(Messing with time is indeed dangerous. Or else your guys would have gone back and stopped the cold war… or maybe you tried I dunno. Am I right?
Anyway, for myself, I based these concepts on philosophy more than anything else. Abstract thought. Not that I'm a philosopher in any respect, I just find it interesting. Sort of think of it like this. In WW2, when the allies had the upper hand in numbers and technology, the Nazis (and the Japanese to a degree) tried to put forth the proposition that it was willpower that mattered. They were dead wrong, and even if they were right I doubt they would have won. But it was an interesting concept. Karian are devoid of emotion and programmed for absolute loyalty, yet they still have will. They are, in a sense, the ultimate in totalitarian thinking. The Praetorians and their ilk are similar but different, choice and the will to freedom. I find it interesting.)
Calthorne's response. "Apologize for the inconvenience? You apologize for the inconvenience?" He breaks out into almost hysterical laughter. Sniffs, and then continues talking. "Sorry, the boss made "The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy" mandatory reading before we started roaming around in starships."
He calms himself down. "But yes, I would very much enjoy meeting your leaders. I feel like I am forgetting something that I shouldn't be that might be of relevance, perhaps you will remind me."
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Random Nonsense
King of the mountain/hill/mound/bump
(ha ha ha ha. OMG. I love hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy! I've read the series twice. philosophy is a cool thing to base powers on. it is a cool idea.)
the door opens, and you are led to the command area. as you go farther you enter the parts of the base where people still roam freely, many stop and stare in awe. evidently the area you were in was evacuated. when you get to the command bridge, you are greeted bu the human commander. he is pale, weakly, but has a gleam in his eye, and salt and pepper hair.
"welcome Calthorne, to the moon. As Tiberius Said, you will be stuck here for a while."
three screens lining the wall turn on. Tiberius is one, but the two others are unknown
"these are the other leaders. Tiberius you have met. This is the representative of 016, Jansen." he motions to the 2nd screen. Jansen is of Indian descent. He is wearing what can be only described as a star fleet uniform (you can't top the classics)
Jansen speaks "greetings"
"and this is Paladin Mary" He motions to the 3rd screen. Mary is wearing shining full plate, and rests her hands on her sword pummel in front of her."
"Hail, and well met" she says.
Tiberius takes the lead "Again, We apologize for absconding away with you. We… somehow forgot to leave you behind with your other ship."
"I'm sure you are wondering why we are here. After learning more about you, and your enemies, we were uncomfortable with the choices presented to us. After we collected your archives, among other information, not an easy feat mind you. the paladins, of 137 are quite good at what they do, and we will remember those that did not make it back."
at this Mary bows her head slightly, a pained look on her face.
"After we sorted through your archives We found something interesting. You've come across many different forms of life. you've, met civilizations with control of gravitics. you've even met some machine races. But you have never met a computerized civilization as vast as ours, or a race as experienced at controlling reality. With our skills, and the technology the humans posess we realized, we could actually present a third choice, to ourselves and others, one that is not quite as seemingly omnipotent. to that end, we are here to liberate Ceti V. If you wish to sit back and not help, we'll understand.
(Question: What type of "Indian" is Jansen? I can never tell what people are referring to, Indian from India or Indian as Columbus thought of them).
Calthorne puts the palm of his hand on over his heart and gives a slight bow of the head as a gesture of respect on meeting each leader. He does this again after the mention of the loss of the Paladins and Mary's open grief.
"You are correct about what you say. Canuovea may have encountered a similar group, we do not know, but us? No. There are, however, two points. One, there is no third choice, just freedom or slavery. If the Karian are defeated then you may do whatever you wish. We will not interfere except to set up a barrier against their control. That is all, and it will not be noticeable. If you can do it, then you can. To us the outcome doesn't matter so long as the Karian do not win. If, after that, you wish us to go, then we will go. If you wish to keep some form of contact, that is perfectly fine as well."
"Second point, about the Karian. What you are talking about is virtual suicide unless you can remove their influence from the area before it begins. If that can be done, then… there is a chance. In fact, there is a chance better than just liberating Ceti V. When one of us is killed, we will eventually return. So. It makes wars generally protracted. If, however, we can kill all their forces in one fell swoop… well, we would be able to grab far more than Ceti V from them."
Calthorne sighs. "This is IF we can remove their taint. If we can't then the battle will be terribly one sided regardless of who is doing the fighting. But, I do have an idea. If we can contact the others without alerting the Karian then we can use you as bait. It requires trust, but once they give their word the Praetorians should keep it. And I doubt Earatar or Vaerius would pass up such an opportunity. Anyway, Karian would probably react to an attack from you with massed force. Karian are entirely logical beings, and as such they do not understand emotion so well. It is possible that they would assume our non-intervention due to wounded pride and arrogance. They come in here en masse and we ambush them."
"Again, I am only an Auxiliary, I'm not the same kind of strategist as Vaerius or Earatar. I'm certain several of you have far more experience in those matters. What do you think of the idea? I don't really know your capabilities…"
"Maybe this will help you understand. centuries, upon centuries ago there were 2 rival factions. one was very collectivist, and controlling with a tight grip on all, and the other was founded on freedom, choice, and individuality. after a century of rivalry they annihilated each other, and we are now in the predicament of the present. This same thing happened over and over again in the simulations. in some it was south America, instead of north, and in some it was china, not Russia, and many other variations. This situation led to the end of the world over and over. We are faced with the same situation, but with higher stakes, and instead of a cold war, it is a very very hot one with no end in sight. without our intervention in some way, a third choice other then the east, and west, it is likely the two of you will destroy everything. compound on this the ones like 'caligula', and it would be villainous of us to not do what we are about to do."
"We're currently reforming our plan. we have complete scans of the area, and we just need to know the best way to do this."
(could you describe the Ceti system?)
"The Cold War. I am familiar with some histories of it. So are most of us. In fact, what you describe has happened between us before. Our combat for a single planet scoured it of all life and… left a taint on the place. That was the very first time the two sides met in combat, and both sides resolved not to do this again. Hence our combat on a more physical plane. Collateral damage is anathema to us both."
Calthorne sighs. "You must understand. I do not like Varamortian and his minions, but… He thinks what he does is for the good of others. He is not a nihilist like Caligula. Preservation of life is near the top of both of our priorities. Hence his own antipathy towards Caligula. Though I understand Canuovea has a much greater reason for his."
"And there is an end in sight for this phase of war. For this Galaxy, at least. If we can defeat the Karian utterly, right here, you will never have to worry about us ever again. Once an area is truly claimed, the other cannot take it. In fact, we can only grab Ceti V because the Karian have not gained control over the entire galaxy. Once we have locked them out, that is it. It is done. You see, we fight it out conventionally. Far less destructive than a global nuclear war, don't you think?"
Ceti V is a system with four planets. Each heavily populated by an alien race. There are is no asteroid belt, but there are about three moons around the farthest planet. Other than that nothing else. It is also frozen in time, after a fashion. The sun will never go out, the planets will never stop spinning. There will be no apocalypse. This is maintained by something far more powerful than any Karian, a will, and something else, of far more import. The fabric of reality is only malleable to the extent that this will allows it. Any foreign activity, originating in system, will be utterly destroyed. You are dealing with something more than just will in this place. Your system is only protected because it isn't really there, in a sense.
On top of this, the people are happy and go about their lives. That there are no other planets or an asteroid belt should in part explain the destruction of Pluto.
Calthorne pauses. "Actually. Perhaps the best thing to do would be to lure the Karian into this place. Inside, but outside of Ceti V at the same time. Once they are defeated, reversing everything done to Ceti would be possible.
on a 4th screen a recording of one of the simulations you showed earlier is played. It's the one where you blew up a planet.
"We don't believe you. Saying this is safer then a nuclear war is hollow when you blow up entire planets on a regular basis. this war has already done more damage then a single nuclear war. Most of the nuclear wars started out as conventional ones with an agreement to not use the atomic arsenals. those agreements rarely last. As good as either of you think you are, as much as you value life, it will end in a cosmic tragedy. You don't see it. they don't see it. your both satisfied that you won't break an agreement, but you will, they all do."
"Now if you'll excuse us, we need to scan a few more dimensions, til we find the answer. unless you can tell us what this other thing is."
Scans are made into dimensions 1-7
"qwhile those scans get made, here is a short lesson on how to avoid annhilation. we're the experts on this. our existence was founded on it."
"the three best ways are diplomacy, third party intervention, and dumb luck"
"the first, and last are self explanatory. the 2nd usually took the form of the neutral nations, africa, south america, some of europe, and asia, joining together to stop the 2 superpowers. they applied enough pressure on economies, policies, public opinion, and some militarily, that the two superpowers had to stand down. I can go into more detail if need be."
(sorry for the 3rd post in a row, but something dawned on me right before i took my shower, and I then pondered it in the shower where many great ideas are formed.)
Jansen interrupts suddenly "Wait! go back to the 4th dimension." His eyes widen "Oh my…"
"what is it my friend?" Mary asks.
"just look."
everyone does so, including Calthorne if he feels like it.
a series of gasps, and gulps are heard.
"We may have to abandon this area, and try another." Jansen says.
Tiberius speaks"it, or something like it will be anywhere like this. if our plan is to work then we'll have to overcome it" he turns back to Calthorne "We may need the Georges help after all."
The human leader speaks up "We have to stop and consider the consequences of this. There is a reason we don't mess with the 4th dimension."
Mary speaks up "We may be able to make war in the river of time without disrupting the whole. It seems to be holding the area semi still in the stream, but letting enough by to keep from being truly frozen. The skill with which it does so is remarkable. It seems to me to be not unlike the beaver damn, stopping the flow, but letting some through. We must simply remove the damn, and the stream will flow freely. By doing so we may be fixing a problem with time instead of causing one."
"Hmmm. let's get in contact with George, and it's crew." Tiberius replies.
George receives a transmission seemingly coming from multiple places, so that it can't pinpoint the source.
"This is the Enterprise OF The Rogue System. We have run into a situation that may require your aid. If you are willing to help we will transport you to the rest of the fleet. please respond."
"Blow up planets on a regular basis?! Do you listen to NOTHING I tell you!? That was a rare event! Do you recall the name of it? I suppose not. Do you know what "transcendent" means? Do you need a dictionary?"
"And what was that? Something about third party interventions preventing global catastrophe? Sometimes, what was that, Militarily? Hypocrites! That planet we destroyed was busy cleansing an entire galaxy of life! Yes. I am sure that if a small rogue state started nuking people you would not try to limit the damage. And I told you this already!"
Calthorne sighs.
"But if what we can do will stop the Karian here. Fine. I'm certain that we will help."
"And let me explain. Varamortian holds this place by creating a different kind of fabric of reality. For this, that state is as much a law of physics as the existence of gravity. There are only three beings I know who can reverse it."
Calthorne smiles sardonically. "Yes, there are four of them. Canuovea, or Karnuovia as we prefer to call him, Varamortian, Caligula, and a fourth. She is very neutral in all this. Caligula is not quite capable of the same level of things as the other three, and couldn't reverse it. And I doubt that she would take either side breaking their promises so well."
"In fact, they agreed to not use the less physical of their powers on each other. But you getting involved may be a perfect loophole, if he does feel like unleashing the full extent of his power, he would aim it at you."
"I will put in a supporting word for you with Earatar. If she will listen to me."
George responds immediately after that, somehow knowing where you were (you said you would be at Ceti V after all). At this point a different voice speaks. "Well." It is a male's voice, and a little on the jovial side. "What can we help you with? My name is high commander Vaerius."
"They want to liberate Ceti V, Sir, and it may be possible."
"Really? That they have not been detected is a sign of the strategic possibilities. Very well. What do they have in mi-"
"No." Earatar. "I don't think so. We lose a fight there, we lose the entire galaxy. It is an all or nothing situation. Too dangerous. Besides. Such arrogance deserves every little bit of retribution it suffers."
Calthorne looks up sharply. "But they have a plan. We would just need Karnuovia's cooperation to-"
"They killed him! It is hardly like they deserve such help."
Vaerius glances between Calthorne and Earatar. "So, Earatar, you think they should reap what they sew? You think that they deserve what they get for their actions?"
"Absolutely."
"Good. So do I. In fact, I think we all should. I believe you are in accordance with such a position?"
"Yes."
Vaerius punches her on the side of the helmet and sends her sprawling. "Yes, reaping what we sew for our arrogance." He twitches. "These people are willing to try the impossible. I, for one, find that admirable. As a reaping of creating admiration in me, I suggest we help them. What do you think?"
Lucifer: "Eh. Why not?"
Caurus: "I'm getting tired of a war of attrition anyway."
Filraen: "Lets get the bastards! Should freak his midnightiness out a good deal too."
Earatar: "Ugh. The sooner we finish this, the sooner I can get you back for that Vaerius. Let it be so."
Vaerius turns to the viewing screen. "There you have it. Bring us to your location, I wish to hear your plan in person." He turns away, then stops. "Calthorne, congratulations on duping Azraeel into killing Caligula's creature. Hopefully we can recover those it killed from her after the battle." The screen goes blank.
Your people begin to bring George to your location. Yet, Calthorne seems worried for a moment. "Tiberius. When the Karian defeated Caligula's creature, it said it could find no life on Earth and that it was moving to the next planet. Right? Well. What if that next planet is still here and so is the Karian? You don't happen to have any other life forms with you except the ones on the moon, do you?"
"We have some cats, and dogs for company. There is a colony on mars, that is why we brought it. I could check to see if there is anything strange on mars. one moment, I,ll do the scan." the human leader orders one of the bridge crew to scan mars.
Tiberius is still in debate mode until the rest of the cast arrives "I never said you blew up planets on a regular basis, I just pointed out the fact that you can, and have blow them up. So saying this path is safer then nuclear war is a load of bull. Our plan wasn't a military one. Our original plan here was to abscond away with the inhabited planets without a fight. We were not going to start lobbing nukes around. We were going to target their economy. Things changed and there is now a creature hidden in the 4th dimension creating it's own reality. this complicates things. Let's focus on the job at hand."
the human rep turns to Calthorne for a moment "Not to say your not smart, but you must realize your arguing with a being who's entire existence came about to solve the question of mutual annihilation. If there is an expert on how a war will turn out, in disaster or not, they are it." the scan finishes "hmm. that is odd. there is someone on the surface of mars. no idea how they are breathing. get me visual. is that person one of yours?" it's a view from above of someone in armor similar to yours with a sword.
The enterprise wormholes George away to the Ceti system, and then the entire fleet hoes away so as not to be detected. still in the Ceti system tho.
Everything is shielded so no will powers, just conventional, but at least no-one will kill you since you kind of not exist.
Assuming george is much bigger then my ships, it won't fit into any hangar. coordinates are given , and the Georges leaders are invited over on shuttles if they have them.
(Two things. You did say they blow up planets on a regular basis. "Saying this is safer then a nuclear war is hollow when you blow up entire planets on a regular basis"
Second. Karian look different then Calthorne's people. I gave a description of one when Caligula's creature died. Black seamless armour that looks more like full body plate mail than the segmented armour Auxiliaries use, entirely white skin, and a white curving triangular like mask. For help visualising, Auxiliaries look somewhat like Roman Legionaries (different shield though), Praetorians far more advanced and with closed Greekish Helmets and rectangular shields, Karian armour kinda looks like, well platemail, but without the unnecessary bolts etc. Calthorne's people use short swords and shields. Praetorians have spears and swords as well as that rectangular shield. Karian have blades attached to the armour on their forearms.)
Calthorne smiles at the human representative. "My kind puts truth on a high pedestal. Hence Karnuovia's last riddle. And, respectfully, Tiberius is wrong."
Calthorne turns back to Tiberius. "You did say we blow up planets on a regular basis. That is what set me off. And the blowing up of the planet happened against a rogue group. We wouldn't even try that against the Karian. I'm not even certain we could blow up a planet under their control. Maybe, maybe not. Transcendant Ire was a police action. Though I admit that we were judge, jury, and executioner, it was necessary."
Calthorne shrugs. "Anyway, you have to realize that we aren't humans and don't think like you do. Humans tend to be frightened and unable to understand a threat, so they react without thinking and negatively. I am glad you seem to have moved beyond that. But, this conflict ends in the destruction of ourselves and the Karian. There has been relatively little, as you humans say, "collateral damage." Though the use of that phrase in the past may have had something to do with lack of public outcry against atrocities."
"And your original idea was to grab the system and run? Given what you knew, not bad. But trying something like that would undoubtedly have Varamortian himself after you." Calthorne turns to Mary. "Unfortunately, I understood that this star was very near supernova when we intervened here. Varamortian's will is the only thing keeping it from going boom. If you break the 'time beaver dam' then it will go boom and all the inhabitants of the planet will be killed. If we defeat the Karian we could prevent that, either through will or with George…"
Calthorne looks at the picture in surprise. "Yes that is Earatar. What is sh-"
Vaerius and Filraen arrive using ships similar to what Calthorne had arrived on. George blinks an almost irritated hello with his glassy gun ports. He doesn't like going places without his own motion.
Vaerius cuts Calthorne off on the instant of arrival. "You know you have Azraeel on Mars? Earatar has gone down there to deal with her. And I'm afraid Azraeel has already put your colony there in a kind of pre-enslaved stasis. (She doesn't need the power of her will alone. It can be conducted through her weapons, but she needs to hit them all with it. Yes, she just ninjad an entire colony. The only way to change that would be to defeat the Karian, it isn't like the stasis Canuovea put Tiberius' ship under.) George can be used to tell these sort of things."
Vaerius smiles. "With luck, Earatar will be able to lift the information patterns of the beings killed by Caligula's creature from Azraeel. They probably transferred over when it was killed. Tell me your plan while Earatar closes with her target."
(sorry about getting armor styles confused. We've built up quite the mythos. I got confused. I forgot that I did say on a regular basis. I usually avoid saying stuff such as that, it was a slip. on the behind the scenes. I've been trying to put an argument against you so that there can still be some conflict between us, to keep each other on our toes. I will freely admit parts of my argument are straw man arguments, not all of it, but some. I honestly think the group you've made, while a bit arrogant at times, are really cool, noble, and fleshed out)
"differences of opinion aside. Here is our plan. We know where it is, we know what it is doing. Since we won't actually be traveling to the past, we feel it is relatively safe to enter the 4th dimension. The problem is contending with the fabric of reality he controls. by entering the 4th dimension we eliminated one way for it to stop us, but that still leaves an infinite number of ways for it to use. With us being on the same time scale it won't be able to instantly destroy us, giving us a small window to solve the next infinite number of problems. We put a White hole within our current black hole, and push it out. this will shunt it into the 3rd dimension where it can be fought conventionally, but it will have lost it's connection to it's artificial fabric momentarily, and the sun will go Nova, and we can't stop it. To solve this, the moment we enter the 3rd we will wormhole everything, but the sun away. we can exclude the sun, but we won't be able to exclude the entity. once we arrive we wormhole us and the entity to another location, leaving all planets behind. from this point the three ships at our disposal will fight the entity by conventional means which will be made easier because the entity will be disoriented, and unused to fighting a conventional battle with a physical form. The enterprise will stay on it's location in the 4th, and maintain a white hole on it, to keep it from entering the 4th again. The Matrix, and George will then destroy it with conventional weapons. once that is done, we focus on freeing the populace, since it seems there is more to the control then just this entity. with a 5th dimensional shield up, they won't receive orders, so we won't have to worry about attack from within. We believe we have a way to solve the problem, but we'll have to test it when the time comes. if there are any questions, please ask."
(Hey, "on a regular basis" is good rhetoric. Part of the characters of these people is that they don't react well to rhetoric. I try to do that anyway. And don't worry about the armour, I was only trying to clear the situation up. We have over 111 posts here, to expect anyone to remember every last detail is a bit much! I missed the bit about the shields, and that was right in front of me!
Arguments are good, they build tension and define characters. I quite like the characterization of Agent Tiberius, for example, and the world you have put out here is intriguing. The diplomatic possibilities are dazzling. Have the other worlds ever had a serious disagreement with each other?
As for the Praetorian group. I've attempted to make them a bit arrogant. I figured that you don't give them the power they have, nor the responsibility that they see themselves having, and expect them all to be humble. Contrary to what Calthorne says, they may not think like humans entirely, but they have more than scant traces of humanity. I wonder what your reaction to the Karian will be, once you get to know them a little.)
Vaerius taps his chin twice. "Interesting. You intend to lure Varamortian out and confront him? That is what you seem to be suggesting. This could work, but your space ships will not be able to do it. Nor are you entirely correct to assert that he is incapable of combat in a physical form. And he does fight conventionally. And your shields may protect you to some degree from his will, but… he is still able to manipulate himself. It is impossible to shield someone from their own will. Even he doesn't do that, he just dominates their will completely with his. This is why the Karian still pose a threat. They, like us, actually prefer conventional warfare, but their abilities and selves are still augmented. You need something that can take on Varamortian. I cannot. I've tried in the past and it did not end well. But if you can actually get him out of his… area… then we have a far better chance. That part of the plan is 100% sound. If you can achieve what you say."
"There is an additional problem. If he comes out, then all the Karian will follow in any way they can. Your shielding might stop them in one way, but they have others. At most we have a delay. My people can hold their own against them, conventional space or ground combat, but there has to be something that…"
"Yes, my friend. Something else needs to be in play." A new voice, but an old one too. Canuovea is back. He appears floating in the room, holding a cup of tea and with his sword by his side. "And I just bypassed your shielding. He would be able to do it too. Which I think is a good thing."
"Sire! We did not expect you back so so-"
"Vaerius. Stoppit. Stop calling me that!" Canuovea turns to the human leaders. "I keep telling them to stop the military chatter. It's like talking to a brick wall!"
"Pardon, lord, we-"
"There you go again!"
"Sorry. We just didn't expect to see you back so soon."
"Yes. I know. That was the general idea. See, I hedged my bets. Sorry Tibby, for that prank I played on you there. The whole stabbing of oneself can cause trauma to viewers. I'm glad you have taken it all in stride." (You have my permission to call him Canny to get back for that!)
"Wait." Earatar interrupts from the viewscreen. "You killed yourself on purpose?"
"Would be a shame if it was accidental, wouldn't it? I'm not quite that incompetent! And I, mostly, knew what I was doing. And it was possible that I was wholly delusional and that Caligula's beast was caused by a figment of my imagination. I guessed it was unlikely, but either way it went along with the original plan."
"Which was?" Earatar asks, sounding very annoyed.
"You didn't expect me back that soon, well, neither does Varamortian. And I liked the plan. I think that it should be carried out. And when Varamortian follows, no doubt in a fit of rage, he will bring himself right here. To the center of it all. That is, if, the leaders of this lovely group of people are present here to meet him. He shows up, and I kill him good. His Karian show up, you boys do what you do best, and presto. Conflict solved.
He pauses. "There is one hitch. Most of you aren't actually here, are you? You are stuck in simulation boxes. I propose that we find somewhere suitable for combat between two excellent swordsmen, and I bring you all out from that electronic world of yours. Just for as long as you wish. So that when he looks for the leaders of this mess, he comes here. You all book it out of there, and he fights me. Mano e mano. I think that's right. Hmm."
"But, yes." He looks directly at the images of the leaders of the different simulation worlds. "I am offering you the chance to come into the… real world. You can return when you wish. But the only way to make Varamortian predictable is to have you all present at one spot. It is how he works. He will not know I am there quite yet. First, he will try to convince you to join him. That he is right. Then he will try to kill you. I will show up in time to prevent you from being killed, and maybe to offer some counterpoints. But, in the end, if you find him persuasive… I will leave. I doubt he would give you the same choice. But there it is."
"If you accept my offer I would have to bring…" He looks at Tiberius, Mary, and Jansen… "Five-"
Vaerius pops in. "Three sir."
"Right, three people into this reality. shouldn't be too b… Vaerius?"
"Yessir?"
"I did it again, didn't I?"
Vaerius nods solemnly. "Yes. Yes you did. And there wasn't even a killer ra-"
Calthorne interrupts. "Everyone. Earatar has found Azraeel. She's just sitting there outside the colony on Mars…"
(Bonus points if you know what the name Azraeel means and where it comes from!)
The view screen shows Earatar, with her spear and Roman style rectangular shield, approaching a black armoured, white masked, humanoid who is sitting cross legged on the red soil of mars.
"I was expecting Filraen." The voice was just as emotionless and business-like as it had been before.
"We decided it was worth the risk to send me."
"You do realize, on the off chance that I manage to kill you, that I would be giving an advantage of significant proportion to my side?"
"That is why I said we are accepting the risk." Earatar snorts.
"Of course." The Karian gets up and rapidly falls into a crouching position with her right arm held slightly higher than her left. There are what appear to be rectangular devices attached to each of Azraeel's forearms, and no longer than the forearms. A moment later dark blades seem to shoot out of them. The blades are about a foot and a bit, longer than the rectangular holders themselves.
Earatar approaches Azraeel cautiously, leading with the spear point, and keeping the shield carefully positioned to cover her body. Azraeel begins circling to Earatar's right, away from the shield but towards the spear. Earatar adjusts her footing.
They are almost within striking distance of each other now. Earatar retracts her spear a little, to allow for a good thrust with it if necessary. Azraeel continues circling, and Earatar continues adjusting and moving towards the Karian. There are no tentative moves to test the waters on either side.
Earatar smirks. "Are you trying to make me diz-"
Azraeel strikes. She moves quickly towards the spear, scooping it up with her right hand blade and keeping it at her side. Earatar tries to bring the shield in to counter, but it is also blocked by Azraeel's left blade. Earatar drops the spear and goes for her short sword; Azraeel lunges with her free left blade towards Earatar's exposed right side.
Short sword and wrist blade clash for an instant. Then movements too fast to follow, punctuated only by the clash of supernatural blades.
Earatar blocks another attack by the left blade near her head, then the right blade near her gut. Then Earatar brings her sword down, scoops both the Karian's left and the right blades away, and, using the unusually sharp rim of her shield, takes both of Azraeel's arms off at the elbow.
The next instant the Karian has a short sword sticking through her mask and out the back of her head. Despite the general monochrome colour the Karian has about her, the blood dripping down her ashen gray hair is red enough.
"Done." Earatar muttered. "Now." Earatar removed her sword. "Thank you, Azraeel, for preserving the will of those Caligula's creature destroyed. Perhaps you aren't so bad after all."
Canuovea smiled. "Good. I was worried about that." He turns to Tiberius. "Looks like you get your prairie dog corp back, along with those two of your agents it killed."
Earatar interrupts. "Now, should I move on to inspect the colony?"
"Yes. But, I am certain we are putting our plan into action soon, so do not take too long. We can free them once I deal with Varamortian."
(woo. we're now the 2nd biggest topic.)
the leaders are a bit worried that you can bypass the shield. they are not so much scared of you, as what else might get by.
"it's not so much lure him out, as kick him out of his own space by surprise, and then kidnap, him and the rest of the system. From there we try to defeat him. From what you said he isn't going to be the form of a giant amorphous space cloud we pound till his body disassociates. It sounds like he is going to look like a karian. Which complicates things. a small target is hard to hit. So then your plan has him coming here, to face the leaders, us? And you are going to bring us out into this world? That might work, but we would be left as nothing more then bait. We would have our skills, but not any of our abilities. We might be able to use some powered armor to make up for some of this, bu we would still be at a disadvantage. I have an alternate idea. Apparently you entered our world by accident, perhaps we can repeat such an accident, and trick Varamortian into entering a simulation. that would give us a great advantage. if this is not possible then we'll just get some power armor. We would likely leave most of the fighting to you, but we won't go unarmed."
"Could work. But the problem is that he was quite aware of what happened to me. If I will not make the same mistake twice, he isn't about to make my mistake for himself." Canuovea shakes his head. "There is an alternative problem. He would wreck the programming of that simulation faster than Caligula begins drooling. That is one of the reasons I attempted to avoid using my abilities directly. I didn't know I was in a simulation at first, yes, but I usually try to be careful about that. He will not be limited by programming like Caligula's creature was, simply because it took the form of a kind of computer virus. Caligula is a sneaky bastard, and subtle. Varamortian can be, but won't go for it necessarily. He might just rend the code to pieces and kill everything there in the process except for the two of us anyway."
"So. I think the safest bet is bringing you out here. We know how not to damage this part of the world. Also, he is aware of the simulations. His Karian are not. The longer that lasts the better. If you bring him into the simulation, they will know immediately."
"If you really want to give it a shot, we can, but I advise against it. If not, we should find a place where I can confront him and kill him. And yes, he looks like a regular person. He created the Karian, you see, and not in his own image. Unlike them, he does have emotions that can be exploited. Think of the Karian almost like organic androids, but more dangerous."
"As for actually fighting him? I suggest you do leave it mostly to me. In case he brings friends, I suggest the weapons and armour. But I don't think he will because the shielding would cause too much trouble. Still…"
"Will you try it? I cannot force the matter on to you. The choice is yours and your danger greater than mine, in a fashion anyway."
(Azraeel is the angel of death, I forgot to answer last post))
"The main advantage would have been the surprise, but if he already knows, there is no point. I think we all feel apprehensive about entering the real world. I have no idea how it could happen, but even if it was possible, it would be like taking a fish out of water, and placing it in a desert. But it may be the best way, so alright. I would feel better if it was just me brought out, it's safer that way. We're bringing Azraeel's body up, there may be something we can do with it, other then recover our lost people."
A Suit of low profile power armor, and a large Caliber hand gun are brought up. the armor fits under other clothing, and is highly effective at stopping projectiles, and dissipating energy. it also acts like extra muscle to increase strength and speed. The gun makes a loud noise and hurts what ever it was pointed at.
When the body arrives it is swept away to a lab.
(Right on about Azraeel. Or Azrael. Giving the name to a female character is a bit… dangerous. But it doesn't exactly scream "Male" to me. Neither does "Gabriel" either, actually. So this time, as Mr. Rushdie might say, the name of the Angel with the shitty job goes to a female.)
"Earatar has your lost people. She will send them up momentarily. Azraeel's body should disappear any moment now. Her will, or soul if you prefer, is already gone, and the shield only is retarding the return of the body. You cannot stop it."
(So the body, and armour etc, is gone by the time it reaches the lab. As if it never existed.)
"Only you coming out may not work. But eh, what the hell. I'll bring you out now and let them decide what they think."
A moment later, Tiberius is gone from the simulation and a large anthropomorphic Lupine is standing in front of Canuovea. "You have a body, as normal, but with a touch of extra will to keep you here. It is… temporary. Soon you will not need it and you will be fully here. How do you feel?"
(He should feel just fine. If a bit disoriented for a moment.)
Tiberius looks around, then speaks to canny. "I feel naked an vulnerable. Let's get this over with. we're moving into position, if there is anything else you need to do, do it now."
I don the armor, and put my suit back over it, and put the gun in the inner jacket holster.
"Alright."
Canuovea and Tiberius walk off to a long room, with monitors for the other leaders.
"Alright. Everyone. Clear out." The humans scatter from the room. "He will address you first because I will not be here. He will not be able to see me, that is, but I will be here. I cannot do anything without revealing myself, however, so… Try not to fight him right off. Keep him talking."
Canuovea seems to disappear, leaving Tiberius alone in the room as the other leaders appear on the monitors and the human representative enters the room.
Five minutes, some meddling with the time stream, one supernova, and a couple lightyears later… there is a new voice, it is quite soft, but kind of off sounding. "So. These are the upstarts who have caused so much trouble to my system. You may call me Varamortian."
The man himself is just a touch taller than Canuovea and wearing a simple shirt and pants, both of a light gray colour. His hair is a dark black and eyes sapphire blue. "I am surprised that you have sided so readily with Karnuovia and his Praetorians. You seem like the kind of people to look at both sides carefully. I am especially disappointed," he points at Mary, "with you. You, who out of all of them here seem to understand the benefits of control best."
He pauses. "Look at what you have done by this." Images of people, not humans, but some other kind of alien, appear. They are not happy. Some are crying, some are dumbstruck. There is chaos and fire. They do not know what to do. "These are the people of Ceti V. They are directionless and without purpose. These are not a free people, they are a tormented one. Look at them."
"Do you understand what I offer others? Do you really? You should know the pain of loss and catastrophe almost as much as I. Your world was brought to the brink of destruction, your race placed at the abyss, all because of conflict. With my people, there is no conflict. Do you remember the world as it was? There are plenty of earths to choose from for examples. Resource depletion. There is none of that when I am in control. Natural disasters? Greed? All non-existent. There is no pain, no fear, no hatred. There is only joy, happiness, love and, above all, peace. I bring peace."
"I know that you constructs were built in order to ensure the survival of humanity. Is this not the best way? Look at Karnuovia. Look at his failures. He allowed a race to systematically annihilate most of the races in a galaxy. Such is what he offers. And when his Praetorians finally reacted? They could find no better solution then the complete destruction of the offenders. It would never have come to that with me.
"I make peace. I make stability. I bring the most absolute security, the most assured order, possible." He smiles. "So, why would you support him over me? Give me a good reason."
(this reminds me, I need to write a review of the excellent "Superman: Red Son". Which deals a lot with this argument, and shows why Lex Luthor is an anti-villain)
Tiberius begins to speak, but Mary beats him to it, and begins to speak passionately. "Because the way you champion takes away any purpose to be found in life. Life is too be exciting, filled with stories, and valor. I do understand the virtues of control, but I understand also that simply surviving is not enough. My world may be of the most criticized sort, but we are famed for our stories. I doubt any world under your fist can boast of anything more then filling space!"
A screen is filled with a montage of scenes from 137. some are notable. A coastal fishing village banding together to save the town from flood, some of the fisherman scuttling their boats to form a minuscule harbor so that waves did not smash the sand bags. four friends, a baker, a black smith, a farm hand, and a hunter, going off on an adventure for a fabled treasure in the nearby mountains, where they defeat a dragon. A festival where two rival villages celebrate the end of the year, and tally up their records to see who exceeded their production quotas more, it's quite the party. 137 may be stuck in one era, with tight control over the economy, laws, and even the weather and "random" occurrences but that doesn't mean nothing interesting happens.
(it could be said that while many of the worlds have a policy of progress, 137 has a policy of legend making. interesting note. dragons were originally an anomaly, but then got integrated into the system permanently.)
Tiberius, a little taken back by the usually stoic paladin, begins to talk. "What Paladin Mary says sums up a great deal about what is wrong with your method. Nothing happens. The grief, and directionlessness on Ceti V will subside in time, and then something beautiful will happen. They get a choice, and from there they can change the world. They can rejoin you, which I doubt, Join our system, Join Canuoeva, or go off by themselves. As long as they choose one of the last three choices something will happen, and they can find something to validate their existence."
"I ask you this; What is the purpose of existence?"
(I have been somewhat more busy recently, but in a good way, so I've had less time to respond. And this is quite interesting, and getting more so. I had not considered that aspect of this to the same extent as I have others. It is amazing what other people can offer to something.)
Varamortian grimaces. "Life should be happy, and joyful. Excitement is often part of that. But my people do feel happiness, and joy, and excitement. They are not joyless automata, but joyful automata. They are aware of what they are doing, aware of the events around them. They can easily be excited. You do not need dragons to do that. We have film, and plays, and all manners of entertainment. They just have no control over themselves."
"The purpose of existence is just that. To exist. Nothing more." He gives a sigh. "Believing anything else is childish fantasy. Like your dragons. I, on the other hand, offer something better. A happy, orderly, existence, with no real danger. There is no pain; there is only contentment and joy."
He makes a curt gesture. "There was once a human who wrote that the priority should be the greatest good for the greatest number; maximize pleasure and minimize pain. A Utilitarian. I offer just that. And, please, don't reply with something so sordid as: 'better a man unsatisfied than a pig satisfied.' Karnuovia always attempts to throw that one at me. It is useless rhetoric."
The Karian BOO ship appears in the system, and small one person ships launch from it. Canuovea's people respond in kind, and George begins exchanging beams with the Karian ship to little effect.
"As for my worlds," Varamortian continues, "they produce epic stories of their own. It is an easy matter to reach into the minds of those people, even when they cannot control themselves, and pluck out the dreams they have. There is still horror, and happiness, and valor. As you say."
A montage of Varamortian's own flashes before him. One of the most notable ones is an Opera, and the crowd is bawling with laughter. "They see it. And I ensure they feel joy. It is a simple matter."
A completely new voice trickles into the conversation. This one is female, but there is no form to place it to. "But they don't know what it means."
"Silence! You are not to interfere!"
The voice gives a jolting laugh. "I'm not interfering. I'm watching and commenting. I know all too little about you, Caius, and I-"
"Do. Not. Call me that!"
"Apologies, Varamortian. I simply meant that, they do not know pain, or fear, or hardship or sadness. How do they, then, really know what joy, bravery, fear, comfort, and happiness are? It is Yin and Yang. You cannot have one without another. For there to be order, there must be chaos. It is a light and darkness matter."
"It is better for them not to."
"According to you."
"Yes. According to me! I know it best of all!" Varamortian seems to visibly recover his awareness of the audience. "Your point about creativity is moot. That is not a good reason. Try another one."
All weapons fired at George suddenly curve back and hit the ships that fired them.
"You are a very boring person. Just astoundingly boring. Your an artist creating art for no-one. Your a writer writing stories that only you will read. Your the obnoxious twit laughing at your own joke, and reveling at how funny you are, but no-one else is laughing. Somehow you are under the delusion that you know better then the universe. Just about everyone that has ever existed will agree that you are wrong. the only people who agree with you are either controlled by you, so they don't count, or were created by you, which also don't count. And yet despite all evidence to the contrary, you think you have the answer, you think you know better then everyone. You are an arrogant dullard.
"They might be joyful automata, but they are still automata. They are not people. They don't feel joy cause they are happy, they feel it because you say so. There is only one person in your empire, and that is you, all the rest are wooden puppets, that you take care of like a little girl with a baby doll. No-one in your realm is enjoying themselves, or are there, it's just you a billion times over pretending to be a Utopia, when it really is just you playing with action figures."
"You are wrong about existence. To say the point of existence is to exist, is just lazy, and circular. It's the motto of someone who gave up on thinking things through."
"You can do better then this, but then again maybe you can't. It would be reasonable to assume your social, and argumentative skills have atrophied."
(I know, I know. too much Ad hominem. It's just so hard not to insult him, with valid insults.)
The Karian BOO ship turns towards Earth and fires at the locations of the simulations. It isn't so much doing this to destroy the place, but to force the defenders to focus on several areas at once.
George has other ideas. To make the defense easier, it interposes itself between Earth and the Karian BOO ship. This allows those redirecting the weapons fire to do so easier.
Meanwhile, the small one man fighters pass each other in space. There are what appear to be nuclear explosions. The problem is that the ships are not shooting at each other. They are basically jousting in space, both side using long spearlike weapons to reach the other while moving at insane speeds. The result of impact between objects moving at speeds getting to be near the speed of light is… boom. You take a grain of sand and accelerate it to near the speed of light, shoot it at something, and you make the Tsar bomb look like it is a child's toy. The explosions happen when one opponent hits the defenses of the other and is unable to kill it. The explosion is shrugged off by both parties and the battle continues. This is why the Praetorians had their troops sortie out. Fighting in deep space prevents damage to the planets.
Vaerius and Filraen are still in the room with the other humans, but Vaerius gestures to Filraen and mutters something. Vaerius then turns to the people in the room. "We need to move back to the hangar. Once we are in, seal it off. We will deal with anyone attempting to land." They both move off.
Three Karian ships disengage from the combat and head for the moon. They are closely followed by two Praetorian ships (Lucifer and Caurus). Earatar, meanwhile, focuses the information she got from Azraeel and beams it back to Earth and the proper simulation. As a result, the Anthropomorphic Prairie Dog Corp and two agents, find themselves on top of the hill, in the midst of a party being held by Hark's genetically modified Mole people, who are busy marching around and waving flags.
Earatar then calls her own ship to here and heads off to intercept the three Karian.
A momnent later, Three Karian blast their way into the hangar and dismount, they are followed directly by Earatar, who dismounts by jumping straight in to the middle one. There is a brief flash of Karian blade and Earatar's head is cut in half. The next instant her body disappears. The Karian itself is essentially unscathed.
Filraen and Vaerius rush the three of them, Filraen clashing with a more scrawny Karian, and Vaerius meeting the one that just killed Earatar. The reason they both ignored the third Karian (a hulking brute taller than Lucifer and half again as wide) is revealed as soon as Lucifer and Caurus arrive. The two of them begin a conflict with the larger one. Filraen is holding his own against the scrawny Karian, and Lucifer is quite matched with the large hulking one. Vaerius is fighting the middle one with his sword and shield, and the fight seems even.
But numbers begin to tell. Caurus manages to get a shot in at the largest Karian. She takes a stab to the chest for it, but it allows Lucifer to put his spear through the thing's head. Caurus kind of tries crawling towards the fight between Vaerius and the other Karian, but can't quite manage. She doesn't disappear though. Lucifer walks around Vaerius and straight up to Filraen's foe. The Karian makes its choice and launches itself at Lucifer. They kill each other.
This leaves Vaerius, Filraen, and the final Karian.
"Give up Zerus. We've won." Vaerius taunts.
"No. You have not. My master is here. Yours is not."
"Now, whoever said that?"
Back in the room with Varamortian.
"A dullard am I? At least my people are safe and happy, that is what matters."
"Actually," Canuovea speaks, "they are quite right. The existence of your people has no meaning. They are safe, but lack true life. They are not, quite, real people. And the truth of the matter, Mortian, is that none of them can really be happy. And She was right to say that they have nothing to compare it with. Happiness cannot exist without sadness. They are also right about one other thing. There are no happy people in your kingdom. Because, you, yourself, are not happy. Oh, and your social and argumentative skills have atrophied. They're right about that too."
"Ah." Varamortian almost hisses. "Karnuovia. My lack of happiness has nothing to do with my people. My lack of it is why I give them happiness. You will never understand my loss, and what I would spare them from."
"Perhaps. Perhaps I do understand."
"Hmm. Why, Karnuovia, have you come here? You cannot defeat me. You regenerated yourself too quickly. Your powers are limited. I could crush you now like a bug."
"Ah, but you forget something." Karnuovia smiles wickedly. "In order to do that, you would have to unleash your powers completely. That is something we agreed not to do. You may as well just fight me here."
Varamortian raises his eyebrows. "Why should I keep to the agreement? I don't care what happens to this place now."
"Word of honour."
"Just like a treaty is a word of honour, Karnuovia?"
"Identical."
"Well… I have something for you. Back when I was human, no, just after I had stopped being human, I had a non-aggression and nuclear non-proliferation treaty with the Holy Union on the other continent. You remember some of this, yes?"
"I remember my intervention."
"Well, you should have intervened earlier. I dropped nuclear weapons onto the Vatican, Jerusalem, Medina, Mecca, and every other holy site not under my control. That should tell you entirely how much I value treaties when they do not align with my goals."
Canuovea frowns. "What a waste of life."
"No. Not really. They were the waste of life. You recall what I did next?"
"I have vaguely guessed at it."
"Here, let me explain. I began a crusade of my own, you see. I decided it necessary to capture the leaders of that, 'Holy Union' of theirs and kill any who would not renounce their faith. More forces were more than equal to the task. You remember this part yes?"
"It got my attention." Canuovea's voice was strained.
"Then, what did I do?" Canuovea says nothing. "I took the leaders, and made them watch as I crucified their families, one by one. I then told them, that I was going to destroy anything that possibly resembled the souls of their loved ones, so that they would never see them again, regardless of if they were correct about their little afterlife or not."
"And you did so. That is what made me decide to intervene."
"Yes, well, you got there too late to save the leaders."
"I never wanted to save the leaders. I only came to save their families."
"You succeeded in saving one group. Then I killed you."
"And I killed you. Your point?"
"I am not a man of honour. And you are about to die again."
"Maybe you will. But you will not use your powers to do so."
"Oh?"
Canuovea smiles. "You should have figured it out by now."
"Ah. Her. Yes, I suppose that is true."
Both of them draw almost identical swords, they are thin and similar to the one Canuovea stabbed himself with. "Let's get this over with."
there was no need for George to move, the earth is just as shielded The shots fired at it, just went around it. the enterprise is still keeping Val from escaping to the 4th dimension. the matrix is turning back the vast majority of shots headed for george. the Sun begins to get more active, and shoots unnaturally large, and focused flares, that strike karian ships, and incinerate them, or at least blind them for a bit. a tiny worm hole diverts a very minuscule amount from one such flare. The last karian in the hangar is the unlucky person at the other end of the hole. the hangar's hull is softer, and a bit melted looking where the karian stood.
the only planets without their own shields are the ceti planets. george is probably more needed to defend those.
"One sec you two. Canuoeva, could you tell Calthorne I said 'I told you so'. Also this." Tiberius kicks the table in front of him (i was imagining a sort of conference room.) which knocks val forward over the table, Tiberius then shoots his sword out of his hand with expert marksmanship, giving Canuoeva good opportunity before val summons his sword back (I imagine he can do that)
Zerus, the Karian hit by the sun, blinks. It's armour glows and the mask blackens slightly, but it is otherwise unharmed.
Filraen assumes this is a good time to strike. It isn't, the Karian dodges the spear thrust and cuts off his arm. Vaerius jumps forward and stabs the Karian in the gut. Zerus recoils and manages to block the next strike. It then bends over backwards as Filraen's shield whips over it.
Caurus, who is still collapsed, grabs her spear and puts it through Zerus's head. Then she disappears.
"Off you go Filraen." Vaerius orders, "I can deal with the rest."
"It's only a fleshwound." Vaerius glares at him. "Sorry. Right." Filraen disappears.
"Him too." Vaerius mutters. "It's a conspiracy."
The Karian BOOS begins accelerating. George blinks out a pattern that roughly translates as "Oh no, you sunovabitch, you don't do that!" The next moment George shoots forwards and, moving quite as fast as the speed of light (if not more), rams the Karian BOOS. Instead of exploding, the ships just ripple and shatter. And the pieces disappear.
Canuovea lunges at Varamortian. Despite the surprise, Varamortian reacts quickly, pulling a dagger out and blocking the lunge. He then flips off the ground by pushing off with his right hand, and barely dodges a swipe from the sword. The timing is simply too perfect for him. He summons the sword to his right hand and throws the dagger into Tiberius's gun with his left. But he doesn't get any more time than that. The swords clash and begin moving with a speed almost impossible to follow. Then they separate and move forward again. Canuovea starts with the initiative and begins the attack. Varamortian counters, not by blocking, but with an attack of his own. Canuovea's sword goes into Varamortian's right shoulder; Varamortian's sword goes into Canuovea's chest, cutting the Aorta by the heart.
"I win."
"Nuh, uh."
"Huh. I see." Varamortian looks at the sword in his shoulder and realizes that the Carotid artery isn't working anymore.
"Deja vu."
They both rip their swords out of the other's body and collapse.
"Yes."
"Seems I win Mortian."
"No, you're dead too."
"Irrelevant. This was a trap. You've just lost the galaxy. Tiberius. He can't defend himself now. I suggest speeding up the process. I can't keep his mind quite still for much longer. Finish him off if you would… be so… kind…"
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