Golanski sat in his chair, isolated from noise and troubles of the world in his command center deep inside The Order space. Carefully reviewing tactical and strategic readouts, advises of his R&D scientists and each message in detail. His consternation about recent events could only be overshadowed by his dedication to win war against Nomads once and for all. He took a long while to stare across his private quarters towards pictures of the little of his family he has left, his former and current close comrades in The Order. After a deep sigh, he begun analyzing what could have lead towards current state of affairs.
His mind went back to the beginning.
Some time before Toledo disaster, he took over command from late Fleet Admiral Julia Benford following more of a peaceful protest from V.Adm. Caja Collister. Leaving him to pick up the remains, he took whole new perspective once acquiring the Omega code. Quickly rising in ranks, he never truly grasped the true scale of the conflict. What his predecessors were hiding from the general public and even those closest to them. "No crap most of them could not take the heat..." he said to himself remembering all the good men he served under as an officer in the fleet.
...Malacos... I never knew him... better he stay erased from living memory.
...Kelt, may he died with hope it will all turn out for the better.
...Brandon, solid and reliable... but in the end not up to the task
...Osborne, wherever he is now.
...D'Souza, wandering Sirius possibly half-mad by now.
TAZ, OSI, Zoner Trade Consortium, Benitez, The Brotherhood Sirius Coalition Revolutionary Army - those were their allies. By time he achieved seat in High Command, Corsairs have broke off - "damn them" - Golanski never truly understood what demons have pushed Orillion to such desperate manners. He will never know anymore.
Zoner Trade Consortium has collapsed, clinging to remnants of their assets as Omicroners and currently the Phoenix. Admiral trusts them. They were stalwart supporters no matter what the hardships. Even now, their trading fleets bring prosperity to their own shared corner of space.
"Focus!" Where are the signs? Were there any warnings? In months ahead of Toledo, they faced logistic crisis. Support of Zoners Sirius-wide thwarted by unknown to him force. There was no support Doc Holliday has promised him... that everyone promised him. "Empty words!" he exclaimed. "Actions are what defines a human being." His thought processeses wandered away to time after that when they had to re-organise their supply system. The Order built, stole and bought additional transports to ensure next time Nomads came, they will leave no one behind.
"Doc Holliday..." He learned to hate this name in recent days. Admiral started to solve the puzzle. He commanded his computer to project holographic map of Sirius. Zooming into Liberty-Bretonian border, he nervously found what he was looking for. On his second screen, he started noting down incoming words as he was close to unveiling the mystery.
Tau 117 / Drake - "Slomon K'Hara stronghold, two jumps away from Baffin. Coincidence?"
Newcastle - "Ancient Daam K'Vosh ruins, two jumps away"
Chester - "Slomon K'Hara lair hidden deep into nebula... three jumps away"
Kansas - "Alien jumpgate. 3 jumps away"
Cardamine - "Doc Holliday was bent on curing cardamine addiction. Nomads knowledge upon the subject... unfathomable."
Malta - "Not that far away. Reports say Outcasts feel like in home within Baffin."
Contradiction - "What they think about Holliday's work? Do they even know about it? Or is it just a public face of his research?"
819 A.S. Toledo crisis - "TAZ support non-existent. Many envoys sent to restart supply runs... no effect."
820 A.S. TAZ ship found outbound from Omicron Iota. "Poor SOB didn't made it in the end."
820 A.S. Order announcement to curb on Xeno-research. "JIVA notoriously resisted. Their link to TAZ... more than likely.
Persephone warship - "For all intends and purposes it was Terran ship to the bone when it left shipyard."
Hyperion warship - "Lacked any device of this kind."
Doc Holliday himself - "Admitted researching Nomads for medical purposes... hybrids?"
Khaostone cover up - "Blatant lie, captain's noted it was of JIVA's making."
JIVA - "Possible Nomad link, in union with TAZ?"
Refusal - "Denial in submission to non-invasive incubi tests... no contact in months"
Zoner summit - "Attempt to infest half of Zoner community thwarted. They will not do so on our watch."
Nomad sightings in independent worlds - "Nomads operate freely and without TAZ interference."
The cult - "Is TAZ worshipping relicts of alien civilizations?"
Colonials - "We continue to assist them against threat coming from the Coronado gate... is this a smokescreen?"
TAZ death tolls - "TAZ ships lost to Nomads decreased to null, pre-818 A.S. TAZ suffered heavy losses to Nomads"
Admiral had enough.
"Open the comm channel"
Comm ID: The Order Overwatch
Admiral Golanski speaking.
Doc Holliday, I remembered you as man of honor. Whether Nomads have blinded you, it is still not too late to hand over the Singularity Drive. I am not being unreasonable - you know very well The Order needs to recover all alien artifacts if not for using those against their creators - then to deny its power to both Nomads and those humans who would misuse it. Do I have to tell you all over again that this strategy was crucial in stopping complete Nomad onslaught in 800 A.S.?
How many lives have been ruined, allowing this cardamine plight to corrupt civilization in the houses. How many will never see their families after being taken on vast liners hauling slaves to Malta. We ignored it until now, as long you and TAZ were counterbalancing this barbarism by supplying The Order with everything we needed. That, John, was before Toledo. Your support dwindled, you offer us nothing but powerless speech.
Baffin passage was not sold to innocent Freelance traders and corporate shippers. How many more millions have to die, how many planets have to be destroyed? To re-iterate, we have no need for Persephone warship as the hull and warship that serves your sect. If you think your withdrawal changes anything... For 3 difficult years we ran on support of our own logistics, Phoenix and Solar Runners. You cannot harm us more than you have done already.
Make no mistake here, John. I want this to be over no less than you and your people. Your pride hurt, work of your life threatened. So is mine: you are aware of those who have already turned their backs on their own species - maybe you know some by the name, who knows? For them, there is no escape. Sooner or later, those shells of what we used to call human will face music of a trial.
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*incoming tranmission*
Comm ID: [TAZ]Doc.Holliday
To: Admiral Golanski
I find it.......quaint....that you get help from those Gallic speaking comedians. I also find it no surprise that you would turn on us like this as you did the Corsairs and SCRA before. But, that's not the purpose that I transmit this to you.
You want this piece of equipment. Perhaps this proves that maybe you aren't as sharp as you claim.
The Persephone runs on an artificial singularity motor. Using an artificial black hole as an energy source is a theory in applied physics since early to mid 20th century Earth. In short, it's old news that's been improved. It is alien tech, NOT Nomad tech and there is a difference.
Now the dome you see is not the black hole generator - but an "inverted graviton field" - that is why you also see micro-comets or micro-asteroids impacting on it every now and then.
The former owners of the ship activated this device as a safety measure. - should the black hole generator fail or the shielding fail - the resulting catastrophic event would only "swallow" everything ... *** inside the inverted graviton bubble *** - making the enviroment safer.
However - since this is not a SHIELD - and it EXTENDS the shield of the ship - firing on it destabilizes it - hence dramatically increasing the danger of a catastrophic cosmic event which can easily be summed up as an uncontrollable black hole that drifts through space - also a known phenomenon that can endanger entire star systems, because it is literally unstoppable.
All that said. Is the reactor alien? Yes it is. Is it Nomad? No, it isn't. If you truly had a knowledge of advanced science, you would know this. I've studied plenty of science myself on this. Here's a bit more for you.
The ship uses an effect known to humans as the "Penrose Mechanism" - which makes use of the schwarzschild disk that forms around black holes - using the resulting kinetic energy of the rotation by frame dragging - in other more mundane words - it is a gravity powered dynamo.
Additionally - the astrophysical jet ( matter stream that is exhausted from the black hole ) is channeled into the graviton shield - hence allowing the black hole to create a nullifying effect that is naturally always 100% the strength of its own gravitational pull.
What you end up with is zero-point neutrinium - or a black hole with the characteristics of a black hole - without the nasty side effects like time distortion or getting smashed by immense gravity.
The device itself is - as you may call .. "failsafe" - because the astrophysical jet always nullifies the event horizon - even a catastrophic failure will only result in the black hole swallowing itself. The Persephone runs on a black hole that is stabil - meaning it does not eat itself up.
Now, rather than coming here with a show of force to just take it for yourselves, maybe you should come here with scientists and there ships and learn from it. Perhaps then you can build one for yourselves. I don't want bloodshed anymore than you do.
This is Lake Webb speaking as Director of Colonial Defense Industries.
Before I state the Colonial Republics official view, I'd like to make sure that you all note that Mover Phrangoktonos' view is null and void from the matter at hand. Though we respect the views of our soldiers and suppliers, in official business, especially of this calibur, only the word of Colonial Parliament is to be regarded as that of a reliable nature.
Now that's out the way, I'll get straight to it. After much discussion within the highest ranks of the Colonials, we would like to officially state our lack of interest in the conspiracies and suspicions that appear to be stemming from the debate. However, due to being on good terms with both the Temporary Autonomous Zoners and The Order's Primary Fleet and its affiliates, we are taking a neutral standpoint. We see no need to start taking sides and disrupting a balance that our greatest enemies would mercilessly take advantage of.
As for the other parties that are giving their two-cents...we are not concerned about your alignment towards the opinion of the Colonial Parliament.
Initialisation... Intensité de signal:█████████_ 090% Encodage:__________███████___FORT Source:________CLN Chardonnay, Roussillon Expéditeur:____General Pierre LaFlamme Du Conseil___[C] Destinataire(s):Admiral Michal Golanski______________Order| ________________Temporarily Autonomous Zoners________[TAZ]
Sujet:_________Re: ? Transmission entrée...
Admiral Golanski, Docteur Holliday,
Due to good relations to both of your people The Gallic Council of Freedom and National Unity wishes to remain neutral et politically unaffected by this dispute between yourselves.
Until you resolve the situation all vessels of either Discordian or Order affiliation reaching the size et combat capabilities of gunboats or bigger will be forbidden to enter Roussillon, vessels of said affiliations of any kind of civilian transportation including but not limited to freighters, transports et liners, accompanied with their snubcraft escorts as well as non-escort snubcraft squadrons will be forbidden to dock or land anywhere in Roussillon, upon system entry they will be halted, scanned for alien presence et granted their own Council escorts until the next exit from the system should they seem to be free of infestation or are to face capture and/or destruction should they turn out to be infected.
I hope you will do your best to find a peaceful resolution as soon as possible.
Sincerement,
General Pierre LaFlamme Du Conseil
General en Chef Du Conseil
Chef de Groupement tactique Roussillonnaise
Achille Augustain Nadeau paused, then halted, before freezing into oblivion. Silence seethed in the pit of his mind.
His mind played over the usual topography of imagery that accompanies a flashback; Burgundy, Normandie. Caen, alive, vital and entirely material. He considered what the matter of all those faces he had known, derided, sided with, loved, loathed, and generally, begrudgingly coexisted with for the full kaleidoscope of his years.
His mind tracked over to the stars. Constellations. The twists, stitches and weaves of Ptolemy’s sphere, and hissed. The universe was littered with Ptolemys: would-be archivists for the universe; messianic figures who saw fit to explain the sphere. Imagination, idealism. The philanthropist’s obsession and the free man’s bane. There is no creative flex in reality.
With a tinge of the wry creeping at his cheekbones, Nadeau waited the transmission window.
“Statement noted, Colonials – we will not counter-point against the official diatribes of the Republic. Besides, you take the neutral ground; the Commonwealth respects your impartiality, so long as that impartiality maintains.”
“…So. You are indeed in possession of a singularity weapon.”
“…Ami, exactly how does that knowledge diffuse the situation, if at all? The Persephone is a flying doomsday bomb if what you state is true, or even physically plausible. If the Perseophone’s destruction would and could ever occur... Dieu. The end of."
“…Do you have any idea what the ramifications of such a device could catalyse, doctor? Do you truly? How do you ever intend to decommission the core, once the craft has reached the end of its intended service life? How could anyone of an allegedly philanthropic nature possibly prove so damnnably shortsighted as to unleash such a gorgon into the universe?”
“Doctor. You obviously despise me as much as I find you misguided, but pray, listen to me as intently as my vocation has forced to listen to you; if this… doomsday device… that you have inserted into this Leviathan is truly the lovecraftian horror you insinuate, then you are a master of nought but mutually assured destruction. You are, in essence, M.A.D.”
“…Primrose effect reactors. My god, man. What have you people done? Doctor; you are clearly a theoretical physicist clothed in the skin of a sawbones, but your reactor according to the formula you have described would require pecowatts upon pecowatts of electrical power to actually negate the outbound flow of the astrophysical jet. We’re discussing the viability of a paragravity generator capable of total inversion of matter stream, a process that would require nearly as much electrical energy that you could ever possibly derive from your over-glorified dynamo.”
“…Whilst the reactor could be hypothetically self-sustaining, the total usable output would be… barely superior… to that which you would derive from a more sanely designed conventional fusion core. Clearly, doctor, the backfeed device (for ease of lingo, permit us to call it that), finds its charge from an alternate, xeno-originated energy source.”
“Doctor, we barely are aware of each other; before this tryst, we have encountered each other once only – on an equally hostile footing, so it may be somewhat understandable if you consider me a buffoon.”
“…However, I happen to be an exceptionally wealthy, influential buffoon with a vested intrest in preventing singularity orientated technology from being utilised by anybody, in any manifestation, anywhere.”
“Holiday, you must believe humanity to have a value. Having a star-system destroying bomb in your possession is not a complimentary trait to your fame as a humanitarian. With this vessel, you could reduce Baffin, or Roussillon, or Tau thirty seven, or Coronado, or Malta, or…. Wherever it is Golanski’s agents happen to be based to nothing but the absence of a memory.”
“…If a nihilist like me can comprehend your villainy, then surely a man of conscience such as you can comprehend equally well.”
"Think on it."
THE SYNDIC LEAGUES
(A co-operative of Rheinland's Shipping Unions, retired from a life of piracy.)
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*incoming transmission*
Comm ID: [TAZ]Doc.Holliday
To: Achille Augustain Nadeau
Fortunately, I don't remember our only prior meeting. Maybe it's because if it was a miserable as you say then I chose to forget it. I will say this, you fit the description of a typical Gallic, a very arrogant individual. Heh, even Bretonian royalty acts that way.
The funny thing is, I don't personally fly the ship, have never been on it or even seen it for myself. I leave that in the capable hands of it's crew. They wouldn't be flying it if we didn't think them to be competent.
If the device is as dangerous as you say then why has it existed for so long without issue? We don't see it as a weapon but as a technological break through. It isn't us that will use it as a weapon. Of COURSE we know what it could do which is why the fail safes are built in.
A weapon? I can't say that of your people...that it wouldn't be used as such. You Gallics are bent on conquest. We live here in relative peace and quiet. What we do have for arsenal is to keep Baffin that way and until now, no one has really threatened that peace. Unless someone, say, such as yourself, desires to make war then it will be an issue. Stay home and it won't.
I'm not misguided, not by a long shot. I listen to my people. I am a doctor of medicine and a damned good one. I have other doctors here that know about this technology and I trust their judgement. They spent much time researching and studying this system before bringing it here. If I am misguided then so are they.
You speak of wealth. So what? I have plenty of it myself but I don't go flashing it around. I have used it to help humanity as evidenced by my own Med Force Enterprises. I help all, not caring who they are or where they come from or even which side of the law they walk. I've never collected one credit for the work I do. So you can use your wealth to take lives if you want but when you can save lives, that is power. Keeping that ship out of the hands of houses will be saving lives as they seek to kill each other.
So, Monsieur, the ball is in your court. We can all go home and forget all of this happened or we can annihilate each other. Shall we learn to live together or die together? I am comfortable with either one.
The constant pulse transmission indicating Tobias Parkes was alive had gone silent. All previous transmissions indicated no trauma had taken place and stable health conditions from Parkes. The report from John Douglas' guard detail was long overdue. Mio Akiyama would have handled a failure of one of these two insurance systems, but both was a bit too much of a stretch for her.
If Parkes was killed the pulse transmission would have alerted her to some change just before death and just after it. If Douglas was killed the guard detail would have got a scrap of a message out. None of these things happened, and it cemented her thoughts.
"They're probably imprisoned with transmissions being jammed. Damn it! We've all heard reports about TAZ using violence and holding a gun to other Zoner's heads so this isn't a stretch." Akiyama sighed. She was hoping this summit would end peacefully and beneficially for Freeport 11.
She sent a high pulse transmission to the Ananke and then put Freeport 11 on high alert: Double guards at the scanners and all restricted areas locked down properly.
Communication Identification: Mio Akiyama, Acting Administrator of Freeport 11.
Location: Freeport 11, Omicron Delta System, Sirius.
Regarding: Tobias Parkes and John Douglas
This communication is visible to Order|, Phoenix, [TAZ] and other Zoners, except OSI.
Skarsi Wyrdmake and Dr. John Henry Holliday,
Our contact with Tobias Parkes and John Douglas has been severed. The manner of this suggests that the TAZ are responsible.
As per The Letters of Last Resort left behind as standing orders by Administrator Douglas and Parkes, this transmission is being broadcast to you and all relevant parties.
"The active presumption will be that Parkes and Douglas are being held against their will by the TAZ. This presumption will not be revoked until they can send a transmission off-base and outside of Baffin confirming otherwise.
Just like any other Freeport or Zoner group, Freeport 11 will not tolerate violence used against it's people.
You have 24 hours to guarantee safe passage of Parkes, Douglas and their entourage. Any deviance from this will be considered active aggression by the TAZ and will be met with equal force.
Any claim of a lockdown situation will be met with scorned disbelief and the notion that you intend to use the Freeport 11 citizens as political prisoners which will elevate the level of active aggression used in response."
I have broadcasted the transmission as per my standing orders.
I personally hope that this is a misunderstanding which can be cleared up as soon as possible. I am however unable to deviate from those last orders. I hope that your actions will prevent further violence and keep the peace, rather than start a war due to pride.
“So, to summarise, you consider me egotistical, self-indulgant, overbearinging, clot-headed, interfering and bearing a nationalist agenda. How dare you render such glitteringly inadequate assumptions; my entourage often inform me that I am a paragon of fundamentalist virtues.”
“Unfortunately, that happens to be everything that I consider you to be, Holiday – continuing down the personal vein is hardly going to lead to an adequate conflict resolution.”
“Your attempt to offer me two sides of an absolutist coin fall into what we diplomats commonly moniker the “Red-button-or-handshake” manoeuvre , where you attempt to throw the weight of the decision, or the proverbial “ball”, into my “court”, as it were. I do not deny that you are a “dammed good” doctor of medicine, but however much you smack me around the jaw with your doctorate, I am still not convinced that you prove an adequate representative for the whims of whoever decided to plonk that damnable alien powercore into the Persephone from the very first.”
“…I listen to my people too, my good doctor; hence why I am here arguing with you as a delegate rather than whoring on a beach somewhere sipping sidewinder fang. Note where my transmission originates from – Shasta skyhook, notably, where I am… and should be… presently disembarking into the conference your order happened to hold there. So view my position.”
“…My people – let’s call them that, pray – are disparate, are ununified. They share no common ground on which to rest their feet. Some are Gauls, yes, but some are also Bretonians. Some are Rheinlanders, some are Kusarians; even the odd coalition defector speckles our wings. Yes, I am a royalist. No, I am not an agent of the crown. No, the majority of the Commonwealth are not the… alliance-detesting franks that you conclude we are. Do not judge the entire book by the blurb of the editor, ami.”
“…You trust the judgement of those who think of nothing but the product of their research, that anything is acceptable purely because it could be done. By that logic, then, I could quite merrily blow half of Shasta’s docking bays to merry hell purely by modifying the pressure differentials within the ‘Corbeau’s’ fuel nacelles, but I will not. I will not act in a manner that endangers my own people.”
“…You, however, are perfectly happy to maintain a miniature black hole in the Baffin system, permanently, from the infantile basis that the bomb hasn’t gone off yet and thus never will. Egad man, and you seek to lecture me about saving lives?”
“…I have a modest amount of power, and I am currently employing the majority of it in attempting to moderate a threat to my people which… like a mule… refuses to shift viewpoint no matter how hard you tug on the rope.”
“…For the sakes of all, replace the core with a conventional alternative, and hand the damn warhead you have slotted in there already to the Order Overwatch. Assuming that this… core… is interchangeable with the “khaostone” pre-mentioned by one of your fraternity, you clearly intend to use it against somebody, sometime, for some dastardly purpose.”
“…It will win you no purchase. Please, ami – capitulate for the good of all of our sectors.”
“…I await your call.”
THE SYNDIC LEAGUES
(A co-operative of Rheinland's Shipping Unions, retired from a life of piracy.)
Bonjour zoner compatriots and many other this is Merillyon, a member of the Commonwhealt know as Gallic Zoners.While my friend Achille can be harsh at times , he is well intended.
Now Achile, those men strive to defend their home ,and their familly, which you have never been put in the spot of doing something like this.I know here i conjure somewhat of the harsh adjective, but see even if the men has something to do with the entiteld Nomads creatures, nor you or admiral Golaski , which i highly doubt his sanity , maybe yours to, have yet no right to give him the stink eye.
I do fell like your a puting us at somewhat of a slight level of hostility towars our brothers.Rember as the life of a zoner , meens we decied to stay away form conflict zone, and live our life in tranquilty and serenity, and i am really starting to fell, you are driving away from this..
Doctor Holliday, please if there is something wrong on the admiral's mind , let him check to make sure you are not hiding, somewhat of a infection house , within your Persphone, a mutual compromise, would be better.
And you Achiles, please do mind our own jobs and freedome, not throw your frustations on this poor nation of zoners established into Baffin.I am not, by any meens against us putting the neutral flag as per our group, but i fell , well in somewhat of agony to bring admiral Golanski closer to our familly.
Think about why, we came here all the way from Burbon, to make peace with the gauls, not to bring war..I fell we sould be the mediation here, hence i am arguing in the neutral side.And trust me , i do not like to know that fellow discordians, have to do something with the hidous, yet old creatures living on this system, way back ,before we arrived here.
At this moment you have the chance to rectify this brooding conflict with the Order at its root cause. Switch from the use of threats as these are not a natural stance for Zoners, and seek to deescalate the building pressure rather then fueling the fire of conflict. Contact your fellow Popes and convince them suppress this seemingly warmongering nature living within them.
Nevertheless, we owned the Persephone vessel for well over a year and are well aware of its internal structures and systems. Hell, we scanned every part of the vessel from bow to stern while it was station at Livadia shipyard. We still posses in our databanks a full schematic of the vessel and used this information in the production of our vessel Leviathan. This vessel has nothing overtly special in its construction. Basically it’s very similar to a Nephilim class vessel but posses superior and thinner armor and an improved powercore.
While we deployed the Persephone, we often encountered Order vessels as well as many other parties for that matter. On several occasions the vessel was scanned by Order scientists looking for any possible threats and nothing was ever found to pose a risk to the vessel, her crew, nor other Phoenix assets. Simply, the vessel was far ahead of its time and this was the only major difference in performance.
Now if your group pushes this stubbornness and continues to push this conflict, you will have to deal with the consequences on your own. This however does not give you the right to impede the freedom of other Zoners. We ask you kindly to release any Zoners that are now being held captive from your so called “summit”. Any other reaction to this request will be treated as a terrorist action and your organization will face all the consequences inherit in such activities.