6200 - Book 1 - Beginnings - Chapter 3

Chapter 3 -

Aquarians are a race of water based humanoids with minor shape shifting abilities and a telepathic ability to close and heal minor wounds on themselves or others. The Aquarians as stated have minor ability to shape shift that allows them to change from a form suited for underwater use to one suited for land use, however it has been many millennia since the Aquarians lived fully on land and at this point in their evolution are more at home in their huge submerged coral reef cities and while in their more land suitable form still require the use of a wet suit or mono-film duty suit that constantly pipes fluids through it and keeps them moisturized, if an Aquarian eschews the use of the wet suit their skin will dry out, start to painfully crack, and their breathing will become labored it is estimated that if they spend more than twenty-four hours away from water they will become crippled and scarred or even possibly die.

While an Aqurian looks like a normal human when in their land capable form their water form is very beautiful, their skin turns to scales in a wide variety of eye catching metallic colors from whites all the way through greens to reds and oranges, their hair also generally takes on a blue or green caste as well, the legs merge together to form a tail and fins and smaller fins grow from the stomach, sides, and back. The eyes become enlarged and gel like membrane covers them and they are unable to blink at all.

Records from the Ancient Theban Archives also prove that at one time this race was allies to the now extinct race of humans and several may have been part of the evacuation colony that was stranded on Earth over 15,000 years ago and were probably the root of the Mermaid/Merfolk mythology.

Dr. Stanislaw Medloe - Professor of Galactic & Xeno-History Cambridge College

A History of the Milky Way Galaxy and its Inhabitants - Vol. XIX 5928

Independent Systems League - Johannesburg System - Johannesburg V Orbit

Privately Registered Vessel Forlorn Hope

October 23rd, 6200 C.E. - 10:24 CST

The trip to Johannesburg took nearly six weeks through hyperspace; they didn’t dare try and take their cargo of “farm implements” through one of the wormhole gates for fear of a possible inspection.

The planet of Johannesburg V was a rather hot planet with 95% of its land mass being covered by steaming jungle, the other 5% being overly arid desert.

“We’ll be making planet fall at the arranged coordinates around Noon,” Jason said from his crash chair the console in front of him configured for navigation and propulsion.

“Good, I’m going to take a nap then,” Barr said reclining the seat back and pushing his baseball cap down over his face.

Things were pretty boring on the bridge of the ship; Ernie was reading a magazine about god only knows what happy sappy stuff, Jon and Joe were playing Star Conquer IV and so far Jon’s Fleet Marine Corps troops had kicked the crap out of Joe’s Federation Marines five games out of seven. As for Aehgr, well it’s Aehgr he was cleaning the bridge, although it was already fairly dust free since Barr had the latest anti-dust static filters installed the last time the ship was in port.

Jason set the ship down in the indicated clearing that had been hacked from the jungle near the town of New Johannesburg a few minutes short of the scheduled meeting time with Barr, Ernie, and Jon making their way back to the cargo bay to start lowering the first load of “Farm Implements.”

By the time the people from the small town of nearby New Johannesburg had arrived Barr and the others already had three loads of cargo sitting in the clearing. It was no easy feat but with enough applied muscle and a single overstressed grav-jack they were able to get them off of the cargo loading cradle.

Once the two dozen truckloads of strong backed young men from the town arrived it went much faster.

“These guys are kind of creepy,” Jon whispered to Jason as they paused for a cigarette. The smoldering tips of the cigarettes earned them glares from the white shirt, and black pant clad young men loading the large trucks they had arrived in.

“Probably Mormons,” Jason said shrugging his shoulders.

“How would you know,” Jon asked curiously.

“Dated one once,” Jason told him and started moving another crate onto the grav-jack.

“That had to be interesting,” Jon said.

“Yeah it was, up until their father showed up with a shotgun, asking me politely to leave.”

“Wait, THEIR?” Jon said with raised eyebrows, “I thought you were only dating one of them?”

“I was only dating one of them but I was screwing three of her sisters as well.” Jason told him sedately.

“You’re kidding me right,” Jon said stubbing out his cigarette and then rolling it between his fingers to get rid of the excess tobacco and finally dropping the filter into a cargo pocket on his pants.

“Nope,” Jason said rather airily.

“You go dude,” Jon gave him a high five.

It didn’t take nearly as long as they thought it would to unload the crates of “Farm Implements” especially with the aid of the townspeople.

After the crates of arm implements were loaded onto the trucks a tall blonde haired man with a severe haircut and eyes just as lambent as Mr. Gabriel’s approached Barr.

“I‘m Mr. Michaels,” he put out his hand to shake. “Mr. Robards I’d like to invite you and your crew back to town for a meal,” his piercing gaze never leaving Barr’s face.

“Sure,” Barr said and looked at the others.

“I could definitely use some food,” Jon said wiping sweat from his face.

“Kinda tired of my own cooking,” Jason answered.

“Is it a formal dinner?” Ernie didn’t get any answer.

Pulling out his comm Barr spoke into it, “Joe, Aehgr you guys interested in some home cooked food.”

“I still have some cleaning to do, plus it’s really hot out there and I really don’t want to get all dirty and sweaty,” Aehgr replied.

“I just tossed leftovers in the auto-chef,” Joe said.

Shrugging his shoulders Barr put the comm away and turned to Mr. Michaels, “Well I guess it’ll be just the four of us.”

“It’s a shame the others can’t come, but I’ll have some one drop off a crate of fresh fruits and vegetables for your kitchen while we are eating dinner.”

“Thanks that’s much appreciated, stasis foods are fine, but sometimes they taste a little off,” Barr said relaxing slightly.

Michaels nodded his head sagely, “I’ve had quite a bit of experience with them myself.” He motioned the four crew members into the cab of a rather worn but good running SUV and they headed for the town of New Johannesburg.

Tantalus Hive Mind - Sector - 001 - ACS-001 - ACW-001

Tantalan Imperial Palace

October 23rd, 6200 C.E. - 14:35 CST

Hunnicut was putting the finishing touches on his PR and financial situation report and would be presenting it to the Tantalan Emperor and Empress within the hour. “Actually in just twenty-five minutes,” He muttered to himself glancing at his chrono.

Before his meeting with the Tantalan leaders he finished repacking the small bag that the shuttle had brought down for him and made sure that the tell tales on his skin suit were still all green as he pulled it on. He would be leaving as soon as his meeting was over.

Taking his bag with him he hurried to the meeting room they had been using since his arrival and found the two golden skinned figures already waiting for him at the head of the smoked glass conference table.

“Okay as you requested I’ve completed the final report you were wanting on financial and promotional plans, I’ll be taking copies of it back with me to the firm as well as the account numbers you gave me to start making purchases and start improvements on the businesses you wanted to use,” Hunnicut told the Emperor and Empress.

“Good,” The emperor said. “Now that you have completed all the reports we requested we wish for you to stay as a member of the Hive Mind,” the Emperor ordered.

“I’m sorry but I have a job to get back to, and I was just recently promoted to partner,” Hunnicut told them paying only partial attention as he gathered up moly-chip folios and hard copy documents placing them in his briefcase and starting to close it.

“You misunderstand us Mr. Morau,” the Empress continued.

“It was not a request but an order,” the Emperor finished.

“Excuse me,” Hunnicut said looking up sharply from his preparations.

“Your ship has already left with a digital message of you saying you wished to stay here and further develop this new account, and the ship has copies of your report and the account numbers,” the Empress explained.

“What you intend to hold me prisoner then?” Hunnicut questioned harshly a worm of fear crawling up from the pit of his stomach to lodge in his throat.

“No you will become a willing member of the Hive Mind,” The Emperor explained.

“Not…,” Hunnicut coughed on the knot of fear in his throat. “Not likely.” He was soon coughing continuously as a cream and gray metallic liquid dripped out of his mouth and onto the table as he grabbed his throat and started hacking heavily.

“This moment has already been set in motion since you gave us your initial presentation on the various types of fetish items that humans purchase and use,” the Empress explained.

“Did you not enjoy the ministrations of the drone unit,” the Emperor queried.

Hunnicut tried to talk and ask what was going on but he felt his lips, tongue, and throat become numb as they were coated by the gray substance and felt his mouth become an involuntary O of surprise.

More of the gray and cream metallic fluid spilled out of his mouth and spread over his body as it splattered and spread over his skin suit eating it away, he could feel tears of the fluid flow from his eyes and drip from his nose and ears.

Hunnicut’s arms fell from his throat and dropped behind him as he slid into the chair he had just stood up from to repack his last briefing materials.

When the assimilation process was complete the Emperor and Empress stood up and walked over to examine the newest type of Tantalan Unit.

The Unit’s nanno-sheath was a metallic cream color but unlike other Tantalan units it stilled retained it’s hair and was smooth skinned, it’s glowing lens eyes were also the same cream color and glowed softly. However unlike other Tantalan units this one had soft looking metallic gray O-Rings at key points with permeable sphincters.

Much study and design had gone into the new type of Tantalan Unit.

[Go over the specifications and reasons for the design once again] The Emperor queried the Hive Mind.

[Specifications and reasons behind the design of the Series-6 and Series-13 Tantalan Siren Assimilation Unit also to be marketed under the Tantalus Pleasure Products Line by Elysium Fields Fetish shops and at Tantalus Pleasure Palaces as the Series-6 [Female] and Series-13 [Male] Pleasure Drones. Units have metallic cream color nanno-sheath very similar in shade to human skin; the metallic shade gives it a sense of exoticness. Pleasure Drones also retain head follicles to give a little more touch of humanness; Pleasure Drones arms and hands are sealed to the back and buttocks by the nanno-sheath giving it an overall air of submission while giving the owner or user a sense of power. The TSAU-13 Series units have oral and anal sphincters with increased sensitivity for greater pleasure by the user, TSAU-6 Series units have oral, vaginal, and anal sphincters for the same purpose, these sphincters can also be used to infect user with any one of the variants of the Tantalus Nanno-Virus]

[Empress Query: Legal ramifications]

[Using the numbered accounts left by the former Neo-Prussian Empires last Emperor the hive mind has purchased the services of a well known law firm who using the funds supplied them will pay off key officials in the government to push through bills stating that Pleasure Drones are non-persons and can be owned and used as property. Though from what the legal firm has explained the individuals that become Pleasure Drones will have to have a document enclosed in the packaging or on file at the bordello where they will service clients stating that they voluntarily give up all rights as a free citizen and willingly give themselves to the Hive Mind to become Pleasure Drones]

[Emperor Query: Is the design of the document completed yet]

[Yes I will print out one for the first of our Pleasure Drones now]

The hard copy printer in Hunnicut’s briefcase spat out a rather nice looking official document complete with notary seals and Hunnicut’s signature.

I Hunnicut David Morau hereby revoke my status as a citizen of the Theban Cluster and have been granted citizenship in the Tantalus Hive Mind and hereby testify by my own free will that I have given myself over to the Tantalus Hive Mind to become a Pleasure Drone Series TSAU-13 designate TSAU-13-110-40-68.

[Empress Query: How soon can mass assimilation of Pleasure Drones begin]

[As soon as the legislature is passed and the purchases of the companies we want are confirmed we can start mass assimilation, studies show that with the number of illegal prostitutes in the Theban Cluster, our primary target, we can easily start selling Pleasure Drones and installing them in our own Bordellos in decent numbers within the next 6 earth months]

Independent Systems League - Johannesburg System - Johannesburg V 

New Johannesburg - Home Of Brother Michaels

October 23rd, 6200 C.E. - 15:55 CST

Barr and the others rode in the headman’s SUV back to town and were soon ushered into the dining room of the leader’s home where his wife had already prepared a large meal for them.

“This is really good food,” Ernie complimented the woman.

“Thank you Sir,” She said with a curtsy.

“So Mr. Robards what is your opinion on religion,” Michaels asked the ship captain.

“I really don’t have one to tell you the truth,” he told the leader of the town. “I mean I donate to charities, some of which are run by religions whenever I get a chance and that money is supposed to go to help other. But other than that I’m rather on the agnostic side, and generally can‘t stand organized religion.”

Barr didn’t notice the man’s agitation at the answer, “and what about you Mr. Rite, any religious views?”

“I’m a skeptical non-practicing agnostic disbeliever.” Jason supplied.

Michaels’ eyes seemed to take on an even deeper level of light.

“Mr. McClain?”

“I think we should all just try and get along,” Ernie said cheerfully.

“And what are your views on religion Mr. Jonnson?” He said turning to Jon.

“I think it’s just one big cosmic joke,” Jon grunted spearing a potato, “other than that I could really care less.”

“Interesting philosophies gentlemen,” Michaels said and the conversation trailed off from there until everyone was done.

“Well thank you very kindly for the meal Mr. Michaels, we appreciate it greatly, and ma’am that was one fine meal,” Barr directed at the leader’s wife.

“Thank you,” the woman replied curtsying.

Barr wiped the corners of his mouth with a linen napkin and started to get up.

Mr. Michaels stood up rather quickly, “Won’t you gentlemen stay for at least one after dinner drink?”

Barr looked at the others and settled back in his chair, “sure it’s the least we could do considering your courtesy towards us.”

“Thank you,” Michaels turned to his wife. “Delilah why don’t you fetch that one bottle of peach brandy for me out of my den,” he ordered.

“Yes dear,” she left the room and returned shortly with a smoky brown glass bottle about two thirds full.

Michaels poured his guests a small snifter full of the peach brandy and handed one to each of the guests Barr, Jason, and Jon took one but Ernie abstained.

“Not much of a drinker,” He said cheerfully.

“That’s a shame,” Michaels mused.

“Why is that,” Ernie asked.

“Because it’s going to hurt a lot more,” Michaels told him.

Ernie’s expression was puzzled as he looked over as Barr, Jason, and Jon slid from their chairs thumping to the floor.

“Well that was a bit unexpected,” Ernie got out just before the heavy wood of the gun stock collided with the back of his head and knocked him from his chair unconscious.

Independent Systems League - Johannesburg System - Johannesburg V

Clearing Near New Johannesburg - Privately Registered Vessel - Forlorn Hope

October 23rd, 6200 C.E. - 18:25 CST

Joe was sitting at the main console with his legs draped over it and slouching in the chair when a buzz sounded from it. Sitting up he pressed the button, “Yeah,” He said into the mike and watched as a Holo-Vid showed him the view for the cargo hatch.

“We have those fruits and vegetables that Elder Michaels promised,” One of the two white shirted youths told him into the pickup.

“Okay just leave it there we’ll be down in a few to pick it up,” Joe paused not sure why. “I’m replacing a pixilated refraction induction monitor at the moment and it may take awhile,” he told them stringing together a chain of nonsense words.

The young man looked confused and just nodded him and his companion setting the crate of food down and leaving.

Before heading for the cargo bay Joe checked the other monitors and saw that they had left in one of the trucks that had been there earlier.

“Come on Aehgr, let’s go get that food and put it in the mess hall.”

“Alright but I just know I’m going to get a splinter from that crate, and then it’ll get infected, and they’ll have to…,” Aehgr continued to complain the whole way to the cargo bay and back to the mess hall.

Independent Systems League - Johannesburg System - Johannesburg V

Clearing Near New Johannesburg - Privately Registered Vessel - Forlorn Hope

October 23rd, 6200 C.E. - 19:55 CST

Joe was sitting at the main console again with his feet draped over it slowly making his way through a copy of the latest UNSF Cavalry catalog on his E-PADD when he was thrown from his chair and Aehgr was tossed against the forward bulkhead while wiping it down with some sort of cleaner.

“Oy, what was that, did the septic tank explode, I just know it did and spewed shit all over the place and I’m just going to have to clean it up.” Aehgr complained.

“Aehgr, Aehgr, AEHGR!” Joe finally shouted.

“What?” the nervous little man replied.

“Shut the fuck up, okay,” Joe ordered him.

Aehgr’s mouth slammed shut like a bear trap and he stood silently while Joe picked himself up off the floor.

Pulling his gun out Joe cautiously made his way to where he thought the explosion had occurred. Slowly peaking around the door frame into the mess hall he saw a huge scorch mark and the bulkhead was dented outward slightly. Amid the wreckage were the entire auto-kitchen, mess hall and worst of all the antique wooden cabinet that had held all of Barr’s antique and vintage liquors. Joe let out a groan and re-holstered his pistol; scrubbing his hands across his face he walked into the room to survey the damage.

“Oh, he’s going to be so mad,” Aehgr said taking in the damage. “And now I’m going to have to clean up this mess.”

“I think that’s the least of our worries,” Joe said and pulled his comm out. “Barr, Barr this is Joe you need to get out of that town, they just tried to blow up the ship,” Joe waited a few seconds but didn’t get any answer he then tried Jon, Jason, and Ernie’s comm units and got no response either.

“Oh that’s so not good,” Aehgr said dry washing his hands.

Theban Cluster - Caruthers System - Caruthers World - Caruthers City

Elysium Fields Fetish Shop Chain Head Office

October 23rd, 6200 C.E. - 20:00 CST

David Ingram was looking at a sea of red, well not literally a sea of red but the ledger program he was looking at showed a solid red as he looked at his profits versus costs and it was the last nail in the coffin of his business.

David had started off with a single head shop when he was in his early twenties and then built it up to a small chain on Caruthers world. Then the Sex/Fetish boom came around he saw the writing on the wall and sold off his chain of head shops and started the Elysium Fields Fetish Shops.

Unfortunately for Ingram he wasn’t all that savvy when it came to the fetish market and was mostly too embarrassed to ask those who knew about it, so his chain of ten stores had dwindled to three and now they were on the brink of closing as well.

Staring broken hearted at the red text he almost missed the beep from his comm unit sitting on the edge of the desk.

“Elysium Fields Corporate Headquarters,” Ingram said into the comm.

“Is Mr. Ingram in please,” a pleasant female voice asked.

“Yes, this is David Ingram,” He answered.

“Mr. Ingram my name is Inez Faragon I’m the personal assistant of Ms. Anastasia Deneb of Deneb, Cantine, and Morau Financial services.” the woman told him.

“Yes, what can I do for you,” he asked puzzled.

“It’s more along the lines of what we can do for you Mr. Ingram,” Faragon told him.

Ingram was even more puzzled now. “And what would that be?” He asked cautiously.

“We have a client that is interested in purchasing your entire chain of stores, headquarters and all of your stock.”

“Really, someone is interested in purchasing my company?” Ingram felt himself perking up.

“Yes, if you could come to our offices tomorrow say around 15:15, we can discuss the details.”

“Certainly I’ll be there with bells on.”

The woman’s laugh was a soft trill over the comm, “Bells won’t be necessary Mr. Ingram, most likely just a pen.”

The woman disconnected and David sat there staring at his comm in amazement, maybe he’d be able to salvage his life after all.

The owners of Tantric Sex Toys and Executive Ladies Escort Services received similar calls that day as well.

Independent Systems League - Johannesburg System - Johannesburg V

New Johannesburg - Location Unknown

October 23rd, 6200 C.E. - 21:13 CST

Barr slowly came back to consciousness and rolled over onto his stomach and instantly regretting that move he regurgitated the large meal he had earlier that evening.

“Looks like Barr has woken up,” he heard as if he were at the bottom of a well and speaker at the top.

Strong arms grabbed him by the shoulders and he felt himself being leaned against a wall. Forcing his eyes open he found that they were glued shut by a mass of dried tears.

“Hold on a second,” Ernie said his voice coming in clearer.

Barr felt a wet wash cloth run across his eyes and the gummy dried crust broke loose allowing him to open his eyes to see three blurry faces looking at him.

“Don’t worry it only lasts about five minutes,” Jason assured him. “Probably a side effect of whatever they drugged us with,” the ship’s pilot explained.

“Unngh,” was all Barr got out in reply and then a small tin cup was placed in his hands and he felt the blessed relief of cool water as it washed down his dried out throat.

“What happened?” He muttered in question.

“Seems Mr. Michaels didn’t like the answers we gave him about religion,” Jason answered.

“That and two of the guards were talking about hijacking the ship and using it to transport their “Farm Implements” themselves,” Jon said from the other side.

“Well we’ll just have to disabuse them of that won’t we,” Barr replied.

“How are we supposed to do that?” Jason asked. “They took all our gear and weapons, hell they even took my breath spray,” Jason told him.

“You use breath spray?” Barr asked.

“Yeah,” Jason said.

“Never mind,” Barr slowly slid his body up the wall, and then pushed away from it and walked over to the bars that covered the front of their cell.

There were a pair of the white shirted men, these two apparently in their middle ages, it looked like Michaels and his people didn’t believe in the use of TET either. The two had their backs to the cell as Barr gazed at them; currently both were out of his reach.

Turning back around Barr checked his belt buckle and sighed with relief; they’d left him his belt at least and hadn’t found the small spool of mono-filament wire that was coiled inside it; or the small stiletto that he kept inside the sole of his boot.

“What do we do now?” Jason asked.

“We wait,” Barr told him.

“Wait for what?” Jon asked.

“For something interesting to happen,” Barr replied.

The others just stared at Barr as he slid back down the wall in one corner and pulled the brim of his hat down apparently going to sleep.

Independent Systems League - Johannesburg System - Johannesburg V

New Johannesburg - Location Unknown

October 23rd, 6200 C.E. - 21:30 CST

“Are you this was a wise thing to do, Brother Michaels?” Brother Ezekiah asked as the other man paced the floor of the town jail.

“God has seen fit to drop this opportunity in our laps,” Michaels paused in his pacing, “If we didn’t take this chance when we could we would be spitting in the eye of divine providence,” Michaels said with a bright fire in his eyes.

“Yes but brother is this the right time to make a move, these men seem a rather dangerous lot?” Ezekiah motioned to the table holding the captured crew members personal effects; there were about eight hand guns over two dozen knives and several other instruments of mayhem and destruction, even a ½ block of composition 30 had been found on one of the prisoners.

“They fell easily enough when tested by god,” Michaels uttered fervently.

“Yes but there are still two of them aboard the ship,” Ezekiah Reminded him.

“It doe not matter the sinners were most likely purged by the explosives hidden in the crate of fruits and vegetables,” Michaels explained in exasperation.

Ezekiah didn’t seem very convinced and was about to open his mouth again.

“Brother if the two aboard the ship had not been smitten by the power of god’s emissaries they would have made a move on the town by now,” Michaels assured the other.

“Yes you are probably right, but what do we do with the four being held prisoner?” Ezekiah asked.

“We’ll cleanse them with the purity of God,” Michaels said fervently.

“Burn them at the stake, we really haven’t even proved that they are heretics brother,” Ezekiah told him.

“It does not matter their decadent manner speaks for itself,” Michaels answered fervently.

“It shall be as you say brother,” Ezekiah said quietly.

Michaels was about to reply to Ezekiah when there was a loud explosion and both were thrown to the jail’s concrete floor.

Independent Systems League - Johannesburg System - Johannesburg V

New Johannesburg - Privately Registered Vessel - Forlorn Hope

October 23rd, 6200 C.E. - 21:45 CST

It had taken almost two hours for Joe and Aehgr to come to an agreement about what to do about Barr not answering. In the end it came down to Aehgr whining and sitting at one of the consoles reconfigured for gunnery control.

“Target destroyed, oy vey what a horrible mess I hope someone cleans it up,” Aehgr said.

“Aehgr by the time we get done there probably won’t be anyone left alive to clean it up,” Joe told him.

“That’s a shame, messes should always be cleaned up,” Aehgr commented.

“Aehgr,” Joe interrupted.

“Yeah,” Aehgr replied.

“Just fire the damn missiles,” Joe ordered.

“Okay, target two acquired firing missile,” Aehgr answered.

Aehgr’s finger stabbed down on the hard holography key and the Forlorn Hope’s aft most portside tube belched and spat a reaction-less drive missile out. The missile itself actually rocketed upwards and then back down; upon reaching it’s terminal attack range five panels blasted free and five tungsten/titanium rods spat from the missiles mass drivers and impacted with the town’s main church obliterating it and leaving a crater after the five rods impacted with a speed of over .5c, by the time they reached the building they were near liquefied from the friction of the atmosphere.

Aehgr repeated his attack several times destroying most of the town’s infrastructure while leaving homes and businesses intact.

Independent Systems League - Johannesburg System - Johannesburg V

New Johannesburg Jail

October 23rd, 6200 C.E. - 21:47 CST

“What the hell was that?” Jon shouted as they were tossed around their cell.

“That would be our rescue,” Barr said nonchalantly as he pushed his hat back up on his head as he stood up.

“Rescue it sounds like someone is blowing the town up,” Jason said.

“Well I’d say they are being a little overzealous in their rescue attempt,” Barr winced as several more explosions rattled the building. Barr winked at his fellow cell mates and walked over to the cell bars and started panicking. “Hey man you gotta get us out of here; they’ll probably blow this place up next man. Come on you can’t just leave us to die.”

“Shut up heretic,” one of the men growled and moved up to the bars.

“Okay, but you first,” Barr said snaking his arm through the bars and with two strong knuckles pinched down hard on the man’s nose and banged his face against the bars several times.

The man let out a squeal like a pig getting its tail stuck in a wood chipper and beat at Barr’s hand.

Reaching down Barr relieved the man of his weapon only to find that it was one of his own FN pistols, “Planning on keeping that were you asshole,” Barr said banging the man lightly against the bars a couple of more times.

The man for his part tried to shake his head in the negative only to decide that it was a bad idea when the pain from his nose increased.

Barr pointed the pistol at the other man who still had his back turned, “Alright you slack jawed idiot,” Barr called out to him.

The man turned and when he saw what had happened to his compatriot tried to claw at a handgun in a paddle holster.

“I really, really, wouldn’t suggest doing that,” Barr told him the laser dot of the handgun rock steady on the third button of the man’s shirt. “I haven’t gotten to shoot anyone for awhile and pissing me off would be a really bad idea at the moment.”

The man raised his hands to shoulder height and just glared at Barr.

“Well just don’t stand there dumbass,” Jon growled. “Unlock the door,” he ordered.

The man reluctantly walked over to the cell and unlocked the door, Jon relieved him of his handgun; a beat up old .357 Magnum King Cobra replica.

“Not exactly what I usually like,” Jon said patting the man down and relieving him of two spare speed loaders.

Jason and Ernie left the cell and scrounged around till they found some pieces of re-bar stacked in one corner.

Barr could feel a tiny trickle of blood from the man’s nose as he backed him and his friend into the cell and locked the door.

“You guys have a nice day and try not to beat up any hari-Krishna’s okay,” Ernie said as they left the room.

The short hallway outside the cell area only had one other door and Barr signaled for Jon to take the lead.

In the lead Jon cracked the door open slowly ready to fling it open if it let out any horrendous squeals from misuse. He was rewarded by no sound at all as the well oiled door slid slowly open revealing the front office of the small jail with Brother Michaels and another older gentleman sitting at a table in the middle of the room.

“Hey now look who we found here,” Jon said holding his gun steady on Michaels as they came out of the hallway.

“Wow, you mean a couple of back stabbing, double dealing, religious zealots with less morals than a polecat,” Barr said with wide innocent eyes.

“You should be one to talk about morals Mr. Robards you had a child out of wedlock.” Michaels growled.

“Touché, although I probably would have married her mother if she hadn’t turned out to be a crazy and whacked out on nanno-drugs,” Robards replied cold anger suffusing his face at the man’s comments.

“Phah, excuses, fornicators and sinners always have excuses,” Michaels spat.

Suddenly Jon’s gun spat flame and the heavy slug impacted with the knee of the other man who unnoticed he thought had been creeping slowly towards the table of weapons off to one side.

“Aw you were going to get our stuff for us weren’t you, how nice,” Barr said mock nicely. “You know Jon you really shouldn’t shoot people who are trying to do nice things for you,” admonishing him mockingly.

“I’ll try to remember that in the future,” Jason said dryly still pointing his gun at the injured man who was now holding his knee and mewling in pain.

“Okay so here is how it’s going to be,” Barr said to the two men as he covered them while the others got their gear situated. “I never see or hear from you two pieces of religious bull shit ever again and we won’t have to kill you,” Barr explained in a growling tone of voice.

Jon came over to cover the two men while Barr got his own belongings and then came back over.

“Now you see Jon here has amnesia, he’d probably be actually willing to kill you and not really care about, mainly because one more traumatic blow or incident might just flip the switch and let him get his memories back; so I wouldn’t annoy him.”

“God will see fit to punish you heretic,” Michaels screamed.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, blah, blah, blah, I’m sure he will some day and I‘ll look forward to seeing you in hell at that that time along with all the other really interesting people,” Barr said. “But not because of I’ve knocked the wind out of the sails of a bunch of religious kooks and nuts,” Barr added.

Barr left the building to get better reception on his comm and contacted the ship.

“Okay you can stop using my really expensive missiles to flatten buildings in the town,” Barr said dryly over the comm.

“It’s about time you answered your comm,” Joe said calmly.

“Sorry I was taking a bit of a nap and couldn’t get back to you right away,” Barr said dryly.

“Did you tell him about the mess yet?” Aehgr said in the background.

“Shut up Aehgr,” Joe told the man.

“What mess is he talking about?” Barr asked suspiciously.

“Nothing that can’t wait till you and the others are back on board,” Joe assured him.

“Why does that not reassure me,” Barr told him.

The only reply he got was the sound of the ships reaction engines as they came closer and the vessel got as close to the ground as it possibly could.

“Lowering the cargo cradle now,” Joe said over the comm.

“Roger that,” Barr replied as the cargo platform dropped rapidly towards street level and impacted with a thud. “Jeeze,” Barr said with a wince.

Jason, Jon, and Ernie soon joined him as he climbed aboard the platform and they were practically flattened to its surface as it rapidly retracted into the belly of the ship.

Once back aboard they rushed to the bridge to find Aehgr with his finger still poised above the fire control button.

“Out of the way Aehgr,” Barr told the little man and sat in the seat he had just vacated.

“What are you doing?” Jason asked.

“Leaving our friends a little present,” Barr told him and his fingers danced across the hard holography keyboard and then stabbed the execute key.

A slight vibration went through the ship as each one of its broadside tubes spat out a single missile and as they watched on the main screen as Joe took the ship out of the atmosphere they blossomed sending their rods of destruction in a circular pattern around the village leaving a quarter kilometer wide and deep ditch around it.

“That should keep them out of mischief for awhile,” Barr said sitting back in his seat with a sigh.

“Now you were saying something about a mess Aehgr?” Barr asked.

“Well, yeah, you see when we brought the fruit on board there was a little bit more than just fruit,” Aehgr explained.

“What do you mean there was a little bit more than fruit in the crate?” Barr asked narrowing his eyes.

“Well, don’t worry I’ll clean it up,” Aehgr said.

“Show me this mess,” Barr ordered.

“Aaaarrrrgggghhhh,” Barr said seeing the mess that had once been a galley and mess hall, but was now just wreckage and scorch marks on the walls, ceiling and floor.

“My 500 year old bottle of Ventalian Red, was in that cabinet, not to mention the last known bottle of 2905 Johnny Walker,” Barr sifted through the debris but the explosion had done a very thorough job of destroying his liqueur cabinet.

“So you thought that it would be a smart thing to do to bring an unchecked crate of food stuffs into the mess hall and just leave it here?” Jason asked.

“Well I didn’t have time to check it, I had cleaning to do,” Aehgr said.

“I didn’t think these yokels would try something that blatant,” Joe said in poor excuse.

“We were delivering weapons and munitions to them,” Barr said. “What you didn’t think they might already have some?” Barr asked storming out of the mess hall.

“Well at least there is that small food locker just outside the bridge,” Ernie said.

“Yeah but it’s only filled with military rations,” Jon said with a moi of distaste.

“Could be worse,” Jason said.

Former System of Brandicutt - Now Currently within the Area of Space Known as No-Man’s Land

Brandicutt VII

October 30th, 6200 C.E. - 22:10 CST

The Gnosis Elder known as Vaspel floated around the former ISL planet Brandicutt VII it’s entourage of younger Gnosis latching onto it’s every word as it spoke of the fall of the race known as the Progenitor’s and then the human’s who had dared to colonize a system in Gnosis Territory.

Vaspel was just reaching the climax of the destruction of the Leagues 5th fleet when he was interrupted by one of the youngest Gnosis present; Dreb who was no larger than what human’s considered a frigate.

“Elder Vaspel something has just dropped out of hyperspace,” Dreb said excitedly.

Some of the other Gnosis present tried to shush the younger frigate but Vaspel focused the power of his sensors on the area that Dreb had indicated.

“Indeed something has,” He stated and moved his ponderous bulk in the direction of the object that had appeared in Gnosis controlled territory.

Perhaps it was a fresh vessel that could be added to the numbers of the Gnosis, even with their victories amongst the system bodies of the ISL they had suffered major losses and their numbers had only been increased slowly over the last few years since the end of the Quisling War.

Vaspel was somewhat disappointed when all he found was a Hyperspace Comm Drone, but maybe it would hold useful information.

Moving towards the drone he opened up the outer bulkhead of his bow and swallowed it whole.

Connected by metallic and organic umbilicus the former crew of the Gnosis vessel Vaspel swarmed over the probe and downloaded the information to their master. After the download the probe was absorbed into Vaspel’s mass.

The message itself played back physically on the former bridge of the ship and inside Vaspel’s own mind.

A cloaked and hooded figure appeared, “Greetings Great Elder of the Gnosis Vaspel, I am not known to you, however I may be a great ally and asset in the future. If you would be so kind as to be at the coordinates at the following date and time it would be much appreciated and all will be explained. Also others receiving this message will be present so please don’t be alarmed we are all friends and can help each other in the future.”

“As part of your willingness to talk in confidence we ask that only you come,” the hooded figure continued.

The message stopped playing and Vaspel replayed it several times musing over its contents.

He would go to this meeting, if nothing else he could always take over the vessels of those at the meeting and create more Gnosis.

Independent Systems League - Halliburton System - Halliburton

Wrath’s Office

October 30th, 6200 C.E. - 22:10 CST

Wrath sat her desk in the main tower of the Seven Deadly Sins; she was bored, which in her case was a bad thing, blood metallic red fingernails tapped at the top of her desk, metallic blood red lips were pursed in annoyance, while blood red irises focused on nothing and the blood red gem in the center of her forehead was almost touching her nose in an expression of annoyance. She wanted to be out killing or maiming, or just breaking bones, but instead she had to stay in this office and do as Pride told her to.

Wrath’s thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. “Enter,” she ordered.

The lower order Mu that served as her secretary entered.

“What do you want?” she asked of the smiling slack faced Mu.

“System security has picked up a drone that you might want to see Mistress,” the Mu told her tonelessly.

“Where did they take the probe?” she questioned.

“They currently have it on the Alpha Ring.”

“Good, comm them back and tell them I’ll be up shortly,” Wrath told the Mu.

“Yes Mistress,” The Mu then turned and went back into the outer office closing the door.

“Well finally some excitement,” She muttered to herself. Gathering up her comm as well as other needed items she then grabbed her Skinsuit from the cabinet it was stored in and went into the bathroom off her office.

A few minutes later she emerged wearing a metallic white and red skinsuit with the helmet tucked under one arm and rode the elevator to the rooftop shuttle pads.

It took only half an hour for the shuttle to reach the Alpha Ring and Wrath was soon standing in a small cargo bay with her helmet now attached to the suit. Around her stood the crew of the Corvette that recovered the probe, all of them wearing her personal colors.

“Any attempts to open it yet?” she asked the Horseman Captain of the crew.

“No Mistress, we were waiting for you to arrive,” The woman told her.

“Did you at least scan it to make sure it’s not a weapon of some sort?” Wrath asked sarcastically.

“Yes, Mistress, full biological and chemical scans were run and the memory core of the probe seems to only hold a single file.”

“Go ahead and play the file,” Wrath ordered.

“Yes mistress,” the Horseman Captain waved to one of the other Horseman who produced an E-PADD and attached it two ports in the side of the probe.

“Greetings,” a hooded and cloaked figure popped into existence from the probe’s holo-projector. “Hopefully this message is being viewed by one of the Mu Sisters known as the Seven Deadly Sins,” the hooded figure said.

“Who I may be is of no importance at the moment, just know that you do have some allies that are willing to lend you aid, for further information be at the following coordinates at the specified date and time.”

The holo-projector showed a set of coordinates as well as a date and time and then snapped off.

“Did you get the coordinates?” Wrath asked the Tech Horseman.

“Yes Mistress,” the Tech answered.

“Transfer them to my E-PADD,” she answered.

“Yes Mistress,” the Tech Horseman told her and then punched a few buttons on her E-PADD. “Coordinates Transferred,” The Tech Horseman confirmed.

“Good,” Wrath then left the Alpha Ring and headed back to the surface of the planet.

On her way back down she commed Pride and got an immediate meeting.

“What do you have,” Pride asked as Wrath entered the room.

“This,” Wrath replayed the holo-recording.

“Alright, we’ll go to this little tête-à-tête and see what’s going on,” Pride said pausing for a second, “do you think you can handle it?”

“Certainly,” Wrath answered.

“Alright I trust you not to screw this one up,” Pride said quietly.

“Don’t worry I won’t,” Wrath assured her.

“Good,” Pride nodded her head and signed off from the comm.

Tantalus Hive Mind - Sector 001 - ACS-001 - ACW-001

Tantalan Imperial Palace

October 30th, 6200 C.E. - 22:10 CST

[Emperor Query: What is the message]

[Hive Mind Answer: It is basically a greeting with a set of coordinates and a date]

[Empress Query: Where are the coordinates located]

[Hive Mind Answer: They are outside of any explored area]

[Emperor Query: A Trap]

[Hive Mind Answer: Doubtful]

[Empress Query: Suggestions]

[Hive Mind Answer: Go to the meeting; send either a TNU-6/13 series or TIU-6-0-0-0]

[Hive Mind Consensus: TIU-6-0-0-0 Empress Unit shall be sent to the meeting]

Evaran Empire - Evros Sector - Evaran Capitol World Evros - Evaran Imperial Palace

October 30th, 6200 C.E. - 22:10 CST

“Imperial Regent,” one of the guards said sticking his head inside the throne room.

“Yes Imperial Guardsman?” The Regent replied.

“One of the outer system patrols is returning with a probe that they found near the Yushima Limit,” the Imperial Guardsman answered the Regent.

“What kind of probe is it?” the Imperial Regent questioned.

“There appears to only be a simple message inside,” the Imperial Guardsman answered.

“Have them download it and bring it to me,” ordered the Imperial Regent.

“Yes Imperial Regent,” The guardsman touched a clenched fist to the glowing pink crystal in the center of his chest.

The message was downloaded and brought to the regent, who watched it and decided to send one of the Imperial Ambassadors.

Unknown Location

November 7th, 6200 C.E. - 22:00 CST

The cloaked figure pacing back and forth in his small room had just received confirmation of the delivery of all probes and the receipt of invitation acceptance.

Not only of those sent to the Gnosis, Mu, Evarans and Tantalans but to three other groups as well.

Things were going just as the black hooded figure had hoped as he paced his small room.

UNSF - Manhattan Sector - Brooklyn System - Brooklyn IV/Neo-Brooklyn

Warehouse in the Industrial District

November 10th, 6200 C.E. - 03:00 CST

It took just a little over two weeks for the Forlorn Hope to make its trip through hyperspace to Neo-Brooklyn where the internal damage it had suffered could be repaired. Currently the vessel was docked at Neo-Brooklyn’s Alpha Ring and the crew had taken a shuttle to the surface then a cab to one of the numerous places Barr kept if he needed a hidey hole or just some relaxation.

“Ah, early warehouse squalor, how nice,” Jason commented.

“Oh, my god I’m going to have to clean this up before I can get any sleep,” Aehgr groaned.

“Look guys it’s better than a coffin hotel for cryin out loud, I haven’t been here in a couple of years so no one has been around to dust and keep up on the cleaning,” Barr said tiredly.

“Buncha whiney babies,” Jon said and flopped down on one of the cots that was laid out in one of the numerous small offices that hung suspended above the main warehouse floor, he immediately started coughing as a cloud of dust rose from the pad on the cot.

“Okay, maybe it could use a little cleaning,” he gasped out choking on the dust.

“Cleaning supplies are over in that cabinet,” Barr said grabbing said supplies and handing them out.

It took nearly two hours before the five of them were finally able to crash out in the office and get some sleep.

UNSF - Manhattan Sector - Brooklyn System - Brooklyn IV/Neo-Brooklyn

Warehouse in the Industrial District

November 10th, 6200 C.E. - 09:04 CST

Barr rolled over onto his back and sat up slightly as he heard a light popping noise then the crunch of metal against stone and the crack of breaking glass or plastic. Reaching into his boot under the cot he pulled out his chrono and checked the time, the irradiated dial showed him that it was now 09:04.

Just about ready to slip back under the thin sheet another noise caught his attention after a low flying cargo shuttle passed over the warehouse district. At first it took him a second to figure out what the noise was but he was able to identify it, the sound of a truck engine not idling but as if someone was putting constant pressure on the gas pedal and not moving and under it a slight grinding noise.

“What the fuck is that,” he grumbled blearily to himself pulling his pants and shoes on then grabbing the FN out from under the pillow. Walking out into the hallway he peered out the side of one of the blind covered windows and saw the back end of a gray and green delivery truck as if it were parked right underneath the window he was looking out of.

“Shouldn’t be getting any deliveries,” He mumbled to himself. Walking back into the room he pulled a polo shirt on and lightly tapped Jon’s foot.

“Whuh?” He snorted quietly his snoring stopping abruptly as he focused on Barr.

“Something weird outside,” Barr whispered quietly making sure to mellow out the s in the words so as not to rouse the others with a sibilant hiss.

“What kind of weird?” Jon asked quietly sitting up and putting his feet on the floor as he rubbed the last tatters of sleep from his eyes.

“Weird as in there is a Frescetti bakery truck jammed up against the side of the building trying to knock it over.” Barr told him.

“Oh,” Jon said and quickly pulled on pants, shirt, and boots. “What about the others he whispered.

“Let them sleep; we’ll check it out and go from there,” Barr told him. Walking past another office Barr stopped long enough to punch a code into a large armored cabinet and tossed a shotgun to Jon.

The two of them went out one of the man sized loading dock doors and then split up to come around different sides of the warehouse.

Reaching the front edge of the building Barr cautiously peered around it near the bottom and examined the scene. The delivery truck was a Frescetti Bakery truck in their distinctive livery, its nose was up against the building hard enough to dent in the front end. The driver’s side window was busted out and blood spatter could be seen inside the vehicles cab.

Signaling to Jon at the other corner the two of them cautiously approached the vehicle, Barr to the driver’s side and Jon approaching the rear doors.

Using the mirror Barr pulled himself up onto the step bar looking into the vehicle he saw that the driver and his assistant had been shot numerous times, he also noticed the smell of burnt rubber and reaching in he shut the engine off before it did anymore damage to the drive train.

At the rear of the van Jon slowly turned the handle and opened the door to be smacked in the face with several loaves of bread. He let out a muffled whoof as a particularly heavy loaf of 12-Grain bread smacked him in the forehead and nose.

With eyes still watering from the impact Jon checked out the back of the van and found nothing.

“You spot anything?” Barr murmured coming around the van to find Jon rubbing at his nose and with his eyes watering.

“No,” Jon said tossing the loaves of bread into the back of the van careful not to get any fingerprints or DNA on them.

“We need to get this thing out of here,” Barr said.

“Why?” Jon asked puzzled.

“Okay, I’m a merc no matter what label I want to put on it,” Barr explained. “As are the rest of you pretty much, we don’t need the Galactic Patrol sniffing around the ship or the warehouse considering some of the less than legal material onboard, and with the UNSF laws on guns and explosives we’d probably end up doing at least ten years for it.”

“I hadn’t realized that their laws were that stiff,” Jon said.

“Yeah they are. Go open the loading bay doors and I’ll drive the van in,” Barr ordered.

A few minutes later Barr drove the van into the warehouse parking it and then changed clothes burning the ones he had been wearing using a thumb sized piece of Thermite-25 to destroy them.

By the time the two were done the others were awake.

“What’s going on,” Jason asked stretching.

“Looks like it’s going to be a beautiful day,” Ernie said.

“Is that blood leaking out of the bottom of that van’s door? Am I going to have to clean up another mess?” Aehgr immediately questioned.

“Yes Aehgr that is blood and if you so much as get within ten feet of it I’ll lock you in a bar rest room naked,” Barr threatened.

The threat instantly stilled Aehgr who had been sideling up to the vehicle with a rag and spray can of disinfectant.

“Yeah now all we have to do is figure out what to do with the damn thing,” Jon said.

“Get rid of it, we can’t keep it here and if for some reason someone gets suspicious they may just start searching warehouses around here,” Joe said coldly.

“Yeah but where are we going to leave them?” Jason asked.

“I know of a nice field with some pretty flowers in it, just a little ways under the Neo-Brooklyn Grav Bridge,” Ernie said brightly. “I’d like to be buried some place like that when I die,” he added.

“We are so not burying these guys that would just draw more suspicion on us if anyone decided to look in our direction.” Jason said.

“Yeah but we can leave it there, it’s far enough away that nobody would ever suspect it having been in this area.” Barr said rubbing his chin in thought. “We’ll go after dark and leave the van there.”

“Don’t these things usually have a GPS tracking system in them,” Jason said kicking one tire.

“Yeah but I already disabled it,” Jon told him.

“Well it’s settled then, we’ll dump the van in Ernie’s little field and wash our hands of it,” Barr said. “We’ll go out after dark say around 23:00 hours that way we aren’t out to late to be suspicious,” Barr added.

Later that night Aehgr stayed at the warehouse while Barr and Jason drove the delivery van and followed Jon, Joe, and Ernie who were driving Barr’s SUV with Ernie giving directions on how to get to the small field of flowers he had told them about.

The next morning the group was gathered around the Holo-Vid projector to watch the news.

“And on the odd side of things Police found the vehicle and bodies of two Frescetti Bakery employees under the Neo-Brooklyn Bridge earlier this morning, so far Galactic Patrol investigators are only stating that it is similar to the gang land slayings of other Frescetti employees over the last few months.”

“When asked for a comment Frescetti Bakery owner Big Don Frescetti declined.” The screen dissolved to show Big Don Frescetti walking away from the camera with one hand pushed out behind him towards the camera as he walked through the gate of his home.

The screen went back to the talking head, “However when also asked for a comment Eugene Frescetti son of company owner Don Frescetti and vice president was more than willing to give a comment.”

The screen dissolved once again to show a man probably in his mid-thirties with thick brown hair standing on the steps in front of a plate glass window with the Frescetti logo on it.

“Of course I’ll give a statement, it was that bastard Howell Gandredi of Gandredi Baked Goods, everyone knows he’s related to the Gandredi Crime Family, and when we wouldn’t sell out to him he’s now going around and killing our workers,” Eugene stated angrily.

The reporters in front of Eugene started shouting questions, but he just waved his hands and stepped backwards into the door of the bakery.

Barr flipped the Holo-Vid off just as the talking head was coming back onto the screen.

“Not very smart,” Joe said, “If the Gandredi’s are actually mob affiliated it could turn nasty for the Frescettis.”

“Yeah it could,” Jon said a glint in his eye.

“Well since the Gandredis didn’t have the decency to not kill Frescetti’s employees in front of our home why don’t we go talk to the Frescettis and offer them some help.” Barr suggested a wolfish grin on his face.

“Why not we still have a couple of weeks before the ship repairs will be done,” Jason said.

“We getting paid for this,” Joe asked.

“Well if we take down the Gandredi family you can have whatever you find,” Barr told him.

“That’ll work for me,” Joe said.

Caruthers System

Caruthers World, Caruthers City

Unknown Date & Time

Ethan stared at where the woman he loved had lain, something was off, and something was horribly off.

Dropping on to the bed he dry washed his face with shaking hands and tried to figure things out.

“It’s not that hard to figure out,” a voice said behind him.

Whirling around Ethan pulled his M96 from its shoulder holster and held it rock steady on the figure sitting on the dressing table chair. “Who the hell are you,” He asked.

“Me I’m a ghost, a figment, a phantasm,” the figure said holding out his arms to the side, he was dressed in a baseball cap, loud Hawaiian shirt and cargo pants with combat boots.

“Then I’m dead,” Ethan said dropping his arm to his size.

“No, just trapped, trapped someplace where you’ll never be able to escape,” the man told him with a grimace.

“And you are trapped as well,” Ethan asked.

“Yeah, that’s what I get for traipsing off into the galaxy and leaving every thing behind,” he said with another grimace.

“Who exactly are you then,” Ethan asked again. “And don’t give me the ghost crap,” as the figure started to open its mouth.

The man chuckled, “Jack, Jack Sikorsky,” the man told him holding out a hand to shake.