November 16th, 2380.  T-minus 2 days

     Taeon awoke to a rumbling thunder and found himself in a
cold metal cell.  There was a bedding cushion on the floor, which
he was not on, and a single metal door.  "Crap," he murmured.
"Prisoner..."
     He stretched out his mind, attempting to use his diver
powers, but hit a wall of psion static.  "Should have guessed,"
he thought.  "The GSC wouldn't be so careless as to forget a psi-
jammer."
     The rumble sounded again, and the lights in his cell
flickered.  Taeon squinted his eyes.   "We're under attack..."
     The power faltered again, and the room went dark.  Taeon
jumped to his feet and tried the door.  It was still locked, of
course, but one never knew until they actually tried.  He
stretched out his powers once more, and was pleased to find the
psi-static field was out.
     As quickly as it had gone out, the power returned, and
Taeon's mind was jerked back into his body.  He staggered back
and fell down on the crusty old cushion.
     When the power went out again, he could use his diver
abilities.  But which one would get him through a door?  Had he
perfected the art of teleportation, that would work.  His TK
wasn't strong enough to knock down a thick metal door, and most
of his extra-sensory abilities wouldn't help either.
     Unless he could find Allen...
     The power dropped again at the sound of a rather ugly
explosion, and Taeon extended his senses past the cell door.  His
mind's eye moved into the main brig room.  It was circular, with
twelve cells lined around the perimeter.  A single guard manned
the center control station, and one other was walking around the
room shining his flashlight around in the darkness and grumbling
something about emergency power failure.
     "Get the back-up circuits for the grav-plates wired into the
psi-jammer and reactivate it," said the guard at the control
station.  "God, if that punk tries something..."
     "Yeah, yeah," said the second guard.  "I'm looking for the
damn access port."
     Taeon considered mentally possessing one of the men, or
implanting the idea to release them, but there were to many
variables and too little time to try.  The psi-jammer could come
up any second.  He extended his perception further, and searched
though the individual cells.  All others were empty, except one,
which held Allen.
     "Allen," sent Taeon, telepathically.
     "Huh?" asked Allen, standing up.  He looked around in the
darkness.  "Taeon?  Is that you?"
     "Bang on the door," replied Taeon, straining his
consciousness to retain his remote viewing perception.  "Call for
a medic.  Mug the guard.  I'll help..." his perception was fading
fast.  He had to take a break.
     Allen scratched his head.  "What?"
     Taeon heard no more.  His mind fell back and he collapsed on
the cushion.  His battle with the X girl had drained him, and he
was exhausted.  But he knew he had to help Allen.
     He sat up again, took a deep breath, and summoned all his
power.  As he started to send out his mind again, the power
returned.  "Drat," he muttered.
     A few seconds passed, and the power went off once more.
Taeon smiled and extended his perception.  With any luck, Allen
understood.  But they'd need a lot more than luck to pull this
one off.
                           *    *    *
     Allen banged on his metal door.  "Help!" he choked, trying
to sound convincing.  "I'm bleeding!  Blood's coming up my
throat!" he coughed a few times to make it sound real.
     The power returned, but went out only a few second later.
Allen beat on the door again.  "Help me!"
     "What do you want!" boomed a voice through the wall, through
a speaker somewhere.
     "I'm bleeding, internally... Blood just keeps coming up...
Help..."
     "Tough," came the reply.  "Die with it."
     "Help me... I'll tell you what ever you want..."
     There was a pause.  "Really?  Hold on."
     The door to his cell made a clicking sound, and it swung
open.  The guard shinned a light on Allen's face, but Allen had
covered his mouth with his hands.
     "I've got a gun in the other hand, so don't try anything,"
said the guard.  "Let me take a look at that."
     Allen prepared to pounce the guard, but something else
happened.  The guard winced and dropped both the flashlight and
his pistol.   He yelped and collapsed to the floor as the celery-
cracking sound of breaking bone sounded from his neck.
     Allen understood nothing about what had happened, but he
knew the guard was down.  He grabbed both the gun and flashlight.
     The flashlight proved to be useless, as the power returned,
filling the room with light.
     "Frank?" asked the guard at the station.
     Almost useless, thought Allen, as he tossed the flashlight
at the guard who stood at the control console.
     The guard turned and saw the flashlight coming at him.  He
grabbed it out of the air, then widened his eyes as he noticed
Frank on the floor with Allen standing above him.  In Allen's
hand was a gun.
     Allen used the gun.
     The guard died.
     Knowing Taeon was in one of the cells, Allen darted for the
control console.  He pushed the dead guard off the controls and
glanced over them.
     "Let's see... Open door... Open door..." he mumbled to
himself.
     Another guard charged into the room wielding a heavy energy
rifle.  Allen ducked behind the console as energy beams lanced
over head.
     "Dammit," he growled.
     Somewhere nearby, a security alarm went off.  Allen grabbed
a second pistol off the counter and spun to fend off the new
attacker.  He fired with both laser pistols, stabbing pulses of
light energy toward the attacking guard.
     The guard staggered back as beams sizzled into his armored
vest, but one well placed hit raked across his face.  The guard
dropped his rifle and clutched his face.
     "My eyes!" screamed the guard.
     Allen aimed his pistols at the guard's head and fired again.
The laser bolts melted through the guard's hands and into his
face.  He fell to the floor, dead.
     Allen quickly punched random buttons on the console.
     "Please enter authorization code."
     "Ghah!" Allen yelled at the console.
     He hit a few more buttons, only to be asked the same
question again.
     "Stupid machine!" he barked and raked the control boards
with energy beams.
     Allen stepped away from the smoldering console and shoved
both pistols into his belt.  He grabbed the laser rifle on the
floor and dialed the power to max.
     "Where the hell is Taeon," he asked himself.
     More guards were sure to arrive.  Lots of guards.  He looked
around the room and spotted the donut-shaped metal device that
was reminiscent of a psi-jammer.
     "Oh," said Allen.  He leveled the laser rifle at it and
fired.
     The beam pieced the device and melted a nasty hole clean
through.  All the blinking diagnostic lights on the psi-jammer
went dead.
     "Taeon?" asked Allen.
     Something started banging on one of the cell doors.  Allen
approached the door and kicked it.
     "Get me out of here!" he heard Taeon call in his mind.
     Allen nodded and looked for controls on the door.  There
were none, only a complex locking mechanism.  He aimed the rifle
at the mechanism and switched from pulse fire to continuous beam.
     Draining the entire power cell, the lock melted away.  One
could see into the cell itself through the slagged hole.
"C'mon," said Allen.  "Lock's gone.  Kick open the..."
     The door flew open as Taeon kicked it.  He rushed into the
central room.  "About time!  What's that alarm!  We have to get
out of here!"
     Allen handed Taeon one of the pistols and kept the other for
himself.  He tossed the empty rifle aside.  "Let's get off this
ship before that diver chick finds us again."
     "Agreed," said Taeon, running for the door.
     "Should we let the other prisoners out?" asked Allen.
     "There are none," said Taeon.
     "How do you know?"
     "I know.  Let's go."
     "We have to steal some uniforms," said Allen, looking down
at his gray-blue prisoner clothes.  "These won't do."
     Taeon stepped out into the hall and looked around.  A group
of guards was charging down the corridor from one direction, the
other way was clear.  He ran the other way, and Allen followed
close behind.
     "Halt!" ordered one of the guards.  The order was followed
seconds later by a chorus of laser fire.
     Taeon stumbled down another corridor branching off the first
and tore for an elevator.  Crewmen in the halls stood around
staring wide-eyed at the escapees.  Thankfully, they had no
weapons and did nothing, but the guards were right on their tail.
     Taeon hit the elevator call button and waited for the doors
to open.
     And he waited.
     "Open!" screamed Taeon at the doors.  "Dammit! Open!"
     A laser pulse seared into the door, and Taeon spun around,
watching as the squad of guards charged around the corner,
heading straight for him.
     He heard the doors hiss open behind him and Allen barreled
into the elevator pod grabbing Taeon and throwing him in as he
went.
     Taeon hit the floor and knocked his head against the wall.
He saw a pair of boots next to him and looked up.  A startled
crewman stood frozen in fear.
     The doors slid shut, and Taeon realized there was another
crewmen in the elevator as well.  Allen knocked the first man out
with a single punch.
     Taeon stood up and pointed his pistol at the second man.
"Where is this elevator going?"
     "Me...pa...ah...eep..." stammered the crewman, pitifully.
     "Where!?"
     "Mess... hall..."
     "Thanks," interrupted Allen and smashed his fist into the
man's head.  He crumbled to the floor.
     "Get their uniforms," suggested Allen.  "We'll stuff them
out the maintenance access port."
     "Elevator, stop," said Taeon.  The elevator stopped.
     "No!" yelled Allen.  "They'd notice that.  "Elevator, go to
shuttle bay."
     "Please specify bay," asked the elevator.
     "Uh... Bay three."
     "Thank you," said the elevator as it started to move.
     "Now, we could still try and take out Metal Storm," said
Taeon, taking off one of the crewman's uniforms.
     "I'd bet there's a hundred guards at that place now."
     "Good point, but maybe we could destroy the ship."
     "And kill us, too?" asked Allen.
     "What?  Are you afraid?" asked Taeon.
     Allen barred his teeth.  "Show me an antimatter containment
pod and I'll show you an explosion!"
     Taeon nodded as he began to undress and put on the crewman's
uniform.  "There is another way.  We could disable the force
shield.  That would allow our ships to get some good hits in and
take this ship out.  Meanwhile, we can be escaping."
     "Hmmm," said Allen, as he put on his new uniform.  "Good
idea.  It's not quite as effective, but at least we have a chance
of surviving."
     "Besides, the reactor room is probably flooded with guards
right now.  They might be expecting us to sabotage the ship."
     "Elevator," said Allen.  "Go to the shield generator room."
     "Understood," replied the elevator.
     "Of course, the shield room could be guarded, too," said
Allen.
     "Surely not as much," replied Taeon opening the access panel
on the ceiling.  It was a long reach, but he got the panel open.
     Allen picked up the first body and pushed it though the
panel, onto the elevator's roof.  "You think they're tracing this
elevator?"
     "Probably," replied Taeon.  "But we've change destinations
about three times.  That's had to throw them for a loop."
     "We need to hurry," said Allen picking up the next body.
"Elevator, go faster."
     "Speed setting?" asked the elevator.
     Allen pushed the body through the hatch and Taeon closed it
shut.  "What's the current setting?"
     "Ten meters per second," said the elevator.
     "Most can go up to a hundred," said Taeon.  "But that's used
for freight."
     "That's fast," said Allen.  "Elevator, go to fifty meters
per second."
     "Accelerating," came the reply.
     The elevator accelerated along, gaining speed until it
reached the proper velocity.
     "It will probably accelerate and decelerate every time we
make a turn," said Taeon.
     Sure enough, it did.  The elevator slowed, turned, then
accelerated again.  "How's your charge?"
     "At fifty percent," said Taeon.
     Allen slipped his gun in his belt holster and Taeon did
likewise.  Checking their name tags, Taeon was in the uniform of
Crewman Jeff Smith and Allen was Andrew Johnson.
     The elevator finally stopped and opened its doors to a short
corridor.  The corridor led to a cross-intersection, but going
straight down it led to a large pressure door labeled 'Shield
Generator Room'.
     Taeon and Allen headed down the corridor toward the room.
Several crewmen, and even a few officers, were also in the hall,
but they paid little attention to the interloping pilots.
     The door slid open as they approached, but two guards stood
within the shield control room.  "Halt," said one of the guards.
"This is a restricted area."
     The control room was fairly small crammed with consoles and
displays and a large control computer on the starboard wall.  The
front of the room was a clear pane of transparent metal.  Beyond
the pane was the brilliantly glowing shield generator sphere that
radiated terajouls of electro-gravitic energy from its north-
south poles.  Besides the two guards, three technicians were in
the room.
     "Crewman Smith," said Taeon confidently.  "DCC sent us up."
     "Damage Control?" asked one of the techs.  "We've sustained
no damage."
     "Funny," said Taeon.  "They said the polar flux inverter
stabilizer was shot.  It has to be fixed.  The Captain doesn't
want our shields to start thrashing mid-battle."
     Another tech looked over his boards.  "Field flux control
reads check," he said.
     "There's some sort of mistake," said the first tech.  "Now,
get out of here. I heard there were power failures in the
prisoner block.  Go fix that if you're bored."
     "I don't like your attitude," said Allen.
     "I'm notifying the bridge," said the guard.
     "I don't like your attitude either," Allen said to the guard
shooting a hole through his head.
     As the first guard fell, Taeon dove for the shield control
computer.  One tech ran across the room for the alarm while a
second reached for a plasma welder.  The third stoically kept his
post, monitoring something.
     "Damn!" yelled the second guard bringing up his laser rifle.
     As Allen spun around to attack, the other guard opened fire.
Energy bolts lanced past Allen, and he clicked two rounds back.
The guard missed.  Though Allen's shots were true, they drilled
into the guard's armor and had little effect.
     Taeon popped open an access panel on the computer, and
ripped out the main processor board.  All the displays and
blinking lights went dead, and the shield generator shut down
becoming a cold metal sphere.
     He jumped to his feet and dropped the board on the floor,
then smashed it under the heel of his boot.  However, the tech
swung his welder at Taeon, raking across his stomach with high-
energy plasma.  He staggered back as the pain rippled up through
his body.
     Allen leapt over a console, placing his left hand on the top
and using it for a pivot point.  He spun around like a gymnast,
forcing his forward velocity to angular momentum and crashed his
feet into the guard's head.  The guard collapsed to the floor and
dropped his rifle.  As Allen landed in a crouching position, he
caught the rifle mid-air, leveled it toward the tech and opened
fire.
     Most of the energy pulses missed and drilled into the
computer, but two bolts passed through the tech's cranium killing
him instantly.
     "Who said there was no damage?" asked Allen.
     An alarm went off.  Allen spun around and spotted a tech
standing next to the alarm lever.  Allen added five laser holes
to his chest.  "Idiot!" he yelled at the dead man.  "Why'd you
have to go and pull the alarm!"
     "Calm down, Allen," gasped Taeon.  "Our job's done.  Let's
go."
     "You're hurt," said Allen.
     Taeon walked to the door.  "Let's go."
     Allen joined Taeon at the door, but turned back and looked
through the room.  The indifferent tech remained, and he was
repetitively pressing a big red button labeled 'Restart' which
was having no effect.
     "They could easily repair this," said Allen.
     "Move!" yelled Taeon over the blaring alarm.
     Allen smiled and aimed his rifle for the transparent wall
overlooking the shield generator.  The warning sign above the
window read 'Danger: Hard Vacuum'.
     The nonchalant tech turned around slowly and spoke with a
blank monotone voice.  "Doooon't."
     A beam of energy lanced out of the rifle and sliced into the
window.  A small hole appeared and the window began to buckle.
Allen ducked out the room pushing Taeon out as well.
     "Noooo," objected the tech.
     The window shattered, and air gushed out of the room and
into the generator chamber.  Allen hit the emergency bulkhead
button, and a pair of thick pressure doors slammed down sealing
off the control room, tech and all.
     "Let's see them fix that," said Allen.
     "You're psycho," said Taeon.
     Allen grinned.  "It's good to be bad."
                           *    *    *
     Ryo leveled his left arm at a group of GSC mecha and sprayed
them with a swarm of particle pulses.  Of the six mecha, only two
survived, and Vista dispatched those with the Psycho Raptor's
energy missiles.
     "This mecha is wild," said Vista as the Raptor swung around
to the starboard side of the stolen blockade-runner.
     A nearby Titan exploded as Ryo launched a volley of energy
missiles at it.  Ryo watched as the last of the atmosphere
slipped behind them and only the darkness of space and the
flickering lights of the terrible battle remained.  The Zion Moon
seemed so close.  One could even see the great metal bands that
belted the equator and stretched from pole to pole.  It was
seemingly close, yet it was one hundred twenty thousand
kilometers away.
     Ryo scanned the infinite sky.  Thirty thousand klicks to his
port was a major battle.  The Victorious and Vigilant were
hammering it out at long range, with a number of smaller ships
getting pulverized between.
     To the starboard were more battles, lesser in scale but more
of them.  Squadrons of mecha vaporizing in the blink of an eye,
ships vanished in spheres of terrible light...  Nukes, realized
Ryo.  Someone was using nukes.
     An ITR battle cruiser exploded in a nuclear fire ball, and
Ryo clenched his jaw, fearing the tides of war were that much
more imbalance.  Then, almost at the same instant, a pair of
nuclear torpedoes destroyed a GSC carrier.  He narrowed his eyes.
Both sides were using nukes, a violation of the Barnard Accords
made thirty years ago.  But, the GSC had violated it years before
when they razed Siria, and so had the ITR on an number of other
occasions.  So much for the rules of engagement.
     "Nukes!" screamed Jason apparently noticing the same thing.
     "What?" asked Vista.
     "Yeah, nukes," replied Ryo.  "This battle may be over really
quick."
     "It looks like our ships are starting to pull back," said
Jason.
     "Your sensors have a better range than mine," said Ryo.
"What's the grand tactically situation?"
     Jason paused as he looked over his tactical screens.
"Fourteen ITR ships here in orbit, against eighteen GSC ships.  I
see twelve of our ships at the Zion Moon, some of them are Zion
ships.  It appears that a group of twenty GSC ships is quickly
approaching the moon."
     "So, we have twenty-eight ships to their thirty-eight.  We
actually did better than they," said Ryo.  "They lost more than
half their forces; we lost only thirty or forty percent."
     "Those numbers do include the eight or so Zion ships and the
decoy ships that have returned to join the battle.  I didn't
include the numbers for gunships or small craft."
     "If the GSC pulled in those other fifty ships that were
drawn off, we must have made short work of their first orbital
fleet.  Most of these GSC ships must be from that second group."
     "Indeed," said Jason.
     "To all ships and mecha units," buzzed a static filled
voice.  "This is Admiral Steele."
     Ryo sequenced through various comm settings and ECCM
patterns to clear up the interference, but it helped little.
     "All remaining forces, report in to fleet command," she
continued.  "If you are combat ready or have substantial
causalities we must know now.  This is our last chance to spot
the GSC forces.  Twenty ships are approaching the moon and must
be stopped immediately.  If this fails..."
     Static exploded over the channel and Ryo darted his head
around.  When their great flagship Vigilant should have been,
only a brilliant nuclear sun flared.
     "No..." said Ryo as his heart sank into the clenching bowels
of his gut.  "My God, no..."
     "Vigilant!" screamed Jason.  "Vigilant, come in!"
     The atomic fireball dispersed in the vacuum of space,
leaving nothing of the valiant warship.  In one brief instant,
the greatest ship in the Empire was destroyed, and with her, the
greatest admiral in the fleet.  Not even the power of her psi-amp
could stop the terrible ravages of a thousand mega-ton nuclear
blast.
     For minuets, which seemed like hours, the battle raged on.
Ryo reflexively destroyed all enemy mecha that approached or
attacked.  GSC gunships exploded and sank around the great Metal
Storm.  No force could stop it; no mecha dare defy it.  Those
ships that came down upon it were drilled by the buster cannon,
turning them into hellish burning wreckage.
     The battle burned before Ryo's eyes, but all he could see
was the fiery blast which had destroyed the ship that had been
his home for this last year of blood.
     Destroyed -- without a trace.  Destroyed -- by the GSC
Victorious.  Destroyed -- by the will of Alan Briggs.
     "All units, this is General Avenger, now commanding," came
the General's voice.  The message was on the Type III encryption
channel.  It must be important.  "Sri Lanka is now declared fleet
command ship.  I have received word from Dr. Kei at the Zion
Base.  They require another fifty minutes to finish charging the
psionic capacitors on the Reality Horizon and get their divers
rested up enough to use it again.  Until the, we must hold off
the GSC fleet at all cost.  All units, take position around the
Zion Moon.  Once the RH is working, we can swat the GSC ships out
of existence.  Avenger out."
     Ryo took in a deep breath.  The rest of the GSC ships were
now barreling toward the moon, coming in to regroup with the
other twenty ship already on their way.  The ITR in orbit were
now down to ten, and they began to chase after the departing GSC
vessels.
     Though the moon was only one hundred and twenty thousand
kilometers away, it would take an hour for him to reach the Zion
Moon at full burn.  The runner was much faster, but Vista's mecha
would not make it for a day under the Raptor's improvised
thruster power.
     "Vista, your mecha is slow as hell," said Ryo.  "Grab onto
the runner and hang on tight."
     "Got it."
     "Jason," said Ryo.  "Can you handle a new passenger?"
     "No problem," said Jason.  "We're out of the atmosphere.  We
don't have to worry about aerodynamics, but I will have to
compensate for the extra mass.  Vista, try to ride on the spine
of the ship.  I don't want an imbalance to one side or the other.
That could be a problem."
     "Understood."
     The Psycho Raptor grabbed onto the blockade-runner as
instructed, and the ship blasted off at full thrust.  Ryo
followed close behind in his awesome Metal Storm.  Together they
raced in hot pursuit of the great legions of forces, converging
on the pivotal Zion Moon.
                           *    *    *
     Taeon and Allen left the elevator and ran into the hangar
bay.  Both had laser rifles now, but so did the squad of guards
in hot pursuit.
     There were two shuttles in the bay, but the one on the right
was the one they would take.  Moments ago, they had stormed into
the shuttle control room and forced the operator the give them
the remote command codes to open the bay doors and launch.  For
his cooperation, Allen only knocked him unconscious.  No doubt
the CO would have the operator's head, but that was not their
concern.
     As the guards began to pour into the hangar bay, the
escapees climbed up the shuttle's landing ramp and stepped
inside.  As Allen headed for the cockpit, Taeon pressed the
button to retract the ramp, close the airlock, and locked it down
tight.
     "Let's get the hell off this ship," said Taeon heading for
the cockpit.
     "The code's not working," said Allen as his fingers dashed
across the glowing array of digital controls.  "Either that guy
lied to us or the bridge is on to us and locked out everything."
     "Just open the doors your way," said Taeon.
     Allen grunted a reply and turned to the weapons control
board.  He targeted the bay doors with ten missiles, switched off
the proximity range safeties, and fired.
     Ten missiles thundered out of the starboard wing and
exploded into the thick space doors.  For an instant, the fire
and shrapnel washed back into the hangar bay, and the squad of
guards screamed in shock and pain covering their facing to shield
themselves form the blast.  But then, the fireball seemed to
pause, and a half second later, it was sucked out into the void
of space.  Every molecule of air, every speck of dust, and every
soldier followed that explosion into the deadly vacuum outside.
     The shuttle was not sucked out; it was too heavy to be
affected.  Even so, it quickly left, as Allen shoved the throttle
to full.  The hangar exploded again as the twin fusion drives
erupted in a nuclear storm of fiery exhaust.  As the second
brilliant white fireball swelled out of the blasted hanger doors
incinerating a large chunk of the surrounding hull, the shuttle
shot away at a backbreaking eight Gs.
     As Allen had hoped, this extreme acceleration would get them
clear of the point-defense system that would no doubt be ready to
intercept them the moment they departed.  The PDS cannons didn't
fire; the shuttle was out of range before they got a bead.
     "Take the controls," said Allen after he dialed the
acceleration to a level that the momentum buffers could better
handle.  "I'll man the weapons console."
     "Reprogram the IFF codes," said Taeon.  "The GSC forces
already know this is a stolen shuttle.  No sense in having our
side fire at us as well."
     "Will do," said Allen.
     Taeon took the controls and switched the main cockpit
display to standard visual. "My God!" he yelped.
     "Where?" asked Allen
     On the main screen was a partial view of the Zion Moon, the
rest was off the screen.  They were close. Too close.
Practically in orbit.  Taeon checked the sensors.  They were in
orbit.
     "Hmmm," said Allen.
     Taeon panned the view around to study the moon.  The two
bands of the Reality Horizon amplifier machinery could clearly be
seen, and at the cross-junction of the two at the lunar equator
was the Zion Base.  Unfortunately, a couple GSC warships were
razing that base.
     "I don't think our side is winning," said Taeon.
     "Nonsense.  A couple heavy particle beams never hurt
anything."
     "The main biodome has been ruptured!" exclaimed Taeon.
"There are a thousand people down there!"
     "Were," said Allen.
     "Idiot!  That base is our only chance!  Now the GSC is
toasting it!"
     "I thought the Reality Horizon itself was twelve kilometers
underground.  Not even a nuke could take it out."
     "But... The colony..."
     "Where are our forces?"
     Taeon checked the sensors.  "I can't find the Vigilant.  We
must assume the worst.  The Sri Lanka is moving around to the far
side.  There are seven other ships left on our side.  That
includes four ships from the Zion Base.  The GSC seems to have
twelve, including the Victorious.  Man, talk about heavy loses."
     "Anything else?"
     "Hey!  There's the Metal Storm and the shuttle craft."
     "Good," said Allen.  "Hey, there's a comm message coming in
on the standard ITR frequency.  It's encrypted with ITR codes."
     "You know the algorithm?"
     "No.  But we can ask Ryo for them."
     Taeon squinted his eyes.  "Ryo's not going to transmit a
decryption algorithm on an uncoded channel in mid-battle!"
     "Oh," said Allen.  "Guess we'll miss the message."
     Taeon frowned and set in a course for the Sri Lanka.  "The
Sri Lanka is the biggest capital ship left.  I'll assume it's the
command ship and head for it."
     "Right," said Allen turning back to the weapons console.
"Shame we couldn't take out the Metal Storm Alpha."
     "With any luck, the Victorious is as good as dead with her
shields down."
     Allen nodded.
     Taeon turned back to his sensors and watched as a powerful
electro-gravitic force shield suddenly reappeared around the
Victorious.  His mouth dropped open.  "Oh, no!"
                          *     *     *
     "All units, this is General Avenger," said the General over
the scrambled comm channel.  "The Zion Base is being razed.
There's nothing we can do now.  I've received word that they've
used the Reality Horizon for an emergency teleporter, instead of
a weapon, and have transported a large chunk of the colony
populous to the secondary facility at the far side of the moon."
     "What?" Ryo asked himself.  "That's crazy!  They should have
destroyed the attacking ships!"
     "All remaining units, regroup at the far side of the moon.
Being concerned with the Zion Base, there's a chance the GSC
forces will not pursue us.  That might give us the chance we need
to attempt one final stab at them.  Avenger out."
     Ryo watched as two ITR frigates suddenly exploded, but not
before destroying a GSC heavy cruiser.  That brought the total
forces to six ITR ships, eleven GSC ships.  The Sri Lanka
launched a barrage of missiles at a near-by GSC frigate.  Make
that ten GSC ships, thought Ryo.
     He piloted his Metal Storm around to follow Jason's runner
that had already changed course in accordance to General
Avenger's orders.
     The battle was truly grim now, he concluded, watching
another one of their ships explode.  He was out of ammo and was
no longer an effective anti-ship unit.  Now little more than an
unstoppable mecha-killer, Ryo plunged into the enemy lines and
devastated Morays, Gallants, and Titan's alike.  For a moment,
even a great War God mecha stood in his way.  The Metal Storm
Beta made short work of it with a barrage of energy missiles and
a good hit with the right arm blaster cannon.
     The battle progressed, and he made his way around the moon
to the far side.  As the General had suspected, most of the GSC
ships stayed on the other side, razing the Zion Base.  However,
two cruisers and two frigates followed after them.  By the time
the Metal Storm had a clear view of the power station base, the
Sri Lanka was already down.  Having been damaged by a well-placed
hit, it had crashed on the surface only a few kilometers south of
the secondary facility.
     "Dammit!" exclaimed Ryo.  "First the Vigilant, now the Sri
Lanka!"
     He was sure the Sri Lanka was in operational condition,
though, as it's gun turrets continued to fire on the enemy ships.
Two other ITR ships were destroyed, followed by the destruction
of a GSC cruiser.  From the ground, the Sri Lanka launched a
maelstrom of missiles and destroyed one of the enemy frigates.
     "Lieutenant Gunn," came the General's voice over his
channel.  "Land the Metal Storm in the power station's primary
landing bay.  That blockade-runner can land in bay two.  We're
going to play dead."
     "Dead?" asked Ryo.  Another ITR ship exploded.  Only one ITR
frigate remained with the Sri Lanka dirt-side.  One GSC cruiser
and frigate were left, not including those ships on the other
side of the moon.
     "That's right," said Avenger.  "Dead.  We'd be dead anyway
if we didn't.  Now move!  We need Metal Storm if we hope to have
a prayer of turning this battle in our favor."
     Our favor, thought Ryo.  That would take a miracle.
     He watched as the GSC frigate exploded, then as the cruiser
finished off the last ITR frigate.  The Sri Lanka fired a nuke at
the cruiser and turned it into a small sun.  The fireball melted
away into space and was gone.
     Ryo sighed in relief, but he knew the battle was far from
over.  Six GSC ships remained on the other side of the moon, and
that number included the Victorious herself.
     Bad odds, he thought, heading for the hangar bay.
Especially since they had no more warships. Zero against any
number is an infinitely impossible statistic.  Very bad indeed.
                          *     *     *
     The Sri Lanka was down but not out.  Taeon received orders
to land in bay three of the power station base.  The "secondary
facility", as they called it, was anything but secondary.  It
housed an energy source the likes of which Taeon had never seen.
The electric field that emanated from that base was so powerful
the shuttle's computer couldn't even begin to guess its gigawatt
output.
     The stolen GSC shuttle settled down in the landing bay and
the doors slid closed above.  Moment's later, the bay pressurized
and Allen and Taeon departed.
     Two guards approached.  They were armed and possibly
suspicious of the new arrivals, in light of the fact they were in
a GSC shuttle and had on GSC uniforms, even though the IFF and
clearance checks were the latest ITR codes.
     "Identify," said one of the guards.
     "First Lieutenant Taeon Toshio," said Taeon.
     "Sergeant Allen Mercer," said Allen.
     "Please hold out your hand," said the guard.
     Both Taeon and Allen did so.  The guard placed a small
sensor on each of their hands and waited for the green light on
the disk-like device to turn on.  When it did, he removed the
devices and clipped them into a small hand computer.
     After a moment the guard nodded.  "DNA checks," he said.  He
looked back Taeon and saluted.  "Welcome to Power Station, sir.
General Avenger has scheduled a meet at 2200 and you are to
attend.  Let us escort you to your rooms where you can get
cleaned up.  Are either of you in need of medical attention?"
     "Of course not," said Allen.
     "Actually, I have a nasty cauterized wound on my belly,"
said Taeon.  "I was attacked by a plasma welding wielding wacko."
     The guard looked down at Taeon's wound.  "Oh, of course,
sir.  Let me take you to the med-bay.  Corporal, show Sergeant
Mercer to his room."
     "Yes, sir," said the other guard.
     "Follow me, sir," the first guard said to Taeon.
     Taeon followed the guard out of the landing bay and down
various corridors and elevator pods until they came to the
medical bay.
     "Aren't you a diver?" asked the doctor on duty as he
examined Taeon.
     "Yes."
     "Can't you regenerate yourself with one of those funky
powers?"
     "I know the technique of bioenergy control, if that's what
you're asking.  Unfortunately, I'm terribly fatigued and couldn't
heal a paper cut if I wanted to."
     "All right," said the doctor.  He helped Taeon out of his
shirt and started to unroll some bandages.  "I'll inject you with
some healants and antibodies and wrap a bandage over your wound
to protected it."
     Taeon nodded and let the doctor get to work on his damaged
body.  As the doctor was finishing up, Ryo came out of a critical
care room, looking somewhat disheartened.
     "Ryo!" called Taeon.
     "Taeon, you made it!" Ryo called back, cheering up a bit.
"Did you take out MS-Alpha?"
     "Uh, no, we sort of failed at that.  We managed to disable
the Victorious's shields, but they fixed them.  Allen and I
managed to escape, but we succeeded in very little, other than
stirring up the security forces."
     "Too bad," said Ryo.
     "What are you doing here?"
     "JT's in critical condition.  The head physician here is a
diver who's pretty much specialized in healing and he's currently
doing everything he can for her."
     Taeon nodded.  "Well, he should be able to heal her."
     "It's not that simple, so says the good doctor.  Something
about her being in a coma has caused difficulties.  He said her
neuro-energies were depleted, and that if she wills it, she shall
live.  Otherwise, the last of her mental energy will melt away
into oblivion."
     "Sounds bad."
     "Yeah," said Ryo.
     The med-bay door hissed open, but Taeon was facing away from
it and couldn't see who entered.  However, Ryo identified who it
was instantly.
     "Mom!" he exclaimed.
     "They said I could find you here.  How's your girlfriend."
     "JT's not doing well at all.  She's in a coma and can't be
brought out."
     Kei stepped into Taeon's view and continued to talk to her
son.  "I'm sorry.  We have..."
     "Excuse me," interrupted Taeon.  "But I'd like to know about
my sisters.  They were in the colony and..."
     "Don't worry, Lieutenant," said Dr. Gunn.  "As I was about
to say, we made a mass teleport of the majority of the population
as the GSC began their assault on the biodomes.  Your sisters
were among the ones to escape.  We were forced to abandon the
base, and the Reality Horizon, as we feared a nuclear strike."
     "But why didn't you destroy the enemy fleet instead to
teleporting everyone to safety!"
     "The system had not reached full charge.  Yes, we could have
destroyed a few ships, but not all.  After that we would have had
to wait another hour for recharging, and Alex and Leta would also
have to rest and recover.  It was too risky.  We couldn't let a
thousand civilian men, women, and children die if there was still
a chance to save them.  I know it is hard for you to understand.
Remember, so long as we are alive we still have a chance to win.
Being dead we have no chance at all."
     Ryo nodded.
     "We will talk further at the tactical assembly," said Kei.
"Until then, I must meet with General Avenger to discuss our
options."  She smiled, turned, and walked away.
                          *     *     *
     "Calm down, calm down," said General Avenger.
     Ryo sat down next to Taeon and looked around the
amphitheater-shaped room.  ITR officers and Zion scientists and
administrators were everywhere, absorbed in their own frantic
discussions over the situation at hand.  Dr. Chrome, Dr. Gunn,
and General Avenger stood at the front of the room.
     "Quite!" called General Avenger in a second attempt to get
everyone's attention.
     The room quickly settled down as people began to realize the
meeting was starting.
     The General nodded and placed his arms behind his back.  "As
you know, our situation is critical.  We have failed to stop the
GSC fleet.  Though we have destroyed over ninety percent of their
primary fleet they have totally destroyed ours.  Furthermore, we
have been forced to pull out of the Zion Base, thus abandoning
the Reality Horizon.  The GSC has by now captured the base and
established control.  On the good side, we have shut down all
power to the RH system so it cannot be used.  It will not take
long for Briggs to figure out we have the power button, so we
must work fast before he decides to capture this base as well."
     "General," asked an officer.  "How are we to finish off the
GSC intruders with all our ships destroyed?"
     "All our ships are not destroyed," said the General.
"Though damaged, the Sri Lanka is still operational.  My chief
engineer has told me the ship can be flight worthy in forty
hours.  With the Sri Lanka and all remaining gunships, shuttles,
transports, mecha, troops, and anything else which can move and
hold a weapon, we will assault the GSC fleet in one last ditch
effort to defeat them.  We cannot let them take hold of any
technology developed here at the Zion Base."
     Ryo raised his hand to ask a question.  "What are our
forces, sir?"
     "Primarily you," said the General with a laugh.  "But, we
also have four Psycho Raptors, which will be piloted by
Lieutenant Toshio, Leta Zodiac, Alex Nair, and one other Zion
diver.  The Sri Lanka has one hundred operable mechasuits, plus
thirty standard mechasuits stationed here at this base.  Besides
the Sri Lanka herself, we also have eight gunships.  Our ground
forces include nearly one hundred battlesuit troopers and four
hundred standard troopers.  A fairly substantial force, which
pales in comparison to the Victorious."
     "If I may ask, sir," said Ryo.  "How many nuclear weapons
remain?"
     "We have a dozen tactical warheads.  However, ranged
delivery systems are limited.  The Sri Lanka's nuclear arsenal
has been spent, but we do have a mass driver that could
conceivably fire the warheads.  Accuracy would be quite poor, and
only useful for planetary bombardment."
     "Could we load a warhead onto the Metal Storm's main
cannon?"
     General Avenger blinked, then looked at Dr. Gunn.
     Dr. Gunn nodded.  "The TN-40 double megaton fusion bomb
could be fitted to launch from your 80cm cannon.  However, we
would only have time to prepare one."
     "I could only carry one nuke?"
     "Yes," replied Kei.
     General Avenger turned back to Ryo.  "Do you plan to take
out the Victorious?"
     Ryo smiled.
     "If you can pull that off, the odds will be evened greatly."
     "I won't fail you, sir.  I have a grudge to settle with
Briggs."
     "We all do," said Avenger.  He clenched his fist.  "We all
do."
     Taeon sat back in his chair and looked at this friend.  "You
know, after you fire that nuke your only weapons will be the
blaster cannon, the strafer gun, and the energy missiles."
     "I know," said Ryo.  "But just think, the Victorious will be
atomized."
     "If you can hit it.  They might shoot you or the bomb itself
down."
     Ryo waved off the comment.  "Lighten up."
     Someone approached Dr. Gunn and whispered in her ear.  She
looked stunned for a moment, then said something to General
Avenger.  The General frowned and turned to the display screen at
the front of the room.  He pointed to the messenger.  "Well,
bring it up!"
     The messenger nodded and typed something on the console.  A
technician appeared on the screen.  "General Avenger, Dr. Gunn,"
he said.  "I think we have a problem."
     "Go on," said Kei.
     "We have disconnected power to the Horizon, as ordered.
However, our sensors detect the power has begun to build up
again."
     "What?" asked Avenger.
     "The system was at seventy-five percent when we shut down.
However, it has just risen to seventy-six percent.  At its
current rate the system will be fully charged in thirty hours."
     "The Victorious must be beaming power into the capacitors,"
said Dr. Gunn.
     "Is that possible?" asked General Avenger.  "I though it
used psionic energy."
     "It does.  However, they have stolen psi-amp technology.
They may be using it to transmit psychic potential energy into
the system."
     "Impossible!" said the General.  "How could they have gotten
to it so quickly."
     "They haven't, sir," said the technician.  "All locking
systems and shields are in place and the elevator to the facility
has not moved.  It is possible they have scanned the system and
are aware of the power inadequacy."
     "And may have opted to begin charging immediately to speed
things up," said General Avenger.  "Good call, Briggs.  I'll hand
you that."
     "How is the system being charged?" asked Dr. Gunn.
     "I think he's beaming power into the ring conduits and from
there it makes its way into the system," replied the tech.  "It
is a terribly inefficient method, with only twenty percent making
it to the capacitor.  This makes me believe he has not yet
located the means to access the system directly."
     "Good," said General Avenger.  "This gives us time to stop
him.  However, we must work fast.  I want everyone to be ready to
move out in thirty-five hours."
     Taeon looked at his watch.  "That puts it at mid-day,
November 18th..."
     "So," said Ryo.
     Taeon looked at Ryo as if he had said the most ridiculous
thing in the universe.  "So?  No diver has foreseen anything
passed November 18th, 2380!  There is no future after November
18th!  I've tried to look myself.  There's nothing but darkness
and a mind bending buzzing hum.  It's awful."
     "A buzzing hum?" asked Ryo.  "You mean like what a jammed
comm channel sounds like?"
     "Yeah, what a..." Taeon frozen mid-sentence.  His face
turned pale white.
     "Taeon?" asked Ryo.  "Hello, Taeon.  You were saying?"
     Taeon started to speak, but failed to do so.  He swallowed
and tried again.   "What was Xandra trying to tell me?  Something
about a barrier blocking the future from precognitive visions.
But she said that it was her future self who is blotting it all
away...  My God, Ryo... Do you know what that means?"
     "I haven't a clue."
     Taeon grabbed Ryo's shoulders and stared into his eyes.
"Xandra is jamming the future!  She's blotted the whole damn
thing out like some kind of massive fate-jammer!  Why do think
the future is set?  Because it's been witnessed!  It's been seen!
She's blocked the future so no one can see it!  She's always been
there blanketing space-time... like... like..."
     "Calm down," said Ryo.
     "Calm down?" asked Taeon.  "My sister's a god!"
     The room fell awkwardly silent.
     "Don't you mean goddess?" asked Ryo.
     Taeon stood up and staggered backward out of his row.  He
turned and ran up the aisle, past the silent on-lookers, and
charged out the doors into the hall.


Written and Directed By
Mark Chase

http://www.meta-earth.com

Copyright 1998.  All rights reserved.

Casting By
Mark Chase

Starring
Ryo Gunn         -  Mathias Russ
Taeon Toshio     -  Jonathan Fuller

Other Characters - Mark Chase
Allen Mercer
Vista Juno
JT
Jason Grivar
Dr. Kei Gunn
General Avenger
Alax Nair
Leta Zodiac
And Everyone Else

Mecha Designs
Metal Storm Beta - Mark Chase
Psycho Raptor    - Mark Chase
Raptor Series    - Mark Chase
Gallant          - Mark Chase

(all mecha were constructed under
the Mekton Zeta© RPG system, by
R. Talsorian Games, Inc)