"Return to Urtraghus"
"High Priority"
/
[UCFS-1E.1101]_TRANSMISSION
TO: [GFS-Olympus]
NO COMPLETE TRANSLATION
DISPLAYING NEAREST PHOENETIC TRANSCRIPTION
:YBAT AOIA NA OITEN [Zerrul] HNLA NUQEU
:JALKHWA WEHTWULS
:FAREK WEHTWUSARE BRESNIL [1101] JIH PRES
/
The communications officer was completely baffled by this message. "Admiral, the Space Pirates sent us a message. It's not marked as encrypted, but it's clearly not regular Urtraghian script. The Space Pirates must have developed some new encryption system."
Admiral Dane first asked, "If we can't read this, we'll have to assume it's a threat unless the situation makes more sense otherwise. How many ships are there? Puldes only recently sent a warning about the blockade failing."
A tactical display of the Space Pirate ship showed that there was, in fact, only one ship: a destroyer.
"What about cloaked ships?" Admiral Dane proposed. And several scanner sweeps were made on the area, and supported the possibility that there was only the one destroyer seen on the tactical display. "So it's probably not a threat. Has that ship been making radio noise?"
"None that we can track, Admiral. Beyond the one message, it's been thoroughly silent. I'll go over this transmission again, maybe I can find something out about it."
"Officer, that gibberish was translated, right?" Dane was thinking about different things to be done with an electronic message.
"It's flagged as transcribed actually, Admiral. The machine can't figure out how to translate it. It's just writing each syllable it interprets. Apparently, this is the most sense the software can make of the message."
Admiral Dane ordered the communication officer to display the message transcribed to match the original Urthagian runes. It was an outside-the-box idea, and standard translation software doesn't normally support this odd technique. The Olympus was better equipped than most GF ships, right down to the translators, and the computer got a large part of it done.
Soon, more of the message started to make sense, and it became clear what Zerrul was trying to do. The computer finally decoded the enigmatic message from the Space Pirate destroyer, and the officer put it up for the Admiral to see.
/
[UCFS-1E.1101]_TRANSMISSION
TO: [GFS-Olympus]
LITERAL RUNIC TRANSCRIPTION
AM OF SPACE PIRATES, ZERRUL, COMMANDER
RELINQUISH DESTROYER
EXCHANGE RELIC SHIP [1E.1101] FOR PASS
/
"Respond to them, officer," Admiral Dane ordered. "Tell them that they can use their native language for this, and you use theirs as well. It'll lessen the strain on both our ships." So on the Admiral's orders, the Olympus entered full communication with the Space Pirate destroyer. With time delays, it was a long conversation, in which Zerrul expressed his wish to defect from the Space Pirates.
An open act of treason would be too dangerous to commit in orbit above the homeworld, but something had to be done while communication was possible. As both sides, that was, the Federation and Zerrul rather than the Pirates, brainstormed plans to throw off High Command, Zerrul provided the essential command codes for the various systems of the destroyer that, at that point, were unnecessary. The Olympus staff quickly prepared shutdown commands for the destroyer's weapons and communication, but did not initiate either.
After much deliberation, Admiral Dane came up with a plan with which Zerrul agreed. The destroyer was to make its way to the planet Inferrus-II in area KI-15595. Later, Samus would be sent there to capture the commander alive and bring him back to GF headquarters. This plan would, however, divert Samus away from destroying the Leviathan seed, but right now, there was a single route to breach the seed, and the GF had only recently failed to take it.
And then Zerrul claimed to know an alternate route into the seed.
The entire bridge of the Olympus was buzzing with speculation at once, and when it died down, Admiral Dane ordered, "Tell that commander to get to Inferrus-two right away. He's too important to lose now. Also, open a line to Samus."
Bounty hunters are traditionally difficult to reach directly; most contact with them is done through focused advertising of jobs. Much in the same vein that she was far more effective and efficient than other bounty hunters in the galaxy, so too was Samus Aran far more accessible. The bridge of Olympus got a line to her gunship in just two proxies.
"Samus, we have just contacted a Space Pirate who says he can help find a way into the Leviathan seed." Admiral Dane wanted to hear her initial response to the availability of this information.
This response was delayed by the as-of-yet unavoidable proxy lag. "Not to offend your sense for motives, Admiral, but what are the chances that this may be some sort of trap?"
"We haven't yet confirmed that this is genuine, but it was a commander that claimed to know this new route, and he claims that the crew on board his bridge doesn't know about this yet. He's willing to meet in person, even with you, in order to discuss his method of destroying the seed."
"So you want me to capture him alive, or liberate him as the case may be. My ship doesn't have room for any passengers. What are we going to do about troop transport?"
"The Pirate commander and we have discussed the logistics of bringing him off the planet: we will send a troopship to pick him up the moment you make planetfall. We have arranged for the commander to go to the planet Inferrus-two in the KI-15595 sector. Also, Samus, we must assume that the other Space Pirates have learned about this plan one way or another. For this and other reasons, speed is imperative. You must bring him back as soon as possible."
"All understood, Admiral. One last question: should I follow the troopship on departure?"
"Indeed, Samus. We will tell the troopship everything you need to know, as you need to know it. Proceed with all swiftness."
On the Colossus, a transmissions operator had picked up the conversation between Zerrul and the Olympus. When this news reached the bridge, the captain decided that acting on this information was secondary to returning to Urtraghus with somebody of very high importance on board.
The captain ordered a line be opened to High Command. It was done so at once.
"I want to address all members of the High Command Council. I've returned from my extended excursion into previously unexplored space. I have left beacons on several solar systems, of which all were deemed suitable for Phazon transmutation.
"In addition," the captain continued, "on my way, I picked up a distress signal from a moving object. The trajectory of it seems to have been deliberate from beyond the galaxy. Critically, this fighter, which we have identified as one of our older designs, contained the, long thought deceased, General Weavel. He was found in cryo-stasis, and we must bring him to a central medical center, and this was the only option we've found.
"We have broken through the Galactic Federation blockade in the north. Appurtenant to Weavel, there is a matter to be discussed in private." After he finished, he waited only for High Command to acknowledge his return, as was their response to most messages. When he deemed that the High Command Council actually understood his announcements, he closed the line and went down for docking.
Logistically, the return of the Colossus meant complete havoc for the current state of Urtraghus, but as it was already nearing a state of chaos, this didn't change much.
The captain, having seen Weavel's transport to a revival facility, called for transit to the High Command building. He arrived shortly, and had even more to say.
"Captain Uldnas, we recall you had something important to tell us that required our physical presence as well as our attention. What's the heart of the matter?"
"High Commanders, a transmissions operator picked up a dialogue between GFS-Olympus and one of our destroyers. We scanned the area and found it was a lone destroyer contacting the GF fleet. From this, we surmised that the destroyer, or the captain on board, was preparing to defect."
"If it's a destroyer, it must be Zerrul, he was the only commander who hasn't checked back in at 1C yet."
Another High Command councilor said, "Remember, Zerrul had that problem there not being enough ships, so he went to starport 1E. We have yet to check with them yet."
"We've checked in on them, they just haven't responded. In any case, elaborate with your report, Captain."
"Olympus mentioned something about Inferrus-two and KI-15595. Most likely, the former is a planet in the latter sector. Implicitly, the destroyer is headed to Inferrus-two to abandon our great purpose and be evacuated by the Federation. The operator also picked up something about The Hunter. Presumably, she is also headed there."
"Thank you for informing us, Captain, we will take it from here." High Command saw the captain leave, and began to form an order for the star commanders.
/
HIGH COMMAND_MANDATE
TO: ALL ACTIVE COMMANDERS
COMMANDER [Zerrul] HAS DEFECTED TO THE GALATIC FEDERATION
HE WAS REPORTED TO BE EN ROUTE TO [INFERRUS-II] AT [KI-15595]
[Zerrul] INTENDS TO BE EVACUATED BY THE HUNTER
GET TO THE TRAITOR BEFORE THE HUNTER DOES; KILL HIM
/
This High Command order quickly spread across the whole planet; there was no doubt that nearly every commander responded to it. A private extension was sent only to the commanders that broke the blockade, telling them to head to the battleship Gianthold, a precursor to the Colossus.
In Gianthold, Commander Valdar assumed control of all his associates' commando squads, and assembled a team of berserker knights together with a massive force of infantry. He expected the Gianthold to outrun even Zerrul's destroyer to Inferrus-II. Valdar hoped to catch the traitor as he landed.
While the commanders were scrambling to find and kill Zerrul, High Command sent word to the Dark One that an individual of great power has recently been brought back to Urtraghus. They determined that General Weavel could easily replace the late Mistress Gandrayda as an agent of the Dark One's corruptive influence. As it happened, she was already on her way to observe the status of the homeworld after the Pirates successfully defended their territory.
Preceding the Dark One's arrival, an agent of High Command oversaw the revival of Weavel. The process was long and already underway. Cryo-stasis revival was damaging, and at one point potentially fatal. Because the final stage consisted of complete submersion in a fuel gel compound, and its subsequent detonation, the body had to be safeguarded from complete destruction. The amount of fuel gel in the compound had to be cleared by High Command or a stand-in, as became alarmingly common.
The static body was tempered and covered with liquid tralghite, and the revival team calculated that a 14% fuel gel mixture should be used. Once the body was submerged, two ignition rings were positioned about the tank: one above, the other below. Simultaneously, the rings were sparked and the fuel gel mixture blew up. The explosive force of the fuel gel squeezed the tralghite into the frozen body, and successfully raised Weavel back into consciousness.
"Tell us, General," one of the Science Team members said. "How are you feeling?"
Weavel look around in bewilderment; he had been raised almost from the dead. "Back among my own kind," he whispered. "Free from the Alimbics' trap. Should not have sought their 'ultimate power'. Much the fool to do so." Weavel's ramblings dived into nonsense before long, and Science Team saw little alternative but to immediately purify his mind with the deepest corruption possible.
For a few minutes, Weavel alternated between mumbling about the Alimbic super-weapon and screaming in horror of an all consuming darkness. Science Team took notes and judged that, considering the very closely guarded secret of his Alimbic Cluster mission, his mood swings were far less intense than those of other Phazon subjects.
Some servicemen came at the base of the facility, carrying a package for Science Team. On the outside, it was sealed and marked highly radioactive. This was to be expected; Phazon was carefully handled.
What was not so expected was the mark on the inside: "VERTIGO."
The legendary strain and the legendary general. Perhaps Science Team was blessed.