From: whisper@oconnor.WPI.EDU (Robert Johan Enters)
Subject: More whispered tales (1/3)
Date: 2 Dec 1993 18:48:42 GMT

The shadowy figure of Nightshade had been hunched over his small
personal terminal for a long time, seemingly hard at work on some
things. Finally he took a short break, and looked around him. The bar
seemed emptier than usual, but nonetheless, he raised his voice unto
those present.
	"Listen up, I just got some more on the tale I uploaded last
time, and also the beginnings of a new creation. I will put it up, so
that those who wish to do so, can read them, and maybe give the
stumbling author some further advice/criticism on how to continue."

	After having spoken thus, he popped in a small shiny disk, and
typed in some few commands, and lines of ASCII began to fill his
screen.


	Chapter One



     Screams filled the air and black smoke swirled towards
the blue skies. The churned fields were filled with the dead
and dying. The stuttered sounds of machine guns and the
whine of capacitors discharging on gauss-rifles was audible
from somewhere beyond the haze. Now and then the low wheeze
of ionized air imploding indicated the use of battle-field
laser weaponry. Five men and two women were gathered around
a map spread out on a burned out car. The sattelite map was
dotted with colored pencil markings. Currently, one of the
women was drawing an arrow on the map, while heatedly
explaining someting. The point of the pencil broke and she
cursed as she finished her report.
     "My storm-troopers have taken this village and are now
digging in for the night. We are laying body-capacitors
around our perimeter, and a small mine field. All guards
have IR (infra red) and UV (ultra violet) goggles. I think
tonight should not be too hard to withstand. We have a
fairly strong position inside this village."
     The man with the most golden stars on his shoulder-pads
nodded. This planet had seemed to be such an excellent
choice to start the new life. It had a technological level
comparable to early twentieth century earth. Enough
technology and factories to easily introduce many of the
modern technologies of the Hexamon, but not yet as polluted
as most backwards technologies were. Also the native
inhabitants were very humanlike. This was not too surprising
since the basic humanoid form was the most adaptable and
thus most likely to survive on any world.
     However, the native species was extremely warlike and
disliked the idea of an alien invasion. Thus the settlement
of this planet had become a bloody groundwar for territory.
This was the planet the Master wanted settled, it would be
settled.
     Dispite an obvious edge in technology, the Helians
counted on their superior numbers to destroy the alien
invasion of their planet. This was the situation as it now
stood. One sizable island had been cleared of Helians, and
was now in the process of being settled. The space ships of
the exodus fleet had been brought down and dismantled to
give a ready supply of high strength alloys until the
existing factories had been altered enough to start
producing new alloys. Likewise the vessels had been stripped
of all useful items from orion drive engines down to simple
wiring, until production of such advanced items could be
started here. Meanwhile, half of the armed forces was busily
securing sites of natural recources, while the rest was
transforming Hexamon Island into Indomitable Fortress
Hexamon.
     "Very good Major Selena. Return to your troops for the
night. Every body else too. With their cursed night-vision,
the Helians will surely try to annoy us further.  I will
take headquarters company and first armored back to base
one. Major Fhalzar, establish your second armored and Major
Joy's storm-troopers at this village, and be ready to
support Selena."  The General pointed with his finger to a
village taken earlier this morning. "Okay everybody. You all
know what to do.  Be prepared and give em hell when they
come. All fire missions are preprogrammed. Seventh Airstrike
is standing by at hexamon central, e.t.a. (estimated time of
arrival) twenty minutes." Luckily the Helians had not
learned the importance of airpower before the humans came.
Now it was too late to field anyting of significance for
them. It would take them years to develop anything flight-
worthy, let alone something that could contend with the
Hexamon Dagger configuration of the air to ground Mirage
5000.

     As she walked into the makeshift camp late that
afternoon, troopers saluted her, and went back to their
bustling around, preparing for the night to come. She hated
this struggled fighting. Had they still had the support of
their homeplanets, they would have wiped these backwards
idiots off this planet. But supplies were limited. Fuel and
ammo had to be conserved. Some gadgets were as yet
irreparable if broken. Many were available only in very
limited quantities. All the best stuff was reserved for the
"home-defense" units. For all intents and purposes, the
Hexamon had suffered a setback of four centuries. She went
to her company HQ (head quarters). Captains Rashiz, Teng Li
and Rieger were there waiting for her return.
     "Hello," began Rashiz, "we set up laser positions here,
here and here," gesturing with a stick onto a map on the
wall. The Captains continued with their reports on
casualties and supplies during a quick meal eaten from
tinned cans, until the shooting began outside. They quickly
rushed through the doors to their seperate troops.
     Selena, surrounded by a platoon of guards, put on her
command helmet. She twisted the dial on the side of the
helmet to shift over to IR imaging, and activated her
icepiece (ICPCS, inter continental personal communications
system) to listen to the chatter of her troops, and to stay
in contact with base one for artillery support. She relaxed
and immersed herself into the battle in order to get a clear
overall picture to give coherent and effective orders.
     Through the green hazy imaging she saw shapes moving.
Armored cars interspersed with infantry. From overhead she
felt rather than saw the heavy laser batteries reach out
fingers of blue light towards the enemy, vaporizing Helians
and burning large holes in the armored cars. Earth exploded
as it was ionized and through that haze the bright muzzle
flashes of Helian weaponry firing wildly at the Hexamon
positions filled her vision as though it were filled with
blinking stars. She imagined the cries of rage and fear and
pain that would fill the air, but her helmet shielded her
from.
     After twenty minutes of such fighting, the first line
of defense began to run out of ammunition. The self
propelled Laser batteries retreated deeper into the village
for better protection, silenced due to overheating of the
gas-compartments. Selena ordered her troops to fall back to
pre-prepared positions within the village.
     "This is Major Selena... requesting airsupport, fire
mission alpha-four...." She switched channels to her
commanders. "The air will be out e.t.a. fifteen minutes,
take out anything that could hurt them... remember the
reports from strike force darkness... the Helians have
constructed some rudimentary anti air batteries... see
anything suspicious, blow it sky high."
     She saw the last troopers straggle through the
barricades, struggling with some wounded comrades. Selena
immediately ordered troops to assist. The Hexamon could ill
afford to loose any men and women. Any human life lost was a
tragedy. Five months ago, there had been over six hundred
thousand humans. Now less than four hundred thousand
survived. The aggressive reaction by the Helians had not
been expected. Preliminary talks were held, promises of land
for technology were made. All seemed fine and dandy. Then
when the first Hexamon civilians began arriving on the
promised island, hidden soldiers had burst forth and began
firing on the helpless. It took two months to seek out all
the suicide commando's left behind. Then retribution time
had come. Scientists had carefully calculated the adverse
effects on the Hexamon island, and then given the
coordinates. Within minutes a hundred nuclear warheads were
fired, obliterating major Helian cities and factory parks
that could be targeted without too much damage to
Indomitable Fortress Hexamon, or Sancrist Isle. Now troops
were capturing those factory parks and resource fields that
were too close to Sancrist to bomb. The cities within a two
hundred mile radius of sancrist were attacked Stalingrad-
Style. Every single building blown up and every Helian
inside killed. Two cities had fallen this way. Strike force
hatred was on its way towards a third city. Resistance had
become extremely stiff after the Helians learned strike
force hatred's desination.


--
____  ____  Whisper, not only the president of D. S. I., but also a member.
\ -||||- /  "A storm is coming. Our storm. And when it comes it will shake
D.\\S.//I.  the universe."  -=< Paul 'Muadhib' Atreides, DUNE the movie >=-
    \/      .sig brought to you by The Whisper Of The Net (whisper@wpi.edu)


From: whisper@oconnor.WPI.EDU (Robert Johan Enters)
Subject: more whispered tales (2/3)
Date: 2 Dec 1993 18:51:05 GMT


And Nightshade put in a new disk


	Chapter One (part2)

     "Heads up here they come!"  Wave upon wave of Helians
rushed the village. Few made it within the barricades, and
fewer still managed to kill a storm trooper. The troopers
were armored in hydrolic titanium alloy armor. Only a lucky
shot could find its way through one of the few soft spots.
Off course HEAP (high explosive armor piercing) grenades
would still wreck a trooper's armor and kill the human
inside. Unfortunately the Helians had enough technology to
produce those for some of its heavier artillery.
     Then the sky was filled with trails, and the ground
with fire and explosions, as rockets from hexamon airsupport
blasted the area around the village. These rockets were
especially designed so as to cause no damage to the storm
troopers' hydrolic armors. Selena ordered her troops to the
attack. Shapes emerged from hiding and began to advance upon
the Helians. The metallic whine of vindicator three
thousands sounded and streams of tracer fire ripped through
the surprised Helians. Selena watched as a trooper continued
firing while several rockets exploded around him, showering
him with dirt, all the while slowly advancing upon the enemy
positions. The 'faces' of the troopers' armors were bright
lights on Selena's UV imager, denoting their own UV imagers
operating.
     Then Helian artillery, silent until now, began to kick
in. The Helians had learned the hard way that they had to be
very careful with their artillery. Without the aid of
Computers, their counter-battery fire was pityful compared
to that of the hexamon forces. Within minutes of firing,
hexamon own artillery would have computated the Helian
trajectories, and thus the positions of the Helian guns.
Hexamon guided firing made short work of any artillery piece
still in that position. Of course the Helians could move
their pieces, but then they would have to range them in on
their targets all over again. Still, the Helians were
learning. When too many HEAP rounds began hitting the field
around the village where the storm troopers were, Selena
ordered the retreat of her troopers. She called out to base
one, asking what the problem was with the counter-battery
fire. "On the way." She was told. Suddenly the sky to the
north was alight. Great fireballs rose to the sky
accompanied by low muffled explosion sounds. The enemy had
stayed in place too long. Those were ammo trucks. When all
Hexamon surviving troops were back into the village, Selena
requested firemission gamma one.
     Within minutes the fields around the village were
dotted with seas of fire. The loud whooshing sound of HPPE
(high powered phosphorous explosives) penetrated even
through Selena's helmet. She looked to with a stone cold
face as she saw burning Helians run toward her lines, arms
raised in supplication, imploring for help, and being cut
down by the relentless firing of her troops. The Helian's
betrayal had cost every human the lives of friends and
family. There was little mercy to be found here.
     Suddenly, the enemy gave up the assault. They had lost
too much and gained too little. When checks were made over
the icepieces, fifty-six troopers of Selena's command turned
up not responding. A few of those were probably not dead,
but either too wounded to respond or had their icespieces
destroyed or had already been taken to the field hospital
and stripped of their armor. It was still a fairly large
loss. She had started out with a full company of over a
thousand strong. Now she had less than seven hundred
effectives, and the main target not yet in sight. About two
hundred of those losses were wounded and now back in
Sancrist Island. Selena was already conferring with General
Tsung Hsu about the pickup for tonight's dead and wounded.
She learned that there had also been a full scale attack on
the positions of Majors Fhalzar and Joy. The Helians were
serious in their attempt to save the city that strike force
hatred was advancing on. Selena vaguely remembered from
talks before the war, that this was the capital city of some
major province. To the humans all helian cities were the
same, but it appeared the Helians were of a different
mindset. Not that it mattered any in the end. The Helians
stood no chance against human determination.
     Selena tiredly straggled back to her HQ, and her
bedroll there. Her guards stationed themselves in and around
the building that she had chosen. It had at one time been a
villa of some wealthy Helian. It had been abandoned before
the humans had taken it by force from the Helian soldiers
that had been left behind to defend it. She kind of liked
the Helian architecture. It was largely based on circular
geometries. With arches and domes prominent throughout the
village. As she tiredly kneeled and shook up her bedroll in
the centre of the circular room in the centre of the house,
Selena wished, as she did every night, that this fighting
would finally stop. Couldn't those idiot Helians see that
they would never win, and only made it harder on the humans?
All the humans wanted was a place to rebuild all that was
lost.
     It was now sixteen years since that fatal day when the
Hexamon fortress the Arach-Tinilith was destroyed by
alliance forces, eliminating the last positions of the
Hexamon in the Imperial galaxy. Now, after a long flight,
the Master had steered the Exodus Fleet towards this
miserable planet, for some undisclosed reason. Venerable
High-Priest Akima the Starhawk had advised Queens Electra
Cythera and Nishima Bushoto of his Master's wishes and
designs, but the two Immortal Queens had not indulged their
people. All Selena knew, was that something had happened in
the Shrine aboard the Azazel that day sixteen years ago. The
three warlords-in-exile had entered in order to contact the
Master. When they came out, Akima had aged terribly, and
Cythera and Nishima had been made Immortal. Up to this day
they had not aged a single minute. The two new Queens had
been given some task that required them to live a long time
to see it to completion. Akima had had to pay the price. He
was still alive, but had aged terribly. It was rumored that
the next High-Priests would suffer the same fate, until the
task was done.
     After musing what the hell could be so important, to
send the Hexamon in ruin to some distant planet under the
leadership of two immortalized Queens, she decided that no
one could understand the designs of the Master and the
Others in the Great Game, and finally fell asleep.

     "Hey Selena, wake up! Time to move out again!"
     Selena moaned and rolled over. And landed on the cold
floor. "Yes... yes.. ," she mumbled, "gimme a minute. Be
right back at ya." She rubbed her eyes and cursed the new
day. She stretched and rose slowly. "What is it Roland. What
is so important that I wake up this early."
     "It is ten enstoo (NSTU, new standard time unit) in the
morining Major. General Tsung Hsu wants us to move on at
thirteen."
     "You tell him I'll be ready by then. Good thing the
Helians also used showers and the water supply in this
village stil operates."
     "What was that?"
     "Nevermind, just tell him I'll be ready in time."
     Selena went over to the bathroom to prepare herself for
another fun day on Planet Helian. The hot shower water
cascading over her tall, muscular body improved her mood
notably. By the time she was dressed in a new uniform and
brushing her long red curls, she felt almost human again,
and the gloom from last night was largely lifted. She strode
regally out of her room, greeted her guards, and hurried
towards the temporary messhall. There her breakfast was
already ready. One of her guards had ordered ahead as usual.

     "Thanks Cindy." She said to the young guard that sat
down at her table too with her breakfast. Cindy pulled her
hand through her short blond curls and smiled at Roland who
came up behind Selena.
     Selena was more than a little jealous of the two. She
had had to leave her boyfriend behind at Sancrist. He was
one of the few microbiologists amongst the humans, and
therefore not be risked in combat. Cindy and Roland also
didn't have the responsability of several hundred men and
women, many of whom were assured to die. To lead such a
simple life again. But Selena was earmarked for command. Her
strategic mastermind and her family ties to Akima made her
an important asset for the military. And in this hostile
environment, the military needed all the assets it could get
its hands on.
     "So what does mister Tsung have in mind for today?"
Asked Cindy when she was almost finished with her meal.
     "Dunno yet. We are probably headed for hill 659. From
the top of that hill, we will have a clear shot for our
artillery into the city."
     A new arrival, wearing the shoulder patches of
communications and command, responded. "Yeah, you're right.
I received a message along those lines earlier today. Your
staff is already poring over maps and studying plans of
attack. They will be ready to brief you on what they found
when you're ready."
     "Good. Cindy? Roland? You two ready? Lets go see what's
in store for us."
     They went back to the villa, and found Selena's staff
there fully assembled with a whole bunch of new maps stuck
all over the walls. They were bustling around sticking pins
and arrows all over the maps. Strike force hatred would have
to storm two villages on the way towards the hill. Selena
was sure they would be heavily defended. The hill would be
an excellent position. Easily defendable and clear shooting
at the city. The Helians most likely realized that too.
Selena was ordered to attack one of the villages. She would
be supported by first armored under Major Rostov. Ouside she
heard shouts and the noise of many armored vehicles.
     "That must be our friend Rostov," said Rashiz. He went
to the door to welcome Major Rostov and his staff. Mikhael
Rostov entered with his three Captains, and greeted
everyone.
     "Hello Selena, good to see you. How was last night's
little fight?"
     "Hi Mikhael. Pretty awful. Lost a total of fourty
eight. Twenty one wounded are safely in Sancrist. They are
getting quite good with their HEAP rounds."
     "Hmm, well lets see how they fare against my armor.
What kind of attack plan were you thinking of?"
     "Well, Captain Teng Li came up with a very good
proposal. Teng?"
     "Yes. Selena. Mikhael. I was thinking about a two
pronged push by your armor." He said facing towards Major
Rostov. "When the enemy is heavily engaged and has split its
forces to meet your threats, Selena, you will lead our
troopers right between them. They should be able to creep up
to the enemy positions while they are fighting off Mikhael's
armor. In a short rush we could then roll them up. The only
problem is that the armor will be split in two, and thus
more vulnerable to an enemy relief charge from the hill. But
we should have enough warning of their attack to shift our
lines to meet them."
     "What about reserves?" That was Kheled, Mikhael's most
able, but slightly on the cautious side, Tank commander.
     "I was thinking of leaving Saicha's Mecha in reserve."
     Mecha were large robotic exoskeletons with two people
inside. One in the 'stomach' handling the movement, and one
in the head handling the weapons systems. Mecha were very
versatile and manueverable. Not to mention heavily packed
with all kinds of nasty weaponry. Saicha's Mecha squad
consisted of twenty such units, and in all the fighting, she
had not yet lost a single one. Some were badly damaged, but
all were ready to do battle.
     "That is a good idea," spoke Mikhael, "although I do
not like the fact that my company will be split up in three
portions. But the plan makes sense. Okay people. Let us
inform General Tsung Hsu, and prepare this setup."

--
____  ____  Whisper, not only the president of D. S. I., but also a member.
\ -||||- /  "A storm is coming. Our storm. And when it comes it will shake
D.\\S.//I.  the universe."  -=< Paul 'Muadhib' Atreides, DUNE the movie >=-
    \/      .sig brought to you by The Whisper Of The Net (whisper@wpi.edu)


From: whisper@oconnor.WPI.EDU (Robert Johan Enters)
Subject: more whispered tales (3/3)
Date: 2 Dec 1993 18:53:19 GMT


And finally Nightshade put in the third disk for this story...



	Chapter One (part3)



     It was three minutes before thirteen. Saicha was
standing next to Selena, studying the village through her
high powered imager. Her Mecha was standing behind them,
ready to be mounted and surge into action. Kheled stroked
his short beard, and then his hair. He was always nervous
before battle.
     "You had better get to your troops gentlemen."
     Kheled and Tashaki went their seperate ways to their
two armored columns. Mikhael put on his comm gear and went
toward his command van, taking the rest of his officers with
him. Selena looked around her at her own troops. All their
armors were painted in camouflage colors, and all shiny
patches wrapped in fabric. The best scouts were all in
front. She put on her command helmet, sighing for her ruined
hair. Then she grinned within her helmet. To be thinking of
something so trivial, when she was preparing to kill several
hundred, if not thousand, Helians, and lose several of her
own people.
     "Rieger."
     "Rieger here."
     "Get your squad ready to move the moment shooting
starts. Be careful not to be seen as a major threat by the
Helians defending the village positions."
     "Acknowledged. Rieger out."
     "Rashiz."
     "Yes my lady."
     "Prepare to follow Rieger's men. You have all the
rocket launchers. When the order is given, fire full force
at the village over the heads of Rieger's troops as they
charge."
     "Understood. Thy will be done. Rashiz out."
     "Teng Li."
     "Yeah, Teng Li here. I know. My troops will be ready to
follow Rieger's troops into the village."
     "Okay. Good luck to you all."

     Thirteen hours. Artillery from base one began firing
its shells into the village.
     "Awright! Nice shooting!" That was Saicha. She was
smiling at Selena.
     "You know. I am always again surprised at the ferocity
of an artillery bombardment. And then again at the fact that
there are always still many surviving enemy forces left
after such onslaught."
     Then they heard Mikhael over the icepiece.
     "Kheled. Tashaki. On your way."
     Selena shifted her vision to one of the armored
columns. She believed it was Tashaki's. Over a broad range,
Tashaki's tanks surged forwards, throwing up large clouds of
dust behind them. Through the dust clouds Selena could see
the muzzle flashes of the large guns on the armored
vehicles. Fiery explosions sprouted around and on the Helian
positions. Smoke trails reached out towards the town as the
tanks fired their missiles to keep rocket launcher carrying
Helians dodging for cover. As the tanks raced ahead, here
and there one was hit seriously enough to stop it in its
tracks. A few were even hit so badly that the crew had to
bail out. Helian counter fire was murderous to those
unarmored men. Few of those unfortunate made it safely back.
But most tanks just kept going, despite being battered by
grenades and mortar fire. Their armor layers were just too
powerful. She could see the Helian positions outside the
town being abandoned now. Few of those who ran actually made
it safely inside their lines. The machine guns on the tanks
were firing constantly. But the tanks would be very
vulnerable inside the town. On streets, where they could not
manouver, infantry carrying explosives could walk up to them
and blow them up easily. It was time for the infantry to
attack the distracted Helians inside the village.
     "Rieger ready?"
     "Ready."
     "Go!"
     Selena quickly shifted her sights to her own troops.
Suddenly more than two hundred storm-troopers rose from
their hidden positions and ran for the town. Weapons firing
and yelling loudly they rushed the surprised Helians.
     "Rashiz. Now!"
     Then hundreds more rose up, half of them with rocket
launchers on their shoulders, the others ready with more
missiles. As one man they fired. More than a hundred
missiles screamed at the Helians and showered their lines.
Then Teng Li's troops got up and ran after Rieger's.
     The Helians were not prepared for this. They had just
shifted positions to face off the two armored columns. As
Teng Li had hoped, the Helians had practically split their
forces. The resistance to the Storm Troopers was light. And
when they were inside the enemy lines, it was all over for
the Helians. Faced with heavily armed and armored troops at
their backs and tanks rushing their front, they collapsed.
Saicha's Mecha had not even been needed. We were struck with
our own success. We took six thousand prisoners. The troops
refused to just kill them, even though we were not supposed
to take prisoners. We had no way of keeping them.
     "Rostov. Selena here. We have a little problem."
     "You took the village didn't you? All resistance has
ceased hasn't it?"
     "Yes, yes. We took the village. Along with six odd
thousand prisoners."
     "So?... Oh... I see. Hmmm..."
     "What do you suggest we do with them? I refuse to just
kill them. If they die fighting us, okay, but I am not about
to slaughter them."
     "How about we just let them go. They have no weapons.
They are demoralized. It is much better anyways to leave
them alive. It takes away some of their incentive to keep
fighting. If they know there is a chance for them to survive
if they just give up, they just might decide to do so."
     "Yeah. I was always sceptical about our policy on that.
I felt it was stupid not to take prisoners, or as you
suggest, to let them go."
     "Okay then. Collect all their weapons and destroy them.
Then let the Helians go."
     "Okay Mikhael. Thanks."
     "For what?"
     "For not being an asshole and insisting on shooting
them all."
     "Well that would be inhuman wouldn't it? We are
supposed to be more advanced than them, so lets act it,
huh?..... Oh by the way. Keep some of their officers for
questioning. I would like to know what they have in store
for us at hill 659."
     "Will do. See you in a few. Selena out."

     The officers that were questioned knew little of
interest, or refused to tell. It was hard to say. Helians
did not react the same way humans did. The humans did not
know what signs to look for if they were lying, and they did
not have any lie detectors or such with them. So Selena let
them go too. General Tsung Hsu did not like the fact that
Selena and Rostov had let them live, but also agreed that
wholesale slaughter was not the answer either.
     Majors Joy and Fhalzar had also taken their village,
but with a lot more trouble. The assault on hill 659 would
have to wait for tomorrow. It was almost night anyways. The
terrain behind the villages turned out to be rougher than
anticipated, and the tired hexamon forces would never make
it to their new positions in time for a full assault before
dark. The dark was the time of the Helians. They had
excellent night vision. Defending against them was not so
bad at night, but during the chaos of attack, the IR/UV
imagers would get in the way and hamper the troops too much.
The humans had learned the hard way that it was a waste of
human lives, if you could just as well wait a few hours and
get better results.

     That night, the hexamon forces were dislodged from
their defensive positions for the first time. The units that
had taken the two villages, had prepared defensive positions
as best as they could. Selena's and Mikhael's officers and
staff were all settled in what appeared to have been the
city-hall. Saicha's Mecha blocked the streets towards city-
hall, now hexamon local HQ. Tashaki Tanks blocked streets
leading out of the town, with Kheled's tanks in positions
all over the place. Troopers took up sniper positions inside
buildings facing toward the outside. Then the terror began.
It appeared that the Helians had developed similar defensive
artillery as the humans had during the first of the world
wars. Stationary super-guns, capable of firing shells over
ridiculous distances. And it seemed as the first buildings
disintegrated that the provincial capital the hexamon forces
were threatening had a bunch of those trained at the two
villages and surrounds.
     "Incoming!" yelled a guard over the high whistling of a
descending trajectory. The enemy artillery was still too far
away for our own batteries. Selena realized it was suicide
to stay around. She woke Mikhael and ordered the troops to
retreat. Selena mounted the staircase and went to the roof
of the building. Six buildings were already completely
demolished, and several streets completely wrecked. She
ordered the troops not to let a single human behind. dead or
alive. Troopers began to rummage through those buildings
that had contained troopers. The radio-signal emitters on
their armors made it easy to find the buried men and women.
Meanwhile, Tashaki tanks were already fleeing south.
Suddenly the comm was filled with firing orders. It appeared
that the Helians had been prepared for this, and had placed
soldiers behind us under the cover of the night. Suddenly
this flight from a dying town had turned into a running
battle. Helian forces were reported advancing on the town
from the north too.
     "My lady, what do you want us to do."
     "Rashiz and Teng Li, help Tashaki crush through the
helian positions in our backs. They cannot have placed too
many troops there, and they have no real defensable
positions there. Rieger, keep extracting our troops, and
wait at the southern edge for Kheled's armored company to
assemble there too. Meanwhile, Saicha, you and your Mecha
are perfectly suited for street fighting. You try to keep
the Helians coming in from the north off us. Agreed
Mikhael?"
     "Yes, good plan, we will have to move quickly.
Everybody scram."

     When the dust settled and dawn arrived, Selena and
Rostov's position was a hundred kilometres south of the
village they had occupied the night before. They had lost
thirty tanks. Ten killed dead, twenty disabled, but dragged
with them. Four Mecha lost, but crew rescued. Nearly all
Mecha were damaged to some extend. They had borne the brunt
of, and beaten off, the attack by the Helians coming from
the north. Saicha herself had stayed with the last mecha to
leave the village. Her Mecha was one of the destroyed ones.
She rescued her unconscious navigator, and carried him five
kilometres to safety until she was picked up by other
retreating mecha. And a total of three hundred and twelve
dead and wounded. But not a single body was left to the
Helians. The wounded would make it safely to Sancrist, and
the dead would be buried back at Sancrist Island in quiet
dignity.
     The others were more fortunate. Their village seemed to
be but barely in range of the great guns, and most of the
guns concentrated on Selena's people. Fhalzar and Joy had
some tough fighting, but stayed well entrenched inside the
village with moderate losses. But General Tsung Hsu was
livid. His force had been forced to retreat before these
savages.
     "Tsung Hsu to base, come in. Tsung Hsu to base."
     "...<static>... base here... we read you loud and
clear..."
     "Our situation here is becoming untenable. The drive on
Shu-Hakihn is being beaten back. With present forces unable
to fulfill hatred charter. We need reinforcements. Repeat,
we need reinforcements as soon as possible."
     "Come now. It can hardly be that bad. (sound of
keyboard tapping in the background) Vulk! Your losses last
night WERE great indeed. O.k. I will see what I can do. Be
back in 2 enstoo."

     General Hsu turned back to his officers, and handed the
headset back to the communications officer who was standing
by. Rostov and Selena looked haggard. Neither had slept
rallying their forces, and directing the retreat.
     "I hope the Master will see fit to grant our superiors
the wisdom to fulfill us this request." Spoke the usually
energetic Rostov wearily.
     "Yeah, I do not see any way we can break this blockade
of armed forces all by ourselves." Spoke Joy. "There must be
an entire army group out there. Some fifty thousand troops.
We only have about four thousand left, and we will need at
least ten, preferably fifteen thousand to take on such a
force."
     After the icepiece had been silent for just over an
hour, it crackled again, signaling the listeners to
attention.
     "Now hear this, now hear this. Strike forces darkness,
anger, demonic and betrayal have achieved success in
destroying their objectives. We have been able to get some
preliminary spy sattelites over your area, and information is
just in. All Helian organized armed forces on this continent are
converging around the capital you were trying to capture. It
appears the Helians want to settle this in one all out
battle. Sancrist Command has released second, fourth and
fifth divisions of the Sancrist Defense Forces, and is
sending all external strike forces to your area. Please
secure a staging area, and call back in. Seventh through
eightteenth airwings are standing by for airsupport, and
strike forces darkness and betrayal should be within
artillery support range within three hours."
     Hsu and his people looked at eachother with disbelief.
     Joy spoke hesitatingly.
     "So it will finally be all over then?"
     Fahlazr said.
     "Well,.. after some heavy fighting. There must be half
a million to a million enemy troops descening on us. On the
other hand, we will have some pretty good reinfocements
ourselves."
     At this Selena smiled.
     "Reinforcements indeed. All the strike forces? Those
are over one hundred thousand strong, and then the three SDF
divisions? That is another one hundred and fifty thousand
troops right there. And of course, let us not forget all the
air support."
--
____  ____  Whisper, not only the president of D. S. I., but also a member.
\ -||||- /  "A storm is coming. Our storm. And when it comes it will shake
D.\\S.//I.  the universe."  -=< Paul 'Muadhib' Atreides, DUNE the movie >=-
    \/      .sig brought to you by The Whisper Of The Net (whisper@wpi.edu)


From: whisper@oconnor.WPI.EDU (Robert Johan Enters)
Subject: new whispered tale (1/2)
Date: 2 Dec 1993 18:56:37 GMT


Nightshade looked up again and spoke.

	"And now for the beginnings of a new tale..."


	Untitled (anyone have a suggestion as yet?) (1/2)



     The trid-screen flared to life, and a uniformed female
appeared in the holographic display case. As she opened her mouth
to speak, her metallic teeth flashed in the light of the
recording room.
     "This is commander Shi-Lahr, ser. The director requests your
presence at the Duhr-Fhengg building. He is displeased at the
resistance his plans have met in the streets. We need more
support from the dark side of society. The director will want you
to do someting about that."
     I shrugged my head in an attempt to clear it from too much
sake, and shoved the naked whore who was draped all over me away.
I struggled out of bed, and grabbed my silken robe around me.
     "Of course commander. You can tell the director to expect me
to be at the palace by tomorrow morning."
     "Thank you ser Nariz. I will see you then."
     As the display died, I scowled darkly at the fading image. I
began muttering to myself while scoping around the spacious room
for things I should bring with me for the trip to the continental
americas. I cast a glance at the beautiful oriental whore who was
still completely under from the after effects of the drugs she
took several hours ago.
     "I will see you then. Bitch. Didn't they ever tell you there
is a fraggin time difference between Kyoto and San Fran? It is
vulkin four a.m. here. What is this drek anyways. They can't
vulkin handle the shadow dwellers for a week without my
assitance."
     'Okay', I thought to myself. 'Got to be there by tomorrow
morning. Flight on the fastest shuttle I can get will take, ohh,
four hours. That gives me about sixteen hours to prepare. Lemme
see. What do I have to do.'
     I set my alarm, and went back to get some more precious z's.

     By the time the alarm went off, the oriental girl was awake,
what was her name again? Oh yeah 'Gin Blossom'. At least that is
what she said it was, and what she tasted like. Heh heh. She
looked at me in that smile I can't resist and I thought to
myself, what the heck, I have some time, and she is already paid
for, by the company. Heh heh.
     After an exhaustive hour of fun, I disentangled myself from
her warm embrace, and pulled myself together and towards the
shower. Gin Blossom yawned deeply and stretched out luxuriously
on the large bed. She got up too, and threw some gauzy white
silken robe on. When I got out of the shower, she was sitting
attentively by the side of the bed, waiting for me to choose the
clothes I would wear today.
     I chose a snazzy rayon blouse of the latest in Parisian
fashion, and some flashy purple dress pants. A real leather
jacket completed the image with some real crocodile shoes. I
smiled at myself in the large mirror and looked at Blossom who
was peeking over my shoulder. She gave a nod of appreciation. Off
course she would I thought with a grin.
     Though previously pissed off at being so rudely awakened, it
would be fun to again work the streets. Ah, the rush of adrenalin
when things don't go as you planned, and the satisfaction when
you make it all work anyways. Vacationing out here in the Nippon
Steel arcology at Kyoto was a definate necessity every once in a
while but still, I could not do without the tensions and dangers
accompanying the dark side of society. I packed the gear I would
need on the trip, and called my body-guards when I was about
ready. The girl left when my body guards had arrived outside. She
told me to call her when I was in town again, and she knew I
would. She was extremely competent and sexy. One of those
rarities trained to serve the upper ranks of corporate hierarchy.
     I closed the door to my apartment with a slight feeling of
sadness. It had been too short. Oh well, the company called, and
I would run to do their bidding. My guards were a nondescript
bunch of suited men and women. You could not tell from looking at
them, but all were wired up to their eyelids, and specialized in
one kind of killing people or another. I myself did not even pack
a gun. At least not on me personally. I did have one predator in
my little briefcase, but did not expect to need it. Not yet
anyways.
     The large limo of western EC make stood ready, doors held
open by more guards. Yeah yeah. Fuchi International valued its
premier Mentad Master of Assasins quite highly I am proud to say.
It is so good to be valued. I slid into the leather seats in the
back, and was accompanied by two of the guards. More followed in
two accompanying limo's. I turned my attention towards the on-
line computers, and asked it for the newest news on the stock
market. Ahh it is so good to often know what is going to happen
to different companies before others do. I mean, not like the
company doesn't pay me enuff, but it never hurts to have an extra
couple million nuyen on hand, you know what I'm saying? If they
knew of my existance, Forbes Magazine would probably list me up
there among the top thousand richest in the world. But then
again, there were more people like me.
     The limo weaved its way through the afternoon traffic, and
crawled ever closer to Kyoto International Airport. Arriving
there, I stepped up to the nearly deserted gates for those who
did not need to wait in line with the masses. Two CEO's from
Matshishita Corp and their body guards were in front of me. My
and their guards eyed eachother and ignored eachother as though
the others were less competent than they. I just smiled at the
display, and waited patiently for the old geezers and their
drekhead security goons to get their act together and proceed.
     A few minutes later I walked across the noisy tarmac toward
a private shuttle, surrounded by my own security squad. We
boarded without further delay, and began our trip to San
Fransico. On the plane I did some playing around on the stock
market. One of my operatives had glanced some info in one of
Namurita Securities databanks on some project that was near
completion. It should hit the markets in several days, sending
their failing stocks up. I bought several thousand options, and
then wandered the public nets for some time. Not being a good
decker, I left the illegal stuff to others better equipped to
meet that challenge. Suddenly I saw on my DOW-monitor that Sukhoi
stocks were rising. Ahh. Another one of my little side deals
coming to fruition. My favorite decker had spotted that one.
Bless her. Had to time the selling right on that one.
     Some three hours, fifty five minutes later and sixhundred
thousand nuyen richer, the shuttle began its final approach at
San Fran International. I felt good. Then I remembered I would
first have to see that pompous 8 herz brain af a director. How
that fool had ever risen so far was beyond me. I guess that at
some point reliability and loyalty counted for more than
competence. Well, I didn't give a chip. One more year and my
contract ran out. I would retire the corporate slavery thing, and
become a free-lancer. Probably would have to dodge some corp
goons for some time, until they gave up when none of their razor
heads returned alive. Heh heh. But business first.
     At the airport, more limo's were waiting, and the sun just
began to come up. We all boarded the cars, and were whisked off
to the lagre glass and plasti-steel triple tower building deep in
the centre of the city. The Duhr-Fengg. How did they ever come up
with THAT name. The streets were deserted, it was still too early
for most people to go to work. Lowlife's, drugheads and homeless
were the only ones moving around sluggishly on the sidewalks. By
the time we got to our destination, the first corp securidudes
began clearing the streets of the dregs of humanity, so that the
corporate sector would look nice and be safe for the sarariman
rush at eight.
     When we exited the stretch jags, we were greeted by just
such a 'clean-team' exiting the Duhr-Fengg. A security dudette
led us to the Mr. Director's office. I had been here before, but
they had refurbished the building recently, and changed all the
offices around. Presumably because they wanted a change of
scenery, personally I thought it was because the lay-out of the
building had become too widely known. After three of Fuchi's
prime deckers had been 'recruited' from this building by runners
purportly contracted by Cyrix Cybersystems, the security of this
buidling had become the laughing stock of the pacific sprawl
corporate hierarchy.
     I noticed they had done a good job of turning this place
into a fortress. Nice camera networks, badge-checkpoints,
maglocks, unobtrusive guards everywhere. Finally we got to a long
hallway, with softlight columns along the sides of the walls.
Nice sterile grey colours, and a large double black door at the
end, with the corporate logo in gold painted in the middle. Even
before we got near the double doors, they swung open soundlessly,
and two huge razor-heads stood at each side, the menace in their
mechanical eyes communicating I was to go on alone, and leave my
security detail out here. I nodded to my guards, and they relaxed
slightly. Officially they were contracted by Fuchi and loyal to
the company, but I paid them more than the company, and treated
them better. If push came to shove, they would fight Fuchi
security rather than turn on me.
     Inside was your average unimaginatively imposing high
corporate suit office. Large black desk with inbuilt computer and
full communications systems. Large comfy fakeleather chairs, a
conference table with several more chairs off to the side, a
little cabinet with assorted drinks and drugs for relaxation, and
ugly modern art on the walls. One wall would probably open onto a
large trid screen, and such standard tricks. The Director sat in
his chair behind the desk, and waved me in expansively, as he
tried to greet me around a large sigar. I took his mumblings to
be something along the lines of 'come in and have a seat'.
--
____  ____  Whisper, not only the president of D. S. I., but also a member.
\ -||||- /  "A storm is coming. Our storm. And when it comes it will shake
D.\\S.//I.  the universe."  -=< Paul 'Muadhib' Atreides, DUNE the movie >=-
    \/      .sig brought to you by The Whisper Of The Net (whisper@wpi.edu)


From: whisper@oconnor.WPI.EDU (Robert Johan Enters)
Subject: new whispered tale (2/2)
Date: 2 Dec 1993 18:59:09 GMT

And finally Nightshade put in the last of his new stuff for the day
(week, whatever :) )


	Untitled (2/2)


     I set my nicest fake smile on my face, and went over to the
chair opposite of the Director, and sat down, declining his offer
for a cigar.
     "Hello Mr. Director. What can I do for you today?"
     The fat slob grinned at me, and the hunted look in his eyes,
and signs of drug abuse told me he was in trouble and needed me
to bail him out. As usual.
     "Well, Mr. Nariz. See..... I have this <puff..puff> small
problem." He said still slobbering at his cigar.
     "You see, the board is not satisfied with my efforts at
making this building impenetrable. You saw what I did neh? You
like it? Good security neh?"
     I nodded my agreement there. After all, the poor excuse of a
sumo-wrestler had done a pretty good job there. The fat oriental
continued on.
     "Not enough they say. Security measures good, but not
enough. Fuchi lost much face, much honor, by loosing those three
deckers, neh? Have to get them back, is what the board says. Have
to extract them back from Cyrix or kill them to teach traitors a
lesson. No one leaves the fold of Fuchi unless Fuchi lets you,
neh?"
     At this he looked pointedly at me. The board knew I would
probably try to leave them at the end of my contract. I had
repeatedly refused to extend the contract. This was supposed to
scare me into staying or something? Hey, if they needed ME to
deal out such punishment, how could I be afraid of them eh? The
Director continued.
     "I try to contact shadow-runners, but they not know me. Not
trust me. I offer huge sums of money, but still they not trust
me. That is what I need you for. I want you to organize the
extraction of our stray brethren." He looked expectingly at me.
His career depended on my ability to get him his deckers back.
I grinned at his situation. Inside I thought 'serves you right
drughead', but openly I said.
     "Of course Mr. Director. That shouldn't be too much of a
problem. It would be expensive..."
     Immediately the director sprung in.
     "That will not be a problem. Money available. Give you
account for expenses of five million nuyen. It is VITAL we teach
Cyrix a lesson. They have been agressive across the board. As a
secondary mission, you will also try to steal data and destroy
equipment at their facility."
     "Hmm. Sure. Nema Problema. You have the credstick? And what
kind of time-frame we talking about?"
     The director fumbled in a small drawer under his desk, and
produced a shiny aluminum credstick and rolled across the desk. I
caught it as it fell off the side on my end.
     "Here is the creds, and I would like to see all three freed
within a month's time. If that is no problem to you."
     "Of course not. You got any clue as to their whereabouts? I
could find it all out myself natch, but why bother if the
knowledge is already here?"
     "Two of the deckers, Mr. Villefranche and Mr. Peng, are kept
at the L.A. Cyrix Parks Arcology, we have no idea where they are
holding Mrs. Tanaka."
     "Okay. Two at the brain park, and one unknown. Shouldn't be
too much of a problem. I'll get right on it."
     I pocketed the credstick, and made my way out, bowing and
smiling pleasantly. All faked natch. I could get so much more
done if I did not have to clean up the drek of other's stupidity.
I had told Mr. Director thousands of times this building was not
secure, his own security chief, that uniformed bitch Shi-Lahr,
even told him several times, but he kept whining about the costs,
and his profit margins being so slim as they were. Yeah, well now
it is going to cost him a lot more.
     As I walked through the building, on my way out, I bumped
into Shi-Lahr. Think of the Devil. It could not have been
coincidence. She looked at me with a wry smile on her face,
reminding me of the state she contacted me in last morning. Yeah,
you had your fun bitch, now what do you want.
     "Hello my dear Shi-Lahr, how are you this morning?" I said
instead.
     "Well well, if it isn't mister sleepy head himself. So, what
was that talk all about?" She said sweetly.
     Hey don't rub it in, okay? She didn't know? She is the
bloody head of security here! Need to know bulldrek.
     "Oh. Our Mr. Director has a small problem he wants me to
fix. Nothing special." Was all I said. Hey, professional ethics
you know? I can't tell her if he doesn't want her to know.
     "Hmm." She said eloquently. "Sure. Wouldn't have anything to
do with the three steals neh?"
     I looked at her with a look that said 'are you kidding me?',
but she did not fall for it.
     "Off course you are." She said. "I understand. HE does not
want me to know eh? Well that is okay. Just let me know if there
is anything I need to know, or if there is anything I can do to
help eh?"
     I looked at her dubiously, but she appeared to mean it. What
was this deal of being all so agreeable all of a sudden. She
always hated me for my illegal activities before, but now she is
even offering to help me? I guess this 'small problem' will
affect more careers than just the Director's. Or does she want
part of the credit? You never know these days. Could of course
also be both. Or something completely different. Everything was
possible, in these days when the meddling hand of a corporate
exec reached farhter than that of most absolute monarchs.
     I mumbled goodbye, and a thanks for her help, still a bit
befuddled. Must be that damn jet-lag. I knew I should have taken
those drugs. But nooo. I had to stay 'clear' headed for the
Director's meeting. I hastened my step to my motorcade, and as
soon as I was inside my jag, I pulled a small drug-gun from the
small box, and selected two small vials from the fridge. I
quickly injected myself, and settled down to relax and let the
drugs take effect. I felt better already.
     The cars began to move. They knew where to go. I had a
special mansion just outside the sprawl, an hour's ride away.
>From there I would be able to conduct my operations. I thought it
over. Five mil. Not bad. Not bad at all. I could get quite a team
assembled for that much. Good Muscle and Brain don't come cheap,
but I had plenty cred to waste. Even Fuchi Sec would help me if
needed. Yeah, biz definately looked righteous.
     During the ride I informed my core-crew at the mansion of
our mission. The line was secured, over a sat owned by Dark
Savants International, a paperwork corporation I posessed. The
core crew would already have a preliminary list of prospective
employee's. Extractions were tricky biz. You had to get in and
out physically. Getting in was not the prob. I never is. But
getting out without getting geeked. Now there's the tricky part.
There was no way in  hell we would be able to reach quarantine
quarters without alerting guards.
     Quarantine quarters was where they would most likely be. We
would have to make sure natch, but that is usually where they put
newly recruited staffers. Just in case they decided to have a
change of heart. We would need some muscle that had done such ops
before. The third one would have to be found period. That would
mean a lot of snooping around the Matrix. We would need some good
net-runners for that. But first things first. The extraction of
the defectors whose presence we knew. We should be able to
accomplish that within the week if all went well.
     Finally we pulled up to the large iron-grilled gate. The
gate opened on our approach, and six heavily armed men in
military gear waved us through from positions in and around the
gate-house. We drove up the pleasantly landscaped way to the
mansion proper. Left and right we passed several outhouses and
annexes. Several of those had been turned into barracks for my
own little private merc army. Off to the righ, on a nicely
manicured lawn, stood five helicopters. Two regular commercial
heli's and three heavy assault choppers.
     When the motorcade arrived at the front gate of the mansion,
three of my finest friends and employees stood waiting. Ser
Rhavash, a lawyer originally from India. He looked after the
estate when I was not here, and handled all my legal cases. He
was one of the nastier lawyers in the sprawl in the field of
financial matters. Then there was Ser Du-Pont. No relation with
the chemicals giant, but an ex officer in the Legion Etrangere.
We often resorted to calling him Dew-Point. He oversaw house
security around here. Last but definately not least, Ser
Hernandez, or Cindy. Our console-girl, decker extraordinaire. One
of the best not in the corporate fold. She went by the name and
personality of Soulcatcher when traversing the Matrix at the
speed of thought. We resued her from a situation somewhere in the
Boston part of the eastern sprawl.
     I stepped out into the now glaring sun, and walked up to
them, embracing them one after the other. I kissed Cindy
passionately on the mouth.
     "Ahh. It is good to be back again. You know of the
interesting problem we have been posed. I already took the
liberty of transferring our cut of twenty percent to our
accounts. We are all a quarter of a mil richer now, so let us get
to work and earn it." That last with a wry grin. We all knew we
were not into it for the money, but rather for the fun. Of course
the money was good to have, but none of us were really what you
would call strapped for cash.
     "So how was your stay at the Kyoto Arcology eh? How much
REST did you get eh?" Said Dewpoint with a snigger.
     "Very funny. Why don't you tell me what you got for me for
the coming op. And Cindy. Any info on our missing Mrs. Tanaka?"
     Cindy answered first.
     "Nope. Zilch. Nada. No trace. Either damned good hidden, or
not present at the Cyrix arc. Ah found traces of our otheh two
target's whereabouts, and they seem to be held in the Q-Quahtahs
as you thought. Anyting special about our Mrs. Tanaka? Whutz her
specialty? Whaz she do like? Might'n help mah search y'know?"
     Dewpoint spoke.
     "I have a good list of peoples for you. Among them a gang
who have perpetrated a steal once before in the Cyrix arc. Also a
whole street gang down on its luck we might be able to use as a
diversion when we are coming out. And then several other
specialists. I wanted to hire a team of three other deckers to
aid Mrs. Hernandez in her search for Mrs. Tanaka's location as
soon as possible. The rest can wait until we have a better attack
plan laid out and know what we need."
     I answered.
     "Good thinking. We have to find our Mrs. Tanaka as quickly
as possible. We only have a month's time. More than enuff if we
know where to go, but... Let's not take any chances. Contact the
deckers and have them flown in soonest."
     "On Mrs. Tanaka's specialty. Hmm. From what I understand
exactly the same as the other two. They were all three working on
some revolutionary sim-sense technology. Not anything I would
understand."
     "Dat's strange. Wha would they take her to anotha place? If
they worked on da same project, Ah would think they would put da
team back togethah. They put da othah two back togethah, wha not
Mrs. Tanaka?"
--
____  ____  Whisper, not only the president of D. S. I., but also a member.
\ -||||- /  "A storm is coming. Our storm. And when it comes it will shake
D.\\S.//I.  the universe."  -=< Paul 'Muadhib' Atreides, DUNE the movie >=-
    \/      .sig brought to you by The Whisper Of The Net (whisper@wpi.edu)