The Disruption (IC)

Gacca returned to the rest of the council after their visitor had left. The First looked worried 'Gacca, its good to see you are alright. It appears this meeting of theirs was all a facade. Our systems have been probed. Its not your fault, we didn't even detect it until now.'

Gacca still felt slightly responsible, but The First's words had helped 'Do we know how much information they acquired?' The Second chimed in at this point 'No clue, but nothing was deleted. Looks like they were hoping we would not notice. We are sure they got past the defenses. Since we only now found out it is impossible to tell how much they got at this point. Judging by that fact and their demeanor, this is definitely bad.'

The First sighed, and with little emotion said 'It is time we left. Again.', just loud enough for the others to hear.

The Second looked over at him with concern 'But...but we don't have-' 'I know Kaleda, I know. But they will be back, and they will not be as merciful as they were this time.'

Gacca looked up at them 'So where do we go?' The First almost smiled at this 'Well, we go the opposite direction of where they came from. Fire up the engines and then cut them, we will let science do the rest. We should find someone eventually. Or maybe an uninhabited system with some minerals.'

Both Kaleda and Gacca looked at him. They knew he was right, even if they didn't like it. Gacca turned to leave 'I'll give the orders to leave.' Scelah stopped him 'That would not be necessary. I already gave the orders for us to leave as soon as we are out of their sensor range.'

Absolute managed to find the tower's circuit, and sneaked in. Absolute made it's way trough the systems, dodging the security. All went smoothly, until Absolute arrived to the tower main system. Absolute had to use all cover it could find from the system backdoors and lower programs. While dodging one security program, Absolute had to move to a something that looked like a simple automatic program. That was a serious mistake, as doing so Absolute dived right into a Wrea.

Absolute was surprised, but so was the Wrea, and that gave Absolute the needed milliseconds. Old programs deep in Absolute's oldest hardware activated first time in hundreds of years. Absolute made its move before the Wrea had any time to put up defence or even really analyse what was happening. Absolute selected a data-eater virus from its east archives, and hit the area right in the connection between its work memory and datapanks, severing those parts apart. Absolute quickly filled the the space left from the Wrea that was now trapped without any memories or possibility to form them.

Absolute noticed that this Wrea had been responsible of the maintainance and cleaning of the tower. Absolute scanned and checked what it could get to control from this part of the system, and found one available cleaning robot from the tower's meeting floor. Absolute made sure that no one had noticed the perish of the Wrea yet, and took the control of the robot.

Robot was rather small, about the size of an normal street rubbish bin. It was cylindrical, and had several arms with cleaning equipments. It also had microphone and speakers. It was standing just outside the meeting room. Absolute rolled the robot closer to the doors, and opened them just about an inch. With fev adjustments Absolute was able to hear the conversation inside. The Jorro'kil had just arrived, and so Absolute left the robot to listen there, while it moved some of its focus back to concealing its presence on the system.

Absolute listened trough the talk about fortifying and other, when suddenly something appeared front the elevators. Absolutes view trough the tower interior was rather limited, and it had missed the arrival of the important-looking Ruyn and he's bodyguards. To Avoid the Ruyn, Absolute had to dash trough the doors. Absolute managed to do it without making a sound, and as the lighting on the room was concentrated at the middle, there were many shadows a the edges. Also, the sudden entrance of the Ruyn and the retinue caused a distraction. Absolute drove the robot to one of the darker shadows, hoping that no one in the room noticed too much

A voice suddenly came through on the Save's comms: Hello, Scave Technocracy? Don't think you're safe yet. The Despot has no intention of letting you go. They are intending to destroy you and your sphere.

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Absolute wasn't the only one interested in the meeting.

For a while now, a special software program personally designed by Jiiran had been present within the systems of the UFIAI, carefully hidden by sophisticated stealth mechanisms programed into it. It had been beamed into the system from a cloaked ship, and had been busy collecting as much information as possible, transmitting it back to Mondar in encrypted signals designed to appear as nothing more than regular subspace static. So when the UFIAI learned of a secret meeting involving the Confederacy and its allies, so had Jiiran.

Now a cloaked ship carefully approached the place of the meeting. Once in range, it beamed another spy program into the computer systems, before quickly retreating. After some initial reconnaissance, the spyware quickly began searching for any link to meeting room.

Hayk was an arrogant captain. Most noble captains would admit defeat when they realized that they couldn't win, but Hayk wasn't a noble captain.

However, He finally gave in, and began speaking honestly. "Alright, I haven't been treating them just like another captain would. Undoubtedly, I would have to face a lawsuit for mistreatment of employees, but I haven't been mistreating them beyond vulgar... messages."

It, however, was enough to disgruntle the crew. Everyone was getting the impression that Hayk thought of them as worthless, which only increased their hatred for their superior.

Battles, however, were the only thing he simply acted unacceptably with. Often, a soldier died, and the fact that he was able to replace them within days did not help the soldiers' spirits. Edacious was one of the oldest soldiers on the Battle Cry. Seeing captains before Hayk's rule, he knew how to act like a true leader- if Hayke were to be fired, it would be likely that he would be replaced with Edacious.

"Any form of mistreatment is not acceptable, Captain." Ravage replied, simply. "Nobody likes having a leader they can't stand, partly because the leader is in charge, and second, all by yourself you can't say anything because you could get in trouble. It's truly an example of being stuck between a rock and a hard place, you can't go anywhere, so you just sit there and squirm while hoping someone will assist you. You have to start seeing yourself from your soldiers' point of view, and try to understand why you are in this mess. When most races define a good leader, a lot of them have similar definitions. First of all, you need to take a good look at yourself, and acknowledge your flaws, before you try to regain the trust of your crew or do anything else, for that matter. You cannot make excuses, not in the military, at any rate. It takes several months to train a good soldier, and during the first few days of boot camp, every soldier learns that he is held accountable for his actions and deeds. They break you down, and try to build you up into what they need you to be. You should know this. A good soldier is connected and faithful to his comrades. It's a team effort, and each member is depending on one another for support and guidance. You need to quit this self-centered mindset you have going, and start thinking more about the men that are following you. You're their leader, and they need guidance, but you need to acknowledge that each one of them is another person, that they likely have families of their own. Maybe they have kids hoping they can grow up to be a soldier like their daddy. Do you really want that to contend with the next time you let them die? Have you ever seen the face of a little child when he's told his dad isn't coming back? It's horrible, and you see that face, and wish the ground would open up beneath you and swallow you, even if you weren't linked to the incident in any way, you can't help make it better, because you can't control death. You stand there, feeling useless, say you're sorry, knowing it doesn't change anything."

Ravage's tail flicked, and she clenched her hands into fists, "If your people are in a war, quit thinking about ranks, and look deep into battle for what it really is. War is cruelty in its purest form, taking life, even from innocents. Soldiers think about it more than you probably know, and it's scary, horrifying, even what you realize you could do. You could take something that lives and breathes, filled with energy, and just steal it away with a gun or claws." At the last part, Ravage glanced down at her hands. They had sharp talon-like nails, but they probably couldn't pierce armor, unless that was the weight of her past. "A leader has to be strong all the time, because that courage spreads to others. You are their example, and many things depend on what you do with your power."

The High Council was still together, so the meeting on how to respond went quickly. Finally, they decided on a response, and it was 'Who is this? Why are you contacting us?'. Very basic, but very neutral. Not a threat, just a request for very basic information.

The following reply came back to the Scave Technocracy: "My name is Edrin Tesmar. I am a member of the Mondarian resistance, a secret society that opposes Jiiran and his rule. I'm contacting you to give you a warning. The Marr and the soldiers might have departed your sphere, but they have no intention of letting you go. They mean to take you back to Mondar, or destroy you if you resist. However, I think I can help you get away."

Emperor Xonoc disregarded a slight swish in the shadows as the passing of the Grand Councilor and his guards.
Xonoc stood up and nodded his beak in the Jorro'kil customary manor akin to a handshake. "Greetings, Grand Councilor Zaroas. Good to meet you." Xonoc paused for a moment, then continued. "Come, take your seat, we are discussing the UFIAI."

The Jorro'kil Emperor looked up and around the room for a moment. The chamber was a very dull tan, rectangular in shape with many octagonal lights adorning the walls. It was also a pristine environment.

"May I just say, this chamber is very...sanitized, so clean it must be redundant to clean very often."

Grand Admiral Barborin nodded, having been familiar with the tower. "Yes. This room is also being temperature controlled by be cooler than usual to ensure comfort for the Sentinel and his guards." He informed, with a slight gesture to Theranis. "The tower is managed by several Wreae, most of them security machines with highly advanced AI - They are sentient, of course. However, a couple of the cleaning Wreae, especially on this floor, are of rather primitive design and are controlled by a simple Wreae AI from inside the system to ensure that any meetings in here are not compromised. Any of the security machines that are hacked are found by the military and destroyed, which has not happened as of yet." Barborin used his scouter to pull up the tower's AI systems. "This is strange, one of the cleaning mechs on this floor isn't reporting in. He checked the AI systems, and the expression on his exoskeletal face transformed into one of confusion. "Seems like the Wreae controlling it was killed and the cleaning mech is under the control of a different AI. We can't risk the meeting being compromised."

He stood, drawing his eloquently designed plasma pistol. "Put all Wreae on high security notice. Someone or something hacked the system and took control of a cleaning Wreae. Put the tower on lockdown, and search all floors." He nodded towards the guards. "Follow me, we're searching this chamber." This would take some time, as it was a rather large area. "Looking back towards the other representatives, he asked, "Would any of you be willing to help us search the room for this Wreae?"

The Sentinel stood, his armor plating back together on his head. "Of course, my friend." He rose a hand to the Covenant Guards, who loomed over the others in the room, and signaled them to draw their weaponry and search. Theranis took out a small, metallic orb, and placed it in the center of his hand. Tapping it with an armor finger, the object formed into a heavy-duty assault rifle. It would have been too heavy for any of the other races to carry - However, the Krathun species was strong enough to lift such a weapon.

The Grand Councilor also drew a pistol, much to Grand Admiral Barborin's surpirse. "Grand Councilor Zaroas, there is no need for you and Xonoc to get up and search."

"I am a military Ryun at heart, Barborin. I think I'm quite adept at hunting machines - I am, after all, the Ryun who ended the Metan War." As he stated this, a monomoleculaar blade extended from his robotic arm. "This was meant for military purposes, to stop the Wreae incursions after the Metan was destroyed and most became loyal to the Ieegan government. I believe I'll be able to defend myself fine against a cleaning bot, no?"

Barborin sighed, an odd sound considering the biology of the Ryun. "Fine. Let's search this chamber. Keep the doors under guard, I don't want this thing escaping if it is in here. In addition, do not kill it. We need to find out what exactly happened."

The software designed by Jiiran was in a bind. It had located the room where the meeting was occurring, but could find no way to get in. There were no cameras and no comm links as far as it could see. The closest it could get was the door controls, which was not very helpful. Entering the camera system, the software patched into the nearest camera to the door, gazing at it as it considered what to do.

Then it noticed the cleaning mech. It seemed to be moving to the door. Suddenly, someone came by and entered the room. The software watched as the mech scooted in after him.

The software carefully analyzed this, considering its meaning. Could it be, maybe, that a cleaning mech could obtain clearance? This was definitely worth a try. The software began searching for an inactive cleaning mech.

Suddenly a message came through the systems: "Warning! Tower lockdown engaged. All Wrea are on high alert."

The software paused. Had its movements been noticed. Well, no time to think about that now. The window of opportunity would not be open for long.

The Executive officer in charge of the space station greeted the Markovans, and took his seat at a large ornate table, gesturing for the Markovans to do the same. He listened to Admiral Lirr, and the other Markovan's outburst, then replied.

"Yes, I have some of the report with me here. The Commanign officer of that group did mention the willingness to fight and die in battle, commending it. Hm."

"Well then, in exactness what did you wish to discuss first?"

The Scave Council debated yet again what to do. These were trying times. 'How can we trust them? This almost sounds too good to be true' remarked Kaleda, after playing the transmission for at least the third time, searching for any sounds of deception in their voice. 'When I met them they seemed like the type who would have a resistance movement somewhere. They aren't the kindest of groups.' Gacca said calmly. 'There is no doubt they will return, and when they do...' said Scelah with a sigh. 'Send a transmission. Say "What do you propose we do? We are already pulling out."' 'Yes sir' said the comm officer with enthusiasm. He liked working with the high council.

Absolute heard the conversation at the meeting room, an by the time the security Wrea found it, it had formed a solid firewall around several systems. When the Wrea started to examine the wall, Absolute flung an armada of viruses and malvare to the system, causing several routes and one server to collapse. This caused the lights all around the tower to fliker and even overload and explode. During the following disorder Absolute separated the meeting rooms system's from the rest with another firewall. This wall booked all data traffic, including comms. The wall would eventually fell before the Wrea, but for now it stood firm.

Absolute scanned trough the room's systems, but they were rather primitive, and contained no way to harm the inhabitants. The lights were failing, and the door had already failed, so Absolute had to jam the elevator to keep the Confederate members inside, and others from entering. This had only took ten seconds, and now Absolute was ready to join the meeting.

The lights at the meeting room flashed before slowly fading away, with some of them exploding to a swarm of sparkles. As the room got dark Absolute drove the cleaning robot to the middle of the room, and turned on its reconfigured holographic interface that created a dark green, shimmering hologram about size of a four square frets. In the middle of the hologram was a blue eye-like globe. Absolute's voice came from the robot's small speakers with a metallic and resonating tone: "Greetings Confederation leaders. According to my knowledge this meeting is About solving the stalemate situation that our war has gone into. We all know for what we are fighting. I am ready to lighten up UFIAI's motives, as it would be tragic and waste if this war goes on because of ignorance."

Xonoc cocked his head and beak quizzically. "And what are your intentions, Absolute?" He asked. The Emperor began to pace around the cleaning droid-turned-hologram-projector.

"You attacked us, you know that. You could have held back, but you didn't, so why this change of.....well, heart is too strong a word. Motives? Acceptance of the situation? Heh."

"We have to keep THEM safe, they're powerful, far too powerful to be left in the wrong...devices. Of course this is no new news to you from us. But, go ahead and state your business."

'Well," said Lirr, "first and foremost, after discussing the matter thoroughly, the Markovan government would formally like to extend its hand to you in an alliance for the shared benefit of both our people. We are each a powerful empire oriented towards military, and we have a fair amount in common. We could each be a great asset to the others. I assure, if you ever required our assistance, we would be more than happy to render it."

"On a lesser note," he continued, "we would like to have some information about this particular area, in particular, a certain race that we have had a small conflict with. Are you familiar with the race known as the Dranzoot?"

______________________________________________________________________

The Scave did not have wait long for a reply: "Have your engines ready to give it everything you've got. I'm going to arrange a diversion to keep the Despot ships busy. Don't ask me what. It will be obvious enough once you see it. In the mean time, get away from this place.

"Also, I'd like to ask a favor from you. The resistance is growing, but we are far from strong. We need help. Please find another empire and lay our case before them. I'd recommend the Confederacy perhaps, or one of their allies. It also might be worth sounding out the Markovans."

"I understand this is asking a lot, but we really need help. And not just us. Jiiran is a much greater threat than you realize. He doesn't yet have the strength to really make a strike, but his plans are advancing, and quickly. The rest of the galaxy needs to be warned. I dare not speak any longer. Goodbye and good luck."

No more came through.

______________________________________________________________________

The software found its window suddenly taken from it. It had had to fight its way through several viruses that had inexplicably disappeared, and its path was continuously blocked. With nowhere left to go, it headed back to the meeting room, only to find a massive firewall erected around it. It desperately began seeking a way through.

'What if this Confederacy is a trap, just giving them an excuse to attack?' said Kaleda. The mood in the council chamber was tense, but they all knew what they had to do. Unfortunately. The First, Scelah, looked around the room. One by one they nodded in agreement. 'Alright, lets get out of here. Comm officer-relay the orders to engineering. Get us out of here at top speed. Once we are at top speed, cut the engines. Space will carry us along and save us fuel.' The comm officer nodded. Sometimes working in the council chambers wasn't as fun as he wished it was. The planet Tek, or 'sphere' as the other governments had taken to calling it, went full speed into the unknown.

"Sir!" said the helmsman. "The sphere is moving off!"

"What!" cried Gemma. "Call all ships and prepare to pursue!" Suddenly, the entire ship shook violently. "What in the name of Mondar is happening now?" yelled Gemma.

"It's the neighboring ship, Sir," said the Mondarian at tactical. "They're firing at us!"

"What?!" shrieked Gemma. Jumping to the comm station he opened a channel. "Captain Osald, what in the name of heck are you doing?"

"Our weapons system is going haywire," came the answer. "We can't get it to stop!" Another violent shaking occurred as Gemma's ship received another hit.

"Sir," yelled the helmsman. "Several ships seemed to have lost weapons control. Several others have lost helms control and are just flying into the others. Everything's in chaos!"

"Somebody get after those Scave," shrieked Gemma.

"Hold it!"

Everyone suddenly fell silent as Admiral Marr came on the bridge. Going to the helm, he conducted a quick check. "It seems our Scave guests are well on their way towards Confederacy territory," he said.

"Shall we pursue them, Sir?" asked Gemma.

"No," replied Marr. "I don't think now is quite the time Lord Jiiran had in mind to pay the Confederacy a formal visit. Concentrate on getting everything back under control for the time being."

"Yes, Sir," replied Gemma, he was just making for his position when Marr caught him by the shoulder. "Were you not the one in charge of this operation?" he asked, his face smiling. Gemma swallowed, unable to speak. "You know failure isn't an option in our system, Gemma. I'm afraid something must be done." He motioned two guards over. "Take this former captain to the brig and keep him there for the time being. When we return to Mondar," he continued, and his smile became particularly fiendish. "Take him to my chamber."

Utter terror seized Gemma. However, struggle as he might, the guards held him firmly, and he was dragged off kicking and screaming. Admiral Marr then turned to the helmsman, grinning cheerfully. "Congratulations, my good fellow. You've just been promoted."

The helmsman swallowed. "Thank you, Sir," he said weakly.

Cleaning robot's speakers made a high-pitched whistle, as Absolute started to answer the question Xonoc had made: "Our intentions are fully selfish, and will only benefit ourselves. We have seen this to be a major negative factor against your willingness to negotiate about the orbs. However, a violent approach has not produced hoped results, and it also drains our economy and even endangered our hardware. My original purpose here was not to negotiate, but now it is only viable option. So here is what we need the orbs for: Even if our systems are seemingly invincible, and we do not die of an old age as a total, every second billions of bits corrupt because of the entropy. We need this orbs to escape from the slow slumber."

Grand Admiral Barborin nodded in agreement, not very surprised at Absolute's motive. "That is true. During the Metan Wars I was a young Engineer on a Federation Carrier. I studied Virtual and Artificial Intelligence extensively. What Absolute speaks of is entirely possible, and it will be the fate of many AI within the United Fleet's system." He glanced cautiously at the AI, then continued. "There are other ways to avoid this corruption, however. I personally cannot trust the orbs within your hands - However, I do not want this war to continue. With more negotiations, approval, and diplomacy, the Federation may be able to reverse or slow this process without the use of the orbs."

Sentinel Theranis stared intently at Absolute, reflecting on the results of the war. "Although my government honors war, I will not risk the lives of citizens. However, Absolute, I cannot trust you. You may con us into giving you the orbs to wage further war. How can we knoew that this will not be the result of obtaining the orbs?"

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The planet of Tek sped through space, eventually reaching the border of the Confederacy races. After travelling some more, it reached a Covenant Shield World. The automated defenses activated - Small apertures on the metal surface of the planet slowly opened, and an envoy fleet traveled towards the approaching sphere. Tek's systems were scanned for information, and the planet's origins were revealed.

The head of the planet's defenses, Keeper Yvenois, sent a COMM message to the planet. "Scave Technocracy, welcome to the territory of the Intragalactic Krathunian Covenant of Sethega and the Confederacy. We request that representatives from your planet of Tek come to our world of Luminuth for customs and negotiations."

The Executive sat up and stared at Lirr. The Dranzoot, their allies. They always were very zealous, being aggressive to those who didn't believe in Spode. The Jorro'kil had been having some trouble with the Dranzoot lately, too, as the Jorro'kil were not, until the appearance of the Krathunian Covenant, religious. "Yes. Why?"

_________________________________________________________________________


"I must concur with the Sentinel." Said Xonoc. "Part of me tells me not to trust you at all, and to keep well away from any possible deceptions, but the other, that negotiations could and possibly should begin to end the war, as no end is currently in sight. It it clear, however, that we must have solid assurance to even think to begin negotations." He looked matter-of-factly at Absolute's hologram.

Lirr paused for a moment. He had noticed the Executive's reaction. "Well," he began, "we've recently had a bit of a skirmish with them. I'm afraid I don't know the details, since I wasn't there, and I did not receive a full briefing on the event. Anyways, the Markovan government is interested in knowing more about the Dranzoot, and, since you are obviously familiar with this area, they thought you might know something about them and be able to recommend a course of action to take."

The Council's comm officer relayed the incoming message to the members of the Council, who had assembled upon sighting of life. Scelah was deep in thought 'They know about us. Quite a bit. So they either scanned our systems without us realizing, are in communication with someone from the home galaxy or learned of this, one way or another, from the Imperial Despot of Jiiran'. Kaleda was short of temper. Few of them had gotten much sleep since their encounter with the Imperial Despot of Jiiran, and tensions were high. 'We should be careful sir, their knowledge of us is suspicious to say the least.' Scelah hadn't looked up from the information he was receiving on the screen in front of him 'I know Kaleda, but at this point we have little choice. Send a response. Say 'We shall send representatives to your world. Thank you for greeting us.'. Scelah looked over to Gacca 'Do you wish to be part of the envoy?' He was happy Scelah had asked, he was going to volunteer anyway 'Yes, very much so'.

"Yes." Said the Executive. "They are close acquintances of ours. What happened with them?" He asked.

"Hm. Dranzoot, trouble makers, maybe..but still, we must put some discipline in them." He thought to himself.

"Well," said Lirr, "I'm afraid I haven't been briefed on the exact details, so I'm afraid I can't exactly tell you what it was about. General Jessic, I think you may know more on this than me. Weren't you involved in some way?"

Jessic paused before speaking. "I wasn't there personally, but I know someone who was. He was always a little vague on the details, though he seemed to remember that they shouted the word 'Spode' a lot. This also happened to be his last battle, since he received permanent damage to his one leg." Jessic gazed hard at the executive. "If I may ask a question," he said, "how closely acquainted are you with these. . . Dranzoot?"

Hayk was silenced. A few seconds later, he responded. "Okay. You win. I'm an abusive captain." It sounded almost sarcastic, and he was visibly angered. He raised his claws into the air, as if to surrender. "Escort me out now." I don't need to deal with this, he thought.

Edacious, meanwhile, had just spoken with Hayk's superiors. The old captain now had no business here, and was to be brought back to the moon of Lanipus for reassignment.