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[Arizona Nova]

-=ARV Ilfaldras (Hijacked), Containment Zone A in Nova Estariya

"Steady ahead, keep the burn low. We don't want to trigger it."

Captain Alraesh watched intensely as his ship neared the mine. It wouldn't be that tricky an operation, if it had been in realspace. In hyperspace the most minute motion got one much farther.

The elven crew went about their business, monitoring the mine's systems. They were designed to detect ships and go off as they came in at speed; going this slow they would do no such thing.

Alraesh picked up the comm. "Are the crews ready?" A chorus of "readies" answered him.

Out of a hatch on the side of the sleek vessel came a small procession of space suits. No thrusters even lit, however, as the group simply channeled some of the fuel out, which provided enough force to get them near the mine. The crew set to work, finding access points on the mine.

"Excellent, Captain," said First Mate Shishul from his console. "Once they have access to the system core of the mine, we'll be able to implant our modifications. If all goes well, we will be able to turn all the mines over to our control. Instead of being walled in, we will wall them out!"

"Yes, Number One," said Alraeish. "It will be a grievous blow to the machinations of the Anikari imperialists. They were not counting on subversion of their own implements."

"Sir," said one of the ensigns. "I have extremely unusual readings here, on approach, within five light-hours. It's something about the size of an asteroid, but it's moving too fast for that, and has no discernable shape."

"Let me see," said Alraeish, coming over and peering intently at the panel. He studied it for a few moments, and then his blood ran cold.

"Sir?" said the ensign.

"That..." he said, "Is not an asteroid, nor even a small ship. If I'm reading this right..."

He snapped back to his chair, picking up the comm. "All sappers recalled, all sappers recalled, double time!"

First Mate Shishul gave the Captain an alarmed look. "Sir? What is it?"

"It's her," he said. "Or her dogs. They've sent the Fist itself. We must not allow ourselves to be found."

"We should attack them," said Shishul. "Have you seen the weapons this vessel holds? We could kill them before they even find us."

"No, Shishul," cautioned Alraesh. "They may have tricks up their sleeve as well. We must not allow our ship to be destroyed or captured, at all costs, definitely not until we have full control of the blockade. For now we run."

Shishul frowned, but nodded in agreement.

[Arizona Nova]

-=ISRV Fist of the Empress, Closing on Nova Estariya

"They're moving off, Captain," said Ensign Rimmer, as he scrutinized the sensor readouts. To be sure, they could not see the ship per se, but could see signs of its passing, minute as they were.

The Captain turned and smiled at Admiral Govannon and Anikar. "See? They are crafty. Even SPECTRE isn't infallible against them."

"We should have sent a decoy first," said Anikar.

"Once they realize the ruse, though, they would know something is up. Right now, they're just running scared from some thing, which in their eyes could still turn out to be an anomaly or an asteroid," reasoned the Admiral.

"Which gives us two choices," responded The Captain. "Either start acting like an asteroid, or chase them. Taking the former, they would get terribly embarrased and get back to work, and overlook another pass, but they could also slip off and we'd have to find the other ship. They could very well slip away if we pursued them too."

Anikar sighed. "Why must I always be contending with these elves of Arenumberg," she lamented. "The great respect - even reverence - of my people for them has always been obvious. Yet they persist in defiance and fractionalism."

Admiral Govannon chuckled. "Don't ask a Facehuggerian is all I can answer."

"To the devil with all of them," said The Captain exasperatedly. "Play dumb or pursue?"

"After them," said Anikar. "The worst we could do is chase them into a black hole and that would make an end of half our immediate troubles."

The Captain nodded curtly to the helm. "Match target and .2, and prepare boarders. We'll have them yet."

[Arizona Nova]

Captain Alraesh grew all the grimmer as he watched the projected sensor readouts. No asteroid behaved as the blob in front of him did; they were being stalked.

"Don't you see, Captain?" hissed Shishul. "They seek to snuff us out in silence, in darkness, one by one destroy our forces! Ever has such low subtlety been Anikar's way. They will catch up, but we can confound her purposes yet - we must stand and fight, and by so doing warn our brothers that open war is upon them! The dam will break, and Anikar and her dog-people and other cattle will be left alone to face a united front!"

Captain Alraesh remained silent throughout Shishul's tirade. Shishul was a young elf, and his fire was still newly set in him. Alraesh had lived long, and all impulses and rashness had been long ago quashed out of him by hard lessons. Something about all this was just not right.

"They close, Captain!" insisted Shishul, as the menacing blot drew closer. "We must decide now!"

Alraesh sighed. They could hide - if they got to Raayven in time - but then the enemy would be able to concentrate everything on the Ilfaldras's sister ship, and it would merely prolong the cat and mouse between the Imperials and the Alliance, and make all the more painful and tragic the coming cataclysm, for all involved.

Alraesh grimaced, and then calmly said, "Out of FTL, power up shields and weapon arrays, and begin transmitting footage to the hubs. Prepare for battle."

Shishul's face lit up with excitement in response. "Yes! We shall show them now that the ships of the Red Helm are not without teeth!"

Alraesh merely nodded, watching as the main screen shrank the sensor readout to include a view of local space.

[Arizona Nova]

"They are maneuvering to attack," warned Ensign Rimmer, as the Ilfaldras bore down on the Fist's position.

"Cut back SPECTRE to minimal functions, all power to forward shields," said The Captain calmly.

The innumerable holographic, gravitic, and sensory illusions that had hid the Fist from all eyes faded out, revealing its dark dagger prow to the Ilfaldras.

"Sir," said the ensign worriedly, "We're getting odd problems with the computer systems. Fringe abilities of the SPECTRE system are being effected and its spreading; I think it's something the enemy is doing."

"Isolate critical systems but let it continue working elsewhere; hold that, make sure our jamming functions are still working, and activate them now," said Anikar. Admiral Govannon nodded in agreement.

The ship groaned beneath them as the ship bore up under the first salvos of the Ilfaldras, as the brilliant white beams lit up the void and burned into the energy shield.

"They appear to be targeting the decks nearest the shield generator; torpedoes are incoming," warned the ensign.

"Return fire, quarter power, all batteries, general spread on the Ilfaldras!" yelled the captain.

-=ARV Ilfaldras

"Their shields are already down twenty percent!" rejoiced the ensign.

"Sustain fire," said Captain Alraesh, "and see if we can't find a way around their firewalling."

The fight was going well, oddly so - they had managed to substantially sabotage the computer systems on the Fist in the opening moments of the battle and had themselves sustained very little damage. The Ilfaldras had run circles and loops around the ship, zeroing in on the critical areas.

First Mate Shishul was on the edge of his seat, a fierce light burning in his eyes. "We could do it, Captain!" he said, almost at a whisper. "We could destroy her ship yet!"

Alraesh said nothing. The Fist hadn't been in many live fire fights, yes, but its crew was hand-picked to be the elite of the Imperial fleet. It shouldn't - couldn't - go down so easily.

-=The Fist

"Next pass they'll be scraping the paint off of us," said Ensign Rimmer, "sixty-three percent," he added.

"Launch the boarders," replied The Captain, "and get the main array on line."

[Arizona Nova]

-=ARV Ilfaldras

"Sir," said the ensign, the earlier elation robbed from his voice, "I have new contacts emerging from the Fist... dozens."

"A fighter squadron?" asked Captain Alraesh, clearly confused. "That ship doesn..."

Captain Alraesh paused, and his face drained of color, becoming ashen. He slowly turned to First Mate Shishul.

"Shishul," he said, in little more than a whisper. "They didn't come to destroy us. They came... they came to take the ship." He buried his head in his hands.

Shishul grabbed his hair and tugged, crying out in frustration. "Can we engage the boarders?"

"These numbers... we're swimming in them already, and more are coming out," yelled the ensign. "We couldn't engage them all at once and have none get through."

"If they break through, the ship is theirs," intoned Alraesh. He stiffened suddenly, and lifted his head, and a new fire burned in his eyes.

"Ensign, set a course directly for the Fist. Full speed."

The ensign was silent for a moment, then said, "Sir? You intend to ram them?"

"If we fight, they'll board. If we flee, she'll stop holding back and annihalate us. Either way, we are lost. This way we get to die on our feet."

The ensign nodded, and turned to his console.

-=The Fist

"Captain," said Ensign Rimmer, "They've stopped firing."

"Whats this?" he asked slyly. "They couldn't be opening up for negotiations?"

"Sir, they're turning about right for us - they're going to ram us!"

"Damn them!" yelled Anikar. "Seditious, suicidal... is there no limit to their insanity!"

"Thats enough," growled the Captain, addressing the enemy. "Now the gloves are off. Microjump on my mark, then give them a SPECTRE fireworks show. Mark!"

As the Ilfaldras dove toward the Fist, the vessel blipped out for a moment and then reappeared just out of reach, and then all the sudden, there were dozens of them!

The Ilfaldras swerved, attempting to pursue the original Fist, but in vain, only passing through a hologram. It was the fatal mistake, as a couple of the leading boarding craft locked on to the ship moments later.

[Arizona Nova]

Captain Alraesh lifted a panel next to his chair, which switched on to display a hallway. He spoke urgently into the mic,

"Boarders incoming, repeat, boarders incoming on Deck 5."

A group of elves crowded into the lower part of the picture and set up barricades, and holstered what rifles that they had found in the ships armory, all in all a motley assortment. Alraesh realized in that moment that the fight was already over.

The doorframe of the nearby hatch a few yards away on the right side of the hallway slowly began to glow, as the boarding vessel outside neatly burrowed into the hull. As the drills neared the inside, the glow turned into a blinding light, cascading through the cracks of the door. Then the door blew in with explosive force and slammed into the other wall, and Captain Alraesh covered his eyes as the screen turned a blinding white.

A rapid clinking and clanking revealed that it was marine droids. As the flashbang cleared they came barreling at the defenders, who began to fire in a desperate panic into their ranks. They broke up, and began to roll and crawl and shimmy, alternating between bipedal walking, quadrupedal walking and crawling, seemlessly and gracefully, rolling with their own inertia. It was not enough, as at least four of them went down from the fire in those moments.

Then they opened fire from the cannons attached to their appendages, a withering barrage that sent the defenders ducking behind their barricades. The instant's hesitation was enough. At least five of them put on a burst of speed, leaping over the barricades and into the stunned ranks of the defenders, and began hacking into them with their claws. Alraesh watched in horror as they butchered the elves, tearing them open, literally knocking heads off with all the force they could muster, splashing themselves with blood. They were perfect for this kind of thing, having no sense of fear or mercy. The main body of the boarders quickly overran the position, and one droid looked up at the camera and let off a barrage, cancelling the feed.

Numbed, Alraesh pulled up a readout on the ship and saw that three more ships had attached in the time it took for the first wave to break through. He picked up the mic, and gravely announced:

"All defenders, fall back to the bridge! Repeat, all defenders, fall back to the bridge, immediately!"

He looked at Shishul, whose head was buried in his hands. Here they would make their stand, and die, and take as many of the enemy with as they could.

-=The Fist

Anikar watched as the boarding craft swarmed the elven ship, which could not flee fast enough. She narrowed her eyes, and then said,

"Captain, they may very well try to kill themselves with their own reactor if we let them, now that they know our purpose. Do we have any AIs ready?"

"We have at least two on standby; do you want the boarders to facilitate their entry?" asked the Captain.

"Yes," she said, "and immediately have them eat up every last bit of network resources on that ship."

"Will do," said the Captain. He pulled up a small control panel and input the commands. The ship went to work, while at the same time a small group of droids broke off from the main group in the ship and began looking for a place to break in.

-=ARV Ilfaldras

Falling back was proving hard. The droids moved fast, and just as some of the outer choke point defenders began to flee, the droids appeared, skittering and galloping along, and quickly cut them down. When all the defenders were finally collected at the bridge, it was just two-thirds of what Alraesh had started with. It didn't matter, though, as he - and they - were ready to die anyway.

Gravely, he went over to the ensign's console and began inputting codes to set the reactor to overload... but it was unresponsive. He tried again, and nothing, it was just froze. He cursed, and slammed his fist into it, cracking it and causing it to spark.

"Damn her!" he howled. "She would even deny us death at our own hands, and leave us to the mercy of her automatons!"

Suddenly a clanking arose outside the blast door, muffled. They were here. The sound rose to almost a buzz as a glut of them assembled outside the doors. They did not bang on the door or make any demands. It was uncanny enough, and then they went silent.

Shishul looked up, along with the rest of the crew, and listened intently. What were the droids up to? In the next moment, it became painfully obvious - a high-pitched digital screech sounded, emanating from behind the door, and despite the fact that it was a blast door it could do little to contain it. The elves cried aloud, and fumbled to plug up their ears from the pain.

An arc of sparks and molten metal began to erupt from one side of the door - they were cutting their way in. Alraesh attempted to bark out orders, but it was impossible over the noise, and with everyone plugging their ears. He resorted to pointing frantically with his gun.

The glowing scar in the door became a seperate, smaller frame as whatever was on the other side did its work. When it was finally complete, everything stood still for a moment - the horrible noise still emanating from behind.

Then the noise changed. Instead of a long, piercing note, it took on... inhuman dimensions. The droids browsed through a built-in library, and settled on a noise which would cause the most agony (especially to an elf) one which resulted from the grinding of tons of painted, yet dusty and rusty, metal grinding on a like surface. It was tremendous. It was a squeal, and a wail, yet lacked any of the organic softness that vocal chords lent to those noises; only a robot could hear such a thing and be unmoved. As they blew the door in, the noise trebled in volume and intensity, and the horrified shrieks of the elves inside were swallowed up in it. Many clawed at their faces, unable to block out the horror of it. The wailing of the damned was sweet music in comparison.

Only Alraesh stood, and brought his gun to bear, despite the pain. The lead droid regarded him with its five soulless eyes, and rolled into the room like some weird acrobat, and pinned Alraesh to the ground. It grabbed his gun and snapped it in half.

Dozens of the rest of the droids poured into the room, subduing those that were howling in pain and killing those who fired, even wildly. Within moments the room was subdued, and its inhabitants unconscious from the strain. The Ilfaldras was Anikar's.

[Arizona Nova]

-=The Fist

Anikar, urgently intoned Kertai.

Yes? She replied, in thought.

What are you doing? Did you know that the Ilfaldras has been feeding footage of the battle to Raayven since you opened fire?

Anikar's heart leapt into her throat, and she visibly tensed. If the Váer-Caiër knew about the capture of their ship, this was all for nothing. No, I did not, she replied.

Luckily for your sake I was able to keep the transmission from making it to the right sections. I'm sure nobody will go looking in the libraries for "Imperialist Propaganda" for this. Even so, the Váer-Caiër have other systems monitoring my activities, though, and sooner or later they'll find out what I did. You have to act fast.

Anikar relaxed. Thank you, Kertai.

One more thing, he intoned. How come you didn't ask me to help subvert the ship? I easily could have at least lent some modules. It's not like I don't know the soft-pathways of a VC ship.

It went down too quickly; I didn't think to ask you. Sorry, Anikar replied.

Think nothing of it. , he finished. I'm sending you information on Raayven and my location, and the necessary credentials to get you in. Luckily for you, this is the last place they expect an incursion. They won't be looking hard.

She gulped, and looked around the bridge. She could feel her cheeks burning with embarrasment; it had been long since someone had caught her slip up at so critical a junction. She hoped no one noticed. The last time, she thought, as the long roll of her memories span back, was Julius. It was a sobering thought, and did little to lighten her mood.

"Madam," said The Captain, breaking into her introspection, "the ship is securely docked and the remaining prisoners have been escorted to the brig, and our crew is in control of the Ilfaldras. Shall we be proceeding?"

"Yes," she said. "Kertai has sent us the necessary information. Get us gone."

He nodded, curtly, and motioned to the ensign. Moments later, the Fist vanished into hyperspace.

-=The Red Helm Command Centre, Raayven

The Ilfaldras slid into dock; the orbital loomed above it. It was a ringworld - nothing planet-enclosing, but monstrous still. It was also jet black, on its outer edge. From afar it couldn't even be made out, except for a half-moon sliver of jostling continents and water.

Anikar was the only part of the command crew which transferred while the ships were in transit. Admiral Govannon had protested, but she considered that it was far too important to leave out of her hands. They lurked, out of sight, wrapped as much as they could manage in the murky veils of SPECTRE.

The Ilfaldras had taken a dock near the huge storage berths of the installation which Kertai had recommended; automated systems with low security. It had only raised a few eyebrows at security controls but it was in inconsequential matter. No enemy could possibly strike at the core of Váer-Caiër power. It had survived the Searing, after all.

The crew made their way into the complex, armed. Meanwhile, Kertai looped security footage and feeds using pre-recorded segments he had hid. He could nothing to hurt the elves on the station, but in terms of deception he had a little wiggle room.

The hallways and rooms, like the outside, were simply black, lit by pale blue lights - just off azure, but not quite. Aerenal script was occasionally jotted on the walls, but no other indication to location was given.

They know their location mainly through implants and their handsets, intoned Kertai to Anikar. Hurry now! It'd be a shame to get this far and then get discovered.

For a moment Anikar had a pang of panic - that Kertai would reveal her force to the VC there, or that all this was in fact a trap. She could escape, but at great price... and not without drawing attention (very bad attention), or losing her crew.

Kertai sensed it, and in his own mind formulated what would otherwise be physically expressed as a smile. Really, you need to stop dwelling on the past, and that rascal Julius... and begin focusing on the present. Especially as there is a patrol in the adjacent corridor.

Anikar held up her hand, and the crew following her halted. Kertai remained silent, then intoned, Proceed.

The group crept nearer to the core. Soon Kertai broke in again on Anikar's thoughts: Now you're getting close. There are technicians at my core at all times, so you're going to have to fight. The question is how you choose to do it.

I can get them down quietly, she thought.

Are you so sure of your personal powers? asked Kertai ironically.

Why? she replied.

They're not pushovers. This isn't the rabble skeleton crew on the Ilfaldras; these are well-fed, well-trained, powerful elves. They have strength in more than arms.

Any other method will bring all of them on us in moments, or take too long. I will take that chance.

As you wish, warned Kertai.

The door to the chamber open and Anikar stepped in, the light flashing in her eyes. A number of elves in VC colors turned to look, and double-took. In that moment Anikar lashed out at them, for the purpose of knocking them out - and was struck with searing pain. She was taken aback, but pushed through it, growling. The elves collapsed to their knees, anger and astonishment on their faces.

They were fighting her; individually, on less than equal terms, but en masse, it was troubling. She had never encountered anything with quite so - indissoluble - a will. For a few more moments she stood stock still, every muscle straining against collapse, until the last of them fell, still grasping for some alarm.

She dropped to one knee, panting. The crew ran up to her, and she waved off their questions, staring at the unconscious bodies - and at the huge core in the middle of the room.

"Get it loaded," she said, breathing heavily. "Quickly."

The men brought in the cart, and Anikar directed the disconnecting process, which Kertai in turn delineated. Meanwhile, he worked within the system - detaching modules of his own software to hold up the mainframe until he could get physically free, and packing his arrays for transit.

In little time (though it seemed an eternity to Anikar) the core was mostly free, except for the last tenuous links.

Are you ready, Kertai? she asked.

One more thing, he said. Anikar heard the slam of a doorway and looked behind; not to this room.

Locking down our escape route, said Kertai, and setting off hazmat alarms everywhere we will hopefully not be.

A klaxon sounded, somewhere distantly. Some nearby consoles flashed warnings as well.

Yank me.

The last two links were cut, and his core was free. Anikar motioned for the crew to get moving, but it was not needed, all that restricted them was the inertia of the massive core.

The cart rumbled down the black corridor, the blue light highlighting the sweat tumbling down the faces of the thieves as they barreled along. Turns were nerve-wracking, and not a couple times the load seemed dangerously close to overturning.

You wouldn't hurt it, commented Kertai. I imagine the VC have done more than a fall could.

Anikar wondered that Kertai still had a link to her mind, and what just the Red Helm had installed in her head.

Finally they rolled into the loading bay, where the ship was already wide open to receive the core. Drove on by a last rush of adrenaline, the crew all but threw the cart into the cargo bay and rushed in after. The door hadn't even closed before the ship lifted off and turned.

Anikar ran to the bridge, to find to her horror they were still inside.

"What is going on?" she demanded.

"We're being refused clearance to leave," replied Ensign Rimmer.

"Then blast your way out! This ship has some kind of gun, use it!" she yelled, exasperatedly.

The ensign grimaced, and input to fire. Beams lanced out from the ship's prow and blew a huge hole in the bay's door, and the ship gunned forward, gouging a great scratch in itself and dispersing wreckage everywhere.

"FTLi is already going up," said the ensign in a panic.

"What I love about the VC ships," said Anikar, "is that they don't need hyperspace." Kertai quickly whispered the necessary instructions to her, and she strode over to the ensign's console and engaged the engines. The ship blinked out, before the nets of the Red Helm could be full drawn. Kertai was free.

[center]~Fini Incipiendi~[/center]

[Arizona Nova]

. : ooc : . Thats it! Hope you all enjoyed this little RP. Coming soon to an alliance near you - the Sornei Civil War. Stay tuned!