring the prisoners down to the planet before anyone notices.”

When an Appian assualt shuttle arrived several minutes later, Dac, A'Rel, T'Rei, and I were ordered to report to the planet's surface and report to the WarMaster General at the temporary Headquarters building. The shuttle was nearly filled by Appian infantryman, but there were just enough empty spaces for the four of us and our six j'SonJon prisoners...

 

[Scarlett O'Hara]

Meanwhile on the planet Ch'chock'pi

P’Mela, in considerable pain from her dislocated shoulder, along with D’Nel and the group of about 40 survivors were about to exit the bomb ravaged building when another explosion rippled close behind them. At D’Nel’s order, Surl-Than slung P’Mela across his shoulders and began to run as fast as he could away from the collapsing building complex. Another Appian male snatched P’Aylie as another Appian grabbed Issa. All of them ran. P’Mela looked back and saw D’Nel directing many of the survivors back towards the building and screamed NOOOOOO D’NEL, DON’T! PLEASE DON‘T She lost sight of him disappearing into the dust cloud of collapsing debris just as she passed out from the pain of her shoulder.

Strange clicking sounds pressed through her disorientation and she sat up too quickly. Bluish-green hands, each with 7 fingers, each finger with suction cup like tips, steadied her. P’Mela looked up and gasped at the strange alien next to her. IT was a Charitim. She had heard of them, but never seen one. Fairly short and petite, large round heads with prominent ridges crossing over the top of the head from ear to ear. Not really an ear, more like a ruffled slit, and prominent eye ridges. From around a small mouth hung long skinny apendages, much like fleshy whiskers. Charit was a fairly new world to the empire. Located on deep space rim near the Auroran border. The Charitims were reportedly empathic, thus making excellent Healers since they could sense the pain centers in other sentient life forms.

“Where are my Attache and Body Guard?” P’Mela asked harshly.

“The Draksan military female is being seen to by a Draksan physician on staff.” The Charitim clicked and popped while the translator automatically communicated the proper Sonjon equivalent. “The Appian female is not being treated.” It added with no emotion. The Charitims were hermaphrodites, and preferred not to be called “he” or “she”, only “it”.

P’Mela jumped from the bed and demanded “Take me to the Appian female immediately!” The Charitim bowed slightly and led the way to the next room. There on side by side beds were P’Aylie and Issa. The Appians stood stoically around Issa while the doctors and nurses treated P’Aylie. “I want this woman attended to at once, Healer!” P’Mela ordered.

The popping and clicking sounds began and It looked agitated. “I can not!” answered the Charitim. “It is against Sonjon medical policy to treat anyone....anything not of the Empire.”

P’Mela reached quickly and snatched the side weapon from Surl-Than and placed it against the prominent eye ridge of the Charitim. “DO IT NOW. I am not inclined to be lenient today, Charitim!” It looked at the Draksan female wearing a general’s uniform and hesitated.

“Healer, I would do as she demands. She doesn‘t like to be ignored!” replied a voice coolly from behind them. P’Mela dropped the weapon and turned quickly to stare at D’Nel standing there in his filthy uniform, a dozen tiny scratches bleeding. He smiled at her, and she ran the few feet and threw her good arm around his neck. He could hear her crying and felt her body sobbing as he wrapped his arms tightly around her. “Miss me?” he teased. P’Mela sobbed something into his shoulder and he pulled her tighter, softly speaking to only her.

In that instant, the empathic Charitim felt something strange and it’s head snapped around to stare at the two of them. Smiling softly, it turned and began to exam the Appian female, Issa.

“I thought I had lost you!” sobbed P’Mela as she felt D’Nel’s arms tighten around her.

“No. It was only a bombed out collapsing building. What could have gone wrong?” he teased a little more. Then he pushed her back gently and led her back to her examining room. He helped her out of her uniform jacket and made her lie back on the exam table. He held her hand and talked softly, telling her about Sonjon Glory and Te’Zsing subduing the cloaked ship. About half an hour went by when the Charitim came back into the room and began to exam her shoulder. The two of them were quiet as the bluish-green alien checked her closely.

“Did you know you’re in an extremely early stage of pregnancy?” asked It.

 

[Scarlett O'Hara]

Originally Posted by Zack Ryan
...Zack read a routine Auroran message about crop failures on two of their rim planets...The Auroran’s are a reptilian race who, on the surface, are a fearsome looking people, yet are as altruistic as the Copani and are new to space travel thanks to the Copani. They are a race of Farmers and Artists, their grains and vegetables sought after commodities throughout the regions of known space in which they are able to travel....“Te’Zsing, gather all information you can on food riots and civil unrest. Also all data you can gather on biological contagion that is attacking grains and vegetables on non Son’Jon agricultural planets.”

HIGHEST PRIORITY
File Code:3987ZR232399TeZsing789237233BR

Boro’Ank Zakrianan,

In regards to your above request, I have been unable to access the top secret j’Son’jon military files. A new encryption code is randomly cycled to prevent such unauthorized tampering. However, I have been monitoring tens of thousands of non-classified and routine transmissions such as crew letters to families, resupply requests, medical transactions and even transmissions to and from P’Mela’s planetside home. I will summarize my analysis though details will be included in the addendums.

1. The All Planetary Alliance [Appians] have been supplied with “Copani-class” ships for over 300 years by the Sonjon Military Directorate. Though these ships are state-of-the-art Sonjon engineering, hull configurations and ship identifiers will appear on tactical displays as Copani vessels. A very recent incident involved a “Copani-class” Appian ship destroyed by Sonjon vessels and shielded pulse mines, but it was reported through news agencies as a Copani incursion into Sonjon space. Circumstances are top secret and sketchy at this time.

I have, therefore, included herein “Copani” ship sightings and reported Copani war crimes over the last 300 years. If you would compare this information to your actual database, I suspect most or all were actually committed by Appians with Sonjon assistance, blaming the Copani Alliance.

I have also delved into Appian battle fatalities through war memorials and obituaries for the same period of time of 300 years. I suspect that Appians are, to use an archaic earth term, cannon fodder for the more elite Sonjon military.

2. I have intercepted a “Request for Medical Assistance” from the All Planetary Alliance to Sonjon Medical Services to combat a little known and virulent isogenic contagion which is affecting several dozen primitive colony worlds along the Appian/Sonjon frontier. This medical request has being sent hourly for as long as I have been tracking. To-date, no acknowledgement by the Sonjon Medical Services has been sent back to the Appians. From the details contained in the medical request, this contagion is causing miscarriages in early term Appian pregnancies as well as horrendous birth defects in late term deliveries. It appears to also affect the aged and infirmed Appian citizens through a disruption of their immune systems.

I do not understand why the Sonjon will not honor a request for medical assistance. The Appians are their long term allies. Humanoid behavior is still a mystery to me!

3. Though I cannot confirm civil unrest within the j’Son’jon Empire, I have included hundreds of crew letters in the addendum. You will note innocent remarks to their families including disallusionment over fighting other Sonjons or disbelief over the frequency of Sonjon deserters. A majority of these letters are from officers and crew aboard Sonjon warships assigned to “lesser” worlds within the Empire or along the border frontiers. Other letters I have included for your analysis include those from medical officers who are bewildered over the rate of starvation, strange illnesses and declining birth rates on Sonjon colonies near the rim.

Again, I am confused at how a rich and powerful empire experiences such things as starvation and illness!

4. I have reviewed communications to P’Mela and Admiral Ghar concerning shielded pulse mines around agricultural worlds. I include in the addendum, an analysis I performed for P’Mela which lists the current deployment of Sonjon warships around agg-worlds. Most of the deployments predate the promotions of the Shahidan, and both P’Mela and Admiral Ghar. Note that most of the deployments were at the orders of the previous Chief of Staff, who died under suspicious conditions approximately 4 months ago.

5. Confusing for me personally, is the current positioning of Draksans such as P’Mela and D’Nel in the Sonjon military and government agencies. Draksans account for only 1% of the racial diversity of the empire, yet Draksan officers and crew now comprise over 17% of the military and 8% of government appointments! I have been able to access personnel records and discovered that a great number of these assignments and appointments were approved by Lord N’Fan in the name of his cousin, Our Holy Emperor Vivek 12th. Though the Shahidan Aik Haw is Sonjon and is somewhat akin to a military governor, most of his power is delegated to 3 individuals: P’Mela as Chief of Staff; Admiral D’Nel Ghar as Chief of Fleet Operations and Intel; and Rajari Zaka as Chief of Military Administration. Therefore, the Sonjon military power rests in 2 Draksans and 1 Liatian. Liatians are fewer than Draksans within the Empire.

In conclusion, Boro’Ank, I wish to make some personal observations, if I may. I believe P’Mela and I have been gone from the j’Son’jon Empire for too long. We’ve seen too many alternative civilizations. Though my technology may be Sonjon originally, the upgrades to my systems have been culled from many different worlds. I believe we no longer belong here. There are many fine species within the empire, yet the predominant race of Sonjon rarely examine their motives. As most empires do, they continue to expand their borders and conquests. I believe they have long forgotten their motives and deceive even themselves. It is this self deception that makes them dangerous.

It is my hope that the many Draksans who now actively participate in the management aspects of the empire, may be their salvation from self destruction. Draksans are sentimental, passionate, highly intelligent and have a long history of high personal code of honor. Their patience and capacity for understanding is sadly lacking in the Sonjon species. I admit this is racist belief on my part. I hasten to add, however, that Draksans can be ruthless and determined when their families or way of life are threatened, thus bringing formidable powers to bear against their enemies. Thus the Copani and Aurorans must not discount their participation in the empire.

I have also watched and listened as P’Mela and Admiral Ghar have developed a special relationship. This may cause you concern, as it does me. He has great influence over her and has even changed her opinion of the Appians for whom he has a great respect. I am unsure of his history since personnel records of the WarMaster ranks are closely guarded and highly secured documents. But the Appians who serve with him call him “Warlord”.

I will continue my information gathering and forward anything of significance to you immediately.

Respectfully,
Te’Zsing

 

[Scarlett O'Hara]

File Code:3987ZR232399TeZsing789237233BR-Addendum

Boro'Ank Zakrianan,

I wish to include a brief synopsis of current Empire organization. It has changed drastically over the recent years since the coronation of Our Holy Emperor Vivek 12th.

The j'Sonjon Empire, in its Bill of Rights for Member Worlds, states that each planet retains its special rights of self-government, its individual freedoms and traditions. Primarily, these worlds are banned together for common defense and economies of size. The Emperor is its highest authority but the daily operations are divided among 5 Directorates, which are:

Veronis of State, Lord N'Fan controls the administration and operation of Medical Services and Research; Industry and Manufacturing; Farming and Agriculture; Education and Training; Import and Exports; and Labor Force Utilization.

Veronis of Finance, Lord Allega controls Accounting, Budgets, Banking, Insurance, and the Instellar Financial Markets.

Veronis of Legal Affairs, Lord Enri controls Police Forces, Lawyer Associations, Courts and Judges, Special Investigations, Prison Management, and a little known group called BL'Hala.

Veronis of Ambassadors, Lord Caliba oversees all ambassadorial functions including those of member worlds on Ch'chock'pi, and Sonjon ambassadors to other worlds; as well as conducting negotiations with prospective new member worlds.

Veronis of Military, otherwise known as Shahidan, is Lord Aik Haw. His daily responsibilities are delegated to Chief of Staff (P'Mela); Chief of Fleet Operations and Intel (D'Nel Ghar); and Chief of Military Administration (Rajari Zaka).


This new organization of the empire is most interesting. The power base seems to have been consolidated from 14 directorates into these large all-encompassing 5. Except for Lord Aik Haw, the other four Veronis positions are all cousins of the Emperor.