Later during the 23rd Session

“The Congress recognizes the Representative from Etti-IV.”

The Hardlight version of the ancient man stood up.

“I move that we continue discussion of the topic at hand: this Death regiment.”

The representative from Tholatin quickly seconded the motion.

“I find the concept of this unit to be despicable. By the Force, it’s down right Imperial. It’s a black uniform wearing, male dominated, skull banner flying abomination!”

A round of cheers was met with an equal amount of boos.

“The Commonwealth is built on a foundation of freedom, liberty, and peace, not fear. I will not stand by and let the military dictate our foreign policy by the way of strong arming and fear!”

Another member of the congress quickly came to his feet. “Enough!” commanded Rance Michels, the representative from Bonadan.

“Your reactionary moderate bull ***CW Censor*** reminds me of the New Republic! Isn’t the reason why the InterSystems Congress is structured the way it is so that we may forgo all of this bureaucratic foolishness and take action?”

The representative from Etti-IV snorted. “High minded liberal. Learn how to politick before you start trying to shake things up…”

Rance ignored the man.

“The Death Watch Regiment is a tool for action. And whether you like it or not the Regiment mobilizes tonight. Into the meat grinder… Send them your prayers not your ridicule.. With the way this war is going, there might no longer be a Death Watch for you lot to carry on about.”

His hardlight projection disappeared.





Some how the news of the Regiment’s mobilization had leaked to many right-wing activist groups. Protesters lined perimeter the spaceport just outside of Etti-IV’s capital city. They were called the Regiment imperialist, elitist, racist (even though the Regiment was quite diverse), and even fascist. It never seemed to cross the mind of the protestors that all these men, women, and aliens wanted to do was defend the Commonwealth and its citizens.

The soldiers just stood at attention. Clad in their new all black uniforms. Some were sporting the banners of their respective battalions, the largest banner being the flag of the Regiment: all black with a golden skull.

Rance Michels stood by as the regiment moved into formation. His light gray suit was a stark contrast next to Death Watch black. Rance bowed his head in almost reverence for the men and women as they marched by his position, saluting.

When the order was given the board the transports that would take them to death’s gates, the Regiment began to sing:

Of blood and steel, and murder cannon roar,
The line, the line, the line
From it we’ll defend our Commonwealth divine.
The line, the line, the glorious line
For the Commonwealth, we’ll push back the knaves
They’ll be not one step back, they’ll bloody our blades
The line, the line, the line
As long as we breathe, it’ll hold just fine.

The Death Watch had begun their death march. Representative Rance Michel returned to his landspeeder too broken up to even look back. Those poor souls were as good as dead.

Kirima


ISC Ambassadorial Envoy to Kirima




Ambassador Horatus Ponitias Wilkar IV - Esterone District, Bonadan. Also known as the Wilkar the Lesser


The great Commonwealth battleship Precarious Sword cut through the emptiness of space with as much ease as it's master cut through two slices of bread removing the off-color ends. As he drew the naked sandwich to his opening orifice, he glanced out at the rotating orb that was Kirima and sighed.

This is all Wilkar's fault! he thought, deriding his Vice-Admiral relative once more.

The Kirimans had asked the Commonwealth for help to solve their bug problem. At least that is what Wilkar the Lesser thought of it as. Apparently some sort of insect had come out of some dormant period and were wreaking havoc across the world.

When you can't handle your bug problems, you call a pest control exterminator, you don't call on a premier Commonwealth Ambassador!

Still, he knew at some level he was to engender the people of Kirima towards the Commonwealth and promote their joining. The vital task of completing this mission did much in the way of mollifying his embarrassment but he could not help but feel like a chump.

He was clearly not the first choice for such missions. The Ministry of State even looked at bearded freak Mark Rubino and his puppy dog Sive Wilson first before coming to him. What the hell did Rubino need with a bodyguard anyway?

Did the Ministry ever think on that?

Perhaps if he didn't piss so many people off...

He began to chew the soft butter and cottage cheese sandwich when the call came from the bridge of his warship. Truth be told it was not a battleship but a Victory Class Star Destroyer. And an old one at that!

It was one of the few crafts purchased from the Coalition after their war with the Empire. With the Coalition rebuilding their war machine and holding public holoconferences, the Commonwealth leaders effectively began to halt the trade of military grade articles from the Commonwealth's nationalized corporations to the Coalition. A few independents tried to march into the vacuum but hefty fines and taxes on the business by Commonwealth authorities made the move less attractive.

The Commonwealth government had a funny way determining what was and what wasn't their business.

War against the Empire was not their business. And yet bug extermination problems on Kirima was their business.

Wilkar the Lesser shook his head at the absurdity of it all and toggled the answer switch (Switches! Not even the smooth glass command consols of the new Hyperion Class ships) which popped the Second in Command's head in holographic form into being.

"Captain Wilkar, the planet is getting anxious to know when we will be sending a shuttle down to retrieve samples of the creatures?"

"I'm not done eating!" snapped Wilkar IV. He had had an earlier conversation with the Kiriman Prime and the man was babbling about the bugs being lethal. When Wilkar had asked about sending down doctors with serums to prevent the bug's poison from killing their population, the Prime had gone into a fit.

"They are eating our people!" the man had shouted.

"Tut tut... Methinks you exaggerate slightly." Wilkar had chuckled. "Bring one of the bugs up to me and let's have a look." he had offered.

The Prime was not in the mood and had stated his craft were approprated for emergency evacuations and medical duties.

In a grand display of hospitality, Wilkar offered a shuttlecraft to come down and pick up a bug on their own.

The Prime granted airspace access and had left to some other emergency and Wilkar decided to go to lunch.

"Fine!" he snapped at his Second. Remembering that he had to bring Kirima into the Commonwealth (if possible), he barked out an order: "Tell the shuttlecrew I want those bugs brought up here stat!"

The faster they ended this bug problem, the faster the grateful Kiriman's would fawn over Wilkar.

Just like they do with Vice Admiral Wilkar!

He always hated that side of the family.




*



Kirima


Domain - Scourge


The shuttlecraft from the warship in orbit was viewed through the multifaceted layers of a compound eye.

Several scions of the Scourge began to emit a humming sound that resonnated through the walls of the cavern and the entrails of Dave Lutep began to dance a little ditty as the smaller creatures inside moved around to the tune.

Tone.

Frequency.

Timing.

Scale.

The variances of communication between the swarms began to organize the otherwise anarchy of infestation that was taking place all over the glistening world.

They had no extra sensory perceptions and had no contact with the rest of the Domain or Greater Domain. But deep down, a instinctual knowledge that the Iron was not far off caused a flurry of activity within the creatures.

First comes the Scourge, the accounts of flesh had recorded.

And the Scourge had come.

Then comes Iron.



*

Precarious Sword


"Captain Wilkar, sensors are detecting something on the very fringe of the Kirima System."

"Bloody Victory Class..." muttered Wilkar as his buttery-breath huffed and puffed after the rather long walk from his personal eating quarters to the bridge.

"Send a probe.." he absently ordered.

He looked over to the female in charge of the helm functions, "Do I look fat to you?"

CW Ambassadorial Craft: Precarious Sword


Kirima Orbit


The shuttle returned without incident though the pilot and those who travelled to the surface requested an immediate meeting with Horatus.

The Captain almost did not grant the audience because he felt their demand too forward and presumptuous.

"What do want?" he barked out harshly, pieces of the fried meat he was eating spraying outward. He had chosen to have the meeting in his private dining room. The pilot and three others were standing on the opposite side of a long table facing the Lesser Wilkar, the latter not bothering to set places for them.

"Captain," The pilot timidly started, "The conditions of the world are worse than we thought. They truly have a horrifying infestation. A complete quarantine of the world might be ..."

"Are you a Captain that can issue such an order?" Horatus interrupted and the pilot's eyes narrowed in confusion. "N...no, Sir. I am simply reporting what I saw.."

One of the other men with the pilot coughed slightly stirring at the mocking tone coming from their Captain.

"Well, I AM a Captain and I feel that there should be no quarantine. We sent a shuttle down with no trouble so perhaps tomorrow, we should send more shuttles with extermination equipment." The Lesser Wilkar laughed at his own joke.

The pilot stammered in confusion. "But Captain, the situation will be much worse if we wait for tomorrow. Why not send relief shuttles now under a blanket quarantine.."

"THERE WILL BE NO QUARANTINE!" Wilkar shouted. "I AM THE CAPTAIN AND I SAY WE WAIT FOR TOMORROW!"

As if explaining something to a moron, Wilkar continued, "I have to personally be onhand to take care of any issue that might come up. I can't do that if I am asleep so I must regretfully put this off until I awaken."

The man coughed again and the Lesser Wilkar looked at him in derision. "Stop coughing at my dinner table!" he shouted.

The excitement caused the coughing man to lose control and his coughing fit suddenly exploded into something much harsher.

The pilot turned to the other man in concern and shouted in fear as the coughing man looked up, blood drooling from his bottom lip. It was as if his bodily functions had taken a life of their own as small sores began to appear on various parts of his exposed skin.


Wilkar the Lesser screamed in fear and began shouting for security.

One of the other men reached out to grab their ailing comrade when a small creature emerged from under the skin. The ailing man let out a howl of pain as the sores began to bubble and grow larger and before anyone could really act, burst into a hole from which tiny bugs with furry backsides emerged, moving quickly every which way.

"BATTLESTATIONS!" came a call from the bridge as alarms began to sound throughout the ship.

Wilkar the Lesser stood up, a white napkin still tucked under his chin and rushed out of the room stepping on several bugs. The other men were screaming their arms sweeping the creatures from their bodies.

"Exterminate those bugs!" Wilkar shouted to passing Security who looked on in confusion until the shuttle pilot ran out of the room slamming into the opposite wall dead. Bugs scurried from the open door moving quickly down the hall with Security trailing, ordering a quarantine of the deck.

Wilkar ran to the bridge.


*

"Report!" he shouted, a piece of fried skin falling from his lips onto a computer station.

"That ship on the edge of sensor range just moved alot closer!"

"How much closer?" Wilkar shouted back.


And suddenly the whole ship shook throwing the Captain and others to the ground.

"That close!" the XO shouted calling for return fire targeting data.

"RETREAT! THERE MUST BE HUNDREDS OF THEM!" Wilkar screamed and moved over to the Helm. "ENGAGE THRUSTERS AND TAKE US AWAY FROM THE PLANET!"

The two contradictory orders on the bridge caused a momentary lapse in action giving the unknown enemy time to strike again, this time breaching the hull.

"RETREAT!" Wilkar shouted and the Helm answered the call of their Captain. The Precarious Sword fired their engines up to full strength and moved away from the enemy as fast as it could.

The enemy made no moves to follow but assumed a standard orbital position moving it's weapons towards the world below them.

"We diliberately fled!" the XO shouted but the Lesser Wilkar waved him away. "We've been infested by bugs. We are not prepared to fight a battle from within and without at the same time."

"Bugs?" the XO curled his lip in derision.

"Several people are already dead. I was lucky to get out of my dinner quarters alive." Horatus said, telling the story of how he called the men who had gone to the surface to his quarters to hear their report. Upon realizing the seriousness of their situation, he wanted to immediately quarantine the world and give the men medals for their heroic efforts. But alas, one of the men did not go through proper decontamination procedures and was serving as a living host. The bugs emerged and despite their valliant efforts, some got a way.

The crew was enraptured by the account revising their earlier estimates of their Captain considerably.

As soon as the ship had broken away from Kirima's mass shadow, they calculated a jump to an appropriate Commonwealth world and made the leap into hyperspace.

As the white tunnel effect mesmerized the Lesser Wilkar he ordered his XO to take charge of ridding the vessel of the infestation.

Etti-IV


Commonwealth Strategic Command


“I saw what I saw. I’m not stupid,” half wined Wilkar the Lesser, as he loosened his collar to release his expansive neck.

“Well you sure as hell had all of us fooled. You’re such a stupid fuck, number four,” snapped Wilkar, the admiral, at his cousin.

Both Wilkars came from a very extended family. A family that spanned the entire galaxy. The Cineburgs. The Cineburgs were a family divided. You had the Kuat Cineburgs, the Bonadan Cineburgs, and the Chandrila Cineburgs. No one had heard much from the Chandrila branch of the family in more than forty years though.

That left the two branches of the family. Kuati Cineburgs tended to look down their aristocratically bred noses at their Outer Rim cousins. On the other hand, the boys and girls from Bonadan hated their relatives from Kuat for one reason, and one reason only. Those damn Kuatis had money. Why else?

“You Kuati Cineburgs, biggest lot of fuckers if you ask me. Interbreeding to keep you royal blood—“

“Fuck you cuz…” interrupted Vice-Admiral Wilkar.

“Gentlemen please… We have a crisis on our hands… Keep it… well… civil. Shall we?”

The two men looked up to see the entire conference room staring at them. Colonel Tau, the young Twileek head of Fleet Intelligence moved towards holoprojector to begin the meeting. A map of the Commonwealth Proper appeared, covered with red penetrations.

“Gentlemen and lady,” he began referring to Captain Tillis, executive officer of the Commonwealth Third Fleet. “Calling this a mere crisis would be an understatement. The enemy is at the gates. Captain Wilkar’s retreat at Kirima,” he paused for a moment.”

The ambassador crossed his arms, puffing out his cheeks.

“…was devastating. His destroyer was the only thing holding down that position of the perimeter formally known as the Corporate Sector. The elements of the Second Fleet he ordered to cover his retreat subsequently weakened the perimeter even more. This has allowed the enemy to break threw. The only thing between a fleet of unknown numbers and the capital of the Commonwealth is Commander McCadon’s Picket squadron.”

The Colonel paused again to check his chronometer.

“They’ll be routed within the hour, assuming they haven’t been already.”

Commander John McCadon was a fine officer. He would be a terrible loss to the Commonwealth Navy. His skill with smaller vessels was unmatched. Vice-Admiral Wilkar had seen him time and time again best commanders wielding larger, more powerful ships. The admiral prayed to the gods for his life to be spared.

“Surely this isn’t entirely my fault! This would have happened anyway right? I mean... you all have got to give me some credit! Think of all the samples of the invaders I brought back!” exclaimed Wilkar the Lesser.

“Just get the fuck out of here number four…” growled the Third Fleet commander.

“You can’t tell me what to do.”

“If you weren’t kin, I’d have you shot for this. You Bonadan Cineburgs are all a bunch of idiot bantha fuckers!”

Wilkar the Lesser stormed out of the room, hands at his side balled into fists.

The Colonel sighed, shaking his head. “Gentlemen, these invaders can not be allowed to push us back any further.” He drew an imaginary line across the floor with his boot. “No further.”

“No further,” repeated the rest of the room.

"Nine entire Columns of the Iron shall strike and hold." Barak of the Supreme Kabal said and Atrius, Kabal (leader) of the Seventh Column looked confused for typically, as written, all Thirteen Columns marched together.

When he brought this up, all of the Column leaders in the room turned to look at him. There were few leaders with the temperament to question a member of the Supreme Kabal, especially during a briefing.

Barak, however, welcomed the show of fire for such ones gave an indication of being worthy of consideration as a member of the Supreme Kabal lest the Hive or the Force dominate the Iron totally.

"Two Columns will be held in reserve." he stated and the other leaders held back a collective gasp. It had been centuries since a reserve was needed and the Supreme Kabal had to explain.

"The area of space we are threatening have much more soldiers than we have handled in the past. New strategies for handling them have to be sought to keep our offensive perpetuating and to keep our enemies at bay long enough for the Great Balance to be regained and our numbers steadied.

The world known as Kirima is the Fifth World."


The Column Leaders knew what that mean't. Twenty Six of their numbers chosen from the untrained, those natives found on Kirima were to go to the Scourge to rebuild the numbers comprising the Hive. Barak had negotiated double the number of flesh as opposed to the Thirteen demanded from the Iron (trained) to boost the Hive numbers considerably so that the Iron retained the core of it's trained and experienced base. In light of this new offensive, Barak did not see the wisdom of taking time to conscript and train new initiates and see them gain the experience battle inevitably brings only for them to become feeding fodder for the gestation of new Scourge.

Let the conquered serve.

"One Column, the Second will strike at the star system locally known as the Lur and Saffalore star systems. The Seventh Column will strike the world of Duroon."


The Column leaders shifted in excitement.

"If you can hold these worlds, so much the better. However, your goal will be to seek out the enemy soldiers and installations and destroy them. They are closer to this Commonwealth than the world of Kirima and so, we expect our enemies to respond to your attacks ignoring Kirima at first. This will allow us the time, two full Moon Cycles, to bring our numbers up.

Once replenished, we shall follow your coarse and strike Duroon, Lur and Saffalore systems simultaneously. With the damage the Second and Seventh will have inflicted, we expect their resistance to be minimal."

Atrius frowned, "But if this Commonwealth responds to us..."

"You will either have destroyed as much of their forces or you will have lead them on a merry chase further into their territories."

The Kabals began to talk among themselves and Barak raised his voice over the murmuring. "The Second and the Seventh are to serve as the Vanguard until the Scourge numbers are replenished. This is why you will not expend much energy to hold what you move into for you will drive deeper into this Corporate Sector and drive their numbers away from our Offensive.

By the time they realize what is happening, we will have secured Duroon, Lur and Saffalore Systems and the Scourge will, once more, begin the Vanguard to Bonadan, the world Etti-IV, Erysthes and to Kail. We will have doubled our Column strength and conversion in the newly conquered regions will have begun by the Force!"


Atrius did the math in his head and saw that ten Columns were being left in the Domain as a defensive measure, more than enough for any significant counter attack by the enemy.









Duroon


The powerful scanning equipment of the Commonwealth base on the lush green and mountainous world of Duroon noticed the arrival of the Seventh Column immediately.

Built during the days of the Corporate Sector Authority and renovated during the rise of the Commonwealth governement, this was the first significant military target of the Commonwealth the Domain had yet to tangle with.

As such, Atrius had divided his forces to approach the world from opposite directions. It was noted that the world's volcanic activity might disrupt their sensors to allow a flanking move.

In any event, a signal went out regarding the attack from the Commonwealth enemy as the Supreme Kabal said it would. It would be several days before any reinforcements would arrive and so Atrius waited for the base to launch it's defensive forces secure in the knowledge that he had time to contemplate how he would smash them to bits.




Lur System


The world was cold. That was what Thraes Kabal noted about the insignificant looking planetoid with the harsh weather fronts. This was a world that the Scourge would have ignored as they could not survive in such conditions. Why Supreme Kabal Barak wanted this world was not known but Thraes would accomplish the task with all due effort.

"Sire, our sensors are not penetrating the atmosphere." and underling noted and Thraes narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"What is being hidden here?"

"Admiral Wilkar's perimeter defense is about as worthless as a priest's vow of chastity," Tyscio Zier remarked looking over the reports. The outer Corporate Sector had yet to be explored, the Caprician representatives pushing for an exploration of the Elrood Sector instead. Those politicians opposing the move had argued that their resources should go to exploring their own backyard and with good reason. Scipio's encounter with Sparthios was proof enough of the opposition stance but to the Caprician way of thinking, if you have enough funds, why couldn't you do everything?

But sometimes, too much was a bad thing.

For when you fund everything at once, amazingly, nothing gets done in a democracy! Also, rather than creating priorities and benchmarks, you suddenly find yourself without any, spreading equal importance over everything. And nothing in this life was ever equal. Especially where credits were concerned.

But the Capricians got their funding for the Elrood Sector and the relatively minor conflicts with the locals that went along with it and the exploration of the Outer Corporate Sector, even though equal in priority on paper, got put in the backburner by those agencies that found other uses for their share of the funds.


While democracy worked, it was far from perfect.


"The next Session of Congress will not go well," Gomorran commented abstractly staring intently at a flat two-dimensional map.


"If the last one was any indication, politicians will care more about the name we give this operation. As long as it's nice and fluffy, we should be fine." Admiral Zier dismissed the political body without effort.


"Politicians may make mountains out of minutiae but when it comes to working for their constituents, they grab onto things with the grip of a carnivorous razorback," Gomorran chided.


"Assuming their constituents are the people and not corporations.." Zier retorted sardonically.


"From your mouth to the Clannus Prime's ears.." murmured Gomorran in response.


Tyscio Zier moved a hand through his lengthening white hair hiding his close observation of his friend. Gomorran had been Regent of Capricia at one point and was thought to have died during the Yuuzhan Vong's Second Invasion. Then, like a ghost from the past, he returned to lay claim to the World Council Seat representing the Capital Province of Capricia. Technically, he was a politician himself but he had also lead soldiers and had fought two wars which made him one of the few politicians who knew how to actually work.

He represented Caprician Noble Clan and was military family no matter what a docket listed as his public credientials as far as Zier was concerned.


"The outpost on Duroon has stopped transmitting," Zier began but Gomorrown waved it down, frowning.


"You make it sound like they did it by choice. No Ty, I think they were silenced by these interlopers," He also had a report on Wilkar the Lesser's adventure at Kirima, "and we had better move something out there fast.."


"Did you see those numbers? We don't have a force that big to marshall just now." Tyscio started hotly but again Gomorran waved his objections down.


"I know, Ty, I know. But we cannot forget that we may have people still on Duroon who may have escaped the outpost's destruction and they will need rescuing."

"Unless," Gomorran added, "We are going to hope these invaders are going to adhere to some sort of rules of war?"


The Admiral winced. In his experience, with the enemies he was used to fighting, there were no rules of war. "Your point is taken, Gomorran. I'll see what I can throw that way."


Councilman Gomorran Kay nodded, "I just hope it's enough."




**


Science ship, Scion


Theorist Lyrian was dressed in his usual simple gray garb of the old Leantre Clan and wore an antiquated pair of eyeglasses. He was balancing his weight on a black cane and, even though slightly bent, it still seemed he was at eye
level with everyone and was not afraid to look his opponents in the eye.


In this case, his opponent's eye was holographic in nature.


"What do you want, boy?" he growled, clearly irritated that his studies had been unceremoniously interrupted by the Commonwealth Admiral.


In spite of himself, Admiral Zier cringed recalling his time at the Caprician University studying under Lyrian's tutelage. Or, as the Theorist liked to call it, trying to grab morsel's of genius through osmosis.


"I have need of the Scion, Theorist."


The old man stamped his cane impatiently, "Of course, you do!" he snapped as if there was any question. "My genius is one of the most sought-after commodities within the Commonwealth!"


Admiral Zier coughed slightly and cleared his throat, "Ahh..What I mean to say, Theorist, is that I require your ship to travel to Duroon to pick up some personnel."


"What.. What? What is this? You want me to be a ferry?" The Theorist squinted as if Zier's hardlight hologram had started to fade.


"Without getting yourselves blown up in the process," the Admiral continued and Lyrian's features brightened as he chuckled.


"Ah.. yes, you've heard about our experimentation with Tachyon Theory and Black Hole..." his voice trailed off at the Admiral's clearly befuddled expression.


Lyrian's features darkened again. "Blow up how?"


"From the people who blew up the base on Duroon to begin with," the Admiral answered deadpan.


"Does this have anything to do with Kirima's bug infestation?" the Theorist asked and the Admiral's eyes widened.


"How did you?"


"I can read a map," the old man snapped.


"Will you do it?"


The old man pondered, "I suppose we are the only ship available and the fate of the universe hangs in the balance?"


"There are plenty of ships available," Admiral Zier remarked, "But you are the closest. And certainly the fate of an unknown number of citizens, formerly of the Duroon base, certainly hang in the balance."


Lyrian's face turned crafty, "If I do this.."


"A bottle of Alderaanian liquor will be yours." Zier announced grandly and the old man spat.


"Is that all?"


"Hey! It is over a 500,000 credits a bottle and once it's gone...!"


Lyrian scoffed indifferently, "Just because something is expensive and no longer available does not mean it doesn't taste like crap. The Alderraanians should have stuck with pacifism and left the brewing to those who could!"


"Don't speak ill of the dead, Theorist."


"I am not, young man!" Lyrian snapped back, "I am speaking ill of their liquor!"


"So you will.." Zier prodded.


"Yes, yes! We'll go. We'll be there today."


"Theorist, you have the gratitude of an entire Commonwealth.."


"Bah! What I need is funding! Now get out of here while I figure out how to meet an enemy fleet with an unarmed science vessel!"


The Admiral wisely vanished and a grumbling Lyrian put out a call for a meeting with all Department Heads.




***
***



The Victory Class Star Destroyer, internally redesigned to allow the vessel to serve it's primary duty as a science vessel, was named after a fallen battleship in the Second Invasion. called the Scion, and it would have been the template for more similarly retro-fitted ships if the Design Board of the new Commonwealth hadn't sunk down more credits to redesign a science ship from the keel up adding a bit more versatility and function to starships designated: Science Ships. The VSD design was years old and antiquated anyway, or so the justification went.

Still, the ship was one of a kind. Almost a microcosm of a world as departmental corridors became borders separating hypothesis, theories, and intellectual conceits that rivaled any cultural differences between two cultures, species or genders. And while no deaths resulted in the inevitable conflicts the battles were, if reports are to be believed, very heated.


The impending meeting was no exception.







Duroon




Atrius glanced up from the latest scanning of the region when his comm chirped. It was from his Second in the Fleet and he knew what the call would be about.


"Force Leader," the Second intoned, saluting. "The enemy base has been destroyed."


"Good," Atrius merely acknowledged. "Were they able to signal for help?"


"Yes, Force Leader."


"Even better." Atrius was pleased with the smoothness of the operation. "Prepare to deploy the fleet."


"Sir.." the Second said but his voice trailed off as if wanting to ask something that the Force Leader might become incensed about.


"What is Tam?" Atrius stated his Second's given name to indicate he was not offended. Questions were how one learned after all.


"I seek clarification of the enemy still on the planet."


Atrius laughed. "Tam, you want to question my decision in letting those who escaped the base live?"


The Second said nothing but even that was an answer of sorts.


"Tam, you noticed that they were evacuating prior to our arrival in orbit."

When the other nodded, he continued, "So it stands to reason that if a rescue ship enters the system, they should be able to determine whether or not the base has been destroyed. And, since it has, in order for the Commonwealth vessel or vessels (hopefully) to continue into our trap, they need enticing. They need proof that their sacrifice will not be in vain. They need proof of life. By leaving the enemy base personnel alive, they will be able to anser the rescue vessel's attempts to determine if there is anyone alive and, therefore, worth the risk. If everyone is dead, there is no reason for risk and the ship flees."


"If the ship flees, we will chase it and destroy it." the Second merely stated.


"And we may yet have to do that. However, I would like to know the quality of our enemy. I would like to see if they fall into our trap like baka beetles on the Mashing Grounds."


Tam let out a sly grin as if he was being clever, "We will stamp them!"


"Indeed," Atrius acknowledged. "Now, have the fleet prepare our own Mashing Ground."


The Second straightened, "At once, Force Leader!"


The signal ended and Atrius sighed. The Second might not be the brightest of the bunch but he was fiercely loyal to his Column and once he grasped how letting the enemy live might bring more glory to the Column, he would fiercely carry out his charge taking care not to execute the enemy until Atrius ordered it or die trying.


That sort of loyalty was hard to come by especially when your numbers went to replenishing the Scourge and trying to indoctrinate and train from the new 'recruits'. They usually did that through fear and fear was not the best slate to engender loyalty.


Which is why only those from the Homeworld had the decision-making positions within the Iron.





Lur System




Commander Thraes slammed his fist down on a consol in frustration. "Is there a presence there or not!?" he yelled.


He had sent three landing craft to the surface to establish an onsite communications tower to break through the planetary interference and all three ships had disappeared from the Iron's scopes as soon as they passed through the atmosphere.


Thraes had been steaming on his Command Deck ever since and his patience had almost reached it's limits when their comms picked up a signal from the surface. From Landing Party Number Two.


The monitor revealed what they could all see from orbit: That snow blanketed everywhere and the officers of the landing party were huddled around the comm unit.


"Frreee.---ing." one managed to get out his shivering almost making Thraes believe the comm unit itself was shaking.


"Get into your ship and leave." the Commander merely stated through gritted teeth.


"Sh...ship.. In.. Inop... erabl.. Fr... ozen."


"Bah!" Thraes cried out banging his fist against a consol again.


This world was worthless!


But did he dare risk more landing craft to the conditions of the world to save those already on the surface?


He came to a decision.


"Your sacrifice is noted," he remarked to those of Landing Party Two and cut off communications. "Prepare to break orbit. This system is secure.


We push onward!"

An Age or Two Past...



The fleet from Kail exited hyperspace towards the lonely sun that the chart-makers had designated as the source of the Scourge incursions.


The Sovereign was not sure how the saying of the "First, Second and Third" had taken root in the century-long cycles of attacks their planet suffered by these ...insects.


They acted like no insect that their people had ever seen on their world and he wondered how long it was until their people realized that this 'Scourge' was not native to their world and how they crossed the vast emptiness of the space to fall onto Kail.


In their physical observation of the celestial bodies surrounding their world, a lonely sun was found to be the closest star making the system the most likely origin point. Kail's astronomers though were not sure there was a planet even orbiting the sun.


If they were here, however, the Sovereign was prepared to have his ten ships-of-the-line work such a destruction on the world thus breaking the old children's fable of First, Second and Third once and for all time.


"Sire," a soldier interrupted his thoughts, "a small planet has been found on our sensor screens within the life-zone."


"Let us not keep this scourge waiting, shall we?" the leader replied and commands issued forth from the command ship.

The Sovereign felt the engine vibrations increase as the massive thrust propelled him towards the planet of destiny. The closer they came to the world, their sensor scans revealed it to be a planet that was mostly jungle.


"Scans cannot seem to penetrate the tree-cover, Sire." the report came and Serenia's voice whispered behind him, "Just fire on the world and be done with it!"


"We do not even know if this is the world of the Scourge," he replied back and his woman's smirk was heard in her next statement. "So what? Kail will not know for another one hundred years.."


The Sovereign turned in his chair to face the woman he had taken to bed time and again and marveled at her aggression. It excited him.


"Serenia, you would have our children face this challenge when we, here and now, can determine if we have truly exterminated the Scourge or not?"

His words brought her up short.

"We find out if this is their world and if it is,we burn it to cinders. If it is not, we continue our search until we do find it and burn it to cinders. No half-measures, Serenia. Not now."


The Scourge attacks every one hundred years always left their culture broken and scattered but every century, their technology progressed and now, now they were faced for the first time, with the option to leave Kail and strike back.


"Order all ships to burn a clearing and prepare to land," he ordered. While he did not want to harm an innocent world, he was not going to be foolish when it came to his ships and men. A clearing large enough for his ships to settle and still have enough clearing to defend against any Scourge attacks would be required.


The warships of Kail began their controlled rain of fire...

Executive Councilors
 
 
“So what are we looking at?” Dakkon Darksword of Hapes asked as holoprojections appeared before him.
 
“What looks to be the strangest invasion I have ever seen,” Seth Vinda of Vinda Corporation replied.  “It appears to be filtering into the Corporate Sector from the Fringe or beyond that.”
 
“Invasion?” Dakkon scoffed, reading something on a pad before him.   “Kirima seems to be experiencing an infestation…”
 
“.. I am referring to Duroon,” Vinda interrupted, waving a hand causing a holographic projection to appear before the Hapes representative.  “A Commonwealth base was destroyed though our people were rescued by the science vessel, Scion. The Scion reported numerous enemy ships,” he flickered some fingers and holographic pictures representing the vessels in question appeared, “in and around the area.   They were using the survivors of the base as bait and had arrayed a trap which would have worked if not for the scientists.”
 
“So the Scion survived the trap?”  Dakkon was dubious.
 
Vinda shrugged, “The trap was not designed for a single ship enemy but for a fleet.  The arrival of the Scion showed the enemy out of position which gave them time to get to the planet and get our people out of there.”
 
Dakkon suddenly laughed at the report his eyes were scanning.  “Those bastards simply activated the heaviest shield a ship can yield and simply took the shots of those vessels in range.  It looks like they were under constant fire going in and coming out.  Damn, that was one powerful shield!”
 
“The Scion is a one-of-a-kind science vessel.  I do not even have its power output specifications.  Still, it is unarmed so there was no conflict with weapons systems.”
 
“Gutsy,” mused Dakkon.  “If anything had gone wong…”
 
“Thankfully, the survivors were evacuated.  However, that leaves Duroon to these invaders which gives them access to an old Corporate Sector Authority cache.  Our base was the first phase to incorporate the old CSA compound but these people struck before we could move to further.”
 
“But does this constitute an invasion?” Darksword asked.
 
“Our hidden facility on Lur also reported a fleet.  They tried landings that failed and the fleet moved on but the information is conclusive, these are the same people and they show a pattern of expansion.”
 
“The ships themselves do not seem to show any particular advancement over our own that I can tell here.  We have the numbers to defend ourselves if this aggressor pushes into our space,” Dakkon concluded.
 
Vinda sighed.  “Normally, I would agree with you.  However..”
 
“However?”
 
“I have not thought about the Fringe Worlds in a while.  Back when I was fighting the CSA, V-Sec did work on gathering intelligence in that area as a possible way to check or flank CSA’s power.  The reports I received were not encouraging in enough areas to make me rethink my strategy.”
 
Dakkon’s pad chirped and his eyes narrowed as he opened the file that had been transferred.
 
Report upon report of planets being devastated every one hundred years by some sort of infestation termed, the Scourge.  
 
“At the time V-Sec reported this, these planets had successfully defended their worlds after each attack, dating back a thousand years or more.  But the devastation to the population seemed to reach critical levels.  Only advancement in technology helped native populations make up the difference.   However, each attack, from the records our people could gather, seemed to widen in scope.”
 
“What are you saying, Seth?”
 
“I believe these attackers are using the infestation to weaken potential targets.”
 
Dakkon frowned.  “You think this infestation that is plaguing Kirima is a biological weapon of some sort?”
 
“I think that if these reports are correct and these Fringe Worlds experienced this infestation at regular intervals, then it is no chance occurrence what is happening on Kirima.”
 
“It is not enough to declare a Commonwealth-wide emergency and activate the council.  The ISC is going to want proof.”
 
Vinda nodded.  “I would too.  We need to send an expedition into the Fringe.”