Ring of Rings Science Fantasy Epic Extraordinaire

[Maharg67]

CHAPTER 0008: GRANDTHIRTEEN; MEETING SOME DAMPHIRS

8.1

 

The subway train thundered past on its twin-rails, the noise of it amplified in the confined space. Then the five carriages were gone as quickly as they had come. They had been freight carriages for the Subways did not just carry passengers.

 

A big powerful Pussydog crouched, sniffing softly at the ground and proved once again to be excellent at detecting, and tracking, both the unlifen and the undead, along with the living. They were at the opening of a utility tunnel that halted at a utility walk-ledge running along that side of the actual rail tunnel. The utility tunnel had mainly been used during construction work on the local Subways Subnetwork but was still used, at times, by caretakers, guards and other employees. Subwayfolk tended to use such tunnels most often but not more recently, not with the increasing danger in the area. So far it seemed that nothing had attacked trams, or trains, moving through the Subnetwork.

 

Essie frowned as she squatted there in her body-armor and flexible armor fatigues. She held an AKM16 autorifle, bullpup configured, that fired 5.5mm universal calibre bullets, 35mm universal calibre grenadeshells and a 25zz close range xolasergun. The cyborg, Brad, had the same type of weapon but his had attached a 10-gauge double shot shotgun instead of a grenadeshell launcher.

 

Brad frowned softly. “What are you picking up?”

 

Essie shook her head as if trying to shake some clarity into it. “Something unlifen came this way but quite unlike the RP-monsters we know of. They were moving damned fast, were bipedal, are damphirs.”

 

Damphirs were human like unlifen and were not automatically evil. They were feared, sometimes hated, by 'norms' because they were unlifen. There were peaceful and other, less evil, undead that gained the same prejudice.

 

They began to follow the damphirs, who had been moving with amazing speed but so did Pussydog, Brad and Essie. They leapt into a safety alcove when another train came thundering through, this time with transit passengers passing express fashion through the area. The area was important to the Subways which alone could explain the presence of supersoldiers in the area; government would need to protect the Subways just to keep Moontropolis functioning smoothly, or at least as smoothly as it was already running.

 

They came slowly upon the five damphirs, three adults and two older children, slowly and with all indications of peaceful purpose. The damphirs were wary, were in tough survival and other gear as they could get, but were not showing any signs of aggression. Each had a backpack, a larger gun and some other items of usefulness.

 

Essie spoke. “I am Essie. These are Brad and Pussydog. We represent the GrandThirteen. We did not think damphirs would be found in this area.”

 

A woman, with the odd tinted skin of damphirs, studied the three newcomers for a long moment before responding. “I am Amandavus of Clan Survivala. We were in the Glad Caverns Zone when nasty unlifen began swarming there and then there were lots of soldiers in power-armor. Bloody norms too often don't bother to see the difference between us unlifen, who are no threat, and those unlifen even we choose to kill. We have heard of you. You helped one of our cousin clans in the Hidden Lakelands Zone.”

 

“We gained in turn.” Essie took out a $100coin and threw it to the woman. “Not charity! Somebody, not naming names, has been giving us good hard currency to pass onto folks who need it. As far as we are concerned, you fit the bill.”

Edited November 24, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

8.2

 

Amandavus caught the coin, examined it with a grin of appreciation, and then slipped it away. “Will come very much in handy with even the local economies running short of cash. I see no accident in that happening, none at all. Before I became a damphir, I was a quite high ranking exec in the Moontropolis People's Bank, a misleading name if there ever was one. The bank serves the BigFour, and organized crime syndicates, by laundering money big time. There has been some kind of ultra secret war going on for a very long time, the same ultra secret war that probably led to your creation and perhaps to the rise of the Red Plague that turned my people into damphirs. That is my new people, not my old people who were all corporate thralls. I am freer, and happier, now than I have ever been.”

 

She took out a mostly used pocket notebook and scribbled something onto a half page, from which the lower half had been almost neatly ripped off from. Then she passed it to Essie. “That information is both very useful and dangerous. Take care just how you use it. If we meet again perhaps I will have remembered something else of importance. The Red Plague scrambled my old memories a good deal.”

 

Essie read, memorized, and made the bit of paper vanish. Then she did the seemingly impossible and took ten small vialpacks of concentrated healing serum, each of four vials, out of a pouch that was large enough only to hold one. Amandavus took the vialpacks with a smile of appreciation. Damphirs were damned tough but even they got sick or wounded or both.

 

Amandavus then took out the pocket notebook again and scribbled down a whole lot of stuff. She frowned as she passed it over. “I was not intending to tell anybody that stuff but 'something' tells me that you are the one to give it to. The items above the horizontal line are assured of but those below the line, they are clues and guidelines. We are heading for the Hidden Lakelands Zone, if you want to talk to me in future. We must go. This place is getting too dangerous for these children that we are protecting.”

 

Essie did with the second, piece of paper, as she had done with the first. Then the two small groups parted ways.

 

Perhaps it was because of the exotic origins of the GrandThirteen that influenced their behavior for the GrandThirteen were accepting of many different peoples, living or not, as long as they were not overtly aggressive dark forces or the willing puppets of the same. They often found such peoples to be strong, reliable allies.

 

They returned to the Orderhood of Compassion Outpost so that the information, given by Amandavus, could be properly examined and debated over.

 

Simple Feedback: :thumbsup: = okay :thumbsup: :thumbsup: = good :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: = very good

 

http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt9/Dragonpen61/Terminals%20Used/TERMINAL-IT-Workit-new039.jpg

Edited November 24, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

CHAPTER 0009: SCULLERRA AND FOXULDER; MEETING OTHER OF THEIR KIND

9.1

 

Scullerra, now looking like an older Scully with black hair, sat in the Subway train carriage next to Foxulder, who looked like a moderately older Mulder with ginger hair. Foxulder had also added a ginger beard, very tightly trimmed but still quite large. Scullerra was also more voluptuous in appearance than was Scully. They were acting out the role of people visiting relatives in another Sector who were hoping also to be tourists checking out some local sites. They were middle class types with fairly expensive, common fashionable gear and wristphones. Mobile phones only worked in many areas when plugged into local terminals or smaller phone-ports. In the bigger caverns or caverlands, they functioned thanks to mobile phone towers.

 

Some would be gangers were sitting across the aisle, were grinning at each other in their mock ganger synthetic leathers. Clearly they could not afford real leathers or quasileathers. They thought they were acting tough, were impressing other people in the carriages, but they were not.

 

Scullerra smiled at her 'husband'. “Dear, when we reach Hoskins Town, we must remember to buy a nice cheesecake to take with us to Edward and Joseph's house. No, make that two so there is enough for everybody coming to the dinner party. At least a couple are coming from across the road. We do not want to upset them.”

 

Code! Of the seven would be gangers, at least a couple were actually threats, were shapeshifter assassins.

 

Foxulder smiled back and then yawned. He sighed. “Perhaps we should get off early to look around for a...”

 

One of the amateur gangers spoke, a young woman. “You two really must upgrade your code procedures. We are escaped shapeshifters linked with Andy's FreeNet. Andy asked us to come and assist you. The others are standard supersoldiers, supergrunts. Andy said you are looking for some kind of artifact.”

 

Scullerra smiled. “Always glad to have some assistance. We are seeking the Witchblade.”

 

The other shapeshifter whistled softly. “Witchblade? Powerful and nasty! Quasidemonic! When some of us escaped from CyberDyne Hexagon, we took some data with us. It was a smash and grab operation so it was a catch bag mixture. Witchblade is an artifact brought from the home world, from Earth.”

 

Foxulder nodded. “You may know of Scully, and Mulder, of the XFiles of Terra.”

 

The woman nodded. “Yes, though we were born from surrogate mothers, inside the Moon, we were given a strong background teaching of Terra and its history. It was CyberDyne biased, of course, but that is what one would expect. CyberDyne wanted Witchblade just as it has wanted a long list of artifacts that many others have wanted, including the others of the BigFour. For unknown reasons, many have ended up being sent here to the Lunar Underworld.”

 

A big old cheap, but durable, 2Dscreen flashed news from a carriage wall. 52, of 100, had arrived through the Transways from the home world but also 87 delayed Transways migrants. The appearances of, once vanished, folk was causing much excitement through out the Known Lunar Labyrinth. With it came the news that on going explorations, charting, operations of the Lunar Labyrinth had led to the discovery of a cluster of suncavernlands and smaller glowcavernlands. They would be given a code name and would be given early exploration treatment, including scientific analysis. They were a great distance from the Inhabited Lunar Labyrinth and would not be useful for colonization for many years to come except by 'outposters'.

Edited November 24, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

9.2

 

The train came to a halt. This was not a common event but not rare either. People looked up from their multiple purpose electronic tablets, MPETs (often called Mpets), printed out news magazines (newsmags) or other media or ceased chatting quietly to each other. None seemed concerned but hands hovered closer to concealed semilegal self defense weapons and, less often, illegal weapons. People were concerned about gangers, wild human cannibals, muties and such like. Not many folks seemed to know that undead, and unlifen, were concentrating heavily near that very area.

 

That was when the main lights went off, the emergency lights came on, and the armored shutters slipped down over the windows. Most closed but some jammed part way. After that there was an odd noise of very heavy feet running alongside the train carriages, both sides. Some there knew they were power armored soldiers armed with battlerifles and other weapons designed to be used with power armor. They were 'standard elite' forces but they could be government military, quasigovernment paramilitary, corporate mercenaries or others. They might not even exist, officially.

 

Then they were gone past and the main lights came on while the shutters remained down. Soon the train was heading out again. It came to be standard procedure, for all Subways, that shutters only went up at stations and while moving through larger cavern spaces along with some other exceptions to the rule.

 

The group made their way onto a secondary station, little more than two big alcoves, opposite each other across the tracks, that served as platforms and part of the station. A walk tunnels could take one from one side to another. There were vending machines, multiple purpose kiosks, doors to public toilets that wise folks did not use alone, some scrawled graffiti and eight Paramilitary Police in body-armor suits, with paramilitary legal type weapons. In truth they were almost identical to the range of Military standard weapons. Two Civil Police Constables stood fairly close to them in blue fatigues and body-armor, including visor-helmets. They had standard police weapons but they were fairly deadly.

 

Moontropolis Police Forces had military style organization with officers, NCOs and constables or troopers or agents. An exception were some outer areas that had Sheriffs, Deputies and constables.

 

They got through security checks and some odd scans by devices set to pick up undead doppelgangers and unlifen shapers. Then they were threading through a secondary tunnel, moderately well lit by fluroflats, past abandoned shopping trollies and carts; standard shopping trollies were twice as big as standard shopping carts.

 

Some tunnel entrance were sealed by closed power-doors but some, that had no doors, by temporary barriers. A pair of Paramilitary Police were patrolling the tunnel, carefully checking doors and utility hatches to make sure they were secure.

 

Only when they were away from the station did they pause to make further plans. They did so down the end of an old neglected hallway tunnel and in what had probably been a temporary working chamber of some kind. It was all in darkness but they all had night-vision capability.

 

Scullerra, and Foxulder, spoke of their desire to carry on with various tasks set by Scully and Mulder. One was to track down a series of ancient artifacts that were whispered to have been sent from Terra, through the Transways, to the Lunar Labyrinth.

 

The only reason they were tracking down the Witchblade was that they had heard of the story of a young woman Civil Police detective who had apparently vanished after a strange incident in an old multiple function theater, a rather elegantly decorated placed based on 19th Century European culture.

 

“An old closed down theater in the NewNewYork Zone was investigated, apparently by Civil Police Lieutenant Detective Sara Pezzini. She is with the Civil Police Homicide Department in NewNewYork.” Scullerra spoke the details from mental notes. “A WhisperNet activist gathered up data from some hacking into a secondary network-system, that he could not identify, but then got out quick when things got too hot. Sara Pezzini is something of a wild card; she has a tendency not to work by the book, which the Moontropolis Civil Police do not appreciate at all in any of their people. Yet she is also highly successful, gaining strong kudos for both herself and the Civil Police, which is why she has remained an officer so far. Why she went to the theater, we do not know, but she did not go alone. She went with a partner but he was killed.”

Edited November 24, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

9.3

 

Because of the three dimensionality of Moontropolis, the rather famously infamous NewNewYork, was almost exactly above them but a good few kilometres so. Most of those kilometres were of the amazingly hard pseudostone, that no human technologies had yet been able to even make a mark on, that made up most of the quasinatural substructure-superstructure of the Lunar Labyrinth. At least this had proven to be, so far.

 

Scullerra frowned softly. “Michael Yee was his name. The two stumbled upon some kind of organized event to do with somebody called Kenneth Irons, a super successful, super richie, linked with the BigFour but also a wide range of other corporations and non corporate factions. He has his own corporation, amongst the RiserEleven, known as the Irons Development Investment Corporation.”

 

The RiserEleven were eleven huge corporations ever battling to 'rise' up to challenge the BigFour at that higher level. All of their efforts to do so had failed. To the general public Kenneth Irons was a extremely canny, brilliant and disciplined workaholic with an amazing knack for business. To others he was a shadowy man linked with many dark whispers and infamous factions, along with some infamous individuals. It was whispered that the real reason that Irons had failed to take his corporation higher, to challenge the BigFour, was that it did not suit his plans to do so.

 

Scullerra shrugged. “The Witchblade was the focus of that event, as organized by Kenneth Irons. Except that we do not know what that event was.”

 

“From what I have heard of 'Kenneth Irons', to learn anything of real value about him is extremely difficult.” Henkins, the leader of the FreeNet group, responded grimly. “It is a common belief that it is healthier not to know too much about that man or his doings.”

 

Foxulder frowned. “So we make our way to NewNewYork?”

 

Henkins shook her head. “No, we must need return to the GrandThirteen. They have found out what artifact that you have been seeking and are annoyed that you were not more honest with them. For they have some valuable information about the Witchblade. I suggest strongly that we escort you back to the Orderhood of Compassion Outpost where the GrandThirteen are staying.” Then she pulled out a large handgun and pointed it at the two. “Indeed, I insist upon it.”

 

Scullerra, and Foxulder, frowned but did not seem at all surprised.

Edited November 24, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

CHAPTER 0010: GRANDTHIRTEEN: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

10.1

 

Essie, Eddie and Ellie were not happy that the FreeNet people chose to force Scullerra, and Foxulder, to return to the Orderhood of Compassion Outpost. The GrandThirteen had 'sensed' no threat in the pair of shapeshifters. They had to admit it was better to get the pair to tell more of the truth.

 

Scullerra spoke as she sat on a wooden stool. “We did come to befriend Scully, and Mulder, but we were going to betray them because our programming-conditioning would not allow us to do otherwise. Then we went through the Transways and we transformed, rejuvenated, and the program-conditioning was gone. We found ourselves full of guilt and decided to find them after they failed to come through the Transways. Scully and Mulder three important artifacts with them. One was ancient demonic alien, being a Lesser Witchblade, one was ancient angelic alien being Excalibur and the other was hybrid-human ultratech being a Positronic Minibrain. The last contained not only all of the official XFiles but unofficial XFiles along with a mass of related data and a whole lot of stuff that Mulder put in, not all of which was appreciated by Scully.”

 

Foxulder then spoke. “We were seeking the Witchblade in hopes of finding Scully and Mulder for we picked up whispers that many folks who did not come directly through the Transways, actually came through them in unexpected ways. We also decided that NewNewYork, being much like the original American city of New York, could well be a place that Scully and Mulder might head for.”

 

Essie nodded. “You are telling the truth, this time, in a fuller way.”

 

They were in a big chamber that was now the home of the GrandThirteen. It was still very close to the ever expanding Orderhood of Compassion Outpost. Refugees had been staying at the outpost but then moving on. Now, though, they found themselves confronting an official security quarantine barrier that was trapping them in the Zone. So the population was growing and was increasingly reliant on government, and Orderhood, supplies coming in from the outside.

 

The chamber was sparsely furnished, fitted and decorated but enough to suit those using it. Much of the fittings, furniture and other items were quite basic in nature with only a minority of hitech stuff. TechHenry was cyberlinked into a semiportable computer network-system. The three neobabies were sleeping on a curled up Pussydog. Hiwing was sleeping high on a perch coming out from one wall.

 

Eddie spoke, as he sat cross legged close to where Flipperin, the dolphinlizard, was lying and was scratching the exotic hybrid between the ears much to Flipperin's pleasure. “We have also heard whispers of people, who came through the Transways, not appearing at the Transways sites but in different ways. We could find no substantive proof behind such stories but that, of course, does not establish those stories are false; they are very persistent, and quite consistent, in some ways. So you hoped that Scully, and Mulder, would be with the Witchblade.”

 

Ellie took over. “We wish you had been more honest with us, had named the artifact that you seek. It is ancient demonic alien. At least it was. We picked up a report that ancient alien artifacts coming through the Transways have been effected strangely by the rejuvenation process. Problem with the report, like so much else information we have gained, is we could not authenticate it. We could not even discover its real origin.”

 

What did it mean, in practical terms, if an already exotic device was transformed in an exotic fashion?

 

They shared information on the Witchblade, on how it could only be worn by a chosen woman, how it was intrinsically evil, how it had been worn by some famous women through out Terran history but many more long forgotten, if ever famous at all. Joan of Arc was supposed to have been one of them.

Edited November 24, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

10.2

 

It was a bizarre bracelet with strange gem stones, or at least that was what they looked like. Its origin was unknown as was much else about it. It was linked to other such artifacts, both 'genuine' and 'copies'. The Witchblade was on the list of artifacts as presented by one of the Quests as given to the GrandThirteen. The strange thing, if anything about the Witchblade could get any stranger, was that the list spoke of the 'WitchbladeThirteen'.

 

There were also artifacts related to the Witchblade such as the male oriented Warlockblades, very exotic Hagblades and sorcerer-science based Cloneblades. Known 'facts' indicated all were attempted replications of the original WitchbladeThirteen. There were other named artifacts that might be, or might not be, linked to the Witchblade.

 

Beck, the cyborg, spoke from where she sat. “We need to take care of this Zone, the Crossenways. Interesting name! We need to deal with the undead, and the unlifen. The Quests indicate it so. Yet we GrandThirteen also need to seek out artifacts on the list and the Witchblade is there.”

 

Andy, of FreeNet, put his view forward. “So we form a team to go and seek the Witchblade in NewNewYork, to track down Sara Pezzini. Most of us remain here. I suggest the animal friends and special babies stay here along with TechHenry. I also figure that we take one supersoldier and one cyborg of the GrandThirteen along with one of my FreeNet people.”

 

Essie nodded. “Along with Scullerra and Foxulder. Excellent!”

 

Andy nodded, after a short but obvious pause. “Agreed and the first place to head to is the NewNewYork Undersafe Markets.”

 

The Undersafe Markets were secretive, infamous and a place where one could buy an amazing array of goods and services, at the right price. This included information, of course! The GrandThirteen had gone there, or at least some of them had, a few times.

 

There had been some trouble, the last time they had done so. Yet there were no indications that the GrandThirteen were no longer welcome there; largely this was because they had not caused the trouble. Some stupid bounty-hunters had ignored the 'neutral sanctuary' rules of the Undersafe Markets, had tried to get some CyberDyne bounties, and had died as a consequence.

 

If there was one place that they might obtain information at, it was the Undersafe Markets. The problem was the price, which was not always money.

 

So they began to make plans but even as they did so other events took place that were to influence the plans and other matters.

Edited November 24, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

CHAPTER 0011: FIELD MARSHAL REAR ADMIRAL; RED FIELDS OPERATION

11.1

 

Lots of old, damaged machinery and other stuff had been sent through from the home world, through the Transways, because it was rejuvenated. Thus, in theory, the Lunar Labyrinth Colonies could be well equipped, and supplied, while the Earth kept the more recent stuff. In practice matters had not been so even or so well planned. All sorts of stuff came through, some of it being quite amazing in nature.

 

The XZtanks had been an expensive joke, before they came through the Transways, but now they were doing a very nasty nice job of wiping out the undead. Three of the big, cumbersome tracked machines were well situated on the cavernland wall backed ridge. From there they unleashed very powerful pulsebeams of laser energies upon the swarming hordes of the enemy and the glimmering mist they were coming in, that helped protect them. Other weapons fired also and, closer to the enemy, were other human elite military forces.

 

The undead were mostly shambling zombies. They came leathery, grotesque, and no longer like they had been. That is they had been humanoids but they had not been humans. Dead zombies had been examined with amazing precision and compared with former human zombies gained data. Those zombies, and other undead, had never been humans. So what had they been? So far the scientists had no real idea.

 

Humanoid, and not humanoid, they might have been but they were still damned dangerous. While most shambled slowly, others shambled quicker and a very few made shambling runs while they held crude weapons that they used clumsily but with inhuman strength. A single zombie was easy to kill, especially a slower shambler, but the more that there were, the more dangerous they became but in a way that spoke of multiplication of threat and not just the addition of it.

 

The undead vamprires swarmed through the sky in clouds of the monsters. Xolaserguns shot them with pulsebeams while AAguns did so with 20mm, 30mm or 40mm shells. Only some kinds of surface to air missiles were useful against vamprires but they had a few of those and rocket-grenades were surprisingly effective against those beasties that flew too low.

 

Glowcrystal hurt the undead but did not destroy them as suncrystal did. Yet it was the glimmering mist that protected the monsters from the ultraviolet, even the lesser ultraviolet of the glowcrystal.

 

Worse was the sucking of the life energies, that came from the glimmering mist even more than it did from the undead critters. The effect was fairly weak but was enough to cause even hardened veteran soldiers to panic or do stupid things.

 

Field Marshal Rear Admiral was considered to be a 'joke' by some but even they were forced to acknowledge that he was a very dangerous joke. As a military commander there were none more focused, cannier or just downright brilliant. The tall, plump man was known to 'dabble' in various military related fields or so he put it; others said he was a genius who had helped to develop new military strategies, tactics and logistical concepts. He had also worked on various tech projects, with teams, to upgrade a wide range of military technologies to adapt better to Lunar Labyrinth conditions while often improving them much, in general, anyway.

 

FMAR was much loved by his soldiers because he actually gave a damn about them, their families and only put the fighters into extreme danger if he was given no other choice. FMAR was known to have given a bad time to officers who treated their soldiers badly, especially those who treated them like cannon fodder.

 

He stood in an amazingly exotic military uniform that was a hybrid of naval, army and other forces from around the home world. FMRA, nobody knew his real name, stood in an armored command vehicle large enough to have a fair sized command chamber. He stood looking at 3Dscreens and other forms of data, observed through a big screen-periscope the actual landscape of the glowcavernland. Glowcavernlands were semifertile at best for glowcrystal was less supportive of life than was suncrystal. From the wall hugging ridge, where the HQ vehicle was placed being disguised as a normal armored tractor-crawler, artillery fired upon the enemy.

 

Edited November 24, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

11.2

 

Howitzers, long range cannon, rocket batteries, autocannons and heavy machineguns fired down at the ancient stone cone shell city, if it was actually a city. The stone cone structures were nowhere near as old as the ancient alien artifacts such as the Waygates but they were hundreds of thousands of years old. The incredibly hard cone shell structures gave little clue to the nature of those that had created them, had dwelt in them. The arrangement of the structures suggested a city but not a well planned one and there was no firm agreement if it was actually a settlement or not.

 

Power Armored Infantry, PAIs, were fighting a strategic retreat through the cone shell city. They were small looking metallic figures moving in formations amongst the spread out alien structures. Small, fast moving hybrid-electric warmachines moved with them. Some were hovercraft but most were tracked and a very few were higher floating antigrav vehicles. All of them were busy firing at the on coming swarms of bat like monsters of flying vamprires, more human like vampires, ghouls and zombies.

 

FMRA spoke to those around him in a calm, commanding voice. “We only need to keep the undead back until the other enemy arrives in the glowcavernland, thanks to our efforts to lure them here.”

 

As if on cue, the 'other enemy' came into the suncavernland as a horde of unlifen, of more intelligent tykada and more mindless ghoulacs, wingwals, umbanoids. Tykada came in more controlled formations and the others in semichaotic swarms directed by the tykada. The swarm came from across the glowcavernland but not from the same direction as the undead. They headed straight for the undead, ignoring the human forces.

 

Soon a great battle was raging between the unlifen and undead, who now also ignored the living enemy. The fighting was amazingly violent and brutal, no quarter being asked for or given. The human forces ceased fire and began to withdraw quickly. As they did they made sure that none were left behind, that nothing of value was left behind.

 

Even as the final military units left the cone shells behind, did the machines on the ridge, along with PAIs there and other kinds of units, turn and head away out of the glowcavernland. The retreat was well planned, was done smoothly in stages, and nothing went wrong.

 

Field Marshal Rear Admiral sighed and turned to a 3Dscreen now lighting up with the face of an angry Military President of the Lunar Labyrinth Central Government that had the Five Presidents of the Presidium. The eurowhite man, rejuvenated but also bio-engineered to look youthful and handsome, was blushed red with rage. He spoke in Esperanto, the official language of the Lunar Labyrinth Central Government, the LLCG. “How dare you go against direct orders of the Presidium?”

 

FMRA smiled coolly. “According to the Anakap Accord, the use of nuclear weapons is forbidden in general and to use such a super-weapon in a place, of the cone shell structures, is a kind of insanity. Those are not just structures but a kind of solid-state machine of great power and very exotic nature. How they would have reacted to a fusion bomb is unpredictable but it would most likely have been quite catastrophic in nature. The current Presidium has been acting illegally, on many levels, but not just against the Anakap Accord but also against the Lunar Labyrinth Federal Constitution and other agreements. I am ending this conversation now but, be assured, that others wish to speak to you as a matter of urgency.”

Edited November 24, 2012 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

11.3

 

He ended the communications, it being relayed in various ways, and studied a report on the outcome of the Red Fields Operation. It had gone as well as he had hoped it would. The battle would badly damage both the undead and unlifen enemy while allowing the human forces to get away with no losses and only relatively little use of vital resources. Yet it was a battle that did not stop the increasing threat, of two deadly enemies, but only slowed it.

 

While he continued to do what he could, others would focus on gaining a far better solution to those, and other, threats facing humanity and other peoples. Yes, other peoples also.

 

The military column threaded along a great rocky tunnel that was lit by glowcrystal growing along, over, its ceiling like flat crystal tentacles. Only very people knew that the force existed, it officially did not do so, and it had no real name as yet.