Pakkrat

The Thule Project - Prologue by Pakkrat Through its constituent Librarians, the coalesced fragments of itself, the Malacore Consciousness gazed at its creation. It was the Index. The Index was created by the Malacore Consciousness to chronicle the entirety of human history, no matter how far back in time or how distant into the future humanity's story reached. With a portion of the Malacore Consciousness set adrift outside the time-space continuum, it was able to view humanity's timeline at any point. It created the Index for the purpose of recording all of it. Though no longer a single, Terran human man, the Consciousness that was once Dr. Elijah Malacore and listed in that period of his life as "P3889" by the Psionic Registry Act of Terra now gazed intently through its Librarians at the Index. It saw many entries that, to human eyes might look like large crystals that were capable of showing the recordings of pivotal moments. The being had seen many things that others felt was too grand for one mind alone. It had gone forward in time to watch as humanity rose to Dominion. It had viewed every instance that man had ever been brought to the brink of survival. The Malacore Consciousness was able to see every aspect of humankind's activity. The immense mind that was Dr. Elijah Malacore saw its first, purposeful birth in the timeline it now viewed from outside time and space. The year was 1987 C.E. to a woman named Dr. Carolyn Malacore. She had seen the arrival of light to Earth from her penthouse in Buenos Aires, Brazil. The light had journeyed millions of years to her planet. It told the story of the supernova of The Great Megallanic Cloud. Since then, the Malacore Consciousness had lived quite a few lifetimes, moving from human birth to human birth. This was the time of learning for the Malacore Consciousness as a fraction of humans began to be born with "the gift" of psychic mental abilities later termed 'psionics'. These human psionics thought differently as their awareness and consciousness was more open than the un-gifted humans. Some races went on to colonize space, embracing psionic disciplines and living openly with the gift. Some left on Earth were feared, misunderstood and marginalized and even ostracized for being gifted. The Psionic Suppressions even went so far as to commit pogroms to attempt to eradicate the Psis as being anathema to normal and mundane humanity. The being continued to view the Index, its creation. History played itself. If there had not been a fraction of itself blown outside the time-space continuum by the destruction of the star in the Great Megallanic Cloud, for which it had been a witness of a great battle of inhuman entities in a war; the Malacore Consciousness could not have felt what came next. The timeline tremor came as subtly as a baby's smile, a lover's kiss, or a zephyr on a field of marigold flowers. The Malacore Consciousness felt it as one views a tactical move on a single chessboard in an infinite field of chessboards, each playing out its own contest. It was an offensive move that had ramifications touching upon the Malacore Consciousness. It was an attack. Malacore did not have to ask why it was under attack. It had seen too much and was being attacked at a pivotal moment in time just before its psionic Ascendance. If the attack continued to succeed, it would have removed the Consciousness, its Librarians and the Index from this universe, possibly even destroying it utterly. This was unacceptable and so it made a move on the same chessboard metaphor to counter the attack. The initial attack was limited as the new opponents, the Greys (or Israfel as they were sometimes called) were limited themselves. The response counter-move, was likewise limited. To avoid time paradox, the opponents could not make direct changes to the timeline where they were concerned previously. Thus, the Malacore Consciousness could not warn itself as the human Psi, the Dr. Elijah Malacore. Both moves had to be subtle and cunning, delicate as a butterfly's wing-flap. The Malacore reached out and executed its move upon the dreaming mind of a Terran scientist engaged in applied research and development. Dr. Cuinnit Dougal listened to the Malacore with his unconsciousness with hopes he could remember and journal his strange dreams and unidentified visions. This maneuver was easier on mundane, un-gifted Terrans as Psis had learned to defend against such sendings. The contact was gentle and patronly, loving and yet alien. Dr. Dougal listened as the Malacore gave guidance. The sendings took weeks of the mortal human's time, something lost or infinitesimally small to the timeless being that was the Malacore Consciousness. Once its counter-move was completed, the Malacore Consciousness went back to viewing its Index to see the consequences play out in that period of the Earth and Beyond.

[attachment=2883:Siobhan Overwatch.jpg] The Thule Project - Foreword by Pakkrat To finish off the Pakkrat Master Genome trilogy, a clarification must be put down. This is a work of fan fiction and is not to infringe upon the original creators of Earth & Beyond. Though the characters are of my creation, the grand world of Earth & Beyond is not. I have made it no secret that I enhance worlds that I enter for the better enjoyment for my fellow colleague players. As to canon, where possible I tried not to bend the world in too many places. The story was gleaned from the Earth & Beyond Storyline Resource document and sort-of spoke to me this story, though not all at once. This third installment underwent at least three revisions to refine the events therein. In hopes that the reader, or player of the Earth & Beyond Emulator, will spark some of their own imagination, I encourage them to dig through all of my posts, character bio-dossiers, short stories, and novels to truly gain all that my storytelling has to offer. The Pakkrat Master Genome does not merely start with the first book and end with the third. The entirety is contained in parts of all my posts. It behooves the reader then to get acquainted with the entries I have made over the period spanning September of 2012 to February 2014. I have high hopes that the trilogy and its supplementary stories and dossiers will encourage others to write, post, or otherwise publish a little something of themselves or their characters for the rest of us. Please enjoy and feel free to comment as I feel a sense of community when I hear back from readers. -Pakkrat

For the Republic and Honor to the Jenquai!        February's Hunt for the Wolfsdottir is slated for Saturday February 8 and may continue into Sunday, February 9 if she is not found.  Remember that the Event can start as early as 6 a.m. Eastern U.S. time.  See the rules above as well as the options on how hunters can win the Event.       Again, I encourage this Event as a role-playing heavy occasion for the enjoyment for all interested in participating.    Good luck, hunters!   From the Special Events department at NET-7 SOL, this is the Pakkrat. 

Can we please make Gold Tokens stackable, even though they are Unique? I own three Unique Gold Tokens (Advanced Progen Unique Trade Token). Through missions and conversion of stackable Silver Tokens, I own more than I should. W.A.I.? Don't you touch my Gold Tokens. I just want them to stack, even though they are Unique. I worked hard for those without having to purchase them from Beneficium Suggero. From the storage deck at NET-7 SOL, this is the Pakkrat. Edit: My Progen Sentinel owns three Gold Tokens and should not, but nevertheless I was able to acquire them through missions and Silver Token conversion.

Congratulations to Amberlynne for doing her Sabine Order duty to report the x,y,z coordinates to the Sabine Order's greater fleet. The Wolfsdottir has been apprehended and taken to Detention Center Onorom. Magister Magna Amberlynne has been awarded a 200% Crimson Force Barrier and 10 million credits. The /tip exploit may warrant a change. Players using other toons to /tip the target toon: your names are visible. This Event is for Progen Sentinels and Jenquai Defenders only. If the GMs or Developers refuse or cannot disable the /tip command for the duration of the Event, I may have to alter the rules a little to curb /tip probing sectors for the target toon. One of the goals for this Event is to give the contestants something fun to do with the invite toons that can involve cooperation, actual gruntwork, paying attention to clues, and closing in on a target. In that light, should the /tip command be unable to refused or disabled: 12. /tip command used on the Wolfsdottir, to probe the sector for her presence, allows the Wolfsdottir to move a number of nav-points in any direction she chooses as probes warn her of nearby hunters. The number of navs she is pushed is equal to the number of /tips she receives. This metagaming reaction may push the Wolfsdottir into a new sector that may have already been searched and cleared. This rule is to curb /tipping by invited pilots and uninvited pilots of non-Event classes. Please don't spoil the fun for those fully involved in the Event. Keep in mind that there are four ways to win, none of which are 'better' than the others. The four options allow for some character-searching development in the hunter toon. 1) Ctrl-T the x,y,z coordinates in either [Defenders] if Shinwa or [Setinels] if Sabine, shows dutiful obedience to the mission of the respective Faction. 2) Capture of the target via Psi Shield or Repulsor Field shows more diligent participation of the hunter toward the mission completion to the respective Faction. 3) Allowing oneself to be bribed by the Wolfsdottir (and the Kaojin) shows the pilot can be persuaded to let her slip from the grasp of the hunter's Faction. 4) Blowing the secret mission's cover by /tell Pakkratius the x,y,z, coordinates (thus allowing Net-7 News full coverage of the political stink-a-thon), shows that the pilot may be disenfranchised with their Faction or just plain "stirring the political pot". All of these options are characterful means of winning the Event. Again, this is for fun. It sure beats repetitive powerlevelling, raiding, endless crafting, and farming for drops. From the Special Events department at NET-7 SOL, this is the Pakkrat.

Do you see that huge, circular gap in the navs of Akeron's Gate? There is a storyline reason for it. Check it out if you are interested. This may be why the nav-pathing in that particular sector is such. My nav-pathing complaint is focused on New Edinburgh sector. From Cartography at NET-7 SOL, this is the Pakkrat.

The Rewards keep growing and becoming attractive to even the most jaded of players, pilots. I can't go into details, but some of these rewards may turn the heads of even those Defenders or Sentinels that have attained that brick wall known as Overall Level 150. So, pilots of the Shinwa and Sabine, think twice before you write this Event off. I intend to kick off January's Hunt Event next weekend, (the 11th and 12th) when I can utilize more than one computer to properly officiate it. Dig out your glass cannons and your jack-of-all-trades. Remember to subscribe to [Defenders] and [Sentinels] channels. Finally, remember that I am an earlybird and intend to be online as early as 6 a.m. Eastern U.S. The Hunt Event can start as soon the target toon is logged on and the in-character announcements transmit. Live from Saturn, this is the Pakkrat.

Pilots may have to trade them at the StarClipper Station to prod the mission to advance.  From what I gather, the mission requires trading yes, but it's to be done docked at the facility in Mercury.   I have two Progen versions to trade, so PM me if you want to test this.   Just another spy moonlighting as a Reporter, this is the Pakkrat.

[attachment=2884:s.jpg] The Hunt for the Wolfsdottir - An Earth & Beyond Emulator Event by Pakkrat Sponsored by: Pakkrat Industries - What can PI do for you? Shadow's House of Pain Net-7 News The hunt is on for the Wolfsdottir, an AWOL Defender and possibly a Progen genes-thief. This secret mission has ramifications that can shake the relations between the Jenquai and the Progen. Contestants should be of only two classes, the Progen Sentinel or the Jenquai Defender. Those hunters should be subscribed to the [Sentinels] channel (if deploying a Sentinel) or the [Defenders] channel (if portraying a Defender). Object of the Event: Pilots must find the Kaojin Destroyer named Wolfsdottir. Once discovered, the pilot has a choice to make. They can: Report the x,y,z coordinates via Shift-T while targeting her Attempt to capture her in either a Psi Shield or a Repulsor Field Allow the Wolfsdottir to bribe them, allowing her to escape Blow the cover off the secret mission by /tell Pakkratius the girl's location Rules: 1. Secret Mission - no other race or classes may participate. They are not part of the story and not given the mission. Presence of any non-Sabine or non-Shinwa at the time of locating the Wolfsdottir forfeits the mission reward. Players may not group a Defender with a Sentinel. The two classes are not aware that they mutually hunt for the Wolfsdottir. Non-Defenders and non-Sentinels may not aid or point contestants to the Wolfsdottir. 2. The Wolfsdottir must hide outside pirate space and near a discoverable or hidden nav-point, space body (a planet or named planetoid), or just off to the side of any main nav-path. She may not enter Moto during the hunt. She may, in later months, add cloaking to the challenge. The hunted Kaojin may not hide in the Jenquai newbie sector, Europa. During the Event, the Wolfsdottir may not dock anywhere. 3. The pilot may [Roleplay] during the event so long as they do not betray the secret mission. Alternatively, role-play may occur on the [Defenders] or [Sentinels] channels as pilots of the same Faction may aid each other. 4. There can be only one victor who decides the fate of the Wolfsdottir. In later months and further Events, the victor toon is excluded from the Event. Please try another eligible class. 5. A dossier on the Wolfsdottir can be found in the Roleplaying sub-Forum under the thread "Post Your Character Bios." 6. Q/A can be /tell to Pakkratius (Event Manager) who will be the final judge on the victorious. 7. For more information on the story of the Event, read the novel, Wolf's Daughter by Pakkrat in the Roleplaying sub-Forum. 8. Contestants may not seek aid from Game Masters, Developers, or other Net-7 Entertainment Staff. Net-7 Entertainment Staff are excluded from the Event unless they are playing their "Player Account". 9. The Wolfsdottir has toggled her "Only my Friends can see my login/location" checkbox, so Friending her will not help. 10. The Event happens only once per month. Then the story resets itself the following month. Once a victor is declared on the appropriate channel, the Event is over for that month. The Wolfsdottir will only be logged on for several hours. The player of Wolfsdottir cannot stay online forever. If no immediate victor occurs, the Event may be continued to the next time the Wolfsdottir is logged on. 11. Thou shalt not get away with exploits of this Event. Net-7 News is watching. This list of rules is subject to change as exploits are found and dealt with. 12.  /tip command used on the Wolfsdottir, to probe the sector for her presence, allows the Wolfsdottir to move a number of nav-points in any direction she chooses as probes warn her of nearby hunters.  The number of navs she is pushed is equal to the number of /tips she receives.  This metagaming reaction may push the Wolfsdottir into a new sector that may have already been searched and cleared.  This rule is to curb /tipping by invited pilots and uninvited pilots of non-Event classes.  Please don't spoil the fun for those fully involved in the Event. Rewards: Credits and Player-made systems will be given directly to the player via a /tip command and trading a class-appropriate system. Some systems include: Crimson Force Barrier, Defender's Do-Marou Shield, Diamond Scale, Platinum Scale, and other devices, (Including Agrippa Technology) that are a valued addition to the winning Sentinel or Defender. Later, more choices will be offered to the victorious pilot. Helpful Notes: The Wolfsdottir is Overall Level 55-100, has no Build Skills and is generally found to be hunting mobs upon discovery. Her vessel, the Warchild is a black and red Jenquai Defender. In later months, the Event will become more challenging. The Wolfsdottir may try to hide via Cloak, evade capture by impulse thrusting or use of Fold Space, or other skills. Pilots will eventually need the buff "See Cloaked". Contestants should monitor the [Defenders] channel or [Sentinels] channel for dialogues from the cast for clues or updates, (such as a declared victor). Once the Wolfsdottir levels up and out of the OL55-100 range, the Shinwa and the Sabine give up on finding her and will conclude the monthly Events. Cast of Characters: Wolfsdottir (JD), a member of the Kaojin, the Destroyers, a sub-sect of the Shinwa that believes all reality is illusion and thus they can engage the Dance of Annihilation without moral quandary. She will try to bribe the pilot. Pakkratius (PS), the Anchor-rat for Net-7 News alongside anchorwoman Zona Mason. In the story, he is excluded from the secret mission due to his news affiliation. He will be the reward-giver to the pilot who betrays the secret mission to the press. Jooli (JD), the mission-giver for the Shinwa Defenders. She rewards the victor if that pilot is a Defender. Caiushellstrom (PS), the mission-giver for the Sabine Sentinels. He rewards the victor if the pilot is a Sentinel.

And while, I'm challenging multi-boxers..... How about effects which break group formation, e.g. Area Menace? Let's add more Fold Space in random directions to exploding mobs. It works in story like this: Example. The Zenshai baddie who just blew up was in the middle of spooling up his Fold Space when he was destroyed. This caused a split-second rip in the fabric of space-time continuum and threw everyone within 7k range in random directions. Though it did no damage, all the group members found themselves outside their formation. This attacks those pilots who are multi-boxing and then they have to spend time reforming their group. This encourages more team play and playing at most two toons at once. Let the H8rs commence... From the Tactics department at NET-7 SOL, this is the Pakkrat, squeeing with sadistic delight.

It's time for another Pakkrat's Overpriced Suggestions: Remember how asteroids occasionally explode on the mining pilot when an ore is selected for the mining beam? Dread, (or not) that debuff that comes of the exploding astroid? Most often with no other mobs in sight, that debuff is kinda wasted. The pilot goes about his business like nothing happened and waits out the debuff. Now for my idea. Give Named mobs and Boss mobs a parting shot by having them explode like pop-rock asteroids granting the immediate area of pilot(s) a nasty debuff that persists onto the next wave in a Raid, the remaining mobs or just as some added instant and/or absolute damage to the victory. This makes for some interesting encounters for taking down a Named mob. Example: With Diamond, Onyx and other crystal mobs swarming around "Raman the Polisher", the pilot is just about gotten that sweet drop from the boss. Then, suddenly, Raman, having lost the last of his 'shield' bar, goes mini-nova and explodes upon death. Impact debuffs and a ton of damage riddles the immediate area. This excites the remaining mobs who now have more reason to focus on the pilot making the killing blow on their hero mob. Now you have true reason to fear a Named mob, because this debuff is area effect, all your muliti-boxed ships are affected and the locals are super-angry. This adds a new level of challenge to mobs. Want to take it to the next level up? Have a randomizer sub-routine decide if a normal, un-named mob should explode. Maybe that Mabonae has a little too much pressure in all those gas globes and the pilot has been extra offensive. KAPOW! The roll was high enough that the mob explodes on death and sprays the area with a Chemical debuff or an Explosive debuff. With such randomity, it makes for some scary hunting when some extra comes of victory over a mob. Did that Red Dragon Veteran pack too much ammo in its hold? The killing blow hits all that ordinance and explodes upon destruction and bathes the area in Plasma damage and a Plama debuff is incurred on the side. This level of uncertainty may liven up things for hunters, raiders, campers, power-levellers and multi-boxers. Do I have it in for multi-boxers? *nod nod nod* Are you up to the challenge? From the Tactics lab of NET-7 SOL, this is the Pakkrat.

The pirate base maybe?  This mission arc is supposedly for toons before they have enough Red Dragon Faction.  In this early stage, the Progen Republic has yet to discover the presence of the Pirate Gates.   From the Stanig's Progen Funhouse Themepark, this is the Pakkrat.

Congratulations on laying the Ghost of Blackbeard and its swarthy crew to final rest at the Edward Teach Memorial, gang. I was watching the assembly phase of the public raid and it went well for its current experience. Daath is teaching the public (tr: non- or small-Guilded) players the fundamentals of Raiding. There are many variables and nuances that tweak the Raids, but each has to be iron-ed out on an individual basis. Big 3 (tr: Builders Inc, VonCorp Galactic Empire and Static): -suggestion- Don't want to actually take part in a public raid but still have the itch to help? How about sideline Jumpstart services or post-Raid Repair Equipment? Or even just be a vault for the looter to rush to and empty out. Even sitting in the battle-zone and Befriending the mobs (lowers aggro for your toon, but more importantly lowers mobs' Psi Resistance at max Befriend) is an idea. Big 3 that have done these raids know firsthand how tough doing their first few raids can be. Even if you are just there to watch the Publicks try their best, you too can appreciate their effort by being a sidelines assistant. Daath, I almost offered up my Sentinel's max Jumpstart services, (as above), but you guys seemed to have the raid down pat. Kudos. Perhaps next time, eh? From the situation room at NET-7 SOL, this is the Pakkrat.

The Earth & Beyond Storyline Resource document says:   "Whenever possible, key real-world events have been woven into the EnB Universe."   With that, I'd like to suggest the following dwarf planets, asteroids and other Trans-Neptunian Objects (hereafter TNOs) to be put into sectors for flavor, Explorable (XP) or not, into Ceres/Thule, the three Asteroid Belt sectors, Pluto and Charon sector and Akeron's Gate (supposedly in the Kuiper Belt of Sol).  Here is the list I found:   Eris and Dysnomia (currently Eris is a nav-bouy in Ceres/Thule sector and as such is in the wrong part of the solar system.   Pluto and Charon (already present) Nix, Hydra, Styx and Kerebos   MakeMake   Haumea, Namaka and Hi'iaka   Sedna   2007 OR10   Quaoar and Weywot   Orcus and Vanth       Again, I can think of missions, simple nav-Explore XP awards for surveying these TNOs, or just plain space objects with no nav attached.  It would be fun and may spark an educational desire to look the object up on Wikipedia or Google it.   I noticed there is a TNO named Thule, yet no asteroid or dwarf planet named Thule comes up in Wikipedia.  Is this a storyline object or other?     Finally, I don't know if the Ceres/Thule sector is meant to open in any part of the overarching metaplot, but if not, can we see it fleshed out and inserted into play?  One week, just after we went Live, the sector was accidentally open (the gate to Ceres/Thule being funcitonal).  Wyverlunder and I surveyed the sector.  This sparked my imagination as there were no mobs as of yet.  The sector features a cameo in my next book, so I thought I'd ask about it.   Live from Cartography at NET-7 SOL, this is the Pakkrat.

@ Terrell, Because it was my main and first vessel, I did not have much help with my poor, starting Collegia Faction. I had to level up the Sentinel all the way to OL 100 before my Faction was high enough to begin Agrippa. My advice is to do both Agrippa Shields and Devices as they feed into each other at times. It will make the Sentinel a valued manufacturer of the systems and the special components that go into the systems. My advice for your Privateer is to focus on Agrippa Components because the Sentinel will need the Hull Mesh Laminate III component to build many times many Security Optimal Override Alpha IV Devices. Then if you're feeling snarky, you can do Agrippa Shields on the Privateer. And let's all remember to begin Agrippa before Hull Upgrade 135 as the backdoor missions through Kenlz/Growlz have hit a snag of no fault of Agrippa line of missions. By the time Der Todesengel, Ardus and Roc re-open, this little hiccup will become canon. Live from Nostrand Vor, this is the Pakkrat.

A Treatise on the Progen Sentinel by Pakkrat I have played Earth & Beyond both during the 2002-2004 EA Games Live and 2012-2013 Stress Test 4 and Emulator Live. My 'main' toon is the Progen Sentinel and was my first avatar played when the Emulator went live in October 2012. Since then, I maintain that, contrary to the beliefs of some, that the Progen Sentinel is a valuable, almost indispensable addition to any group, mining operation, or raid. A graduate of Sentinel Agrippa Technologies has also enhanced my mastery of the class. This document will hopefully shed light on why Sentinels should not be downplayed. It will be seen to break through certain misconceptions that the player-base has shown in the past. If you, reader, feel I am right in my thinking, then this document is superfluous. This is to correct those who have told me in the past that they would never invite a Progen Sentinel to a high-end Earth & Beyond Raid event. Misconception 1 - The Sentinel cannot Tank. Misconception 2 - The Sentinel does not deliver enough damage in a group. Misconception 3 - The Sentinel does not heal. Misconception 4 - The Sentinel is a poor choice for solo play. The Progen Sentinel in an Explorer class. With the best Hull values, Shield values and Reactor capacities, even Megan, the game's representative, is correct in stating that the Sentinel is one of the most self-sufficient classes in the world of Earth & Beyond. It has been alluded though not verbally that the Progen Sentinel has an odd appearance or structural aesthetic. I beg to differ in that the Sentinel look akin to the great sailing ships of the pre-Industrial Age and that its configuration may look strange and out of place in the Crystal Age of sleek, aerodynamic and acrobatic vessels, it hardly matters in the vacuum of space. Aesthetically, Sentinel players find the ship elegant, exotic, gallant and grandiose as any Sabine Order craft should. The typical position in groups that a Sentinel occupies is the 'driver' the pilot who controls the positioning of the entire group. He is on the front line with the Progen Warrior and the Progen Privateer by default over other Explorers and even Traders. This is so because of the need to put projectile weapon-users as close to incoming mobs as possible. The back ranks are delegated to missile-users, healers and other supplementary vessels. The increased Scan skill and the Sentinel's activated and equipped 'buffs' allow for greater vision range than any other Progen while in the driver position. He is the toughest set of eyes in a group. With level IX shields such as the Crimson Force Barrier or the Skirmish Omega, the Sentinel can Tank, given healers do their job even nominally. It is rare that a Sentinel can hold 'aggro' for very long and even then, the Sabine Order can bow out politely through the use of its Power Down skill, (detailed below). The Sentinel suffers in only two places which I will cover one now. It is not the fastest ship in the selection. It may only install Engines of up to level VIII. This is hardly applicable in combat, mining or raids. In any group, warp speed is not needed accept in running trade routes. Thrust, or 'impulse' speeds may be important to get from point A to point B especially in gravity wells to the area that needs attention of an explorer or any other class. There are classes like Progen Warrior that prefer not to move in a battle, standing their ground. This nullifies any need for speed in group play. Many of the Engines that a Sentinel utilizes offers a wide range of buffs that aid in the self-sufficient roles that a Sentinel covers. The Reactors a Progen Sentinel may bring to bear reaches all the way to level VIII which, given the various Reactors available is more than enough to empower a Sentinel to do its job in any role, solo, mining, group or raid. With the usage of the Martyr's Heart VII (covered again later), the Sentinel suffers very little in the way of energy except in the heat of a raid where it must do a balancing act that is aided by other devices (also touched upon later). Weapons used by the Progen Sentinel are the same used by those of the Progen Warrior and the Progen Privateer. Thus comparison of weaponry at level IX is redundant. There is some Sentinel-centric weaponry at levels VII and VIII with weapons such as the Graverobbers' Scythe and the Ichor Cannon to name a couple. Compared to the other explorers, the Sentinel is the only vessel that sports four mounts, a Repulsor Field (touched upon again later), and has the widest variety of ammunition types. Impact, Explosive, Chemical, Plasma, and even Energy (per Zenrei Cannon) are available. This adds to the Sentinel's self-sufficiency and its versatility. This reaches beyond the ranges of beam weapons and most missile weapons. With the efficiency of many of the weapons the Sentinel uses, (Agrippa's Flechette Omega covered later), the Sentinel is able to maintain a stream of weapons fire with its four mounts and still make use of its devices dynamically. The only detail the Sentinel suffers is the lack of ability to manufacture its own ammunition which outside of solo play, mining and hulking, group and raids, is redundant and not worth mentioning. This is supported by the fact that at anytime between such events the Progen Sentinel can acquire normal ammunition from vendors or ask other pilots to fashion its ammunitions by the stacks. During an event the mid-sized cargo capacity allows for plenty of supply on hand. The Devices category is where the Sentinel shines in the hands of a pilot that is unafraid to change them even during battle. Most vessels perform pre-event buff session in the minutes beforehand. Then they ride out the event with the same load-out. The Sentinel is an exercise in dynamic device use, before and during the event. This play style is for the multitasking pilot who can lay down offensive fire while re-tasking her Device slots. This is especially true between waves of mobs in a raid. It is here that the many roles of the Sentinel can be taken advantage. Before an event, the Progen Sentinel can help any group prepare for what lies ahead in its various buffs Devices. With a little research on the event's mobs, a Sentinel pilot can raise the deflections (Deflects) of the entire group in addition to pre-existing numbers from equipped systems with Devices such as: Armadillo Plate, Elephant Hide, Chameleon Skin and so on. After the entire group is so buffed, the chosen Devices can be put into cargo and only used if the raid takes longer than planned. Other pre-event buffs can include shield capacity increases from systems like the Drone Shield Amplifier. This can be done in under two minutes time with the help of a Martyr's Heart Device. This is preemptive healing of a sort and one of three ways the Progen Sentinel is a healer class. While driving under the influence of increased scan range from equipped and activated Devices, the Sentinel can see the correct mobs to target. This allows the group to choose the Sentinel's target long before they can see the incoming mob. Once the targeted mob comes into range, it is the goal of the Versatile to engage de-buffing devices that lower a target's resistances and deflections via Devices such as Basilisk, Salamander, Cassel's Wither, Skirmish Omega in addition to others' usage of similar de-buffs. This is taken advantage of by second or third groups who are firing upon the same de-buffed mob. All groups then deliver extra damage when firing upon that target. This added damage, contrary to popular belief, is attributed back to the Sentinel with every shot that lands. When multiplied across the various incoming ships firing upon the de-buffed target, the damage the Sentinel delivers is quite cumulative. The added damage is not the merit of the group or raid member who is firing. It belongs to the Sentinel's credit though attained aggravation, or 'aggro', is still given to the vessel firing in the first place. Many an event has completed faster with these de-buffs successful use on every targeted mob encountered. At level IX, the added damage is the Sentinels compounded by the fact that the Sentinel herself is still firing her own weapons. There are Devices and other systems that offer increased damage on the Sentinel's weapons or on a targeted group member. The Skirmish Omega (an Agrippa Shield) adds increased projectile force which is cumulative with other Devices that add a certain percentage of outgoing damage. Ancient Artifacts, or 'aa' Devices such as the aa Gahtu Y and the aa Gahtu Daimo Y are two examples of such cumulative damage additions. This taxes the Sentinel's reactor power, so it behooves the pilot to use the Skirmish Omega personally while giving the major damage-dealers such as the Progen Warrior the activated buffs of the 'aa' Devices. Again, this extra damage is attributed to the Sentinel, not the recipient. The buffs spurts should be done as often as the reactor allows in conjunction with the replenishing Martyr's Heart upon the Reactor. A helpful hint for Sentinels is to watch the fellow group member and activate the buff when they are firing and then notify the recipient of such. This also occurs while the Sabine Order Sentinel is still firing her own weapons. If there is room and the Device is ready, the Martyr's Heart is usable upon fellow group members such as the healer(s). This is a boon of the Sentinel and any other owner of the Device to the healer. It can happen during the firefight or between mob waves. Between mob waves in a raid is an excellent time for the Progen Sentinel to come to the rescue of group members. The Restore and Refresh Devices serve to increase the shield regeneration of the ally while the healers continue to use their Recharge Shields skills. This cuts down on the energy use of the healers in preparation of the next wave. It is the second type of healing that the Sentinel delivers. There are passive and equipped Devices the Sentinel can take advantage to further increase their individual damage. An example is the Titan's Heart device. This allows for all the onboard weapons to further increase outgoing damage. Such stacks with activated buffs from aforementioned Devices. This technique is especially useful in solo play. With Devices installed, the Sentinel makes an excellent looter-position raid member. Harpy, Roc, Golden Tooth, to name a few make the Sabine Order an ideal clean-up crew to reduce the amount of objects clouding the field of battle. These Devices are added to the Sentinel's Power Down skill to make stealthy cleaning safer as she flies about looting corpses for the raiders. Several skills brought to the table by the Progen Sentinel further aid solo or group events. The foremost of these skills is the dreaded Repulsor Field, the singular providence of the Sabine Order. Since the Repulsor Field is usable on all group members, any retributive damage upon mobs from hits upon group members is 'absolute' damage and is attributed to the Sentinel and not the recipient vessel of the Field. When activated over the group's Tank, the top damage-dealer and the healer(s), the Repulsor Field makes enemies pay for all damage they inflict upon the group. This is yet another source of outgoing damage and cannot be deflected as it is 'absolute'. Since the Repulsor Field can be utilized outside of a group, an entire raid can be layered in the skill, furthering the damage output of the single Sentinel driving a single group. Though not as powerful as the Progen Warrior's Gravity Link, the Sentinel version is just as capable at slowing a target, paralyzing lesser mobs and de-buffing the target's Impact deflection. This skill use de-buff is cumulative with the activated de-buffs of aforementioned Devices. Gravity Link de-buffs the target for all incoming Impact damage and thus that extra is attributed to the skill-user though the base damage is the providence of the original damage-dealer. Another way for the Sentinel to shine as the Gravity Link is very cheap in terms of expended power. Coupled with the Sentinel-only Deadly Grasp, the Gravity Link beam spools faster and has greater effect, possibly beyond that of the Progen Warrior. The only difference is that the Area Gravity Link power allows for more affected targets via the Warrior's version. Critical Targeting skill is found on only one explorer-class vessel, the Sentinel. While other explorers may compensate with Devices such as the level VIII Good Fortune or weaponry that features the buff, the Sentinel is the explorer that enjoys the buff above and beyond the others, adding the bonus to percentage of delivering critical hits. The Sentinel adds this to her damage dealt as all weapons fire, whether in solo or group play. Again this occurs without draining the ship's reactor as a passive benefit. Though all explorer craft can use Jumpstart skill to revive incapacitated ships, the Sentinel makes use of Devices such as the Tactical Advantage Omega to spool the derelict back into action faster. The Device is usable by other classes as well. As a free agent in a raid and using the Power Down skill, the Sentinel is an untouchable medic on the field of battle. While others may use cloaking skills, we repeatedly find mobs that can use See Cloaked buffs such as the Skirmish Omega shield. Power Down surpasses that buff and hides in plain sight the Sentinel. The many benefits and applications of the Power Down skill have been touched on above. It is of massive effect at higher levels to help a Progen Sentinel recover midway through a fight, whether soloing or in groups. A Sentinel can even initiate a looting action, loot an object and re-Power Down if her timing is on par. More for use in solo or small-unit tactics is the fearsome mastery of the Sentinel's Menace above and beyond the Progen Privateer's version. With the Skirmish Omega installed, a Menace can take the edge off any battle for a time. Using Area Menace can take the load off the healers in a group and allow them time to recover their reactors as the Tanks stop taking damage. Menace precludes at higher levels, the target mob's skills usage. This makes the Sentinel a crowd-control class as well above the Fold Space skill of other races because the mob may still use skills and long-range weaponry. In Earth & Beyond, a ship's Shield system and the various Devices are valuable. So, the Progen Sentinel's Build Shields and Build Devices skills are quite valuable to both herself as a user of such systems but all other classes have need of Shields as a survival necessity. A ship cannot leave dock without a shield installed. As of this treatise, the special Progen Token missions of the Agrippa Technologies line offer the Progen Republic a substantial leg up when it comes to systems and Devices that focus even further the capabilities of their three classes. A user of all the systems, the Sentinel compounds his effectiveness when all of the Agrippa systems are installed. They work together to make the vessel very efficient. The Flechette adds to Reactor recharge. Tactical Advantage Omega adds to many of the Sentinel's actions (see above). The Ambush Reactor line at level VIII is used by the Sentinel to reduce Device energy requirements, furthering the dynamic changes and balancing act a professional Sabine works. A substantial boon is the Skirmish Omega Shield, which is both powerful in capacity and recharge, but also in its activated and equipped buffs. A final word about the Progen Sentinel. While it is the most versatile and self-sufficient class in Earth & Beyond, it takes practice and hand-eye coordination to fully master the class. Switching Devices and activating skills might take the place of weapons on the Heads-Up Display's Action Bar. The faster a Sentinel pilot can activate skills or systems and re-install Devices, the more it can aid itself or the group(s). While I do not profess that the Sentinel is the best class in the game, it can be the class that lasts with activities (read: Things To Continue Doing) beyond Overall Level 150 as other classes close down their sustainability. A Jenquai Explorer may find a task of mining and the occasional taxi service using its Wormhole skill. A Sentinel can continue to aid other pilots outside combat and events with the beloved Call Forward skill, allowing itself and other pilots further mutable modification of their classes. Mining continues beyond 150 as well and there's always treasure hunting the hulks of the galaxy. Warriors hunt. Traders trade, but the Progen Sentinel does them all at end-game. Thus, my choice of the Sentinel as my 'main' toon as it can be enjoyed even after the end-game benchmark. Disclaimer: I do approach this treatise from the end-game point of view because that is where most multi-ship groups and raids prefer any of their members. Valuing Overall Level 150 of all members except the 'Looter', makes all events a benchmark goal to complete the event. In levelling up a Sentinel, I still enjoyed the class, mission, activities, and quests for advanced skills like the Call Forward. I feel that the Sentinel is an upper-echelon class to enjoy at all levels due to its versatility and self-sufficiency. 30

I will not take that wager. I do not believe that cold weather will be impetus enough to log on to the Earth & Beyond Emulator. There are too many other factors in play that have reduced our numbers from 400+ and spikes of 500+ down to 30-260. On top of that, there are those who are logged on with more than one box, tower, or toons. That halves or thirds the correct number of warm bodies playing. From the Census department at NET-7 SOL, this is the Pakkrat.

Wolf's Daughter - Epilogue and Acknowledgements by Pakkrat I was hauling yet another full cargo hold of that stinky, "Collegia Aromatic Dark Chocolate" to the edge of known space when I was watching the galactic news. Here I am, in the so-called Crystal Age and I see some Progen on the tele with my face. Well, it wasn't exactly my face, but this Pakkratius guy, he could have been my twin if he were from Earth instead of Mars. Maybe I was just seeing things as I ran the Nostrand Vor - Fenris trade run. Was it the chocolate that was making me drowsy at the helm? I rubbed my sore arm to keep myself awake as I plod on for the likes of InfinitiCorp. They were the ones to crack me out of that ice block and put me back in the saddle. I could still be a rat-sicle otherwise. *The Pakkrat Master Genome continues.....* Acknowledgements A word of thanks goes out to the players of: Vitaes, who helped me understand synesthesia, more specifically chromesthesia and how it can hinder or help those whom have it. He was helpful in giving me a run-down on the character Vitaes and the Grandmaster's history and family. Zyrith, who though I haven't had the pleasure to chat with in a while, gave some of her character, Zyrith Sky's face-time with the Pakkratius. Through her, I got to show some details I found in the original Storyline Resource for Earth & Beyond. ShadowWalker and thanks to him, I have a Jenquai assassin with a Carolinian accent stuck in my head. He was my go-to source for the Jenquai crunch (game mechanics).

Wolf's Daughter - Ch. IX by Pakkrat IX. Their leader had said to let nothing stand in their way to complete the mission to capture a gene-thief of Progen Republic secrets. The Sentinels had also been ordered to leave no asteroid without a search. The taskforce began to strip mine the asteroids. One by one in this sector, the gene-thief and her accomplices would be rooted out eventually. Meanwhile, the leader of the overheard Defenders was confronting Magister Hellstrom. Protesting the presence of the 'invading' Progen, this Joo Li of the Shinwa chastised the Sabine Sentinel. "I don't know why you are here, Magister," said the Ken'shao, "but you and your rag-tag explorers are to leave Jenquai space. The fact that you managed to open Vishao's Gate is proof enough that you have committed espionage and have crossed uninvited into the Antares solar system, the jurisdiction of the Jenquai Hierate." Caius Hellstrom fired back, "From what we just overheard, Ken'shao, you aren't supposed to be here either. You know, you Jennies need to get your act together. It was your wing of Defenders that made my entrance possible and I thank you. But I am here on business and that mission is inviolate. Stay out of my way and you Jennies can have your frontier." "You pompous, insufferable-" the Defender commander was cut off, much to the laughter of the mining Sentinels who continued to dig for the hidden gene-thief. But it was not the Magister who had disconnected the signal. Across the sector, a ship exploded and garbled the signal connection. "Sentinels," called Magister Hellstrom, "the indigenous lifeforms have attacked the Defenders. I declare a state of alert. All craft are to return to combat readiness as you continue the search for the gene-thief and her accomplices." Across the scouring Sentinel ranks, Repulsor Fields lit up the plane of the asteroid fields as the mining beams continued to break asteroids and tractor them into cargo holds. Of course the field was much too large and numerous for the entire taskforce to take in. So, the Sentinels spaced the slagged and pulverized crystals as they removed one hiding place after another from the frontier. One asteroid exploded with the eruption of five tiny specimens of the winged creatures who attacked the Sentinels in a small swarm. The Sentinel fired with its Sparta! Mortar projectile weapons, killing two before the blast of the asteroid engulfed the ship and the young bolted the unlucky Sabine caught in their storm. The young destroyed the ship even as the Repulsor Field, flickering as the ship 'died', killed another of them. High-energy calls on frequencies off the transceiver scales bounced from every asteroid, resonating with the wails of the angelic space fauna. Like whale-song, their calls echoed off every surface in the high-end electromagnetic spectrum. * * * In a tight, line-of-sight lasercom beam, the Pakkratius called to Dot. "Dot, do you see that massive crystal asteroid out there past that point? I need you to thrust, on impulse only, to it. Do not use warp as the cone and your wake will alert the Defenders and the Sabine of your presence. Go there and hide your ship behind its refracting crystal." "What about you?" asked Dot. "You can't move or you'll be seen." "I'll be behind you after you are almost there. Trust me." "If they harm us, I will destr-" she was cut off by the Doctor. Anger in her surged. "No, Dot. No matter what happens to me, you must live. Live and get away." "But you-" protested Dot. She was beginning to think that the Pakkratius was becoming suicidal in the face of the approaching Defenders and the Sabine who were tearing the asteroid fields apart in their search for them. "But nothing. I am Progen and will answer the Call Forward if I die. Now go." Wolfsdottir was torn. This was the man who had offered to help her off the deck of Paramis Station. He had chased her across Terran space, just to talk to her. The Pakkratius had verbally complimented her abilities and attainments. He had helped her meet her biological father and held the crying Dot at Wolf's banishment. The Progen had fought Mordana with Dot in her defense by drawing the Followers' ire. She was the ex-Defender, the ex-Sev Tushnim. She had been the one to give aid unconditionally. Never before had someone given so much of themselves, their career and even their life for her. It hurt her heart to have the tables turned so sublimely. The girl tore off her black head ribbon and wrapped it about her right hand on the flight stick of her craft, the *Warchild*. Her silver-ish hair fell wildly about her shoulders in a bush of spikes. Then, winging over, Dot made for the glittering glass spire that would later be given that name. On impulse thrust and under her invisibility cloak, she left the Pakkratius. * * * "Perhaps this one is the apprentice proceeding under assumption," apologized Ariad to Grandmaster Vitaes. "How the Shinwa and the Sabine have arrived unbidden is a flaw upon the part of the Hierate." "It's too late to analyze what cannot be undone, Lady," said Vitaes. "What can we do to help Wolfsdottir and the Pakkratius?" Ariad closed her eyes in a pause for meditation. Then she smiled and opened her eyes. Taking the Shad'ha'dem Grandmaster to a cargo container and opening it, she explained to him, "This shipment was to augment our communications. Take this device to your friend, the Progen Reporter. Have him install it. He will know what to do next." Vitaes saw the device and lifted its heavy bulk. It was an antenna converter, used to translate communications signal frequencies between the various galactic communications systems. It allowed all races, Terran, Progen, and Jenquai to match signals and communicate freely. It was analogous to the ancient Earth "red phone line" between warring governments. Now, on Antares 1 Station, it was an attempt to make translatable the inscrutable garble that was the Voltoi signals. "Ascendance to the Jenquai, Grandmaster," said Ariad as she ushered Vitaes to his Explorer craft. "Antares 1 will be ready." "Contemplation and compliance, my Lady," acknowledged Vitaes as he entered the sleek vehicle, with the device in-hand. By now her voice and courage had his chromesthesia feeling a positive and vibrant feedback to his senses. Just by the colors in his vision, the Grandmaster could trust Ariad. He now had to make it alive to the Pakkratius. * * * He had waited until Dot was just outside of his own scan range, extended as it was by his devices, before spoiling the holographic disguise over his vessel. The *Culler* thrust from the planetoid Anci. As it gained momentum and speed, travelling in the direction where he had last seen the *Warchild*, the Sentinel was hailed immediately by the nearby Sabine Order. They had been mining one or two fields over and stripping away any chance of hiding among the fields. "Doctor Pakkratius of Net-7 News, you are to stand down, heave-to and prepare to be boarded," called one crimson-sailed Sentinel. "Don't make this harder on all of us, Magister Magna." But before they could lock their Gravity Link beams on the white vessel, it was out of range. Just how fast was the *Culler* at impulse speeds the pursuers wondered. The Pakkratius' ship was still accelerating deeper into the fields. It was dangerous to fly so fast in such cramped quarters of the sharp crystalline asteroids. There were calls of warnings among the orders to surrender. Then came calls to the taskforce detailing the fugitive Sentinel ship's position. Pakkratius sailed between the glittering asteroids, his white, armored plates fanning each asteroid as he flew past. Putting as many of the rocks between his craft and the Sabine Order would obscure any targeting as well as slow the hunters. Beads of sweat formed on his brow as he lent all his attention to the most acrobatic stunt flying he had done in his Sentinel-class ship. Yet, even as he dodged another spiked crystal rock, the *Culler* could no longer be termed a Sentinel-class ship, given the strange and alien infestation of weapons, shields, engines and devices from all over the galaxy and beyond its swirling boundaries. The darkness of the bridge was lit only by those empowered systems as the pilot wrenched his sails sideways to fit between two massive asteroids. Now at a full impulse speed, pouring everything but the warp drive into his weaving, Pakkratius had to dodge asteroids, but also weapons fire. Zipping past mining Sentinels, he saw them turn and fire with no time to spool up their Gravity Link beams. Crystal shattered at the ordinance that struck it. This created a cloud of glittering debris that only served to confuse scanners the more. A tail fin on the *Culler* caught an asteroid fragment that tore it off near its base. This caused a screeching sound to reverberate through the ship. Pakkratius gritted his teeth against it as he flew on. His scanners warned him of movement in the field ahead. Activating his Skirmish Omega shield again, the red hex-grid over the shield revealed the cloaked and nimble Defenders trying to cut him off. They were cloaked but revealed to Pakkratius alone. He wouldn't allow himself to come any where near him and try Dot's favorite trick, the Fold Space maneuver and shunt him where he had no control. He pulled to port and heard his sails wail in the force of the banking turn. The Defenders were not as fast as Pakkratius' devices allowed, but they were having no problems navigating the field. The lithe and sleek darts of the Shinwa were designed for such acrobatics. Ahead was the massive spectral colors of the crystal asteroid Pakkratius had sent Dot to conceal herself. As he rounded yet another crystal-rock asteroid, the Doctor could see the embedded and tiny spheres of implanted, angelic, Voltoi young in its structure. There must have been tens - no far more than that - 'eggs' in that huge asteroid. Pakkratius could not count them. The Sentinel felt sick at himself. He did the causal math. In trying to escape the Shinwa and Sentinels, he had sent Dot here. Then to catch up with her, he tried to make way here too. Now, seeing the 'nest' of the glassy, rainbow asteroid, he knew that the Sabine would rip it apart with their mining beams to get at Pakkratius and Dot. He was dooming the young Voltoi in his own preservation. This was survival, one darker half of himself told him. Pakkratius fought his own inner war as he pulled behind the Glass Point and slowed to a halt. Dot's ship was there, still cloaked. She must have been watching the entire time with her passive Telescopium device. He felt her silence meant she knew too what they had both done. His other, more humane half chided him all the more. The two sat there as the Sabine Order continued to grind down field after field in their fervent search. Being too fast for the Defenders, they too searched the sector for the renegades, but again came into contact with the Sentinels. * * * Ken'shao Joo Li had just about had enough of this incursion of the Sabine Order in Jenquai space. She may not have had the entire sector mapped, but the Sentinels were now an aggressor, stripping the fields in obvious chase for her prey. "This is Ken'shao Joo Li of the Shinwa Defenders," called the wing commander. "Sabine commander, you are to depart this space immediately!" An answer returned with the face of the most square-jawed Progen man Julie had ever seen. His grim and determined face also featured anger. "You will address me as Magister Caius Hellstrom of the Sabine Order. I already hold the Jenquai responsible for aiding, housing and hiding a gene-thief named Wolfsdottir. Surrender her or there may be consequences." It was confirmed. The Sabine were after the AWOL girl too. Julie winged over to the source of the answering signal. "The Wolfsdottir is a warchild and a citizen of the Jenquarum. You will not have her. Turn back from Jenquai space and return to Beta Hydri neutral territory or face the exacting wrath of the Shinwa!" "So be it then," called this Hellstrom. "You are hopelessly outnumbered, Defender." "You know nothing of the Shinwa then, gene hunter." The Shinwa and the Sabine began clashing across the Antares Frontier in small spurts where they found each other. One Defender was able to confound two or three of the sailed Sentinels at a time as they tried to rip apart fields of asteroids. Beam weapons and mass-driver projectiles lit up the night in each micro-theatre of battle. *They fight each other as they approach our nest.* *Bite them! They gorge on and make the night loud with their energy and plasma.* The atonals sped forward while the tonals veered off. The tonals had seen the slow progression towards the home nest where younglings were housed. *Khizz, I will cull them in hopes they will turn away.* *No, Xaxx, destroy them. Bite them all.* Defenders split the formations of the Sentinels, just as they found themselves unable to move under their increased mass. Black-brown Gravity Link beams made maneuvers insane to attempt. The Defenders countered with seemingly random Fold Space shuntings. Just as rapid in succession, the Sabine found their reactors drained by the siphoning beams of invisible ships appearing behind them. Streaks of energy and plasma were answered by heavy-element slugs coated in corrosive casings. Weapons fire exchanged. Those few, beleaguered ships that sought to make for the sidelines of the battle were set upon silently by the Deviant Voltoi. *Bite!* A lightning bolt of electromagnetic energy struck the already tired ship of a Sentinel. It's armored hull shredded even as the reactor was emptied by the electromagnetic pulse of the Voltoi's discharge. *Tear!* Another atonal, Khizz this time, let loose his lighting pulse upon one of the dart-like metal craft. Its bolt landed on the shields, but it was the EMP that overloaded the already-full reactor inside. The capacitor containment field failed and the reactor erupted in a cascade release of energy that destroyed the Defender outright. *Shred!* Xaxx's bolt caught a Sentinel ship too slow to dodge. The armored sails went in all directions as the ship broke apart. * * * Pakkratius watched with hopelessness as the fields surrounding the Glass Point were slowly chewed by the mining beams of the Sentinels. It would not be long now that their hiding place would be discovered. Dot had given up on cloaking at this point. If he was visible, then it stood to reason that she would also be close. The Doctor could have made calculations of how much longer the two had before their discovery, but he no longer wanted such details. Instead he began re-rigging his devices to fight off his own kind, the Sabine Order, to protect the girl. "Let them come," said a resigned Dot. "I'll cut their ships in two." "No, Dot," warned the Progen man. "Incapacitate them if you must, but in the end, try to escape. If that fails, pray to your Ben Joseph that the Sabine are merciful." "The Defenders will not let the Sentinels escape this system now that they have crossed the line." "From what I can see and hear over the comms, the Defenders are fighting the Sentinels to get at you themselves." The two pilots shelled their ships with Psi-Shields and Repulsor Fields and waited for the first ship to come in range. It was inevitable. The arriving Sentinels were immediately followed by the Defenders who warped in once they had the mining pattern down to this focal location. "For the Republic!" shouted the Sabine leader. "Honor to the Shinwa!" answered the female Defender commander. The two Factions were upon Glass Point. There was little hope for escape. Vishao's Gate was still blockaded by the Sabine Order. Pakkratius stared at the numerous sails of the Sabine Sentinels bearing down on them. The sleek Defenders, not to be outdone raced in as their warp signatures dissolved. There was an immediate standoff despite the pitched battles between the two Factions elsewhere in the sector. There was a pause as each side waited for the first shot to come. Arriving behind the Defenders was a single Jenquai Explorer, the *Rocinante* who over-shot the two Factions and dropped out of warp, right on top of the two who waited out their exposure. "Pakkratius!" called Vitaes from his ship, "You must make use of this device immediately!" A tractor beam pushed the device towards the white sails of the *Culler*. "She said you would know what to do next!" "Out of our way, Sha'ha'dem!" called the commander of the Shinwa. "You are already in trouble, Grandmaster Vitaes!" "Agreed," said the Sabine leader, the Hellstrom. A mining beam lit up his ship and began ripping into the huge crystalline asteroid Glass Point. More beams from the gathered wingmen Sentinels followed suit with their own mining beams. "No! You don't understan-" called Dot. She swung around the crystal and interposed her ship between the mining beams and the massive crystal. This halted the beams but exposed the girl to the spooling Gravity Link beams. She was hit several times, paralyzing her craft. Pakkratius saw all of this as he received the Jenquai device and proceeded to install it in place of another. The connectors were not compatible but still fit. He worried that when he threw power through the device that the conduits would not hold. It sat in the cradle just fine, but the connectors. They would need some form of binding to keep contact. The Doctor reached into his hip medical kit for some form of binding material and came up, surprisingly with a large roll of silvery tape. He would later remember that the Terran on Dahin planet had slipped him a roll of the 'miraculous' duct tape, a wonder of ancient Earth technology. Pakkratius frantically wrapped the conduit connections. Outside, a third fleet of ships arrived. The Sharim merchants, tenders, cargo ships, repair haulers, and other sundry craft arrived. They had followed Vitaes from Antares 1 to Glass Point. "Defenders and Sentinels," they called. "By the authority of Lady Ariad and the Sharim, you are in violation. Depart this sector immediately." Both Factions ignored the Sharim announcement. Their mission was before them and the standoff was almost broken. Pakkratius reached his pilot's chair and snatched up his flight controls. Swinging the *Culler* around to face his aft towards Antares 1 space station, he lined up for the signal. The Net-7 News equipment came online in conjunction with the Jenquai device and a special coat of Manes essence on the backside of his ship's sails. "The pen is mightier than the sword," Pakkratius said to himself. The ship became a massive comm dish. He threw all remaining power from his reactor and shields into this transmission. Outside the white Sentinel ship, a tremendous white light of coherent masercom energy shot forth from the sails. It reached across the remaining asteroid fields, heedless of their mass. Its light was blinding and all scanners were temporarily overloaded in the vicinity of the huge beam. The masercom beam contacted the relay antennae of Antares 1 and bounced again across the sector to Vishao's Gate. * * * Across the galaxy, at NET-7 SOL, Zona Mason stood before the receiver terminal for incoming transmissions out of Capella. It was late night here at the station in Saturn sector and the service hall was empty. She knew that the rat would try to make contact with Net-7 News and she felt it a greater good for the newsorp if the Progen were to die in the field. After all, weren't the Progen immortal via their medical-thingy, the Call Forward? She would be rid of him for good. All she had to do was disconnect the cables in this large box. With a breath she had the panel off and gazed over the cables, deciding which to start yanking first. Then Zona Mason felt another body behind her and gasped a silent breath as a thin *tanto* dagger touched her throat. "Don't touch that dial, viewers," whispered the ShadowWalker. He then edged Mason up and away from the receiver terminal and its cords. The ex-assassin held her against the wall at knife's edge when the masercom beam from beyond Capella made contact with NET-7 SOL and was routed through to the station, forwarded to the rest of the galaxy. The Pakkratius had the attention of all of human space. * * * The theme music jingle played as the image of Pakkratius came on every monitor in the galaxy. "Tomorrow's news today, this is the Pakkratius, brining you a special report from - you guessed it - the Antares Frontier. Tonight we have a truly epic tale for you concerning a brave little girl, your Anchor-rat and a resourceful and noble Explorer......" Dot sat there before the trained weapons of the Shinwa Defenders and the Sabine Order Sentinels targeted upon her. She listened to the Progen man on her speakers as her scanners were still recovering. The Pakkratius told of their meeting and adventures. She smiled at all the funny things she did to him and his admitted reactions. He displayed and spoke of the paths they took across the galaxy. Dot cried at the re-telling of her father, Wolf's rejection of her. With his Sabine Doctor training, the Pakkratius told how he learned of the mission to capture or kill her. The details went on as the various ships around her recovered their sensors and were forced to listen to the Reporter. The white-sailed Sentinel blew the cover off of both secret missions of the Shinwa and the Sabine, their reasons and their means. He made the galaxy aware of the secret of Antares Frontier and how it was lawfully discovered and the protectorate of the Sharim after the Sha'ha'dem. The Reporter set the stage and continued the tale. All the while, the huge white beam kept the connection from his ship to the galaxy. Through the transmission, the Pakkratius set the story straight, with all the journalistic integrity he could muster. The galaxy was listening. Everything the Reporter said, gestured and the multitude of images about his craft were visible to all watching Net-7 News. All was recorded. There was no mistaking the events surrounding the trio of 'fugitives'. Over the sector-wide communications, the Sentinel commander protested, "You arrogant little rat! I'll destroy you and your gene-map for betraying the Sabine Order!" But it was the Shinwa commander who pointed out the truly precarious situation. "Look, Progen! We are surrounded. Take your shot if you dare, but there will be consequences." Everyone looked as the story on the galactic news still continued through the voice of Magister Magna, Dr. Pakkratius. All about them in a sphere were the angelic creatures, the Voltoi. They flapped their wings and yet were motionless as their antennae registered the immense power behind the Reporter's transmission. They were listening to him. Did they understand him as well? Everyone was outnumbered by the Voltoi in Antares Frontier , here at Glass Point. *They have stopped eating the crystals. Our young are unharmed.* *But perceive that one's counsel.* The tonal pointed an antenna at the white beam creature. *I perceive it, but nothing is making sense.* *This one makes gentle gestures. The creature holds back the darts and the rock-eaters.* Khizz tried to protest, but the tonals outweighed the atonals in this web-counsel. Xaxx attempted to lend weight to Khizz's argument, but both were silenced by the distant counsel of the Ascendant Mother. *Tonals and Atonals. My children. These quiet ones are young. Leave them be for now. Their own Mother approaches to herd its young.* Khizz and the rest of the atonals heeded the Mother, but forever would they aggressively guard their food and the younglings here. All, towards the end of the counsel of the white one at the nest, began to disperse slowly. * * * Using the galactic masercom beam from Antares as a beacon, *The Implicate Order*, Magna Vinda's personal frigate, entered the Antares Frontier and signalled to all ships present. The Jenquai capital ship, *Tonatiuh Maru* arrived seconds later. Zyrith Sky watched as quietly and and invisibly as she could on the bridge of the frigate as Vinda chastised Magister Caius Hellstrom for embarrassing the Sabine Order over a little Jenquai girl in a Defender. "B-but, Magna Vinda," stuttered Hellstrom, "The girl is in possession of Progen genes." Vinda called back as her frigate's capital class guns trained on the Magister. "Magister, do you know how hard it is to steal genes from the Restorers, once they have been stored?" The leader of the Sabine Order looked over at the image of the Jenquai girl in question. With a dismissive frown, she declared, "I see no stolen Progen genes here and my scans detect none aboard her ship." Caius broke in with, "But, M-Magna Vinda, look at-." He was cut off by her raised and punctuated voice. "I SEE NO PROGEN GENES IN HER POSSESSION, MAGISTER!" Vinda bellowed. Her brow was furrowed and her face frowning at him. *She's lying of course*, said Zyrith's inner voice. *Shut the hell up,* responded Zyrith. *I know that. But what this woman says, goes.* Zyrith looked to the monitor showing the Pakkratius's ship. The transmission by now was over and all eyes were on the gargantuan Progen capital ship and her commander. Only now was the white Sentinel regenerating his reactor power from such a demand of energy. He had made his news spot. Who knew what Vinda might do to him? The declaration over the entire sector killed the claim in one sentence, any chance that the Shinwa might have a case against the Progen Republic through the Wolfsdottir. Thus the *Tonatiuh Maru* stationed itself in the Antares Frontier to funnel the remaining Shinwa Defenders from the sector and back to Swooping Eagle to report their mission failure to Du'shao Silva. The Sentinels were herded from Jenquai space as Vinda, against everything Zyrith knew of her, apologized to Ariad at Antares 1 for her Faction's mistaken actions. Ariad, in her soft-spoken voice responded, "Many have proceeded on assumption on both sides of this adventure, Magna Vinda. May the wisdom of the Ancients be further blessed upon you and yours." "Perhaps," said Vinda as her frigate made for Vishao's Gate. Her eyes too were locked on the white Sentinel still at Glass Point and forming with the Defender girl and the Grandmaster Explorer. * * * Magna Vinda stood over her subordinate crew on the bridge of her frigate and gazed intently at Magister Magna Pakkratius' white vessel. *Again, the Pakkrat Master Genome shines to brighten the galaxy. Well done, my little Pakkratius. You have shown us that through cooperation over competition humanity can step back from the brink, forgive itself of its past, put away its weapons, have a conscience both fatherly and motherly, to help re-discover itself.* *Yes, I knew of the girl, yet did nothing. It was a test you see, to see if Man were still fit to become a father to even his own enemy. You, my little lab rat, have proven worthy where monsters of the past fear to tread.* *Go back to your news, Pakkratius. For while I must make example by banishing you from the Sabine Order, I see that you will have your paws too full to serve me directly. Teach her well, that the knower and the known are one in the Implicate Order.* Zyrith Sky was ordered by Vinda to strike the Pakkratius from active duty of the Sabine Order, indefinitely. The Sentinel would be allowed to continue his work at Net-7 News and as an independent Doctor of the Call Forward in Saturn. The Reclaimer woman transmitted the verdict to him herself. Vinda then was escorted back to the Gallina system by her Sentinels. * * * Dot sent a message to her mother a week later, telling her of the adventure she had undertaken. She spoke about the new 'father' she had found aside from the Wolf in its cage. This seemed to satisfy her mother, Dr. Juna Wa, that her daughter was happy to have found herself, her purpose and a lasting occupation with the Pakkratius, the so-called Anchor-rat for Net-7 News. Dot became an intern with her new Progen 'dad' and followed him around everywhere he went. She aided the Pakkratius with reporting for the galaxy's most trusted news source. With the neutrality of NET-7 SOL as a rising galactic Faction protecting her, the Wolfsdottir never again feared another hunt. She was able to drop the desires in her to kill or destroy, having seen the beauty of the angelic Voltoi and the mercy they too showed all that day in the Antares Frontier. The black sash from the Kaojin, the Destroyers, went into the rubbish, where it belonged. Happily, Dot stood smiling behind the cameras as the Pakkratius sat down next to Anchorwoman Zona Mason for today's galactic news broadcast. Next to Dot stood the ex-assassin, ShadowWalker who gazed at the Terran woman and smiled. Zona Mason returned the smile meekly and then brightened as the cameras went live and on air. She straightened her hair rather than adjust her glasses as the theme music played. "All the news from space, this is Net-7 Saturn," announced Mason. Grandmaster Vitaes had been vindicated from the complaints of the Shinwa and given his choice of posts throughout known space. He chose the quiet and yet growing beauty of the Antares Frontier. He had told Dot to 'behave' and to follow her heart. Now, the Explorer aided the Lady Ariad at Antares 1 in making further contact with the crystal angels the Sha'ha'dem called the Voltoi. The Defender girl had learned through the ShadowWalker that the Shinwa were recalled and that a command shakeup had been ordered. Something about a spatial anomaly in Swooping Eagle, Sirius had redirected the Defenders' attentions. Dot would never hear from Ken'shao Joo Li again. On the opposite side of the galaxy, Dot had learned from an odd contact who called herself only 'Sky' that the Progen Magister Caius Hellstrom had been re-assigned to investigate a strange, nebular cloud in the Vega solar system. Like Joo Li, the Wolfsdottir never again encountered the Magister. All seemed well to Dot as she began an early career in field journalism. She wanted to escort Reporters into the field and keep them safe under the neutral press banner of NET-7 SOL. Hers was the first hug the Pakkratius received as he stepped off the set of the studio in the newscorp station.

Wolf's Daughter - Ch. VIII by Pakkrat VIII. Distant as it was, the alien and dormant star gate was visible to the trio gating into Vishao's Cove. It would be a straight shot to the Ancient Gate to the Antares Frontier, thought Vitaes. He had a sick feeling, complimented by peripheral spots of gray and black in his vision, that the Shinwa pursuing them would also hold the keys to the newly discovered Ancient Gate to Antares system. He had thought that the gate could be kept under secret wraps within the Jenquai Hierate now that the Sha'ha'dem had opened the relic with the near-ascendant psionics of the First Emissary Merjan Kathrada. But now that she had sent forth her Explorers, Kathrada also put forth her apprentice Ariad to begin Sharim operations in the new solar system the Jenquai meant to claim for their own. Vitaes smiled at the thought of seeing Ariad again. She was soft spoken and kind-hearted, even if she was every bit as devoted to Jenquai ascension as her teacher Kathrada. Vitaes had earned Ariad's friendship as a Sha'ha'dem supporter to the Sharim, a newer Faction launched by the Sha'ha'dem and the Hierate. The Sha'ha'dem could not continue explorations and scour for signs of the Ancients and handle logistics and dealings with the other two races, the Terrans and Progen. Thus the Sharim had been founded. Less xenophobic of the Terrans and the suddenly peaceful Progen, the Sharim went about the task of doing business with those races in the act of recovering any relics that might point the First Emissary towards contact with the Ancients. Vitaes, though he had trouble fully seeking such ascendency for himself, had sought the friendship of Ariad and gave her aid, supplies, mined ores, and scientific readings whenever he could. Her soft spoken voice never triggered his chromesthesia and she was kind in return. He remembered when the Sharim cargo vessels and Seekers arrived in Antares solar system and named the first sector they arrived the Antares Frontier. It was on the heels of its discovery by the opening of Vishao's Gate by Merjan Kathrada. He had been there. Again he prayed that that beautiful song, sung vocally and psionically by the First Emissary and then transmitted to the dormant gate, was still the proprietary property of the Sha'ha'dem and the Sharim. Had its secrets been leaked to the Shinwa? Then Vishao's Gate loomed over them as the trio arrived. "Amazing," declared the Pakkratius aloud. "Wow," was all Wolfsdottir would say. "What you are about to see beyond is the claimed territory of the Sha'ha'dem, the Sharim and the Jenquai Hierate," said Vitaes to the other two. "I could get into some hot water if this got out to the galaxy prematurely." The Grandmaster then began the song, vocal and psionic, over his ship's transmitters to 'sing' open the Ancient Vishao's Gate. The eight U-shaped and green emitters, once stacked upon each other in dormant sleep, answered with a voice so alien and over too many voices to make out, then separated in sweeping arcs as they spun over each other. When they arrived at their final positions, twin beams of blue light from each structure reached to the center of their array and a bulbous wormhole was created with sparking plasma at its edges. Vitaes, in the lead of the formation, thrust forward and took the comrades with him into the gate and across depths of interstellar space to the Antares Frontier. As the other two were dumbfounded, Vitaes spoke, "And you, young one would see this 'illusion' destroyed?" There was no answer from the girl, but he expected none yet. * * * The Mivrei drones were artificial intelligences in service to the Jenquai and as such Ken'shao Joo Li had access to their doings, comings and goings. They were tasked in the defense of Vishao's Gate and it was through them she learned the song of Vishao's Gate. With that same song recorded by the Mivrei drones, she was able hours later to take her force to Antares. "Destroy the Progen with them," she had ordered. "Arrest the Grandmaster and capture the Wolfsdottir per the mission. Do not deviate from it. Honor to the Shinwa!" "Honor to the Shinwa!" answered her wing of Defenders. Again, a small group was station at Vishao's Gate to the Antares Frontier to keep the proprietary claim of the Jenquai safely in Jenquai hands. After the main group of Defenders had entered the Ancient Gate, the stationed, rear-guard group was summarily overrun with the Sabine Sentinels who refused to take no for an answer. Thus it was that the secret of the Jenquai frontier was discovered by the Progen. But it would be some time later before that report would be handed to the Progen Republic. The Progen had overheard the song from having chased the Shinwa, their engines aglow from maximum warp to have gated into Vishao's Cover in time to record the secret song with their scanners. It would take some time however for Hellstrom to re-calibrate his transmitters to the song as the Sabine Order had no personnel with psionics. In that time, his task force incapacitated the small garrison of Defenders. It was numbers over a few warriors. The Shinwa obviously were still unaware they too were being followed. This new frontier would be some valuable news to add to his report when Hellstrom returned with the gene-thief, Wolfsdottir, dead or alive. * * * She had seen her co-worker, in is own act of sabotage, here at NET-7 SOL pulling cords to the receiver dishes on the station's tower. Back then, the Pakkratius had been attempting to squelch the reception of transmissions from Aragoth system. Now though, Zona Mason had found the receiver for the dish that was pointed to Capella. All she had to do now, so long as nobody spotted her, was to open the panel and yank the same connected lines that the Sentinel had done to the Aragoth receiver. Then the rat could die a pest's death and Net-7 News could be blissfully ignorant to the loss of the so-called Anchor-rat. Soon, she thought to herself. Tonight, if this service hall was empty of all but her. Adjusting her glasses, Zona Mason, Anchorwoman for Net-7 News, continued on to another of her appointments in the studio. Thus she missed the emerging, black leather-clad assassin step from the service hall into the main hall towards the newscorp's speakeasy bar. ShadowWalker quietly eased his way through the crews and into the bar. With a pen and some swiped napkins, the Jenquai man scribbled a black marker message quickly as he continued up the ramp to the upper floor to the offices of NET-7 SOL. Just outside the Doctor's domicile and office door, ShadowWalker used a slim stiletto knife to nail the napkin to the entry: YOU OWE ME, PAKK. -SW * * * She had wanted to stay in Endriago. Sentinel Zyrith had hoped to keep far away from the Pakkratius, even as she hoped the Sabine Reporter came through this debacle. However, just as she was to see Magna Vinda off in her frigate, the leader of the Sabine Order had grabbed her by the arm and dragged her along. A protest on her tongue, Zyrith was forced at Vinda's insistence to board her frigate flagship, *The Implicate Order*. Onboard the frigate, Zyrith watched from the bridge, seemingly nailed to the spot as her inner voice counseled her. *This woman will be the death of us.* *I know,* answered Zyrith to herself. *But I can't let direct disobedience get stamped on my record as well as the brawl with the Centuriata too.* *That wasn't your fault.* *But, I couldn't just up and announce that I have Sabura genes as to why I was able to best three of the drunkard Warriors, could I?* *No, that would have gotten us reclaimed.* *Yes, so shut up and let me think of a way to get out from underneath Vinda.* * * * Pakkratius marvelled at the new territory named the Antares Frontier. Blues, and indigo swirled together and parted as if they were mated for a time and then went their separate ways. Behind him and the formation, Vishao's Gate was closing in the distance. Stars twinkled between the cloud of asteroids mainly crystalline in nature. Here and there, more of the angelic Voltoi were seen gliding between fields, seemingly ignoring the three ships traversing the sector. Vitaes, in the lead position of the formation called, "Make for that large planetoid we have named Anci, my friends, while I try to contact Ariad, leader of the Sharim at Antares 1." "You Jenquai already have a station here?" asked Pakkratius. "It is still under construction and sorely in need of materials," answered the Grandmaster, "but yes there is a station in addition to various observation outposts. We Sha'ha'dem are studying the Voltoi as the Sharim set up facilities. There is much to learn here on the Antares Frontier." Pakkratius noted the huge, stark planetoid that the Grandmaster had indicated on the sector navigation map. He and Dot broke formation and glided to starboard in its direction. "Keep Anci between you and Vishao's Gate while I converse with Ariad." "Is she going to help us?" "I hope so." Vitaes' Explorer craft shot in warp towards the distant space station that flickered with the flashes of construction and component fittings. The Sabine Sentinel and the ex-Shinwa girl swung about the dark side of the planetoid. There, Pakkratius initiated another subtle trick of the Sentinel-class vessel. By shutting down all but his most vital systems, the Doctor initiated the holographic projectors that were used in the fear-inducing daemonic imagery that had scared off the Outlings. But instead of fear, the images fell over his white ship and swirled about it. The Sabine ship looked like a destroyed wreck, a derelict with blast marks, destroyed systems and ripped open structures. It was as if Pakkratius' ship were faking incapacitation. "With all these winged creatures about," explained Pakkratius to Dot, "it stands to reason that I was destroyed by them. You cloak your ship, girl and stay very quiet." Dot slowed to a halt and engaged her cloaking. With her invisibility, the 'destroyed' Sentinel and the huge planetoid between them and Vishao's Gate, Pakkratius prayed to Vita Theodora and Artemis Jericho that they would be missed by any pursuit. They sat there in space as various flights of the space fauna flew by them, some pointing an inquisitive antenna at them then continuing on to other fields of crystalline asteroids. * * * Vitaes pulled into the near-complete hangar of Antares 1, the only station that could house vessels of any size. The hangar was the only human-safe area and he exited his craft as soon has it halted in a berth. Walking down the blue carpeted platform, the Grandmaster beheld Sharim leader Ariad. She was resplendent in the most fashionable trends, Ariad. Vitaes found his friend beautiful as he approached. "Salutations, Grandmaster Vitaes," greeted Ariad as she brushed aside her blonde hair and pinned it with a brad. "Lady Ariad," bowed Vitaes, "I am sent by the First Emissary in dire need of aid from the Sharim. "Merjan most-wise," came Ariad's soft voice to which Vitaes was familiar, "has contacted this one already, Grandmaster. Rest now as none can pass Vishao's Gate without the song of the Ancients." "The Progen hunt us just as the Shinwa seek us-" Vitae's tried to explain further before he was gently cut off by a wave of her hand. "All will come to fullness, Grandmaster Vitaes," said Ariad calmly. Normally Vitaes was able to puzzle out Ariad's flighty speech, but this time her confidence stumped and trumped him. He looked to the hangar entryway. He hoped that Ariad was right, that all was going to turn out peacefully. * * * Joo Li's Defender wing entered Antares Frontier in shock. Here, beyond the Ancient Vishao's Gate, the Ken'shao beheld a secret under wraps. Her ire for the Sha'ha'dem and its infant, the Sharim rose. The two Factions had hidden the discovery from the Shinwa. Instead, they had made use of the Mivrei Drones and entrusted Jenquai security on this Antares Frontier to them. This was a slap in the face to Julie and she intended to get answers after this mission was concluded. "Spread out and find the fugitives," the Ken'shao ordered. Ship elements broke off from the wing and took different paths to the nearest nav bouys. It had been a long time since Julie had need to explore a sector. It would be slow but this sector would be mapped by the Shinwa and Du'shao Silva would confront the secretive Sha'ha'dem and the Sharim. They had much to answer to the Shinwa. Defenders went about the slow task of plotting the positions of pre-existing nav bouys that the Explorers had already laid. They saw the huge planetoids and the many glittering crystalline asteroids that bejeweled the sector of space. * * * It was not long after that the Sabine penetrated Vishao's Cove in wonder and determination to discover this new solar system of Antares, starting with this sector. Their warp drives still aglow from dogging the Shinwa from behind, the Sentinel taskforce, led by Caius Hellstrom, began exploring. "Let nothing stand in the way of the Progen Republic," declared the Magister. "The Jenquai were here first it seems. Let us see if they can hold it, but remain on mission!" Salutes and acknowledgements were returned. Soon, the massive superstructure of the Jenquai station under construction came into scan range. Hellstrom flew his Sentinel towards the station when a signal from the construction site hailed him. "I am Lady Ariad of the Sharim," came the melodic voice of a lithe and sleek woman on Hellstrom's comm screen. "You are trespassing in Jenquarum territory. Please abandon assumption and declare an identity now." From another approach angle, came another female voice that was biting and stern, "I am Ken'shao Joo Li of the Shinwa and this sector is now under Defender protectorate! You have much to answer, Lady Ariad. I advise you to grant all Defenders present clearance for docking immdiately." Hellstrom was about to answer with his own call, but decided to listen to the exchange as his Sentinels continued to spread through the new sector. "As your enlightened senses can attest, Ken'shao," explained Ariad, "this station Antares 1 is still being constructed. There are too many builders, supply ships and EVA crews active at this moment in time. I am unable to grant your request." "I was not making a request!" said this Joo Li of the Defenders. "Nevertheless there is no room for your craft. Please redirect your ire to the Jenquarum at Kailaasa at once as you are trespassing here." "We are on a mission and fugitives from the Hierate are here, in this sector." Ariad answered, "There have been no unwelcome visitors to the Antares Frontier, until your craft arrived, Ken'shao. I am sorry, but you and those behind you must divert and return to Jenquai space." "Like hell," cut in this Defender commander. Hellstrom agreed with the Defender woman, but he wasn't going to ask for permission. The gene-thief was here. Perhaps this Ariad was aiding them somehow. That was enough for the Magister to justify his taskforce's presence. He called to his ships, "Check the planetoids. There may be hollowed space or mining bases like those of the Red Dragon use. Leave no asteroid un-plumbed." Shinwa Defenders were spreading out through the sector as Sabine Sentinels began turning to the asteroids in their search. * * * *The infra-red-to-red ones eat asteroids while the darts speak in deadly beams.* *They eat of our fields but do not digest what they consume.* *Ravagers!* called one of the angelic beings in the web-counsel. *No. The first ones only watched us. The first ones tried to contact us with their very soft and almost inaudible counsel. Yet have we to understand them.* *Look how they eat of our fields. They strip and gorge! Thieves!* Another of the atonal, Xixx, in the web-counsel cut in, *They approach our birthplace. Will this counsel allow its consumption?* From far across the sector came another atonal, *Khizz! They attack us when we only hail them! They throw energy-metal and corrosives at us! They burn us!* The first atonal, Khizz returned the alarm, *Bite them with our sting!* The tonals countered, *We must protect our young, but do not let this be war.* But the atonals had already left the web-counsel. Thus the schism between the Voltoi and their Deviants, (as they were named by the Sharim later) began. All was recorded by the Sharim at the various observation posts in the Antares Frontier.

Wolf's Daughter - Ch. VII by Pakkrat VII. Wolfsdottir emerged from the sector gate first. A loud *THUMP* was heard as a hexagonal ring of the InfinitGate clipped her vessel. The girl immediately checked her diagnostics for damage. She sighed when the console merely noted that the shields had absorbed the collision and that no damage to her actual ship had occurred. She scanned the immediate vicinity just as the Grandmaster Vitaes appeared. A gate harmonic screamed and resonated through the Explorer's ship as two of the hexagonal rings rubbed together with screeching effect to its field harmonics. Over the group communications, Dot could see Vitaes cover his ears with his hands and fall out of his pilot's chair. "Vitaes!" she exclaimed with worry. Had he been hit too? She wheeled her Defender craft and focused her ship sensors on the *Rocinante*. The Explorer-class vessel was unharmed, yet something had thrown the Grandmaster about his chair. The viewscreen soon showed Vitaes climbing back into his seat. "I'll be okay. No worries." "What happened? I think this InfinitiGate is glitching somehow." "Since when has InfinitiCorp made anything that lasts?" asked Vitaes who was still rubbing his temples and waving away something before him that only he could see. Just then the white sails of the Sentinel ship appeared. There were crackling bolts of energy playing over the main hull of the Pakkratius' ship, *Culler*. "What the-?" said the surprised Sentinel. His comm image showed the Sabine getting up from his cockpit chair to move to someplace aft. "Crap. All my Devices have come un-hitched and offline. Give me a moment." The bolts of electricity soon dissipated and were gone. "I think this stargate has seen better days, Progen," said Vitaes. As the Pakkratius worked on his ship and Vitaes recovered from his seemingly headache, Wolfsdottir used her Telescopium device to scan deeper into Kitara's Veil. It was a sector of Capella's asteroid belt that rumor held was home to independent belter miners, freelancers, and worse. There were sightings and reports that had come down the ranks that Kitara's Veil was one of the paths that the Followers of Mordane had taken when they began their exile from Jenquai space. It was also a mining source for the illegal asteroid substance called *mordanite*. The Followers of Mordane had discovered the green, pyroclastic and porous mineral and learned how it had upon settling from melt to absorb and hold psionic energies that were volatile, unstable and otherwise dangerous in the presence of the psionic-talented. Yet the Mordane made use of the substance as a booster to their mental powers against the warning of the Jenquai Hierate. The Sha'ha'dem had decried that the substance was not fully tested and declared it a crutch to those who could not naturally approach their ideal 'ascendance'. Thus, with the shunning verdict from the Hierate, the Mordana immediately suspected the Jenquai of covering up the truth and immediately started using the mineral to tremendous effect. Though by the time the Mordana were calling mordanite the Way, they had already been excommunicated and exiled to the deep reaches. Reports from deep probes had returned to show mining operations of the green mineral. The Mordana were continuing to use the psi-enhancing properties of the exotic substance. Dot, just for a moment, wondered what mordanite would do to her if she had been one of the Mordana. But then she discarded the notion. She was never one to put strange and untested things in her body. Likewise, she was put off by the invasion of machine nanobots or cybernetics that infested the Progen. They were little different in Wolfsdottir's eyes. How the Pakkratius kept his humanity, she could only guess. Who knew exactly what the Republic put its clone society through? "There. Got 'em all in place again." "I am ready as well," answered Vitaes to the Pakkratius' announcement. "I don't think those were glitches any longer," said Wolfsdottir who was still scanning the sector. She had locked onto one target with her extended scanners. "Sabotage?" asked Vitaes. He began to extend his scanners as well in the same direction as the Defender's attention. "Not directly," said the Pakkratius who had scanned the sector stargate. "There are no blasts or energy scoring on the rings and the InfinitiCorp gate turret is still active." In answer to both, Wolfsdottir covered her ship with her systems-enhanced Psionic shield. "Mordana." * * * Now that she knew that the renegade trio had taken the one-way path into Capella system, Ken'shao Joo Li knew that there was only one way back towards civilized space. They were headed for the frontier with only the depths of space before them. She had them trapped against the unknown or to surrender to her. With this knowledge, Julie recalled her arrayed wing from all the other solar systems of human space to converge upon Capella. Defender ships had spent all 'night' returning to Sirius and its quadrifons of gates. Then with a small garrison of ships rear-guarding the system gate to Capella, she lead her wing into Capella, the home system of the Jenquai. She was the vanguard of the Defenders. She meant to be the first to lock sensors on the girl's ship, the *Warchild*. The Defenders left behind to cut off escape of the renegades were stationed and arrayed around the stargate to Capella. Facing inward to the InfinitGate's closed, hexagonal rings, the guardians were caught by surprise an hour later when the entire fleet of Sabine Order Sentinels arrived in Swooping Eagle sector en masse. Like a red plague of sharp, armored sails the fleet shouldered their way past the protesting Jenquai. Their calls were met with static as the Progen explorers muscled their way past the few Shinwa. Without orders to prevent entry, the Jenquai were forced to step aside as the Sabine Order entered Capella by force of sheer numbers, heavy shielding, and their brutal and active Repulsor Fields. * * * Magister Caius Hellstorm had had enough of chasing and being merciful. He would *reclaim* the Wolfsdottir, derelict that accomplice Explorer, and personally destroy the gene-map of the traitorous Magister Magna Pakkratius, the meddling Net-7 News Reporter. He dared the stationed Shinwa Defenders at the quadrifons to Capella to deny his taskforce entry to Yokan. Once fully through the gate into Capella, Hellstrom ordered his fleet to make use of anything they had to boost the warp speed of their ships as they raced across Yokan sector. Something was telling him that he was not the only one chasing this girl he intended to deliver to Magna Vinda. And that thought enraged the Reclaimer. "All Sabine," announced the Magister across his fleet of Sentinels. "You see the renegades, you take the shot. Don't wait for them to surrender. We're after stolen genes, not people. This is the sacred duty and First Charge of the Sabine Order! The Progen are superior humans and mean to stay that way. Gene-thieves will not get away with this." As one, his fleet of ships answered, "For the Republic!" * * * "I see them, I see them," called Pakkratius. He had just finished switching his load-out of devices in the *Culler*. "Then hunt well, Progen!" wished Vitaes verbally as his Explorer vanished under its own cloaking. Wolfsdottir had already entered a deadly space combat with the first Mordana to advance upon the trio as they made way along the sector's navs. The dark and sleek Mordana ships had spotted their hated enemy, the Shinwa, in the form of Wolfsdottir's Defender. The jihad was still aflame in their hearts. Without warning or call, the exiles engaged while Pakkratius, who to the Followers was just a wandering Progen, hated yes, but not nearly so much as the Shinwa girl. They obviously did not care if she was an AWOL, renegade ex-Shinwa. It was a dance of appearances and disappearances. Cloakings and appearances made up the Jenquai combat. Jenquai in race, the Mordana used their own psionics to do unleash terrible beams upon Wolfsdottir and the assisting Vitaes. Pakkratius fell upon the Mordana from behind as the Followers focused on their hated targets. His Repulsor Field came online as he opened up with his alien weaponry gleaned from his far-reaching travels. Though he was no Centuriata Warrior, lacking their many weapon mounts, the Sentinel unleashed the terrors of his career's collection of devices and shields. The Skirmish Omega shield revealed the entire battle to the otherwise Sentinel while boosting the impact kinetic energy of his mass-driving projectile weapons. Impact cartridges spat stream after stream of slugs at the Mordana. On the starboard wing of his craft, ammunition laden with deadly corrosive chemical packs fell like a waterfall upon his targets. Device after device tore into the defenses of the enemies, even as alien technologies boosted his own Sabine deflections and offensive focus. He paralyzed craft after craft with his Gravity Link beam to keep their attentions. He would protect the girl from their onslaught if he could. Though he was the only continually visible target, Pakkratius was the most stalwart of the ships, given the strange, alien, prototype, and Ancient devices he brought to bear. Inside his white vessel, the Doctor smiled in the darkness of his cockpit-bridge. With the occasional light show from streaking beams to point out his next target, Pakkratius ripped into ship after ship. Grandmaster Vitaes, the most pragmatic of the three, to Pakkratius' thinking at least, finished off each of the Sabine Doctor's targets. The Sentinel was trying to attract the attentions of the Mordana, in hopes of pulling them off their hated Shinwa target. The Explorer, with deadly precision and seemingly never-ending energy reserves, darted about laying finishing blows to the Mordana. He never gave the enemies a second to begin to wheel upon the *Rocinante*. Appearing and disappearing was Wolfsdottir. She was not without her tricks. Coming out of cloaking, her beam weapons also fed the fires of combat. Any Mordana that was able to wheel about to bring its terrible beams to bear on her found themselves instantly out of range to use them. The girl had used her psionics, focused through her ship, to Fold Space about the enemy and shunt them safely away from her. Then she would disappear again like an assassin. The trio were not immune to punishment. And Pakkratius was no stranger to taking his lumps. The Doctor had, as he traversed this side of the sector's battle, managed to make fast exchanges between his reactor to his shields and then later from his shields to his reactor. It was a balancing act that was cheered on by his ship's hungry and arcane devices. The spray of his weaponry was continuous as he made changes in his load-out throughout the battle. This was an internal dance of his own for which the Sentinel was familiar. While other classes of ships chose their systems and then entered battle, the Sentinel-class vessel was a dynamic salad bar of what would sup on his reactors available power at any given moment. Despite that, Pakkratius remained efficient, even as his shield warned him. "Shield matrix at twenty-five percent." "This is pointless," called Vitaes. "Make for the Vishao's Cove gate!" "No argument there," answered Pakkratius. "They must be destroyed," declared Wolfsdottir as she appeared before an exploding Mordana craft. "We don't have time," called Vitaes. "The Shinwa will arrive soon behind us. Let them settle the score. We are not here for glory!" "Gate now, girl!" ordered Pakkratius. "Victory another day. There is no ego in this battle. Move!" The ex-Defender frowned and then reached the gate to transmit the 'singing' signal to the next stargate's answer by opening its wormhole. Pakkratius took a hit to his ship's hull just as he too gave the enable to enter the gate to Vishao's Cove. Despite the best efforts of his advanced shielding, the shot penetrated and slammed into the *Culler's* armor. His ship skated sideways into the wormhole of the gate. The two were followed silently by Vitaes a second later. He alone was unscathed in the battle with the Mordana. * * * The Shinwa Defender wing encountered the swarming Mordana hours later. Though the excitement had died down, the arrival of even more Shinwa to engage brought new fireworks to Kitara's Veil sector. The Mordana were blockading the sector gate to Vishao's Cove, which was unacceptable to Ken'shao Joo Li upon arrival. The renewed rivalry and hatred took little to spark. The Followers were already dosing their bodies full of refined mordanite. The Shinwa were itching for action in hopes of a complete mission. Though this encounter was not on mission, all got more than they wished for. Battle language erupted from both sides as the largest engagement between the Shinwa Defenders of the Jenquai Hierate and the exiled Followers of Mordane Kathrada, the Mordana began. There was no love lost as the two sides engaged to the death. While the exiles had nothing better to do than try to slay as many Defenders as they could, Julie reminded herself to stay on mission to capture the renegade Wolfsdottir. But the costs were mounting. While engaging the Mordana, the Ken'shao kept funnelling as many of her wing through the sector gate to Vishao's Cove as the portal would allow. The renewed battle was almost a hidden one. Cloaking and un-cloaking ships fired on the visible. Ships were shunted through Fold Space usage repeatedly. To the untrained or non-Jenquai eye, the battle looked little better than chaos. Psi-Shielded ships were globes of mental energy trying to engage the heavier warships of the Mordana. Though the Defenders were sleek and faster, built on individual pilot needs and preference, the Mordana were using ships a decade older and built for war. One was unpredictable in load-outs and the other was more heavily armed as if the Gate War had never ended. The battle continued as each side tried to make use of its strengths and take advantage of what they knew of the opposing force. Just when the Defenders thought they might have he upper hand and the majority of their craft through the gate into Vishao's Cove, the Followers brought a capital ship to bear. This was Julie's sign to slip by the swarming and angry Mordana. "Let InfinitiCorp repair their gates," called Ken'shao Joo Li. "All in! All in! Leave the Mordana angry. This is not our mission! Stop fighting them!" Some of the Shinwa of her wing were prolonging the engagement, reluctant to make a tactical retreat to the next sector of space. The opportunity for glory in battle was threatening her mission. There were casualties, derelict vessels, shattered ships, and dead pilots on both sides. * * * It was a deserted battlefield by the time the Sabine Order taskforce entered Kitara's Veil hours later. Though the Mordana took notice of the hated Progen of the Gate War, they had no heart to engage the sailed, red vessels. Caius Hellstrom plowed through the hulks, derelicts and wreckage as his fleet crossed Kitara's Veil on its way to Vishao's Cove. He had learned through his own channels. Magister Hellstrom knew that there was infighting in the Jenquai Hierate, but this theatre of conflict confirmed it. As they crossed the battlefield spread across several nav-bouys, he scanned for the traitor Pakkratius' ship, the meddling Explorer's craft, and the hunted red vehicle of the Wolfsdottir. When the scans came up negative, the Sabine Order pushed onward to Vishao's Cove. *He knew from his own experience they would try this. The ex-assassin crouched in the rafters above the studio where technicians, Reporters, interviewees, and producers gathered in one fashion or another. The Jenquai man watched as they went about their tasks or being directed to sets where the media station could get each visitor's take on galactic events.* *One Terran woman caught his attention and he focused all his psionics upon her to passively listen in on her.* *"All I am saying is that we've had him on the Anchor team for months with not much to show for it and now he's listed as a renegade of his own Sabine Order and a traitor to the Progen Republic. How can we as an objective newscorp shelter and employ such a wanted individual?"* *The dark-clad assassin frowned. This Zona Mason was trying to pull the plug on the Pakkratius and while he was away and had no say in his defense.* *"What?!" asked a fervent Magna Vinda to her subordinate.* *"Yes, ma'am," confirmed Sabine Sentinel Zyrith. "Magister Magna Pakkratius was not made aware of the secret mission that was transmitted in your name."* *"I gave no such order!" yelled Vinda. "Call Arx Spartoi. Tell them to ready my frigate and prepare for departure and get me a shuttle to orbit. Now!"* **She's partially lying,** came the inner voice that rode just behind her left shoulder. **She knows about all of this and is passively playing the table against each other before showing her hand.** *Zyrith, ran to Porvenir Mons sat-comm and put forth Magna Vinda's orders. She kept quiet in her inner revelation. What she alone knew could get her, a Reclaimer, reclaimed.*

Wolf's Daughter - Ch. VI by Pakkrat VI. Caius Hellstrom, immediately following the chase encounter with Wolfsdottir, Magister Magna Pakkratius and the yet-unnamed Jenquai Explorer accomplice, dispatched elements of Sentinel ships to each of the known wormhole wefts. These locations were the most stable artificial wormhole arrival points in human space. Having seen his prey disappear before his eyes thanks to the hated Jenquai psionics melded with their strange technology, Hellstrom decided to dedicate some of his assets to cover each weft until Sabine Order property was recovered. There was no SolSec restriction to staking out each of the wefts and he dared anyone to protest. There was only one weft left he had trouble sending craft to cover, Maeldun's Weft over the Jenquai homeworld, Kailaasa. It was there that the Magister focused the attention of his remaining forces. The chase was on and Caius knew that the odds were good that the trio of wanted culprits would seek egress as far from the Progen-dominated sectors. With a Jenquai Explorer in the lead, the Magister was betting on Jenquai space. He would chase the three to the frontier to complete his mission if it called for such. This was his mission, his moment to shine before Magna Vinda. No Jenquai Explorer would be match enough for the Sabine Order Sentinels. The brazen of the trio to defy a Sentinel checkpoint in Altair III, then the escape from Detention Center Onorom under the ignorant Centuriata, was enough to make Hellstrom sick with anger. He wanted the head of Wolfsdottir and the treasonous Magister Magna Pakkratius. He would lay the Doctor's head on the hangar deck of NET-7 SOL, the Saturn space station for newscorp to warn them never to become involved in Sabine business again. Finally, Hellstrom meant to write a report to deny the future Call Forward of Pakkratius' genome. Loyalty to the Republic must make example of this renegade Sentinel. * * * Joo Li meditated en route through Beta Hydri solar system, through the Sirius quadrifons gates to Capella. Her emotions had come loose and she meant to gather them under control. Her plan had been flawless and would have worked in minutes as the Folding Chain shunted the AWOL Wolfsdottir back to Jenquai Space. Now this would take more direct and forceful action. The girl's ship would have to be incapacitated and her emergency life support pod tractor beamed from the ship. Meditation complete, Julie had her goal adjusted and her means planned. The Sha'ha'dem and the white Sentinel helping Wolfsdottir would require incapacitation swift and sweet. The Ken'shao now knew that the Sabine Order would soon begin to penetrate Jenquai space. She also was being denied her own wormhole service by the Sha'ha'dem, who publicly wanted nothing to do with this affair despite the involvement of one of their own. Grandmaster Vitaes, she now learned his identity, was behaving on his own recognizance or so they claimed. The Explorers had denied, wisely, docking privileges at Paren Station over Kailaasa. Though the Sabine Order were chasing Wolfsdottir, they must have had different reasons for wanting her. Julie had to guess that they were trying to prevent the Shinwa Defenders from seeking war reparations and potentially regaining the loyalty of the exiled Mordana. Such reunion of Shinwa and the dangerous Followers of Mordane would tip the balance of military might in human space. She decided that the Progen feared such a new gathering of Jenquai might. No longer would the Progen be able to strut around Jenquai stations with such bravado. No, they would be the ones to walk on eggshells and carefully about the Jenquai. Even the Terrans would kow-tow to do business with the combined technologies of the reunited Jenquai. Who knows? Maybe even the Cenovar Warlock Engineers and Artificers might return from their self exile. Julie felt she might be the one to make this happen with this one mission's completion. Entering Yokan sector, Ken'shao Joo Li took the safeties off her Defender craft's weapons. * * * Though they had lost precious lead from the forces chasing them, Pakkratius was grateful for the chance to rest and put down the stressors of the previous days. He could see the reasons for such a hunt coming from the Sabine Order and from the Shinwa Defenders. Each had something to gain or recover. It was the First Charge of the Sabine Order and the nature of the Reclaimers to recover the genetic materials belonging to the Progen Republic. With such a strange and yet humane meld of Progen and Jenquai genes, there was much to be learned from gleaning this new genome from Wolfsdottir. It would only cost her her life. The Shinwa would bring the warchild to SolSec courts and again pressure the Progen Republic to pay war reparations, perhaps even more than that if they recovered Wolfsdottir alive. If the Defenders knew what the Sabine would do to the girl in the Call Forward, they would scream murder of one of their own. She would create such sensation that even the Terrans might become involved. It was the story of the year and yet Pakkratius felt it wrong to transmit to even his employers at Net-7 News. This was personal, personal to the girl, personal to those immediately involved. Careers were on the line. Reputations of those hunting the companions were being tested. Factions were competing for the cutting edge in this affair. To put this in the public eye seemed only to feed the hungers of all. With the denial of docking at Paren Station, the Sentinel now knew that there were those who would want nothing of this situation to taint their own public relations. Perhaps it was wise then of the Sha'ha'dem to stay aloof, even with one of their own in jeopardy. Keeping some Factions out of this was the first smart move in this adventure. If the Centuriata had become involved, it could pit Warriors against Defenders over a little girl. The Terrans would be laughing all the way to the bank as sides bristled again for more war. These thoughts weighted heavily on Pakkratius as the trio left Tokai Saikatsu Station on Dahin Planet the next morning. Following the lead of Grandmaster Vitaes into orbit above the fiery mining world, they took a path across the sector without taking the usual spacelanes navigation bouys. The Sentinel noted that freewarping, flying in a straight line to a sector stargate instead of using nav-paths, was a technique that his younger clone brother had used to avoid detection on his adventure. But with the advanced sensors of the Jenquai technology, Pakkratius had little confidence in the techniques in stealthily crossing the sector undetected. The Grandmaster took them in an odd zig-zag route across the sector. It crossed the sector by passing near to the planetoid moon Hau. "Look!," said Dot who was in formation with the other two. But she was gazing out her starboard side viewport. Using her Telescopium device she magnified the image and shared her scanner range with the others. "It's beautiful!" Pakkratius looked at the connected monitor as his ship was furthest away in the formation. It was the most massive specimen of space fauna he'd ever beheld. It had large, luminous wings and glowed from every surface a white light. It was a translucent to transparent creature with two curving antennae. Completely white and greater in size than a capital ship, Pakkratius could see that the life form was gliding about in a massive field of crystalline asteroids. Occasionally the creature would stop and consume a small portion of the crystal and break it into smaller parts as it 'chewed'. Through out the massive form, bolts of electricity flowed from head to fanned tail, wingtip across to wingtip. The Sentinel supposed that the flow of such massive electromagnetics might be analogous to human blood. The huge abdomen of the creature was distended and the companions could see that this creature was expecting offspring. Being that the angelic creature was transparent yet solid as crystal, tiny and encapsulated versions of smaller, similar creatures rode inside. "It's a she," said Wolfsdottir. Vitaes answered with an Explorer's objectivity, "The Sha'ha'dem call them 'voltoi' and this specimen is the largest we have encountered. They are beings that we are beginning to suspect of some limited sentience. They communicate with their electrical bolts to each other and seem to have some semblance of family groups. When they grow to a certain size, they leave for other parts of the system." "Has anyone ever made successful contact with them?" asked Pakkratius. "All attempts so far have garnered only high-yield static," explained the Grandmaster. "Their communications are on waveforms on exponential powers beyond our transceivers can give or receive. Thus we get very intense garbled transmissions that are yet translated. And even then they show no pattern to syntax or structure." Even at warp speeds, the group was able to see the white 'mother' for some time as they passed it and the planetoid moon Hau. "It would be such a shame if such a magnificent mother Voltoi be *destroyed*," Vitaes suggested more to the entranced Wolfsdottir. Pakkratius noted that Vitaes stressed that last word at the girl. Was he trying to guide the girl from the Kaojin ideology? The Sabine smiled quietly in his vessel. The trio stopped to let their ships' reactors recharge as freewarping was hard on many power plants. Soon though, they were underway, again by direct free warp, to the sector stargate to Kitara's Veil.

Wolf's Daughter - Ch. V by Pakkrat V. Wolfsdottir sat in her cockpit listening to the joking banter happening between Vitaes and the Pakkratius as the three waited out the gravity beams effect. The Explorer was snickering amusedly as the Sentinel she was growing to like recalled that he could see the wing of Defenders all along and that by playing dumb, the Shinwa had held off their advancement. If the approaching Defenders had kept coming just a little more instead of welcoming the trio of escapees into their clutches, Vitaes' might not have had time to charge up his ship's jump field. "Aha!" said Vitaes with a snicker. "Pakkratius' you have never seen my fastest wormhole jumps. But you may be right in this instance. It was the Gravity Link beams that merely startled me. You had said they were out of range. It just startled me, is all." The two continued to speculate the angered reactions of the Shinwa and the Sabine. The Sentinels had now known of a Jenquai Explorer helping Wolfsdottir and the renegade Net-7 Reporter. However the news must not have reached the Shinwa who were in waiting. Wolfsdottir listened and waited for a while. These two men were destroying their careers in helping her. For what, she asked herself. There was no way she could repay the Pakkratius and now Vitaes for their aid. Like her, they had shunned their greater societies, the Jenquai Hierate and the Progen Republic for a little girl in a Defender. At this consideration, she was torn between their humorous attitudes and the sorrow of her father's rejection. Wolf had broken her heart and pushed her further to the destructive urges that the Kaojin had opened to her. And yet, these two men, these ragamuffins laughed and smiled even as their careers were in jeopardy. She smiled a little as she cleared her eyes of her earlier tears. The trio had been left by the green haze of the wormhole effect in the space above the rich and lush home planet of Kailaasa. It was the new home of the Sha'ha'dem and the Jenquai Hierate. In the distance in orbit above the planet was Paren Station. They fell into formation and made for the docking bay as the gravity effect of the previous encounter wore off. * * * Vitaes contacted the station first. "Paren Station, this is Grandmaster Vit-." "Grandmaster who?" answered the station tower. "Your signal is breaking up. Grandmaster, Paren station is on lockdown. There have been reports from the Shinwa that a Sha'ha'dem Explorer has gone renegade and is threatening the peace between the Jenquai and the Progen. We cannot allow any new dockings at this time. Vitaes was about to scold the tower when he felt something, someone intrude into his conscious mind. *Grandmaster Vitaes.* *First Emissary Kathrada*, replied Vitaes mentally. She must have been looking out an observation deck at his ship to make such powerful and direct contact. He could feel her identity merely by the potency of her psionic contact with him. No other Jenquai was so strong so as to make contact with him through his own mental defenses. Colors swirled his vision as his chromesthsia triggered under her psionic weight. The First Emissary Merjan Kathrada was the Hierate's elected and appointed leader of both the Sha'ha'dem and the Jenquai people and culture. It was rumored that she was funding the race's reach for the Ancients that may have been responsible for the Ancient Gate that sparked the Second Succession War or more angrily termed the Gate War. This woman had lived through so much history. Vitaes could only guess at Kathrada's true age. She was the mother of Mordane Kathrada, the late leader of the Followers of Mordane or more recently termed the Mordana. This woman knew the loss of her offspring and the need to remain loyal to her people over her son. It had been Kathrada who had recalled Mordane's pre-Shinwa fleets from above Mars. Her son had the planet locked in his sights and was ready to destroy the Progen homeworld when the recall came from her. But the war had ended hours before by the Progen themselves. The recall drove a wedge between mother and son and he had departed for the depths of space, vowing to return in fire of jihad. And now this powerful, wizened woman was contacting Vitae's with her immense psionics. *My lady.* *Grandmaster, Paren Station and the Sha'ha'dem cannot raise the ire of the Shinwa again even ten years after the departure of the Mordane. Take the refugee deep into hiding along our frontier until the diplomats can reach parley.* Vitaes answered cautiously, *I feel the workings of the Kaojin in her, First Emissary. And now the girl comes in contact with her destructive roots in the Progen Dog Soliders. What is to be done?* *Patience and serenity, Grandmaster,* answered Merjan. *Take them to the new lands. I foresee the Progen man will play some part there. Perhaps Ariad, my protegee may aid you there.* *Compliance amid contemplation, First Emissary,* answered Vitaes. He was not the biggest devotee of the ways of the Sha'ha'dem given his synesthesia difficulties in the lessons and disciplines. But when the mother of the Sha'ha'dem takes pause to contact him, he listened. He had never before had such intimate consult with the First Emissary. *Enlightenment of the Ancients, Grandmaster Vitaes.* "Friends, let us depart. The Sha'ha'dem are not our allies in this sordid affair," announced Vitaes to his companions. The public rejection was lessening thanks to the telepathic contact sending from *her*. "I know where we can go. Follow." He plotted a new course for Dahin sector. The two would need rest at the very least. A meal. Then the skies would call again. Minutes after the departure of the Explorer, the rogue Defender, and the Reporter, Maeldun's Weft and Paren Station were swarmed with Shinwa Defenders from Ken'shao Joo Li's personal wing. And there were strong words and heated psionic-sent emotions. Yet, Paren Station yielded up the transmission recordings that lent nothing to Sha'ha'dem involvement with the hunt for Wolfsdottir. Defenders were repositioned across Kailaasa to garrison should the rogue return. * * * Magister Magna Pakkratius had never before been denied docking at Paren Station, so long as he, a Progen, kept to the more public areas of the facility. As the formation of the two Jenquai and himself raced across Dahin sector to the fiery mining planet, he remembered the various tasks he had undertaken for the Jenquai Hierate, more specifically the Sha'ha'dem and the Sharim. Though it was only a little more than ten years after the end of the Gate War, the Jenquai xenophobia was still eroding slowly. Only the Sharim, an offspring of the Sha'ha'dem and a delegation of the recovery of Ancient artifacts, Jenquai diaspora relics, and the daunting task of preserving Jenquai technology while maintaining trade with other races, had shown him any consistant welcome. Pakkratius had helped bring supplies from other ports to newer Jenquai stations such as the new Ishuan and Menorb centers. Castor solar system was just coming online as the home of the Sharim. Though he found it hard to understand the religious jargon of the likes of Merjan Kathrada and Ariad, but he had done what they asked each time. His help had come, but not in the name of the Sabine Order and race relations. At the time, Pakkratius had come to aid as a representative of Net-7 News, back when he was a mere field Reporter. He could only hope now as Vitaes led the way through Jenquai space of the Capella solar system that the Explorer had some insight. The Sentinel also recalled that his younger clone brother had recently been forced into contact and to trust a Jenquai in his own adventure. Was this a trend to become more common, asked the Reporter inside Pakkratius. In an amused side thought, he searched the common thread from the two adventures in that he and his clone brother were turning out to be magnets for these troubled times. Was his genome to blame? Or could there be something far deeper that was triggering such galactic turmoil? Pakkratius recalled that instead of firing upon the cloaked Shinwa before him and exposing their position of breaching the gravity well security of Detention Center Onorom; he had merely halted their progress without breaking their invisibility. He remembered his hand on the trigger to fire all four of his ship's weapons. He had known that a few derelict Shinwa were to be expected in this Crystal Age. He could have destroyed that lead Defender that was bearing down on them, such was the power of his strange array of weapons and devices. It would have been easy to open up and catch their lead by surprise. He had stayed his hand. Rather than fire weapons, the Sentinel and Reporter chose his Gravity Link beam and merely paralyze the vanguard's approach. After Vitaes' wormhole effect, Pakkratius had been shunted across the galaxy, finding it funny that showing mercy was far more humorous than to begin a shooting war with the Shinwa. Mercy was far more entertaining than the thrill of victory in this case. What was happening to his humanity? These thoughts haunted in the back of his mind as the Sentinel followed in formation the others into re-entry pattern over the Jenquai-GETCo mining operation of Dahin planet. The Terrans had signed a joint-operations contract with the Jenquai Hierate, more specifically with the Sha'ha'dem to be allowed to help extract valuable ores from the mysterious lava planet. But from inside the Sha'ha'dem, the Sharim were to search for rumored Ancient artifacts while GETCo set up operations. The Sharim were all to happy to do business with the Terrans and yet hunt for any signs of Ancients in this half of the Capella solar system. Yokan and Kailaasa had already checked out by the time of the signing. Pakkratius looked out over the lavascape of the planet's surface. Though not as tumultuous as Endriago Planet back in Progen space, Dahin Planet was still dangerous with its indigenous life. It was also rumored among Jenquai that the self-exiled Cenovar Warlock Engineers had gotten to Dahin first while the Jenquai Hierate was still recovering from the Gate War aftermath. The skies were clear today over Tokai Saikatsu Station, a facility that was a merger of Jenquai architecture with Terran systems and personnel of the Good Earth Trading Company. The Sentinel would look out of place here but he cared little as the trio entered final approach to the hangar. He decided to be the Reporter over a Progen from a race of obedient clones. Structure had its place. Here was time to be social and approachable. Terrans swarmed Tokai Saikatsu around the clock. To them and to Pakkratius' eyes, this was about money. What was that old Terran addage? "Time is money." Thus the Reporter watched everything with a journalistic eye as work continued with the mining operations on Dahin Planet. Jenquai were here and there, managing the flow of ores and the inflow of credits. Economy wore on relentlessly even as the Hierate was trying to take it slowly and scientifically. It was a gentle battle to harvest only what was needed versus the desire to strip the planet as fast as possible. The bazaar in the station was in constant operations as was the lounge. Spacers, haulers, miners, geologists and philosopher-scientists all made their home here. Out here on the expansion edge of Capella, many others were hawking their political agendas for various Factions across human space. It was here that the Hierate was forced to endure the ideologies of other races and sub-sects on the fringes and in the backdrop of this frontier...."boom-town" was the ancient Earth term for it. Most Terrans just rolled their eyes and went about their business. The fewer Jenquai aboard the station would argue points for a while, but then lose interest in various arguments. "Ah, son," announced one Terran man who was ragged and wearing a haphazard flightsuit. "Learn th' magic of duct tape and how it can be th' agent that hold yer rig togeth'r." Pakkratius had become separated from his companions by this strange man. The Reporter in him noted the strange apparel and pitch. This Terran did not seem to be an employee of GETCo. Perhaps he was lost. "I don't understand," answered the Sentinel trying to cut around the Terran. "Duct tape, Progen, the most fab'lous creation to keep tha' which musn't move bolt' down. Now if you could just look at this here recipe, you can see that this might look low tech-..." Pakkratius took in the images on schematics printed on white, crinkled paper. Paper? The Sentinel stepped around the odd man, "Excuse me." With his attention on trying to spot his friends, the Sabine did not hear the man nor feel that something was thrust into his pack at his Doctor's utility belt. "There. Fer yer trouble, Progen." But the Reporter was then beyond the man and paying attention to him. The Terran's voice was swallowed soon by the lobby's hustle and bustle. "Tell 'em Zacharias Garret sent ya with tha' dere 'xample!" But Pakkratius was trying to catch up to Vitaes and Wolfsdottir, who seemingly melted and weaved with ease through the lobby and into the lounge. One blink of his eyes and even Wolfsdottir seemed to disappear in the crowd only to appear closer to the door. This must have been one hell of a shift change, thought the Reporter. Eventually, Pakkratius caught up to the two, smaller Jenquai who were already making meal orders at the bar of the lounge. Though his entry was noted by the throngs of Terrans, more than one of the very few Jenquai there frowned at the appearance of a Progen. It seemed to the Sentinel that frontiersmen still had a ways to go before the decade-old wounds would heal. As Pakkratius began to insert his green DataIdent cube to pay for his meal, he noted that while one Jenquai male had frowned at his entry, he was folding his arms and giving worse response to the silver-white-haired Wolfsdottir sitting down at a table with a meal across from Vitaes. Even without psionics as a Progen, the Reporter could sense the angry posturing and whispers to those around him coming off the incensed Jenquai. Why would the Jenquai have worse reactions to each other than the odd Progen entering the bar? Pakkratius sat down with his meal with Vitaes and the girl. He knew that this could be a recipe for more trouble. "Don't look him in the eyes, Progen," cautioned Vitaes, who was seeing the inquiry in the Reporter's eyes. "I look where I like and collect all I can sense," volleyed Pakkratius. "He is Daniel Malhause, a member of the Mordana," informed Vitaes. "The excommunicated," added Wolfsdottir. She knew more than Pakkratius, he thought. "Even you cannot stand against the might of a single Follower of Mordane, Progen," again warned Vitaes. "Their lifestyle has become one of jihad and they had the lion's share of the Jenquai military fleets when they left the Hierate in shame. Do not approach them. They are anathema to true Jenquai. They seek to draw more to their vengeful and bitter cause." "They should be destroyed outright," said Wolfsdottir deadpan. Both Pakkratius and Vitaes looked at the girl. Though the Reporter could read his interviewees as he talked with them, he doubted he had such sensitivity as the Grandmaster next to him. "Why, young 'Kaojin'?" asked Vitaes. "They are still Jenquai, our people. Their mindset is what is in exile. The Hierate might allow them to return if only-" "They should be destroyed outright," repeated the girl. "Enough," interjected the Sabine Pakkratius. "We're here only as a waypoint, right Vitaes? Let's not make more enemies. We have already angered the Sabine Order and the Shinwa Defenders. These Followers are only recruiting here. Let's follow Vitaes outta here." The trio ate their meal under the distant and brooding gaze from the Mordana recruiter across the lounge in silence and stayed in a shared and rented apartment that night. Their cover story told the GETCo station that they were a research team with a student intern passing through the sector. Pakkratius tossed and turned under the Jenquai architecture and furniture as he tried to sleep. He was wracked by dreams of being chased by Reclaimers calling for his gene-map. Their sailed ships were backlit by a bright white electrical storm heralding their chase from behind. The Progen reporter bolted to sit upright in the tiny Jenquai bed when the stormbolt struck him in the bridge of his ship *Culler* and ripped through his chest. Breathing hard, he stumbled to the privy and gazed into the mirror. He peered at his reflection. Perhaps he should have not become involved. Maybe he should have just stayed objectively removed from this story-turned-adventure. Returning to the Bed of Torture, Pakkratius spotted the girl who was sound asleep. She had kicked off her thermal sheet and was curled, uncomfortably uncovered. It banished the regrets for the Progen who then draped Dot with the cover. He watched her silently as a Doctor's vigil as she became more comfortable in sleep. She was why he had undertaken this ordeal. He still had no clue how he would wriggle from this social and political fiasco over a little girl. The Sentinel returned to bed quietly with silent prayers to Vita Theodora, the Progen Mother in Spirit, that things would turn out okay.

Wolf's Daughter - Ch. IV by Pakkrat IV. Joo Li, now pretty much accepting the 'Julie' nickname by her wing of Defenders passed uncomfortably too close to a squadron of Sabine Sentinels. The sailed, red explorers were passing the time mining nearby asteroids and gas clouds. With all their communications in an ease, it seemed like the Sabine were waiting patiently but easily distracted by the resources of Asteroid Belt Gamma. Julie's wing had crossed the stargate from Saturn sector on a rumor that there might be some activity coming from the wefts in Jupiter sector and Asteroid Belt Beta. Knowing that an AWOL Defender would most likely avoid Jupiter, the ancestral home of the Jenquai, the Ken'shao chose to investigate Helios' Weft when she spotted the squadron of Sentinels. As she passed the first field of mining Sabine, Julie saw the next field on her scanners. It too was occupied by more of the explorers. Then the third field repeated the first two. The Shinwa commander had never seen such a concentrated presence of Sabine Order in one sector. Always before, the Sabine had worked in groups of threes or sixes in one sector to sweep fully the resources in efficiency. But these three groups of miners appeared to not be aggressively harvesting as usual. They were taking their time with the asteroids and gas clouds. The low-to-middling ores and gasses should have been short work to the Sabine Order. It was then that Julie realized that they were hiding in plain sight. They wanted to appear to be mining in earnest, but were truly sitting there, observing the spacelanes. In parallel to the Shinwa tactic of dropping a cloaked Defender every third or fourth nav in a sector, the Sabine were monitoring in force by appearing to be on just another mining operation. If the Sabine Order was monitoring by hiding in plain sight then there must be some alert they were observing. She flew onward casually as she could. The Ken'shao thought about pulling up and communicating with the mining Sentinels then probing their thoughts with her psionics. But then, that might tip her hand in her search for Wolfsdottir. The sight of Detention Center Onorom off in the distance also discouraged her. The rumored brutality upon the penal station's inmates was a night terror to the ear. Thus, Julie flew onward and planted cloaked Defenders well away from the space station's 'wall'. Turning with the rounding navs, the Shinwa commander made for the next sector's stargate. * * * Dr. Pakkratius had never before lied to a fellow Progen so successfully before today. As the Warden escorted the trio through the station to the cell blocks, the Sabine continued to expound layer upon layer of bullshit. "Well, the girl has a term paper on Gate War history and the Explorer here wants to clear the air about the nasty rumors over Detention Center Onorom before returning to his people. Such interest naturally says 'scoop' to me as a Reporter for Net-7 News in that we are not forgetting our history lessons." The banter with Warden Orphant was not very vocal but he listened as the Sentinel continued to explain their presence. In the end, the Warden bought the story, much to Pakkratius' hidden surprise, and he admitted the Reporter, the student, and the socialite. Further into the prison station the group walked. Past many wards, checkpoints and cells they went as the hum of the station's power plant continued to backdrop the occasional vocal outburst of a prisoner or two. Minutes into the prison and the group arrived at the cell that Wolfsdottir had input into the prison registry. Pakkratius held Vitaes back a way behind the girl to let her approach the cell door alone. Warden Orphant was many paces away at the last checkpoint. The Net-7 News Reporter watched as the Jenquai went slowly to the door. He could see nervousness in her step and gait as she peered in and spoke. * * * The cell was dimly lit but well enough that Wolfsdottir could see into it easily. A Progen man lay on a slab of metal. The steel door had only a viewport wide enough to slide a tray of food inside. She could see the man sleeping. Wanting to wake him gently, she spoke gently, "Soldier Wolf. Soldier Wolf, please wake up." The Progen stirred and sat up with a start only to look around. Then he saw the girl at the door peeking in. He answered her, "No slder no more. Go away." The girl took note of the clipped inflection of the man's speech. "Wolf, please," Wolfsdottir asked. "I want to speak to you." "Dead Prgen in a meat lockr, I," he said. "I am Wolfsdottir," said the girl. She had spoken the name slowly enough that it could have been heard as "Wolf's daughter". "No girl o'mine. Wolf have no pups." "My mother said a Progen Dog Sold-" The Progen stood up and growled at the girl in the window. His slightly elongated canine teeth were bared. There was a feral look in his eyes at her. "Jenny, git from here!" Wolfsdottir held her tongue for a moment and closed her eyes. She tried a different inflection and vernacular to her voice. "Reck'n you me pa, Wolf. Ma says so. You ken?" It was a slang used more than ten years ago and taught to her by her mother for this very day. It seemed to have an effect on the Progen man in the cell. He answered with growing curiosity in his voice. "You. Girl of the Jen. You ma died in dat Gate War. Saw to it. None live from Dog Sldrs. The packs." "Ma said you done did her and you wuz called away tho she near dead," said Wolfsdottir. She was getting through to the warrior. She wanted more as her eyes threatened to show emotion before this feral man. "She were dead. I knowd it." "Ma said she was part psi and doin' wytch stuff to stay 'live." "Jenny wytch! Jenny wytch! Jenny wytch!" The Progen man stomped about his cell. Then he seemed to come back to the present in his fury. "She lived. One of a few who did. Had me, she did." "Lucky! Lucky I wuz called offa her. Not my fault she lived." He looked at her closely, slowly approaching. Wolfsdottir's hand slid down to one of her twin knife sheaths only to discover that her weapons had been checked at the first checkpoint. She could only hope the cell door would hold. In order not to show fear, she stood at the door resolutely. "Tell me, lil one," said the Progen man. "Do you feel it? The urge? To kill?" He was looking directly into her eyes, his feral and aged eyes burrowing into her through the view port. Wolfsdottir's voice dropped to a whisper so the others, paces away, could not hear. "Yes. Every day," said Wolfsdottir, returning to present-day speech. She remembered the call of the Kaojin and their nihilistic mindset. How similar yet so distant were the two tendencies, Kaojin, the Destroyers and the Dog Soldier program. The Progen prisoner stopped before the viewport. He nodded, "I can see now. You got the hung'r, do ya? Maybe you are mine. But you not my pack. No pack no more. Go. You not find your Alpha here. Go. Kill, lil one. No Alpha here. Your sire be dead with no Call Forwd. Go." She could not stop the tears in her eyes from coming. Her shoulders sagged in defeat. This Progen man may have fathered her, but he was too far gone to be anything remotely a father. And she had wanted to meet a father, her father. This Progen was her progenitor but never meant to be one. Wolfsdottir felt she was a fluke now. Turning from the cell, she stepped lightly to the others. Her ideal image of a father was crushed by the reality of the man she had just met. It was the Pakkratius who caught her from collapsing when she got to them. He gathered her up as she sobbed in a fetal position, crying all the way from the prison. "Jenny wytch! Jenny wytch! Jenny wytch!" called Dog Soldier Wolf from his cell to the entire block. The calls were answered from various cells in the ward. "There there," said the Pakkratius. He carried her all the way to the station hangar, shushing her gently as he could. Past checkpoints they went. * * * Ken'shao Julie spotted the trio first as her vessel's devices were top-of-the-line and expanded its scan range from far outside the artificial gravity well 'walls' of Detention Center Onorom. At the same time, the horde of mining Sentinels turned as one to converge upon the accelerator gate. The Ken'shao knew they would admit the Sentinels but not the Shinwa. It confirmed to her that they too were searching for the target, Wolfsdottir the AWOL Defender. It was up to her and the Shinwa to penetrate the gravity wells and intercept the trio of ships the hard way. The Sentinels' signals were blaring to each other, orders not to let the Jenquai Defender escape. There were orders to arrest the white Sentinel's pilot. And orders to shut down the Jenquai Explorer ship were given. Julie took all this in as her wing of Defenders quietly and under cloaking penetrate the defenses stealthily. She meant to catch the escaping trio as the Sabine were still funnelling their numbers through the accelerator gate. A few minutes later of slowly traversing the warp-interdiction gravity wells, Julie and her squadron emerged just as she wanted. The Sentinel ships were already calling for the target vessels to heave to and prepare for boarding. The Explorer *Rocinante* was out front followed by the *Warchild*, Wolfsdottir's ship, then was followed by the white-sailed *Culler*. How simple-minded a name for a Progen exploration vessel. Julie would have expected such a moniker from the Centuriata Warriors, but not from a gene-hunting Sabine Order. She sniffed at the brazen white ship. Julie could at least predict the load-outs of the Explorer and the wanted Defender. It was still confusing why a Sentinel was escorting Wolfsdottir when it as clear that the entire Sabine Order was also gunning for her. It was this Sentinel that was an unknown. Julie decided to analyze the white ship. In just two seconds the battle computer was warning her off. It was armed in classes that were nearly off the scale. What was that Progen using? Shields rating were beyond her normal expectations. The weapons were all different and some were alien. Since they had undocked from the prison, this Sentinel was surrounded by that backbiting and hated globe of retribution, the Repulsor Field. And curses upon him for extending two more fields around the Explorer and the Defender. This truly tied this white Sentinel as an accomplice of the rogue Wolfsdottir. Just who was this Progen? There came more calls from the Sentinels. This time they seemingly were orders to that last ship. "Magister Magna Pakkratius, in the name of Magna Vinda, you are to power down and heave-to. Acknowledge!" The transmitting Progen was a swarthy and bulky male, cut to genetic cloning precision to Julie's eyes. "Do you read, Pakkratius? I said stand down. This is Magister Caius Hellstrom. Power down immediately." The trio showed no signs of slowing as they flew onward, out the rear of the prison station. They were coming straight for Julie's wing. Julie gave silent orders via hand signals out the viewport of her cockpit to her immediate wingman. The hand sign was passed on and on and through the entire wing. The plan was simple. The entire wing of Defenders were stretched out over the sector, cloaked and waiting for the order to snatch the *Warchild*. Each would fold the space about the rogue Wolfsdottir, shunting her towards the next waiting Defender craft. The process would continue to shove the girl's vessel across the sector to the sector gate to Saturn. It was a timed and focused maneuver that the Ken'shao had practiced only a handful of times. It required that each did their job successfully in turn. The rogue only had to come a little closer within her own range. Gravity wells, gravity beams, interdictor and the like could not stop the folding of space. Just a little closer.... Then her ship rocked to a halt when a black and brown beam struck her ship. It stretched back all the way to the white Sentinel ship, the Pakkratius that Hellstrom had named. Her engines were paralyzed to move a vessel whose mass was too great. It meant that he had seen her, possibly all along! Julie pounded her fists on her cockpit dashboard as the known next event occurred. She too was helpless before the mastery of the Sha'ha'dem Explorers. The *Rocinante*, faster than Julie had ever seen before, had been powering up his jump field to open a wormhole thus escaping with the rogue and the accomplice Sentinel from the 'walls' of the prison's compound space. Even as the green mists shrouded the three ships, more black and brown gravity-mass beams struck them from behind. The rust-red Sabine had already opened up with their capture beams. These too were helpless to the galactic wormhole that swallowed the three ships. Anger swelled within Julie, but it was this Hellstrom that cursed aloud over the communications. He chastised his subordinates. Such was his fury that Julie was calmed. She hand-signaled a general retreat from the area, through the gravity wells. Julie would have words with the Sha'ha'dem. She imagined that the Pakkratius was also going to be held accountable to the trio's escape by this new Sabine commander who was now her rival in capturing Wolfsdottir.

Wolf's Daughter - Ch. III by Pakkrat III. Never before had Vitaes suffered such strict traffic control in Progen space. With permission of local Republic authorities, the Jenquai Grandmaster Explorer had merely been studying the gravitic and mineral relationship between Kastor and Altair here in Altair III sector. The two planetary bodies were slowly tearing each other apart with their gravity and proximity. As they danced a mutual destruction, a good portion of their masses were strewn over much of the sector in the form of asteroids. Vitaes had come here to catalogue the two planets' interaction as well as survey the fields of asteroids for mineral potential. It had never been much of an interest to the Collegia Forgemasters, the Progen arm of manufacturing and trade for the Republic. As the two planets demolished each other, Vitaes scanned field after field of mineral-rich asteroids. The Jenquai Explorer wondered why the Forgemasters never contacted the Sabine Order to come and take advantage of this developing resource. As he studied the slow, inexorable destruction, it came to him to catalogue the minerals and gasses in order to alert his Jenquai contacts in the Sharim, the trade Faction of the less-xenophobic Jenquai. If the Progen had yet to realize the value of these doomed planets, perhaps the Sharim could seek to purchase mining rights in this sector. His troubles began as he finished his survey and was to return home the way he had journeyed. Vitaes had rounded the circumference nav-path that avoided the chaotic debris fields of Kastor and Altair Planet. Ahead lay a streaming line of Collegia trade transports, Arx Emporos supply ships, merchants, and even a few Privateers. All were backed up in a long wait and patient log jam for clearance to pass the system gate to Gallina. With his advanced scanning and survey systems, Vitaes could detect that a Progen checkpoint had been set up just outside gating range of his only exit from Altair III to the Gallina system. Obedient to traffic and customs laws concerning Progen space, Vitaes pulled gingerly into the line and began a contemplation for patience, his means of dealing with bureaucracy, especially that of the Progen Republic. Though Vitaes had been educated and trained by the Jenquai Sha'ha'dem, the scientific-philosophers, he had quietly and politely slipped from the spiritual and religious indoctrination of the Hierate. Often, when his teachers had taken classes into more esoteric subjects frequently assisted with music or other sound-based aids, Vitaes would become distracted. It was his chromesthesia, or seeing sound and music as colorful lights with various intensities and hues, that distracted him from the indoctrination. On a medical excuse, the Novice would slip from the class and devote his attention to drink, women, or other interesting subjects at the university. With four sciences masteries, the Explorer had shocked his instructors at his graduation ceremony when he announced his departure from the Hierate, though he stressed his loyalty to the Jenquarum as a whole. As a new Grandmaster, it was assumed that Vitaes might enjoy his new title in the Sha'ha'dem, but the unknown of the frontier had already called to him. Now, Vitae's vessel, the *Rocinante*, was parked in a holding pattern as the long line of vessels were scanned and given egress from the Sabine Order checkpoint. His turn would not come any time soon. In his contemplation ritual, the Explorer barely cared that he was no longer the last in line. A formation of two vessels pulled up behind his craft. "Ben Joseph's blood," Vitaes half-swore irreverently as he found that his ship was now committed to the traffic ahead. He had thought to turn around and find berth at Arx Emporos for a while so this traffic could clear out. Gazing curiously at his rear view monitor, the Explorer saw the huge sail fans of another Sabine Sentinel being led by a Jenquai Defender of all craft. Surprised at the pairing and curious that the white-hulled Sentinel did not bypass the waiting line, Vitaes took a closer look at the odd couple. At first he mistakenly misjudged the genders of the pilots in each craft. With the Defender's black hull with blood red fins and nose cone, Vitaes thought the pilot of that craft was probably male. And then with the glossy white sails and sharp wing fins, the Explorer too guessed the Sentinel pilot to be female. Even the names of the craft behind him were ambiguous. "Culler" and "Warchild" swayed him that perhaps both of the craft were piloted by men, perhaps friends in a formation. But when, out of further curiosity, Vitaes scanned the two vessels, he came up with a male pilot of the Sentinel and a young female at the helm of the Defender. It was quite a strange combination of ships and their pilots, thought Vitaes. But it was the huge "N7 News" decal painted on the wings of the white Sentinel that brought familiarity to the contemplating Grandmaster. His better sense about the Progen race warned Vitaes not to make contact. It was more Sabine Order Sentinels that were holding up traffic ahead at the checkpoint. It could have been the xenophobic indoctrination that the Sha'ha'dem had spoon-fed him. However, seeing the familiar logo that was accompanied by the Net-7 News theme that caught and held the attention of the Explorer. This Sentinel had to be the anchor for Net-7 News, Magister Magna Pakkratius, scientist, journalist and Doctor of genetics and the debatable Progen Call Forward. Vitaes had seen many of the newscorp's station-based broadcasts. Many times he had downloaded a program from a nearby Net-7 beacon. Net-7 anchors Zona Mason and the Dr. Pakkratius would be there to keep humanity abreast of every corner of explored space. The Jenquai Grandmaster especially liked any pieces on scientific breakthroughs, new horizons of explored frontier and space weather to be avoided. While the Pakkratius would interview locals and study trends in space phenomena, it was evident that his co-anchor Mason showed him up with her stories of governments, politics, high society, entertainment and the like. Any Novice, to Vitae's eyes, could see the competitiveness the two reporters brought to the news-desk. In this, the Jenquai Explorer could appreciate, just a little, the Progen race for trying to show more social than martial tendencies. Thus, on a whim, the Grandmaster hailed the formation behind him. The "Culler" answered him but the Jenquai Defender did not. Strange, thought Vitaes. With a vid-comm feed, Vitaes was answered with, "Net-7 News, this is a Anchorman Pakkratius." Such formal greeting but his voice had a tinge of eagerness to listen to anyone as traffic crawled forward toward the system stargate to Gallina. "Um, Greetings Magister Magna," said Vitaes. "I am Grandmaster Vitaes. How fare you today?'' The Magister Magna's face betrayed him before he spoke, "Well, for a first time as your galactic anchor, I am trying to keep a story *from* becoming breaking news." His hand gesture and his facial expression lent more to his nervous body language. Vitaes read his mind with his telepathic psionics. Thankfully, this Progen Sentinel's mind was not fully clouded with cybernetic machines and enhancements. His emotions were loud even as he tried to be polite and friendly as the face of Net-7 News. The Grandmaster registered impatient fear and nervousness, concern for the Jenquai Defender next to him, and a desire to be hidden. Something was wrong about it all. Why would a Progen be protectively concerned about a Shinwa? With no vid-comm and no answer from the fellow Jenquai, Vitaes reached out to the craft. He was met with a feral desire to destroy the Sentinels at the checkpoint ahead. Anger, there was anger. This was perplexing. A fearful Progen concerned for an unbalanced and dangerously angry Jenquai. Normally the the scale would find more balance in such a rare and strange pairing. "Is...everything alright, Magister Magna?" asked Vitaes hoping to pry up some more responses to get to the truth of this pair behind him. From far ahead in the line of ships came a locally transmitted signal from the Sentinel ships at the checkpoint. "You, Jenquai!" called a Progen Sentinel, his ship turning to face Vitaes' direction. "Me?" answered the Grandmaster. "No, not you," corrected the Sabine. "The one behind you." Vitaes looked again at the formation behind him. The *Culler* and the *Warchild* were already reverse thrusting, their vector thrust-panes steering them away from the waiting line. "Time to go," said the image of the Pakkratius who looked to his side at the Defender next to him. "I'm trying," answered a female voice, her image appearing on the Explorer's vid-comm screen. She had wild, silvery-white hair with light bluish tips that matched the crystal blue of her eyes. The Jenquai was young, almost too young. She wore a red top that exposed her neck and shoulders with a loose platinum collar about her neck over it. As the Jenquai girl barked at the Pakkratius, "Your ship turns like a pregnant Nagifar, Progen," Vitaes could see and hear her mind. She was on the run from the Sabine Order even though one of their number was right next to her. And she wanted to fight first and leave after. It was battle-lust. Vitaes had seen it before in the hearts of the the now-excommunicated Mordana some years ago. "In the name of the Sabine Order and the Progen Republic, I, Magister Caius Hellstrom arrest the Jenquai Wolfsdottir!" announced the lead Sentinel ship with flame coloration and copper sails. His vessel was on a power buildup and Vitaes could feel the confidence exuding off the leader, this Hellstrom. "Move move!" called the Pakkratius. "You move move, you old Progen!" answered the Jenquai girl named Wolfsdottir by the Magister. Her voice had an immature and improper inflection of a Jenquai that no longer called the Jenquarum home. The two ships winged over and began to charge up warp cones facing back toward the planets Kastor and Altair. But before they could take off, multiple loud and brown-black beams struck the paired formation. Their report was a dissonant chord as its energies played over the hulls of the white Sentinel and the red-black Defender. Vitaes' mastery of physics and his scanners read the paralytic news. The pair had been caught in temporary gravity fields, their movement halted, warp denied, and their impulse drives severely hampered. They were caught in a Progen weapon of a slow death, the Gravity Link beams sported by Sentinels and the fearsome Warriors. Any caught by such a beam were helpless before the chain-guns of the Progen Republic. But worse for Vitaes personally was the sound the Gravity Link beams had made. Indigo spots and bands of blue wavered before his eyes. The atonal noise made by the capture beams had triggered his chromesthesia. He gripped his temples in an attempt to ignore the sounds. If it could be termed such, it was a painful muddling of consciousness to the Jenquai Explorer. Why ever did the Progen have to be so off-key?! "Good," said the girl Wolfsdottir. "A good Dance of Destruction." Vitaes could hear over the vid-comm as the Defender's computer began to charge up a Psionic Shield, a defensive shell over and above the normal shield matrix all spacecraft had to adopt in this dangerous galaxy. At least the *whirrr* of her psi-shield was tonal and had semblance of a key. However it was like mixing ice cream dessert with hydraulic fluid and taking it all in the ears to Vitaes' senses. The *Warchild's* plasma and energy beams lit up as they activated for combat. The Explorer's sensor lock on the Sentinel also registered the lock and load of some pretty frightening ammunition in some of the strangest projectile launchers yet seen. At the readying of weapons, (and Vitaes abhorred violence), the Grandmaster could see the closing Sentinel ships emit bubble fields of their own. It was widely known and seen, the Repulsor Fields of the Sabine Order Sentinels. Any strike upon those retributive fields would repel a fraction of incoming damage back at their source. If the anchorman and the girl fired now they would bring further harm to themselves in addition to the weaponry of the Sentinels trying to capture her. This was to say nothing of the political and criminal ramifications that resisting arrest in Progen space would bring them. "This is not good," said the Pakkratius who most likely knew best the signature fields of the incoming ships. His own Repulsor Field lit up over the *Culler*. "Bring it!" called the girl called Wolfsdottir. "No!" protested the Reporter. Vitaes could hear the journalistic neutrality that conflicted with his membership in the Sabine Order in his voice. No doubt that even though he had the most frightening weaponry in the area, the Pakkratius was trying to remain cool since their vessels were paralyzed by the repeated and renewed Gravity Link beams. A moment of irritated clarity struck Vitaes. Amidst his colorful reaction to the dis-harmonic beams, the vibratory emanations of the many Repulsor Fields and the Defender's Psionic Shield, the Explorer snapped to action. And it worked like magic. Vitaes opened an invitation to the two captured vessels via a tight lasercom beam. "Care to escape this noise?" he called verbally as his computer requested a navigation and helm linking with the *Culler* and the *Warchild*. Via his psionics, the Grandmaster input into the mind of the Net-7 Reporter the desire to accept the computer's request and escape. With the Pakkratius' fight-or-flight reactions demanding action, the acceptance returned to Vitaes. Wolfsdottir's acceptance came next as the group formed and nav computers locked. They had reflexively accepted a group invitation without care or checking who it was the pair were grouping. Amidst the calls to stand down, power down and prepare for boarding, the chromesthetic reactions, and the emotional emanations from all parties, the Sha'ha'dem Grandmaster saved all from approaching bloodshed. With a piercing ache attempting to destroy his concentration, Vitaes reached over and pressed a button on his ships cockpit console. It was a green button, almost welcoming him home. "Where to, people?" he asked as his reactor awaited his command. Power in his Jenquai vessel was routed to the jump field that now emanated outwards from the hull. "Anywhere but here," answered the Pakkratius desperately. "Helios' Weft!" called Wolfsdottir, though she said it reluctantly. Vitaes, in a herculean psionic effort, reached outward across the galaxy with his mind and focussed on the wormhole wrinkle that was named Helios' Weft. The weft was deep inside Sol system's asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. There was little time left to make a better decision. Attuned to his attentions, the Jenquai Explorer ship and the Jenquai pilot opened a temporary wormhole to that far-off point of interstellar, space-fold stability. Greenish gasses erupted from the jump field of the Grandmaster's ship, enveloping the *Rocinante*, the *Culler* and the *Warchild*. They covered each entirely as the process began. The laws of relativity bent at the psionic mind of Vitaes when it was focussed and given momentum by his ship's empowered jump field. "What the-?" came the amazed call of the Sabine Magister Hellstrom. "Somebody stop them!" he protested in rage. * * * To the Jenquai, so used to space-folding and manifesting wormholes to make way across interstellar space, the effect was probably old hat and expected. But to a Sentinel like Pakkratius, the instantaneous travel was always a marvel. He had time after time watched as his vessel was taxi-ed across the galaxy by Explorers-for-hire. And each time, the Pakkratius, could not fathom how the process worked. It was a widely used, but never shared ability that the Jenquai utilized. The Terrans coveted the short-cuts that the Sha'ha'dem were able to take. The Progen turned from red to greed with envy at the tactical advantage the process could be taken. From the moment the gasses erupted from the *Rocinante*, (for the Reporter always took note of the person calling him and their vessel's name), his white ship was clouded and all sensory intake was inhibited as all scopes and sensors registered green. Then temporary green beams of what the Explorers called a "jump field" that initiated the wormhole effect, lined the Doctor's ship. Then all was concealed with green, whatever that was outside unknowable. A second or two later, and the green field was gone and the gasses dispersing as new space came into view and registered on the computers. For the Sabine Sentinel's navigation computers, it was a hiccup of calibration as it had to re-read the stars and find its new position. He had no doubt that Jenquai prepared their onboard computers to be ready for the new location ahead of the wormhole effect. Looking out his bridge's view ports, the Pakkratius could see fields upon fields of the Sol Asteroid Belt. When his computer had finished recalibrating seconds later, he found the formation in a sector of the belt named Asteroid Belt Beta. The Doctor assumed the two Jenquai ships were waiting on him. "Why here?" asked the Pakkratius. "Was it the first weft that came to mind?" "She picked the destination, Dr. Pakkratius," explained the Grandmaster across from him in the formation, indicating Wolfsdottir. "So, um Dot, do you have a particular destination in mind?" asked the Sentinel. The answer was quiet as if she were hoarding an unspoken confession when she answered. "I want to go to to D.C.O." At that she aimed the formation towards the sector gate that connected Asteroid Belt Beta with the neighboring sector, Asteroid Belt Gamma. The formation took off like a shot due to the averaging of warp capabilities and agility of the three craft. The Pakkratius had instantly wanted to protest. Detention Center Onorom should have been the last place a Jenquai girl on the run needed. The station was a huge penal colony prison for the Progen Republic. Under the jurisdiction of the Centuriata Warriors, the colony was the most secure station in Progen space. It was secure at keeping things incarcerated. Nestled within a ring of artificial gravity wells, Detention Center Onorom was generally accessible only through a special in-sector gate called an accelerator gate. The accelerator would shunt incoming and outgoing vessels that passed the checkpoint. At any time the two gates could be shut down, thus paralyzing any vessel trying to break in or out through the 'walls' of the prison territory. "They are not going to let two Jenquai through the accelerators without proper authorization," the Doctor announced. He was not trying to argue the wisdom of this destination. Rather he felt it necessary to point out hurdles in the way. Somehow, the quiet calm of the girl said to him that Dot had a plan and to hide here in plain sight was quite ingenious compared to his plan of running the rim of human space. "Let me drive and I can handle that," said Grandmaster Vitaes confidently. Wolfsdottir yielded over the lead position as the three ships entered Asteroid Belt Gamma through its connecting sector gate. * * * In her training, Wolfsdottir had heard of the rigorous astrogation classes the Sha'ha'dem imposed upon Novice Explorers. At the starboard wing position next to the *Rocinante*, Vitae's Explorer vessel, Dot could watch as the Grandmaster led the formation. The Progen still had his use to come as Dot looked past the lead to the white Sentinel. The Sabine had let his frustration be known and yet was not complaining. Dot was beginning to like this Progen. He was nice to offer his hand at Paramis. The Sentinel was willing to protect her with his strange weaponry against the Outlings and his own kind, the Sabine Order. He verbally complimented her skills in Moto. She had never had such praise from her teachers, only silent encouragement to continually do better than she was at any given time. Yes, this Pakkratius was not the usual fare of Progen Dot had encountered during her service in the Shinwa's Sev Tushnim. The Grandmaster could get them beyond the wall instantly and hopefully unseen once the formation dropped out of warp. All the 'tower' at D.C.O. would see is a visiting Sentinel. Instead of taking the usual rounding course of navigation bouys, the three ships, her 'pack' as Dot was coming to think of it, shot straight past Mier's Perch by freewarping from the gate. Thus removed from the usual path of spacefaring, detecting the three ships would take the Progen scanning technology only the Jenquai used. In return, Dot used her own purchased devices, her Sextans and Telescopium focusing device to have a scouting look across the territory. Dot registered the presence of normal traffic, the general spread of searching Sentinels near the stargate to Saturn sector, and then she saw small trio formations of Jenquai Defenders. Every five or so nav-points, a single Defender would stop, back off the nav a few clicks and then engage its cloaking. "There are Shinwa in this sector," she noted to the Pakkratius. "You are being hunted, Dot," explained the Doctor. He then explained what he had learned from an ex-Shinwa contact of his. The news was surprising but not shocking to Wolfsdottir. She had walked out on them without so much as a farewell. But to hear the part of the entire Shinwa Faction put on alert-search for her was disturbing. What had she done to them directly except leave? The formation paused at a remote asteroid that was not on the general galactic map. Vitaes explained that he in the past had found and mapped Asteroid Marin 33, a short chain of fellow asteroids that streamed just out of sensor range of usual traffic in the sector of space. In the distance, at least to her extended and enhanced scopes, Dot could see the huge red structures of Detention Center Onorom through the clouds of thick asteroids. "Are you sure you can fly through the 'wall', through all those?" asked the Pakkratius, indicating the floating fields of meteors and the gravity fields surrounding the territory. "Watch and learn if you can, Progen," said the Grandmaster. Then the formation, with the *Rocinante* in the lead, charged and dove into the fields. Just out of reflex, Dot checked her harness belts. They were secure. If the gravity fields were to stop them, the jolt might try the inertial dampeners of the ships. She did not relish in having her innards yanked to a halt so abruptly. The console tended to become messy like that. As Vitaes the Explorer weaved through the asteroid belt, closing on the gravity wells, Dot braced herself for the the abrupt stop. But that stop never came. Looking over to the *Rocinante* and the image of Vitaes, his confidence shown plainly, his astrogation was superb. The formation breached the gravity wells as if they never existed. It shot forth through the 'wall' and into the inner territory of Detention Center Onorom. "Now," said Vitaes. Dot reached for a blue button and closed her eyes. The two Jenquai ships shimmered and were gone, fully invisible, as their warp cones dissipated. The formation dropped out of the travel speeds to the more tactical impulse maneuvering velocity. Ahead lay the space station, red and glaring. Of the three ships, only the Pakkratius' ship, the *Culler* was still visible. Dot ran as silent as she could when the traffic control tower at penal station hailed the Sentinel. "You're not on our schedule today, Magister Magna," noted the tower traffic controller to the Doctor. "I know," said the Pakkratius, "but that's my orders from the Sabine Order, to see and interview an inmate. I won't be long, I believe." The Sentinel stole a glance towards Wolfsdottir's invisible ship with the appearance of hope on his face. "Shall I double-check with Warden Orphant?" asked the controller. "Shall I fly all the way back to Endriago and give a null-report to Magna Vinda, the current leader of the Republic? Both of our genomes may take a downturn." There was a pause. Even the signal clicked off. The Pakkratius merely sighed with some air of confidence. Dot decided then that the Doctor had great patience. She would have not lasted so long. Dot watched as the Pakkratius folded his arms and leaned back into his chair over the vid-comm link in the formation. His confidence was mocking his effort, she thought. How was the Grandmaster Vitaes taking this encounter? Then the second hail from the station tower came. "Hail, Magister Magna Pakkratius! Your docking approach has been cleared and a berth is waiting." "Wisdom and strength to the Republic," said the Doctor with a patriotic response. Then Dot eased the formation, with two cloaked ships into the station docking bay hangar. Vitaes called the two as the ships docked, causing two of them to uncloak. He used a tight beam lasercom to ask, "Um, why are we here again?" The Doctor shrugged and looked over at the Defender craft. "She's driving and I promised to leave her alone once we find a station where I can truly interview her. And Detention Center Onorom is no place for a young girl of any race." Dot bristled at the Pakkratius' answer but resolutely shut down her vessel and exited to the hangar deck. She was followed by him and Vitaes. "We get caught doing anything illegal, I don't know you," said the Grandmaster. "Just walk casual like you belong here," assured the Doctor. "But I don't-" Vitaes was cut off by the approach of none other than Warden Orphant, administrator of Detention Center Onorom.