The Treaty of Ten Systems

If you're new to the storybook, read THIS.

Post away, friends. Everyone starts at the ship dock, as the ship is being christened.

TSS Unity



"The war is over. Decades of death, destruction, war--over. I still remember the first battle with the Quevarians, now extinct...all those years ago. In the vast blackness that is space, the passing of time means nothing. Every planet has its own rotation, its own revolution. A day on Earth is not on a planet elsewhere, and a year on Earth may be less than a day on a particularly slow rotating planet. In the greater plan of the universe, none of it matters. But a second is still a second, and a moment a moment--and it is what we do in these moments, be we Homo sapien or Quevarian, organic or android, that make life worth living.

And still time passes. Wars are still fought. Men still die. There will always be conflict. Man against man, man against alien, or man against nature--there will always be battle. The difference between a battle fought justly and a battle wrought of ignorance is the reason for which you fight. If you fight to defend your wives, your children, your way of life, you fight a just war.

The war is over. But another is on the horizon. We have conquered our differences--at the cost of an entire race of people--and we are united under one flag. The council has been formed. Every enlightened race (whatever that means) that desires peace between our species is represented.

...Let's hope this lasts. For all our sakes."

--Rear Admiral Andrew Kahrmov, Earth Alliance Naval Corps.


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The Premise: Ten sentient races of the universe have finally settled their differences after decades of war between them. To commemorate this union, the United Systems Alliance (Razz) has designed and built a ship using all of their knowledge and technology. The crew of this ship is inter-species, the first of its kind. Our cast of characters is the crew of this ship. think Star Trek, but more gritty: More armor and weapons, less spandex and sparkly lasers.

The Setting: Deep Space, alien worlds, uncharted planets--the works.

The Plot: Undecided. To be built around and with the help of the authors and characters of the storybook.

The Characters: List of Characters

Rules: These are important.

1)No team-killing: If an active character is going to die, make sure it is thoroughly discussed between both parties involved.

NOTE: If you don't hold up your end of the posting agreement (see below), you'll be killed off.

2)On Writing Style: This is a Storybook RPG, so players may write in any style they please. First person, third person omniscient, it's all dependent on your personal preference.

3)On God-Moding:

God Moding is vague. Here are the rules for it.

-- Other authors may control another author's character as long as it keeps the character IN CHARACTER. For extra help, communicate with the author of the character being god-moded first.

-- Authors have every right to determine what is in or out of character for their character. As such, any action they feel is wrong for the character can be vetoed within a few days of the post.

-- This isn't a turn-based RPG, it is a real-time RPG. That means that you aren't obligated to stop and wait for the author to reply to your character. This way, we don't wait three days for a response.

4) Out of character discussion is to be carried out in the Discussion Threadfor this Storybook.

5) I reserve the right to edit any post to add a timestamp or modify content as needed in order to retain the continuity of characters and plot.

CONDITIONS:

--I agree to dedicate time and effort to this storybook, and notify Hunter immediately if that is to change.
--All executive decisions of the storybook will be ultimately decided by Hunter.
--Post at least three times a week, at least one of which must be in the story thread, the remaining two may be made in discussion.
--While every post need not be plot deciding or life changing, every post I make must be grammatically correct, with correct punctuation and minimal typos.
--Every post must be significant in some way--be it character development, character interaction, or just plain action. Basically--put effort into each and every post you do. Don't half-ass it just because you need to post. Personally I would prefer you did not post at all than post some three line post with one line of dialog. Work with one of the other authors to come up with a post if you're having trouble with dialog. Come up with a scene.
--Help your fellow authors if asked. We're a team now.

Gunnery Sergeant Jeff Hammer stood at parade rest as the fourth speaker began speaking. He was dressed in his dress uniform and he felt uncomfortable. In addition to his dress whites, where three medals, one was the Navy Cross, the other two were purple hearts. Due to the number of VIP's, weapons had been prohibited and that meant the bulge of his GP-9 was missing.

He didn't complain though, he was a marine. He had been ordered to report to Terra Yard 068 for duty aboard the TSS Unity. The ship itself was positioned behind the speaker. It was a sleek ship.

He checked his watch, 15:07. The speakers had started at 12:00 exactly. It had taken less time for him to take out a pirate base. He hadn't met his platoon yet, but he knew it would be challenging. The TSS Unity would be staffed by various races which had never really worked together for an extended period of time, much less in close proximity.

Finally the speaker ended and Gunnery Sergeant Jeff Hammer clapped politely. Then, on cue, several of the various delegates hurled several different wine bottles towards the new ship. Hammer didn't see them impact, the ship was too far, but the delegates must have for they began celebrating.

Fine by him. He just wanted to get in the ship and do his job.

Yuki Mamushito gazed at her laptop, scanning through a list of files at a blistering pace. A small set of wireless headphones hidden just under her long deep blue hair hid the music being played directly into her head. Nodding her head slowly as heavy transonic music guided her quick hand movements on a strange keyboard.

Displays came up all around her as a collection of people shot through the screen. The faces and military profiles of the crew were rapidly flying past her. Delving deeper she easily slipped through several back doors into the depths of the military mainframe to probe even deeper.

Finding her profile she began to read it, sticking out her tongue as she read it, before trying to get write access. Error messages filled the screen as she tried to trace it and growled, her record was an image file that could no longer be accessed.

"Oh...they got smarter." Sighed Yuki, knowing she didn't have enough time to break through and forcefully alter her military data again, "People are going to think I need help if they read that..."

Closing the laptop and shifting her eyes towards her purse, a small cat poked its head up and spoke cutely, "You can do it, Yuki!"

Giving the toy cat a little scratch on the head Yuki smiled happily as the cat asked, "How long will Reverent take to get through?"

Slinging her laptop over her shoulder, she replied, "Reverent is dead. Only Yuki is here."

The toy cat disappeared into her purse as Yuki stood up, her uniform was clean and nice, but entirely for show. Strapped to her right side was the M101 Advanced Combat Pistol, the large gun was an intimidating and powerful weapon, but Yuki's palm always caressed it with each step. Strapped to her back, she carried a powerful sniper rifle. The G430A1 Tactical Precision Rifle was a masterpiece that was built for the toughest and dirtiest of jobs. Because it was over a meter long, she kept it strapped to her back like a master of the zanbato.

She tilted her beret down over her bangs as she entered into the moving crowd of crew members and military fans alike. Walking slowly through the people she was never blocked or ran into, her appearance was unusual and intimidating. Though her large rifle got attention due to the way she carried it, the lazy way she walked only provoked more attention as she sought out her new crew mates.

OOC Note: Didn't see Griff's post, but oh well... Yuki is the one to pull this kind of thing first day anyways.

6308/1/1. 05:12. Egon Astral

(6 hours 18 minutes before the ceremony)

As soon as he got near, Egon heard the ship; it sounded big. The morning was early, and the Sun had not yet risen, but this did not bother the tall Novarian. Despite his golden-humanoid form, he, like his entire race, had chosen to give up his sense of sight to attain a truer perception of the world.

Egon continued to move towards the USA ship; his linen tunic and pack moved gently as a breeze disturbed the serenity of morning. He walked with purpose, but without haste, and listened carefully to avoid obstructions on the ground. He did this without thinking; the sensory receptors that covered his entire body received and processed the environment as fast as any computer. Egon’s footsteps sounded clearly on the concrete floor and, from the reflected sound, he formed a picture of his surroundings.

There was a large building behind him, possibly a hangar or a workshop to manufacture and fit parts for ships. Once, it would have produced weaponry to fight the Quevarians, but not anymore; they were long gone. Beside it was the transport station, complete with airport and rail station for transfer within the planet. Egon could hear movement from there, and realised that others might have followed him on later trains. The ceremony would begin at midday, but Ego wanted to walk to the ship; he hated hover-vehicles and enjoyed relaxing whilst walking.

In front of him, however, Egon felt empty air. It was a wide, open space, broken only by parked cargo vehicles that yesterday had completed loading the ship with supplies. The amount of air was immense, cubic mile upon cubic mile, stretching upwards and outwards to fill the atmosphere of this insignificant planet.

Or, once insignificant planet.

Before Egon, separated from him by the vast quantity of air, was a new ship, and ‘big’ did not describe it. As Egon stepped closer, more details became apparent. It was both an engineering masterpiece and nightmare. Technicians from ten different races had designed and built one ship, seeking to share their knowledge and expertise to create rather than destroy. The result was magnificent.

“Hope is evident after all,” Egon said, his golden lips moving carefully as he pronounced the human words. His slow, plodding gait had barely lead him from the train station grounds and he hurried forwards, eager to see the ship a little closer. “Let us hope it flies,” he murmured.

Egon hefted his pack higher up on his back. He could hear the grate of hover-vehicles behind him and he didn’t want to be caught up too quickly. Walking, for him, was a time where he could reflect and contemplate things. He did not want to be disturbed by having to speak to the humans just yet. After a moment, Egon began to run and he enjoyed the feeling of solemnity for a little longer.

Soon will be the time for talking, he thought. And no matter what the Nova feel on that issue, I will talk.

15:00

Buzz filled the air as people shifted back and forth in the crowd--even their silence was charged with a potential for riot. Erik cleared his throat as the speaker came to his close. He hated orations, and more than that, he hated multi-part speeches that concluded with wine. It was such an unnecessary, boring affair to have everyone dress up and linger in the hot sun just so they could board TSS Unity.

"Dr. Undulaker," his assistant's voice radioed through his ear piece. "We have a problem."

Erik waited for the round of applause before excusing himself from the delegates and crew members. He buttoned his lab coat as he walked to the loading dock where Irene, a short Asian woman who had originally applied as a lab technician to his division, was fussing with one of the officers.

"Excuse me," Erik interrupted them, gently putting his hand on Irene's shoulder and pushing her aside. "What's the problem?"

"This item isn't cleared for boarding," the burly officer said, distracted and pointing to a box.

Erik looked down at the familiar crate. "Are you sure?"

"Yup," the man said assuredly, "it's not on my list, so it isn't getting in this dock. Hey!" he yelled at one of the other guards. "We aren't paying you to stand around!"

"Well, then, my apologies." Erik motioned for Irene, who was aghast, to pick up the crate. "It must be something we mistakenly packed."

"Ahuh," the man said, squinting at the guard. "Hey!" he yelled again. "Who are you?" He put his hand on his gun and began walking up the ramp to the loading dock.

"You told me you want this up there, now you say you don't!" Irene threw her hands in the air and shook her head. "I can't know what you're thinking."

"Mmm," Erik hummed back, keenly watching the events unfolding on the dock. The officer was now apprehending the man, who was clearly--now that he was in light--not a guard but one of the general public trying to sneak a look of the ship. "Give it to me," he said quickly.

Irene handed him the package and eyed him suspiciously. Erik placed the box on his side and walked up the ramp. He nodded at several of the guards and even waved at one. He shifted the box from one hand to th--

"Sir, what are you doing?"

Erik almost walked into the guard who had appeared in front of him. "Me?" Erik shook his head and shrugged. "Just looking around."

"Yeah," the guard said, "I'm going to need to see some clearance."

Erik swallowed and looked back at the officer who was still busy haggling the stray observer. "Of course," he said, pulling out his badge. He handed it to the guard, whose eyes immediately widened.

"Lt Col Undulaker, sir! I apologize for the inconv--"

"No," Erik held up his hand and smiled, "No need to apologize." He glanced over his shoulder at the officer, who had finally shoved the straggler down the ramp. "But could you do me a favor?"

"Sir, yes sir!"

"Yeah," Erik said, annoyed at military-speak, "could you take this into the dock? I misplaced it on the way here and my assistant just found it."

"Of course, sir." The guard took the package and disappeared into the gaping hole of a door.

Erik turned around and winked at Irene. "See? You just have to be nicer about it."

"Yeah," she scoffed. "Or wave your badge around."

Erik grinned. "Oh!" he said, furrowing his brow and lowering his voice. "Do you have all the...files on board?"

"Already loaded," she whispered back, nodding to the dock.

"Excellent." Erik smiled again and returned to the celebratory festivities.

15:07

Vidol Oratal watched the bottles sail through the air and connect with the back of the ship, all smashing against it. He smiled, Excellent, the ship is now blessed with good fortune.

The Diosu's tail twitched back and forth a little as he saluted his commander and began striding towards the ship, nodding to other soldiers but ignoring the officials. Pencil-pushing fools who've never spilled a drop of blood in their lives. Leave them to their yammering.

He stopped for a moment just inside the cargo bay and collected his pack, glancing back at the crowd for a moment. His eyes narrowed on a single figure striding through the crowd. The woman looked extremely out place, her hair longer than he'd seen on any human, and colored differently as well. What really caught his attention, though, was the fact that she was armed. Without a word he retrieved his sword and began walking back to the festivities.

A pair of guards stepped in front of him, hands on their pistols. The lead one looked at him cautiously, eyes flicking from the sword in his hand to his face and back again.

"I hope you're not intending on doing anything with that, sir."

Vidol pointed past them.

"Only stopping her."

One of the guards turned around and looked at the girl, snorting with laughter before turning back.

"You're with the crew, Diosu?"

He nodded, more than a little annoyed. That should be evident.

"Then you've got nothing to worry about, sir. She's on your side. We were warned about her, she's meant to be a bit crazy or something, but this is the sort of thing we were told to expect from her. Notice how none of the other guards are panicking? Put away your sword, soldier. Now."

Vidol glared at the man. I could kill you both so easily, he thought, But that wouldn't please my superiors at all. Jeopardizing the peace and all. He sheathed his sword, spared the guard a final, infuriated look, and walked back to the ship.

He stepped inside the hold, immediately caught up in a whirlwind of activity, people moving all kinds of equipment and luggage around. A young looking human, probably a porter of some kind, stopped in front of Vidol.

"Are you with the crew, sir? Your quarters are this way."

He began walking towards the back of the hold without looking back to see if the Diosu was following him. Probably just looking for some time off...

Yuki made her way past the guard sighing softly at their ill equipment as they checked her over, "Top brass sure has gotten cocky during peace. In the old days every soldier would at least be carrying a weapon."

One of the guards nodded softly as he waved a small want over her body, "Feedback is always welcomed."

Yuki sighed, "Thank you, Private Leon Smith, but position matters most. It would be your note that would win praise, after all it is your field."

The guard blinked and finished waving the wand over her, her body registered no explosives and was checked through. As she started to leave he replied, "You might be on to something there, sir."

Yuki raised her hand in the air as acknowledgment, but as soon as she was out of ear shot the other of the two guards asked, "Sir? She's of same rank."

"Let it go, someone like that is destined to be better then guard duty or a MP."

"Suck up."

"First a Diosu, now this... Maybe you need to be completely crazy to get on this ship."

As the next person came through his eyes settled coldly on Smith, his stern tongue terrified them with even quiet words, "Crazy? What kind of talk is this, Private?"

"Nothing, sir! Lieutenant Vidol Oratal was about to attack Private Yuki Mamushito for arming herself as a precautionary measure against a surprise attack. While unorthodox, it is in my belief that should a situation arise, protection of our people and brass would be hindered by the lack of weapons. Furthermore, a lack of self defense weapons while in dress attire increases belligerent behavior leading to dangerous behavior, such as exhibited in Lieutenant Oratal. "

The man smirked and let out a soft laugh, "Very observant private and very well thought out considering the circumstances. You have potential."

As the major walked past the two guards exchanged uneasy looks and Smith winked, "Promotion!"

----

Yuki made her way through towards Lieutenant Oratal, her eyes not even acknowledging his presence as she sat down against the wall, pulling out her laptop once more, beginning to flip through the military profiles she had downloaded from the database, her gaze shifting to Oratal frequently as a soft smirk hid behind the top of her monitor.

She said softly, "Found you."

From within her purse a soft voice called out, "Testing him, how cruel!"

15:07

Humans are interesting creatures, Mirexya Allertse thought, watching as a myriad of wine bottles flew towards the sleek new ship. Throwing bottles of refreshments that humans highly enjoy at a ship… what a bizarre thing to do.

Allertse shifted his massive blue wings into a more comfortable position. It had been a while since he’d had to keep them folded for such a long period of time. But he supposed that he would have to get used to it -- his wings doubled the amount of space he took up. And on that ship…

He blinked. That is selfish. Do not think like that. You have a duty to the entire Sorence race.

Allertse broke away from the masses to find the most deserted spot he could, stretching out his wings and shaking out their soreness. He gave each a light flap to test them, and was mildly surprised when his feet lifted a couple of centimetres off the ground.

Still as responsive as ever. Allertse was more than satisfied.

He folded his wings back in and made for the ship, itching to remove his customary silver-like armour. Once inside the hold, one of the many humans crawling all over the ship stepped in front of him.

“Mirexya Allertse?”

Allertse nodded. The human bowed his head slightly.

“Right this way, Mirexya.”

Jason sighed as the speech was finally over. He didn't care much for the celebrating, but he just wished to be able to move. He was getting a whole new team and he was a little anxious about it. Putting his hands in his pockets he made his way towards the ship.

He glanced over to see an android. He smiled to himself They were right when they said there would be many other species. The smile quickly faded as he made his way up the main ramp. A young man came up to him and began to take him to his quarters. He looked around seeing people make final preparations.

"Your weapons and armor are already in your room sir, as well as all of your possessions." Jason was only half listening as he made his way down the corridor. "Here you are."

Jason looked inside his room. It was very plain, but he was happy with that. He walked inside and unzipped a bag of his on the floor. He pulled out a small book, laid down on the bed, and started reading. He wondered if he had a roommate for there was another bed.

15:10. Adelaide Stroth.

Adelaide studied the ship for a while but she had little interest in technology and showed even less admiration of the elegant curves and well chosen colour scheme. She slipped into the hold, pressing her body against the side of the vessel and stepping carefully over the pieces of cargo. Her eyes swivelled left and right, examining the scattering of people.

"Is she supposed to be here?" One of the crew asked. Adelaide stepped forward and drew her lips back in a grimace. She had to be civil to the crew but that did not mean she had to like it.

"Have you got some form of ID?" A dark haired human asked. Silently the Voider held out a triangular, green card. The human blinked.

"I meant standard ID..."

"Well if everyone said what they meant, your job would be an awful lot easier." Adelaide smirked and held out the correct credentials.

"This way," the human instructed sourly. Adelaide followed him to a small, plain room that held two beds, one of which was already occupied. The human did not follow her into the room and closed the door with a soft click. The voider checked the small pile of belongings at her side of the room before turning to its other inhabitant.

"How big is your brain?" Adelaide asked.

Jason clapped his book shut, but didn't turn, "Brain? A Voider huh. Interesting." He sat up, but never once looked at her, "I'm not sure how big."

"Then describe how smart you are."

"Well, If I had to pick a field it would be analysis. Looking at a situation from multiple points of view. I was always interested in philosophy, though I never took it any where. I simply think."

"Good enough for me."

Jason laid back down and opened his book once more lost in the pages. He didn't care weather or not she was content with his brain size. All he cared about was weather or not he could trust the creature.

Lan Taina walked in front of the delegates up the ramp and into the TSS Unity. The reaction was instant, every person snapped to attention at the captains arrival. Grimacing he set them to return to their business.

"I have little patiance for these formalities," the human captain said to the Admiral.

"Don't worry Lan, I'm sure your crew will be more than happy to treat you as such. They are, after all, of a much different place." The Admiral's remark made little impact with the captain.

"As long as we don't end up killing each other I'll call it a success."

"Go take a rest, I'll show the delegates around the ship." Lan wandered down the corridor, permitting the Intergalactic delegation to tour without him. His room was placed neatly along the hall with the rest of the crew and it was comforting to be treated equally.

I do hope this works

Erik placed his coat on the hanger and slid it into the closet. He glanced over at his flashing MicroCom and tapped the sensor in his ear. "Yes?"

"Are you ready?"

Erik walked over to the neatly-made bed and sat down. "Everything is in place. Hang on a second." He picked up the crate from the ground. "I need to de-bug the room." He pulled out a small device and clicked the only button on its sleek exterior. The room flashed white for a split-second before returning to normal. "Done."

"You should have done it before you answered the call--there are protocol in place, Erik, and I think we both know how much you love to risk everything by breaking it."

"The ends justify the means." Erik stood up.

"Not if the ends are you blowing this operation. There is too much at stake right now for you to disregard the rules."

Erik rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, we're pinging the file now. Locate the agent--you know the rest."

"Over and out." Erik touched his earpiece again and opened his computer. He opened the file and quickly memorized the details. "Interesting," he said to himself. A flash from the database caught his attention. He minimized the file and saw an access of another agent's personnel file. "Hm," he smiled. Clearly, somebody had already hacked the database and was accessing records. Erik shook his head as he kicked the hacker from the database and sighed, "Sorry, bud. 'Protocol.'" He re-encrypted the database, well-aware it would only be a matter of hours before the hacker was back if they really wanted in. He clicked his ear-piece.

"Yes?"

Erik stood up from his chair. "You're going to need to put the files in a more secure location."

"I'll get Damon on it now."

"No," Erik shook his head and walked to the door, "get Cheryl to do it. She's better at cryptology."

"Fine, just get the information we need."

"Over and out." Erik pushed the wall-button and the door effortlessly glided into the wall. The commotion of newness was upon them as people and creature alike scurried to and fro. There was a tension in the air, stemming more from the guards than the inhabitants, Erik thought. He had always found race tensions less than boring to worry about.

He walked on to the balcony and looked down at the main gathering area. Twin staircases encircled it and the oversized emblem of the Treaty of Ten Systems insignia. He walked down the staircase slowly, sizing everyone on the floor up. He saw a tall black-haired man he immediately recognized as his superior, Captain Taina. Their eyes met briefly, acknowledging the other one courteously before Erik refocused his attention on the agent.

"Can I get you anything, sir?" Irene asked him.

Erik looked to his left and saw her standing there. "Yes," Erik nodded, "some water, please."

"Right away." She hurried off into the crowd.

Erik walked to the two human physicians staffing the on-board clinic. "Drs. Bidani and Rikoshi," he dipped his head and smiled, holding out his hand. "Pleased to meet you gentlemen in person."

"The pleasure is all ours," Dr. Bidani shook his hand. "Your reputation in the medical community precedes you."

"Oh," Erik said, shaking Dr. Rikoshi's hand, "all lies, I assure you."

"We were actually just discussing your most recent paper on the modeling of rhythms in the nervous system."

"Indeed," Dr. Rikoshi interjected, "we were just speculating on how someone as young as yourself has mastered so many fields!"

"Oh, it's just a little bit of this, a little bit of that," Erik laughed. "Nothing too serious, I'm afraid."

"Pah," Dr. Bidani shook his head, scoffing. "What folly if I ever heard it." The device on his side started beeping, then Dr. Rikoshi's started. "We must be going," he explained, reading the message. "We have to go meet with our fellows-in-arms, as it were."

"All right, then. I'll come visit you fellas pretty soon."

"Sir? Here's your water." Erik felt the cold bottle against his skin before he saw Irene.

"Thanks," he said, and before he even saw her she had disappeared. Erik looked up and identified his target--it was easy enough, since he had four arms. He opened the bottle of water and took a sip before walking over to him.

He was talking to another Ganeshan, probably a comrade from previous battles. As the two were parting, Erik clumsily fumbled his water bottle so that it fell right in front of the Ganeshan, who caught it before a drop spilled and handed it back to him.

"Wow!" Erik said. "I am so sorry; I'm a bit of klutz today--all the excitement and such."

"Don't mention it," the Ganeshan shrugged, looking off.

Erik paused, recalculating his next move. "You're...?" He bit his lip and cocked his head to the side as though in deep thought. "Don't--don't tell me. You're Major General Right?"

"I'm Major Richtor--Aeolus, please--have we met before?"

Erik shook his head. "Not to my knowledge."

"Okay," he nodded. "And you are?"

"I'm Erik Undulaker. Glad to have met you--I remember every news organization showing countless pictures of you when you were released as a POW." Erik paused as Richtor's violet-green eyes looked him over closely. Erik was glad he finally had his attention. "I can't imagine how awful that must have been."

"Sure you can," he chuckled. "It was like staying at a military base. Not all that bad, I swear." A flash of recognition came across his face. "Aren't you a doctor?"

Erik arched his eyebrows in surprise. "I am, indeed."

"Yes, I saw you at the ceremony in your lab coat. You were actually on the stage, weren't you? Must be an important one."

"Important?" Erik laughed. "Don't kid yourself--the only people who get put on stages during ceremonies are those most in need of suffering."

Richtor smiled.

"So what brings you here?"

"Same thing that brings you here, I suspect. I'm the best my race has to offer, in my field."

Erik set the water bottle down on a SURFactant where it was quickly separated into its respective atoms and stored. "What is that, exactly?"

Richtor shrugged, all four of his arms moving in a comical, all-together motion. "For lack of a better word, soldiering."

"Soldiering?" Erik asked, interested. "What kind?"

"All kinds," Richtor said. "Only an idiot or a researcher would restrict themselves to one kind, and I'm not sure there's any difference in the two."

Erik grinned. "Well, I happen to be an idiot. My status as a 'Researcher' is still pending evaluation, though."

"Oh?" Richtor chuckled.

Erik held up his hand for dramatic effect. "I understand, though: Researchers live their lives in laboratories where they never face the harsh realm of combat. They never see the bloodshed their creations cause, but they're always eponymous with the creation. The soldiers who die--they're nothing in the books of record."

Richtor looked down at him. "You've fought, then," he observed. "What do you research?

"Signal communications. I don't do so much with it anymore, but my dissertation was the first real explanation for sound wave propagation and transformation in vacuums."

"Like a bomb."

"Exactly. After a fusion weapon has been used, it leaves a wake that knocks out all signals--the bigger the weapon, the bigger the wake. So my question was: how do we transmit signals through that wake, in the event--God forbid--of a fusion bomb? Without communication, we're merely animals. So using the techniques of homological algebras, I engineered a wave that would transmit in the absence of a medium by becoming the medium itself."

"So is the Undu-97 your doing?"

"I can't claim all the credit for it. It was my theory, but the development itself was done by a special contractor."

"We used it in our division."

"I hope without problems?"

"When I encounter one, you'll be the first to know."

"Splendid," Erik said. He checked his watch. "I have to be going, but it was a pleasure and honor to finally meet you. I'm sure you'll continue the good work you have already started."

Richtor waved and walked over to another group of individuals.

Erik, satisfied with his performance, immersed himself in the mass of people.

A soft beep alerted Yuki to someone browsing the system and ejecting her data collection bot. With a smirk on her face she unleashed several of her tools that danced around the screen as blue circular bugs, giggling and making faces as they spun around before diving into the site.

Bypassing the security again with her set up back door, Yuki noticed that another user was accessing the terminal and had shut her out. Grinning she whispered, "Someone wants to play with Yuki."

The toy cat in her purse popped up and stared at the screen, "Yuki found a friend."

"Perhaps, only I should be allowed into this system? Let's test him to."

Furiously tapping keys at a pace not an ordinary user could do, she enlisted thousands of commands and macros to do her work for her at a pace even advanced AIs could not beat. The hacking abilities of a master was dumped into this low level position in an effort to challenge the unseen threat to her abilities. Whether he was under a proxy or not, Yuki treated all information from an access point as invalid due to the nature of proxies.

The screen flashed rapidly as Yuki went into overdrive with a smirk on her face:

*Alpha lock set*
*Beta lock set*
*Gamma protocol initiated*
*Nuke*
*System override complete*

Just as Yuki had been kicked out from the net a swarm of over a million various connections popped up as her countermeasure began. Each one accessing the system with thousands of individual commands uploaded from Yuki's protocol, ordering dormant systems from civilian and military computers all directed their sights on the server.

"The red lights must be going off now!" Yuki giggled as her connection started to suffer, "Let's make this more fun!"

Yuki's bots breached through in mass unison, flooding the database with thousands of back doors for immediate access, breaking into the system recovery files they augmented the timestamps and file names, embedding themselves deep within the system. Attaching millions of copies to the database, acting faster then system recovery could shut it down to protect the system.

Yuki was in control. Her job was to protect communications on the ship and all encompassing aspects, it was all too easy to sabotage another one of the military sites. It had been a game for her, honing her skills in many past attempts she was only caught by chance of Mitsuki as an alias being traced back to her, possibly from within her own group.

The pages of the database began to be rewritten with great haste, truly it appears as if a large attack was going on, due to the intricate and carefully varied aspects of Yuki's bots, it simulated human responses backed with superior AI. Names of people, birth dates and profiles as well as accomplishments were rewritten and others entirely deleted. Access routes and profiles were changed until several minutes in, when a lone protection showed up.

"Erik Undulaker" Yuki read aloud, "Could this be him? Fate decide for me."

With a few taps of the keyboard the military database closed out as she pinged the civilian and educational institutions the name Erik Undulaker matched. The military profile was detailed and glorious, but that was the weakness if it proved to be true. It was a road map to his life and the way to identify him.

"Look the dox!" called out the cat as the page displayed a previously hidden aspect, his chat ID.


The message displayed in a little corner of her screen would appear to him if it was in fact Erik and not just some proxy used by another hacker, "This is Yuki Mamushito, would you like to be my friend?"

Smiling at the screen she waited patiently for a response, something telling her that it was indeed Erik behind that profile. The bait was set, but would he see through it? Yuki's cruel tests were mind games that had no answer and too little information to solve.

The human abandoned Allertse at the door of a small, quaint room outfitted with two beds. Plain, but simple. Allertse's minimalist nature was satisfied. He picked one of the beds and began removing his armour piece by painstaking piece. Starting with his chest plate, he laid each piece gently in a pile on the bed.

He let his wings relax slightly as he removed his last piece of armour, which was also his most prized possession -- the ornate casing that defended his largest headspike and solidified his status amongst his fellow Sorences. Allertse turned as he set down the casing, surveying the scarce room.

A second bed. I must not be the only occupant, then, he thought as he turned to leave the room. Allertse was curious as to what the ship had to offer, so he bowed his head slightly as he left the room, glanced up and down the hallway, and chose a direction to meander.