Continue here..... after  E-1......

<<<<<<<<<< Dusk and  Roy from Rec dec

 Arnie   and Slavic  greeted them, Arnie from the Bar and Slavic   gathering Glasses   and  snack baskets from tables. there were a few  couples    watching  the stars   zip by.

   Dusk  ordered  a  shake... Slavic waited for Roy's  order  as Dusk tok a  seat way on the  port side of the  massive   OB   window

 After  the Drinks and a basket of  'prestzel' things  arrives, Dusk said softly.....Has the Admiral told you want is happening in  the Sol System...

  She looks around, no one is paying any attention...as she waits for an answer.

Roy was caught a little flat-footed by the question...he'd prepared himself, mentally, for a wide variety of subjects, but this hadn't been anywhere on the list.  "Only in general terms, and nothing particularly recent," he answered, conversationally.

"Something new I should be aware of?"

  Dusk nodded  as she looked out int The Black,... There  has been some kind of MAjor ...Diplomatic...event, about to happen...

,,, We have  found out, through  our  dwindling  Spies and allies, That Ambassador Frans, a large  part of his  C0ommand staff and several  Angel High ranking Officers of the EDT, are traveling to  Vicrock, of a treaty signing that will bring   Vicrock with  full support of  the Solo System, The Empire and  The Paradise system, 


He will be on the SSN Madrid.... Three  other   SSN  Cap ships   will be with them...all of the  new, with Angel Influence in the Build.. there  will be  a some  Paradise Vessels, as well as some Empire  Vessels... two Paradise  Cap ships will be with them... They will be
 sailing under a diplomatic Banner.. But the Admiral  is set to warn them as soon as they leave Sol System...

 Though no one is sure...Thos is a powerplay, once  Vicrock signs..The  Empire and Paradise  must protect it..which..would mean, moving on The moons, Astra,  Fuji, and  perhaps Bura  and  Nivar... we  are too far away to  reach  these ship by the  Timne they reach Vicrock..Fuji and Bura  would have to use their defense fleet, and the  battle would  leave them weakened... a Fleet  from Paradise was seen on a Holomap, Just outs   Astra space... The Admiral  does not   want  Bura and Fuji weakened..and even with captured ships being sent to Astra  and Tortuga's  privateers ... we have to count on Skith to keep most pf the Paradise   fleets  at home...

 She Looked   sad, then looked at  Roy,Admiral Hack, sent Admiral Hennings to talk to father..Admiral Roles  wouldn't do it.... But we have had people, many who have been captured and died, working  on The Madrid.. C-10 lines the  Contact  of  the CApship's  Power sells, and  three  Trigger  relays were planted there as well...none..have been found... scans  show they are there and waiting.... Morrow  buoys will relay the  the Command  to Blow up the Madrid...and Ambassador Frans ,his  3  young 'wives'..staff..everyone on board... we may be lucky and  snare some notable Empire people who wanted to share in the Glory...

 as of now, You and  , i suppose  Father   have learned  about this.... even Fuji and Bura, no nothing..Beth found out   a bit ago....at 0800 a Hail will be sent to The Madrid...FAther is  going to  talk with  Ambassador  Frans..he..is..um...opened end  on what he has to say...but when the  time comes, he will pretend to trigger something, beth will send  messages  to the  Buoys..and the  Madrid will cease to exist.... Father, of  course, will look like  he broke Diplomatic protocol.... The Admiral is Going the Frame his warning  HAil, in the way that  we do not trust any thing from the Empire or their allies....and, they are enemy  warships in AP space.

 .I...I  asked The Admiral, why it must be done this way... he said, we will  eliminate  Frans..there should be a power vacuum on Olympus ..if   those  ships and the Paradise  fleet choose to attack, then we will have to break off from our current Run... I believe , The Admiral  has  had   us  Veer to Nivar..just in case...If the  Paradise Fleet attacks our holdings.. Fuji and Bura   will  try to  play defense...as  The Admiral Put it..we will get there late....The Admiral hopes the Skith will help, and he has  something 'in his back pocket'

 I asked why Father  would be asked to be the one 'responsible' for Ambassador Frans Death? He   rattled off a list of  things  since  Father was in the Academy..even Highschool  things.. Did he really steal a Mark IV Hammer from Olympus?.... But  Admiral HAck said, it  shoudl worry the Empire... showing our reach across The Black, and causing  Misgivings  among the new allies..if .....as, he says..'Father Does it   right'....Do you think Father  will agree to pretend  to kill Frans..

"Would he do it?" Roy echoed.  "Of course he would do it.  The only regret he might possibly have about it is that he wouldn't actually be the one killing Frans.  Given the opportunity, there are at least a hundred people on board that would kill Governor Frans if given half a chance...including his own daughter."

He shrugged, and added, "I'm not sure what the actual benefit will be from doing it this way...I suppose a lot depends on what, exactly, Shadow says, but I think it would cause a lot more panic if we sent a single ship to intercept them and made it look like we hit Frans' vessel with some kind of wonder weapon that blew it up with a single hit.  Not even Qarl plasma was that effective.  It'd have to be remote-piloted, though, or else it would be a suicide mission, because everything else in the area would be gunning for it after that shot, especially if it became apparent that there wasn't a second similar shot coming."

He shrugged, and added, "But if Shadow can drop hints that we have people on the inside...EDT, Angels, or others...that makes the whole alliance shaky as hell."  He shrugged, and gave a sour grimace.  "I think the concern about the Empire formalizing relations with Vicrock is overblown...the Angels might take the treaty seriously, but do you really think the Demons didn't already have formal alliances with Hyria, Nivar, or Aqra?  The closest thing we saw to Demons interceding to help defend their allies was the Demon forces on that pseudo-planetoid that we captured near Vera...and that was basically a token force.  We haven't seen a Demon battle fleet in a few years, now, despite the fact that we've been curb-stomping their allies right and left the entire time.  The Demon outpost on the edge of the Sol System doesn't count...it's been there for decades, if not centuries, and they STILL didn't muster reinforcements for it when we started moving to attack.  No matter where we attack, the Demons aren't going to show up until they're damned good and ready...and I'm frankly awestruck that their allies haven't figured that out yet and still think fighting for the Empire is somehow advantageous...how many other Empire allies do they need to see get screwed over as far as defensive treaties go before they get the fact that the Empire is a really shitty ally?"

He caught himself starting to get a little heated on the subject, and took a sip to give himself time to cool down before he resumed.  "But, yes...like I said, your father would do it in half a second, gladly, without the slightest compunction on the matter.  Total War, the Admiral said, even if he's backtracked on that numerous times and stopped short of annihilating entire planetary populations.  But if you're at war and you have a shot at a high-profile target that has significant strategic, tactical, or political value, you take it, unless the risk is far greater than the reward.  In this case, the risk is practically nonexistent.  And if Shadow didn't do it, there's a long line of people who'd gladly step up to take the job...starting with me."

  Dusk nodded  slowly, again looking out in the Black. She winced a bit as she  said,when Adem and Evert wanted to  'fix' me,  They were outraged, that  they could not. One of their techs  suggested  'disassembly'. But the Human DNA  would not allow that . Evert said  i would become. More human as  my life continued...Adem wanted to end that. He could not, Because  Admiral Hack was 'watching Closely' to what would be done with me...

  I learned of this, By one of my cousins chiding me ...but the effect was not what he intended... i was determined to Follow  Father and Mother's path...That led me to confrontation with Evert  , when the Battle Of The Line   Happened. I was so ashamed at being Verian, until we were permitted to join the battle

 The  amusing thing is, that cousin who chided me, is...from what i have learned, the only cousin to have survived   our attack on Vera...I often wonder where he went afterwards

I asked  Father, why war is  so complicated...he said it wasn't.."Good guys Kill bad guys so bad guys don't kill good  guys..."...How can we tell if we are good guys?

 Finishing her  Drink she said,I must go , get rest for tomorrow's show. I will be with the Admiral in the warroom at the bridge...he will be co-ordinating thing  from there, to make things  go smoother  , with out distracting  from Father's  performance...

Roy gave a kind of sad smile.  "It's tricky to think of war in terms of good guys and bad guys...in most wars, each side thinks it's the good guys...and history tends to paint whoever loses the war as the bad guys.  The American Revolution is recorded as a heroic battle against a tyrannical monarch...but if they'd lost the war, it could just as easily been recorded as an aborted insurrection by a bunch of ingrates."  He shrugged.

"I'm not fighting because I think I'm good and Demons are bad.  Demons intend to do harm to my kind, and I'm opposed to the idea.  Most people think that's a good reason to fight, which makes me a 'good guy', I guess...but I'm sure the Demons have a completely different take on the issue and I'm The Devil Incarnate, according to their story."  He snorted softly, and shrugged again.  "It's oversimplification to say, 'We're the good guys, and they're the bad guys', but some people like to simplify life as much as possible.  The whole idea of war is that the other guys in some way pose a threat to your way of life, if not your existence.  The Demons want to eat us.  We want to take away their easiest source of food and breeding potential."

He paused, and chuckled again.  "It gets hazier when you get into EDT and systems that are signing treaties just so they can honor an older treaty and stab the new ally in the back.  But that's a long walk down a very philosophical road.  It's easier to just say that anyone who wants us dead are bad guys that we want dead first.  Pretty sure we'd be satisfied if they'd just stop wanting us dead, but the odds on that happening are pretty damned long."

He stopped for a moment, then asked, "Wait...you say you have a cousin who survived Vera?  And disappeared after that?"  He suddenly had become sharply focused and alert, and concern was in his voice.

  Dusk Listened to Roy. yes...he was the Oldest. He was on board the Hermes when they came to  get  Shade and Myself. Thet were  supposed to  'ease or  minds"..none of them really liked us?..though they were more tolerant of me, sine i consented to go. They had very little   problem turning on Shade, counting him as 'broken'...

 Adem  viewed the  Demons as Rivals? He fought them when needed , worked with them when needed, But As the  Delta Fleet  grew,,and  Enemy ships  were destroyed or captured,Adem had  felt the need to work with Humans.  But in his words, 'They Need  kept in their place'


 Things Shifted  as Shade  and I came to be.. Evert tried to hamper the Delta Fleet by removing herself as ambassador... Admiral Hack surprised her by Elevating Shade.That Led  to Granmod coming out  and Joining the Delta fleets, after..what she called...tests.

..My Cousin was a verian Trooper..a  young  LT? Adem kept him close..trained him...and it was decided  tht he would be a 'Griffon'..i never knew what that was? I But he started to take Pilot training after that..he had  sent a COM Message to me bore the battle at Vera... saying he  would  destroy Shadw  and FAther, and  Come to get me, to make a new  Verian race?....after the Battle was over, and Father Killed Adem..i got one message from him..." next time"... I assumed he died after?..

Roy's eyes narrowed in thought as Dusk related the story.  "I don't think so," he replied, to her final statement.  "We haven't seen it for a while...but there was a mystery fighter that popped up, that first battle after Vera--the one on the Elipsian planetoid.  Popped in and out, like it had Qarl teleport systems...but it did it faster than anyone could calculate.  And the pilot kept calling Shadow "Uncle"..."

He looked at Dusk.  "Adem was the one who put Lady into the fighter plane, apparently to try and use her to gather intel on us and possibly thinking she'd be compliant with any plans he had to utilize her to hamper our progress.  That didn't work out the way he'd intended, obviously..."  He gave an awkward grin and gestured at Dusk, in a way that included the entirety of her existence.

"But who's to say she was the only one?  Or that they would only ever use Human craft for that process?  What if this 'Griffon' program you mentioned was cybernetically binding Verians to fighter craft, of various sorts, to try and keep the Verians in a position to pull strings on all sides?  And what if that mystery ship was your cousin?"