AN: I do not own any part of the Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri universe except the crazy ideas I may write about for your viewing pleasure.

(Story)

In the year 2644...

General Wasabi of the second great wall defenses looked out over the land he was to defend. It had been a good idea to pull out the great mind worms before the battle began and freeze them so they could be preserved. Even he, once the most brilliant planner of his day when Impact Particle weapons were the newest thing, could not figure out for the life of himself how Mogul Brianbacks did it. He somehow manipulated every single strand to an error of around 2 percent into working into his favor.

Now, Lady Deidre Skye had once said you could you see the mindset of the other faction leaders if you studied their symbols closely. It was easiest to spot hers. A Rose protected by thorns all around it. It meant, while we are the gentle and beautiful faction, we do have our thorns. Indeed, the Gaians had been much like a thorn in everyone's side. Their general use was for their connection to the planet.

When you looked at the Dragonite's symbol, the face of a dragon leering its eyes straight forward, the message was clear. No funny business. But, Wasabi had noticed the slightest thing, if you covered the ferocious looking teeth, the dragon's eyes looked...sad...daresay lonesome. This was also true. Mogul had built the finest defense systems the human world had ever known. It was a heretical thought, but perhaps Mogul was...

Anyway, if you wanted in you either paid in credits or in blood. Most trading for quite awhile with the Dragonites had been done by nano-traders. Automatic technology only the Morganites, the University, and the Spartans had been able to afford. Everyone else paid large fees for entering Dragonite territory, and once in you hoped you turned out a profit. To some, trading with the Dragonites had been like the lottery. You lost a bit, you won a bit but you always seemed to lose a little more than you won. One way...or the other.

Now, if you wanted in, you paid in blood. No two ways about it.

Wasabi's attention was pulled by the sound of the pelting explosions of the cannons. Given enough power, the UPAMB soldiers could break past the tachyon field. Temporarily. Mogul had already foreseen such an event as to be likely once the surrounding measure didn't work. They'd concentrate their fire into a single spot and break open the field and charge the entire base. It would be a massive object and if...only if they managed to take the walls...would they find themselves in the elaborate maze being built. Now, your everyday soldier didn't need to go every single place in the base, so if the walls were taken, the general uses of terminals completely shut down. You couldn't get them to turn on if you put a switch on them. That left invading forces completely lost in the maze, which was bunker-ed down in strategic areas in case bombardment took place. Once in the maze, with how many hidden traps there were, no one would exit alive. The bunkers were open to an underground connection system to all the others, but if one of the bunkers was discovered and the guards over the entrance into these tunnels felt they wouldn't survive the attack, they pressed a little button and it sealed off the tunnels.

Wasabi grinned, if Mogul was anything he was a genius. He cried that anything less than perfect was not suitable for his fortressinettes. Wasabi had been there on the isle of Dexamenus during the Spartan invasion during the Battle of Siroquiss. They hadn't stood a chance. Mogul just put layer after layer after layer of protection in his fortressinettes.

He watched as the shelling died down again and surveyed the damage from his view point. A single UPAMB shell had broken through and slammed into the ground several meters in front of the wall. Pathetic...

He surveyed the enemy losses and grinned manically. A few more of their bunkers looked like they had suffered a hurricane trying to defend with toilet paper. While they were very far out, the Dragonite cannons had the advantage of height, it gave them plenty of extra hundred meters in their range. He took count and put it into the terminal to his right, using binoculars to looks closely at what the enemy was doing.

He saw them scurrying about trying to put out the flames. With interest he saw a very little symbol, almost impossible to actually see. He described it and sent it in his report as well. Then he ordered the change in cannon shifts to his section. He would not allow his section to fail.

Same time...across No Man's Land...

Grand General Hughed sighed in frustration. He really wanted to grab his hair and just start yanking. The new invoices had the same old news, the UPAMB leaders were undecided if they should begin a vendetta with the Gaians. There was no evidence that Deidre was supporting Mogul's defiance to their law, and he had seen the passion in her eyes when she described her willingness to help. Before she had been taken, she wanted to eviscerate Mogul. Now there was no doubt in his head she prized that more than her gardens.

He surveyed the work and took out an antique pistol, a colt .45 from World War two and aimed it straight towards the towering walls, sending off eight shots towards the damned things. His men around him looked confused by the situation and he looks them dead in the eye, "We're going to pick those shells up by the end of this battle, even if they landed in Mogul Brianback's ass!" Around him cheers went up and mentally Hughes gave a smile, all the boy's needed was some morale.

The next day, when the fighting resumed, it would be noted that seven sections under the Grand General Hughes advanced fifty meters. In newspapers across the world, no one would mention the 3,000 lives fifty meters cost.

Mogul Brianback's den...2644...

Mogul looked across at the screen with keen interest. He knew General Hughes. Hughes had been just a babe when Mogul had raised him, taught him everything he knew before turned the boy out on the streets to fend for himself. Just another experiment. Mogul grinned to himself, revealing two rows of very sharp teeth. Comparably, Grand General Hughes was his first great wall. His first greatest invention. He'd watched the boy turn into a veteran-ed warrior in no time.

His attention seemed to slide towards another monitor. There stood a tape of Deidre's room, and his insides seemed to be replaced by something much more warm than a few minutes before. No matter how hard he had tried, he couldn't bring himself to exclude her in his plans.

Turning from her monitor he devoted his full attention to the several other monitors that held several different plans. The one he focused his most attention on was the Ultimate Defense of the Isle of Dexamenus, or UDID for short. The UDID system was why all the UPAMB recons heard the hammers crying out. It was his masterpiece. A true work of art. He had never been able to formulate such a piece together so well. He smiled, all it took was a little inspiration.

Dragon's Teeth West Wall...late 2644...

General Karkoff seethed. His force was the smallest, and his force was the one being hammered time and time again waiting for reinforcements. The University builders had already left, and he had heard they were nearing the southern forces under General Winston of the Spartans. General Hughes to the east had been making spectacular results, while Karkoff looked dismally at the numbers lost. As a Hive General he was not afraid to say he felt sorry for the poor Believers that were sacrificing their lives for mere meters on the eastern front. While to the north, Admiral Jerk-...I mean Jefferys was sitting idly outside of the Dragonite cannon's range.

All in all, things did and yet did not look promising. With a beginning force of 130,000 men, they now had 137,000 men...after a reinforcement of 15,000 men. Those 8,000 dead were mostly on the eastern front, but the losses could be counted in the western and southern fronts as well.

Karkoff respected Winston. He was a man of honor and always charged to the front. Grudgingly, Karkoff felt some respect for Hughes as well for the same reason.

His attention was called off when a particular bright light caught his attention and then nothing. In an instant, 9,672 men were gone. Obliterated. No radioactive decay so something else had caused it.

Grand General Hughes tent...same night...

Despite the glares he had received from the man before in his life, Grand General Hughes gave his respects for the dead General. Reinforcements would make a brief survey of the western front and see if it was operable again. A short lull had begun in the battle, and it lasted for three days.

On the third day, Hughes received a message. It was not a planet buster. What it was however was something from hell itself. Figures a Believer would be the messenger...

A message had been left behind. It was elegantly written in the hand of General Wasabi. He remembered General Wasabi from the first great war. The two had fought like nothing else seen at that time. Despite his vast forces, Wasabi had never been able to advance far during the war. Hughes found himself on the opposite end now. Wasabi had been captured during the Battle of Siroquiss not killed like people thought. He was a traitor.

Eyes squinting, nostrils flaring, Hughes shouted, "Launch the first missile!" From behind him a shake began in the ground and in the air appeared five conventional missiles, enough power to blow open a hole in the shield. Hughes was pleased to see the ripple it sent across the shield, and then see it shatter. All across the front, cannons blazed back into life.

For the conventional missiles were not to be used under anything less than a dire circumstance. With the shields down, both sides braced themselves for the real horrors of war. Low and behold, by the end of the day, the Grand General Hughes reported 1,000 dead Dragonites. He barely mentioned the 4,000 dead UPAMB soldiers.

All because of one General's rash attack zero progress had been made in the Battle of Dragon's Teeth.

(Story)

AN: November 24th, 2011: Well I hope you guys appreciate the efforts I go through to completely standardize 32! stories. Let me tell you this has been a pain in my ass, but I think I'm around halfway done with the project. Of course that includes working on active stories such as Xenocide, Haremization, and Tails Combined so I don't have too much free time for the actual editing process.

As a side note, I forgot to include a copy of April 28th, 2011 Author's Announcement in the first chapter which began this entire process (and which saw 2,600 hits in one day followed by 640 hits). If you've read a lot of my stories I'm sure you're sick of seeing it by now, but I'm trying to maintain an orderly account of the editing process (mostly for my own purposes when I'm only writing new stories in...2015?) .

Anyway, REVIEW! OR YOU SOUL IS MINE! pweese?

Author's Announcements:

I know hardly anyone reads my profile (which wouldn't matter since it's out of date anyway), so I have posted these following announcements in all of my stories to let you formally know that I will be attempting to write chapters for most of my stories once again. I cannot guarantee anything, but I am most willing to make the effort.

That's the important part. Here come the details (your queue to leave if you want).

Reasons Why I Haven't Been Writing:

Well…geez, put me on the spot without time for cookies or milk. I haven't been writing mostly because of the combined dedications my life has required of me. In the time since I wrote Memoirs of a Time Traveler I have done the following things, each further complicating my life as a burgeoning adult:

1. Began a polyamorous relationship.

2. Managed to get my girlfriend of five years pregnant.

3. Fought with the parents of the newest member of our 'Triad' in the Triangular relationship.

4. Finally given up the idea of trying to treat both of my girlfriends equal in public status and married my pregnant girlfriend (to avoid the evil state of Indiana's bureaucracy).

5. Had my mother-in-law move in to help us with bills.

6. Had a child whom we call Alex.

7. Managed to obtain a 35 hour job (which previously had been 20 hours since after #3 but before #4).

8. Have continued my undergraduate education throughout the entire process.

Reasons Why I Will Begin Writing Anew:

These are the reasons why I'm more optimistic about a renewed writing!

1. Resigned from my job since my boss is a douche and was probably going to fire me anyway.

2. Finals are over!

3. Looking for another job and taking care of Alex, but still plenty of free time from the additional hours (some 70 in my week) which have been freed up recently.

4. Because I hate to see 'abandoned' on my stories!

I look forward to presenting everyone with wonderful new material on old ideas. Let it be known, however, that not all of my lack of posting is from a lack of writing. I have written three chapters for various stories when my computer crashed around seven months ago. Don't blame me, blame the elves.

So, without further ado, I bid you welcome into a new age of writing by Ultimagu.