Phoenix War III

[Dartzap]

Darth Kreshna paused for a moment, then turned to Detritus, "what do you think, my jolly good friend? I think you have things to say as well regarding to this matter."

If we are to believe that this was the same kind of phsycic enery as we found on that planet, that means there are far more of them, that disturbence was stong enough to to shatter a warp storm, there would have to be millions to have caused such a energy spike.

The main question we have to ask ourself is this: Where are they now? and what are they up to?

DK turned to Lord Detritus again, "the funny thing was that Ambassador Namtaru never mentioned about their activity on the planet. Weird. Was he deliberately hiding the fact?"

I do not know. perhaps you could see if your staff could try and see if there any messeges to intercept? I have a doubt about that though. if he was feeling around via his brain powers.. does that mean he can do other things that way?

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

"Ah yes," Ra answered, finally bearing a light smile. "The request may seem a little strange, perhaps, but I needed to look into technology developed by the Sith; particularly, I wanted to know if the Sith had ever developed a Force-based technology to affect the mind."

The cat was out of the bag now. Ra would have to see how the Phoenix-Incarnate responded to such a request.

Darth Kreshna frowned. "Force-based technology for mind control purpose? Of course the Empire has mind control technology, whose most popular application is widely known as the Gun of Command, but it is not Force-based. A Sith Master, on the other hand, can perform mind control using the Force, but it is purely the Force ---no technology needed."

"That's not saying that there is no useful application of combining the Force and technology. Dark Troopers, for instance, is a working example. However, mind control can be easily achieved using either the Force or technology, so I don't see why one needs to combine both to achieve the same result."

"However," the Sith smiled, "there are many interesting Sith artifacts I managed to collect. If you have the time, perhaps you want to visit my penthouse sometimes..."

DK turned to Lord Detritus again, "the funny thing was that Ambassador Namtaru never mentioned about their activity on the planet. Weird. Was he deliberately hiding the fact?"

I do not know. perhaps you could see if your staff could try and see if there any messeges to intercept? I have a doubt about that though. if he was feeling around via his brain powers.. does that mean he can do other things that way?

Darth Kreshna then turned to Dartzap again, "I tell the Chief Security to check the monitoring log tommorrow; if we intercepted something funny, we'll know soon. Meanwhile, when will you transmat back to the planet? Wouldn't you mind if I join? I think it's important for us to find the source of disturbance of the psychic fluctuation soon. Anyway, if you need more Stormtroopers, or even AT-AT, just let me know."

He then turned to Ra again, "how about you, Ra? Interested to join the investigation?"

[Destructionator XV]

In your meeting room

"Gentlemen," a human in his late fourties, wearing a gray three piece business suit, called out to Kreshna, et. al., "don't you think you are being rather hasty?"

This man was John Kruger, the current ambassador to the Death Star III from the A'millian Foregin Minister's Office. He held a Master's degree in Political Science from the A'millian State University, and has worked in the office for over fifteen years now, but this was his first assignment as ambassador of anything. The Death Star assignment had a minimum of only three months before he could be transferred back home, and was supposed to be relatively insignificant. He thought it would be easy resume padding, so happily took the job when offered.

When the Trolls teleported the others, he got left behind. He had to walk to the meeting room, and deal with hassles from the guards to get in, causing him to be late and miss half the meeting. However, he did slip in quietly, and took a seat in the back without disrupting the meeting.

"All this psychic probing talk," Mr Kruger continues, "frankly strikes me as being a gross overreaction. You do realize that some species naturally emit signals that can be falsely interpreted as psychic probes? Moreover, we all, when in these meetings, pay close attention to the others, it is like a game of poker. Searching for tells of bluff is something everyone does, but not everyone in the same way. You shouldn't be jumping to hasty conclusions."

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

"All this psychic probing talk," Mr Kruger continues, "frankly strikes me as being a gross overreaction. You do realize that some species naturally emit signals that can be falsely interpreted as psychic probes? Moreover, we all, when in these meetings, pay close attention to the others, it is like a game of poker. Searching for tells of bluff is something everyone does, but not everyone in the same way. You shouldn't be jumping to hasty conclusions."

Darth Kreshna contemplated for a moment, then replied, "Actually, Ambassador Kruger, we haven't reached into conclusion yet. However, Lord Detritus have indeed found a disturbing similarity between the psychic fluctuation in Dellious Prime and that of the Zerg. As a note, Ambassador Namtaru never included Dellious Prime in the Zerg-claimed territory, so if it is really the Zergs who are behind the phsychic phenomenon, for some reason they were trying to hide it from everybody else."

"But on the other hand, conducting an intensive investigation on the planet does not mean that we are violating the Zerg territory, for the same reason I have mentioned before. Furthermore, the planet Dellious Prime is unoccupied indeed. It is an empty planet within an unclaimed territory, outside the territorial boundaries of any known nation --including the Zergs."

"And actually, the reason why I emphasized the importance of the investigation is because the psychic fluctuation is powerful indeed; according to Imperial space-wheather sattelites, the physchic fluctuation was strong enough to pierce a warp storm."

And, before ending his words, the Sith offered something the A'millans could hardly resist, "regardless of the potential hazard of this mission, it seems that the potential scientific discoveries would be great as well. I mean, have we ever heard about this phenomenon before? A warp storm being stopped by a phsychic wave? If this turns to be a natural phenomenon instead of someone experimenting with superweapon, wouldn't it make an interesting discovery? Don't you think Lord Adam would be interested?"

[Destructionator XV]

John Kruger quickly scans through a transcript of the meeting to be sure he didn't miss anything, then looks right at Darth Kreshna.

"Sir," the ambassador addresses the Sith Lord, "you never asked what planets he had. When you go into a meeting for the first time, do you voluntarily list every planet you control, without anyone asking? From what evidence, exactly, did you draw the conclusion that he was hiding something? Please, if I missed something, play back the recording."

[Ra]

Darth Kreshna frowned. "Force-based technology for mind control purpose? Of course the Empire has mind control technology, whose most popular application is widely known as the Gun of Command, but it is not Force-based. A Sith Master, on the other hand, can perform mind control using the Force, but it is purely the Force ---no technology needed."

"That's not saying that there is no useful application of combining the Force and technology. Dark Troopers, for instance, is a working example. However, mind control can be easily achieved using either the Force or technology, so I don't see why one needs to combine both to achieve the same result."

"However," the Sith smiled, "there are many interesting Sith artifacts I managed to collect. If you have the time, perhaps you want to visit my penthouse sometimes..."

"Most excellent," Ra answered. "I'd love to take a tour of your collection sometime. As for your assistance, it's much appreciated. It sounds like this Gun of Command is the closest thing to what we need to keep this threat under control, and I could have my chief bodyguard, Madar, purchase one, since she's in your galaxy on corporate business. Thank you."

Ra felt somewhat embarrassed, but didn't show it in his polite face. He'd been in the Imperial galaxy for that long, yet had never heard of such a device. Though as long as Darth Kreshna didn't take notice of his ignorance, it was of little concern.

DK turned to Lord Detritus again, "the funny thing was that Ambassador Namtaru never mentioned about their activity on the planet. Weird. Was he deliberately hiding the fact?"

I do not know. perhaps you could see if your staff could try and see if there any messeges to intercept? I have a doubt about that though. if he was feeling around via his brain powers.. does that mean he can do other things that way?

Darth Kreshna then turned to Dartzap again, "I tell the Chief Security to check the monitoring log tommorrow; if we intercepted something funny, we'll know soon. Meanwhile, when will you transmat back to the planet? Wouldn't you mind if I join? I think it's important for us to find the source of disturbance of the psychic fluctuation soon. Anyway, if you need more Stormtroopers, or even AT-AT, just let me know."

He then turned to Ra again, "how about you, Ra? Interested to join the investigation?"

"I would love to, but unless my schedule changes, I likely won't have the time to investigate our little problem." Ra then sighed, and added, "Things aren't how they used to be. There was a time I did go around personally seeing to investigations, like at Dathomir... but time is a luxury I seem to be having less of these days."

"That doesn't mean I'm completely turning you down though," Ra clarified. "If something urgent enough is found, just give me a call, and I'll lend a hand."

[DesertFly]

Namtaru lounged in a bath of minerals in his quarters and listened with interest as the leaders of the various factions discussed him and his race. This meeting had served several purposes, one of which was ascertaining the true extent of others' capabilities. He was a little surprised that anyone had been able to notice his subtle psychic probes; this Sith was one on whom he was going to have to keep an especially close eye. However, it seemed that his suspicions were being somewhat allayed by the A'millian ambassador, but to what purpose, Namtaru was not sure. Did this man have some ulterior motive? He seemed harmless enough, but much could be lurking beneath a deceptively calm surface.

If we are to believe that this was the same kind of phsycic enery as we found on that planet, that means there are far more of them, that disturbence was stong enough to to shatter a warp storm, there would have to be millions to have caused such a energy spike.

The main question we have to ask ourself is this: Where are they now? and what are they up to?

DK turned to Lord Detritus again, "the funny thing was that Ambassador Namtaru never mentioned about their activity on the planet. Weird. Was he deliberately hiding the fact?"

I do not know. perhaps you could see if your staff could try and see if there any messeges to intercept? I have a doubt about that though. if he was feeling around via his brain powers.. does that mean he can do other things that way?

"Interesting," thought Namtaru. "So they want to intercept my message, do they? I'll have to give them something to intercept. And what's this warp storm, and who is manufacturing this powerful psychic signal?" With this, Namtaru made preparations to send his message. Accessing his suite's communications terminal, he carefully composed a message that was fairly innocuous, and consisted pretty much of "I'm here safely, have met the leaders of the other powers in this galaxy, and recommend that diplomatic negotiations be looked into, especially with the Empire." He carefully encrypted it with a code that wouldn't take too long to crack, then transmitted it in the general direction of Zerg space. He expected it to be intercepted and disseminated among all the ambassadors within the day.

Then, he spent several more hours drawing up a much more detailed report, with as much info from the main computer as he could get, supplemented by his own observations and feelings. He packed all of this into another small creature, which he took to his docking bay, where it flew off into space and used the hyperspace ring to leave.

[Destructionator XV]

Meanwhile, on the ship

After Meryetre left the bridge, the Lord and Lady turned to each other.

"You and I both know that thing wasn't Goa'uld technology," she said to him.

"Of course, but is also isn't our problem. I don't want to get involved in their bullshit. We did our part by letting them know something was up, and after that, as far as anyone else knows, we know nothing."

"Indeed, but it does raise the question - what if the Empire has probes around our worlds too?"

"Then become angry, we shall."

"They probably do, at least around 242."

"Yup, but we can't prove it right now, and frankly, I don't want to be able to right now."

"Because we have no leverage over the Empire."

"Well, we do have one thing, but it is something I would rather not use."

"I see... yeah, that wouldn't be pretty at all."

"Nope, not one bit, but not a concern right now."

"Aye... we've another half hour until we reach I-1071... are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"yes, yes I think I am."

"Computer, how about a little... Bohemian Rhapsody?"

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

"Sir," the ambassador addresses the Sith Lord, "you never asked what planets he had. When you go into a meeting for the first time, do you voluntarily list every planet you control, without anyone asking?

Upon hearing the Ambassador's words, Darth Kreshna's body suddenly flexed and twisted. The Sith then started displaying some physical changes as his General Bison-esque uniform morphed into a short-sleeved white shirt with striped necktie, his eyes bulged out, and his mouth changed its shape. As the Sith finished the physical morphing, anyone who ever watched the Earth cartoon series named 'The Simpsons' should have recognized whom Darth Kreshna had changed into.



The Sith now clutched his head and yelled, "D'oh!"

Fortunately --and to other's relief, Homer Simpson now morphed back into Darth Kreshna again and handed out his PDA to Ambassador Kruger, "I mean, D'oh! I forgot to show you the content of the datacard Ambassador Namtaru had given us."

"........You seem like a reasonable people. I've marked the systems we've inhabited on this datacard. Now, is there anything I need to know?"

From what evidence, exactly, did you draw the conclusion that he was hiding something? Please, if I missed something, play back the recording."

"Well," the Sith continued, "let me put it this way; the signature of the psychic fluctuation aboard Dellious Prime is consistent with that of the Zergs. Dellious Prime, on the other hand, is not one of the planets marked in Ambassador Namtaru's datacard. So if it is really the Zergs who are behind the strange phenomenon on the planet, then they are hiding it. However, Zerg or no Zerg, I believe this phenomenon is worth an investigation."

Ra felt somewhat embarrassed, but didn't show it in his polite face. He'd been in the Imperial galaxy for that long, yet had never heard of such a device. Though as long as Darth Kreshna didn't take notice of his ignorance, it was of little concern.

Unfortunately for Ra, Darth Kreshna clearly noticed his ignorance , as the Sith now stared at Ra blankly with widened eyes.

"Most excellent," Ra answered. "I'd love to take a tour of your collection sometime. As for your assistance, it's much appreciated. It sounds like this Gun of Command is the closest thing to what we need to keep this threat under control, and I could have my chief bodyguard, Madar, purchase one, since she's in your galaxy on corporate business. Thank you."

"If you want the newest model," Darth Kreshna replied, "the paperworks and bureaucracy would take at least several months --even with my reference letter. The latest model can bypass our current infantry-grade psychic shields, so its export policies is rather restrictive --even to allied countries. But of course, since Ba'al is developing naquada power plant, it seems I can speed up the process. Let's see what I can do."

Namtaru lounged in a bath of minerals in his quarters and listened with interest as the leaders of the various factions discussed him and his race.

Suddenly Darth Kreshna staggered in his chair, as if something was disturbing him. His eyes lost their pupils and flared with the Phoenix fire. "I felt a great psychic disturbance, as if someone is telephatically listening to our conversation. Anyone feel it too? Lord Detritus, how about you?"

[Destructionator XV]

"I'll want my people to make a copy of that and analyze the data," the Ambassador tells Kreshna, attempting to hide his embarrassment of missing that. But it was just because he got in late, he reassured himself.

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

"I'll want my people to make a copy of that and analyze the data," the Ambassador tells Kreshna, attempting to hide his embarrassment of missing that. But it was just because he got in late, he reassured himself.

But the Sith ignored him; he was still disturbed by the psychic monitoring, "am I the only one who noticed that someone is telephatically monitoring our minds?" he asked the Ambassador.


OOC: do the A'millans have telephatic capability, like the Trolls? Or Lord Adam is the only one who can do that?

[DesertFly]

Suddenly Darth Kreshna staggered in his chair, as if something was disturbing him. His eyes lost their pupils and flared with the Phoenix fire. "I felt a great psychic disturbance, as if someone is telephatically listening to our conversation. Anyone feel it too? Lord Detritus, how about you?"

But the Sith ignored him; he was still disturbed by the psychic monitoring, "am I the only one who noticed that someone is telephatically monitoring our minds?" he asked the Ambassador.

OOC: I have no idea who's telepathically listening to you:

Or, at least they thought they were alone... Unnoticed to any of them, a small creature had crept out of a cavity near the base of his tail, and
burrowed into the floor while they were talking.

Nothing out of the ordinary involved here*, just a "bug" (a real one).


*Or is there?

[Destructionator XV]

The other group of A'millian science ships on the mission not in Goa'uld space arrive in system S-8472 in three quick flashes of light.

"Last system, folks. Let's get it over with so we can all go home," the Captain of the ASV Pathfinder instructs her crew.

The three ships spread out to cover different sections of the planet.

"Be in range for the fourth planet in two minutes, sir," the navigational officer reports.

"Captain, we're picking up what appears to be lifeforms in space." the science officer says.

"Move us in for a closer look."

"Aye, sir."

Outside the ship, tiny creatures move toward the vessel at incredible speed, and impact two each at various points along the port hull. Inside, Red Alert automatically sounds.

"Captain, the port side nacelle is.. dissolving!" the engineering officer yells.

"Shields up, get us out of here!"

Before the shields energized, another creature fired an acidic goo, hitting the other nacelle, dissolving a chunk out of the side of it.

"Starboard nacelle hit, we've lost warp field integrity!"

The creature fired a second shot, which impacted the shields, doing minor damage.

"Pro-torps, return fire," the captian ordered.

The photon torpedo instantly vapourizes the devourer as another swarm of scourge move in, and in a flurry of rapid phaser fire from below, the Discovery disintegrated them in seconds. Moments later, Endeavor destroys the original creature that launched the scourge.

"All targets destroyed sir... wait, we have more incoming from the planet, over one thousand, closing fast!"

"Engine room, I need warp speed, now."

"It will take at least thirty minutes."

"Damn! Tell Discovery and Endeavor to tractor us out of here."

"The hull is too weak, a tractor beam will tear us apart!"

"Twenty seconds to intercept!"

"Drop shields, everyone beam out, now," the captain orders while removing the dedication plaque from the wall revealing a panel behind it.

She inputs a code on the panel as her crew starts to beam out, then looks to her first officer and exchange nods. They both press buttons on their panels, and the screens all turn red, then they are beamed to the Discovery.


Discovery and Endeavor go to warp, narrowly avoiding dozens of attacks coming from winged creatures.

Seconds later, ASV Pathfinder explodes in a blinding light.

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

"I'll want my people to make a copy of that and analyze the data," the Ambassador tells Kreshna, attempting to hide his embarrassment of missing that. But it was just because he got in late, he reassured himself.

But the Sith ignored him; he was still disturbed by the psychic monitoring, "am I the only one who noticed that someone is telephatically monitoring our minds?" he asked the Ambassador.

"....the telephatic signal... it's gone now, but who... or what..." the Sith mumbled to himself, but quickly regained his stance as Ambassador Kruger was staring at him. "My apoligize. I just... ah, never mind. Of course you can copy it; does your PDA have infrared port?"

[Destructionator XV]

John Kruger looks down at the device somewhat puzzled.

"I'm a politician, not a geek. I'll want to take the data to one of my computer technitions so they can copy and examine it."

[Ra]

"Thank you for your assistance, Darth Kreshna," Ra said, smiling slightly. "Though I'm not sure who would be telepathically spying on us."

"Like I care," he thought. "You're spying on my damned base, and it's going to stop."

Ra then stated politely, "I must apologize, but there is some business I need to take care of, regarding these recent developments. If I may be excused?"

Ra then left, walking for several minutes until he got back into his waiting limo. In the vehicle were two of Madar's junior operatives, dressed in black business suits.

"Open a secure transmission to Madar on Coruscant, and Chief Scientific Advisor Meryetre on the A'millian flagship," Ra commanded.

"Transmissions opened and rebounded off of the Ha'tak Amunhotpe," one of the operatives droned. "You've got a secure channel."

Within seconds, holographic images of Madar and Meryetre appeared before Ra on his limo's table.

"Alright, first things first," Ra stated. "We've got a serious problem. Meryetre."

"Of course, m'lord," she bowed. "The A'millians detected a subspace disturbance over Tais II, what I believe to be-"

"Imperial," all three of them said at once.

"Yes," Ra nodded. "The damned Imps are spying on my most secretive base. How the hell they know of it is unknown right now. What matters is that Tais II is compromised. I want something that can destroy devices in hyperspace, eliminate the probe, and then evacuate and slag the entire base. Blame it on some accident or random enemy incursion if you have to. But Meryetre, I want that base emptied out!"

"An interdictor would do it," Madar stated. "They sport grav wells to pull ships out of hyperspace. Use it, and the probe would be helpless to a few well-placed naquadah missiles."

"Very well," said Ra. "I want one of the Ha'taks to stand ready to blast the probe and ring everyone out. Can her drives produce a gravity signature?"

"Last time I checked, we weren't the Royal Manticoran Navy, m'lord," Meryetre winked.

"Bah..." Ra muttered. "How the hell are we going to get a grav-well generator, then?"

"That should be easy enough, I suppose," Meryetre pondered. "It'd take some doing, but the artificial gravity generators of the station itself could be rerouted to the sensor array."

"You sound like that damned Tauri I saw on The Price Is Right this morning, Meryetre," Ra muttered, "But it might work."

"Can you give me three weeks to-"

"Three weeks?!" Ra snapped. "Hell fucking no! I need that base going up in a blaze of naquadah flames now."

"Evacuate a Ha'tak then," Madar stated coldly. "Turn its grav plating up to overload, and put it directly in the path our A'millian friends detected. It'll tear the ship apart, but one Ha'tak is an acceptable loss to keeping our asses covered."

Ra was delighted by the cold calculation of his chief bodyguard, but hid an obvious grin. He then answered, "Do it. Send two Ha'taks."

"As you direct, my lord," Meryetre bowed. Her hologram flickered out.

"Since you haven't killed my transmission, I assume you've got more?" Madar inquired.

"Yes. I've spoken with Darth Kreshna, and he's going to secure us a device called a Gun of Command," Ra explained.

"I've heard of it," Madar quipped. "Mind-control device."

"If you've heard of it, why didn't you mention it earlier?" Ra inquired with a cold stare.

Madar gave him a defiant look, and snarled, "You didn't ask."

"Motherfucker," Ra cursed in his mind. "Alright, whatever. So DK's gonna secure us the permits to get the thing earlier than we normally could. We both know how anally-retentive the Imperial government is."

"All too well," Madar nodded. "I might could look into getting one for you from more... unofficial sources."

"I'd like that, Madar," Ra answered frankly. "I don't want to wait any longer than this takes. The project is already falling behind, and we need to get it relocated, then continued."

"Of course, sir," Madar nodded.

"One last thing, Darth Kreshna offered me to tour his Sith Archives sometime soon. While that would be boring as fuck for me, I was wondering if you'd like to accompany me in that little tour?"

"ABSOLUTELY!" Madar grinned. It was the first time he'd seen any real emotion on her face. "A chance to look at old Sith lore?"

"I knew you'd like that," Ra chuckled. "Keep me informed if you find me a black-market Gun. Ra out."

Madar nodded as her hologram faded away.

"Now, to get off this damned station and to where I can do some good pulling the strings," Ra stated to himself. "Driver, take me to my ship."

"Yes, m'lord."

[Destructionator XV]

The Lord and Lady, alone on the bridge, are passing the time by singing some songs.

Bohemian Rhapsody. Check.
All Your Base version of Bohemian Rhapsody. Check.
PI to five hundred digits. Check.
Weird Al's version of American Pie (The Saga Begins). Check.

Adam ponders for a moment. What shall they do to waste the last few minutes. Then it stuck him.

"There's antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium, "

She quickly joins him and they continue together.

"And hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium
And nickel, neodymium, neptunium, germanium,
And iron, americium, ruthenium, uranium,
Europium, zirconium, lutetium, vanadium
And lanthanum and osmium and astatine and radium
And gold, protactinium and indium and gallium", they take in a big breath of air, and continue,
"And iodine and thorium and thulium and thallium.

``There's yttrium, ytterbium, actinium, rubidium
And boron, gadolinium, niobium, iridium
And strontium and silicon and silver and samarium,
And bismuth, bromine, lithium, beryllium and barium.

``There's holmium and helium and hafnium and erbium
And phosphorous and francium and fluorine and terbium
And manganese and mercury, molybdinum, magnesium,
Dysprosium and scandium and cerium and cesium
And lead, praseodymium, and platinum, plutonium,
Paladium, promethium, potassium, polonium, and
Tantalum, technetium, titanium, tellurium, (inhale)
And cadmium and calcium and chromium and curium.
``There's sulfur, californium and fermium, berkelium
And also mendelevium, einsteinium and nobelium
And argon, krypton, neon, radon, xenon, zinc and rhodium
And chlorine, carbon, cobalt, copper,
Tungsten, tin and sodium.

``These are the only ones of which the news has come to Harvard,
And there may be many others but they haven't been discovered.''


"That was awesome," he says.

"We should update that song. We have discovered many more." she adds.

"Aye... but not now, as we are coming up on the system. Finally."

The three ships drop out of warp, and like they have done twice before, they spread out and begin scanning the inner planets, starting at the third from the sun, a planet with heavy volcanic activity one one continent and a heavily sulfuric atmosphere, and surface gravity near one gee.

But this was different than the previous planets they scanned, as within minutes into the scan, Columbia signaled they have found something.

OOC: It is a pity I don't know what I am doing with 3d design programs. I was trying to model this thing to look awesome so I could post a picture, and instead got pure crap. Deformed cubes and terrible angles. Oh well, I suck. /OOC


Underneath the lava on the volcanic continent, a cracked underground structure lies on a fault line, the massive machinery attached to the tetonic plates broken and fused.

"A failed plate control system!" Adam exclaims in excitement, "This might not be the jackpot, but is is sure as hell a winner!"

A short while later, Challenger's scans reveal a massive water tank under one of the hot oceans and a damaged underwater tower, connected to various underground pipes that used to control the planet's artificial climate control and weather modification system.

Then Columbia called in the jackpot. One structure was still intact, buried beneath volcanic rock, but intact, and the top of it was within transporter range. Adam immediately ordered a robot probe be beamed inside.

Once inside, the probe reported an unbreathable atmosphere, no lights or power, but moderate temperatures and a stable structure. The rock layer and the building's metallic roof scrambled the control signal and kept it from going too far on remote control.

The Lord and Lady look at each other, confirming they are in agreement, then send an order to the other ships to finish full scans of the planet and then they get in the turbolift.


He flips open his communicator and says "Meryetre, if you want to keep observing this, meet us in the transporter room."

[Ra]

"...so you understand my lord's instructions?" Meryetre asked.

"Yes, ma'am," the Tais II station commander's holo responded.

"Excellent. Then-"

"Meryetre, if you want to keep observing this, meet us in the transporter room. We're beaming down."

Meryetre then answered into her communicator, "Of course, m'lord. I'm heading down now."

Before cutting the transmission to Tais II, Meryetre stated, "Lord Ra will expect the plan implemented post-haste. The two Ha'taks should be on-station in two hours."

"Very well, ma'am. We'll have the base cleared for evac some time after the operation is done, but there's a lot of things that need moving."

"I know," nodded the Jaffa. She then rubbed her tattooed forehead, and added, "I have a lot of work down there, I should know. Keep me informed, Commander. Meryetre out."

The Jaffa male bowed his head, and his hologram flickered out. Meryetre adjusted her suit coat, and made her way to the nearest turbolift.

[Destructionator XV]

Meryetre arrives in the transporter room to find the Lord and Lady wearing already heavy environmental suits and starting to load up their gear.

"Suit up," Adam tells her pointing toward a side room, "I'm sure not even you can breathe sulfuric acid."

[Ra]

Within moments, Meryetre was dressed up in a space suit, and checked by the A'millian techs to make sure her seals were good to go. Ready, she made her way back out into the transporter room.

"Alright, whenever you're ready, m'lord," she stated.

[Narsil]

A month behind Adam...

The construction ship's AI considered what information had been brought to it. The spies, twelve in total, had managed to procure a lot of information on agriculture, current affairs, and economy. But nothing about inter-dimensional travel... which was what they actually needed. They had spent the next couple of months building defences or bringing up various possibilities; like that of creating Time Travel devices so they could return to before the wormhole collapsed, or even researching their own dimensional-shift technology... but it was of little use.

"Perhaps we should just ask the locals and see if there's anything we missed," one AI suggested finally, this one of the recently completed battleship, Itchy Trigger Finger. "With what we know of the local behaviour, it would be wise to wait a month until we have the remaining two escort vessels completed, though. I don't trust most of them."

"I realise that," it replied. "Perhaps we should contact the A'millians, they seem to be the most theoretically advanced of the bunch..." pausing for a few seconds, it began building a force of gynoid and android diplomats, "And we can always offer the schematics to our looming technology as a bargaining chip..."

"Recreation of their species for a method of returning home... seems like a fair trade..."

[Destructionator XV]

Adam does one last check of his equipment. In addition to the standard kit, he grabbed a phaser pistol, plastic explosive, transporter signal boosters, a sample retrieval box and a remote control unit for the probe. Once he was sure it was all functioning normally, he energizes the beam.

The three of them materialize close to the robotic probe sent down before them. The room is completely dark except for the lights on their helmets and the probe.

"If this place is as similar to other ancient structures as I think it is, there is probably a control center in the basement. That is where we should be heading."

Adam uses the control unit to activate the flood lights on the probe and have it roll out ahead of them down a long, dark hallway.

[Destructionator XV]

Starbase 242
A'millian Command Center, Milky Way Galaxy

Out of high warp emerges ASV Discovery and ASV Endeavor.

"We weren't expecting you back for another four days still. What happened? Where is Pathfinder?" Rear Admiral Wise asks the three captains in the meeting room.

The Pathfinder's captain silently puts a metal plaque on the table with the words

ASV PATHFINDER
DISCOVERY CLASS :: SV - 2405
AW 4003 - LANTERA FLEET YARD

proudly embossed upon it.

"...how?" the Admiral asks.

The captains tell about the Zerg attack.

"I want all your sensor data on them and of course formal reports by tomorrow. I'd like to learn more about the beings that cost us a ship."

"Yes, sir," the captains say in unison.

"And Jennifer," the Admiral adds, "I have to ask that you not leave the base until the investigation of Pathfinder's destruction is over."

"I know the drill."

"Dismissed."

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

FROM: Darth Kreshna
TO: Imperial Department of Defense, Imperial Chamber of Commerce
CC: Imperial Center, Taim & Bak Corporation
SUBJECT: Ra's purchase of GOC-14

Greetings,

Our Goa'uld ally has expressed his interest in purchasing few batches of Taim & Bak GOC-14; the newest publicly known model of Gun of Command Rifle Module.

As we are already aware of, the model has a rather restrictive export policy. Thus, under normal circumstances, the purchasing process typically takes several months. However, since Lord Ba'al is being persistent in building his naquada power plants, I believe it is imperative for us to arm Lord Ra in the shortest time possible.

Therefore, I propose a great deal of leniency for our Goa'uld ally System Lord Ra in his endeavour to purchase the GOC-14 model.

Cordially,

Darth Kreshna
Imperial Sith Grand Inquisitor


OOC: that particular model of Gun of Command is actually a detachable rifle module, just like M-203 grenade launcher attachment on M-16 assault rifle.

[Destructionator XV]

Third planet in system I-1071
Buried ancient structure, first floor basement

OOC: You might be wondering how their wheeled probe (it is basically the A'millian version of a MALP) got downstairs, and the answer is simple enough - it has an antigrav field generator it can use to fly. That burns much more power and is less stable than the simple wheels though, so it is only used when needed) Anyhow...

The three continue to follow behind the probe, taking in their surroundings.

Adam notes that this building is very similar to other biosystems labortories they have seen in their own galaxy constructed by this same civilization.

While the upper levels were generally uninteresting, the basement has already showing to be different.

They have passed several burst canisters, and detected organic residue splattered across the floor. The Lady scans a sample, but it was too degraded by the environmental conditions to be of any use. She goes on to theorize that the canisters were once filled with water and a life form, perhaps a breeding canister, that was abandoned and as the air heated up and the contents decomposed, pressure built up inside until it finally shattered.

They also passed a number of computers in the compound, but they were all powerless and their circuits corroded. Completely useless, and not possible to recover any data from them.

Moving on, they come across a fully sealed door, the sign on it unreadable, but the probe's scanners were able to tell that beyond it was apparently a lab with full environment seals still in place.

Adam decides to leave it for now, and come back with proper equipment from the ship later to get inside without breaking the seal.

They move on, passing some more canisters, still intact, some empty, but some with a layer of disgusting liquid inside, that the tricorder read as being decomposed organic tissue. The Lady scans it intently, having the probe and tricorder both record full details, and notes that in order to age it, they would have to wait for more information about the planet and its sun from the orbiting ships above.

The only other thing they find of interest is another large locked door, with what appears to be an elevator shaft leading down behind it. Adam uses the explosives he brought to blow the door open to find that the elevator was stuck on the floor below, nearly eight metres down.

"Hmmm," he says, "I could fly down there, set it up the bomb, and fly back up here to detonate, but the explosion would probably rupture the cables holding the car in place, meaning it would crash down, causing who know what damage. Then we'd have to fly down, burning my magic power and the probe's antigrav generators, and blast through the doors on each level... possibly causing even more damage."

"I think we should get back to the ship and bring in specialized equipment and personnel from home," the Lady advises, "so we don't wreck the place before learning anything useful from it."

"Meryetre," Adam addresses the Jaffa scientist, "if there is nothing else you want to take a look at here, we should be getting back to the ship. The real fascinating things will be beyond the sealed door and further down, and we can come back for it, if your Lord permits us, of course."