Katasi: The Sensal Incident

by AlbertG

The Katasi Rift. The Katasi Nebula. The Katasi solar system. It is called by many names in many universes. Few know of its existence. Fewer still know that it exists, But is a known to be passageway to other realities, other dimensions. It exists. And now the Colonials are about to experience First Contact. Will they handle it, or be destroyed by revelations they have never dreame

Katasi: The Sensal Incident

Author: Albert Green Jr.

NOTICE: THIS STORY MAY BE DISTRIBUTED FREE OF CHARGE BUT MUST NOT BE SOLD OR EXCHANGED FOR FINANCIAL RETURN IN ANY FORM.

-COPYRIGHT/DISCLAIMER NOTICE-

"Star Trek", "Star Trek: The Next Generation", "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine", and "Star Trek: Enterprise" and all related Star Trek related material (and there's a lot these days), it's characters and certain technological devices and/or references to such, from the television shows and movies, maybe or are registered trademarks of, and may be or are copyrighted by Paramount Studios and whatever Corporation it may or may not be owned by.

"Battlestar Galactica 2003", its characters, and certain technological devices and/or references to such, from the television show, past present of near future, may or are registered trademarks of, and maybe, or are copyrighted by the Universal Studios Corporation and any future owners. By the way, this is NOT BSG2003. This is old school here. (Also, this is only mentioned as a reference to other stories of mine mentioned in this series.

Concerning the TV x-over that is the crossover to this story….I will not say, because I want the audience to figure this out. I will say, I KNOW NOTHING! Other than my own characters.

This story was inspired by one comment I received and attempts to answer that commen, as one of several possibilities.

Having said that. This is a short story only a few chapters when completed. However, for those in the know, this has a very strong connection to another story I am working on. So please enjoy.

AlbertG

Katasi: The Sensal Incident

Chapter One

The Charnell Nebula

Six hundred parsecs from the Colonial Cylon Border

Battlestar Exploration Group Nine

Admiral Helena Cain, Commander of the Mercury class battlestar Pegasus, was bored out of her mind. She understood the critical necessity of the mission, but six months out, she was finally realizing just how boring the mission was. The thoughts of what they had just found strengthened her resolve, but this was still boring.

The Cylons hadn't been seen in over forty years, not until just recently. Long distance visuals and DRADIS scans observed a Cylon basestar. Different from anything previously seen, but the emissions were unmistakable. Instead of a double- saucer shaped, it was double star-shaped. It was huge. It floated there for a moment before disappearing, executing a jump to the gods know where.

The uproar amongst the Colonial military and the Quorum was immediate. For the last forty years, the threat of the Cylon 'bogeyman' had been around for decades. Stories about Artificial intelligence were used by Colonial politicians to increase the military budget in preparation for a war that never happened. Now those same stories were used to frighten and terrify children.

With the one sighting, everyone was frightened now.

The Twelve Colonies of Kobol, located in the Cyranus Star system with its mighty fleet of battlestars and support ships, represented an armed fortress. But it was just that, a fortress. The treaty signed by the Colonials and Cylons was discovered to be a trap. It gave the colonials the Cyranus system and space around it.

It gave the Cylons everything else.

It took a while before the Colonials realized what they'd done. And terrified, they began searching for a way out of the mess they created. Open communication with the cylons was a waste of time. The Cylons were not interested in talking and that served only to frighten the Colonials even more. Present Richard Adar assured the people that the Cylons would never attack. The AIs understood how strong the Colonial Defense Force was. Nevertheless, the people were still nervous. The Cylons still existed, the threat was still real.

Another threat facing the Colonials was the ever-dwindling natural resources. Tylium was becoming harder to acquire as the local sources dried up. Waiting was not an option. Because of that, all-too-real fear and other political missteps, such as the teacher's riot and the Gemenon uprising, were increasing. Tauron was becoming restless, wanting to do something.

Richard Adar lost the bid for a third term. Antonius Goesel won easily, with the help and backing of his Aunt Livia Stomata, chief Priestess of the conclave of Athena. Goesel proposed action, and the people loved him for it. The military budget was increased, and survey groups supported by battlestar squadrons were ordered out in search of resources, namely tyllium.

The different squadron groups assigned for exploration were inching farther away from the Colonial space, deeper and deeper into unknown territory. They were a half year out now, near the nebula identified as the Charnell Nebula. It was bordered by another much larger nebula, the Katasi. Both nebulae represented the edge of what the Colonials considered known space. The nebulae were effectively a wall cutting off the Colonials in this direction of space. What was beyond them, only the gods knew. Those two nebulae and the surrounding territories were never previously explored. The energy, and radiation made practical exploration impossible and somehow moving past them was impractical at best. Those energies were such that the Colonials didn't even want to think about attempting to somehow move past the expansive regions.

But of course, that was where several vast stores of tyllium were discovered, just far enough from the nebulae, and close enough to obtain safely. but months away from the Colonies. Asteroids of the critical material were floating just outside the radiation perimeter, just waiting to be processed and transported to her people. Honestly, she was somewhat surprised the cylons hadn't discovered these riches and when she mentioned this to the science heads accompanying her, they came up with a few theories, but none of them were sure.

But the admiral had hit the golden cubit. Not only tyllium, but precious metals, gold, rare earths. As well as the suggestion of a couple of habitable worlds. The two worlds were far out but long-range sensors had detected them, hidden away and protected from the deadly radiation by layers of stellar dust, just within range for human survivability. The scans had also detected water! That was just as valuable as anything else. How they were there was remarkable given the closeness of the nebulae and radiation. But they were there. She had ordered a small fleet of raptors and a surveyor to check out the system to see if they were as useful as the data suggested.

The Pegasus squadron consisted of the Pegasus, two Colombia IIs, a marine star, which she believed was completely unnecessary, two supply ships, a heavy surveyor and support ship for the scientists and explorers, and modified mining processor, two supply transports and a dedicated pleasure transport to keep everyone happy on this long and obviously not so wasteful mission.

The woman was not a babysitter, but she volunteered for this mission to get away from her 'friend' who had become so short-tempered and outright hostile that Helena couldn't deal with it without shooting her. It appeared that she had lost interest, which honestly hurt, so this mission was perfect to let things cool off and possibly have the time for her to think about getting a fresh start. And that was one of the very few things that was good about boredom. It gave you time to think about one's personal life.

At this moment, she wasn't bored. One of her chief scientists, Jenus Ranknan was speaking, and he seemed outright worried. The man was the personification of the word patience, and right now, he looked outright concerned.

"There is something wrong about these nebulae," he had stated in that usual calm manner of his. "Astrophysics have seen and photographed these two phenomena for years. But, when we're seeing now was never observed until we got here, given the time of the speed of light and distance, I have to conclude that this event must have just recently started."

"What's wrong the nebulas?" Helana asked. The man had requested this meeting and would not have done so without going through proper channels without reason.

"Admiral, simply put, the Katasi nebula is sucking the energy of the Charnell Nebula dry. It's half as small as we estimated it to be from our original observations at home. we're over six hundred light years from our home system, so we would have never known what was happening. The two nebulas are separated by over twelve light years, yet the energy is being funneled at a rate that should be impossible according to all of our understandings of physics. The Charnell will disappear in less than ten years." The man rubbed his jaw in frustration. "This shouldn't be possible, not at this speed. We can't account for gravitational anomalies. The Kaasi doesn't have a black hole or some freakish gravity well of some sort that we can observe. We should be detecting something! All of the surrounding space should be affected by that type of gravitational pull. The asteroids should be dragged into the Katasi. The star system where the planets are, should be being affected and none of that is happening."

Helena could see where this was going. "How dangerous is this?" she asked. "are we too close to Katasi?"

"I don't know," he confessed. "We are not being affected in any way. We're not even seeing any difference in our jump calculations. Engines seem to be fine and the radiation around is within normal limits!" he snapped. "I don't know what is going on, short or long term. We could collect and process ore for another thousand years and not have any problems. Or things could change in an instant. The problem is that this area is so rich in everything, I don't know if we should not take the chance and establish a base here." The man paused, looking thoughtful. "If I didn't know it was impossible, I would say that the nebula was somehow artificial."

The admiral glared at the man. "Don't let your imagination run away with you, Mister."

"Yes Ma'am. But something isn't right here."

Helen stared at him. It was unusual for one of her officers to stand up to her like this with such flimsy to non-existent evidence. But she nodded in agreement. The potential of this area of space was astounding, and every few hours, the reports only confirmed the value of this area of space. This place had all the signs of being a resource paradise for the colonies. Or a death trap for those who worked and settled here. Then there was the threat of the Cylons. If they discovered this area and the Colonial interests in it, it could start a war. They were just as worried about Colonial expansion, and it would not be in their interest to their enemies to have such an advantage.

"The Cylons are going to be another problem," Ranknan said. "They hate us and if I were one of them, there is no way I would tolerate us exploiting such a find."

"I agree," she grumbled. "There's been no sightings of them for than forty-five years, but now they've been shadowing the fleets. I can feel it. If we just leave this place, they'd grab it within a week." her face started turning red as her anger rose.

"This is an example of finding the perfect treasure and being stuck with it! We can't abandon it now." She laughed. "We can't even destroy it."

"The gods are playing with us."

"It appears so."

Pegasus C

Executive Officer, Colonel Jack Fisk listened to the wireless while Raptor 33 continued their report. They had reached the targeted system an hour ago, along with the surveyor and the rest of the escort. "Confirmed. It's a G-type star. Sixteen planets and planetoids. Six giants and four inner core worlds. World five and six are ringed planets with environmental conditions are at the edge of human survivability. Both can be terraformed. Detecting massive numbers of life forms in the first world. Asteroid belt interfering with readings on second viable contact. Will know more in two hours. The Surveyor is moving in for a detailed scan."

"Raptor 33 Actual, report in two hours. Stay alert."

"Acknowledged, Raptor 33, out."

Fisk ordered the channel closed. The subspace wireless was useful, but being a new technology, there were still some issues using it in the field. It pulled a lot of energy and tended to overheat. It was short ranged, but better than anything the colonies had previously. The smaller units could only be used for ten minutes at a time, but the distance was a major advance in communications.

Part of this new technology was developed by some genius who had a lot more brains than common sense. Whatever his name was, Fisk couldn't remember, had inserted a backdoor entry program he was credited for creating the newly developed computer navigation and control system the CDF had just developed. The man got greedy and could have caused untold damage throughout the military. The man was a genius and a fool. He should have realized that there was more than just one genius around quietly double checking his work. He was going to be in jail for a long, long time and so was his accomplice, if she had lived. Apparently, jumping from a six-story window was bad for her health. The man wasn't as lucky, not when Colonial Intelligence got through with him. It had only been five years, and CI was very thorough.

Admiral Cain entered the Bridge looking worried. She immediately ordered Fist to send two long-ranged raptors to Colonial territory to report their initial findings. She wanted a full task force to converge on their position as soon as possible.

"Let the raptors know that we will be joining them within the hour on the fourth planet. We need to survey the system directly. I want as much information as possible to see if it's viable for our people. That nebula is far enough away so that it will not affect this system." She looked at Colonel Fisk thoughtfully. "I don't believe that for a minute. Everything we've seen from Katasi makes my hair stand up on ends."

"Admiral, it's thirty light years away from the system and is spreading in the opposite direction. Charnell is further away from Katasi than the targeted system is, but we can all see what's happening there. As lieutenant James said, it makes no sense and I believe the system we're going to is in just as much under threat."

Reading all of the incoming data, Fisk was just as uncomfortable. "We need to get in and survey and see how viable and how long we can stay there. But we need a fleet to secure this area. I can feel the cylons watching us, just out of sight."

Helena nodded once. "We will establish a forward base, have our people get in and grab as much as we can and get out. We have no idea what the Katasi will do, and truth be told, I am worried about this entire area being unstable."

"If we can get the other survey squadrons and one of the main fleets here. We can set up a temporary base, large enough to protect and mine, but small enough to get out if things start deteriorating. But we're pretty far out, at the edge of our known space."

"Well, we'll just expand," she snapped. "I am sick and tired of being helmed up by the treaty and our enemies. We need to expand, not be hindered by those machines. But we also need to be bold. Call our fighters and raptors in and prepare to jump. Let the messengers know where we are going and have them relay that to Colonial Command. And have it passed on to the President."

"Yes Admiral."

One week later

Lieutenant Thorne was still in awe of this fifth planet. Sensal V was beautiful. It was alive, not unlike any of the home planets, but it was filled with life of every description. The sky was greenish, and gravity was slightly lighter than Caprican standard, but he could easily see this world being colonized. It would take a bit of work, but it was doable. His people had done it before. The scientist and surveyors under his authority were busy cataloging everything from bacteria and virus' forms to the large six-legged bovine-like creatures whose herds covered areas of ten kilometers at a time. The creatures were determined to be edible, but to him, it was an acquired taste. The predators that stalked them were dangerous, but they virtually ignored the humans there, as did most of the inhabitants. That was understandable since they had never seen humans before and were more curious than threatening. The insectoids were a pain since they seemed to consider humans as landing pads, harmless but extremely annoying. When the Colonials came here in mass, insecticide companies were going to do a brisk business.

Already the botanists have found several edible grains, and Colonial vegetation could be grown here, but no one was sure how both sets of plants would compete against one another. And how that would affect the local environment. And if the Colonials stayed, no one knew what the short-term impact would be to a planet they Colonials weren't sure they would stay on.

"Sir, we're too close to the lava flows," Therese Lorage told him. "The volcano…"

"Let's pull out." Nice place, beautiful place, he thought. But the active volcano was too close to blowing and taking about thirty kilometers of land and animals with it. It wasn't an unusual act of nature. The animals appeared to know what was about to happen because they were all leaving this area. "It would have been a nice place for a camp. Maybe in a hundred years, or so. Lorage, confirm to Pegasus Actual that the volcano is active, and this area is not viable as a base encampment. We're relocating to sight Delta Two."

CSF Pegasus in orbit around Sensal V

Four months later

Admiral Helana Cain found herself in a position she always wanted, but naturally, things never turned out quite the way she planned. Her exploration squadron had swollen to close to eighty ships. A third of them were from the mining companies, exploiting the asteroid belt near Katasi and bringing back tyllium-ladened rocks by the shipload. She considered herself blessed, as she wasn't alone. The CDF Mercury class Protea under the command of Admiral Kosel Adeanis was assigned to the mission and was in charge of the Katasi mining operations, leaving her to concentrate on security of the newly discovered star system. More ships, crews and civilian scientists and miners were arriving every day, but with those additions came restraints.

Colonial command issued orders not to establish anything near the Katasi nebula. They agreed with Cain and her scientist that something was unnatural about the nebula. Dozens of probes were sent to monitor the stellar phenomenon very carefully for signs of aberrant activity. The Colonials weren't comforted at the fact that the nebula had suddenly stopped sucking at its companion as suddenly as it seemed to have started. The scientists were tearing their hair out, trying to understand exactly what was happening. Gravitational anomalies withing the nebula such as a micro black hole were discounted. The local star systems showed no signs of gravitational disruption of any kind. The unusual phenomenon showed all the signs of a targeted attack on its sister nebula. Further, the speed of the gases and energies being funneled to Katasi was calculated to be at faster than the speed of light. It was impossible, but it was happening.

He immediately started issuing orders. "Let our survey raptors know of the change in plans he ordered to communications. "Let them know we're coming to them."

The Sensal star system was completely unaffected by the Katasi, although it was twenty-five light years closer to the nebula. The same could not be said about the Charnell nebula. It had lost twenty-three percent of its overall mass according to the probes, and Katasi hadn't shown any signs of growth from the stolen mass. Furthermore, Katasi wasn't expanding outwards due to its stolen mass. It simply remained as it was.

It made everyone's hair stand up on end. However, Helen's concern wasn't directed at the freakish anomaly, as was her concern about the Quorum and the Corporate interests plans for the two viable planets in the system. There was a battle brewing between several of the colony worlds concerning the eventual fate of the two worlds.

Picon, Scorpia, Caprica, and Tauron. Were listening and reading the reports concerning the monstrous neighbor and the potential danger it represented to said worlds. The system appeared stable, which it had been for billions of years, but it might cease to exist in a flash if Katasi decided to exert its gravitational pull in its direction. No one knew if or even how that could occur, but it was a real possibility. Therefore, it was considered unviable for colonization. But it was perfect for strip-mining and collection of viable foodstuffs just begging to be collected. The mineral deposits alone were fabulously abundant, never mind the asteroid field near Katasi. These two worlds were paradises, just waiting for the Colonials to extract what they needed for as long as they could do so. It wouldn't affect the colonies directly, and sentient life was non-existent in either world. Lack of intelligent life was the norm, as the Colonials had never encountered intelligent life forms.

Other than human life, there appeared to be no intelligent life in the universe. Of course, Helena didn't quite believe this. She wasn't a religious person, however, she considered the gods who saved humanity at Kobol to be 'aliens," and not real godlike human, as she understood the term. She believed the depictions of the gods by the Colonies were wrong. However, most people didn't agree, and she kept her mouth shut and her own opinions to herself. She didn't want to hear any religious blowback from those who were ready to argue at the drop of the hat. Intelligent life notwithstanding, she believed that these two worlds should be exploited, as they were now under the sphere of the Colonial people. But how the worlds should be exploited remained a growing bitter question.

The remainder of the Colonial tribal representatives had a far different opinion when compared to their brethren. They wanted the worlds used for the expansion of the Colonies. The worlds were far enough away so that settlers could have a modicum of freedom from what they considered a restriction of the central government. There were religious enclaves that were demanding to travel there, despite the possible dangers. The assumption was that although there was a danger, the system had remained unaffected for billions of years and would likely remain so for another billion more. In addition, the temptation of becoming rich, being in at the beginning, tempted billions of Colonials, and rightly so. The miners already there, were setting up small towns and dwellings despite of the danger and Cain couldn't do anything to stop it.

The corporate bigwigs were in charge now. she was responsible for security and that meant watching out for the Cylons and pirates who were starting to make their presence known. The colonies were also beginning to build a line of stations stretching all the way back to the colonies to maintain security, maintenance, and protection of their upcoming economic boon.

The bad news was the increase in activity at the Cylon border, and they weren't being subtle about it. the increase in activity made the Colonials worried. According to the terms of the treaty, the Colonials should have affectively been bottled up n their own claimed territory, leaving the Cylons with everything else.. the treaty was effectively broken by the Colonials. Point in fact, the Colonials were expanding in the opposite direction, away from the Cylons, but it didn't matter. The colonials were breaking free, and it was a de facto declaration of war. One Helena and the other admirals and officers in the CDF agreed with. Newly minted President Goesel and outgoing Adar had little problems with it. the treaty signed forty-five years ago was a mistake. Humanity demanded room for it to grow, and this was only the beginning. Admiral Helena Cain's opinion was, let them come.

One year later

Three Aggressor class Basestars winked into existence, six light years away from the leading edge of the Katasi asteroid belt. Earlier scouts had reported no presence of Colonial assets in that area of space. They hadn't expected any CDF or Colonial civilian ships this close to the nebula. There were tyllium-rich asteroid formations, and the Cylons correctly assumed that the Colonials would be uninterested in this area. The region they were mining was fabulously rich and there was little need to expand. The mining ships were congregated in one specific area of the asteroid belt. That area was so rich in the radioactive tylium that they had no need to expand anywhere else. It would take decades just to collect the tylium within the two thousand kilometer section. Further expansion was unnecessary at this point.

The virtual meeting held abort basestar V188 was tense. The Colonials had violated the treaty and hadn't cared that their traditional enemies knew, and that alarmed them. The colonials, with the influx of massive amounts of materials, were becoming rich. They were building, and the colonial military forces were expanding. They hadn't become more aggressive near the cylon-Colonial border, but it was assumed that it was only a matter of time, since they were doing the same thing.

"Who would have believed the meat bags would have had the nerve to break the treaty," John Cavil grumbled for perhaps the one-hundredth time. "This is all Baltars fault! If he hadn't gotten greedy, we could have implemented the plan a long time ago and wiped out this human infestation for good! Six, you should have done what you were assigned to do. This mess is your fault, too!"

Caprica Six's, the blond humanoid, wearing the gray jumpsuit that was standard issue for all of the Cylons, retort was equally vicious. "Get off it. None of us knew he was creating a back door program for our back door, and we didn't know the Colonials had the intelligence to spy on his work. The Plan failed."

"I planned everything down to the last detail. It was perfect!"

"Right until it fell apart!" screamed Caprica. John's attitude had changed since the Plan's abortion. He wasn't unhinged as some of the other Cylons thought, but his rage and embarrassment, frustration, and obsession with killing off humanity helped to push him towards extremes. For a time, he was as dangerous to his fellow Cylons as he was to humanity. Caprica never understood why they hadn't boxed him. "I am sick of you constantly screaming about the past. What are we going to do now?"

John paused his glaring at Caprica Six for a moment. "We attack the Colonials with everything we have, after we destroy the Colonials in the Sensal system and in the Katasi asteroid belt, before they become too strong," he hissed. The older, graying number One Cylon had flushed red in his anger. "How many ships do they have here?"

They've upped to one-hundred fifty," a number Five Cylon told him. The male looked dubious. This makeshift plan of One's had little chance of success. It would take too long to gather enough forces to fight a major battle here, and the outcome would be questionable. All reports indicate that they are massively upgrading their military assets because of the new resources they are acquiring. In three years they will out produce us. I believe then, they will no doubt attack us."

John nodded as the last statements added credence to his arguments and the solution he now introduced. "We can send our raiders on suicide runs to nuke both planets," the One suggested. "We destroy their reason for being here. Those worlds are not colonies and they won't start a war over them. That would leave the asteroid belt, and we can overwhelm them before they can get reinforced."

"Tell me again, old great number One leader," snapped Gregor Cavil, another of the One clone series. "What about the Katasi belt miners and assets there? Those ships are the real problem. If we nuke the planets, and I disagree with your whole plan, the Colonials will lock the tylium belt down tight, and it will continue to draw them like flies. The Colonies will protect it tooth and nail if we attack. We would have to split our forces to fight here and at home. We would lose the initiative and the war."

"We hit them at the same time," John countered. "They can't withstand a two-pronged attack."

"John, You are out of your mind."

"You're letting your bloodlust interfere with your logic. You want a war that can only end in a stalemate, at best," D'anna Biers, a number Three calmly stated. "None of us want to kill ourselves to achieve a stalemate."

"We can beat them," John Cavil announced. "If we use all of our biological weapons on the colony worlds before they realize what's happening…"

"Then we will be locked in an eternal struggle with the survivors," Serena Three countered. "All we have to do is fail to eliminate one world." She growled at him. "Wars have rules and whether we like it or not, they had adhered to those rules of war. A biological strike is too unpredictable at this point. I want them to have a clean death, not languish in agony. I don't think the One God would approve."

"I agree," Biers said. "Not unless there's no other choice and we're guaranteed a victory."

One of the Fives spoke. "Not to mention, if they get a hint of our actions, will swarm over the border seeking revenge and we won't be able to stop them. It'll take everything we have to avoid being wiped out." Everyone here knows their assets are better than ours."

"You're forgetting," John hissed. "We can't die like them. We come back."

"Unless they hit our resurrection ships and the Hub," a Four responded. "And don't believe we can destroy the asteroid belt, either. It's almost a light year across."

"If we do nothing, the Colonials will win!" John Cavil, self-proclaimed leader of the Cylon nation, roared. "If we play defense against them, we will lose everything. We must strike now."

"I vote no," Caprica Six announced. "No biological warfare until we are sure of our control over them."

"So do I," Arron Doral said.

"No," Caprica Six said quickly.

"The Eights vote no."

"I vote no," Gregor Cavil said, as John looked at him in anger at being a turncoat. "Make no mistake, I want them all dead, but I don't want to destroy ourselves, killing them."

John threw his hands up in frustrations, then plunged his hands back into the control liquid controlling matrix. "You are dooming us all. We might as well go and offer ourselves to return to slavery. Oh, wait! They would destroy us all first!" he yelled as he left the conference in a huff.

Therese, a number Three looked around at her fellow Cylons. "He is right about one thing. Sooner rather than later, the Colonials will attack us. It's in heir nature. We have to decide something, quickly."

"Well," a Doral said. "I do like the idea of a biological plague, a slow one that will take its time before it begins to affect the humans. We can let it spread before it starts to really take effect and by the time they realize the danger, it would have already spread everywhere. But throwing everything at them at once will fail, and we would contaminate everything. We don't need to poison those worlds if we want to use them in our future."

Caprica looked thoughtful. "As a last resort, maybe. As long as it doesn't affect us and provided we have a cure," Six said after a moment. Biowarfare is very dangerous. To all sides."

"They will know, and they will come after us," Serina said.

"I can agree to this," Gregoir Cavil said, almost smiling now. "But we will need to keep John from being involved. He will implement it too early in his rush to kill off humanity and he will screw this up. We can try to develop a disease that will only kill half of them. The rest would be easy to deal with at our leisure. So, we have the beginnings of a plan?"

"I can go with this."

"So do we," several Threes answered. "As long as it kills only half of them. We can use our nukes later. We might even be able to claim their worlds without the excess radioactive fallout. As their children, it would be our rightful inheritance. No need to mess up the house too much, metaphorically speaking."

"We can agree with this as well," the Eights said. "But we need to watch John. I can see him poisoning us in his obsession for control. He might try to kill us, just to kill the Humans, like he tried last time when the plan was scratched."

"We have the centurions under our control and he's being watched." Six growled. "If only he wasn't so impulsive."

"No viruses," Doral said firmly. "Too unpredictable. Besides, if we do this, we need the Colonials pre-occupied with curing themselves before we strike. That would give us time to whatever next step we choose."

"You're right. Let's review what we have."

"It will take time," Therese cautioned. "We need a diversion of some kind to keep us from shooting at each other too soon."

Gregor looked at her shrewdly. He recognized the look on her face. "What do you have in mind?"

"Something we've not done," she smiled. "It will drive them crazy."