<center><i>Though the mills of God grind slowly,
yet they grind exceeding small;
Though with patience He stands waiting,
with exactness grinds He all.</i>
<b>H. W. Longfellow</b></center>

Berandis ke Teldan stood staring out of the windows of his apartment overlooking Onyx. A beautiful sight. Though no comparision for the beauty of his homeworld, Adumar.

<i>"Or at least it's old beauty,"</i> he thought angrily.

He still ground his teeth at the thought of what had happened to his homeworld. They had been a member of The Tholatin Republic, a peaceful republic that was suddenly and viciously attacked by the forces of that demon Kyric Zen. Luckily for Berandis he hadn't been on the planet at the time and he wasn't struck by that devasting scourge which Zen's allies, the Black Dragon Empire, called The Phage. It had destroyed all life on the planet and rendered it next to uninhabitable. When all the life on the planet had died, the oxygen levels had plummeted because of all the decomposing bacteria, and without any plant life oxygen wasn't replenished and a greenhouse effect had occured.

Farfalen had made an effort to resettle the planet, though the idea made Berandis feel sick. He could just imagine people living in the houses of so many of his dead friends and relatives, Ariena, Peladic, Tromer and so many more. Farfalen and the Black Dragon Empire had commited a crime that was on the level of the most horrific crimes that the Empire had committed. Adumar had joined Cammas and Alderaan in the list of dead worlds in the galaxy and it made him burn up inside that the planet had recceived none of the attention that those planets had received. Nearly every day you could flip on the holonet and hear something about Alderaan or Cammas, but not even a peep about Adumar.

Berandis looked at the comm unit lying on the table near him. He was waiting for a call from his friend and fellow refugee Somer ke Deljax. Somer was the head of the Adumari Refugee Organization and he was petitioning the Onyxian Commonwealth Senate to mount an effort to retake Adumar. If Somer suceeded, Berandis had no doubt that his ship <i>Tower</i> would be one of the ships assigned to the task.

Suddenly a buzz sounded from his comlink and he grabbed it and held it up to his ear to listen to the message from Somer, a slow smile formed on his face as Somer continued to speak. At last, retribution.

<center>****</center>

The Stealth Intruder, <i>Voyageur</i> dropped out of space on the outskirts of the Adumar system. With full stealth systems engaged it was undetectable as it slowly approached the system and began to passively scan the system identifying the forces on location. At three other points in the system three of her sister ships, <i>Moonshadow, Cloud and Buzzard</i> began similar scans. The trap was ready and waiting. All that it needed was the final information on the fleet dispositions.

<center>****</center>

<i>"Come on, come on..."</i>

Berandis rocked forwards and backwards on his chair waiting for the mission to begin. Around him silently floated other vessels of the Onyxian Commonwealth fleet.

"Any word from the intruders yet?" Berandis asked.

"No sir." replied his comm officer. The perfect image of professionality and patience despite his captain asking the question for the fifth time.

<i>"...come on..."</i>

Captain Kat Drury sat in the pilot's seat of the Stealth Intruder <i>Voyageur</i> staring intently at her display's.

"All shields and stealth systems running at full captain," reported her co-pilot, Ensign Neil Brubeck.

"Alright, what are the sensors showing?" she asked while she concentrated on keeping the <i>Voyageur</i> on a steady course.

"Long-range sensor's are showing four medium sized capital ships in orbit, configuration unknown."

"Are they broadcasting anything?"

"Yes ma'am. But it's some alien signal that the computer's can't understand." Brubeck replied, perplexion filling his voice.

"Run it through the computers, see if it matches anything we have on record."

There was a pause in the conversation while Neil busied himself with trying to catalogue the signal. Then he spoke up again this time fear begining to creep into his voice.

"The computer recognizes these signals from Kiyar. Those aliens that the Coalition encountered there, well it seems that they use similar signals."

Kat immediately pulled the throttles all the way back and slowed the <i>Voyageur</i> to a halt.

"We don't know what detection technologies they have, they could be able to detect us. We have to abort. Can we line-of-sight transmit to the others?"

Neil quickly checked his sensors before warming up the comm system. "We still have a line of sight for the <i>Buzzard</i> and <i>Moonshadow</i>, do you want me to order them to contact the <i>Cloud</i> and then pull out?"

"Do it, and when you're done plot us a course out of here."

<center>****</center>

Berandis ke Teldan stood at attention staring at the hologram of Consul Joren Logan with a mixture of shock and disgust.

"You can't be serious sir! These aliens the...the Create or whatever they're called, cannot be allowed to hold Adumar. It's too close to the Commonwealth, they could mount strikes against us from there. It's a security risk! They've already proven themselves to be violent but not very numerous, we need to wipe them out now while we still have a chance."

Joren Logan sighed at the Captain's lengthy discourse.

"First off, they're the Cree'ar. They may be a security risk, but the Coalition is already at war with the Black Dragon Empire and their Farfalen puppets. Plus there's those mercernaries that attacked Kubindi and Tammar. We simply do not have the resources to maintain a three-front war and sufficiently protect our territory and secure the routes between our planets. Some of our territories still have pirate problems and without the navy to protect the space-lanes they will starve. I understand that this issue is a personal one for you but you are an officer of the Onyxian Commonwealth and the Galactic Coalition, you will obey orders."

Berandis bowed his head in surrender.

"Yes sir."

The Hologram fizzled out leaving Berandis alone in the room with only his thoughts to keep him company. But in this case they were poor company mostly being anger directed against Logan.

Berandis strode onto the command deck of the <i>Tower</i> and gestured to his Executive Officer who strode over.

"What are our orders sir?"

"Order the rest of the fleet to return to their bases. We are to proceed to the Adumar system with the <i>Repulse</i> and the <i>Memory</i> and conduct diplomatic negotiations with the Cree'Ar. Once the rest of the fleet has jumped back I want to arrive on the outskirts of the system, in range of their sensors but far enough away to be able to escape easily."

"Aye captain."

<center>****</center>

With a flash of light the mighty Defender Star Destroyer <i>Tower</i> accompanied by two Silencer Cruisers reverted at the edge of the Adumar system. Immediately the ships raised shields and began to scan the system. While not jumping into a known combat zone the Cree'Ar had proven themselves to be unfriendly and it was better safe than sorry.

"Transmit my message across all spectrums, see if they respond." Berandis ordered the communications officer.

Within seconds every comm unit in the fleet lit up with the message from the <i>Tower</i>

"This is Captain Berandis ke Teldan, representing the Onyxian Commonwealth and the Adumari Refugee Organization. We come in peace and I request discussions concerning matters of mutual importance with the officer in charge here. Please reply."