"The Daggers aimed at the Heart of the Universe" - A Terran Tale (X3TC)

[Massive_Attack]

Here's a quick run-down of basic information:

1) Game: X3: Terran Conflict, latest updates.

2) Start: Terran Defender*

* some very important changes:
-Shepard himself is from a very different AWRM/X-tra ship pack start mod, specifically that of the "Terran Agent" - which explains why he was in Paranid Space. With M7 no less. Additionally The "Terran Defender" typically should not have access to three fully kitted out ATF M5's and several million in the bank. For the sake of truth I'll admit fully that my claim this is a "Terran Defender" game is honestly a little laughable- enough start values and circumstances have changed to make it vastly different. Avinashi /is/ effectively an 'ATF Defender' however, and she does not 'own' per-se any resources, being so far a straight up ATF combat pilot with minimal personal credit access or agency. Shepard is the one who will be procuring resources and moving pieces across the board.

3) I havent actually tweaked the game in any considerable way: all resources I have gotten were legitimate: funds were made by hunting paranid and split shipping lanes while in argon space by shepard, selling the captured transports in bulk for profit at the omnicron lyrae yards. Certain scripts did help this process, admitedly, particularly the bail and salvage ones.

4) DiD operates... maybe a bit differently here than people are used to. For one I reserve the right to fudge facts and lie about DiD in order to make a good story. I'll be honest with you: Avninashi and her entire wing died about two to three times during her AGI patrols due circumstance and the fact that valkyries have quite flimsy hulls and shields. I'm not afraid of killing off some charachters however, it's just that this is more a story than a pure after action report. If that doesnt interest you, my apologies, because thats how I'm going to write it.

Besides that, other rules: accept no jobs in violation of Terran space/peace, do not bring non-terran craft across the Heretics end border zone if possible, Do not accept missions in paranid/split/boron sectors, attempt to remain cordial with the argon, ignore the following plots:

-Balance of Power
-Possibly Final Fury

5)

In the interest of transparency, here is a more complete mod list:

(Arranged in no particular order)

-Terran HQ model replacement
-PSO1's cockpit mod
-Immersive Environments
-Advanced Jumpdrive & Overrides
-AWRM
-Auto Beggar (currently not in use)
-BAM "Bad Ass Marines"
-Bounty Boost
-Global Friend-Foe update
-Improved Races
-Logain Industries PM
-Memia's Auto-Scan series
-NPC Bailing Addon
-Salvage Claim Software
-TRP Operation Loki
-Wing Hotkeys
-TSOG missions fake patch
-Anarkis Defense System
-MARS
-DCS2
-Cadius' X-tra ship pack for TC
(Any others were manual installations, so my memory is hazy, sorry)

PROLOGUE:

Slick well oiled blast doors creaked open, illuminating a tall figure stepping into forward surrounded by light from the hall he had just exited.

He wore a stark black uniform, well fitted and fine, with silver lapels and boots that gleamed even in the dull crimson glow of the CIC during wartime operations.

The figure pauses, stretches a gloved hand and watches the tight fabric crease as he exercises his digits.

"Captain on the deck!" a marine barked, snapping off a crisp salute, which the figure returned casually.

He advanced to a vacant, comfortable chair placed centrally amid the CIC, which was oddly silent given the thirty or so persons hovering over terminals, work stations, and maps.

"I trust..." the figure began, easing himself into that empty chair

"That you've already dispatched the escorts that fired upon us, yes?"

One of the servicemen, hovering over another man's terminal straightened up. He also wore the garb of an officer.

"Sir. They have been shot down, but we traced multiple ejections. What would you have us do with the pilots and ships?"

The captain tapped the arm of his chair, tracing the contours of it with a finger.

"The articles are clear here. In accordance with Terran Naval Order 33-5, pirates are not to be taken prisoner. Bring the EM-PC's around on our starboard and aft turrets, and eliminate the space walkers. A draft of wine to the man who can kill their pathetic strike craft in the fewest shots."

The other officer clicked his heels and gave a salute, before briskly walking over to a console keyed to the ships fire control.

In a few moments, the ship shook a bit with the distant thrum of EM-PC batteries whirring and recoiling in their turrets. Multiple monitors displayed the violent explosion of multiple defenseless space suits and ship hulks.

"Now then, give me comms for the remaining craft. Paranid was it? Make sure the translators are running."

In short order a larger monitor blinked with an image of a quivering Paranid. Disgusting.

"By Terran order CV-33, of the conscription act, I, Captain A. Shepard, formally extend you one final opportunity to surrender your craft, its stolen Terran contraband, and yourselves, over to our custody. You have ten seconds."

Shepard extended and stretched his hand, idly waiting for the reply of the xenos filth on the other end.

"Paranid- pa- please do not! Do not shoot! Paranid-"

Five seconds...

"M-make deal, yes? Paranid offer deal!"

Three seconds...

"Terran? Does Terran understand? Deal!"

With a hand gesture the captain closed the communications feed.

"Gunner Straus, are they within our effective range?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Then splash that enemy of the Terran people across the sector. Give me four poltergeists and direct control of our main batteries at once."

The paranid transport burst into a fantastic display of churned metal as the ships hull was stripped away, its electronics detonated by Electro-magnetic broadsides, the engines snapping off and exploding in a dazzling blue-purple flash. The telltale signs of critical systems failures all played out on the unfortunate craft's frame, as the shadow of an immense, sleek Terran frigate blotted out the sun over it.

"Survivors?"

"None whatsoever, sir. All sensors reading negative, orders?"

A gloved hand tapped a few symbols on a nearby console. A map of the sector blinked on, revealing formations of Paranid military strike craft advancing forward.

"Good. Give the weapons systems a little time to cool down and load a new array of poltergeists. Weapons free, the OF3 has the bridge. Contact me when these new wings are dead, and I'll plot a course."

The officer from before, saluting, appeared a little confused.

"You wont be commanding in person, sir?"

The captain turned to address his officer.

"No, Lieutenant Commander Augustus. You have the bridge, and if I see our shields fail during this engagement, I will personally remove the bars on your lapel myself. Is that understood?"

"Sir!"

The officer turned on a dime, and began organizing the CIC.

The captain left, clipping down the narrow halls of his frigate with confidence. On terminals displaying external hull cameras observing the battle outside, spacecraft exploded in small, bright bursts of metal, careening through the hellish void, all delivered in absolute silence.

All one could hear were the slight shudders of the frigate hull as it spun and weaved its dance of death

...and the 'click click click' of the captains boots.

[Massive_Attack]

The captain settled into his private study, aboard the ship "USCS Vengeance" an M7 class ship of the line, fitted for stealth and adaptability, and gently picked up a data-slate PDA.

In it, he quickly plotted a course out of Paranid space, using a combination of virtual intelligence on behalf of the built in course plotting software, as well as a bit of old spacer wit to determine the safest quickest course. It would take him into Argon territory, and while the argon were separtists at best and insurgents at worst, they at least remained neutral towards their fellow humans.

The rumble of battle still shook the hull a bit. Captain Shepard could tell that at its worst the enemy had brought the vessel down to 75% shields, just barely what he would have allowed his lieutenant commander to go without reprimand. After that, however, the fighting peterred out. EMPCs fired considerably less often, and the sudden emergency power shutdowns of a lance of fire from the main guns ceased playing with the Vengeance's emergency lighting.

All very good. Minimal interruption for his current task.

The Paranid convoy lead had turned out to be a dead end. After a week scanning through cargo hulls, reading ship manifests, interrogations, any groups this particular smuggling troupe were a part of were definately not alligned with his primary objective.

The Black Hand.

The Black Hand was a term thrown about by the Office of Naval Intelligence (itself a laughable front for a number of agencies run out of earth- most of them unknown to one another) as a group initially pinned down by ATF deep cover scouts into commonwealth space.

The commonwealth. What a mess. So uncontrolled.

Shepard shook his head and re-focused. The black hand's goals, organization, and manpower were at present unknown. There were conflicting reports on just about everything involved with them, and The Office was not keen on sorting the intelligence out.

Shepard's stated goal here, shutting down a smuggling operation of terran goods, was itself a front for his own quest to identify parts of the Black Hand.

Except that what he found was a diversion. The terran goods had been earmarked and dropped off to a Paranid pickup by an unknown party, one that actually managed to evade detection entirely, drop the goods off, and then crash the simple personal transport they had made it in into a local gas giant, all by remote control. Brilliant planning: the Vengeance had only caught onto the transport when it was far too late, and we watched uselessly, out of scanning range, as the ship slipped into the ravaging atmosphere of the gas giant, and escaped our gravidar range.

Well. Shepard wasn't the kind to quit.

Inputting a number of codes into his personal console, the symbol of the ATF flashed on his screen.

Good, his contacts in that organization had not lied; they had indeed given him some measure of clearance to ATF secure channels.

Shepard flipped through a few dense looking collections of data as he pulled off his gloves.

Finally, he found the pilot directory.

Hundreds of flights and crewmen names lit up the screen, organized by fleet, carrier, wing, and squadron.

After a few moments pause, Shepard smiled and shrugged.

"Echo wing, mmh? Yes, you'll do."

With the tap of a few keys, Shepard, appearing to the system some vice admiral, dispatched new orders to Echo wing.

"Now then, to see if I was right..."

A communication terminal beeped, and a holographic image of the Lieutenant Commander of the Vengeance, Augustus, saluted his captain in one fluid motion.

"Captain, the paranid have stood down. They lost two wings of strike craft and two corvettes. A third wing was damaged, and has evacuated towards the Western Jump Gate, outside of weapons range. We still read them on gravidar. Shall we pursue?"

"Negative, Augustus. See the coordinates I forwarded to the central computer, and make preparations to go underway. Threat level is two, give the crew twenty minutes of downtime, but I want all guns warmed and manned. Regular shifts for sleep Mister Augustus. Our route will take us through Paranid border zones, good places for ambushes."

Augustus nodded.

"Final destination, sir?"

"Mars. The USC will require a full report. Congratulate the men on some good hunting, and tell them to expect four days paid leave upon return."

Augustus nearly grinned, but kept his composure.

"Aye sir! For Terra and Her Colonies!"

"May they forever stand together. Dismissed."

The communique concluded with a crackle, and Shepard gazed back at the screen of ATF personnel.

"You are about to be tested, Echo wing. Make your homeworld proud."

[Zaitsev]

Mmm ... Interesting story so far. I'll be watching this one

[Massive_Attack]

Thanks Zaitsev!

mods used:

MARS, AWRM, X-tra Ships, Some slight job-file modifications, the Bail script, A salvage script, Improved Races. A few others I'm probably forgetting; AWRM and Cadius' X-tra ship pack are the most relevant.

Chapter I

Avinashi ran a hand over her scalp, and itched the back of her neck. Her valkyrie was cool, as recycled air blew gently against her soft features.

She was born on the Torus, to parents of proud and somewhat successful Indian descent. College educated and skilled, Avinashi (often shortened to Avi) eventually dropped the detailed plans and expectations of her family by applying to serve in the ATF. A visceral reminder that she existed to defy expectation. The experience had proven somewhat less wholesome and engaging than she imagined, however.

"Fleet to Echo Leader, report status."

"Status green, Fleet. Negative on AGI, negative on pirates, negative on trespassers, negative on damn near everything. We are clear across the board. Uranus is empty. Sending you a catalog of the new rocks we stared at today."

Avinashi chewed some cheap gum and waited for her superiors to answer; communications lag from information buoys.

"Echo leader, we read you. Please moderate your commentary and cut the excess chatter. These channels are recorded."

"Mh-hm." she replied, switching her channels back to her squadron's line.

"Oh shit, Avi's back, forget what I just said-" a nervous Russian accented voice said. Vladimir, Echo-2, was always a little weak willed, and foolhardy. Slight in build and demeanor, the Russian was quick to quip, but backed off from confrontation. If not for his excellent simulator and test ratings, he would never have made it into the ATF, and most expect him to drop out out of the squadron in a matter of days.

"Echo two was explaining to me, repeatedly, why you-"

"Shit! Adi goddamnit, come on!"

"Echo two wouldn't get off the comms. Apparently your buttocks-"

Echo one, Adi, was promptly cut off by some shouting in russian, prompting a fiery reply in yiddish.

Adi was a tough-as-nails Israeli hotshot pilot that served in the IDF's ground contingent for two full tours before volunteering for the ATF. She dressed in nothing more than a tank top, utilitarian black tactical pants and combat boots, and her muscles and tattoos sometimes earned her, and whatever squadron she happened to be assigned with, the monicker "A-team" - Vladimirs exact opposite in every way. Given earth's united governance, it was exceptional that Israel as a partial member decided to retain an independent military, and even more surprising that it would allow such easy transference of personnel. Adi was, given this string of absurdities, a true enigma.

"That's enough Echoes. We have a whole new sector of rocks to look at. Except this time lets not be so goddamn sloppy. Lieutenant Plinter is waiting at the rendezvous co-ordinates on your HUD. Fall behind me and try to look vaguely competent. This entire patrol has been a courtesy to the USC, let's not screw it up."

"Acknowledged Echo Lead. Following your six, two klicks at your two-o-clock. Maintaining flightspeed of 400m/s, same as yours." Adi said, her valkyrie giving a bit of winged salute like the Terran atmospheric pilots of old with her craft.

"On your orders Echo Lead, five-by-five. Sorry" Vladimir added.

"Good enough Echo wing, stay on my six and look sharp."

The wing met with Plinters people soon enough. Plinter looked born and bred for the USC, but seemed a to lean into a devotion to rules and regulations, and as such he was... boring. Avinashi avoided saying more than she had to. Plinter's own USC wingmates seemed somewhat inexperienced, but that was to be expected, Green pilots would always be given these patrol missions just to get them used to their machines and long range deployments.

Plinters people soon started reading out long range scanner readings coming inbound. Switching channels, Avinashi commed her own people.

"Hey, the seals are picking something up. You reading this you two?"

Adi spoke up first.

"Yes ma'am. They are moving awfully fast for rocks. I wouldn't rule it out but this is indeed unusual. Should we inform civilian authorities to evacuate? At that speed they could pose a threat to stations and some slow haulers."

Vladimir shortly replied as well:
"I'm reading them too. Could just be some morons doing some unregistered racing around these parts. After the Goner's contacted us, that's gotten a little bit-"

Adi butted in "Those are -not- ship profiles I'm reading. They don't have any licenses. Every ship in Terran space is earmarked by the Valhalla. The hell are you thinking pilot? Even if someone managed to strap engines on a cockpit the Valhalla would know about it before they advanced a klick, and mark the profile down."

"Alright, how about we don't get into a pissing contest about this, yeah? I see them too. I'll tell Plinter."

Avinashi switched comms again.

"Lieutenant, ATF Echo wing confirms your readings, they are uniform with out own scans. Would you like us to contact the Val-"

Avinashi was interrupted by a system wide communications order

"Attention, AGI incursion in Neptune sector! All USC and ATF personnel are hereby immediately re-routed to intercept and destroy any AGI strike craft with extreme prejudice! This is not a drill!"

Avinashi immediately switched comm channels.

"Please don't tell me that was a joke, echo lead. First attack in... what has it been, thirty years?"

Avinashi grit her teeth.

"****' AGI! Alright Echoes listen up, we got one job- and thats to kill every AGI computer chip that dares to enter our gods-given space. Training is over, I want to see your A-N-C's warmed up and ready to kill, am I understood?"

Several acknowledgement lights blinked on Avinashi's hud. She could see on her monitors that their guns were readying for fire.

"Good stuff Echo. Kick those engines into tactical speed. Push past 450 m/s if you dont want to be spaced. We're dropping Plinters people. They have a topspeed of 100m/s. I dont know about you but I'd like to get stuck in sometime this week."

The three hit the trans-orbital accelerator at top-speed, and suddenly felt the jarring nature of feeling the churn of hundreds of G's emerging in one minute Terran-time across thousands of kilometers over Neptune.

"Holy... what the hell is this? Where did all of them come from?!"

The three watched as a massive USC orbital defense station began to crumble and explode, helpfully characterized by their sound suites with audio akin to underwater compression and distant explosions.

Wings of AGI craft, uncharacteristically nimble and expressive in their attack patterns were tearing apart civilian ships. In the moment they jumped in, two Baldrics filled with what could only be several thousand souls were snapped in half by the uncompromising assault of the mechanical invaders.

"Just like in the war of survival. These... these machines just wont stop." Adi seethed, kicking her craft into acceleration.

"Echo wing, search and destroy. Report hull damage immediately!" Avinashi declared, speeding off. Vladimir seemed to follow his leader rather closely.

"How did they get past the asteroid line ma'am? What about our fleets? the majority of the ATF are out of trans-orb space.... Weren't our ships supposed to see this coming?!"

Avinashi didn't answer, but Vladimir kept asking.

"Damnit Echo two, if I had to guess they took out a section of it and let themselves in. Leave it to the people at the ONI, alright? Radio silence until you have something worth reporting."

A wing of AGI strike craft marked out the two ATF ships rapidly advancing, and seemed to shoot towards their ships with clear killing intent.

Avinashi kicked on her radio, and turned up the volume, spooling up her ANC cannons. Atomic weaponry whirred and began heating up the ship.

She found herself grinning eagerly as her hand wrapped around the joystick tightly.

The craft weaved and danced. The AGI ships had a range advantage, and Avinashi spun into a barrel roll, which shrugged off most of the fire. Immediately after the enemy pass she kicked herself up and spun back around, righting herself and painting her targets. These AGI craft were fairly quick on the uptake, but their engines had nothing on Earth tech.

The Atomic Nuclear Cannons began to roar from Avinashi's fighter. One AGI ship exploded violently as its atoms were destabilized and miniature nuclear events slammed into its hull, overriding its shields and blowing massive chunks out of the craft.

Avinashi turned on a dime and dived after a second AGI ship. She began to laugh as her ANC's fired and riddled their mark with fire.

From below the ellipsis, Vladimir charged into the fray, his own Valkyrie taking a few shield hits before dispatching his own craft.

In seconds, the AGI wing was reduced to scrap. Avinashi checked up on Adi.

Adi was tearing two AGI wings apart viciously in a series of short highly controlled fighter maneuvers. Avinashi guessed she was actually ignoring her auto aim system and following her old dogfighting instincts. The hulks of six dead ships were identified around her general area.

"Vladimir, cover me, we're going to steal some of Adi's kills."

"Good copy. I'll watch for interceptors."

In the minute they had before reaching Adi's position, Avinashi chanced a look out her cockpit at the battle outside of her ship.

Despite its grim opening, the rage and furor of the Human Race was being unleashed in earnest. She identified two ATF skirnirs, a lance of three Valis utterly ruining multiple successive wings of hostiles. Heavy reinforced wings of eight to ten Thors advanced in brilliant formation, not bothering to dogfight: their EMPC's killing AGI comfortably without much effort.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed two Tyrs jump in. This battle was already decided. AGI casualties were mounting.

Upon reaching Adi's position, the jewish craft's shields were reduced to 25%, and an entire wing of AGI were dismantled, with another well on the way. Firing their ANC's with reckless abandon, the remaining craft were annihilated.

"Good killing Echo wing, three wings for three ships. Thats what I want to see. Adi, I need you on my six. I'll mark targets from now on. I dont want a badass like you dying out here."

"Y-yeah, Good copy Echo lead. Haaah, AGI's gonna regret what they did Jerusalem. The Jewish race doesn't appreciate exterminators very much."

Avinashi kept quiet. The AGI invasion was bad everywhere of course, but some cities had it worse. Jerusalem, and a large part of Israel and Palestine, looked like polished glass after the terraformer attack. While it was impossible to know as Adi didnt talk about it much, its likely she lost multiple lines of ancestors in that war.

"Echo wing, this is Fleet, do you read?"

"Good copy Fleet command, patrol duty just got real interesting. You have orders?"

A moment of lag from the communication distance.

"Copy that. Valhalla command has I.D'd what we think is an AGI jump beacon, marking the position on your hud. I think you can appreciate the need to wipe that out ASAP."

Avinashi waited a minute, enjoying the aggressive guitars of 1970's hard rock.

Suddenly a jump beacon blinked into view, earmarked as her current objective.

"I see it, Fleet. Nuke it, right?"

"Negative echo wing, hard-scan it, then kill the beacon on our mark. Stream the data to us. Avoid AGI interception if possible."

Avinashi's eyes widened at the hard-scan order. They wanted her to just stop beside the thing and power down her engines to ID this thing? She would be exposed to hostile fire, an obvious target.

"Echoes two and three, listen close. I need to do something stupid for FleetCom, I need you meatheads to intercept.... these two AGI wings. Don't let them near me. One of them gets within ten klicks, and I die. Is that understood?"

"I thought you would never ask, Echo lead. Echo one is deploying. Good luck ma'am."

Vladimir launched off, waving with his wing.

"Be careful, ma'am."

Avinashi throttled up and slid next to the jump beacon after a few minutes of flight. She saw her echoes dance amidst wings of AGI strike craft.

"Scan at... twenty percent" the ship computer chirped.

One of the fighters from Vladimir's group broke off to intercept Avinashi. Vlad hadnt noticed.

"Echo two, what the hell are you doing, Eight o'clock low, AGI interceptor headed my way."

"Shit! They're all over me- can't I can't ma'am! It's a goddamn knife fight!"

Avinashi bit her lip.

"Figured as much" she muttered, off the comm-link. She aimed her ship at the incoming attacker.

"Lets see... I got one shot at this..."

"Scanning... fifty percent!"

"Useless scanner.... couldnt analyze a damn..." Avinashi muttered to herself, thinking of several calculations.

The AGI fighter hurtled in It was charging weapons.

"Not today, tinman." Avinashi said, gritting her teeth and launching a poltergeist missile cluster at the AI ship.

The missiles took out the things shields and much of the hull, but it was still functional. Lances of fire ripped through the shields of Avinashis' "Brunhilde", her valkyrie.

Naturally, she reciprocated with her own atomic nuclei Cannon systems.

In a few seconds, the AGI ship exploded, the majority of its hull flying safely past her.

"Scan and upload complete!"

"Of course you finish now."

Avinashi's comlink chirped.

"Echo leader, this is fleetcom. The USC and ATF would like to thank you for that upload. Kill the beacon, and then redeploy with your wingmen to the Ooort cloud, a couple of jumps out. Watch for hostile drones, and follow them to their destination, whatever that may be."

Avinashi gladly obliged, splitting the beacon into atomized chunks in a brilliant explosion and then kicking her boost extension into full gear.

Overhead, a wing of ATF Mjollnir's darted in and relieved her own overworked wingmen. Her entire wing was showing hull damage.

"Oy vey..." Avinashi barely caught from Adi's commlink, whispered under her breath.

"Good hunting Echoes. I think we just made half the ATF's squadrons look bad. We're being reassigned to the Oort. Follow my lead, top-speed. It'll be a few jumps, so I want everyone to wind down."

Her wingmen keyed their acknowledgement lights, and extricated themselves from the battle. The ATF and USC forces were turning what was once a pitched battle into an overwhelming curbstomping. No human casualties had been reported in the last hour of combat, while the AGI invaders had to have lost at least one hundred ships by now. Particularly brave USC relief crews and marines were space walking and conducting search and rescue among the civilian ships and the ruins of the station, in spite of the ongoing battle.

After idling in the Oort Cloud, Echo wing followed the drone that eventually emerged through their gate intently. It careeened towards some strange ship, which spotted Echo wing and immediately bugged out, firing a missile at the drone and fleeing into the night with a jump drive.

Avinashi didnt know what to make of any of it, which was fine, as new AGI assaults began across multiple sectors, prompting alerts and new orders. Echo would, as luck would have it, have their hands full.

[Triaxx2]

Is this a DiD?

[Massive_Attack]

Hm, not really. I only just noticed the recommended DID info in a sticky here, so I'll append my first post. Here's a quick run-down of basic information:

1) Game: X3: Terran Conflict, latest updates.

2) Start: Terran Defender*

* some very important changes:
-Shepard himself is from a very different AWRM/X-tra ship pack start mod, specifically that of the "Terran Agent" - which explains why he was in Paranid Space. With M7 no less. Additionally The "Terran Defender" typically should not have access to three fully kitted out ATF M5's and several million in the bank. For the sake of truth I'll admit fully that my claim this is a "Terran Defender" game is honestly a little laughable- enough start values and circumstances have changed to make it vastly different. Avinashi /is/ effectively an 'ATF Defender' however, and she does not 'own' per-se any resources, being so far a straight up ATF combat pilot with minimal personal credit access or agency. Shepard is the one who will be procuring resources and moving pieces across the board.

3) I havent actually tweaked the game in any considerable way: all resources I have gotten were legitimate: funds were made by hunting paranid and split shipping lanes while in argon space by shepard, selling the captured transports in bulk for profit at the omnicron lyrae yards. Certain scripts did help this process, admitedly, particularly the bail and salvage ones.

4) DiD operates... maybe a bit differently here than people are used to. For one I reserve the right to fudge facts and lie about DiD in order to make a good story. I'll be honest with you: Avninashi and her entire wing died about two to three times during her AGI patrols due circumstance and the fact that valkyries have quite flimsy hulls and shields. I'm not afraid of killing off some charachters however, it's just that this is more a story than a pure after action report. If that doesnt interest you, my apologies, because thats how I'm going to write it.

Besides that, other rules: accept no jobs in violation of Terran space/peace, do not bring non-terran craft across the Heretics end border zone if possible, Do not accept missions in paranid/split/boron sectors, attempt to remain cordial with the argon, ignore the following plots:

-Balance of Power
-Possibly Final Fury

5)

In the interest of transparency, here is a more complete mod list:

(Arranged in no particular order)

-Terran HQ model replacement
-PSO1's cockpit mod
-Immersive Environments
-Advanced Jumpdrive & Overrides
-AWRM
-Auto Beggar (currently not in use)
-BAM "Bad Ass Marines"
-Bounty Boost
-Global Friend-Foe update
-Improved Races
-Logain Industries PM
-Memia's Auto-Scan series
-NPC Bailing Addon
-Salvage Claim Software
-TRP Operation Loki
-Wing Hotkeys
-TSOG missions fake patch
-Anarkis Defense System
-MARS
-DCS2
-Cadius' X-tra ship pack for TC
(Any others were manual installations, so my memory is hazy, sorry)

[Triaxx2]

I asked because I'm maintaining the list of DiD's, and was unsure if this was one for the list.

That said, good story so far.

[Massive_Attack]

Chapter 2:

Avinashi frowned, and idly slid her empty glass around a simple spartan table.

It had been one week since "The Sol Incident" and the final numbers had all been tallied: some 22,000 civilians dead, over 349 AGI ships destroyed, and an estimated 28 still unaccounted for. USC and ATF casualties amounted to about 247 lives, not including the several thousand dead from the lost defense station near Neptune. Analysts were calling the invasion and defense a rousing success and validation of the USC's excellent internal custody of Sol. The ATF meanwhile, faced serious questioning as to how AGI forces had managed to smash through what had been considered a perfect perimeter. It seemed that the current line from high command was that the enemy must have used some kind of hidden point-to-point jump system inside a comet or asteroid, and then used that to jump in advance waves, equipped with better jump beacons for large scale jumps. In response, defense contractors had begun calling for an interior ring of System Defense Stations positioned to observe the ore belt and eliminate suspicious asteroids, which had prompted massive retaliation from economic magnates and large mining corporations.

As always the ATF found a way to slip away from the center stage and get back to its real task: figuring out what went wrong, and how to prevent it from happening again.

That was why Avinashi had been ordered to this Saturn research station. Echo wing had, for several days straight since the Neptune invasion, fought in the outermost sectors of Sol, hunting AGI wings following their initial defeats; enemy squadrons appeared to attempt a guerrilla war by way of harassment and raiding, especially from outside of the immediate grav-well of most sectors. It might have worked in commonwealth space, but the implacable Valhalla kept tabs on every single AGI flight. Wings like Echo were mobilized on search and destroy 'chip-hunts', and now the number of unaccounted AGI intruders stands to be in the tens, perhaps even less, as ATF valkyrie units scour the many asteroid fields and dead zones around Sol the hard way in order to find the stragglers. Thus, as Echo wing had extended contact with the AGI intruders, she and her immediate wingmen were recalled to this installation to debrief and hand over their crafts logs and black boxes.

Everything was going fine, right up until Avinashi had been incarcerated.

The door into the white room slid open, and Avinashi immediately sprung to attention. The man on the otherside wore the greatcoat, uniform, and hat of a USC officer. A particularly sharp one with a penchant for dark hues at that. His hands gripped one another, covered in tight black leather gloves.

"Ms. Singh, I thought I would save you for last. I am sorry that meant keeping you waiting. Ms. Belkin was uncooperative."

"With respect sir, I am an ATF pilot and do not answer to your chain of command. When they find out about this there will be hell to pay."

The captain gently took off his hat, and seated himself across from Avinashi.

"Good thing I have this, then."

He slowly reached into his greatcoat, making Avinashi tense up out of reflex, until she saw him draw a simple symbol bearing the insignia of the Office of Naval intelligence: a combination eye and starburst over an outline of the earth.

Shepard raised a finger before she could comment, and tapped the iris of the small icon.

Immediately the lights flickered out, the sounds of multiple power stations shorting out were heard, and distant alerts sounded. The door behind the captain was audibly jammed, and all Avinashi could see of the man in front of her was a vague outline, and two expressive gloved hands, just barely illuminated by hazy red emergency lighting.

"Good, that should have fried any listening devices. Let us speak frankly from now on" the captain said, nimbly pocketing his icon and folding his hands over one another on the table.

"Who are you? What organization?" Avinashi asked, taken aback by the shock of the sudden electronic blackout.

"Part of a special commission working out of The Office, as you may have guessed from the little symbol I just pulled out. You may call me Shepard. I have monitored your progress since the Sol incident and am willing to offer you a position on my task force."

Avinashi recoiled a little in defense. "I'm already part of the best task force there is."

"The ATF will acknolwedge this as a temporary redeployment. I have near unlimited access to Earth armories and armaments; as we speak I am beginning the early phases involved with the acquiesence of capital class ships."

Avinashi's eyes widened.

"What on earth could the ONI want with all that fire power."

Shepard huffed in amusement.

"The elimination of the AGI threat, for good. Ever since the Heretics End gate was opened up, we have been collecting data. The commonwealth appears the source of this latest AGI incursion, and we have reasons to believe organizations therein are trying to infiltrate your task forces perimeter, to strike at the heart of Earth. But we can prove nothing, only that AGI activity in commonwealth space is like nothing we've ever seen. You think the wave that hit Sol was bad? I have reason to believe it was nothing but a probe, a gesture by these... things, toward a greater assault."

Shepard leaned back.

"My goals, as far as you need to know them, are to stop that from happening. And I need good pilots to do it. Pilots like you."

Avinashi leaned back. "And what will this mean for me? Will you ask me to violate Terran law, or the principles of the ATF?"

Shepard tapped the table.

"We have about five minutes before they get the backup generators running properly. You will get access to the very best earth can offer, new weapons, new ships, better pay, and entry into the only war worth fighting."

Avinashi was suspicious.

"How do I know you aren't lying to me? What if your some kind of Argon spy?"

Shepard pulled a data slate out of his greatcoat, and tapped at a few holographic buttons. In a few moments, a small slideshow of images began to play, and he pushed it over to Avinashi.

At first she saw no correlation, but then she noticed it: in every shot, Shepard was standing there, in the background. One placed him at an award ceremony during the last AGIincursion, thirty years previous. Another seemed to be an old academy photo: if the date was to be believed, Shepard was at least forty years old, earth-born, and very well connected. More so than any normal USC captain. A series of strings of data informed her the rest: Born and raised in what was once the continental united states, studied at New West Point military academy, won a series of stellar war games around Mars twenty three years ago, and for the last two decades, worked exclusively inside the shadowy Office of Naval Intelligence.

The evidence was mounting. If this was an Argon spy, he was far, far above convincing lowly ATF fighter pilots to join in on his scheme.

"...alright, I'll bite. What happens now, now that ive joined your group?"

Shepard took his data slate back and sighed.

"Good timing. One minute to spare. Pay attention to your communication channels, when you leave hear you'll be hailed on a frequency your ship will not recognize. That is a secure line, switch to it and follow my directions. Your wingmen have both agreed to join this effort as well. Be wary of what you say over the squad feeds.

In short order I'll see the rest of your squadron is re-routed to your command as well, or at least as many as I can get. You are now Alpha Lance's strike Ace, until I find someone better or you die."

The lights flickered back on, and the room's door was forced open by a USC marine in exo-suit armor.

"Sir! Ma'am! Major technical failure, are you alright?"

Shepard pushed himself up, and righted his cap.

"Soldier, my business with Ms. Singh has concluded. You are to escort her back to her ship immediately. I must speak to the station engineer about this flagrant violation of protocol. Move-out!"

"Sir! Ma'am, come with me. I'll get you through the stations jammed doors, no problem."

The hulking exo suited marine shuffled off, making loud clanks as it pushed its way through the facility, Avinashi in tow.

She had no idea what she was getting into, but, to be honest?

The idea of taking the fight to the AGI seemed like more than reason enough to jump at this opportunity. Humankind had been insulted and abused by the machines. It was time to return the favor tenfold.

[Sabrina Bergin]

Hi M.A. just a brief note of encouragement I am enjoying this.

[Massive_Attack]

(An Undisclosed location, Terran Space)

Shepard walked into the meeting room, and took his seat. He was exactly one minute early, but was one of the last to arrive.

"Well, it seems we're all accounted for then. Let's begin."

The assembled men and women opened suit cases or brought up PDA's. Shepard planted his hands, sporting white downy silk gloves, gently upon the table in front of him, folding them over one another. Although all of his movements were gentle and his posture was open, his expression was intense.

"Captain A. Shepard, I understand you're here to report on your assignment, correct?" an older gentleman, who had spoken up earlier asked. He wore a simple blue suit and looked quite casual and at ease.

"If you would will it so, Director. I understand there are many pressing issues facing the council at this time."

The older man smiled warmly and nodded, looking quite friendly and affable.

"Sir." Shepard said, with a slight bow, before standing up to address the table, which had by now arranged all of its paperwork and electronics.

"First, a formality. Everyone here has Alpha-3 security clearance, correct?"

Instead of nodding, most turned to the friendly Director sitting across the table, who nodded with a grin.

"Right. Then I need not introduce any of you to the project my cell has undertaken."

Taking a simple hologram generator and placing it on a small pedestal behind him, shepard brought up an interactive display.

"Here is my current personelle list. In total I have collected just over three hundred thousand human assets. Here is a simple breakdown of what I'm dealing with:"

Shepard flicked a wrist, and a pie-chard with several colours and logos appeared.

"Thirty percent ATF, Fifty percent USC. The rest are civilians. All of them- terrans."

Another flick of the wrist. A new chart.

"This represents the clearance levels for those three hundred thousand individuals. Two Hundred and thirty thousand are Class zeroes. Most of them work for shell companies I have created or are attached to the joint task force I've initiated. Many of these are still undergoing background checks- there are just so many of them that my offices are struggling with the data."

Zoom in to a smaller bar.

"These are the Class one's. They know our joint task force is not about hunting down contraband in commonwealth space, or conducting clandestine economics, or even the elimination of pirate clans. Some know me personally. Most of my trusted combat wings are among these, as well as the majority of my military captains and ranking officers. I have forwarded their backgrounds to you already- you will find them to be superb."

Zoom in again, closer this time.

"And these are my Class two's. Those in the know. At the moment, not including you, there are three of them. I hope you reviewed their backgrounds carefully before todays session, it will make this faster."

A USC admiral raised his hand.

"Most of these make sense. I see your ONI contacts, I see several admirals and associates of mine, and I see your task force leaders. But who is this... Singh? Avinashi Singh? Her background states that she was a lowly lieutenant in the ATF."

Shepard nodded.

"Keep reading."

The admiral frowned. "I know the report. I know she has been your point woman on this. That doesnt mean that I like it. How can you give so much power to a mere lieutenant and expect us to approve it? Many others seated here feel the same. She's a security leak."

At this, Shepard grinned, and stepped forward.

"Admiral, you really have no idea what my agent is capable of."

...

Two weeks earlier, Scale Plate Green, Commonwealth Space.

"Lieutenant Adi, go and tell the damn Teladi that they can fight these "Xenon" by themselves next time. I wont watch our people die out here and take lip from these ridiculous alien things."

Adi, appearing on the monitor of Avinashi's Katana class corvette, winked. "You got it boss. I'll try to be diplomatic. How are you doing out there by the way?"

Avinashi hovered over two nervous crewmen in the ships cockpit, and leaned towards the view-port, occasionaly glancing at a list of sector ships.

"We've lost three sabres so far. AGI is hurting though, and no strike craft have breached the perimeter. Everything was fine until the damn LX's showed up."

Adi nodded. "Commonwealth AGI. I'd be impressed if I didn't hate them so much. Save a CPU core for my knife will you? I've got a situation in the Belt of Aguilar."

Avinashi winced. "You're kidding. We blacklisted that sector for JTF personnel a week ago and you still need to rescue people out there?"

Adi sighed. "Sighting of an AGI Q in sector. My squadron isnt being paid enough to deal with this stupidity."

It had been four months since Avinashi's induction into the JTF. Things were going well, overall, but she was kept busy. Not a week went by when she wasn't involved in a pitched battle with xenon aggressors, and the flexing of terran muscle in commonwealth space earned a lukewarm response from Argon and Teladi governments, despite the obviously necessary employment of a free rapid reaction force.

Avinashi had been charged with the defense of the immediate sectors adjacent to Omnicron Lyrae. On the surface she was carrying out her JTF orders of patrolling for Terran contraband, and also securing an ever growing trade fleet coming out of various terran shipyards. Avinashi was confident that if commonwealth space didn't have the specs on the baldric class terran TS before, they sure as hell did now.

An emergency light blinked on. "Oh damnit, xenon P. Adi, evac your baldric from the belt and then RTB at Omicron Lyrae, This just got messy."

The communication channel closed with Adi, and Avinashi glanced at her pilots.

"What are you waiting for? Charge! Kill that M6, you are missiles free, understood?"

"Yes ma'am." they replied at once. The katana kicked as its boost extension fired off. In a few SETA compressed minutes, the ship was amidst Avinashi's fighter wings, already engaged against xenon N's and L's

The P closed in for the kill, firing off a number of missiles which efficiently picked off two of Avinashi's rapiers.

She grinned, and dashed over to one of the turrets, lining up her target.

"Come on, AGI. Make my day."

...

Shepard tapped his holographic sphere, and returned it to his pocket. Questions had just ended, this was going very well all things considered.

"Well, I can only speak for myself, but it sounds like you are making progress. Your assets are impressive given you started out only with a frigate. Seventy-seven baldrics, was it? Fascinating. You really think your mission requires so many resources?"

The director massaged his chin.

Shepard didn't miss a beat.

"Yes, I do. If the Xenon are involved- and I think its fair to say they absolutely are, I need nothing less than an empire to crush them. The commonwealth refuses to deal with the threat staring them down, right on their doorstep. Our only choice is direct action."

"I agree, but I know I speak for a few members of the board when I express concern over your freedom in this task. It is unprecedented, for an agent to handle so many assets. You are sure this is a task you can actually control?"

"Positively, sir."

The director nodded.

"Then I'll need to present this to the Senate in a private session. People will start to ask questions when they see entire Terran battle groups begin to mobilize."

"Thank you, sir."

Shepard bowed deeply.

"Indeed, in the meantime. Carry on. You're doing good work out there. If nothing else you're killing AGI, and its doing wonders for us in the media."

Shepard exited the room briskly, and exhaled.

He was sure he would be shut down. It seemed the Director had some interest in him. Good! Everything was falling into place.

[Massive_Attack]

Is anyone interested in this? I can stop if you guys like

[Zaitsev]

Nonono, don't stop!

Gimme MOAR!

[Massive_Attack]

For you then, Zaitsev.

Shepard stood in the center of his command and control room, watching his forces move about like pawns on so many starmap chessboards. On the main communication line for his alpha strike-group, Avinashi Singh spoke up.

"Listen up pilots! This is our first fleet action. Remember your training and you WILL live to brag about it. I want each and every one of you to hit that ejection button on your ship the moment you go into the red, do you read? Group two, you're drifting out of formation. Tighten up and dont let yourselves get caught out in the open!

Strike Alpha is good to go! Ready to jump on your orders, sir!"

Shepard nodded and turned to his first officer, aboard the USCS Vengeance.
"Time!"

"0800, sir. Earth-Pacific time."

"Mark! Relay jump co-ordinates for all groups. Tell them to jump only when we get an all clear. Get the USCS Clairvoyant on the horn and make it happen!"

"Sir! Comms, page the frigate and the destroyers, our escorts will follow us in. Bearing is Xenon AGI Sector 472! XYZ's are being sent... now. Transmit!"

A runner from the communications sub-station saluted Shepard.

"The Clairvoyant reads us loud and clear. Jump will be in thirty!"

"Carry on ensign," Shepard said with a salute.

"Fire-control, send word to the torpedo and missile tubes, get our EMPC's armed. Let firebase black know they now have full authority to deploy project singularity on my orders."

"Aye sir!" a lieutenant from fire control replied.

"Sir we are five seconds! Jump drive is spooling!"

"Brace for jump! All hands, brace for jump!"

A moment.

For a second, stillness. Sound stopped, gravity, all the laws of the universe, broken. No one could think or feel or even know. In this moment of transition, they were everywhere and nowhere, and did not even know it.

The moment ends.

"Status!"

"All systems check. Weapons green, comms green, jump drive green, engines check!"

"And the Clairvoyant?"

"The Clairvoyant sends her regards."

Before shepard could call for scanner readings, he heard shouting from the appropriate sub station.

"My god, multiple AGI contacts! Huge AGI contacts. Im reading... two... three Q classes!"

Shepard raised his hand. "Steady! Range on the nearest Q?"

A pause. The bridge is silent.

"Within range of project P!"

Shepard eased himself into his chair and with a gesture summoned a firing computer.

"Authorization Omega, option black."

The lights dimmed across the Vengeance. A tinny female computerized voice softly said: "Point Singularity Projector cannon suite is operational. Good day, Captain Shepard. Select target."

Shepard manually guided his reticle into the center of the massive, chaotic AGI hulk's mass.

"Tell the Clairvoyant to hold its fire until the enemy has closed inteception range, and then to empty her wraith missiles at the second AGI Q."

The comms officer acknowledged and dashed off to make the call, while everyone else watched the monitors of the Xenon Q targetted by their commander.

"Firing in three... two... one.... Execute!"

Six beams of harsh black light erupted from the bow of the Vengeance, cutting through space; the antithesis of cosmic energy. Each one, a miniature black hole.

The Xenon Q was hit, and the semi-stable beams warped, collided fully with the crafts hull.

At first nothing; no reaction. Then, every hull plate in the ship groaned, and one saw them: six small voids consuming and compacting the Xenon ship. The shields flickered out on it, and the furthest edges of the ship began to curl in on themselves, bent by the forces of gravity at play.

"Second volley, firing!" Shepard shouted

"Three, two, one, execute!"

Six new black lances. This time the results were incredible: as the first set of gravitic miniature black holes died new ones planted themselves within their voids. Matter destabilized.

In a flash the Xenon Q was ripped and torn up in on itself, the edges of the ship now snapping off, the center of the hull cracking in two and warping in six separate directions.

Then, the singularities went critical. For a second all of the ambient matter, hull particles, even a few unlucky xenon fighters were pulled towards the Q

Only immediately after to explode out violently, sending rent chunks of space hulk careening through the void at hyper velocity. The navigational crews of the Vengeance and her companion yokohama jumped and did their best to ignore the marger elements fired towards them.

Shepard raised the firing computer and gestured to his fire control teams.

"Get our power back, put everything into the shields. Once we are at fifty percent raise the EMPC's!"

A swarm of contact icons covered Shepards HUD.

"Incoming strike craft and missiles! We cant hold that many!"

"Jump the interceptor wings in! Bring Singh in here!" Shepard shouted.

EMPC fire from the yokohama began to light up. Shepard realized too late that the Xenon were smarter than he gave them credit for.

"Sir, the Clairvoyant reports no less then eighty-nine inbound missile contacts! What are your orders sir!"

"All hands on the clairvoyant, to missile defense stations. Ready repair crews for internal fires. Relay missile interception orders to our squadrons, when they get here."

The first wave of AGI hunter killer missiles slammed into the Yokohama. From how its shields wavered, it could not take many more.

"Alpha wing, on station! Jump is clear! Orders?!" Avinashi called, appearing on a terminal near Shepard.

"Missile interdiction! Deploy, now!"

"Aye."

Some sixty M4 and M5 class strike craft punched their engines and began to fly out against the oncoming tide of missiles and Xenon strike craft. Meanwhile, fire-groups of three katanas formed a simple battle line between the Vengeance and Clairvoyant, watching the flanks and center for strike craft. Singh commanded the middle katana group.

The second wave of missiles hit the Clairvoyant, killing the shields and causing multiple deep gashes across multiple decks, likely killing a good hundred men. Worse still, Xenon N's and L's began to swarm over it, despite the efforts of the Katanas and its own EMPC batteries.

In silent desperation, the Clairvoyant began firing whatever missiles it had, barely bothering to designate targets. A few unlucky shots incinerated a few Terran pilots.

"Sir-" one of the scanner ensigns called, waving shepard over.

"The enemy Q's will be well within their own firing ranges in a matter of moments. We have detected multple P and PX signatures jump in as well. Should I broadcast this on fleetcom or-?"

Shepard gently shook his head, and turned to watch the firey death of the USCS Clairvoyant, as its many nuclear energy reactors detonated in a brilliant blue-orange starburst. No order to abandon ship was given, and none was requested. The 422 servicemen on board the M7 had chosen to die standing. A few of the Clairvoyants final missiles dispatched a wing or two of N's, as if the souls of the terrans demanded they exact some Xenon CPU's with them in their final hour.

The captain gently pulled out a cigar and opened a comm-link with Avinashi.

"Yes, sir?! Kind of busy here!"

"Order your katanas to spool jump drives, use rally-point Zeta's coordinates."

Avinashi blinked, and Shepard lit his cigar, gently allowing himself into his chair.

"And the fighter screen- I still have people out there, sir."

"Not for long. I'm liquidating those assets. Make the Jump, Singh. That is all."

Shepard summoned his firing console, and targetted a nearby Xenon PX, as Avinashi's face blinked away in disgust.

"Preparing to fire project P, brace!"

Delicate seconds passed.

"Three, two, one, execute."

A lance of three energy beams shot past the advancing xenon Q's, and immediately bypassed the PX's shields.

Within five seconds, the ship had begun its own process of deconstruction as the power died, and its engines exploded.

"Good enough. Navigation, spool the Jump drive, co-ordinates are rallypoint Zeta. Mark!"

The Katanas blinked away at that moment. Shepard was left, watching as fifteen of his original sixty strike craft duelled in front of him. Surprisingly, he recieved a transmission from one of them.

"This is Echo-Three, Lieutenant Vladimir, ATF, and this is for what you bastards did to Moscow! URAAa-"

The transmission flickered out, the jump drive spooled, and in a moment, The Vengeance was dropped in friendly Argon space.

The bridge crew busied themselves, but all were shocked at what they had just experienced.

Shepard slowly rose from his command chair, and left the CIC in silence.

Minutes later, in his cabin, he pulled up a list of the dead on his holographic projector, ensuring the screen took up the entire wall of his spartan cabin. With one hand gently grasping a small glass of cognac, the other pressed play on an antique record player.

[Zaitsev]

For you then, Zaitsev.

Wheee! *jumps up and down with joy, squealing like a little girl*

On a more serious note - Don't stop writing just because people aren't posting any comments. The dwellers of the creative universe are kind of slow when it comes to commenting, but we love a good story and yours is one of the better I've seen in here. So keep up the good work, and rest assured that you have at least one reader who would like to see where this ends.

[Sabrina Bergin]

I concur with Zaitsev I'm sure if you note the number of views on your posts you will see them steadily rising.

I also enjoy your writing and would like to see the story as it develops so I would also ask you to keep going.

Regards Shaun.

[Massive_Attack]

Shepard stood, blank-faced, before a holographic projection of his Director.

"Sir, I recognize this represents a setback for the mission. I'd like you to know that the entire operation followed the guidelines set in place completely. Not one of my operatives can be blamed for the miscalculation of the AGI threat, or our deployment. I take full responsibility for-"

The director raised a glowing hand.

"Thats quite enough. I am one hundred and fifty four, and I have served the United Space Command and its agencies for far, far longer than you have even lived. I am too old to hear excuses, and the mantras of failure."

He shook his head.

"I am disappointed in you. You had such potential. I'm certain you understand what you've done; an ONI operation has resulted in the deaths of over five hundred servicemen, at LEAST forty million credits just lost completely, for absolutely no gain whatsoever. What did xenon sector 472 have to do with the Black Hand? We are well aware that a meager escort fleet is incapable of killing the Xenon. Your... contributions in this regard are unwelcome."

Shepard's jaw tightened.

"And whats more, this is all over argon and Terran news. We can't even suppress it. People are asking questions, questions about you, your ship, and the organizations involved in it. Some of those people are confirmed Argon Federation agents."

"Sir if I may, Sector 472 was interrupting our operations and regularly raiding argon space as well. I judiciously examined our assets and judged it a-"

"You have abandoned your mission, you have wasted lives and assets, you are compromising the search, and your own involvement in all of this. You realize where this leaves me, don't you? I need to recall you, at best for a few months until people stop asking questions and we can make our current official story stick."

Shepard nodded, and remained silent for a few seconds.

"And the groups and persons I've assembled? is the entire endeavor to be scrapped?"

The director frowned. "That remains to be seen. For now, assign simple low risk patrol routes and let your people be. Thankfully your assets are still generating revenue through trade. Good on you, creating that trade network. In that three month period we might actually recuperate the cost, and then we can have this conversation again."

The director picked up a data slate and checked something.

"In the mean time, I have more pressing matters than presiding over fools blinded by their own ambition. Don't think you are the only one who has lost to the AGI menace. Don't think that somehow your feelings regarding these... Xenon things, justify this insane crusade you've taken on."

The transmission ended. Shepard helped himself to a small glass of water, and adjusted the contours of his suit.

Over the PA, a voice tentatively asked. "Uh, sir, Commander Singh wants to have a word. Should I let her in the briefing room?"

Shepard nodded and glanced at the PA speaker.

"Yes, my meeting just concluded."

The door slid open, and the hulking figures of two Terran marines in full exo-suit armor shifted aside, allowing a stone faced Avinashi to advance. She was in her full dress uniform.

"Commander Singh. You have a good sense of timing. Can I help you?"

Shepard placed the glass back on the table.

"Sir. you know why I'm here. Why did you order me to abandon my pilots?"

Shepard leaned onto the briefing room table.

"Avinashi, if you'll let me use your first name-"

She nodded.

"I have lost one thousand thirty three people since I began this operation. I know no one told you, but this is a war. Remember when I signed you up? I told you this was the only war worth fighting. I meant every word of that."

"I'm a soldier sir. I've lost people too. Hell, half my entire wing has been fragged since they came out here. I mourn them too, but this is different. I didnt leave them to waste out there. We had ejections out there, sir. Space walkers, waiting for us to pick them up. We had interceptors holding the bloody line against more AGI than I've ever seen. Each one of them deserves a chest full of goddamn medals, not a half hearted jump away."

Shepard grimaced.

"After the Clairvoyant went down, we had already lost. Would you prefer we all died like they did?"

"YES! Yes sir! I dont know what army you served in but mine taught me death before dishonor! No man or woman behind!"

Shepard pushed off of his table and rushed up to Avinashi, grabbing her by the lapels.

"DON'T TALK TO ME ABOUT SACRIFICE, Commander! My entire family nearly died on the battle lines of Jersey in the first AGI war. My brother died detonating a nuclear package in an AGI ship in the last incursion. I have wasted my entire life fighting and killing these things! The men I left behind understood sacrifice, they knew that through their deaths we would live on to kill AGI again. I picked you for this mission because you were a survivor. No normal pilot could have spent a week on her ass living out of a Valkyrie cockpit, eating nothing but processed food and AGI fighter wings. Show a bit of the gumption you showed there. Mark these words: before we're through, many, many more will die. And so much the better, because I'll make each of them mean something."

"Will you? Or will the next fight play out like this one? Will I be the next asset you liquidate?"

"Maybe, Avinashi. Maybe. And if its your time, I expect you to salute with a smile as you fly to your death. The AI's dont feel, dont know fear, they do not sleep, they do not get sick, or tired, or hopeless. We are fighting an enemy that is superior to the human race, and indeed all biological life, in every way but one: creativity. And our unique brains can only go so far. Eventually they will map out every possibility, every strategy and trick we can play, they will know every flaw, and then they will come again, and again, and nothing we will do will stop them. Sol will burn. Everyone, the entire human race, will die ignominiously just like my ancestors in the battle of Jersey, and my brother, with that marine team."

Shepard backed off.

"So when you die, you at least go knowing you died fighting for a real cause, for a mission that mattered. I dont know about you, but my species is not going to go out in the dark, like so many other earth species before us. We have always been conquerors, warriors, strugglers. We resist, fighting and screaming, kicking and clawing with our bodies until we die, and then the next generation rises atop our corpses to do the exact same thing, only better. You better believe that I am going to take the fight to AGI, that I am going to kick and scream and pave the road with blood to a human victory no matter the cost, even if it kills you, even if it kills ME. Even if I send millions to die. Those are the stakes."

With a grimace, Shepard tightened his white gloves.

"So, are you dressed like that just to look pretty in your navy blues, or are you about to resign, Commander Avinashi Singh? I'm sure the ATF would love to have you back. Maybe you'll get to patrol the Oort Cloud for another thirty years, while the AGI thinks, evolves, improves."

Avinashi glanced down, then met his gaze.

"I'll keep figthing, if only because its what Echo three would have wanted- what all of them would have wanted. But from now on, no more retreats. Not while I am in command. Sir."

She saluted, and left the briefing room.

"Good enough, commander" Shepard thought, reaching for the empty glass on the table; water wasnt doing it for him. Time for a bit more cognac.