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1 3:40am 25/02/04

Minister of Defence

Since peace broke out with the Empire, the Galactic Coalition had been quite busy, despite not being at war with anyone. The military had been busy, bringing new ships into the existing fleets, and creating other fleets from old fleets. Moral was down. The losses at Corellia, Bilbringi and Abregado-rae had seen to that. The commanders of the military had sat down and discussed what they needed.

“We need more capital ships, preferably the size of Victory Star Destroyers, or larger. Imperial Star Destroyers would be nice.”

“It has been said numerous times that the Ruling Council would prefer if we chose non-Imperial designs when possible.”

“But none of those ships that are common exceed 1255m. I miss the old days when we had the MC-200 and MC-300 Star Cruisers. Back then we didn’t need Imperial designs, and we still had our large ships.”

“I can not help you there. If you get the funds like you want, you can send part of it to Research and Development, so they can improve on the MC-200 and MC-300 designs.”

“It’s not worth it. Most of the funds we get will be sent to building ships, and any funds sent to Research and Development will be used to get more grounds weapons. We only have the Juggernaught 2 and Defiance Hover Unit designs, and the Defiance Hover Unit is out of date. I’ll just build MC-90s and Republic Star Destroyers.”

“What of the Starfighter Corps?”

“You have lots of fighters, you really don’t need any more.”

“But we have a lot away at Endor and we don’t know if they will survive.”

“It doesn’t matter, you will still have enough as backup. But too keep you happy I’ll build you some Skipray Blastboats.”

“But us Army guys aren’t getting anything.”

“You are getting new technologies. Once we have made the new technologies and designs, I will build the designs for you.”

“Acceptable.”

The Military Council sent a proposal to the Ruling Council asking for more credits.

When Jan Dondana first read the proposal, he thought it was a great idea. There was only one problem. This topic had come up numerous times at the Ruling Council meetings, and Jan wasn’t sure if the military would get the funds it wanted. Peace was not good for the military, as the pacifist felt quite safe, so they fought the military bills with passion. As well, it was hard for them to see that there were still threats out there, even though peace had been reached with the Empire. Led Domewern, a Bimm, was one of those pacifists. Others, while not pacifists, supported the idea that if they did nothing, no one would to anything to them, ignoring the fact that while TTR was simply defending their ally at Bakura, they were still assaulted, and that will ORS had done nothing to BDE, they were still attacked by them. Nevertheless, Jan walked into the Ruling Council room, and prepared for the debate that would start.

“As Chairman of this Ruling Council session, I officially start this session. The first order of business is a bill from the military. They are requesting more funds to build and des-”

“More funds? More funds? They always are wanting more. Why do we have to give them so much money? There are numerous other ways we can spend that money!”

“Council Member Domewern, sit down! Your outburst was not needed. Do I really need to remind you that you can have your say, but AFTER I have finished presenting the bill? Now, back to the bill. The military is requesting funds to build and design more ships. As well, their training levels have dropped, and the training academies needs more money. Moral is down, so they want to give shore leave to large amounts of crew members, and as a bonus for all their hard work, the military wants to give them some extra credits to spend while on leave.”

“Why give them more money? They already get a lot, and we don’t need a large fleet anymore. We aren’t at war we are at peace. We should be decreasing the size of the military, not increasing it. As for new designs, they already have lots of designs. If moral is down, sure, give the crewmen and soldiers a shore leave, but they don’t need a bonus. Their ‘hard work’ has accounted to nothing. As for training, we already have veteran crewmen, do we really need to train massive amounts of new crewmen? No. They should simply cut down the amount of classes they have for the same thing. I suggest that instead of giving more money to the training academies, we simply make them cut their enrolment in half.”

“You say we are peace, yes that is so. But there are other governments out there that, while we are not at war with, we still are not at peace with them, and tensions could erupt at any moment. I direct your attention to Farfalen and the Black Dragon Empire.”

“They would not dare attack us.”

“I’m sure our Tholatin friends thought the same thing, but they were squashed like a bug.”

“We are a lot bigger then Tholatin was.”

“True, but Farfalen and the Black Dragon Empire will continue to increase the size of their navies, while we do nothing. And eventually they will be able to attack us again.”

“Then we should slowly get more ships, not get more ships all at once.”

“I have a suggestion.” Said a quiet, but strong voice.

“Yes Council Member Zogble?”

“We do a compromise. The military gets the funds they want, but they are also forced to scrap obsolete and out of date designs, as well as some Imperial designs.”

“But some Imperial designs are quite good.” Argued Jan.”

“True, the Imperial Star Destroyer is a good design, but I was thinking more of the Vigilance fighter and TIE Interceptors. As well, I believe the Defiance Hover Unit is out of date, and part of the funds used by the military would be used to develop more ground designs.”

“Ah, I see. All in favour of the new idea?”

The vote was 7 to 5, in favour of the new idea. Council Member Domewern and others refused to agree to the bill, but it was still passed.

Later Zogble organised a small get together with four other Council members.

“Friends, we have to do something. Currently Jan Dondana and Regrad have enough influence to get most laws passed. Like this new military bill that got passed, which shows that Dondana and Regrad want to have a large military, and will probably want to use it. We have to get away from this somehow. I propose a coup, where we take control of the government. After that, we attack the Outer-Rim Sovereignty.”

“But why?”

“Because too truly get peace and to truly be left alone to run things ourselves we need to join the Empire, and form our own Protectorate within the Empire. To do that we should give them a gift, and the best gift is a destroyed and captured ORS.”

“Excellent points. However I see two major faults. The first is that we are a minority in the Ruling Council. The second is that the citizens might not agree, and could revolt.”

“We will convince Domewern to join us.”

“But why would he join us?”

“He will join us because he wants peace. Under the Empire he can have peace. As for your fear of the citizens revolting, well I can just convince Miss Katrina Scarborough that if she follows our plan and keeps the citizen’s lives going fine, then we will give her a world of her own to control.”

“Excellent.”

The meeting was finished with many drinks, and Zogble went off to talk to Domewern.

“Mr. Domewern, I have a proposition for you…” Zogble proceeded in laying out his plan.

“B-b-but, that is illegal. And I hate violence. Isn’t there some way we can do it without the violence?”

“I don’t think so. The only way we can get peace is by joining the Empire, and the only way to get into the Empire is to give them a present that they can’t refuse. The best present would be ORS.”

“I understand. I’ll go along with the idea.”

Zogble had kept hidden the fact that once they had joined the Empire, the rulers would be stern dictatorships, and would probably brutally murder lots of individuals. However, he knew that it was necessary to keep that information hidden, and proceeded to go to talk to Miss Katrina Scarborough.

“Miss Scarborough, I have a proposition for you. Some friends and myself will be staging a coup over the rest of the Ruling Council, and will then proceed to attack ORS. Our goals are peace, but we can only have peace if we join the Empire, and to join the Empire and be treated as equals, we will need an excellent gift. ORS is the best gift of all. All we ask is that you keep the citizens as uninformed as possible, and in exchange we will give you control of a planet once we join the Empire. What do you say?”

Dolash02

2 4:43am 25/02/04

Return of the King of the Cafe!

Azguard, Military Base 01

"Lock that down, private!"

"Yes sir!"

"Keep that system together, officer Chaucy!"

"Sir, it cannot take much pressure."

"It'll take the damn pressure Az, pull the lever!"

"Yes sir!"

A column of steam erupted beneath an ancient stone obalisk. Within it were the keys to the Azguards' latest design, a triumph over conventional warfare. Computers attached to it whirred warnings before going blank, and cabals detached themselves from its' base. There was a moment of noise as alarms rung, and then finally silence.

"Damn!" shouted Regrad, giving the obalisk a kick. Around him, scientists and engineers ducked as he sent a crate flying. Regrad was not known as a calm commander, approaching all problems as a fight. His techniques had yet to crack the mysterious runes that covered the obalisk, protecting a millenia-old energy shield. Giving in for the time being, he stepped out of the temporary tent set up in the middle of the base and surveyed the area.

On Azguard, the current Coalition Capital, there were five-million military personel equipped for combat. These five million were split into five Grand Regiments of a million each, which is further divided into a hundred regiments of ten-thousand, and that into ten divisions of a thousand, each trained for a different task. First Division was usually an assault division, second often a fire-support division, all the way to tenth that was always made up of new recruits and reservists. Finally, these divisions were split into 'tactical platoons' of a hundred men each. This base supports Grand Reg 1, Reg 1, D 1. Or, simply put, the very first combat force on Azguard, affectionately known as "Regrads' Iron and Steel".

Soldiers were before him, marching, firing, learning how to strip down their weapons, learning how to keep their rations clear of disease, all the usual soldiering techniques. But Regrad knew that it was near-pointless, as enemies almost never fought this close-up. Battles were won and lost in space. If you had no ships you were as good as dead.

Moving away from the tent, and the camp, he tapped twice on a computer terminal. After a second, an Azguard appeared, holographic, dressed as a messanger.

"Send a message to the council members, I'll have to miss the next meeting. If if someone doesn't crack the mysteries of this thing we might as well bury it again."

The holo-gram paused in simulated thought "But sire, surely this is a job for TARGET?"

"Usually, yes, but those idiots are galibanting off in deep space again."

He sighed, and returned to the tent. Perhaps the new energy patterns could hold off the defence field long enough to cut through the outer shell...

__________________________________________________________________

The little hologram behind him faded away into its' wire. Zooming along at the speed of energy, it zipped past circuit breakers and leapt from satelite to satelite, crossing the vast, lonely mountains of Azguard, closing in on the distant towering city of Guardian, where the Ruling Council sat.

Dashing through the cities on invisible energy waves, passing gangs of Azguard children playing Coalitions-and-Imperials in a playground, slipping up tall sky-scrapers with they cryptic, rune-like writing of the Azguards covering the walls, leaping through the air in a second from the edge of the city to the Government House, The beam earthed itself into a collection of satelite dishes adorning the roof of the building.

The Holo followed the trail of wires, squeezing by bustling tides of electrical signals and AI beings until finally settling down into the computer-system in the Coalition Ruling Council Chamber.

It reformed itself into the Azguard messanger, already speaking its' message.

"My Lords, High Lord Regrad-"

He hesitated for the merest second. Council was out today, so he had excpected only one or two. Instead, he could see six council members, sitting rather organizidly, and sitting in the Council Head Chair, vacant since the loss of Joren, sat Council Member Zogble. But such things were beyond his programming, and he continued

"-sent me to inform you that he is preoccupied with the technology discovered at Army Base 01. He sends his regrets that he will miss the net sitting of the Ruling Council."

And with that he was away. The six councillors untensed, and breathed normally.

"That was a close one" grumbled Councillor Unbek "I despise these holo-creatures the Azguards allow to run amok, they should be contained. Machines thinking for themselves? Unnatural, droids and AIs exist to serve, not to think."

Councillor Domewern seemed a tad nervous at these words. Zogble needed to smooth things over that this surprise had started, quickly.

"Someone unplug that computer, we don't want any more little surprises. Right then, what do we need to address?"

Councillor Jare stood up and held forth a data-pad. "Here's all the military support we can rely on if things go ugly. It's quite extensive, but still, I would hope we won't have to use it."

Zogble took the datapad and inspected it. The Furen, a military race that hated Azguards, were providing much of the support. A lot was also coming from private-armies and sponsors. Also plenty from TNO affiliates - but not TNO itself, they'd wait until a clear winner was evident before acting. All in all, rather well-rounded.

"I agree, I hope we won't have to use it. And for that we turn to our expert in the matter."

He guestured to councillors Davik and Urm. The two were the most sinister looking humans ever to make it onto the high-council of any government. They had been accused of everything, from ballot-tampering to leaking info to the Imperials. It was even believed they might have given the Empire information about the planned attacks on Corellia. One was, even now, balancing a dagger on one finger.

Davik smiled. "The plan is simple. When the council is next in session - and both Regrad and Jan are attending - we simply reveal the "evidence we have carefully planted, accuse them of high-treason, and use our little "international task-force" to remove the two to a "secure location" in orbit. We need to keep the Azguards away though, because they'll try and run this as a local crime case."

"Exacly" agreed Urm. "If we can get them on the station, we can prove them traitors, we can declare a state of emergancy, and take control from there."

"Excellent work, gentlemen." said Zogble. "Most excellent."

And the chamber would echo with their laughter for hours to come.

milkshake

3 2:52am 27/02/04

Jedi Masterwan ... ... Shaken, Not Stirred

Frakutsk tossed and turned in his sleep, his mind possessed by thoughts and visions that he did not think volontarily. Where do nightmares come from? Many ask this question, but many less know the answer. Some will say they are not nightmares, but visions given to an indivisual by the force. Others have the most advanced sceintific explanations, but often they do not understand what their theories are themselves. Many pay them no heed, merely thoughts conjured upby a bored mind while you are sleeping. And yet... no one's mind would conjure up these things that Frakutsk was dreaming of.

Frakutsk was a Gungan, a Jedi, and a proud commodore of the Galactic coalition. Less and less, however, was he liking these things.

In his dream, he was on board one of his Star Destroyers, and an enemy fleet was approching. He was outnumbered and outgunned. When the enemy finnally got within firing rage, all of his fleet began to fire at them. The destruction was unthinkable, every time a ship was destroyed, Frakutsk could hear a voice sceam out in agony. Frakutsk looked out the view screen, but what he saw couldent have been right at all... No longer were there distant ships full of faceless enemies, but groups of people, all of whom he seemed to have known, they were helpless, unarmed, and yet his ships were killing them by the hundreds! Frakutsk whipped around and saw the evil smirk on the gunman's face. "Stop!!" he cried as loud as he could, but his voice was barely audible over the screams of death froom outside his ship. What was this? He shouldent be able to hear them! They were on the outside! But then Frakutsk looked around himself. He was on the outside too! Everyone around him was being blasted, and he, frakutsk, was helpless to save them. A shot from the ship above him, intended for the person next to frakutsk, flew toward its target. Frakutsk jumped out, so that it would hit him, and the other persons life would be spared...

And then his eyes shot open, and he was jerked back into conciousness. Frakutsk sat bolt upright in his bed, his long, gungan ears flapped against eachother. It was merely a dream... or was it? Forcing it from his mind, Frakutsk got out of bed, got ready for the day that was ahed, and exited his personal quarters.

It wasn't till then that the full ipact of his dream hit him. Why should anyone have to die? Surely no dissagreement between factions, or grudge between fellow people, could be worth killing for!

But halt! was he really thinking this? He, the powerful commodore of the galactic coalition, would not have hesitated to kill off an enemy imperial. That was, after all, what this fleet he was commanding now was for, killing! He was in charge of nothing but metal killing machines!

Fighting these pacifismal thoughts running through his head, Frakutsk walked toward the bridge of the star destroyer that he was on. Finnally he reached his destination and looked at the view screen. His ship was the head of a small, but not TOO small, group of star destroyers and gunships.

Deep in thought, frakutsk stared into space... literally... until he was jolted back into the moment by a voice.

"Sir, everything is running normally, all systems everywhere green."

Said the voice.

"Ohsa, good"

Replied Frakutsk, his high gungan voice not exactly fitting for command of a fleet.

But what was normal? thought frakutsk, the voice had said normal. Was normal that they were done out here, and could go back to their normal lives? Was normal that these tubs of metal were all operational, and just as capable of killing as ever? Was normal that thousands of people were dying everyday from random, useless violent acts?

No! Frakutsk shook his head. What was he thinking? Surely one dream was not enough to alter his beleifs so heavily! 'Normal' clearly meant that the night had passed uneventfully, and nothing new had happened.

Frakutsk swiched the view of the viewscreen to a map of the nearby galaxy. An X marked his small fleet's location near the Azgaurd system. One X... it marked the location of him, and all the others who were there. Gunsman, navigators, pilots, all sorts of people all there to kill if any enemies appeared.

What?! Frakutsk cought his thoughts yet again. Freaking right they were gunna kill any enemies who appeared! Those losers would do the same to them! That made it ok... right? Yes! it did! And there was no sense in arguing! Wait... Arguing? One cannot argue with one's self! Thought frakautsk, sneering and lowering his eyebrows. That dream was merely altering his mind. Wait, it couldent alter his mind, it was just a dream! The after affects would go away.

Little did Frakutsk know that this was no orinary dream, the 'after affects' as he thought of them, were far from going away.

EDIT: REPLY, FOOLS. (a.k.a ~BuMp~)

Bananas

Karen Calypso

4 7:20pm 29/02/04

Jedi Masterwan ... ... Shaken, Not Stirred

Karen had done an excellent job of implanting herself into the command structure of the Galactic Coalition. They had never seen her coming and likely wouldn’t know who she really was until it was too late. The infiltration had been simple, quick, and easy. All she’d had to do was get appointed by one of the GC worlds to the senate and then vie for a position in the council. It had been an easy task.

Now, not only was she inside the structure of the Coalition’s government, but also she was the head of the Advisory Council. An important position to be sure. It was not easy to come by such a position when one had only been in the senate for a few very short years. She had done it under her alias of Katrina Scarborough and no one had suspected her true identity. Kovel had trained her well enough to make her perfect for this type of work.

Things had gone well until recently. As of late, tension had been growing among the members of the Ruling council. Their seemed to be a large interest in developing an extremely well built, and up to date military for the Coalition to wield against its foe’s. While some had supported the idea, others had protested it greatly. She had suspected the protesting, but not what came after it.

According to a few of her spy’s, some of the Ruling Council had met with each other secretly. This was always an oddity, but now it was even more so. The spy reported they were developing some sort of plan, but then she had been forced to leave or get caught. Karen had been left in the dark on the plan until one of the members of the Ruling Council, Zogble, came forward to her and told her what they were planning.

She had been awestruck. Never had she foreseen the onset of such an out there plan. She’d asked for time to think and her request had been granted. No one, if she told him or her, would believe this. Except for maybe one person. And that person would be exactly who she told. The problem was she wasn’t able to get away for a while. So much was going on, and she had very little time to see to it. New bills, laws, and other such documents needed to be approved, disapproved, or sent for revisions. She’d had to take care of that first.

She knew their plan, and she knew that her boss needed to know about this and quickly. As soon as she was off of work, she went back to her home and got out her secure equipment so she could send him a message. After setting it up, she made sure no one was around, checked for listening and video-recording devices, and made sure to lock the doors. She didn’t want anybody knowing what she was up to. Then she sat down and typed out her message.

Message TB-100
To: Levok
From: Archer

Mr. Levok

There are strange things going on in the government of the Galactic Coalition. It seems some of the members of the ruling council are planning to stage a coup on the rest of the leaders. They have offered to let me in on their plan and have said they’d give me a planet when it succeeded. I asked for time to think about it and my request was granted. I believe they are going to take over and then use the fleet against you in order to wipe you out. Once they have done so they plan to offer themselves and you to the New Order. Verify this through others if necessary. I request more orders.
Archer

Once the message was sent, she quickly put everything back into place. Breathing a sigh of relief that it seemed to have gotten through all right, she made sure to leave the machine set to receive only. Then she went about her normal everyday activities around her house while waiting for a reply from her boss.

Marth Meer

5 4:48am 04/03/04

Jedi Masterwan ... ... Shaken, Not Stirred

Black Hand Headquarters Endor

Black Hand was a massive organization with thousands of field agents and thousands more agents backing them up in various positions. Endor was the headquarters of Black Hand and housed a large fraction of the Black Hand personell. All information going higher up on the Command Chain came through Endor and usually passed through the hands of a number of agents before it reached the desk of the Director Jorai Kovel.

This however was not true for all information. Some information from the most sensitive of agents went directly to the desk of the Director after the Case officers over in Coordinates receive the data. One of these agents was Karen Calypso.

When Jorai entered his office he found her latest communique waiting for him on his desk. He immeaditly shut the door and then set down to read it. When he was done he read it again just to make sure that he'd understood it completely. Then he reached over to punch his intercom to his secretary.

"Jenny cancel all my other appointments for today. Then get me a secure hookup with Bakura. Priority One, Eyes Only for Griff, Meer and the Legion-Generals."

"Yes Director."

Kovel settled back into his chair to collect his thoughts. He knew that Jenny would have his hookup ready within a few minutes. He took the time he had to marshall his thoughts and decide how he would go about presenting this information to his superiors.

Sovereignty Complex-Bakura

Hidden beneath the Sovereignty Complex which was the seat of the Outer-Rim government is an immense Command Bunker capable of withstanding nearly any type of attack. At the moment it was empty except for one Conference Room. In that Conference Room were 7 of the most powerful figures in the Sovereignty and they were about to hear some very disturbing news.

Marth Meer looked around as he evaluates the moods of the Legion-Generals and President Griff. They all seemed calm and collected which was good. He already knew what was in the report that Kovel was about to deliver, his position as former Director of Black Hand gave him an immense network of friends who would do any favour for him.

Suddenly the Holo Projector which had originally been showing the emblem of the Black Hand slowly rotating morphed into the face of Jorai Kovel. Without even waiting for his standard greetings he launched immeaditly into his report.

"As you all now we have a deep-cover agent in the Galactic Coalition Command, Karen Calypso. She had just reported with disturbing news. Basically members of the Ruling Council are planning a coup. They plan on disposing of the other leaders and then attacking the Sovereignty. When they have defeated us they plan on joining the New Order along with us as their defeated foes. Ms. Calypso has been offered a planet in return for joining them in their coup and has managed to stall them for know. We need to make a descision and now."

The first question came from Griff.

"Will the plotters have the ability to overthrow the other leaders?"

"Quite likely. They apparently have control or can gain control over a large portion of the military."

"Would they have the power to defeat us?"

"Unlikely. However any campaign against them will divert resources and men from the campaign against the Empire which is our first priority."

"Would there be any chance that we can bring these new leaders to our side? Maybe a change in leadership would do the Coalition a bit of good."

"Once again unlikely. The plotters appear to want peace and believe that joining the Empire is the only way to achieve that."

Marth looked over at Griff. It would obviously be in the interests of the Sovereignty to support Regard and Dodona. The question is how would Griff decide? Would he agree on non-intervention or would he decide to intervene in a civil war?

Admiral Griff

6 10:37pm 10/03/04

Jedi Masterwan ... ... Shaken, Not Stirred

Griff listened carefully to Jorai Kovel as the Black Hand Director gave his report and answered the various questions the President had.

This was most disturbing news. The Coalition had made a rather costly peace deal with the Empire months before, and had cost the Sovereignty dearly on the war front. They had all started out as a united force against the Empire and had now ended up alone, with just the Sovereignty carrying on the fight.

The Coaliton had gone silent, with nothing more coming out of them. Trade still commenced between GC and ORS, but the Coalition had yet to do anything to make their presence known again. Griff knew, along with Marth Meer, that Regrad and Dondana's hold on the Ruling Counil was tenuous at best, but he never expected anyone to actually try and overthrow them.

Griff looked over at the Vice-President, who was already looking at him. An unspoken thought passed between them, and each knew exactly what the other was thinking: What should we do?

"Marth... I must speak with you." Griff said, standing up. Meer followed closely behind to the other side of the room, out of earshot with the Legion-Generals and Kovel.

"What do you think?" Griff asked.

"That the Coalition is in trouble." Marth said flatly.

"The question is, what should we do?" Griff asked, leaning slightly up against the wall.

"The Coalition has been doing this since the begining of this war. First they attack with us, then they back off, and don't get me started on the Azguard's antics." Marth replied, annoyance creeping into his voice as he began to pace.

"They are still our allies. If not the Coalition, then Regrad and Dondana. Jan has stood with us since the begining, we have a duty to the two of them to assist." Griff said.

Marth looked hard at him, "This will cost us."

"I know. But we have no choice." Griff replied, looking over at the hologram of Kovel, who was looking right at the two Sovereignty leaders. It was almost as if he could hear them...

Griff wouldnt have put it past Kovel to have installed a listening device. But right now it hardly mattered.

"We do have a choice. Once the coup happens... we couls slip in and take over." Meer suggested but Griff shook his head.

"Can't have that. If Calypso is correct, then the new leaders will turn on us. And since there is not enough time to insert our own operatives, we have no choice but to support the current Coalition leadership." Griff replied.

Meer sighed and shrugged, "Alright."

Griff turned back to the Legion-Generals and Kovel, "This is not going to be easy."

Dolash02

7 5:20am 30/03/04

Return of the King of the Cafe!

It was just another day on Azguard.

Or was it?

The sun rose, as it did every day, and the rays glinted golden off the rooves of the houses that dotted the mountain. In the center of the largest cluster of tall towers sat the Command Center, where like any other days, High Council members were making their way to the main chamber. There was the usual assortment of vehicles humming through the sky and along the ground, the usual people making their rounds, it was truly an average day.

Regrad and Jan were chatting avidly on their way to the Council Meeting. The recent health-care concerns were being balanced with tax concerns on some of the poorer citizens. As they discussed the possibility of raising money with a few charity events, they pushed open the doors to the main chamber and fell silent.

Standing in the middle of the room, like terrible statues, were the conspiring members of the High Council. Draped in their usual Coalition robes, however the Coalition insignia had been removed, they advanced slowly towards the pair. Regrad and Jan turned, but the guards lay dead, and the door was blocked by four humans wearing coalition uniforms, minus the insignias.

"What is going on here?" Demanded Regrad, his forehead knitting in concentration and his claws ever so slowly unsheathing themselves.

The six council members were all silent, and began drawing an assortment of pistols and blades. "It's for the good of the Coalition." whispered Zogble, as he advanced, pistol raised.

Jan, ever so slowly, was reaching towards a concealed pistol in his sleeve. "Now Zogble, you can't seriously go through with this. No one will believe we died of an accident or something."

"They won't have to" he murmured, as he took aim. "We're already prepared for any discontent. Now come quietly, and this will all be over soo-"

Regrad took his chance, and leapt forwards. The spring sent council members rolling in all directions. Jan turned rapidly with his pistol and squeezed off two shots at the men guarding the door. One was hit, and droped with a wail of pain, and the other three leapt for cover behind council chairs.

Regrad shattered a window and looked at the long fall beneath him. He and Jan were trapped at the ledge, and Jan would only be able to hold them off for so long.

Speaking of which, Jan was crouched behind a tall chair, firing sprays of fire to keep their enemies' heads down. "If you've got any ideas" he said, through gritted teeth "Now's the time for them."

Regrad reached over and picked up Jan bodily. Taking one look out the window, and counting mentally, he closed his eyes, and prayed to Yunos he was right.

"Eaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!"

The two plummeted out of the window, screaming at the top of their lungs. At the same time, below them, the daily garbage transport pulled up to the side of the Council Tower's garbage shoot. Landing with a painful thump in bags of waste, the two lay groaning.

"Regrad?"

"Yes, Jan?"

"Never do that again."

"Fair enough." He then blinked a few times. Something must be in his eye, he could almost swear he could see a swath of black in the sky-

"Jan" whispered Regrad urgently, prodding Jan in the shoulder and pointing at the sky.

"What the hell is that?"

"Furen, ancient enemies of the Azguards. The traitors must have called them to their side to conquer our land. We must alert the defences, at once!"

"How?" hissed Jan "The entire administration of the Coalition goes on in that tower, and by now I bet the whole thing is overrun with traitors."

Regrad thought this over, and felt a slight nudge at his mind. Yunos. Yunos could help them.

"I think I know what to do." said Regrad, calmly. "I will speak with my gods, and they shall go out into the land and inform the people that-"

"This is no time for religious rites and stupid superstition!" shouted Jan "We need to engage the fleet, and get our forces in line! Now get up, I think there's a base somewhere near... what?"

Regrad had given him a calm, understanding, and patient look. It said "Once you're done, I'm going to say what we're really going to do." He brushed off some garbage, and said "You have not been on Azguard long, but I thought you would at least know about the gods. We must find somewhere safe. Once there, every Azguard in the galaxy will know of the situation and be prepared to fight."

Jan decided it was better to just trust in the Azguard, and knocked on the window to the driver's compartment of the garbage truck.

The man turned, and saw the Coaltions' two top men sitting in amongst the trash he was lugging. He immeadietly set down, and apoligized for the state of his speeder. "It's an off day." he said, and bowed until they were gone.

"Now, where can we go where we will be safe?" Said Jan, looking around carefully. Regrad thought for a time. His old unit, the Azguardian First Division, defended the space port. If anyone was still loyal it was them.

"Follow me."

As they ran, people began to notice the slowly approaching mass of black coming out of the sky. It took a moment, but local militia houses were already filling up, and children were being rushed by screaming parents to safe-houses across the city. They dodged through deep traffic and abandoned speeders until they arrived at the port, where the best force of soldiers Azguard had to offer was already preparing barricades.

"Atten-SHUN!" Every soldier immeadietly stopped what they were doing to salute their commander. They could have been in the center of hell itself, but no Azguard would have forgotten to salute his commander on the eve of battle. Regrad nodded, and they went back to what they were doing.

"I will contact the gods." said Regrad calmly. "In the mean-time, set up a perimeter. Do not allow anyone in or out, unless it is an emergancy. You may all experience a slight shuddering sensation soon, but do not be alarmed."

"Yes SIR!" Said the Colonel in command of the force, who rapped off a tight salute, and returned to monitoring the construction of barricades.

Jan frowned. "What am I supposed to do then?"

Regrad, who had settled himself on an abandoned bench, opened one eye to look at Jan. "I'm sure you'll think of something. I'll be right back."

He then fell silent.

Regrad entered a deep trance, so deep he was completely unaware of the chaose around him. He became perfectly silent, and waited. It took a moment, but in his mind's eye he could see the god Yunos taking form, visible only to him due to his fierce concentration.

"It is a great reckoning." Intoned Yunos, his voice like a thousand glowing suns "And you have awoken me to what ends?"

"Oh Lord Yunos." Whispered Regrad "You and the gods must cast a message of warning across the entire world. The people must know what is about to befall us, or else we may fall."

Yunos was silent, and he casted his eyes to the sky. There, the black blot in the sky was growing larger, a fleet of warships carrying fierce Furen warriors to burn this world. He turned back to Regrad and nodded.

"We shall act. The people shall be made aware, and we shall march once more upon the planes of the people of Azguard. The gods have spoken, go now and defend your home."

Regrad snapped back into the realm of conciousness. His men were standing, silently, intensly, as the gods broadcasted their message of warning to all. It was a moment of grim resolve, as they waited patiently, and the blot only got bigger. Their defences had not been risen in time, the ships scrambled too late.

War was coming, and the people stood ready.

milkshake

8 6:27am 31/03/04

Jedi Masterwan ... ... Shaken, Not Stirred

Frakutsk awoke with a start. He bolted upright in bed and quickly jerked his head from side to side.

A repeat of the last nights dream had plagued him in the night. Frakutsk was angry. Angry at himself, half of himself at least. Yes, he was angry at that other half of himself, the half that agreed with the dream, agreed that war was nothing but worthless death.

That half of him had to die! Wait, that would be killing, killing was wrong... espicially if it was of yourself. Huh, what? No! Wrong! that was the other half speaking! Not him! Well, actually it was half of HIM, so it actually was him, wasnt it. NO! It wasnt!

Frakutsk realized that he had been jerking his head back and forth, making him very dizzy. He fell back down on his bed. Since when had he stood up?!

As he regained control over himself, in the softest use of the phrase, he noticed his datapad flashing red on the stand next to his bed. Datapads werent supposed to flash red, thought Frakutsk, unless...

In a frenzy Frakutsk snatched up the datapad. "EMERGANCY! EMERGANCY!" it flashed. Not good...

Frakutsk quickly went on to the next screen, "Enter top-secret high-security password" What was the again? Oh yes... Viva le Coalition entered Frakutsk quickly.

Then, words flash panickly onto the screen.

Rebels taken over Ando. Quickly, you have enough power to get it back!

Frakutsk read these two sentances over and over, each time faster, his eyes twiching over the letters in a blur.

Rebels... what rebels? Couldent be! There were no rebels in the coalition last time FRAKUTSK checked! ah... but what WAS the last time he checked?

He had enough power, eh? Then he was going to take it back! What? but that ment killing the rebels! Yeah! they deserved to die! No no, surely they could be reasoned with, some type of comprimise could be reached. No! No comprimise, the rebels must be punished! But that meant hundreds of thousands of innocent lives lost, how did he justify that? They were stinking filth! They betrayed the government and needed to be KILLED! No no, no they didnt, no one deserved to be killed.

"YESA THEY DO!!!

Shouted Frakutsk outloud, not intentionally, banging his head against the nearby wall.

Quickly, before he could think about it, Frakutsk dashed up to the bridge in bloodlust. The night shift had control of the bridge, frakutsk grabbed the all-ship broadcaster from the substitute's chair.

"All handsa awake, wesa fly to Ando!"

Half-yelled frakutsk.

He proceeded to half-yell commands in a bloodlust as the hyper-space coordinates got punched in for Ando.

After some time, they were there... As the grand assortment of Coalition ships jumped put of hyperspace, they saw other Coalition ships... much like theirs... but the REBEL'S!!

The battle was quick and painful. Without any command, the ships powered their weapons and blasted at eachother.

As Frakutsk many ship concentrated their firepower on each rebel ship and defence platform, one after the other. They didnt hardly have a chance, the poor rebels. As they neared the last of the ships, one of Frakuts's frigates neared critical, it turned to retreat, but it was too late.

So many people aboard those ships... all dead.. all of them. You dont survive when your ship gets blasted into peices... innocent people, all dying, and it wasnt neccessary, there was another way... as always...

NAH! The rebel scum deserved to die, and Frakutsk stomped on them, they lost, the fools. Frakutsk won.

but was it winning? Lives lost, lost, as in losing.

NYET! It was winning, they won the battle. Not that there werent any more rebels... probably this was only a tiny fraction of thier forces. After all, if they routed the whole Coalition government...

Frakutsk ran to a shuttle bay, and quickly flewe a shuttle down to the surface. As he got out of his ship, he was greeted by fish people, Andolorians...

The all bowed to him, "We neutrally accept your control of out planet, so long as you do not hurt us or our people, and leave us peacefully be"

Cowards! You dont just accept control like that! Actually, none of THEm died, they prevented violence by accepting the control, no death, that was good... these fish people had something right.

Frakutsk angrily messaged his fleet, "Yousa all come down here and seiza planet! now!"

the fish people all looked strangely at frakutsk, "Would you like to be shown to your temporary home, sir."

"Yesa, that wouldsa be nice..."

----------

It wasnt till that night that Frakutsk realized the full of what he had done, he... HE had killed hundreds of people, and he didnt have to either, they were just angry at the government, it could have been changed. Cetainly change was better than death...

Frakutsk came too close to losing conciousness as he punished himself with fury. The opposite of his bloodlust before, anger at what the other half of himself had did, the other half that... that...

He suddenly stopped his violence, what was he doing? Where ewas the other part of him that had killed so many people. That surely had to be someone else... he wouldent do that? Ridiculus!

It was someone else... Frakutsk convinced himself as he slept into sleep.

(OOC: Yes, it got sloppy and cruddish, there is something not right with this merger thread thing... >: )

Bananas

Dolash02

9 8:42pm 24/04/04

Return of the King of the Cafe!

Regrad checked his watch.

Yes, ANY MINUTE NOW, war was coming.

"Where the frelling zark is everyone?"

milkshake

10 8:45pm 24/04/04

Jedi Masterwan ... ... Shaken, Not Stirred

Thats right, frakutsk SLEPT INTO SLEEP! and he was still sleeping, dogonit, until somebody got off their lazy behind and POSTED! uh.. i mean, did something, yeah.

"Where the frelling zark is everyone?" Muttered frakutsk sleepily as he slept on in sleep!

Bananas

>>>12