Here's the next chapter for you all, questions will be answered and others will be asked. Note: I only own what characters i create, the names and places i invent and the ships and vehicles i seem to be designing in droves for this single story.

I would like to thank AlexanderD for all his help and i strongly recomend reading his story New Dawn. I hope he likes the character named after him Admiral Alec Xander.

For those of you interested in what some of the ships featured in this story look like here are a few sketches on photobucket: albums/ae166/Senrab_Nomis/

Please review and i will respond. Or alternatively post in the thread for this story in my forum. topic/84023/35075481/1/

Review Responses

AlexanderD: I looked back over the last few chapters and realised that i hadn't included the ascended for quite some time. I thought i should make up for that with a memorable scene. Celestia is a madhouse of different things all happening at once. You start on one and suddenly you're covering a dozen.

BIG Z1776: Large battles on the ground are something for the future. Officially war hasn't been declared yet, yet.

Shadows of Realm: Lets just say that if he gets out of there he is going to have worked hard to earn his freedom.

Cdoctor: United we stand, divided we fall.

QP: The numbers are dropping certainly but the Zarasians have a large number of reapers at their disposal.

Naginator: Well here's more for you.

Oddliver: Thanks for the correction, you being so eagle eyed shows you are paying very close attention to my work.

abhinavatlantis: I've been meaning to do that for some time now, thanks for giving me the push i needed. Enjoy.

Frobond: Wow, now that is impressive. If you go back to chapter 28 i explain how they recruit fake people while plucking others from the armed forces. A few thousand from each miltary branch from each IOA country and the rest is all down to time needed to train, something they have had plenty of in the past few years.

Zarasian Flagship – Computer Core

The inside of a computer core is different for each different computer core, not just in the physical sense but in the way the data is stored and thus interpreted for those with a rather unique perspective of seeing that data. Sovaer certainly had a unique perspective of the insides of this particular computer core. To him being immersed amongst the data was rather like being underwater in a sea of data streams, or if you want to be more accurate in terms of proportions then lake would be more appropriate.

The data aspect of the computer core itself was split into several of these lakes, with each one separated by firewalls, or to continue the lake metaphor dams, of varying size and fortitude. The first lake contained rather basic access systems and information that was open to anyone who could access the computer core. Sovaer's ability to access any computer core through an insert port and insert himself into the system had plunged him straight into the first lake. From their he used his access of the security camera feeds to map out the basic shape of the flagship as well as mount a rescue and bust Jakose out of the brig. However he had been unable to get much more than that from the data pool he was occupying and had been forced to move on to the next, which meant getting through the first firewall. Eventually though he had breached the firewall and had started working his way through all the data he could find. The first thing he had found turned out to be a rather valuable and slightly disturbing video regarding the Zarasian founder Zarin. With that gem safely tucked away in the subcutaneous data storage device connected directly to his interface port he had then taken Jakose's advice and immediately started looking for a way to call for help beyond his distress beacon. He knew it should still be active but he could not guarantee the range would allow the call for help to reach friendly ears.

His search though had proved to be in vain since he couldn't find a single way to signal for help and to his utter frustration had realised that what he was sitting in was essentially the public access library. It took him a moment to realise just what had actually happened when he infiltrated the data core. By entering through the connection port he had successfully bypassed the need to show any log in credentials. The only problem was that without using those credentials his connection lacked the associated access rights that would have allowed him to automatically access the deeper levels of the computer core. So once again he had been forced to make his way past another firewall in order to find some other way to call for help. This one had proven to be an even tougher nut to crack than the last one. Of course it wasn't like he hadn't been expecting that since it was protecting much more important information than the last had. It wasn't even arguably difficult to crack since it consisted of just two layers with each requiring ten digit numeric codes to bypass. Easy enough a goal to accomplish given enough time to work on the problem and the first layer was breached without any real difficulty. The second layer however proved to be not so much difficult as annoying to crack. Whoever had designed the security for this system clearly had a sense of humour, either that or a malicious variety of creative genius. Every time he entered the wrong access code for the second firewall the first would immediately slam shut again in his face and he was forced to re-enter the access code each time he wanted to have another crack at the second. Not only was this extremely time consuming but it was beginning to get on his nerves. Cracking the first had literally been as simple as counting to ten billion in his head, which was much faster than you would think given his cyborg nature. Eventually though he settled into the pattern necessary to get past this obstacle as quickly as possible and, though it seemed to take forever, his determination paid off and he was able to get through.

But this difficulty had proved to be the least of his problems though when he was actually able to step over the threshold and realised his many entry attempts had attracted some unwanted attention. Despite the lack of active security in the previous areas this level was not as lacking. Patrolling the data repository was a number of system defence programs and one of which had homed in on him after his constant repeat attempts to gain access. In this artificially generated environment the defence program had its own unique image. It looked like a glowing star covered in armour plates, with light emanating from between the gaps in the plates and the part with a circular section in the front missing looked almost like an eye. Currently the inner sun was glowing red but when it had been moving around on patrol it had been a neutral blue, right up until it had spotted him. The still blue orb had approached him and bathed him in a beam of white light as he was scanned, then as it finished scanning him the colour of the orb changed to red as though some unseen switch had been flipped. The beam of light vanished and a bolt of red energy was suddenly hurtling towards him. His reflexes kicked in immediately and he dived to dodge the shot and was just fast enough to avoid being struck.

He knew what he was up against from his training in cyber walking with the Vanir, anti-virus system defence programs. These were automated programs designed to seek out threats to the system in the form of viruses or malware, in other words something that should not be there and in this case that included him. The bolt fired at him was not a simple energy bolt because like him in this world nothing was as it seemed. Those bolts were designed to delete data coding, which for him meant they would rip apart his avatar piece by piece with every hit. Fighting against them he felt like he was fighting a real battle. He could reload sections of his avatar piece by piece as long as it wasn't critically damaged but that would take time, which meant any hits he took were going to impede his progress and his ability to survive. Survive, even in this case, was not a metaphor. If his avatar was critically damaged enough to be destroyed his connection to the computer core would be severed automatically and that could have severe ramifications. He could in fact suffer actual brain damage and be left with all the mental capabilities of a rotting vegetable. Admittedly this was the worse case scenario and the best was that he could end up with nothing more than a headache but he didn't feel like finding out which would happen in this case.

By merely staying out of its way and moving out of its range he would avoid gaining attention and having other programs come down on him automatically. So he ducked, dodged and weaved his way out of the path of every bolt the defence orb fired at him. It certainly didn't help that Jakose had decided to continue talk to him after he asked him not to. Then when one of them clipped his leg and slowed his movements as a result he decided it was time to risk drawing a little attention to deal with the immediate threat.

With a thought his twin energy pistols appeared in his hands. While they looked like his regular energy pistols, like everything else in this world, they were not as they appeared. They possessed no power cells, and thus no actual rounds could be fired from them. They were for all intensive purposes just weapons that resembled actual energy pistols. What they actually fired were anti-program bolts, which could be used to neutralise anti-virus programs to a certain degree or even damage other software constructs. Essentially he was firing viruses at the anti-virus programs. Later on he might appreciate the irony of that fact but for the moment he planned on appreciating the fact that he could fire back at the thing firing at him. Each pistol was loaded with a virus taken directly from the storage chip implanted along with his brain. So far it was only accessible when he was in this state but who knew what the future held. The actual purpose of the virus was simple enough, to destroy the coding of whatever it hit.

He had landed on the ground with an injured leg and a slightly bruised ego. He came up shooting at the irritating construct. Unfortunately the thing was not as stupid as its lack of personality would suggest and it did the one thing even the most stupid creature knew to instinctively, it dodged. It wasn't very quick but it made an effort to evade his shots and zigged about instead of just sitting still and presenting a nice easy target to hit. Nevertheless Sovaer possessed superb hand to eye co-ordination and was a trained marksman. More importantly the thing didn't possess a high enough processing power to dodge and shoot him at the same time. By continually firing at the thing he was able to keep it from firing at him and eventually…he scored a hit.

One hit wasn't much but it was a start and he kept firing at it until he scored a second, followed by a third. Each hit not only damaged the anti-virus program but slowed it down slightly, allowing for him to land more and more hits against it. With each hit the orb slowed and the inner light dimmed slightly until after the sixth hit the light winked out and the orb fell to the ground.

Sovaer walked over to the orb where it lay. The inner red light was now blinking on and off erratically, reaching various levels of brightness each time. Valiantly the program attempted to fire off one last bolt, a small ball of energy forming in front of the 'eye' before vanishing as the inner light winked out. Watching these failed attempts with some amusement Sovaer pointed his pistol at the orb before firing, right into the eye. Then he fired again, and again, and again. The inner light had vanished after the first shot and under the unrelenting onslaught the orb shattered, exploding into fragments of energy that scattered as the coding holding the construct together broke down and collapsed.

Now that he had a moment he decided to contact Jakose again.

"Okay I've dealt with it."

"It…there was just the one?"

"Yes just the one, for now at least."

"Why do I get the feeling I don't want to know what that means?"

"Honestly…because there are probably a number of others around here and they're likely to notice that I just took out one of their own."

"Then why did you take it out?"

Sovaer paused to restore his avatar before responding.

"I got hit JJ. That thing clipped my leg and if I hadn't counter attacked it might have beaten me. I can't win playing defence, not in here."

"Can you handle the others?"

"I think so. If I go on the offensive right from the word go I probably can. If its one on one I should be fine, two on one would be tricky but not difficult if I keep on attacking."

"And if there are more than two?"

"That would be troublesome."

"Oh…well let's hope they don't all come at once."

"Let's hope there aren't many of them. These things are really annoying to go up against."

"Tough?"

"No, a few hits will knock them out easy enough. They're just fast which makes them difficult to hit."

"Good thing you're a cyborg then."

"Yes, yes I know. I may have all these enhancements but I can only react so fast you know."

"So it's not your highly efficient nervous system that's letting you down but your less advanced brain."

"I suppose that's one way to look at it."

"Not to worry. My affairs are in order."

"Thank you for the vote of confidence."

":)"

Sovaer shook his head, a small smile playing about his lips.

"I'll talk to you later. I need to look around for something that might help us."

"Good luck."

Of course he had been lying when he said that. He just didn't want his friend to worry about him. And no doubt his friend would worry because in the distance he could three metallic orbs getting larger and larger and heading right towards him. It looked like he had attracted attention after all. They didn't appear to be in attack mode at the moment, if the lack of a red light was anything to go by, so they must be on patrol like the last one. Sighing he raised his twin pistols and headed towards the nearest one. It was time to go to work.

Kalen Aror – Hyperspace

The mighty Averian warship rumbled slightly as the inertial dampeners battled hard to compensate for the intense velocity the ship was travelling at. The hyperdrive was being pushed to its maximum and then some in a bid to get to the location of the mysterious signal that much sooner. The ship was brand new, barely even tested and Admiral Xander was pushing her to the point where the power conduits were beginning to glow red from the sheer amount of energy being directed to the ships hyperdrive.

On the ships bridge crewmen shared nervous glances with each other but adamantly refused to look at the Admiral himself. They all knew that he was thinking right now and he would not be interested in hearing their fears so they carried on with their duties and pretended not to feel the subtle vibration running through the deck plating.

When the ship had first launched they all worked quietly and professionally until a beep from the communications console broke through the deafening silence. With no small amount of courage the comm. officer spoke up.

"Sir, we have received a message from our allies. The search party has locked onto the beacon and is moving to intercept."

"Will we get there in time?"

"No sir," said the helm officer. "Their ships are much faster than ours so we'll be late to the party."

"Tell engineering to shunt all available power to the hyperdrive, including the back up generators."

"Sir?" asked the helmsmen nervously.

"Do it," Xander ordered. "Take all the power this ship has and get us there in time to join the rescue."

"Sir the hyperdrive wasn't designed to take that much…" the helmsmen started to say before he froze under the Admirals glare.

"That was an order."

"Yes sir. Power being redirected to the hyperdrive."

As power was drawn away from anywhere it could be spared the Aror began to pick up speed. The inertial dampeners attempted to compensate for the tremors that were sent through the ship, not from the velocity, but from the hyperdrive itself as it shook from all the raw power being channelled into it. The ships inertial dampeners were designed to accommodate for the change in acceleration of the ship and were keeping up with the hyperdrive as the ships speed changed. However they could not fully account for the vibrations running through the very superstructure of the ship when they emanated from the inside of the thing. They just weren't designed for that purpose because it wasn't supposed to happen. As such feeling the deck plating shaking underneath you was not providing the crew with any comfort, nor was their commander's fierce determination to get into a potential conflict. There nervousness wasn't entirely unfounded though, despite being an experienced crew, this was after all a new ship that hadn't even been through a shakedown cruise. There was always the chance that something could go wrong with a key system and they could all be done for as a result if they were in a combat situation at the time.

Admiral Xander however was not blinded by his determination to rescue his leader despite what the bridge crew might think. He was well aware of the nervousness that they were sweating in buckets and he could understand it.

"Activate the internal comm. and put me on all speakers," he ordered.

The bridge crew were momentarily surprised by the order before they snapped out of their stupor and hurried to carry out his orders.

"All hands this is Admiral Xander. As you are no doubt aware by the fact that the vibrating deck plating I have ordered additional power to be shunted into the hyperdrive and I understand this is making some of you nervous. Now I understand why, this is a new ship after all and has yet to have its shake down cruise and going into combat is the last thing anyone expected for her first flight. But despite this I have faith in all of you. You are the finest crew in the fleet which is why you are on the finest ship in the fleet and I know just what you are capable of accomplishing. Now this crew and this fleet have a mission to perform. Minister Jakose, our leader, has been taken captive and as we speak our allies are moving to rescue him and for that we are grateful."

He paused for a moment as he let his words sink in before continuing.

"But you know what…I don't feel like letting the cowards who would attack a peace conference and kidnap our leader get off without knowing our feelings about this. I intend to hunt them down, recover our leader and his bodyguard and make sure they damn well know just who they pissed off. So the best crew and the best ship in the fleet are going to burn out our hyperdrive if need be to get their in time to blast those bastards in oblivion! Now let me hear what you all have to say to that!"

The ships corridors rang with cheers from the crew.

"For Jakose and for Averia!" Xander roared.

"For Jakose! For Averia!" the crew cheered.

Xander waited for the cheering to die down before he spoke again, this time in a much more professional voice.

"I'm counting on all of you now to do your duty and make sure this ship is ready for battle by the time we arrive. I can't say what we'll find for but make no mistake people because we are most likely in for the fight of our lives."

The mood became more serious as he spoke, the initial elation having died down. First and foremost the Aror was a warship, the most powerful in the Averian fleet. If she was sent on a mission then her being in battle was to be expected likely and even presumed.

Zarasian Flagship – Computer Core

Sovaer winced as he moved forwards, his battered and bruised body protesting at every step he took. His clothes were a mess, pockmarked and torn from the numerous hits he had taken fighting off the anti-virus programs. He couldn't stop to heal the damage done to him just yet though, not until he was sure there weren't any more anti-virus programs around.

A few minutes ago he had thought he had taken out the last of them only to be ambushed by the programs he had yet to neutralise. His first clue that they were there had been the bolt to the back that knocked him off his feet before he recovered from the shock. By the time he had fought them off and dealt with the last one he had acquired numerous wounds. He looked around and failing to spot a single silver orb bearing down on him with malicious intent decided that he had indeed finished off the last of them.

Falling to his knees he closed his eyes and focused on restoring his avatar to its former working state. As his wounds disappeared and his clothes were restored to their formerly pristine condition he found his strength returning to him. The problem with using an avatar was that when the avatar was damaged the brain complained when it was trying to use a body that partly wasn't there. The end result of which was what felt like the universes worse migraines all happening in his head at the same time. Since operating in this environment was entirely dependent on a person's mental state he couldn't function properly with a bad headache, let alone the mother of all migraines. Groaning he pushed himself back to his feet and rubbed his head. The effects of the de-synchronisation had almost completely faded by now and in a moment he would be back to normal, well normal for him anyway.

He looked around mentally, taking in the different data streams that surrounded him. He appeared to be in the secondary systems section, which meant the next set of firewalls would be guarding the primary systems. However there was only one set of firewalls after that one, from what he could tell anyway, which meant that whatever was behind that one was probably high profile and possibly even confidential military data. If had the time and the opportunity then he would definitely try to break through that last line of defence in the hopes of finding the gems they would need to decide a coming war.

There was however one system he could access and that was long range sensors. Since the ship was travelling in hyperspace it had a limited ability to scan around it for other vessels. However since the sensors weren't designed to scan in hyperspace though the picture was grainy at best and incomprehensible at worst. By staring at the readings intently he eventually got a rough picture of what it was like out there. Unless he was very much mistaken there were a group of ships heading right towards them, and they were catching up. There were only a few people he knew of that had ships fast enough to catch a ship like this up with such ease and they were all allies to the Averian people.

It looked like their allies were coming to their rescue.

Celestia

The allies had a choice in the upcoming battle. They could either sit back and wait for the Zarasians to come to them on terms that their enemy had decided on or they could decide the terms for themselves. If they let the enemy attack as they pleased then they could not guarantee a successful defence simply because they would be at the enemy's mercy, vulnerable to attack from any direction. Ideally the reapers would charge right at the gate room, and they could repulse that attack with ease. Of course the ideal for them was also the stupid thing for the enemy and men who want to live do not act stupidly. Even if the attack succeeded they would be unable to dial the gate because there were no gate controls in the gate room.

So rather predictably the reaper horde was coming right at the gate control room first. The only thing that would make sense would be if they dialled the gate then followed through by charging the gate room and hoping to push them back with sheer weight of numbers in the hope of the human Zarasians making it out alive. The damning thing was that it could actually work. With the reapers being treated as cannon fodder and the gate control room rather difficult to defend there was a decent chance of success. So the allies positioned their forces to meet the reaper horde head on and try to stop them in their tracks before they got near to the gate control room.

As the allied soldiers moved out they knew only one thing for certain, that they were in for the fight of their lives.

Please Review.