Chapter 11
15:25, February 11, 2262.
Darren Anderson leaned back against the padded pilot's seat of his shuttle and watched as the chaos of hyperspace gave way suddenly to normal space and all its glittering canopy of stars. The jumpgate quickly fell behind him he turned his dark-hulled shuttle towards a distant world, just visible on the edge of his sensors. He would have liked to have entered the system closer to his destination, but the captain of the explorer ship who had built the gate had decided otherwise and Anderson was now faced with a four hour long journey from the jumpgate to the planet.
Tucking his hands behind his head Anderson whistled a popular tune while he watched the huge planet growing in his viewscreen. Twice the size of Earth and three times as dense Arisia 3 was not normally the kind of world anyone would expect life to exist. Below, on its hellish surface, the gravity was twice as strong as that on Earth, the atmosphere poisonous, and the soil often radioactive. Volcanic activity constantly erupted across the planet, and the powerful winds carried with them not only dangerous levels of radiation but also much of the heat from the volcanoes.
However, despite all this, until just a couple of years ago a thriving mining colony had mined the planet, using robotic mining machines to tear the rare Quantium-40 mineral out of the rock. The rare mineral was essential to space travel, especially for jumpgate construction, and so its value had been worth the expense of setting up a mining operation on such a inhospitable world. Anderson wondered if it had been worth the lives of all of those who were killed when the planet had been attacked by Kiel's allies.
When this project had been first proposed, several years ago now, Kiel and the others involved had needed an out of the way base to construct their weapon. Arisia 3 was chosen, as it had it's own jumpgate, and was far enough from Earth and the other major worlds not to attract attention. Of course, by then the planet was already occupied, by a small company known as Cole Mining. Kiel's allies had taken care of that though, and quickly cleansed the planet of any unwanted life.
It had taken a while after that before the project could begin, as it was some time before interest in the colony's destruction had died down, but now as he flew slowly towards the huge world Anderson could see the results of all the years of work. In a high orbit, he could see the three vast factories and their accompanying refineries responsible for stripping the ore from the planet and for constructing the weapons and machines they would need. Although he could not see them, Anderson knew that down on the surface a horde of robot miners scoured the planet for useful ore, as well as the valuable Quantium-40.
The factories were bigger than he had expected, huge by the standards of most worlds, but they were nothing to the shape that was just appearing from behind the planet. Nearly ten kilometres long the gigantic warship was the largest thing he had ever seen, larger than the explorer ships, even larger than Babylon 5, which was by far the biggest of Earth's space stations. Had it been just a warship, it would have been an awesome sight, but Anderson knew that it was in fact the galaxy's largest weapon. He had heard rumours that the Vorlon's and some of other now vanished races having possessed similar weapons, there were even rumours about a Vorlon planet killer that was a thousand kilometres long or more. Anderson had never seen those vessels though, so counted them little more than rumours.
From a distance it appeared roughly cylindrical, but as Anderson flew closer he could see it long hull was actually more hexagonal is shape, with six long flat sides instead of a single smooth, rounded hull. Along the main hull were an almost uncountable number of octagonal slots, which he knew was where the fighters would rest when the ship was in transit. Of course, once the warship was deployed for battle, the small fighters would detach and attack any enemy defenders. Like a cloud of insects, they would swoop down on the enemy and destroy it. One on its own might be much of a threat, but a thousand, or ten thousand would destroy almost anything in their path, just like the locusts they had been named after.
Finally, at the far end of the warship, nearly two kilometres in length itself was the massive command section. There the powerful engines were housed, including a jump engine strong enough to allow such an enormous warship access to hyperspace, as well as the reactors to power the engines, a factory to construct replacement fighters, and most important of all the main gravity generators for the weapon itself. Anderson could only look on in amazement as he imagined what a weapon that needed a barrel eight kilometres long could do.
Skilfully avoiding the charred remains of the old mining colony that still floated in orbit around the planet, he turned his shuttle towards the warship, knowing that Kiel probably awaited him there. As he approached two Centauri destroyers slid out from behind the vast bulk of the nearly completed vessel. While big in their own right they were dwarfed by the weapon that hung in space above them. He quickly sent the code that would reassure the beings that controlled the destroyers he was non-hostile. Of course, anyone who did not possess the correct code was automatically considered hostile and destroyed without question.
The destroyers withdrew, continuing their patrol around the planet, allowing Anderson to continue towards the shuttle bay at the rear of the weapon. As he continued he flew alongside the barrel of the huge weapon, he noted that only about half the fighters were currently in place, although he could see many more fighters waiting in orbit near the factories, perhaps deployed for defensive purposes. He also knew that the factories behind him were probably working as quickly as they could, pushing the slaves to breaking point and beyond in their efforts to finish the weapon, and all of it's fighters.
To anyone unfamiliar with the designed of the warship, the huge vessel looked as though it still had considerable work to be down on it, appearing little more than a framework of a vessel. Despite it's appearance though Anderson knew it was, in fact, already complete. There was little need to waste resources building a hull around six huge pylons that formed the weapons barrel, especially when it was not needed. Instead, the builders had left the barrel open to space and used the outer hull as a docking station for the fighters to rest while the warship was in flight.
Anderson continued down the hull, reaching the section where the warship's fighters had already been locking into position. Here the outer hull took on the appearance similar to the scaled hide of a snake or other reptile, with a layer of small fighters already attached to their sockets, ready to leap out and attack at any time. Now they had been tested and he knew what the fighters could do Anderson laughed at the thought of Earthforce trying to stop them. Chuckling softly, he manoeuvred the shuttle around an asteroid that was being sliced up for use in the weapon and into the shuttle bay. There was still a lot of work to do, but soon Earth, and then the rest of the galaxy would feel their power.
At much the same time as Anderson was arriving at Arisia 3, Susan Ivanova found herself sitting at a dining table in the government building in Reagan Dome, trying her best not to look bored as President Mitrovic and Colonel Kroehn discussed the latest work on the new Earthforce fortress. She didn't know why she had accepted the invitation for dinner, but probably wouldn't have done so if she hadn't wanted to get away from the Rasputin for just a few hours.
It wasn't that she didn't like her new ship. In fact, the past week had been very peaceful, a little too peaceful. It had been nearly a week since the raiders attacked the planet and, despite their best efforts, none of the technicians working on the captured fighter had discovered who might have been behind its construction. Susan had made her report to Earth Central, but so far, no reply had been forthcoming, which was another worrying fact.
Then of course there was Talia. The telepath had done little to make things easier, insisting on continuing the work of Anderson, which in Susan's opinion appeared to be little more than pestering the crew with constant examinations and evaluations. While there had been no official complaints from her crew, Susan knew from her discussions with Petrov and the other officers that there was an underlying disquiet among the crew about Talia's activities, with many of the crew suspecting her of conducting unauthorised telepath scans during her evaluations. Susan thought about confronting Talia, but that would probably only make things worse. The telepath seemed be doing her best to annoy Susan whenever she could, and so far had been doing a very good job.
Sighing quietly to herself Susan poked her fork at the meal in front of her. Arrayed on her plate was a collection of fresh vegetables that had been neatly arranged around several slices of reddish-grey lizard meat. The vegetables she had eaten, as they were a rare treat from anyone used to serving on an Earthforce warship, where most fruit and vegetables were kept frozen or in stasis pack, which despite the claims of their manufacturers could never compare to truly fresh produce. The meat, however, she was less sure about, as it didn't look like what she thought meat should. Instead when cooked it was grey with streaks of red running though it like veins of fat. In Susan's opinion, meat should not be grey unless there was something wrong with it. Still, neither the Colonel, nor the President had seen anything wrong with it and so she tried a piece, finding it tasted almost as unusual as it appeared. It was sort of like a cross between smoked fish and honey all at once, sweet and spicy at the same time. Susan wasn't sure if she liked it or not, so had moved it aside instead concentrated on the vegetables, so at least she knew what she was eating.
"You don't like the Gonna meat, Captain?" asked the President, pushing aside his now empty plate. "It is something of a local delicacy."
"I was saving it until last," Susan replied with the sweetest smile she could manage.
"Ah I see," Mitrovic said with a knowing nod. "I do that myself sometimes." Then spying a servant heading towards the table his attention turned to other matters. "This must be the desert coming," he said hopefully.
The servant though turned out to be the president's aide. He walked over to Susan said and bent down to whisper into her ear. "I have Earth Central on the link for you Captain. A Colonel Leong I believe the officers name was."
Susan nodded, and with a little relief pushed aside her meal. Turning to the President and the Colonel she said, "I am afraid I have to go gentlemen, duty calls."
"Of course Captain," the President replied, his eyes focused on the large tray two servants were carrying into the room. Colonel Kroehn was busy eating so he just waved his hand in her direction, dismissing her.
Susan walked away from the table, following the President's aide towards a private office attached to the dining room. The dining room, which had enough space to hold tables for maybe two hundred diners, appeared to be reserved solely for the President's use. Everything in the Colonial Administration building similarly large and expensive, a relic of a time when the original settlers had though that Proxima's population might grow to rival that on earth. It hadn't though, and the colony was left with a huge administration building and less than two million people for it to administer. Still President Mitrovic seemed to be enjoying the building as his own private mansion now.
Given the size of every other room she had see in the building, Susan was a little surprised to find that the office she was shown to was small, and almost comfortable. After indicating the vid screen, on which flashed with a message indicating an incoming call, the aide left her alone and hurried away down a statue-lined hallway. Susan perched herself on the edge of a large desk that filled most of the office and turning to the screen said, "Computer accept incoming message."
The Earth Alliance logo was immediately replaced with the large face of Colonel Leong, the current chief of intelligence services in Earthforce. He looked up and seeing Susan waiting said, "Ah Captain, there you are at last."
"Sorry for the delay, Colonel," she said. "I was having dinner with President Mitrovic."
The Colonel's face darkened slightly as she mentioned the former rebel's name, but he quickly put any personal feelings aside and got down to the matter at hand. "Well you are here now, and that is all that matters. I have looked over the report that you sent in last week and there are a couple of questions I would like to ask."
"Go ahead," Susan replied.
"Well first, are you sure that these raiders you mention are using earth technology?"
Susan nodded. "As I mentioned in my report many of the control circuits and electronics recovered from the crashed fighter were definitely using Microtel technology. Dr. Kozlowski, who is the designer of the Warlock-class destroyers, was most definite that the circuits were the same as ones initially offered for the Warlock project, but latter turned down. He also eventually remembered the names of those who were involved in the project."
The intelligence chief tugged a single sheet of paper out of the report. "Yes I have that information before me," he said. "The trouble is captain, all of those on the list are no longer alive. They were killed about eighteen months ago now in an explosion on board a liner near Io. We have also checked with Microtel and they have confirmed that none of their material is missing. None of the other engineers and programmers in the company know anything about the Warlock project. This means that either these now dead programmers passed on something before they died, or your Dr. Kozlowski, who seems to be the only other person who knows anything about these circuits and systems is the one who passed on the information to whoever built the fighters."
"I don't think that it possible Colonel," Susan assured him. "Dr. Kozlowski does not seem to be the person to do such a thing, besides there are other options."
"And what might they be Captain?"
"The programmers from Microtel may have faked their own deaths, or the company itself could be involved."
Leong thought this over for a minute before replying. "Well it is possible, there have been similar cases before. However, all thirty men and woman listed in this document were confirmed killed in the accident, I personally ordered that the DNA matches be rechecked to be certain. In addition, most of those killed had families, and while a faked death scenario is possible, I think we should discount that possibility for now. As for Microtel itself being involved, well I doubt that very much. Microtel is one of the largest megacorporations in the Alliance, they have nothing to gain by building a fleet of raider craft."
Susan wasn't so sure, especially after having heard Garibaldi's account of Edgers Industries plans. While she had no love for Telepath's and Psi-Corp in particular, what William Edgers had been planning was the mass enslavement of nearly ten million people. There was more to this than the Colonel thought, but knowing the way that Earthforce intelligence worked she knew the Colonel had already made up his own mind about the whole matter. "Then I have no other options to offer Colonel," she said. "Unless of course someone else had built a new system up from scratch using stock Microtel parts."
A wide smile spread across the face of Colonel Leong. "My thoughts exactly," he said. "That is the most logical conclusion and means that we are probably dealing with a new raider craft of some kind, just like those old ships Orion colony sells. Probably some pirate thought up a good idea to attack Proxima while it was virtually undefended, not realising that a fleet of warship were stopping over before heading off on patrol."
"That doesn't explain why the raiders kept of fighting after it was obvious they would lose, " Susan said cautiously.
The Colonel stopped for a minute, scratched his short, steel grey hair as if thinking, and then continued. "Unless the pirates did not have as much control over their raiders as we are thinking. Perhaps once they are sent they can not return until their mission is complete."
"Perhaps," Susan said, although she did not have the same confidence in that conclusion as the Colonel obviously did.
"Good," Leong said. "Then you agree with me." Susan was about to raise the point that she didn't really agree but he cut her off before she could argue. "You needed worry about these raiders any more Captain. My intelligence forces will find out exactly who is responsible before long. Your report, and the information sent in by your Dr. Kozlowski, is very thorough so there should enough for us to work with for now."
"As you wish Colonel," Susan replied, slightly annoyed that Earthforce wasn't taking her report as seriously as she had wanted. She had spent an entire day on it, making sure she emphasised all the findings Kozlowski and the other technicians had discovered. However, for all their effort it looked liked Earthforce was just going to forget about it.
"Good, that is dealt with then," said the Colonel, tossing the report to one side. "Now on to the other matter." He leaned forward towards the screen as if trying to keep their conversation secret, although seeing it was a coded link it should be as secure as was possible. "What do you know about Mr. Anderson?"
"The telepath?" Susan asked, a little confused as to why Leong would be interested in him.
"Exactly," the Colonel replied. "The telepath attached by Psi-Corp to your vessel. It appears he has gone missing."
"Missing?" Susan asked in surprise.
"Exactly. It seems that Psi-Corp has been unable to find him. My contacts within the Corp report the Corp are quite upset about it."
Susan didn't know what to say, so just stuck to what she knew. "Well I don't know much about him at all. He was only on my ship for a couple of days before he said he had to return to Mars to be at the side of a close friend who had been injured in an accident."
The Colonel nodded. "Well he didn't arrive, Captain, and now Psi-Corp are out looking for him. I have someone inside the Martian division of the Corps who has told me you may be getting a visit soon, possibly from a couple of Psi-Cops looking for him. Just thought I should warn you before you get a nasty surprise."
"Thank you Colonel," Susan said.
"Always glad to be of service Captain," Leong replied. "Now don't you worry about this raider problem, my agents will soon discover what is going on."
"I am sure they will Admiral," Susan replied, with little conviction in her voice. Leong did not notice her lack of confidence though and after a couple more pleasantries shut down the link from Earthdome.
Leaving the office Susan felt conflicting emotions of anger and fear. She was angry with Earthforce for not taking the threat of the raiders seriously enough, after all they had nearly taken out an entire destroyer. She was also fearful of the possible arrival of a Psi-Cop on her ship, worrying what that visit might herald, especially after her previous experiences with Bester on Babylon 5. Unlike Babylon 5, there were few places to hide on the Rasputin and she doubted that the Psi-Cop, whoever it was, would take kindly to being asked to take sleeper drugs or anything like that. That meant that the whole time the Psi-Cop was on board she would have to be wary of being scanned, always fearful of being discovered.
Shaking her head at the way things always seemed to get worse for her, Susan headed back to the dining room. She had little stomach now for more food, and even less for conversation so she resigned herself to a miserable evening of worrying, about her mess of a life, and about her ship. With the Apollo and Vesta off patrolling the borders and the Odysseus back at Io for repairs, only the Rasputin stood between Proxima and any attack. If the same raiders came again, in similar numbers then they would be hard pressed to hold them off a second time.
Sarah Chang was dreading the meeting she was on her way to. She had been trying to put it off all week, but at last had no choice but to admit that Harvey Kiel had disappeared and was nowhere to be found. No sign had been seen of him, or any of his operatives for nearly a week and that, Sarah was sure, was not going to be pleasing news to Bester at all. Steeling herself for what was about to come, she walked into the Psi-Cop's office.
As before, Bester waved for her to take a seat and she did so, brushing her long hair back behind her ears and trying to look calm and collected. As she sat there waiting for him to speak, she was taken by a sudden thought, Bester was a short man, and she was a very tall woman. Perhaps that was why he always insisted she sit whenever she was in his office.
'I am actually just trying to ensure you are comfortable Ms. Chang.' Bester's voice suddenly echoed in her mind as the Psi-Cop turned around to face her and took a seat in his own, large chair. 'I like my guests to be comfortable. Are you comfortable Ms. Chang?'
'Yes Sir,' Sarah sent, trying not to flush with embarrassment. It did not pay to have stray thoughts around Bester. He had a tendency to pick them up without you knowing.
'What do you have to report then,' he asked, staring at her.
'Nothing I am afraid Sir,' she admitted a little guiltily. 'We have kept a close watch on all the places Kiel might have been, or gone and so far he has not reappeared.'
Bester nodded. 'I thought as much, I even sent a team to Babylon 5 to see if he was there, but Kiel appears to have dropped out of sight completely. This is a worrying development indeed, and one I will have to look into further.'
'How about his lieutenant, Mr. Anderson,' Sarah asked.
'He also has vanished. I had a report from my agent several days ago that Mr. Anderson left the Rasputin, saying he was bound for Mars. Of course, as you are undoubtedly aware, he did not arrive, and this has me worried. It is not just Kiel or Anderson either, but at least twenty other telepaths allied to their former cause have also all vanished, all in the space of a week.'
'What is to be done then Sir,' his assistant asked.
'We must look for him and Mr. Anderson of course. They are up to something, and I do not believe that whatever it is can be good for the Corps, an especially not good for me. You must go to the last place Anderson was seen and find out more about where he has gone.' He pulled a data pad from a desk drawer and handed it over to Sarah. 'Here is all the information you will need on both my agent and Anderson's former assistant Ms. Winters.'
'You do not believe she is in on whatever Anderson and Kiel are plotting.'
Bester shook his head in amusement. 'No, she would not betray the Corps, at least not any more. I have had a lot of experience with Ms. Winters. After all, I sent her off to join our research division her on Mars instead of... Well let us just say that if it had not been for me she wouldn't still be here. No, she has nothing to do with whatever Kiel is doing, but may be of great assistance to you.'
'And your agent?' Sarah asked, quickly scanning the file with her eyes, while her mind still carried on the conversation with Bester. 'Can she be trusted?'
'With your life, I chose my very best undercover agent for that mission, after all that ship is very important to Earthforce, and what is important to Earthforce is important to us, at least for the moment.'
'Sir?' Sarah was a little confused by his last statement.
'Nothing you need worry about yet Ms. Chang. Right now, you must see if you can find Mr. Anderson, or at the very least find out where he has gone.'
Sarah nodded. 'What about Kiel, Sir?''
'I will personally take charge of the investigation here,' Bester responded. 'And I will start with the two agents of his that turned up dead here on Mars recently. While I can no longer questions them, their deaths may still provide me with some answers I need. Those who have encountered them may know even more.'
'Very good Sir, I will do the best to discover Anderson's whereabouts.'
'I am sure you will Ms. Chang,' Bester said. 'I have booked passage for you on the Visitation, a luxury liner leaving for Proxima shortly. After all, there is no reason why you can not travel in style.'
"Thank you Sir.'
Bester waved away her thanks and passed over to her the necessary travel documents, as well as a Psi-Corp issue PPG, and a permit authorising her to carry and use the weapon should it proved necessary. After his previous experience with Ivanova, he knew that Sarah would need everything to be correct if she was to get past the Rasputin's rather stubborn Captain. Then, her arms full, Bester guided her out of the room and sent her on her way.
He didn't really think that she would find anything that his agent on the Rasputin had not already, but as his assistant, she would attract a lot of attention from Kiel and his followers, and while they were busy watching her then he would be able to find out where they were hiding. Bester's first thoughts had been Babylon 5, but although there were rouges on the station, a minor problem that would be dealt with in time, no one allied with Kiel had been discovered by his team.
Clasping his hands behind his back Bester stared out of the window, as if seeking knowledge in the dark landscape outside. He knew there was something going on, but just could quite grasp the details. Kiel was at the heart of whatever plan he had cooked up this time, as probably was his lieutenant Anderson, and the other telepaths who had vanished from across Mars and Earth over the past week. The disappearance of one telepath was enough to make Bester worry, and the disappearance of over twenty, all ranked P10 or higher was a very serious problem indeed.
09:48, February 14, 2262.
"How long until we reach the target system?" Captain Clarke asked his executive officer, who was currently strapped into the seat beside him.
Harrison twisted around in his seat to look at his captain and replied, "only a few more minutes Boss."
Clarke nodded. "Do you have any idea why Earthforce wants us to check out this place anyway?" he asked.
"No more than you do Captain," Harrison replied, turning back to his calculations. "From what I heard, the planet is just a burning rock, little there of interest at all. Some General on Mars though wants us to check it out for some reason or another. Knowing Earthforce it is probably for a bet or something like that."
"Typical," the Captain said with a snort. "Oh well I guess it beats lugging cargo around the listening posts week after week. Get ready to open a jump point."
"Aye Captain."
Clarke went back to fiddling with the restraining straps on his seat and eyeing a data pad, which someone had left lying around gently floating around the command deck, if the two-seat bridge could be called a deck. He sighed as he remembered how only a few months ago he had been a destroyer captain, with a crew of hundreds. Now here he was demoted back to flying a nearly twenty-year-old transport vessel around the outer systems with a crew of only five.
At least the old Mako class ships were a sturdy bunch, not to mention almost undetectable on most sensors, at least as long as they kept their sensors powered down. Of course, to get the stealth ability the designers had been forced to strip away almost everything that sent out an electronic signature, and that included all targeting systems, all active sensors, and the weapons, leaving behind little more than a reinforced shell.
Not the sort of vessel Clarke had wanted to end his career in, but given the current political situation back home, and the fact he had supported President Clark, he was probably lucky to even get this old vessel. He still thought it unfair that someone like Ivanova, who had been second in command of the rebel fleet, was given a plumb posting on Earthforce's latest warship. Yet, he, loyal to Earthforce until the end, had been shipped off to the outer colonies to play delivery boy for a bunch of old listening posts along the border with the Narn Regime. Still the EAS Hammerhead was a solid enough old ship and he could have done worse. A lot of those who had supported Clark so openly were now rotting in gaol. At least he still had his own command.
Scratching an annoying itch on his forearm he watched as a flare of orange light erupted against the background of red mists, the jump point into real space. No one among the five-man crew of the Hammerhead knew much about the system they had been sent to investigate. It was the third in the Arisia system, just inside the territory claimed by the Earth Alliance, but only marginally so. He remembered something from couple of years ago now about an accident in the system, it had been all over the networks for days. If he remembered correctly, there had only been a single survivor. For a brief moment, Clark wondered what had happened to him.
As his ship re-entered real space, Clarke turned his attention back to the job at hand. While he might be stuck out here on an old, slow, transport, he was still a good captain and knew how to run a ship. While his second in command, Lieutenant Harrison took care of navigation Clarke was already activating the Hammerhead's powerful passive sensors. While any active systems, which sent out signals in the hope of detecting objects, were removed during the ship's design, the passive systems, which detected other signals, had been upgraded several times over the years leaving the Hammerhead with a very modern system indeed.
Clark hadn't expected to find anything, but to his surprise the screen lit up like a Christmas tree, with multiple orbital and planet bound signals detected. "What the hell is going on here," he said, drawing Harrison's attention to the sensor screens.
"What ever it is, Captain, I don't think we should hang around here."
Clark nodded. "I agree. Lets get... wait three blips coming our way. Small, possibly fighters."
"Getting us out of here," Harrison almost shouted as he began pushing buttons and making calculations as quickly as he could. "We are going to have to make a run for it, lets hope this old crate still has some legs left in her."
"Getting a match on those ships," the Captain said, watching as the flight computer displayed the silhouette of the unknown fighter on the screen in front of him. They were ships he had never seen before, with a thin cental body tipped with a strange gem like object, and four pylons jutting out from the rear before sweeping forward. Had the Hammerhead's computer been as up to date as the rest of Earthforce's it would have been able to identify them as Drakh fighters, instead it just flashed up UNKNOWN on the screen.
"Damn," Clark said. "No match, but whatever they are they are closing fast. I have never seen anything so fast, they look almost as fast as those Whitestar vessels."
"Hang on Captain," Harrison said. "About to open a jump point."
His hand moved towards the button that would complete all of his frantic calculations and allow the transport to escape. It never made it though, as the fast closing fighters at last came within weapons range. Three brilliant beams of energy erupted from their weapons and struck the old transport. There was a brief flash in the darkness of space and then Earthforce only had two Mako transports left, the third little more than expanding cloud of gas.
The alien fighters slowed to a crawl and scanned the wreckage, but found no trace of anyone alive. The ship's captain, executive officer, and the three crewmen playing a holographic game in one of the cargo decks were now little more than dust. Satisfied the fighters spun around and headed back towards distant dark sphere of Arisia 3, and behind above it the growing armada of fighters they were being prepared for the giant warship.