Radio Free Keldon

Disappointing Reactions

2009-08-07T11:08:00.000-07:00

"I can make no promises, Far-Cousin." said Squaheb Furthtail, the robust young Keldon we had picked up in the shadow of the preywinder. He continued, "Our forces have never recovered from the losses we took in the Insurrection. The Emperor's stare is harsh upon us. Our every move is catalogued. We don't know who to trust anymore. Clutch-Brothers have been taken and turned. It is indeed dire."

I looked down at the small table we shared. "So you will not rise?"

"We would be martyred for very little gain. The garrisons on Urlafa now include some of the Emperor's best shock troops. We might be able to disrupt Urlafa and the surrounding sectors for a day or two but we would be wiped out quickly and the reprisals on our families would be harsh."

"What will my cousins in Ska'ari owned Keldon space do when the Emperor paints two-thirds of the Galactic map red?" I asked. "What hope will there be in an uprising then? It may be dangerous now but it will be impossible later. If the Emperor is successful in crushing the Union there will be no hope of outside help. How long do you think the Federation will last against the Emperor bringing two-thirds of the galaxies resources to bare? As if they would aid you anyway."

He sighed, "I know this far-cousin. I do. But we are weak and the leadership is afraid to act... Perhaps if you came.."

I cut him off, "Empire space? Perhaps I should just fly through the passes and tell the Ska'ari and their slaves that I meet that I am merely going through to rouse the rabble on Urlafa and Keldon and they shouldn't bother shooting me down. No... you will return to your clutch and take the leaders of the... resistance this message." The word resistance was laced with contempt.

Furthtail stood to leave the ready room and board his stealth ship.

"Oh, far-cousin, one more thing. See to it that this gets to the Fuwuyothi clutch on Urlafa. Tell them their clutchling served me and the resistance well." I handed him a small box that contained a few pieces of Luna's personal affects that I had taken from her dormitory on Phao. Furthtail bowed and left me alone with the silence.

Old Friends

2009-07-31T17:17:00.000-07:00

I could feel Ilyurier Vrus staring at me from her station on the Luna Fuwuyothi's command deck. I attracted the same sort of crew where ever I went. Young, idealistic Keldons. Usually they have lineage that goes back to Urlafa or one of the other worlds were Keldons suffered in the abortive war for independence years ago. They seek me out, fresh from their clutch-mothers, because they believe I can lead them to some sort of revenge against the Ska'ari for what they did to their friends and family.

They don't often realize that the road to revenge doesn't lead straight to Ska. Which is why I suspect Ilyurier was staring at me. We were near the border to Empire space cloaked in a nebula and within optics range of a preywinder. How could she have known when she was a clutchling on Zaniah that the road to revenge led to the spot under the shadow of the business end of a preywinder?

She asked me with trepidation, "How long will we wait here clutch-brother?"

"The appointed time approaches young one. Have faith in our far-cousins."

Ilyurier looked down at her terminal and said nothing else. I decided to reassure her.

"Listen to the songs in the nebula. They will tell you where the preywinder wishes to go."

I had recently ignored the songs the galaxy sang to me in my rush to hunt down an enemy. That mistake ended, once again, in a trip to Phao in an escape pod courtesy of a different preywinder. I always try to make a habit of learning from my mistakes. Here I was trying my hardest to make another.

To my relief Aceeas Muriten, my second mate, excitedly reported a contact transmitting priority codes.

"Very good young-ones, let's get our guests aboard and get out from the shadow of this blasted preywinder."

Old Familiar Feeling

2009-07-17T19:35:00.000-07:00

I sit in uncomfortably in my command chair. I spit blood on the deck.

"Status?" I inquire of my painfully overpaid first mate.

"The hull is breached clutch-brother. The control systems are fused and the back ups are non-responsive. We are in a rapidly decaying orbit over Diphda. She'll fly apart in a few minutes."

"Do we have any sensors?"

"Exterior optics only, I'll put it on the main screen."

Sparks fly and the display comes back to life. Unmagnified against the pitch-black of the Diphda system the Mooncrusher that had just smashed the Luna Fuwuyothi aside was bearing down on the Crazy Missile Foodie, curiously named and commanded by Godfather Q Roger.

I turn to my second mate with another question, "Mnaryii, did we even scratch the evil bastard?"

"Clutch-Brother, we scored three missile hits and several cannon shots. We stripped nearly half their armor before the weapons systems were disabled."

I look back at the view screen in time to see the Mooncrusher explode brilliantly under the withering fire of the Godfather's guns.

I smile wide, showing bloody teeth.

"To the escape pod then?" I look around the bridge one last time and say to myself, "This is becoming far to easy."

Lessons Learned.

2009-06-23T16:08:00.000-07:00

"Stupid, stupid, ska-spit STUPID!" I was shouting as the recovery crew on Phao opened up the hatch to the escape pod. My crew followed behind me sullen as we briskly walked from the scorched pod across the hangar deck to the ramp underneath a brand new Scorpion. I swiped the bill from the hands of the human female insurance adjuster, pressing my palm on the smart-flimsy without even looking at the total.

"Clutch-brother you should not be so hard on yourself, we had to fight."

I wheeled around in a fury and pointed my clawed finger into Anthraceyt Muritens face and said calmly, "I am hard on myself because I should know better. A one to one attack on that Mooncrusher was suicide, especially without a shield. I put us all at risk... for what? To say I fought at the first battle of Cor Caroli? No, little clutch-brother discretion is the better part of valor. It seems that for all of my battles I have not yet learned that."

Anthraceyt lowered his gaze and followed silently into the turbo lift that led to the bridge of the new Luna Fuwuyothi. When we all reached our stations, strangely similar to the ones on the destroyed Scorpion, I said softly to Anthraceyt, "Please take us into orbit and set a course for Kitalpha, maximum speed."

"As you command-clutch brother."

Within moments we were across the cluster and I saw from the news feed that Eronime had been destroyed. I gritted my teeth. "Take us into Etamin."

From Etamin we came to Cebece where a long wall of military outposts bisected the sector. As we came to the wormhole to Gomesia one of my other navigators shouted "Clutch-brother, Imperial signatures in the mouth of the wormhole!"

Through the view port the large imperial ships were visible as blackness in front of the near blinding glare of the spacial anomaly. I noticed the recognition codes on a Behemoth in the formation and my eyes widened.

"We have to be quick, target that Behemoth's engines and fire forward EM batteries."

The battle was quick and one sided. The Behemoth did not have any weapons. From the safety of the mouth of the wormhole we watched as the Mooncrushers from moved back in forth in space blinking their indicator lights at us.

"They are taunting us aren't they clutch-brother?" Anthraceyt asked.

"Most likely young-one. However, we are done for the day. Remember, discretion is the better part of valor." I said with a smile.

Real-War

2009-04-16T13:31:00.000-07:00

I hate close combat. I hate the smell of ozone from laser fire passing through recycled star base atmosphere. I hate the cries of fallen comrades in my headpiece. I hate the blood that splatters on my ebidium chest plate. As I led my squad through the outer areas of the Horizon Mining Outpost's command center I thought to myself that we pilots, the privileged few, are too insulated from warfare. We command our warships. We fire our missiles. We direct our missile batteries. Our victims are blips on a sensor display. Their death-cries are oxygen burning out in vacuum.

There I was. Crouched behind a bulkhead as the valiant defenders fired lasers and slug-throwers over my head. I nodded to the Union Marine Sergeant in my squad. He led two agile Keldons around the bulkhead as the rest of us lay down covering fire. Once they reached their advanced position the Sergeant lobbed a plasma grenade into the mob of defenders. There was a piercing shriek and a flash of light. The resistance at this part of the command center was over.

Using hand signals I directed my squad to form a defensive line on our new position. I radioed Son Dagobert that we had cleared the way to section three. I traded a knowing glance with my clutch-brother as he led his Keldons on toward victory.

I scraped a bit of blood off my armor with a talon as i listened to the laser fire echo down the promenade.

Waiting

2009-03-08T05:50:00.000-07:00

The command deck of the Luna Fuwuyothi is silent and I am alone in its center. I have brought aboard three new crew mates to help me with day to day operations. They are asleep. I have not slept in a few days. Hate keeps me awake. Caff and candy keep me functional. I look out of the transparent-ebidium view port. Friendly indicators on the HUD overlay mark the locations of the invisible Scorpions of my compatriots. Old friends and new, side by side. Warriors, finally.

Mission

2009-02-20T20:26:00.000-08:00

I have been spent the past few days on border patrol duty. My warship, along with warships from half a dozen Union alliances, was on the frontier enforcing the border closure. The worst part about border patrol is the quiet. I have been alone on the Luna Fuwuyothi since the death of her namesake and fellow crew mates. I have not yet been ready to accept the responsibility that comes with holding the life of another in my claws. My life is meaningless. My body is a genetically engineered husk. My soul is binary code. It is backed up every cycle and beamed through subspace to a cloneing facility on Phao.

Luna and Thaeophyan and Holdorn were real. There was no back up for them. No second, third, fourth, or fifth chance.

My enemies took their lives with a hired assasin. They could not face the real death. So they kept their hands and their consciences clean. Because what happened to me? Dying is painful but not permanant. It is merely an inconveniance.

Luna is dead. I am not. I will never die until I choose to.

But I have found meaning for my safe endless life.

I will bring my enemies real-death.

God of War

2009-02-17T11:16:00.000-08:00

I did not enjoy leaving the Luna Fuwuyothi docked for so long without my supervision. But I knew that I could not transport my cargo flying her. Such was the nature of my business that I could not even fly myself at all. I had gotten the cargo from some shady figures that my comrade Stryfe had put me in touch with on Phao. After that I hired a Ska'ari who owned a Harrier-class freighter and could muster some top class counterfit transponder codes. From there it was only a matter of hitting the X-hole to the West Pardus Rim.

I had disguised myself as a crew member of the Ska'ari captain. I mostly sat in the cargo area among a hundred or so tons of rad cells. Once an hour I checked my cargo with a hand scanner to make sure it was not leaking. The seals were good. It would have been totally undetectable, especially behind the masking signatures of all of the rad cells.

The little Ska'ari informed me through the ship's comm that we had arrived in the sector of our destination. I came to the front to give him the final coordinates. We veered away from the wormhole away from the most travelled space lanes. I could see the lights of a hundred ships following one another to a pale blue dot at the end of my vision. We flew at a fraction of light speed for a time. Finally we made orbit over a red planet that had been beaten into what could barely be called Class M status.

We landed in a tiny space port in a region of the world called Argyre. I pushed my cargo down the loading ramp on a light-duty grav cart and walked out into the thin, cold air. A group of humans were waiting for me on the ground. They looked comfortable in the sub-zero air. They were more tall and akward looking than other humans I had encountered.

"I am here to meet Eddie Pearl of the Nergal Underground." I said in my best Human Basic. A bearded Human male stepped out from the group and extended a hand in that oh-so human greeting.

I accomodated his hand shake as he spoke.
"Welcome to Crater Town. You must be the Keldon known as Dex."
"I am." I replied, "and I have your device. It is small enough that you should be able to move it through orbital customs undetected but it is powerful enough for you to make quite an impression."
"Nergal thanks you, Keldon."
I stood by as his comrades took posession of the device. They began to go their separate ways. Before he could leave I asked Eddie one last question.
"Sir, If i may? Why would you be willing to do this to your own people?"
"They aren't my people any more, Keldon. This world has made us different, right down to our DNA. Many of my brothers here are not ready to accept that we are a different species. But you can't hide from the truth."
I looked up into the pink dusty sky at the primary star.
"Very well then, Eddie. Good luck in your endeavor. Do not attempt to contact me again."
I turned and headed for the Harrier. Leaving Mr. Pearl in the cold wind behind me. Before I climbed the entry ramp I bent down to the ground an scooped up a handful of the permafrost. I shoved my nose into it. It smelled like blood on my nostrils. I dropped the handful into the pocket of my coveralls and boarded the ship.

Gone.

2009-01-19T14:30:00.000-08:00

I awoke to acrid smoke stinging my nostrils. I was half deaf and could barely hear the klaxons warning anyone left aboard the Keldana that it was time to leave her. I squinted through one remaining eye, searching for signs of life. I gagged on blood. I closed my eye and tried to remember.

"We've hit some kind of gravity well generator. The engines can't compensate!"
Thaeophyan Longlan's voice was shrill. The wormhole was so close but we were not going to make it. I turned to Luna, "How long?"
"A minute at the most far-cousin." she hissed through gritted teeth.
As we spoke a shadow descended over the bridge. Something big was between us and Daaze Primary.
"Contact! Right on top of us. Signature reads as a Doomstar. Five Viral Glands coming in hot." The fear was evident in Holdorn's voice. He was barely eighteen cycles. Barely been out of upper-Sirion orbit before I picked him up.
"Do we have maneuvering thrusters Thaeophyan?" I asked cautiously.
"Yes clutch-brother." he replied.
"Bring our guns to bear."
The Keldana's shields withstood the first pass. The Ebidium held until the fourth pass. A shot lanced through the bridge exposing us to vacuum. From the command chair I could see Thaeophyan gripping his control station. His hands gave way and the sound of his voice was inaudible against the howl of mother-galaxy. With a hiss the containment fields snapped into place. The sounds of combat became audible again. The shadow decended upon us one last time.

An explosion.

And here I was. Half-blind, half-deaf and bleeding to death internally. My one good eye found Holdorn slumped over his station. He had shrapnel injuries all over his back. I dragged myself across the deck to him. He was dead. Massive trauma to the head and torso. I sighed and looked up toward the ceiling. To my suprise all I saw was stars. Most of the bridge was gone. There must have been a containment field running on the emergency power systems. I pulled myself up to Holdorn's station. From his screen I could see that the Keldana was adrift.
A countless number of miles from anywhere. The matter anti-matter containment field was at critical.

My eye found the deck, and the green pulsing light that glowed through the smoke, leading me to the Keldana's escape pod. I began to drag myself there. Maybe Luna was already there. I didn't see her anywhere. I got to the escape hatch and I found her. Curled into a ball with her tail hiding her face. There was a centimeter of blood on the deck of the escape pod. I crawled to her and touched her head. She coughed and spoke softly so I could barely hear her.
"Dex? Dex. I'm sorry. I should have seen it on the sensors. I've failed you."
"Stop it Luna. You've done well for me these past months. Not just me. You might have saved our entire species."
"Dex... your face..."
"It's not important. We need to get you stable so we can launch this escape pod."
"Don't worry about me Dex..."
She was gone. I pushed up off the deck from her side. My claws were slick with her blood. I crawled out of the escape pod and sealed it shut behind me. I pounded the launch button with a closed fist. She was gone. I forced myself to my feet and walked to my command chair. As I sat down I keyed a few commands into the data center. I sighed at the pain of the interface lancing into the port at the base of my skull.

Backup complete. Transmitting....

The interface let go. I began to wonder what was taking the anti-matter so long to breach.

The Rashkiri medical technician in the Cloning Facility on Phao looked at me quizically and I got dressed and prepared to leave in my new self. He looked back down at his clip board and spoke, "Our records indicate that your ship was equipped with an escape pod. Escape pod technology is nearly 100% successful."
I looked at him through two good eyes. Then I looked away. "Is my new ship ready?"

And I was gone.

Imperial Intelligence Report

2008-12-27T20:43:00.001-08:00

Report Filed By High Inspector [redacted-unavailable]

EMPEROR'S EYES ONLY

As was suspected, our agents uncovered that the Federation had indeed continued their work in biological weapons research even after the defeats our warships handed them in the Federation Contingent. However what we did not realize was the extent to which this research had progressed. The Federation scientists operating out of bases hidden deep within the Split cluster have isolated the original Pardus virus and have nanomolecularized it. In the first great war the Pardus virus moved through any medium and it killed anyone it infected. This incarnation is targeted.

Apparently attempts to make the weapon Ska'ari specific failed. The virus still killed hosts from the other three sentient species in the galaxy, making the weapon too dangerous for use. However, our spies have informed us that the Federal scientists were successful in keying the virus in on Keldon DNA. They intend to spread the virus covertly through the droid market. Nanites inside the droids would infect surrounding technology and then the virus would jump from every day machines into Keldon victims.

Computer models show a mortality rate of 85% with casualties in the billions. If infected droids were installed in a military outpost in any Pass sector in the galaxy every ship passing through would become a vector. Half the Keldon population of the Empire would be dead in a week if infected droids were installed in Empire space. From there Keldons across the galaxy would begin to get infected and near-extinction would follow within a year.

It is surmised that the research facilites are being converted into Droid Assembly Complexes at the time of this reports filing. Our agents believe the bulk of the production is being done in western Split and the southern part of the Old Human Core.

Report Ends

Things we must face.

2008-12-27T20:24:00.000-08:00

I had given the droid to a young Keldon whose clutch had fled Urlafa at the end of the Insurrection. Osanj was of Lazebe and as such had a way with codes and numbers. He was also loyal to the resistance as his clutch-brothers had seen first hand the horrors of the Ska'ari occupation of Urlafa. He was someone with the talent to unlock the secrets of the droid modules. He was someone I could trust.

Which is why I was suprised when he contacted me, after months of silence, by a one-way burst subspace transmission.

The initial decoding process took a half hour and revealed only one word. Urgent.

It took Holdorn, one of the deck officers and most computer savy of my crew the better part of the next day to decode the rest. He rushed into my cabin with barely a knock. His scales a ghostly shade I have not seen a Keldon take in years.

"Clutch-Brother," he started, "You must see this at once."
"What is it Holdorn?"
"Death commander, death."

Lies we tell ourselves.

2008-10-16T14:42:00.000-07:00

Space was at a premium with Luna flying in the co-pilots seat of the Battle of Baham. We were only going to be making a short trip from the Reaper Academy. Luna's voice hummed in my auditory canals, "There is an ancient Keldon who lives on the Union starbase one sector over. Uchi no Neko is what it is called."

I was a bit annoyed to be given directions to by a female barely out of her clutch who had never brushed her tail on ground outside Ska'ari dominated space. I bit my tongue and set the coordinates into the navi-computer.
"What is this ancient going to do for us?"
"He can show us what is on this droid." I could hear her claws tap the top of the small metallic sphere that sat on her lap.
"The far-cousins who gave it to you didn't tell you anything?"
"What I don't know can't be tortured out of me."
I realized then that she and I came from worlds light-years apart. Literally and figuratively.

I landed the Baham in the small craft hanger on Uchi no Neko. I looked at Luna, "One of my clutch-brothers, named Gunnar, commanded this base for a time. I wonder if he knows your ancient?" Luna's eyes narrowed.
"I doubt this Keldon would have presented himself to this bases commander as anything but a common cyber-cipher." she said.

We came to the largest common area on the habitat ring adjoining our hanger bay. After asking a few questions and passing along a few credits we discovered the whereabouts of the ancient. The cheapest habitat ring, nearest to the fusion reactors that powered the station is where he kept his quarters. Much to my dismay there was only one working turbolift that went down that far.

"There is only one way out of there," I muttered to Luna, "I don't like it."
She responded quickly, "There is only one true way anywhere." and she walked towards the turbolift.

I quickly discovered that in the neutral zone maintenance crews don't work on the lowest levels of even the biggest starbases. I had to turn on a handlight as we navigated the corridors. We came to the door that supposedly hid our ancient. I keyed the door bell. There was no answer.

Luna sounded tense when she said, "Force it open."

I wondered if she was just bothered by the poor atmosphere here in the under decks as I jammed my multi-knife into the door control keypad and turned the lock. The door whooshed open and my nostrils were filled with the acrid smell of smoked mixed with the metallic smell of blood. With my right hand I swept Luna behind me and I fished my blaster pistol out with my left. Holding the weapon out in front of me I stepped in to the dark room. The bulkheads were smashed in as if a Gornz had thrown a tantrum in the quarters. A stack of datacards burned on the floor in the middle of the room.

Luna saw him before I did.
"Uncle Jarshee!" She ran out from behind me before I could stop her.
"You know him?" I half-shouted as I rushed to the old Keldon's side. His legs were broken and my stomach turned when I saw that his tail had been cut off three quarters of the way down. Luna was covered in the ancient's blood.
"Jarshee who did this to you?" Luna cried.
The old lizard coughed blood. "Lies." he said.
"Who lied?" I asked.
Jarshee's eyes widened as they locked with mine.
"Dex of Sirion?" he retched.
"You know me?"
"You... you must protect my niece... and you must tell them."
My jaw was a bit slack as I fought off a wave of nausea at the sight of all the blood.
"Tell them what?" I managed to stammer.

"The Don is a lie."

Luna

2008-08-04T13:22:00.000-07:00

My contacts in the old cluster have grown deathly quiet since the end of the war. During my darkest nights I dream that my faceless old friends in the resistance are dead. Negative thinking never got me anywhere so I always try to shake them off. After the days travels throughout the Contingent I always go back to scanning the old channels. Hoping for a certain kind of static that belies a message of hope, or a cry for help. One night-cycle I had just about finished scanning for the day and was reaching to power the Battle of Baham's receivers down when I heard the static I was looking for. It was just a dull hiss but to my trained ears it was like a clutch-mother singing to a new group of hatchlings. I locked onto the signal and the Baham's specially programmed computer turned vague lines of archaic code into a message.

3Last Message. 8Package for you. 6Z University. 3Two Cycles.

The message itself was laughably coded, but it didn't need to be indecipherable as nobody would even think to be looking on such an anchient band of transmission anyway.

HW 3-863. The Soul Reaper's Academy.

The trip to HW didn't take two cycles so I had a fair amount of time to kill. I got to know a few over priced robots and tried to blend in amongst the vagrants that frequented the Soul Reaper Academy's public areas. One evening after a particularly harsh bout with a Z-16 fighter I was sitting in a dimly lit pub enjoying some Rotanevi liquor with no flavor and I felt a tap on my shoulder.

I looked over my shoulder and found myself tail deep in the biggest darkest female eyes I had ever seen in my life. She was smaller than a typical Keldon female and she had red marks on her scales not dissimilar to my own.

"I am Luna Fuwuyothi formerly of Urlafa but now a refugee with no home. My friends and family have all perished so I could live and bring you this."

She held out her hand and showed me a small droid module.

"You had gods damned better be worth it."

Shadow

2008-07-16T09:54:00.001-07:00

I was searching for a distraction after the disappointment I had found in Federal Space. The news about my adopted home, the East Pardus Rim was bad. Pollution had fouled the space lanes there and I wanted no part of it. So I made a course for the Y-hole in Caroli and picked out NEX 003. You never get used to the experience of a trip through the Y-hole. You can feel the world behind you cease to exist and then in the lifetime of a second if you open your mind to can feel the very fabric of the Galaxy. Just when it feels like she is going to rip the soul right out of you the world come back. The disorientation is palpable. Trust the navicomputer I told myself.

I allowed myself a few seconds to recover but no more. I had to move swiftly because no sentient would be excluding me from their ambushes here. I had come to the South Pardus Rim. There were no friends here and NEX 003 is close enough to the Ska'ari core that you can smell it in the recycled air of your ship. I docked at a nearby imperial starbase for the morning. I tried to blend in with the other Keldons who worked and lived there but the Galaxy always sees through you and I don't think it paranoid of me to believe they all knew what I was.

A few hours later I embarked Galactic eastward. Feeling better as each sector passed me by. I could feel the Sister-grandmothers calling through the stars. I haven't been this close in a long time. These warm feelings died a quick death after I entered the Exbeur sector. I had my ships sensors and attitudinal thrusters on their highest defensive settings so I detected the thing early.

A Shadow.

The Shadow is proof that the Galaxy has evil interwoven into her fabric. No one has been able to analyze the shadows weaponry. I believe this is because because traditional measurements for energy weapons involve the frequency of light. Fear is the shadows weapon. Like the Galaxy the shadow can see right through you. It takes your fear and makes it tactile. It rakes your soul as it bashes your armor.

For a moment I was back in the Y-Hole. I could see all the love and light in the galaxy slowly being drawn into the shadow. The event horizon of everything that is evil lay just before me. I stifled a wave of panic. Panic is how the shadow feeds. It tricks it's victims into reacting to their fear, their own indecision kills them.

I said a quick prayer,taught to me by the Keldon wraith hunters on Cebalrai, for agility and steered the Baham toward the Shadow. Every cell in my body rebelled against the action but i gritted my molars and power the engines forward. The battle was long and intense. Several times I had to break away from combat and steer towards the planet. I bought overpriced robots from a seedy dealer on what had to be the worst neighbor hood on Exbeur.

I plunged back into the void on one last strafeing run. Fear glanced off Ebidium and magnetic defractor fire rended liquid hate. When the Shadow was defeated there was no explosion. However the imput of data caused by the Shadow's sudden disappearance overloaded the Baham's main sensor batteries.

I had to land the Baham by sight and claw power at the skyport on Exbeur. After I exited the cockpit I looked up at where I had come from. The night sky seemed brighter.

Olympic Crackdown

2008-07-02T17:27:00.000-07:00

As the Olympics begin in imperial space the emperor's secret police are cracking down on dissident Keldon movements who might wish to use the spotlight of the event to gain exposure to the plight of two-thirds of the Keldon race. A promising young sonic-ring catcher named Meslet Carmfi'e'ler from Quator disappeared from the Olympic village this week after he announced that he would participate in his event wearing not the traditional imperial Red and Black uniform donned by Imperial atheletes, but instead would be wearing the two-toned blue colors associated with the Free Keldana movement. Sonic-Ring pundits agree that Carmfi'e'ler was a dark horse to win the gold medal in the event.

Union atheletes are being kept quarentined in their section of the Olympic village when not participating in athletic events for their "protection." We are sure they are not being kept separated from the local populaces because the imperial subjects might be exposed to a new-free idea or two.

The emperor is so terrified of his own subjects that he keeps them in the dark even during this event that promotes peace and the exchange of ideas and cultures. We hope that Union officials do not let the good feeling of these games go to their heads and keep a clear eye to the threat the empire poses, to the Union and to two-thirds of the Keldon species under Imperial control.

-----------------------------------------END TRANSMISSION

Three Months

2008-05-10T14:59:00.000-07:00

It has been three months since I sent my crew home to their clutches. I could no longer bear the burden of their safety on my conscious. I had to send too many of their brothers and sisters home to their clutch-mothers, in boxes; if I had anything of them to send at all. I became responsible only to myself.

The view of the Galaxy from the cockpit of a Hawk-fighter is much different than that from the command chair of a massive Behemoth or even a Gargantua or Chitin. The Galaxy becomes very personal. The only thing that separates me from our common-mother is ten centimeters of Ebidium. It is humbling.

I have spent three months continuing my studies from the Refuge that is no more. Instead of trapping the beasts behind the walls of the Refuge I have gone to seek them in the great galactic wild. I have run dissipation tests on countless numbers of Electro-magnetic fauna. I have pushed myself and my ship to the very limits against the mighty Euryales of the Union Contingent. I have worked diligently to clear the space lanes of Nhandu and Cor Caroli of X-993 Battlecruisers. It is shocking how much destroying them feels like shooting down another pilot.

I have passed silently by old friends in the night, my antennas no longer configured to receive their common frequencies. It has been three months since I left them as well. Our paths are not quite parallel.

My failures haunt me. Failures as a Commander, as a freedom fighter, and as a sapient being.

The galaxy sees straight through ten centers of Ebidium. The greatest Union Armorer can create nothing to stop her gaze. It is comforting to know that she sees me.

Comfort is a valuable commodity, alone in the void.

Focus

2008-05-08T15:29:00.000-07:00

Brothers and sisters,

It has been a long time since we have smuggled word to you. Too long. For that we apologize. There has not been important enough news to risk the authorities tracing this subspace line to your clutches.

But we could lay silent no longer. Once again the Emperor is turning his bloodshot eyes away from the Sister-grandmothers. The collective military might of the Ska'ari and the collaborators will be refocused to the galactic west.

Now is the time, Far-cousins, for you to return to the underground. Remove yourselves again from your every day lives. Kiss your clutchlings good bye and whisper to them the dream of a new tomorrow. Renew your contacts with the other liberated in your communities. But also renew your caution. Since the last uprising the Emperors intelligence services have worked hard to infiltrate the species-traitors into your organizations.

The war drums may already be sounding in Keldon and the surrounding sectors. Use the shuffling of forces to your advantage.

Be strong. Be swift. Be deadly.

A mirror shines darkly at daybreak.
A mirror shines darkly at daybreak.

No watch equals more time.
No watch equals more time.
-----------------------------------END TRANSMISSION

The Council of Fears

2008-03-08T06:31:00.001-08:00

Yesterday the Galactic Council, in all it's glory, deemed it necessary to instruct starship technicians everywhere to no longer repair certain pieces of equipment it has deemed "sensitive."

Who is the Galactic Council exactly? And why have they decided they should act in such a way that is so contrary to the Factional security of the Union? The Cloaking Device and the Strong Electronic Countermeasure are staples in the arsenal of the Union Fleet. Now more than ever with the uncovering of the existence of a shadow faction who's roots lay deep within the soil of our society the Union needs to be free to use whatever means deemed necessary by the Inner Assembly to defend our space.

I fear Clutch-Brothers and Far-Cousins that the Galactic Council has become to heavily involved with the inner circles of the Empire. Who else has such first hand knowledge of the damage a massing of our cloaked warships can inflict? Who else but the oppressors of Keldana, the Ska'ari, have so much to gain from this legislative hobbling of our war potential? Who else still has graveyards full of hulls blasted by Fleet missiles guided by ECCMs?

Why not simply forbid the construction of these vital devices all together? Because, cowardly as they may be, the Ska'ari are smart. They know that this is what they can get away with. Today the Galactic council forbids the repairing of "sensitive" equipment and we may grumble. A year from now they will dupe us into abandoning them all together and as things go we may grumble some more.

A year after that and the Ska'ari may well have conquered their way into our homes without ever firing a shot.

So, my clutch-brothers and far-cousins in the Union, I encourage you, nay, I implore you to ignore the Galactic Councils edict that our vital equipment should no longer be repaired at our own Starbases. It is not the place of some government to tell you who and what you can and can't do business with.

The Galactic Council is a relic from a dark time that has grown corrupt under the influence of the oppressors of the sister-grandmothers.

The Union is the Future.

The Union is Strength.

Thank you.

Letter Home

2008-02-02T10:00:00.000-08:00

Dearest Clutch-Mothers:

I am sorry that I have not written you in so long. I hope the weather of the Low Country greets you as well as the weather of Zaniah greets me. During the war I was too busy to write. I became consumed with freeing our far-cousins. After the war I was laid low. My faith in the cause had been shaken. I did not feel worthy to have communication with you.

Now I am back at the world where my faith was tested. I feel like I must speak my soul to you.

It was the last days of my participation in the war with the Empire as commander of one of the Don's missile destroyers. The Zaniah sector was the only remaining Union outpost in the East Pardus Rim and we suspected an assault was imminent. From orbit my sensor officer Neelae, who i believe is the first-daughter to clutch mother Everose, alerted me to Imperial signatures coming from the surface. It was a Shadow Stealth Craft. Agreements with the local government prohibited me from ordering fire while the Imperial ship was still in orbit over Zaniah so gave the order to wait. As soon as the Shadow left orbit we pounced.

My gunners and navigators gave the Imperial a hellish chase all the way to the wormhole to Reaperspace. Unfortunately- or fortunately I do not know. The Shadow's small size prevented us from delivering the killer shot. Now at the worm hole I again ordered my crew to wait for the Shadow to move. Instead of evasive maneuvers we received a signal.

"Put it through." I ordered.

On the screen before me was a Keldon girl. Young, beautiful, and innocent.

"Why was my ship almost destroyed.... by your guns?"

I was perplexed. Her alliance flag did not register as neutral in the database. It was all I could to to keep my jaw from gaping. Somehow I managed to keep my military composure.

"There is a war on. Or have you been under a rock the past two months?"

Apparently she had been. She explained that she had been on Zaniah visiting family for some time. She knew nothing of the war with the Union. After hearing this I instructed her to keep flying south for the PASS EMP military outposts and she would have no further quarrel from me. She thanked me, the screen blinked off, and she was gone.

I gave command of the bridge to Martex, who is first-son to clutch-mother Marlease if I am not mistaken, and retired to my quarters. I was crushed. I had almost ordered the murder of an innocent child. One of the very beings I was trying to save. I began to think back to my past actions. The Sirion had destroyed two Constrictor-class heavy freighters. How many Keldons had been aboard them?

Who was the bigger criminal? The Emperor for lying to Keldons their entire lives or me for murdering them for being lied to? A few days later I resigned the Sirion's commission as a warship and moved what remained of the crew to this Behemoth we are flying now.

As you know the Union did not win the war. We did not liberate the sister grandmothers like I told you we would. My faith in the methods was shaken that day in the Zaniah sector. But not my faith in the goal. I am not yet convinced that unification can be brought without bloodshed.
Until bloodshed is wrought again I hope to further the cause through peaceful communication.

I may not return home again for some time. I will try to keep your sons and daughters safe.

Give my love to the youngest of my clutch-brothers and sisters.

-Dex

This Pilot

2008-01-24T20:22:00.000-08:00

This pilot sits in the command chair of a cavern. This pilot looks at lines and lines of inventory. At patches of green and red. This pilot sighs as his tail brushes the cold deck beneath. This pilot looks at his crew. The core of this pilot's crew have been with him since he took command of one of the Union's red missile boats. They were young then. Their eyes were wide as they looked to the stars for the first time unfiltered by the atmosphere of the New-Homeworld. This pilot hand picked his crew from the lower families of his clan. They serve this pilot well. They represent the low-country well.

Their clutch mothers would be proud.

This pilot is saddened at the thought of the clutch-mothers. The war took some of this pilot's brave low-countrylizards. The Sirion was a mighty ship but the Empire broke her three times. Ten mourning clutch-mothers.

This pilot looks at more lines of inventory; Robots bound for Sargas and Drugs for the Sector.

This pilot looks at a navigation screen showing him a galaxy passing him by.

This pilot sighs. He is a warrior without a war.

Final Message to the Resistance

2008-01-09T14:56:00.000-08:00

Brothers and Sisters,

We have not forgotten you. The galaxy is in flux. Keep close to your hearts the message of hope. Someday you will tell your grandchildren stories of an empire past.

This will be the final message to you for some time.

--------------------------------------------END TRANSMISSION

Call To Arms

2007-12-03T15:15:00.000-08:00

This subspace transmission is being beamed behind empire lines piggybacked on an advertisement to avoid the jamming net:

Brothers and Sisters,

Over the past few cycles the Union struck a heroic blow against the Ska menace. Six great engines of oppression were taken away from the enemy in the Empire Pardus Contingent. A Union fleet, supplemented by Federal forces, struck the sector of Heze. Almost simultaneously a wholly Union fleet attacked Procyon. Heze now exists as a liberated sector and in Nari the citizens of Nari two have taken so well to the freedom of Union rule that in just a few weeks these industrious people have built their first Scorpion at the Nari II Fleet yards. Some day a Son of the Union will defend you with a battleship made in what was formerly the playground of the emperor and his sick minions.

We are now fighting the Empire in their territory instead of ours.

But the fight is not over.

As I broadcast the emperor marshals his forces. Now is your time. We have received intelligence that garrisons in the Keldon core will be redeployed to bases in the Pardus Cluster and Pardus Rim clusters. Now it is the time to rise up and throw off the Ska'ari oppressors. Your local cell commanders will be contacted by our operatives. But they can only lead the way. You must take the initiative. You must be the agent of your own liberation.

We will take the pressure off. We will make the emperor cast his eye some place else. Take back what is yours. Take back your birthright. You, my brothers and sisters, are the ones who brought this great age of discovery to the galaxy. The Ska'ari will trample on your legacy no longer. For they are shrewd mathematicians, faced with a two front war out in the galaxy and a bloody insurgency behind their own lines, they will take any bargain they can get. We are not required to kill every one of them, we must only beat them back until clutching our homes in their pincers is not worth the pain.

Tonight, after you send your hatchlings to sleep, gaze up at the stars. Find Sirius and know that we are there. Find the star Procyon and know that we are there. Now look upon your own horizon on whatever world you live, and know that we are there too.

As always, check your usual drops.

Dog star no star.

Dog star no star.

Rocking chairs rock empty in the empire.

Rocking chairs rock empty in the empire.

------------------------------------END TRANSMISSION

PASSing Through

2007-11-27T15:17:00.000-08:00

This subspace transmission is being beamed behind empire lines piggybacked on an advertisement to avoid the jamming net:

Brothers and Sisters,

A heroic battle was fought yesterday inside Empire space. After receiving intelligence that an Empire military outpost had been neglected by the vaunted Ska'ari Military Industrial complex, a group of Union fighters hastily made for Pass EMP-05. A fleet of Union warships converged on the military outpost to hold the door open for as long as possible. For the next few hours the Empire Keldon Core was open.

Relief supplies, support commandos, weapons and equipment went through the wall and are on their way to those of you listening in the resistance.

But all good things must come to an end and a pair of unwitting Imperial warships met their demise at the hands of the Union fleet. With the Ska'ari Navy alerted the clock bega The Union fleet's foot in the door would not last for longer. PASC after PASC was sighted mn ticking.oving into the area. The Union fleet leader bravely told the officers under his command to hold the line.

When the assault on the military outpost finally came another Imperial fell under the withering fire of NN550 fleet missiles. With the door slammed shut the Union fleet broke for the neutral zone. In the ensuing fire fight two brave Union warships were destroyed.

The Battle of PASS-EMP 5 was over. The 3-2 kill score does not do justice to the importance of this battle. Hundreds of soldiers supported by a handful of Union warships made it covertly into Empire space. These operatives will work with your unit commanders in operations to come in the next few days. Keep fighting the good fight and as always check your usual drop locations.

Winters sun melts lead.

Winters sun melts lead.

The royal hall enters midnight.

The royal hall enters midnight.

Intercepted Revelations

2007-11-25T14:34:00.000-08:00

The following message was intercepted by a Union listening post somewhere in the South Pardus Rim and was decoded thanks to the heroic sacrifice of several deep cover operatives who were killed shortly after decoder data was transmitted to Union Intelligence officers:

Message Origin: Ska
Message Destination:??????
Encryption Classification: Omicron

Begin Message>>>>>

The high command has initiated program 2. Any messages concerning program 2 are for tier one eyes only. Tier two officers, even nobles are to be separated from any information concerning program 2. Conglomo nobles are to be separated from any information involving program 2. Even Conglomo tier one nobles. Once the reliability of program 2 has been assured in testing against undesirables program 3 can begin. Begin conditioning planetoid class cruiser hulls for program 3.

End Message>>>>>

Dark History Revisted.

2007-11-25T07:24:00.000-08:00

This subspace transmission is being beamed behind empire lines piggybacked on an advertisment to avoid the jamming net:

Brothers and Sisters,

Today I greet you once again in trying times. War has always been the highest test of the resolve of a sentient species, for we must compromise ourselves for killing. You may ask yourself how am I to kill a fellow Keldon? Remember: The beast on the plain knows no remorse when it kills for its survival. Neither must you feel remorse. You are fighting for your survival. For the survival of freedom. Sometimes in war we must put the very best of ourselves aside and let the beast rule the day.

The imperials have no aversion to freeing their inner monster. Word has trickled to Radio Free Keldon that the siege of Mintroassa City on Urlafa was only broken after the Ska'ari introduced a genetically inferior strain of the Pardus virus into the population. The funeral pyres for the dead could be seen from orbit. The Ska'ari and their collaborators once again prove blind to the lessons of history.

So I say to you my brothers and sisters when faced with such monstrosity we must respond in kind. The Gornz have a saying that sapients do not kill sapients. But can any species capable of using plague to kill hundreds of thousands of males, females, and clutchlings really be deemed sapient? When fighting the Ska'ari and the Ska'ari collaborators know that they have been engineered to fight for the conquest of the entire galaxy. No path is too low for them. They have used the most vile of methods to curb resistance on one of their own planets. Imagine what they might do to the home clusters.

To our Federal friends:
We know that you are tired of war. We also know that you are no friends to the empire. But surely you know that if the Union were to fall at the pincers of the Ska'ari then the emperor and his hordes will have no place left to go but Earth and Rashkan. The Humans and the Rashkir have a long tradition of fighting for the oppressed, for fighting against crimes against sentients. There is no bigger crime in the galaxy than what is being perpetrated against the Keldon freedom fighters in Ska'ari occupied Keldon space.

The empire have reintroduced the Pardus virus. They have brought it back straight from the blackest period in galactic history. Thousands of square light year were lost to us for generations because of their negligence once. What price will we pay for it this time? If this chapter of history ends with Ska'ari victory the sacrifice of those brave Keldons on Urlafa will be whitewashed from the history books.

The line must be drawn here or else the emperor will begin drawing a new line around Earth.

Fleets farm variant amounts of time.

Fleets farm variant amounts of time.

Skulls fear nothing.

Skulls fear nothing.

--------------------------------END TRANSMISSION

Developments

2007-11-20T14:01:00.000-08:00

This subspace transmission is being beamed behind empire lines piggybacked on a commonly used long distance communication channel to avoid the jamming net:

Brothers and sisters,

Yesterday I brought you good news of far off battles. Today I bring you messages of hope that have originated more close to home. In the past day or so hundreds of tons of food has been acquired from the open market on Keldona I. This food has been diverted from the usual destinations and is going to be distributed among the resistance cells. Also, over 200 Fleet missiles were purchased from Keldana I arms dealers by deep cover Union commandos. The warheads in these missiles will go far in helping you free your brethren from the Ska'ari pincer. Finally, dozens of escape pods were purchased from Imperial store houses. These will be taken to a safe place until a use can be determined. It is good enough to know that they are being denied to your enemy.

Also- it has been rumored that Union saboteurs have made their way into the emperors King Relon missile laboratories and corrupted the programming that makes these disgusting weapons of murder so devastating. I am sharing with you footage here of a valiant Chitin class gunboat fighting against one of the Emperor's flag ships:

Thanks to our operatives, who have been whole heartedly supported by you for months this brave Union crew lived to fight another day.

Imperial jamming techniques become more sophisticated each day. So I do not know how much longer I will be able to reach out to you in this manner. But please, do not lose heart, because we will not abandon you. You are our brothers. You will be our saviors. For when we have helped you throw off the yoke of Ska'ari domination you will help us usher in a new age of Keldon peace and enlightenment under the Banner of the Union.

Until next time, check your usual drops.

Rocking Chair.

Rocking Chair.

The Pen is Mightier than the PASC.

The Pen is Mightier than the PASC.

----------------------------------------------END TRANSMISSION

Fear is a Disease

2007-11-19T14:36:00.001-08:00

This subspace transmission is being beamed behind empire lines piggybacked on a Yildunese Financial News broacast to avoid the jamming net:

Brothers and Sisters,

The first days of the war were black for us. Though we fought valiantly the forces of the emperor took advantage of our youngness and stuck a blow in Cebece. We could have hung our heads low. We could have started pointing fingers at one another. We could have succumbed to the fear that maybe we were wrong.

You would not let us. You are out there cut off, alone, and surrounded by enemies. Your fight to free the sister grandmothers, and all their children, inspires us.

So, though we were beaten on that day we were not defeated. We rallied. We regrouped. We Patched our hulls. Then we forced our will upon the empire. We have made great strides in reclaiming our rightful territory in the East Pardus Rim. The Ska'ari occupation of Diphda has been crushed, opening the floodgates of commerce and information from the Union Rashkir core.

Finally, in a fine example of Union military superiority, we breeched the military outposts that the Ska have set up to keep you cut off from the rest of the galaxy. Once this was achieved our forces flowed in to inflict immeasurable damages on Ska assets in the Keldon core. With them they have brought tidings of hope. Look for your drops in the usual places.

So finally brothers and sisters, do not let fear infect you. Know that our eye is never far from you. Also know that when the time comes, those of you who are brave enough to stand up now and fight the invertebrate oppressors will be counted. Your will inspires us. I pray that our resolve inspires you.

Ackbar sings a sad sad song.

Ackbar sings a sad sad song.

The humans call them elephants.

The humans call them elephants.

--------------------------------------END TRANSMISSION

History Lesson

2007-11-17T14:25:00.000-08:00

The Following Message is being broadcast via subspace, piggybacked onto an episode of the Popular Wasati Soap Opera "'Experienced' Pirate":

Brothers and Sisters,

Many many generations ago when the other great races of the galaxy were still threatening their own existences with primitive fission weapons over fossil fuels, the Keldon people had mastered the entire Keldon Sector. Unfortunately during this time there was a schism. The Keldon Sector had become over populated and there was nowhere left to go. This was a black day in the history of our species. A group of outcasts, several thousand clutches strong, were sent away from the Keldon sector on a giant sleeper ship. Over the next few centuries the Keldon sector did not wither, obviously, but in that sector the basis of all modern space travel was created. The first wormhole was opened to Eta Cassiopiea and from there the Keldon Species spread west and north throughout the galaxy. History forgot the exiles.

The Keldon Protectorate spread outward over many parsecs until finally the inevitable happened. We stumbled upon the Ska'ari, and as is our nature; gave them the gift of the wormhole.

The Ska'ari have paid us back for that gift many times over. They have paid us back by dominating our culture, assimilating our technology to create their war machine and they have dragged our species into three costly intra galactic wars.

Now we, your exiled Keldon brothers and sisters in the Union have brought the fourth war upon them. The dream of a united Keldon species under the golden fist of the Union will see us through the dark days of this fourth Great War.

To our compatriots fighting within the atmospheres of Empire planets: Be strong and know that your allies are out there to support you. Your bravery will be the path to a united Keldon.

Nari nary a whisper.

Nari nary a whisper.

The two tailed cat yawns at supper time.

The two tailed cat yawns at supper time.

-----------------------------------------END TRANSMISSION

Radio Free Keldon

2007-11-16T16:51:00.000-08:00

This subspace transmission is being beamed behind empire lines piggybacked on routine traffic and space weather channels to avoid the jamming net:

Brothers and Sisters in the Resistance,

You have fought bravely against all odds for your freedom from the tyrannical shellbacks. We here in the Union have taken up your cause. Some of us in the Union have been helping you in your quest for the self determination of the Keldon species for many cycles. When finally you were strong enough you rose up and assassinated the collaborator Archduke. War declared by the empire only when it was clear that they could hide the shame of their injustice no longer. Though you may suffer reprisal know that the Union is here for you. At the time of this message there is war in two clusters. When this war is over rest assured your efforts will be rewarded with a rejoined Keldon species within the union and that the rightful homes of the Keldon species, the clusters known as the Empire Keldon Core, the East Pardus Rim, and the Union Keldon Core will be free of Ska'ari tyranny.

Now brothers and sisters I urge you to bide your time. Wait for your moment and let us occupy the emperors fleets in the wild sectors. There will be another moment for you.

The razorbeast has no fur.

The razorbeast has no fur.

Nine moons equals nintey mules.

Nine moons equals nintey mules.

---------------------------------------END TRANSMISSION

Incubation

2007-07-27T13:48:00.000-07:00

Males of my line are hatched twice. Around the 31st cycle of the sister grandmothers (which equates to about twelve Sirion-cycles) we are taken by a mad wanderlust. We all leave our clutch-mothers and clutch-brothers, this was a given for me. I left Sirion after my 11th S-Cycle. For the next five hundred star dates or so I plied my trade as a servant of Angels. Some cycle-tenths ago the ice-sister-grandmother reached perihelion many light years away and I was taken.

Keldons to not molt like their ancestors, but at this time I shed another kind of skin. The ways of the galaxy were to much to bear and I decided it was time to leave my home among the Angels in search of a better path. The path of the particle weapon instead of the sub-space. My metaphysical skin was shedding. I was becoming anew. I remained in the service of our great Don, but I did so in the shadows. From the shadows, my brothers and I, were more free to strike at the enemies of the Union. By default I was striking at the oppressors of my people.

The crew of the Red Mosquito and I traveled far and saw a great many things. It was during this time that we made our pilgrimage to see the sister grandmothers in their glory. They were beautiful despite the claw marks of the oppressors.

A torch cannot remain in the vacuum for long. My cause deserved to be in the light so I left the shadows. Having met and respected new beings and learned whole new perspective on the galaxy.

Every experience makes you wiser if you let it.

From the shadows I went to the light. The brightest place imaginable is where the star Sirius reflects off the armor of the Union. Here also I met new beings. I learned to respect a whole new perspective.

But you must always return home. So I have returned to the Angels of Edethex, Wainze, UG 5-093, and Cebalrai to incubate. I am waiting to be hatched again. Once again, as when I first joined my clutch brothers, my eyetooth will lead me to freedom. As long as I take breath I will follow the cause and someday there will be claw marks on Keldon no longer.

Finding Sirion.

2007-05-09T14:44:00.000-07:00

When the Keeper's Wake entered high orbit over Sirion the ships somewhat primitive AI took a moment to contemplate what it had accomplished. Over the past four hundred years it had accelerated a ship that had been a planetoid in a past life to a speed within a few hundredths of a percent of light speed. It was careful to balance the need to reach a good traveling speed with the need not to crush it's precious cargo under the weight of unbearable gravities. A healthy Keldon in stasis can comfortably survive 20 gravities of acceleration perpendicular to his spine. The Keeper's Wake accelerated at 19.9 gravities for three hundred years.

The Wake's AI detected Sirion at 99.95% of light speed. It was almost to late. Directional thrusters as large as Mt. Therasol on Keldana I turned the Wake 180 degrees. There was barely enough mass left in the core of the former planetoid to perform effective deceleration. The mass drivers fired in the opposite direction and decelerated the Wake at 21g's.

Many younglings died in stasis.

The Wake's AI regretted this but it could not allow the only survivors (so it was programmed to believe) of the Keldon species to fly off the plane of the elliptic and into intergalactic space. After 100 years of deceleration the Wake entered the Sirius system at .0001% of lightspeed. Her mission was done.

Schism

2007-04-19T18:22:00.000-07:00

When the wormholes to the Vega and Sirion clusters were opened a flood of disaffected settlers from both the Empire and the Federation came to make a new home. The Union was formed. When the first Union explorers reached Sirion they found a thriving civilization of Keldons had already established itself in the system.

Where had these Keldons come from? How did they get here without the use of the wormholes?

Researchers pried and soon found the answer... It was an event that barely registered at all in the annals of Imperial Keldon history. In a time before the Keldon species had discovered faster than light travel through the fabric of space/time the species nearly imploded in on itself. Over 100 Billion Keldons had spread to every remotely inhabitable rock in the Keldon home system. The sister grandmothers were overwhelmed. Tensions were exceedingly high as the last precious resources were running out.

There was no where else to go. The fusion drives of the day could not propel ships to nearby systems in any reasonable amount of time. Brave voyagers had been sent out decades before the crisis reached its boiling point and were never heard from again.

A contingency plan was developed, life was to rare in the galaxy to see the only known sentient race in the galaxy die in the cauldron that was becoming the Keldon system. A great ship was commissioned. For ten years the industry of the entire Keldon people was united in the effort of preserving the species.

The ship was named the Keeper's Wake. She was the size of a small moon. She was a small moon in fact- plucked from a high orbit over Keldana II. The glow of the achievement did not last long- Who would go? Who would be chosen to escape the inevitable destruction of the Keldon system? Imperial history mentions the outbreak of violent skirmishes on the outskirts of the Keldon system, about this time 1,000 years ago.

What Imperial history also mentions is that at about this time is that the first wormhole to Eta Cassiopiea was opened. The military elite of Keldana I kept this discovery under tight wraps and suddenly relented on their factions claim to the Keeper's Wake. The opposition faction- known as the Freewinders were suddenly touted as the saviors of civilization for their willingness to undergo the journey into the unknown. 18,000 Clutches were sent to the Keeper's Wake, some 300,000 Keldon, male, female, and hatchling were placed into suspended animation and committed to the stars.

They were committed into exile.

With the most vocal of the opposition gone the military crushed any resistance that was left and unveiled the secret of the wormhole. Over the next four hundred years the Keldons unlocked wormhole after wormhole moving ever closer to Ska'ari space.

The Keeper's Wake and the Freewinders were forgotten.

About the time that Keldons made first contact with Ska'ari the Keeper's Wake ambled into the Sirius system. When the moon's AI detected an M Class planet it moved into orbit and began the process of waking its thousands of inhabitants.

The Sirion Keldons believed they were alone and that the rest of their kind had fallen victim to the inevitable war over the last scraps of food and ore. They began their civilization again. The held true to their roots of free thought and free love. They were rooted in the earth but their minds were always in the stars they came from. My Clutch-mother's mother was present when the first Union scout landed outside Keldana Glimmer.

The dream of a reunited Keldon began at that moment.

I aim to live that dream.

The War of Words... and thoughts.

2007-04-17T14:40:00.000-07:00

The thing the Ska'ari fear the most is information. I have been rebuked by Imperials. They discount the truth because they have achieved so much! Even my brother Keldons who fly under Imperial colors scoff at the idea that their species is being oppressed. I am sure that life is good for the top few percent who are lucky enough to get a sabre and start their life among the stars. But what about the millions and millions of imperial subjects who toil day in and day out- no closer to the stars than the ancients - what about them?

The Ska'ari have capitalized on Keldon ingenuity, guile, and industry and now they fancy themselves as masters of the galaxy. The great enlighteners. Their empire is a farce. History will tell, brothers and sisters, of a dark time in the life of the Keldon species when we were divided. Some of us being free in the east but most of use caught in a mighty pincer in the south.

Parents of Keldana, hear my words, and whisper to your clutches. Tell them they are more than subjects of a Ska'ari empire. Tell them that some day they will live in a society where speaking out is encouraged. And tell them that they have brothers half a galaxy away who wish for nothing more than to be united.

Remember: Beware he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master.

Until the sister grandmothers are free.

-Dex

Radio Free Keldon

2007-04-16T16:32:00.000-07:00

Brothers and Sisters,

I am a son of Sirion. I am grandson to Keldona. My ancestors set foot on Sirion after traveling in the Generation Ship Keeper's Wake. We have been here since before the first wormholes were even opened. The Keldon spirit has given the stars to three other civilizations. We it not for our endeavor, the humans, ska'ari, and Rashkir, would still be murdering each other over fossil fuels.

Then the Pardus War came.

Since then the Ska have asserted themselves as masters of their "Empire". They wish themselves masters of the entire galaxy. You, my brothers and sisters of Keldon, have been duped into serving them.

Brave warriors of Keldona throw off the yoke of Ska'ari tyranny. Wear the emperors colors no more. Leave Empire space. Battle in exile with the Union until the day that our mother and grandmother can be free.

The Ska'ari agenda has stifled the rightful development of the Keldon species.

It must end now.

When I was young.

2007-03-23T20:52:00.000-07:00

I remember when I was fresh from the clutch. Keldons have the uncanny ability to remember all the way back to the moment their eyetooth first breaks the eggshell. A wise old Keldon will tell a foolish young human that he, in the past five minutes, has forgotten more than the human will ever know. I remember my clutch-mother nuzzling me free of the leathery egg. I remember the heat and the humidity. You drink the air in the low country. I remember my brothers and sisters bleating out the sing-song lyrics of our local dialect.

Keldons are mobile and communicative very early. This why we get a jump on things.

I grew up in the rather drab conditions that are customary in the Low Country. The city there Keldana Glimmer was the first colony established on the world by the early imperial explorers. It was quickly forgotten when settlements in the resource rich north were founded. The low-Keldons are often looked upon as backward. Often times they are, as backward as a super-intelligent being such as a Keldon can be. The early settlers scorned the space trade that left them behind on the southern part of the planet. Most low-Keldons live the way our ancestors did on Keldona four millenia ago.

My eyetooth needed to break the eggshell atmosphere.