Tal'dor Anchorage

The shimmering hologram of Inviere simply shook her head. "I'm sorry, but the conditions of the lockdown are very strict. If you want to demonstrate technologies, those arrangements can be made, but for this initial contact. I cannot allow your vessel passage. I also cannot allow you to bring any weapons into Aschen space." She said, shifting her weight and bringing her gaze on the men before her.

"Yes, Democracy has prevailed in the Aschen core, we managed to overthrow the Empire and re-establish the Aschen Confederation. Any contracts the Divine Shadow has made with your group are void, that does not mean however, that we are opposed to meeting and negotiating with your people. But we can't back an illegal regime." Inviere explained

"All negotiations would be with the Quorum and the President, but because of recent events we have to be very strict with our lockdown."

"Do you have ways to board this ship?" Inviere asked.

"That we do." Dylan replied, glancing at Jonathan. Inconvenient, but politics are politics.

The thought he picked up in return was amused. Indeed, my friend.

The pair began removing their personal armaments, in the Councilman's case a smooth handgun and a combat knife, Jonathan adding a compact rifle of some sort, his own blade, and a snub-nosed sidearm. Thus divested, the pair nodded to the image of Inviere. Jonathan spoke up. "We will shuttle over, if you would be so kind as to direct us to the correct bay."

Jenovan sent ahead a message to prepare a shuttle for the pair, then glanced at Ryder. Be careful, Councilman. Best of luck.

Dylan merely smiled, shaking the Admiral's hand. "Keep us updated on your status, Vice Admiral. Hold down the fort here." Turning to the projection, "Ready when you are, Chairman Inviere."

The Hologram of Chairman Inviere flickered and eventually disappeared while them massive Aschen ship closed in on it's course. A hangar bay subsequently opened up, revealing a gaping maw with a beehive of activity.

"Coordinates are being transferred to all applicable media devices bearing the appropriate clearances." The AI Announced, while Inviere nodded.

"Direct them to the main hangar, and ensure they are escorted to Conference room A." She said, turning to the AI whom nodded.

"By your command, Chairman."


When the diplomatic group approached the massive Aschen vessel, flickering beacons lined them up, and a guiding tractor beam began to draw them in.

Piloting the ship himself, Dylan smirked at Jonathan. The small, multipurpose vessel known as an Owl jetted across the expanse smoothly, its gravity drive best suited to the current task. Proximity to the massive ships helped, of course. "So, here we are again, Jon. Only this time..."

"Protocol rules. Bloody politics." Jon laughed with his comrade, remembering the simpler days. Agency and Midnight had always been close affiliated. He watched as Dylan released the controls, a holo informing the a tractor beam was in use rendering further piloting unnecessary. "What about your arm, Ryder?"

"Well, it's not like they made the damned blade easy to take out, now is it? Didn't have the time." Rolling up his sleeve, the Councilor exposed his cybernetic replacement, opening an access panel. Looking over the contents, he pulled a chip out of its socket, placing it in a black case. "There. Best can do, and they can even hold the control chip if they want to."

A few minutes later, the Owl set down in the hangar, the pair opening up the bay door on the side to drop lightly to the floor. Jonathan waited with his hands half in his pockets, Dylan crossing his arms.

This time, Inviere was there to greet them in person, flanked on both sides by Aschen soldiers, all of them in black patterned with various shades of dark gray, and armed with their trademark disruptor weapons.

"Welcome aboard the Foreshadow This ship was originally supposed to serve as the flagship of the Divine Order, the Divine Shadow's personal flagship. But now we're using it as the flagship of the Aschen Navy, it's the most powerful and most versatile vessel ever created by Aschen hands." Inviere explained, turning to a circular shaped platform.

"This will see us to the conference room." She said, moving to step onto the platform.


"Certainly interesting that you have journeyed here, to Aschen space to seek us out. We've been isolated because of attacks directly on our home world. Our fleets are on the highest alert." She explained, tapping in a series of commands.

"If you have managed to smuggle any weapons on board, you will pass through a system that disables them. Be forewarned. Only the most basic of blades will function here."

Both men stepped onto the platform with the Chairwoman.

Dylan lifted the black case into view, in such a way as to offer it if required. "Unfortunately, I decided again forcing you to wait after graciously accepting us on board. My cybernetic arm does contain a blade weapon, but rather than uninstall it, this is the control chip. Other than that, we truly did disarm."

Jonathan slid up his glasses, small motes of light playing across them. Reviewing documents of one sort or another, for the time being leaving the speaking to the Councilor. Dylan merely shrugged, continuing. "In truth, it wasn't a hard decision to come seek you out. Positions came to light that not even the most grudging of the Council could ignore, and so an accord was struck with the previous regime. After hearing about the regime change, we wanted to personally see whether or not the old agreements would remain, or a new one struck."

"It's my hope that we can retain fair standings between the Aschen and the United Dark Worlds."

Inviere offered the men a brief nod, and once they were on the platform, walls came up around them, they were enveloped in a brilliant flash of white light, and the walls moved back down. This time they were in a hallway, with the platform at the end.

Inviere started down the hallway, turning to the first door on her left, which opened with a crystalline chime. "All accords, treaties, and anything else the Divine Shadow had authorized is null and void, because it was illegal in the first place." She explained, gesturing for them all to sit.

"Water, tea, ambrosia?" Inviere asked, moving to sit at the head of the table.

"Any funds that the Divine Shadow owes you through any contracts, however, will be removed from the personal accounts of a one Mollem and a one Raphael McGregor and transferred to the United Dark Worlds in the Currency of your choice.

"Now, what is it you propose to us?"

Dylan waved off the mention of contracts owed. "It's not an issue anymore."

Jonathan took his cue, however, dipping his head respectively. "Tea, please."

The elegant man continued, seating himself to the right of Dylan. "We propose an agreement of trade between our two nations. Normally, security situations would dictate that old, traditional methods of meeting a mid-point for transference of cargo would take place, yet the Councilor here has agreed that on completion of any agreements or treaties of such, locations to trade ports within our nation would be provided.

Additionally, the Council would like to renew with the new administrative regime a mutual defense treaty, or at the very least an agreement of non-hostility between the UDW and Aschen nations. Towards the former, we can provide aid in warships and personnel with a variety of applications within remarkable delivery methods, as well as access to our information network, which if I may say so, is exquisitely extensive." He allowed himself a small smile, turning over control back to the Councilor.

Dylan clasped his hands before him on the table, declining refreshment. "In plain, Chairwoman Inviere, we are prepared to offer methods to benefit both of our nations, with the capacity to establish relations that up to now, have been mostly impersonal and on occasion, strained."

Inviere nodded, gesturing for one of the men to provide tea to Jonathan, setting a cup of hot tea before him. "For Non-Hostility, I have the authority to agree that Hostilities would not be in the best interests of either nation. I can formalize a mutual peace treaty and have a copy sent to your ship within the hour." Inviere explained.

"Furthermore, the rank of Chairman is unisex, you may address me as such. Women in the Fleet are even addressed as 'Sir' when in command. Part of making the Military as unisex as possible."



"However, I do not have the authority to discuss trade or any sort of mutual defense. While I agree it would be in the best interests of all involved, the decision rests with the Quorum, and ultimately Parliament and the President." Inviere added.

"Which is why I am prepared to secure you passage directly to Caprica City, so you may address the Quorum yourselves."

Councilman Ryder smiled at that, taking the admonishment gracefully. "My apologies. Thank you, Chairman Inviere. I look forward to it."

"Is there anything else you wish to address?" Dylan's gaze was steady, measured. Jonathan sipped at his tea, keeping an ear on the conversation. The Intelligence Agent cocked his head ever so slightly as the Councilor brushed his mind, sensing his thoughts on the matter. In a way, it was a testing of the waters, intentionally done as to gauge the opinions of the Aschen regarding the psionics employed by the UDW. Indeed, that the Councilor himself was a psion of particular strength.

The sun had been slowly setting over the horizon of New Hypatia City, the capital city of Tal'dor. As Mollem watched from the balcony of the observation tower that overlooked one of the many drydocks that were housing various Aschen vessels that were under construction.

"Inviere mentioned some kind of new ship design." Mollem commented, as he turned to face Kianna.

"I wonder what kind of suprises the Chairman has in store for us."

Kianna as she often was, seemed rather bored with the formalities of their trip to Tal'dor. She was a schemer and a manipulator. She understood people, not machines. She could tour military vessels until she was blue in the face and haven't a clue how to tell its aft from its port.

She had nearly stayed behind on Langara, but with a potential war on the horizon it was best if her and Mollem maintained a show of solidarity within the public eye. There was something she wanted to discuss with him anyways, and Tal'dor was as good a place as any to do so. That could wait until later though.

"I'm sure it will no doubt be fascinating," Kianna remarked.

Her lack of ship savvy was no secret to Mollem. This was his area of forte.

"There's something I want to discuss, when we're through here," she added.

Mollem nodded as the ground began to shake and shudder beneath their feet. As the ground began to shake, a pair of massive concrete doors began to open below them. The bay wasn't as massive as the planetside bays designed to construct Reverence IIs, which could encompass entire regions of a planet. Rather this one was a modest CNV Bay, designed to construct the mighty CNV Barges that housed Aschen orbital artillery.

"It's the latest in planned replacements for the Reverence IIs." Inviere commented as the ground continued to shake.

It's shaking seemed to increase, almost rocking the entire observation platform that they were standing upon.

"It's called the Iconoclast, It's a state of the art, dedicated Battlecruiser that will replace the main combat roles of the Reverence Class."

As Inviere discussed the Iconoclast, Mollem silently turned to Kianna.

"Something to Discuss?"

"I want to send some more of the new special projects graduates to Isiria," Kianna explained. "There's several promising ones, many of them Isirian. They're not as field tested as Whisper or Echo, but they're capable and I would rather put them to the test out there than here on the home front if these aliens from the Aurora prove hostile."

"I want a ship, to go oversee things in the Aurora personally," she added.

She didn't expect Mollem would care to send her so far from Langara, but if war erupted in Isiria she could do more good out there than here. She was the Black Hand before she was the Empress.

Mollem paused a moment as the ground continued to shake, and the massive angular form of the Iconoclast Class Battleship emerged. As the wind whipped at the group on the observation platform, Mollem inspected the massive vessel, it's hull bristling with guns as it slipped past them.

The Nameplate of the ship read "Legatus Stygies" And she was the first of her class to see combat.

"It's an Anquietas name..." He said, turning to Inviere. "So we're using Anquietas names for the Iconoclasts?" He called out, and the Chairman nodded.

"I'm taking it on it's maiden voyage to Isiria, It'll be invaluable against these hostiles, with it's varied weaponry, Displacement Shields and Duralthene Hull." She called out. "We've tested both the shields and the hull and it's capable of withstanding anything these aliens can throw at it."

Mollem simply grinned, before he turned to Kianna. "You want a ship? I don't exactly have them just lying around, Kianna." He retorted.

"We're standing in shipyard, and you're telling me you don't have a single one you can spare?" she asked with an arch of her brow.

She watched the Legatus Stygies rise into view before looking back to Mollem.

"Insurgencies are still prevalent through-out Isiria. If a war breaks out, it could splinter the region into a civil war. We will need a strong presence out there to maintain the support of the loyalists, both a show of strength and order, but also popularity. Who better than I, with fresh new Isirian recruits straight out of the Special Projects Divisions to show them we aren't the monsters they perceive us to be."

"You have widespread support within the Quorum, and your political position in power has only been strengthened with the prosperity you have brought to the Empire. You don't need me here right now. Give me a ship to take to Isiria, where I can do what I'm good at. The annexation of Isiria has expanded the Empire's reach and provided much needed recovery funds from the wars. A civil war in Isiria would help us to weed out the loyalists from the insurgents, but it needs to be handled delicately."

Mollem mulled the options over for a few moments before he produced a small, clear crystal from his pocket.

"The Penitent Tangent." He said, placing the Crystal into Kianna's hand. "My old Flagship, take it to Isiria, she's an old Battlecruiser but she has served me well over the years. I have it moored in Tawa's Coastal Shipyard." Mollem said as he turned to watch the ship depart.

"She's a capable ship, and her crew is generally competent." He added, after handing her the keys to the Pre-War Sagittaron Class Ship. "And she's still the most advanced ship we've got."

Kianna deposited the crystal into her own pocket with a nod.

"I understand you're deploying some new troops to the training complex on Cryo, for subzero field training?" Kianna asked. "I'll accompany them out that way. I want to take a personal visit to the slave markets there, so I can dig up some new candidates for the special projects division. It will be good to get some fresh potentials sent back to Langara to be processed while I'm in Isiria, so they can begin their training while I'm gone."

"I wanted to fast track the Training for subzero climates after Admiral Nagala's disappearance." He said, shrugging. "I warned her that Aschen Technology is not designed to withstand the conditions she was going into. But that woman never listens." He commented.


"If I don't hear from them in about a week, I'm dispatching someone to go and look for them. Nagala was supposed to check in." Mollem added, frowning.

"Regardless, I should be okay here, I don't plan on leaving Langara anytime soon."

The brightly lit CIC Of the Reverence II esteem was abound with activity, as Admiral Hanley poured herself a hot cup of coffee to begin the morning's patrols.

It was supposed to be routene, FTL From Tal'dor, to the Red Line, to Molecay, and then back to Langara, completing the trip by making the jump back to Tal'dor.

The Carrier Strike group had been assigned as well, as Hanley's eyes scanned the assignment manifest, she nodded and checked her approval, indicated by a swift hand swipe along a holographic projection.

"Lieutenant Oglesby, status of the primary and secondary FTL Drives?" Hanley asked, as she sipped her coffee, Oglesby nodded and gave the thumbs up.

"All's set, Admiral. Redline is locked into the computron." He said, entering a sequence of numbers into the navigational computer. However, in the complacency of a routene operation, the FTL Coordinates were off by one digit.

They would not be going to the Red Line.

Colonel Warren turned back towards Hanley, bringing a calloused hand to a stubbled chin. "FTL is spooled, AI is showing green." He said, and Hanley nodded.

"Sync jump times with the rest of the CSG, one half millicenton, Mark." Hanley said aloud.

The clock had been set, and one half Millicenton passed allowing the final preparations to be made. As the clock counted down, Hanley looked to the holographic display.

"Jump." She ordered.

The Reverence II 'Esteem' and it's Strike group then winked out one by one from high orbit over Tal'dor, off to carry out their duties.

The Kalar Empire was a younger race in the great age of the universe, who's history spanned thousands of years instead of tens of thousands or more, and much of their empire had been built upon the successes of others, stolen, restructured and made to suit them. Their growth was disgustingly rapid and their societal developments still quite primitive, divided by elites, warriors and workers. Their learning had been mostly that of trial and error, and it had taught them well.

Leaving faster than light travel three smaller vessels lurched into the galaxy, each sporting a crew of sixty to a hundred chattering felines darting and weaving among each other to their stations. And then the activity outside dawned on them. Lights and sensors lit up tracking the sheer volume of ships active in this sector. Muttering mumbles were shared, unsure if they had even been noticed, but all the same their mission was clear. A signal was sent back to the command ship, followed by a hailing signal aimed towards the planet that lie before them, or any ships that may be along the way.

"This is a recording of Diplomat General Marshal Crispen Mallow of the Kalar Empire seeking safe arrival within your territory. We are an escort fleet for Kalar colonial ships. Once my safety is assured I will arrive with my diplomatic escort to open up further communications. If this is acceptable, please hail the crew transmitting crew." The transmission was repeated in text, binary and a variety of languages should the receivers not be English.

The ships themselves bore an industrial look, manufactured with welded metal plates and poor symmetry, rather than something finely crafted. The front was a domed semi-circle that stretched back into a flat, rectangular box. A pair of missile tubes were integrated to the sides and a laser battery sat directly under the dome. Each ship slowly drifted with its previous momentum, but their own inferior weaponry was very much out of range of even the nearest ship.

Aschen Space, specifically Tal'dor was rife with activity now that the Cosmora Archipelago was under siege, massive fleets were being prepared to jump, Thousands of warships were being organized and crewed for the inevitable liberation of the Cosmora Archipelago.

But the Kalar message didn't fall on deaf ears.

"This is Imperial Defense Watchtower C05, We've recieved your transmission, standby for connection with Imperial Authorities. Do not advance any further or your actions may be construed as hostile, standby..."

With a deep scan, it was determined these alien ships weren't a threat, and coordinates into the planet were broadcast to the Kalar vessels.

"Proceed on the designated coordinates and submit your vessels for inspection, Command has been notified of your presence, how copy?" The stern voice hailed.

The crews aboard the three lonely ships chattered and talked in their language, which was some kind of English that had devolved into quick phrases each other could fairly easily understand with context, before one ship was elected to answer. It wasn't that there were no leaders among the three, it was that everything about Kalar society was designed with redundancy in mind, as their mortality rate was abnormally high.

"Message received," was the message returned, "We will remain proceed, but our Diplomat General will also be arriving on behalf of the greater fleet to negotiate passage. You have permission to inspect our vessels."

Perhaps a contributing factor to the mortality rate and need for redundancy was a less developed thought process among the lower echelons of their society, with only the highest cut fit to make real decisions. As such, without waiting for permission, a long antenna extended from the ships back end, reaching almost as high as half the ships length, to beam the signal to such a far place as to where the remainder of the fleet was.

The ship then waited for the coordinates to be received and began at an almost lazy pace towards the destination, though in truth it was because none of the crew wanted to be subjected to anything without someone with authority over the fleet.

Time seemed to be imperceptible to the Blue switch, since her capture on Molecay and sedation for transport.

For someone as capable as she, the aschen took few chances, opting to sedate her and remove all armor, clothing, and weapons. The woman was the subject of a few medical tests, biometrics data gathering, and a thorough search for any contraband or suicide implants, both inside and outside, and any that were found were removed; surgical or otherwise.

The cell the Blue Switch was kept inside was dark, stinking of fear and desperation, the moans and faint echoes of the other prisoners being tortured or suffering in their existence carried through the cell block giving the room an eerie feel.

The concrete floor was cold, the room was kept cold, there was a simple metal platform for a bed, a simple toilet and sink combo, and a thin slit where the outside light shone inward.

The room was quiet, with a single reinforced door as it's only exit, and a small reinforced ventilation grate above the door, too small for a person to fit through.

Someone would be visiting soon.

It had been a fun trip for Jacqueline thus far. Before her capture, she satisfied her bloodlust against many a worthy foe. Even whiles the drugs kicked in, she made the Aschen who came for her bleed for their prize. Her laughter as she killed and maimed only died down as the drug affected her more and more, were it not for the sedation she would be laughing still as she struggled against her restraints. When she awoke, she was isolated. Naked. How disappointing.. she thought, clearly, craving more.

The coldness of the floor, the coldness of the environment, did nothing to her. The screams and moans of those around her only excited her and in that excitement came what bothered her. Nothing was happening. It was so incredibly dull and yet...thrilling. The environment fueled her urges to cause suffering and pain however she could but there was nothing to take out her urges on... This...is true torture! She told herself and laughed. It was not the laughter of a tormented madwoman who was breaking or had snapped. Nor was it the laughter of someone who upon realizing the world of trouble they were in could only laugh at their situation...This was the laughter of a joyful little girl, of a lady who had heard a joke so humorous, it rendered her to laugh in such a wild matter that may seem unladylike to some.

After the laughter died down, she laid on the metallic bed as if it were nothing and to her it wasn't. Blue had experienced both depravity and poverty, overindulgence and luxury, in order to complete her missions. In her mind surely, this was just another operation, another job that hadn't gone exactly as she planned. If she just winged it, she would escape and get Red out as well, then that idiot will owe her and maybe it would settle into his thick skull that he was hers. Until a visitor came, that was what Jacqueline thought of...Escape and her unhealthy obsession with The Red Switch.