"Still on Maretta, yeah, but not in any more danger than you'd expect. The truth is, I kind of figured there'd be trouble after that GNN report a couple years back, especially with that anonymous source bragging about how we're only getting better, so I went into deep cover looking for a break. Didn't come as a surprise to me when my Sakkra hosts declared war on us last year, right after the Psilons tore up that non-aggression pact of theirs. Anyway, I thought you might want to know about the 38-cruiser assault fleet heading for Tau Cygni - just left this system last year - and maybe also the plans I lifted from one of the Sakkra weapons labs. Could even have framed somebody, but I figured nah, better not call attention to anything. So, any chance Admiral Partha's boys can find a use for these fusion bombs?"
2487
"I'm still trying to come to grips with what our scanners revealed last year. After Agent Tyler sent over the plans for a mass driver (what use he thought that could possibly have for us, I have no idea) and the comp techs installed brand-spanking-new Advanced Space Scanners at all our orbital stations, we spent days poring over the data - but one green star near the galactic rim absolutely took the cake. We'd lost a ship there already, and we knew something crazy was going on there, but we never imagined the likes of Orion. The more we examine the date from our scanners, the more impossible it becomes to doubt: This is the Orion system of legend, the forgotten home of an ancient race of undescribable power. Legends differ as to their final fate, but there can be no question, from the energy readings, from the sheer quantity of intact structures on the surface, that the key to our galaxy's history lies just rimward of Collassa, protected by a super-dreadnought the likes of which has not been seen outside the Orion system for centuries, if not millenia. Such is the galaxy in which we live today."
2488
"This is GNN field reporter R2Z8UDD1, reporting live from Celtsi, where the Human starfleet has finally rooted out the last of the pirate havens, eliminating the pirate threat from the galaxy. For reasons best known to themselves, the Humans are continuing to examine the asteroids however, as intensely as they had been while searching for pirate hold-outs, though with less of an emphasis on primed and ready NPGs...."
2493
"So I hear research into Crypto's radiation sitch has been delayed yet again by the whole incoming-Psilon-fleet thing. Should have arrived this year, right? So how'd that go? They're not at war with us or anything, so they can't have sent much of a fleet."
"... uh ... 19 dreadnoughts?! 421 heavy fusion beams?! Not to mention hundreds of other weapons, including over a hundred streaming Tachyon beams? Is that fleet even legal? Errrr ... well, at least they won't do what someone did to Celtsi. I hear the pirate-interdictor fleet found evidence that the asteroids there are all that's left of a planet that got blown to pieces somewhere around the time that Orion Guardian was built. The asteroids are irradiated because of the reactors that went up on the planet's surface and the weapons that were used to blast it apart or something. Even seems to be evidence of highly advanced technology down there, though there's not much the fleet could figure out from the remains. Anyway, not that it's going to help Crypto with that death fleet, but I've done myself one better here. Remember how I nabbed Enhanced Ecological nanite designs at Sssla while everyone was distracted with reports of how we were done cleaning up the pirates and things? Well, it turns out the really juicy stuff was at Maretta. I'm sending over everything you guys need to implement Advanced Eco Restoration technology. No chance to frame anyone like last time, but I didn't bother then either, so no net loss, right? Anyway, good luck to those poor fools at Crypto. What are their defenses like, anyway? ... Wait, and you say the battle's over already? Ugh - I hope it wasn't too ugly."
"...um. Do I need my contact prescription adjusted? Do I see 75 Scatter/Stinger bases there? With 14 layers of shields and a fighter fleet? And what happened to all those dreadnoughts anyway? The cruisers and colships look like they're in full retreat!"
...
"Okay, so I guess we kind of took the place's defenses pretty seriously."
2494
"Hey again, guys! Seems like it's been a whole year! I figured while I was here on Maretta, may as well snag an automated repair system for you to play with, right? Sure! So I hear you're making peace with the Sakkra and Bulrathi this year then? Good to hear. Maybe if these pacifistic lizards catch me then, they'll go easy and only torture me for a couple of months. Hey, a guy can dream. Oh, and I wouldn't worry about the Darloks breaking their NAP with you. What are they going to do, throw their cloak pins at our repulsor cruisers?
2501
"Naturally the past few years have seen unprecedented scientific development among human worlds. It is my hope and expectation that the upward trend will continue. Omega-V bombs five years ago, opening the door to Pulson missile development, with a cheap ECM jammer and designs for a neutron blaster, courtesy - unbeknownst to either - of the Psilons and the bears the following year, all was followed up by another terraforming breakthrough, creating room for 60 million humans above the natural support levels on every world, the year after that, with a universal antidote now in the works. Of course the Sakkra contributed their Ion Cannon design two years ago, though they didn't know it - our agent didn't even bother framing anyone - and just this year, after confirming a new non-aggression pact with them, we sent our Psilon neighbors plans for old-fashioned anti-missile rockets, just so we could get some miniaturization in, through their gatling lasers. Our most imporant research project might be the one with the lowest profile though: With its ridiculously potent defenses in place, Crypto was finally able to take time out to do some exploratory drilling, and we're finding there, even more so than at Dunatis and Draconis, the incredibly rich mineral layer is actually a relatively thin coating over the planet's outer crust - thin by geological standards. It appears highly probable that these mineral riches actually consist of the worn-down dust and scrap of factories, cities, and combat bases once assembled by the world's inhabitants in the era of Orion, together with those of orbital stations, satelites, and starship hulls that were blasted from orbit, and burned in the atmosphere before crashing to the planet's surface or raining down as microscopic particles over the course of years or centuries. The radiation at our three rich worlds seems to be of a type with that of the asteroid fields that we now believe were formed by planet-destroying weapons of which we can barely conceive a fever dream today. The wars of the galaxy's ancient past must have been horrible beyond all telling - and to prevent their recurrence must become the new focus of the most powerful race in the modern galaxy: None other than Humanity."
2507
"I suppose we should have expected this. Let's review: The year afte we signed our latest NAP with the Psilons, our CS teams picked up another level of robotic controls development, en route to a mark 8 battle computer; at the same time, our agents were filling in duralloy armor and class 3 shields from Sakkra and Bulrathi bases, respectively, declining to frame anybody just because there was no point in being mean. No antagonizing actions against the Psilons whatsoever. But three years after the pact was made, they shredded it at their feet. Why? A cry ringing out for new colonies, apparently. Meaning they wanted our worlds for their own. Naturally, we responded the next year by grabbing an advanced ECM jammer - mark 5, if you recall - from their labs, but mainly we've been doing our own research: Class 7 deflector shields for still-more-invincible bases last year, and IIT 4 for cheaper factories this. Once plans for Class 15 planetaries and tritanium armor come to fruition, we'll be laughing at assaults from any quarter - and we'd have likely had another breakthrough if not for last year's computer virus - 29332 propulsion RP lost, destroying all our work in a project that was just about to hit! I don't know if Tachaon was just scared of us, or deluded by the GNN virus report into thinking we were a weak target, but what does he decide to do this year?"
"Of course. A war. Now, I've tried to present the facts impartially. I probably didn't quite succeed, but no matter which way you cut them, is there any way to pretend Tachy's not at fault here?"
2510
"Dear Diary: Chased another hundred-cruiser Bulrathi fleet away from Proxima today. Any chance they're ever going to learn? I hear the eastern worlds are building twin-fusion bombers just in case they need to make a point...."
2511
"Seems to be a year of fives. My agents in Psilon space picked up a Mark 5 computer from Xudax, and - not to be outdone - my favorite Maretta agent came up with Class 5 planetary shields. Don't tell him he was outdone anyway, all right? Oh, and the Sakkra declared war, which may have been his fault - don't know and don't really care. We just built almost a hundred new fighters to help deal with the last guy to declare war on our people."
2512
"Well, Tachaon's had his war going for five years now. Let's find out if he's tired of it yet. We just wiped out the fleet he sent to our Draconis colony, so let's see what he does about the fleet we sent his way."
"It's only going to get more lopsided. Our scientists just finished testing the new Pulson missiles, and a Hand Phasor design is up next."
2513
"One of our agents over at Thrax got bored and lifted a Hyper-V rocket design from some Psilon base. Oh, and Bullux declared war on us again. I lose track. Is that everybody?"
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Next: Not Quite
