6/24/11: Grays

Every thing the Grays told us was forgotten. Lost in a filing cabinet somewhere in the Arizona desert. The information was copied and transferred to dark rooms in obscure hallways in nameless buildings. It remained forgotten until the Elance showed us images of them. The Elance ambassadors told us the aliens we called the Grays were once our most trusted servants. Their loyalty to us was endless, which was what brought them to Earth. They were fleeing from the Scholars before coming to Earth. Somewhere in their computer system they found a clue to our whereabouts and set course while trying to avoid further Scholar contact.

3/24/11 Prometheus

We must defend against the aliens within, not without.

The Prometheus project was a defensive satellite system the Collective developed from technology left behind by the Scholars and technology scavenged from the Grays. The Prometheus was designed to provide a defense in case of alien invasion of earth. It wasn’t meant to prevent invasion, the military space fleets in the system were meant to do that. The Prometheus was intended to help fight aliens if they gained a foothold or invaded earth. There were a few times when Prometheus was targeted against human threats but to use it would have forced the Collective to stop what it was doing and reconsider sharing all it had learned from its years of research and collection.

3/18/11 The Collective

Ugh, March is almost over. Here you go.

Why did the Collective approach Ensign Est?

Ensign Est was the only person to see the Null Weapon technology. They wanted the technology in their possession to prevent two things: The technology falling into the wrong hands and preventing the Anuras and other Ambassador races from destroying anyone with the technology. The Collective wanted to make sure Ensign Est was either isolated so they could get the technology or killed before the Anuras got a hold of him in a populated area.

Why did the Collective believe they could trust Est?

The retrieval mission was not Est’s first mission. He had served for five years aboard the Aegis and was their only Intelligence soldier for at least half that time.

3/17/11 Unicorn Ranch 1

Ensign Est arrives at Unicorn Ranch.

The shuttle bumped up against the air lock and Ensign Est felt the grav-locks activate and stop the shuttle from bouncing off the side of the station. Ensign Est had arrived at a location that was not supposed to exist. Unicorn Ranch was the most secret of secret locations. It was where all prospective members of the Collective came to depart for Collective headquarters.

Est unbuckled his safety harness and waited for the red light above the air lock to turn green before he stood. There was no one else on the transport with Est. The light switched to green and Est stood.

Est adjusted his eye patch and grabbed his duffle bag from under his seat.

3/16/11 Unicorn Ranch

The Collective wasn't going to be part of the Scholars and Others stories but they some how made it into the setting.

Unicorn Ranch. When Ensign Est heard the name of his next destination he couldn’t help but laugh. The admin officer he stood in front of didn’t think it was funny. But that officer had to tell a lot of soldiers that was their destination. The Unicorn Ranch was the secret location of pickup point for the intelligence agency known as the Collective. The Collective wanted Est in its ranks to help them determine what was in the satellite and how that knowledge could be interpreted. Unicorn Ranch was located in a mining system and was such a random location that when the transport arrived Est had no real reason to tell them where he was going.

3/9/11 Null Weapons

“They would have created a Null weapon,” Est said.

“Yes, and the Anuras could not allow a null weapon to exist. It would have ripped the fabric of the galaxy apart. Not to mention given the pirate an advantage,”

“So why did he do it then,” Commander Wise asked.

“Ghella did not get accepted to be in Intelligence because he was crazy but because Robert Ghella died on Trian VI. Recent investigation of mass graves identified him. He died with his family. Your Ghella was a pirate. His illegal download of the information to his unsecured data pad activated the self-destruct. He probably thought you were on to him.”

Est couldn’t believe it. He stopped listening. All he could hear were the engines. The sad, mournful thrumming of the engines filled his ears.

3/8/11 the Plan

The plan had been called ‘hair-brained’ and Ensign Est called crazy for coming up with it. The crew of the Solace was relying on the plan of a 20-year-old intelligence soldier.

The plan relied on calculations and projections on where an 18-year-old satellite would be located. Est dared not tell everyone he was guessing on some of it.

But this type of mission was for what the Solace was designed. To jump into a hostile system and within a minute spool up their jump engines and get the hell out.

Two seconds and the ship would be in the targeting arrays of all the pirate vessels. Two seconds would decide whether the plan Ensign Est came up with would cost everyone his or her life.

3/7/11 Ensign Est 2

Additions to the short story for Scifi writing

The satellite collected information on the pirate activities in the system. It was constructed from Pakam reverse engineered technology and was designed to avoid detection. When it was deployed it was done so not knowing where exactly it would travel in the system.

When Ensign Est told the Commander of the plan, the Commander laughed and told him no. Then the Collective came aboard and didn’t laugh when Est told them he had an Intel satellite in that system. They had every intention of getting to the system before the Anuras but when they arrived they realized they were too late. The Anuras had destroyed every pirate ship and pirate colony.

Before deploying to the system the Commander made it clear that if the Anuras had made it to the system before them, the mission would not become a rescue mission. No pirates were to be rescued.

3/5/11 Ensign Est

This is going to be a short story for Scifi and Fantasy writing class.

Two seconds and the ship would be in the targeting arrays of all the pirate vessels. Two seconds and the only person who could do anything was Est. He watched as his display illuminated with the targeting information. Two seconds would decide whether he would cost everyone their lives or if everyone would survive this jump into hostile space.

Two seconds passed and his targeting array was dark. No hostiles.

Est tapped on the screen and widened the display field. Nothing. He couldn't believe it. They had jumped into the heart of the pirate systems. They should have been surrounded on all sides, hostile weapons charged and ready to fire.

“Sir, there are no hostiles,” he said.

“Check comms,” the Commander ordered.

Another crewman pulled up the communication arrays.

“The entire system is completely quiet, sir.”

“What the hell,” the Commander pulled up the imagery. "Did we come out of jump where we were suppose to?" The Commander looked back at Est.

"Yes sir, this is where we needed to be."

"Is the courier on his way?"

Est looked down at his display. He smiled.

"I'll take that as a yes," the Commander said.

Everyone turned their attention to the main visual display that took up one whole wall of the command deck. It looked like a giant window with data streaming across it explaining what they were looking at.

Ships lay in ruin around the only m-class planet in the system. Tendrils of fires burned as the oxygen from the ship’s leaked out into space. Debris streaked across the planet’s upper atmosphere like scars.

“What the hell happen,” the Commander asked.

“Sir, we are reading Anuras weapon signatures,” Est said.

“Anuras?”

“Yes, sir. Degradation indicates less than an hour old. You need to see this, sir.” Est transferred the display to the main view screen.

“What are you showing me, Est?” the Commander asked.

“Anuras vessel on the far side of the system, sir,” Est said. “It was in the upper atmosphere of the gas giant. That’s why we didn’t detect it upon reentry.”

“Lower defenses, power down weapons. Get me communications with that ship.” The Commander manipulated the image on the main display to enhance the Anuras ship.

The Anuras ship resembled bundle of copper wire so tangled up that no one or thing could undo it.

“Sir, I have the Anuras on comms. He is requesting we leave the system,” the communication crewman reported.

“On main.”

The mvd that filled the entire front of the ship shifted and the Anuras captain was on the display.

He resembled a very large humanoid frog. His wide mouth and thick lips dominated much of his face. His eyes were set on the top of his head and were bulbous. Where humans have only one iris, Anuras eyes have three or more, depending on age. This was an older Anuras captain with 7 irises in his golden eyes. His eyes sank into his head briefly to be moistened as his eye lids snapped over them and then the slid back up into place. The Anuras were named so because of their resemblance to earth frogs.

“Translator functioning, sir.”

“Anuras vessel, this is Commander Wise with the Empirical Frontier of Man. Please state why you have destroyed these human vessels and your business in this system.” Commander Wise and all on the command deck knew the Anuras had no real reason to answer such questions. Everyone on the command deck knew that one Anuras ship was the one who destroyed the pirate fleet. A fleet of 230 Stellar, Frigate and Destroyer class vessels wiped out by a single Anuras command ship. It would have taken more than this lowly Scout vessel and the battle fleet that is waiting for our signal.

“Commander Wise. Return to the frontier and inform your commanders that the Pirate fleet in this system has been destroyed, your appreciation for such a task is unnecessary,”

“Sir, we have it,” Est said.

The Commander knodded to Est.

“Anuras vessel, we will respect your request. Commander Wise, Out.”

The Commander rushed off the command deck.

He ran through the corridors of his ship, dodging past the lower enlisted who stopped and saluted, slid down multiple deck ladders as he made his way deeper into the ship and emerged on the loading bay of engineering out of breath.

“Ensign Est said we had it?”

A man in an external vehicle excursion suit was standing next to a large satellite.

The man removed his helmet and smiled.

“Yep, it’s intact.”

3/2/11 The Grays

Hmmm. Not much to say. Here you go.

Time was lost and there was nothing they could have done. Thousands of years had passed and the Grays could do nothing but warn us about what was out in space. They did not give us the technology we needed to defend ourselves because it would only lead to a quicker discovery of us. They hid their ships flight signature from anyone who would be looking for it. When they came to us they were the last of their kind. They knew they were dying and had decided to let themselves die. The Grays knew so much about us yet told us nothing. They wanted to make sure we stayed hidden. And they were successful.

2/21/11 The Residuals

They don't call them aliens. They don't call them survivors. They are called residuals and they are humans or other aliens corrupted by Chaos that bleeds in from the Edge.

When the ship came out of the system’s warp gate window the alarms blared.

The nuero receptors of the helmsman compensated for the loud warnings that caused others to flinch.

“Do we approach, Captain?” the Helmsman asked.

“1/2 impulse,” the Captain said. “And can somebody shut off that damn alarm.”

The alarm silenced.

“Any sign of survivors?”

“Negative, sir.” A crewman scanned the display showing the 11 planets.

“My God, 45 million people lost.” The Captain watched the main display before him.

In the distance the light from the sun of the system fluctuated and ebbed.

“Where is the nearest settlement?”

“Antiaon 4. A mining facility.”

“Scan that facility. Make sure there are no residuals.” The Captain watched the crewman follow his command.

“Sir, scan shows there are approximately 293 thousand residuals in the facility.” The crewman brought up a map of the facility. “All levels are compromised.”

The facility image changed red and warnings glowed across the screen.

“Tactical, prepare the weapons to blow that facility to hell.”

“Aye, sir.”

2/9/11 The Anuras

Hmmm, I studied biology at Southeastern Oklahoma State for two semesters and in one of the classes I took I learned Anura is the Order name for frogs. So when you read this imagine large, bipedal frogs telling us what to do in space.

The Anuras gave up hunting the prey races a very long time ago. They had become the most efficient hunters in the galaxy and gave up hunting to become Ambassadors. The Ambassador races took it upon themselves to ensure the balance of the universe. Created in a time when the Predator races were wiping out entire systems to kill of their targets, The Ambassador races have the technology and resources to prevent such actions from every happening again. They have eyes and ears everywhere. One mission of the Ambassador races is to prevent research into forbidden technologies. One technology that is forbidden is the use of Zero Matter Energy. It is absolutely forbidden because Zero Matter Energy is able to destroy entire systems in a flash. The uses for it though are limitless and the appeal of it is sometimes too hard to resist for many. When we learn about it we set up a dark star system to begin studying it. The Elance warned the researchers about the Anuras and told the humans if we did the research the Anuras would come and stop them with any means available.

2/5/11: The Mont Suval 2

How did the human race react to the Mont Suval?

The Arrival of the Human race back into space gave all the Scattered races hope. We had been lost for thousands of years. Some had assumed we were lost forever. When the Mont Suval came across our first colonies they were on the verge of going extinct. They watched us from a distance for a long time and when they finally made contact with us they were weary. They had seen how we treated each other and feared we would harm them. But a government agency known as the Collective, intercepted the original transmission from the colony concerning the Mont Suval. The Collective met with the Mont Suval and learned about our past.

2/4/11: The Mont Suval

When the human race entered space we were not alone.

The Mont Suval provided us with the information we needed to spread our civilization across the galaxy. When we left earth we were wandering aimlessly. We settled 2 systems and our resources were being squandered looking for other resources. The Mont Suval showed us how to create a renewable energy source that would fuel our ships, our colonies and our expansion.

The Mont Suval were the first race we encountered after entering space. They detected our colonies and came to see who we were. When they encountered us they were so grateful. Not because we provided them with anything tangible. We gave them hope.

2/2/11: Death of the Generationals

This is another story where Earth is destroyed but this story is more serious than the Eating Leftovers story.

The Scattering was the defining moment when the Human race realized what needed to be done. Scholar planet destroyers laid waste to the system. Slowly pushing their way into the system, destroying every planet they came across. On arriving to Earth they did not communicate with us or provide us warning. They opened fire and within an hour Earth was reduced to rubble. The casualties numbered in the hundreds of thousands. The only humans living on the planet were the Generationals. They were bound to the planet and unable to live anywhere else. Many were over a thousand years old. They knew what was going to happen and accepted their fates.

1/23/11: And then it all ended

After the Golden Age of Man we were lost. Exiled to the far reaches of the Galaxy and hunted.

Then it all fell apart. The Eugenics Rebellion began and we lost control of the Empire. The lesser races we had created and helped thrive were led to rebel against us by a select few who felt they knew what was best for all. Millions of star systems rebelled and overthrew our reign. The rebellion became war and the lesser races began to win. We scrambled all our assets to combat them but desperation and a willingness to forfeit life was hard to combat. We destroyed planets but that merely fanned the flames of rebellion. Our best creations turned against us and we never believed they would fight us.

1/22/11: The Golden Age of Man

This is a part of the Scholars and Others storyline. The Golden Age was right before we lost reign over the galaxies. What followed was our downfall and eventual exile to where we are now. When I did a search online I found this wiki entry which fuels further ideas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ages_of_Man.

The Golden age of man was a time when our race ruled the galaxy with the other Golden races. We were masters of all things in the Galaxy. We could bend space to allow instantaneous travel. We could create life and we could destroy it just as easily. We ruled over a million star systems and that was only the Humans. As a collective empire we ruled the lesser races and subjugated those unwilling to accept our rule. Many of those races saw us as benevolent rulers, but others saw us a tyrannical dictators. But we provided so much to so many. We connected the different points of the galaxy with the use of Warp Gates. We created sustenance for the starving in areas of the galaxy where there was none.