...Chaos -- Chapter 22

1. Mother was drifting near a star inside Andromedea and intercepted a familiar psyos emanating from the third body in an obscure 10-planet system.   

2. "Identify," Mother commanded a minion subcomponent.  "There's an Elliptical note from Conscious regarding this star formation," the subcomponent responded.  "A quarantine from the God of Chaos," Mother acknowledged, "Look, but don't touch." 

3.  "You can do whatever you like," the subcomponent asserted.  "Population," Mother querried.  "Eight Billion sentient biologicals," the subcomponent answered.  The EMF alone was a testament to that.  "Cartography?" Mother asked.  "This system was not mapped in detail," the subcomponent answered. 

3. The ambient data smog provided sufficient keys to filter the word, "Earth."  The central star is, "Sol," which orbits binary stars, "Alpha Centauri A and B and a dwarf star, Proxima."   The Cacci Dai had an antiquated map of the area; the objects had different names. 

4. "Plot a course and engage," Mother commanded.  Kor's armadas destroyed any world inhabited by Vejhonian seedlings to prevent them from rising up to take back Vejhon.  His policies encouraged neighboring worlds to think twice before assimilating shellan expatriates into their culture.  Recent disasters like M'tro-1 compelled all Cardships to respond to all distress calls.                 

5. "The Thites have navigation beacons in the system," the subcomponent reported, "There are objects of unknown origin and artifacts that appear to originate from a machine world more advanced than ours."  "Display," Mother commanded.  The Light Race was sometimes mistaken for advanced machines because Segment 10 machines can manipulate photonic matter.  Light machines were often called Angels by biologicals.  The display presented an array of advanced photonic machines.  "The Light Race is here," Mother confirmed.  There was evidence that intelligence from all over the Universe trafficked this particular system.

6.  Using the Thite navigation beacons, she piggybacked on their ribbon of eternity to expedite their arrival.  The beacons were relative to Theos and adjusted to a star's orbit around a parent star.          

8. In theory, 'Acceleration' spins a reverse timewave around a target object; the object is suspended, and motion outside the target envelope is invisible.  That enables a large scale intervention to occur without the indigenous knowing anything about it.  The misnomer, "Acceleration," stuck because it was accurate from the target's point of view.   "Can we isolate specific objects?" Mother asked.

9.  "To reverse a timewave's effect, an object must synchronize it's harmonic to a resonance outside the affected area," the subcomponent answered.  There is also a quantum recoil that occurs when a decelerated area 'catches up' to its natural time afterward.  Those quantum singularities are investigated and repaired by Corlos.  The Ellipsis has immunity from Corlos. 

11. The Theotian ribbon of eternity ended near their beacon inside of Mercury's orbit.  Mercury was nowhere around, but the beacon was right where the Theites left it.  With the remaining momentum, Mother attentuated the acceleration wave according to Earth's gravity, density and mass.   

12.  "Projectile analysis," she asked.  "Chemically-propelled projectiles in mid trajectory around Earth's low orbit," the subcomponent answered.  Mother transmitted the reverse timewave as soon as she reached high orbit above Earth, and scrambled the first wave of Atgravs.  

13.  If the debris clearing went according to plan -- the indigenous would never know what happened.   If an Earth sensor did pick up a large 1 x 5 x 15-mile object -- it would register for about one second and blip out of existance when the timewave stopped; a ghost in the machine.  Earth's defense force was trained to repel an extraterrestrial invasion, but would pose no defense at all against an internal attack staged by a more advanced civiilization.       

14.  "Report," Mother commanded.  "The missiles were on a failsafe grid; stored in vacuum silos and made 'future-detection' proof," the subcomponent reported.   

15.  The situation reminded her of the Cyberwars in Section 3 of the Ellipsis.  "What's this?" she asked.  "A Vejhonian," the subcomponent answered.  "Analysis?" she requested.  "The Vejhonian's genome matches the registered occupants aboard," the subcomponent answered, "The indiginous genome contains 20,000 less instruction codes."  "The indigionous are apsionic," Mother observed, "Isolate the singularity."  "Unable," the subcomponent responded, "the singularity is suspended."  They knew 'approximately' where she was before the wave deployed, but her signature was now gone. 

18.  For in-flight transparency, Cardship hulls had trillions of optic transmitters that made the ship appear invisible.  The transmitters also conducted cruder signal types right through the ship.  The naked eye, however, could discern a rectangular displacement amid a starry backdrop.    

19. The moon stabilized the planet's weather and massaged the ocean currents; the winds would exceed 200 mph otherwise.  Weights and measures are based on silica-sand, dihydrogen oxide's boiling and freezing point; a base-10 numeric, and navigation based on 36.  Machine worlds venerate the number "10" because the sacred Ellipsis symbol is a wheel with 10 spokes.  Chronograph:  365.25 revolutions per orbit.     

20. "This world is based on deception," Mother noted, "Psionic development is squashed by the economic conglomerates."  "There are bona fide psionists," the subcomponent injected, "but they are killed when discovered, so they conceal their abilities."        

21. Earth's terraforming was relatively new.  Several systems wanted control, but The One quarantined this world, "Look, but don't touch," she noted again.        

22. "This planet had a watershell that collapsed approximately 7,800 cycles ago," Mother said, "Flight Log:  Earth's watershell did not fail due to faulty architecture.  The architects, the Humans or an aggressive species collapsed the shell, possibly to reinitialize the biological population."

23. Three quarters of the planet's surface was underwater and there was evidence of ancient civilizations along the pre-collapsed shorelines.  Mother mapped those shorelines.  The weight of the water radically altered the planet's teutonic displacement.  

24. If the planet was machined into a perfectly round marble, the land would be under 5,500 feet of water.  "Flight Log," Mother entered: "Model for case study of watershell collapse.  Save for return to Vejhon."  Vejhon's watershell had never collapsed but Earth would be a perfect model for future study.   

27. Vejhon's circumference was 3,000 miles greater than Earths, which gave Earth a minus-point-one gravity.   "Biologicals won't notice the difference," Mother said.

ABOARD DAL EL's DESTROYER

28. Dal was enjoying another day as #2 in the Elite food chain, in contrast to the industrious hustle and bustle of everyone around him.    

29. A yeoman approached him with a tablet and reported excitedly, "We think we found a Cardship streaking towards a 10-planet system!"

30. Dal had no idea which 10-planet system he was talking about, "Did we indeed?" he intoned apathetically.  He took the tablet and examined the Cardship's bee-line path.  That was unusual -- a Cardship would not deliberately risk exposure unless it was a dire emergency.  Are we attacking something there? Dal wondered.   

30. "I thought the 10-planet system was new?" he inquired, "...no sustainable environments?"  His comment was a complete gamble at stellar awareness -- there were thousands of 10-planet systems and very few possessed an inhabitable shell.      

31. "The Cardship risked coming out of hiding, to get there in a big hurry," The yeoman replied, "It would make a fine trophy for The Master."  A textbook mission statement, goal and outcome.       

THEOS MILITARY HEADQUARTERS (SpaceCom)

33. "Commander O'Helno," a lieutenant in the formation reported, "Look at this."  13 saucers were in a triangular spearhead formation with O'Helno's saucer at the tip.  The lieutenant's saucer was tagged on O'Helno's formation monitor and two lines stretched through two galaxies.  "It was the red one that caught my attention," the lieutenant explained, "then the blue one showed up." 

34.  Theos' fame did not end with terraforming technology and faster-than-light saucers -- their astral-navigation net was another component that had no real accountability; toll-free galactic highways that anyone could use.  The red line was an Elite destroyer for certain.  "Is that blue one what I think it is?" O'Helno asked, "clear in A'zoth over there?" "I believe so," the lieutenant replied.            

35.  "We have a beacon there," the lieutenant advised.  "Let's get into pick-up," O'Helno ordered.  "What's that system clock at?" O'Helno asked.  "About 1 million upc around that one," his navigator answered.  Sol's orbit around Alpha Centuri highlighted on his console; the identifiers were unfamiliar.  The saucers rearranged into an umbrella formation for long range detection and aimed toward the distant flight paths.  O'Helno's saucer remained in the center.  The computational capacity of a single B'line multiplied exponentially when it networked with other saucers.   

36.  "The next question," O'Helno posed, "is 'why' would a destroyer and a Cardship come out of hiding?"  It wasn't unnatural for a destroyer, but completely unheard of for a Cardship, unless it was being chased.  The flight paths did not indicate a chase.         

37.  "I think a beacon picked up a planetary disturbance and the Cardship responded," the lieutenant said.  O'Helno continued, "And the destroyer discovered the Cardship and set to intercept."  "That would make sense," the lieutenant agreed.  "Is it really that simple?" his tactical officer asked.  "Usually," O'Helno replied.      

38.  Saucers were a strategic trademark of Theos, tried and proven true since the invention of artificial gravity.  Theite tacticians believed that smaller ships possessed the agility to defeat larger vessles, and all throughout history, the tactic worked. 

39.  "Send this to Ops," O'Helno ordered, "and try to tap the grid over there -- I'd like to know more."  "Aye, Sir," the lieutenant replied.     

40.  Theites were famous for inventing on-the-fly attack styles.  There was no field manual to intercept and disect.  From an enemy perspective, attacking a saucer was like trying to shoot a specific fish in an ocean on another planet with an arrow made out of foam.   

41.  "Ops has more," the lieutanant said, "They're dispatching more B'lines to join us."  "Guess we're engaging," O'Helno replied, satisfied.    

42.  So far, the Theites had never captured an Elite destroyer because capturing a destroyer was not a high priority mission.  The new ships were a completely unique design.  "No unnecessary engagements, The Senate said..." O'Helno sighed.  His lieutanant knew what he was thinking, "SpaceCom is supposed to 'keep them on their toes,'" the lieutanant reminded him, "and one of those new beasts would make a mighty fine trophy!"  SpaceCom was drifting away from the pacifistic attitude of the Senate.   

43.  "Just exactly how far away is that?" O'Helno asked, "and how can you tell a new ship from an old one?"  An exact identification from that distance should have been impossible.    

44.  "It's over past Andromeda," the lieutanant replied, "and I clocked it."  O'Helno laughed, "Andromeda!  What a waste of space!  Is there anything even there?  How fast was it going?"  "About 5 or 6 L's," the lieutanant replied.  That's twice as fast as the old ships, but not half as fast as a B'line.  

45.  "It sounds like a Mother's M.O.," O'Helno said, "with the way their colonies keep getting blown up."  "I hear that," the lieutenant agreed.     

48.  "Have we heard from Ops yet?" O'Helno asked impatiently, "Steady, until we know what they want."   

49.  The Theite grid passed a microdirectional signal through a series of precision relays spaced at 800,000-mile intervals between a known formation and Operations.  It was impossible to intercept the signal unless a wandering ship transversed the signal's path.  Even with a decryption key, packet-encryption required a biosynaptic packet-receiver to decode.  "We stick those damn things everywhere," O'Helno complained, "which obligates us to patrol the whole frackin' Universe."  It was a rhetorical opinion shared by every SJ.  "Not the ones in museums," his wingman joked.  Virtually every civilization had at least one Theite beacon on display in a cultural museum somewhere.  

50.  "I hear the Cacci Dai send our beacons to other dimensions just to mess with us," tac added.  "It wouldn't surprise me one bit," O'Helno replied, "Machine humor."  Normally, he would laugh, but his mind was preoccupied with intercepting the Elite destroyer.       

51.  Light takes 4.3 seconds to pass from one beacon to the next which is why navigators refer to them as 'ribbons of eternity.'  Theites prefer other species to stay off the road until they learn how to drive.  Mother computers excepted of course.  B'lines just follow a solid light ribbon.      

53.   The Cardship, with it's optic conduit disguise, wasn't as easy to see, but it's rectangular displacement amid the stars was clear enough. 

54.  More data poured in regarding the system itself; images of the major planets, the primary star, and the best route to take.  The archaic tags were replaced by updated nomenclature and local transliterations.           

55.  With the mission data received, O'Helno's tactical monitor flashed, "INTERCEPT AND ENGAGE."

56.  He forwarded his display to every monitor in the formation, "Let's get 'em boys!" he said.  "Anyone not on mission's, on it now!  We're takin' that fat frackin' bastard out!"  Everybody cheered!  "It's about frackin' time!" a junior officer yelled, "We haven't had this much excitement since A'zoth was an SJ."            

BACK ON EARTH

ABOARD THE CARDSHIP

71.  Mother positioned herself in a geosynchronous orbit above Barbados and descended below stasis to shorten the distance for her Atgravs to travel.  

72.  Kennedy III was an island surrounded by manmade islands that outlined the ancient coast of Florida. 

73.  The previous two Canaverals did not fare so well in inclimate weather.  Under ordinary circumstances, Mother was not dangerously below stasis and could easily reestablish orbital stability.  There was no reason to pontificate the details when time was of the essence.  "Status?" Mother querried.

75. "Standby for transport," Xanax advised Dayton. 

76. Dayton was distracted by the jelly-like distortions that the Atgravs made in the air.  He wasn't really paying attention, “Standby for whaaa...” the energy-matter  transport began and he was a long ways from Earth by the time he finished his question.   

77. The photonic matter in biologicals is not hard-wired to its mass.  A transportee must consciously keep his mind with his matter to properly reassemble.  Corlos discovered through trial and error that the greater ones intelligence -- the greater ones success with matter-energy transport.  Children were relatively safe since they were willing to go wherever the beam took them.  However barbaric the postulate, Corlos believed those who did not survive the simulator were never intended to be an operative.  It was The One's way of approving or declining a candidate.          

78. As soon as Dayton rematerialized on the simulator floor, Alma said, "You need to wait here -- I'll be right back."  This awkward capacity to pause and resume playback on cue almost made existance seem unreal.  The consequences for bad choices, however, was very real...   

ON EARTH

81. Ireana observed the suspended motion of everything around her, "I feel nauseated."  She massaged her tummy then rubbed the side of her head.  From her point of view, the shell had just gone into suspended annimation, and she had no recollection of having been suspended herself.     

82. "There's a Cardship in orbit conducting nuclear-clearing operations," Onimex reported.

83. "Nuclear?" Ireana mumbled, "A bit crude for Kor, isn't it?" 

84. "I don't think it's Kor," Onimex replied, "We have a convergence of unnatural waves at this point in space.  Xanax saw the acceleration wave and decelerated Dayton before it hit.  I was on 'International Island' observing a top secret conference or I would have decelerated you sooner."  International Island was a 13-mile diameter floating disk at sea.  Although the world was technically consolidated, whichever head-of-State was on the Island at the time, was presumed to be in charge of the Island, and asked to make CEO-level decisions during their visit. 

85. "As soon as he's off the simulator floor -- we're probably next," Ireana said.  For that matter, moving all four of them at once should not have been such a big deal, except that Dayton was not supposed to know who his rating official was.  "Did you learn anything at the Island?" she asked.  She thought the Atgrav cavitation effect in the air was interesting and was already calculating the required dynamics.  

86. "It may not be possible to retrieve us right now," Onimex said, "Corlos tried to get a signal lock, but there's multiple layers of interference and more interference coming." 

87. "If Corlos is having a problem," Ireana said, "then there really is a problem."  Her face became a touch more pensive.   

88.  "I thought this was just a training op for Dayton?" she commented.

89. "It was," Onimex confirmed, "but Corlos wanted him to assess the quantum anomalies first hand."  The secondary aspect of the mission was rather bland.   

90.  "And they lost the signal on us," she repeated.  "I don't remember getting briefed on the quantum interference.  Weren't you supposed to be looking in on 'secret combinations'?" she asked. 

91. "B'jhon told me to assist you if necessary," Onimex replied, "he wanted you to stay focused on Dayton."  Ireana smirked because Dayton was the most gorgeous shellan she had ever laid eyes on, so keeping her focus on him wasn't a problem.  "And you went all over the shell in the process?" she surmised.  "Yep," he said.    

92.  Ireana escorted Onimex outside, taking a special interest in two parked state utility vehicles.  

93.  "Can you... 'accelerate' one of these?" she asked.  She did not accept the etymological contradiction, "They call it 'acceleration' when the reverse is true?"  "It's from the environment's perspective," Onimex answered, "We are accelerated -- the vehicles aren't.  I can 'decelerate' the nav system once we're inside."  Ireana was over-thinking the misnomer, "Technically, if the vehicles are suspended, and you bring them to our... never mind," she said.  "You might fry something," Onimex accused her.  "That's supposed to be my line," she replied. 

94. "If I understood you correctly -- a single Cardship decelerated this entire shell?" Ireana surmised.  "I can provide more thematic details if you like," Onimex offered.  He caught the innuendo.  Ireana was attempting to compute the energy requirements and Onimex knew it, "You really are trying to figure this out, aren't you?" he said facetiously.  "I figured it out for you," she rationalized.  "Mother established a statically-powered amplifier net," Onimex clarified.  That made sense, "She would have to," Ireana said. 

95.  "We need to get to orbit," Ireana said, opening the vehicle's gull wing door, "I want you to tell me about the amplifiers on the way up." 

ABOARD DAL ELL's ELITE DESTROYER

96. Dal El watched from his royal dias as the teutonic integrity of the 3rd body was analyzed by specialists below decks.  Since the shell was doomed anyway, it was illogical to study the indigenous culture or glean vital statistics.  They picked up intelligent EMF, but there was no need to translate.

97. The invisible Cardship was marked by an electronic silhouette.  The destroyer was testing a stealth technology of its own. "Can they see us?" Dal asked the commander.  "No, Vice Elite," the commander answered, "we are invisible to them."  "Touché!" Dal said in Theotian, which was an easily understood word.      

98.  "How about the communications block?" Dal asked.  "The barricade is up and running," the commander reported.  The Elite was more interested in the acceleration wave than the planet now.  "Imagine The Master's reaction if we capture that technology?" the commander suggested.  "I don't even think the Sky Spirits know about it," Dal bemused, "Commander," he said assertively, "I want you to do whatever it takes to get that technology."   "Aye, Sir," the commander replied.  "I'll advise the Captain that you're on a special mission," Dal assured him.   That was the only license the commander needed, and of course the Captain would agree.

99. Like a python in pitch black darkness, the destroyer slithered into position and froze, unnoticed.      

100. Most of the Atgravs had completed the debris clearing and were back aboard the Cardship.  Mother did not see the approaching danger.  She would ordinarily be more vigilant in long range detection, but choose to expedite the rescue effort instead.          

ON EARTH

102. "I could get used to this," Ireana praised the design of their borrowed spacecraft.  "I'm doing most of the driving," Onimex said. 

103. "It's just as well," she said, "this atmosphere would drive me nuts."  "It'll clear up once were out of it," he assured her.  

104. They slipped through the last pocktes of atmosphere and broke into free space, which felt like an extraction from quicksand.        

105. The rectangular dark spot displayed stars from it's opposite side.  The light refracted like it does in water, and those refractions were not faultlessly alligned.         

106. "I'm registered," Ireana whispered, "I can board those."  She said it with reverent delight.  "That might blow your cover," Onimex said gently, "You don't exist any more, remember?"  He hated to say it.  She knew that he didn't mean it in a mean spirited way. 

107. "What's this other thing way out there?" she asked, pointing to a marker on the proximity monitor.  The Earth ship was crude, but not archaic.  "No idea," Onimex replied.  He didn't want to validate his most fearful speculation first.        

108. She watched the last two Atgravs speed toward the Cardship and disappear inside a hanger.  They were beyond visual range, magnified by the ship's monitor.

109. "They're getting ready to decelerate," Onimex advised.   Ireana shook her head and succinctly articulated, "They are not ... accelerated!"

110.  Then she whispered more politely, "Please synchronize."  She wanted to avert the transitional queasiness that she experienced the first time.   

111. The acceleration field deactivated, and life on Earth resumed where it left off.  The missles blipped out of existance as if the entire affair had been a video game.  Everyone concerned would say, "It was a ghost in the machine," and spend 30 years studying the anomaly.   Since most of Earth's population didn't actually see anything, it would be easy to blame a remote sensor for malfunctioning.  Nothing happened:  Life goes on.   

112. "I like this speed better," Ireana sighed, "I'll be fine if I never go through... 'acceleration' again."  She hated the misnomer.   

113.  It didn't take an astute student to understand why the technology was invented, but Mother didn't leave -- she was still in plain sight.  "You don't supposed Earth's detection systems will miss something that big?" Ireana asked facetiously.  Onimex didn't know what to say.  He thought he had Mother's MO figured out, but this was a mystery.  Each second felt like a year.  "Come on!  Leave!" Ireana yelled, "What the hell are you waiting for?"  She was willing to get out and push if she had to.  "Something's wrong," Ireana said.   

114. The ship in the far distance fired upon the Cardship.  Personnel transports from the distant ship disembarked and approched the Cardship.  "Is that a..." Ireana started.  "...destroyer?" Onimex finished.  "Yes," Onimex answered, "One of the new ones... and it's cloaked."  The utility vehicle did not recognize either of the foreign vessles and tagged them both as 'unidentified' on the monitor.   The cloak had been good enough to fool Onimex from a distance, but not anymore.

115. "The Cardship has lost it's stability," Onimex reported, "The Destroyer meant to disable it, probably to steal the acceleration technology."  "They didn't compensate for the shell's gravity," Ireana injected. 

116. "To achieve orbital stasis, they need to be going about 10,000 i.u.'s faster," Ireana calculated in her head, "and they're way too low..." 

117. "...and way to slow," Onimex finished.   So far, the Cardship was not reacting to it's loss of stability -- it's mass was too great.

118.  Ordinarily, Mother's lower orbit was not a serious risk:  She could achieve escape velocity or rise to a stable orbit at will.  She was in trouble.           

119.  A 75 square-mile object does not stop on a dime or fall from the sky in a hurry.  "It has no choice but to descend within the next 20 minutes," Onimex reported.  Her personal stake in the survival of the Cardship had a direct impact on her nerves.  "Can't they stabilize?" she whispered.  M'tro-1 did not own a tiny fraction of a Cardship's assets; the idea of a crash landing was devastating.  "She can't survive a crash," Ireana said, "Even if she sets one end down -- the other end would stretch 20 miles into the sky."   "I know Mother's doing everything she can," Onimex consoled.    

120.  "Are there survivable alternatives?" they asked together.       

121.  "The ship has the mass of two mountain ranges:  Where will she hide if she survives the crash?"  The oceans seemed logical but the natives would certainly notice.  

122.  The Cardship was starting to founder while Ireana watched in disbelief.  She would have given her soul to spare them of this moment.  That ship contained the compliment of M'tro-1, times 10,000.  "There's nothing I can do," she said sadly, "The Cacci Dai had no way of planning for this."  It was given that a Cardship would never founder on purpose or attempt a gravity landing.   

123.  The Cardship's descent began to accelerate.  The hull might get a little warm, but she won't burn up.  Already there was atmospheric resistance.  Inertial buffers would make the impact survivable but structural integrity would be compromised.  The Cardship would literally add to the shell's mass.  Clearly, 27th century Earth was watching this!

124. Ireana's grief and frustration leaked through her eyes, like watching a train full of loved ones dive off a damaged bridge... in slow motion.  

125. She was trying to imagine what Mother was doing to counteract Earth's gravity.  If the redundant systems were operational, she could soften the landing a little.   

126. The passive psionic shield permitted leakage where the superstructure was ruptured.  She wanted to keep her children as calm as possible. 

128.  She rubbed his upper surface affectionately.  There was still hope. 

129. "The Cardship is going to attempt a crash landing," Onimex said out loud.

130.  "She's rerouted everything to create a buffer," he added.        

131.  Ireana brushed her lips, like waiting for a verdict in court.   

134. Trillions of light conduits made the Cardship blend into the ground as it descended into the upper atmosphere.  From the ground, it would look like a massive atmospheric distortion.

135. Two personnel transports broke pursuit and headed back toward the destroyer.   "They were going to board?" Ireana commented sarcastically, "Mother would have never allowed it!  She would have imploded before allowing them to board."   

136. The Cardship faded out of existence.  Ireana squinted her eyes and leaned forward.  She wasn't shocked by the idea, she was shocked at how quickly her hope was restored, as if given a shot of adrenaline.     

137. "I picked up an index-protocol when the Cardship disappeared," Onimex said.

140. "Think we can out run 'em?" she mused.  Onimex never responded to her bad jokes unless he could think of a better comeback.  

141.  Suddenly, he had one:  "There are 19,986 B'lines due to arrive in 8 seconds."

142.  Ireana busted up laughing!  "Hi!  My name's Kor, and I'll be blowing your shell all to hell today!"  

143. "All those chances I had to start drinking," she sighed.  "And I never once let my hair down just to live a little.  Not once!"  

144.  "From what I can tell," Onimex said, "You were always busy.  I read your diary." 

145.  She was dazzled by his improvisational creativity.  His personality was something he had developed on his own. 

147. Swarms of Theite saucers began to blur space in every direction as if the curtain had drawn back on a gigantic war epic!  The sight was breathtaking!  

148. Ireana's despairing smirk bloomed into radiant delight!  "You weren't kidding?" she shrieked.  All she needed was popcorn and a soda to make the holo a perfect date.  

149. The saucers swarmed like piranha in a feeding frenzy, against a single Elite destroyer and two transport carriers that had not yet landed.   

150. "I have to say, no-contest, my round, fat friend," she teased.   

151. The destroyer was comprehensively immobilized, like when a dung beetle wanders over a fire ant hill.  There was simply no contest, bordering pitiful.  

152. "Surrender?" Ireana asked excitedly.

153. "I'm certain of it," Onimex answered, "I think we also attracted someone's attention."

154. "Onimex, fade out, now!"  she urged him.   

155.  Onimex faded out of existence.  He was there, but invisible, shifted slightly out of phase with the solar system. 

156.  Two B'lines appeared on either side of her utility craft.  She was unarmed, so it was not engaged.  She should have been happy to see them, but she knew they weren't there to welcome her.     

157.  "I'm grateful we didn't have weapons," she mumbled under her breath. 

158.  The saucers scanned her and discovered that she was a Vejhonian piloting an indigenous craft.  "What were they going to learn from that?" the nav SJ asked.  "Probably a souviner," the captain said.  "If you ride with the outlaws," tac commented.  "Lock her out," the captain ordered.   

159.  Her controls were locked out and her stolen vessel towed to a docking bay aboard the Elite destroyer.

161.  Once the Elite destroyer was fully under Theite control, she was placed under arrest and taken prisoner.