(Part Thirty-Three - Promises )

A short stop over at a GP substation, and a few days of listening to 
Misaki babble about the 'juicy' stuff on  Jurai, along with a great 
deal of discussion with Igonusi about Jurai/Earth politics (why Earth 
politics are the same apparently, which I agree..), we soon arrived at 
the same Fungesian Gate I had already once witnessed.
I just hoped we wouldn't have to wait as long this time..
We didn't..
But we picked up some passengers on a final stop over, some kind of 
family of Rosusn's; a male and female I could get the names of, and 
less from Misaki for no reason whatsoever; I had no idea why at that 
moment.
And we soon arrived in the Fungesian System..

My gods, this System I wished Tsui was here to see..
This System was a collection of seven separate Star Systems in a parsec 
light-year; situated in a strange nebula cloud similar to where Sentai 
used to be.
Worse was my shock when I learned that at least 87% of the planets in 
the System were habitable; naturally..
The rest of the 65 world complex were already terraformed; not to 
mention the 214 moons and several large planetoid chunks in each of the 
Systems.
I swear I wished Tsui could see this, at least from my perspective.

A short escort by two Fungesian 'Snow Flake' ships (as I labeled 
them..), and we arrived over Fungesia Prime, another jeweled facet in a 
Universe of wonders. 
Why Tsui didn't take me here on our honeymoon is beyond me. I still 
wished..  well, anywho..
As for the theme of the planet itself? Jewel.

High-technology and jeweled structures blended almost like nature 
demanded it.
The sky was strange, a silvery/light blue halo with two softly glowing 
suns in it, with clouds that seemed to shimmer with the suns, like a 
sparkling ocean, though gentle to the sight.
The landscape merged with large Gemmed cityscapes, seemingly coming out 
of crafted/gouged craters, with road like networks spanning out like a 
glistening spider web network.
Then there was the people, dressed like a cross between Incan and 
Roman; bustling to and fro.
Thus all I gathered from the skiff transport, quite lavish mind you; 
heading to the Fungesian Palace.

Holy cow, the Palace itself was just as breathtaking, rivaling the size 
of the Imperial Palace Tree and the Sai`Hon Imperial Tree combined.
I found myself towards the front of the skiff, gaping in awe as any 
newcomer would, when the first of the two 'passengers' we had acquired 
spoke up, her name ending up being Risao; speaking of the fact that the 
Palace of Facets was as over 45,000+ years old, older than the Imperial 
Palaces of Jurai, since they never experienced an Exodus.
Thus joined in by her brother, Tynusu; with information that Gaia had 
placed a great deal of trouble into making a place in her vision to 
allow her subjects to take great comfort and understanding in, that 
natural form with the organic jewel structures; even in the ancient, 
long disused; though quite in perfect repair: road systems the skiff 
flew over. Ranging from diamond, ruby, sapphire, you name it; it was 
there, even stuff I never had even dreamed of.
Tynusu added further, that Fungesia was essentially a gem planet, more 
than 80% of the world being of a gemminite substrata, though plenty was 
there to allow agriculture and metallurgy industries, though much 
better regulated and environmentally sound than on Earth; since 
vegetation WAS more scare than on Earth.
Misaki and Igonusi were more interested students, rather than 
dignitaries on a mission.
I placed more emphasis on thus, and Risao had the skiff speed our 
delivery.

Did I mention the hallways are just as impressive? Moving through them 
was like walking through a solid rainbow of gems.. as they stretched 
from the floor, which was highly polished, to the ceiling where they 
merged into a massive archway, this extending all the way from the 
entryway, and branching out into many hallways.
Tynusu and Misaki traded quips about the tapestries that lined the 
entire way, mentioning mostly that whether they were copies of Juraian 
design, which started a sight argument.. good ol Misaki. =--=
Fortunately we soon arrived at the destination, where a courier 
hurriedly waved us in, which got me edgy as usual.
The suprising thing about the Throne Room itself, was that it wasn't 
all that large, at least a quarter the size of the Juraian one; but 
more the fact, was that this Room had it's Dais set as a multi-tiered 
platform set, with each tier made of diamond, and that they were 
floating upon a set of Gems, with each Gem (about 12 in all) emitting  
lightbeams that set the tier portion above and below the Gem, making 
for a complex and grand structure. The addition of mini-waterfalls on 
each side and from behind the actual Throne itself was quite 
impressive.
It took a specialized transporter device at the base of the Dais to 
reach the Throne above, at least 50 meters above the base.
Maybe there is something to Misaki's argument after all.

We finally met Emperor Fenganis with Lady Rosusn standing next to him, 
as Risao and Tynusu embraced their parents. 
Then Fenganis turned to me, and thanked me for coming on such short 
notice; and then drew my attention to a Padd that floated up next to 
me.
I then asked why I was chosen, and why Misaki and Igonusi were required 
to accompany myself?
That was when a MAJOR surprise arrived, in the form of Emperor Azusa 
with two strange looking Guardians.
Then I got the gist of the situation. The Traquis Collective was making 
a severe pest of itself, with the Padd I was holding showing 
information of a vicious raid on a planet called Saila, having occurred 
this very day a few hours ago.
Thus was the theme of what the Collective was pushing at, for the past 
several months, a growing realization of more than just a raiding 
campaign, at least three other worlds having been hit with nothing less 
than thermo-plasmatic weaponry, stuff that made Earth style napalm, and 
expanded the concept at least a thousand fold. Such attacks had the 
sound of a full scale war, hence the morale problems.

But there was something else, something the official report wasn't 
telling, something behind the attacks. This was what I was brought in 
to find out, whether the Collective was being supported by a second 
faction, one with possible territorial aspirations.
Azusa was there because of the request from Fenganis, which represented 
a fundamental shift in trust from just a few months ago, a miracle in 
itself.
The fact that I was the reason was of no small bloody consequence; 
which was the root of my unnerved state; because there was an 
expectation to go along with such trust.

This started in the form of the two strange Guardians Azusa brought: 
Brentai and San.
They welcomed me in a set of voices that were quite close in voice to 
Azaka and Kamidake.
Their form was strange, like two miniature log's connected to a large 
central sensor palette, and four vector vanes protruding out from the 
center like mini-tail wings of an Terran aircraft.
They even had the standard Guardian markings that all Guardians 
apparently had.
I was then given command of a team of Knights gathered from both Jurai 
and Fungesia, as well as from three other capital worlds of their own 
Empires.
I was also given command of a small Fleet of the Fungesian Coral 
Command. And from there, I was given my leave to take care of this 
matter, with which I gave a promise to get to the bottom of this 
matter.

Promises are dangerous things to make, even more difficult to complete.

For some reason, Misaki had attached herself to this mission, as well 
as Igonusi; both giving the impression that they wanted some action of 
the sort. I vehemently opposed this, but didn't make much head way 
against two superior Council members, and I knew they could take care 
of themselves, so I thought more to the mission, with Azusa's consent 
as a backing.
And we made good to discover our 'resources', starting with the team I 
had been grouped with, meeting them with Brentai and San in tow.
A return trip to the Sele`nta was where I found them, which made me 
believe this was all planned in advance.

The greeting took place on the Command Deck, with two Juraian, Two 
Fungesian, a Kartasian, a Hylian, and finally two Alcorian; all Knights 
of their respective realms.
In turn, I greeted Ala and Tora, Yasani and Ora, Prlras, Vycan, and 
finally N and U (their true names were completely unpronounceable to 
me, so I used their first initials, trust me on that..), each from 
their respective empires.
I greeted Misaki and Igonusi, as well as Brentai and San in my own 
turn, and learned custom.
Then we drew to the matter, with Ora starting off with information 
about the history of the raids. Her cream hair was her trademark. Then 
N and U started with the Fleet composition we had available, their 
avian nature was more apparent, with their hybrid feather/hair as 
normal as any human hair is to Terrans.
Prlras stood only in silence, his features seemed Klingon, but his 
demeanor was more Vulcan, as I used such characters as a reference to 
describe off of.
Vycan was more the opposite, quite humanoid in appearance, except for 
the three eyes and black skin, which betrayed his passionate side, 
which came forth as he described the matter of possible tactical 
positions of the Collective, injected with barbed remarks to the 
character of the pirates. Some barbs I'm still trying to translate, but 
they weren't for the child's ear; that's for certain.
Ala and Tora than supported each other, in describing that there were 
reports from a certain Juraian source (I was looking at Misaki, whom 
knew the source..) that the Collective had access to Capital class 
warships, more than the Collective was historically able to build, 
according to archived GP datasets.
Yasani was like Prlras, but injected a few corrections to data from her 
own specialized database, which I learned was her specialty. A 
Fungesian version of Funaho, whom I was referring to above.

Thus it came to my turn, which I could feel myself sweating because of.
My place was a moral one, with the story of the Battle of Jurai 
reaching quite far, but mostly I had to deflect of through the auspices 
of my family, now on Earth, so I couldn't give the same guarantee as 
back then. 
But I knew from experience that legends are a powerful force to move 
things, even empires.
So I looked into this set of uncertain eyes, and gave a calming look of 
my own, if I had to be a leader for this excursion, I had a LOT of 
experience to draw on, from a family that believed in me, so I would 
give the same to these brave souls.
I gave a short speech, and the same promise that I gave Fenganis and 
Azusa. 
We would get the job done.
I then simply order all to take stations that Misaki would assign, 
trusting her judgment.
I took the command station, and we soon launched off, with sixteen 
other vessels in formation.

This started the initial two month investigation period, where the 
Coral Fleet moved about the expanse of the Fungesian Empire, at first 
concentrating on worlds that had been targeted, gathering data on the 
raids; and then backtracking through channels that yielded more slight 
clues.
Then we started nibbling at the Collective, with a few small insertion 
raids and covert-ops, with Yasani helping to discover clues out of the 
meager data we could capture, not that the Collective even gave that 
without a fight. 
Worse was the retaliation raids the Collective seemed to always bear 
down after one of our raids, as if they knew our nit-picking on a 
personal basis.
A clue in itself, since the raids were becoming too much a coincidence. 

We ended up in a few small actions trying hard to figure out pattern to 
the mindset of the Collective. And we got some action alright, with 
three separate occasions of our Fleet being ambushed, though the forces 
weren't enough to seriously harm us, it HAD the intent of trying to 
dissuade us from further operations.
The last with a duo Carrier, and Dreadnought pairing certainly caught 
us flatfooted, and gave us a bloody nose before we creamed them.
On top of all this, the Collective kept raiding worlds in the same 
manner after every action against us, or with every action we led. The 
situation was further exacerbated when a Fungesian Task Force in the 
Tai sector Beta was ambushed close to our position one day. We arrived 
in time to drive off the Pirates, but found most of the cargo vessels 
the Task Force had been escorting  were simply destroyed.
Then the very next day, the Pirate struck upon planet Forath, with the 
same plasmatic weaponry, hitting a random, common city rather than any 
strategic target. We found the target, U and N traced the probable 
escape route, and we followed to be engulfed in two full Collective 
Task Forces.
We barely made it out..

That action forced us to call upon reserve forces to bolster our 
strength, but we returned to the same area with only wreckage of the 
previous battle. All for naught..
And despite valiant efforts by the team to decipher clues from the 
raids and from gathered data from the various battles; they kept 
managing to stay ahead of us.. but a few clues DID stick out.
The Pirates responded to our activities with all too well oiled 
precision, not to mention the fact that the fielded ships and numbers 
to boot FAR to numerous for a simple Pirate group.
Then I remembered the action with the Lent`it`tos back in the Sol 
System, the fact that they had a couple of large Capital ships was 
strange at the time. I decided to ask a favor of the Grand Marshal.
I had Misaki, Prlras, and Tora with me when the news came back. And it 
was the worst possible theory to hear.
The only way to confirm this was to up our ante upon a major Collective 
target, and one was rumored to be in the Toalh Nebula, a place NO ONE 
dared go willingly, since it was a rare spot for neutron stellar 
nursery. Not a vacation spot for the meek.

So began operation Cleave, (from Vycan) where we would use a full 
Battle Fleet to root out the suppose Collective base there, and there 
HAD to be one, since there was no other logical places to hide.
But before that, Yasani decided to use an old tactic, since there was 
suspicion of a security leak.
We put out several false messages to send the pretense we would be 
moving close to the Toalh sector, and that we would be escorting a 
large convoy to the Pasa sector. The mention of Gems in the manifest 
was added as a leak that HAD to be noticed, whether they wanted to 
ignore or not.
We had a single day to prepare after the final message was leaked, as a 
group of 'freighters' were being loaded as expected. 
This gave me time to do something I had belatedly not done yet..

The first to answer the call was Washu of course, whom informed she was 
keeping track of the situation in the Fungesian Empire via Tsui's 
request, which sorta warmed my heart.
Soon, the rest of the gang crowded in, all doing their usual thing; and 
I MEAN usual.
I related for Sasami and Ayeka, that Misaki was quite well, and that it 
was probably safer for me to do the talking instead of her, for Ayeka's 
sake anyway. Then I related the generality of the missions we'd had 
done, and what I thought of my new Knight crew (of a sort to 
describe..)
I then asked if Tsui had received her present, and got a few nods from 
Tenchi and Sasami, but not much else; which I could only guess to 
Creation's influence again.
Then I started saying stuff, that in retrospect sounded like an 
epitaph.. 

By the time I was done, I felt cold inside; I was relaying my last 
wishes in so many words.

Yosho then spoke up, and even through the comm channel, his voice gave 
steel to my soul. 
If I believed I would survive the return, and that I believed in my 
beloved, all would eventually turn out, somehow..
Despite hearing this stuff before, I grasped it now as I had then..
A call from Misaki on the bridge forced me to cut short the call, and I 
got through at the last, that I loved them all, and that I would return 
as soon as I could.
And of course, I wished for my heart to be conveyed to Tsunami in 
whatever fashion it could be. Tenchi relayed then that the family hoped 
we all would be well, agreed I did to that sentiment.
A few goodbyes later, and a black screen had me for once doubting if I 
could stay true to Yosho's words.

Upon reaching the bridge deck of this magnificent vessel, I found 
Misaki and Igonusi near a terminal, while Tora and Ala stood off to the 
side, all faces turned to me when I entered, with almost the masks of 
Hades plastered to their faces.
Misaki called me forth, I came and looked...
..a transmission from a Fungesian deep space relay in the Erat sector, 
from a scout that transmitted it's last in sacrifice.
The image made myself so cold inside, nothing I've felt in such a long 
time.
The sleep that night was not comfortable, I sweated like a pig.

The next day, operation Cleave got underway, with dour feelings among 
the Juraian contingent of the gathered, with the rest of the Knight's 
uncertain.
It took the High Coral Fleet, with escorted freighters, three days to 
reach the target sector area we had leaked, and all forces were 
severely high strung; on the edge all too much.
Six hours upon entering the sector, with no word of any activity, it 
was looking like our plan wasn't becoming fruitful. 
Then along with the plan, a freighter deliberately broke silence that 
had been imposed to announce it's fusion core had broke down, I ordered 
the Sele`nta and two Fungesian Destroyers to drop back from the 150+ 
Fleet group, acting as a shield..
Another three hours, as the main fleet seemed out of range, still 
nothing.
Another hour later, the freighter was 'ordered' to restart it's engine; 
and we started off again.

It all broke loose from that point.

Suddenly a large warp flash flooded around us, as a LARGE Collective 
Battle Fleet surrounded us.
But they weren't alone.
Six Dark Juraian Treeships were with them. 
There was no hail, only a vicious volley of weapons as the 
Collective/DJ Fleet started pounding us mercilessly.
One Fungesian Destroyer didn't make through the initial volley, and the 
freighter had it's engines sheared clean off.
Only our Lighthawk Wings saved the Sele`nta from immediate 
obliteration.

In a desperate gambit, I forced a large amount of Jurai power into the 
Wings, and shot shearing beams of our own, catching six Collective 
Capitals in the beams, but the Sele`nta got SLAMMED by a three wave 
missile volley, collapsing the Wings from the shock of the attack.
The next volley had us on the limb.
I looked at Misaki and gave a look of sorry to her..
It wasn't needed.

The rest of the Coral Fleet jumped on top of the enemy, and began 
picking off the exposed Collective ships, giving us and the remaining 
lone Destroyer  breathing room, as swarms of mecha suits began a large 
furball all around us. The 'freighters' unleashed their cargo of Ion-
pulse missiles, along with a nasty spread of Fusion Gem torpedoes. Hot 
knife thru butter..
Several Collective vessels tried to close in on us the finish us, but I 
managed to reestablish the Wings in time, staving a Beta strike of 
sorts. We countered by using superior maneuverability to catch the 
ships from behind.
We then gained two Fungesian cruisers, and played a bit of cat and 
mouse with two Collective Destroyers, and a Dreadnought. The use of our 
Wings gave us the advantage to cut down the Destroyers, while the 
Dreadnought gave no end of trouble, nearly searing the Sele`nta in two 
at one point, but a deft maneuver by N kept us clear, while the 
Cruisers pounded the Dreadnought. And despite a Collective mecha suit 
slamming near the bridge area, we managed to help with the death blow, 
felling the massive warship.

In the meantime, a trio of Collective Capitals moved to cut the Battle 
Fleet in three. But the 'freighters' cam in play again, stopping the 
attempt cold with a volley of torpedoes. 
Misaki then ordered our small group to close with the DJ vessels, 
starting with a vicious Alpha strike from our batteries, searing one 
vessel, but only gained it's deadly attentions. A Collective frigate 
with several mecha suits and a squad of fighters tried to cut us off 
first, but a battleship volley and a screening wave from a Fungesian 
Carrier blunted this attempt, allowing us access to our target in the 
clear.

From first glance, our size differential seemed to put us at a major 
disadvantage, but our Wings gave us enough of an edge despite the DJ 
having copies of it's own, they weren't of original quality, as 
demonstrated as our first pass shredded one of the Dark Wings, and 
clipped a control vane on the dark vessel, we received a deluge of 
missiles, and a ion pulse blast, but we survived this barrage to 
deliver our own, gouging the vessel of it's central connection to it's 
main body, scuttling it essentially.

Then a second Dark Jurai vessel bombarded us, and the Wings fell again. 
Then it happened, three Dark Juraian constructs boarded the Sele`nta 
off to the left of the main deck..
A vicious volley of energized weaponry traded across, as Prlras and 
Tora LEAPT at the intruders, energized melee weapons brandished.
A second boarding of constructs to our right forced myself and Vycan 
into action, my Avatar Key feeling the blood of our enemy again.
After even MORE vicious action to repel the intruders, that left Tora 
wounded, and Misaki nursing a glancing laser bolt on her left leg, we 
managed to subdue the DJ and regained control in time to see the end of 
the battle.
With most of the Collective ships gone, and one Dark Juraian vessel 
drifting, the remainder retreated back into the nebula, where we were 
in no condition to follow.

After the pieces were picked up, we managed to scrounge up prisoners, 
all Collective.. and picked up enough intact data from several key 
Collective vessels to get a goo picture of the true situation the raids 
had been about. Getting anything from the DJ Treeship was naught, as it 
simply melted in space before we could close with it, and melted is a 
'barely' respectful word to use.
A few hours later, the data was pieced together by Yasani and Igonusi, 
and when we found out the raids were a prelude to a full scale war 
against the Fungesians, we immediately elected to openly call the 
Fungesian Palace.
But we got nothing, only static.

It was while the Sele`nta was returning at best speed to Fungesia, that 
the last bit of data came together at Yasani's expert touch.
2500 standard Universal time..
..this very day..

..we were too late.

We arrived to find a string of wrecked vessels littering in a large 
stream towards the core System.
We arrived to find part of Fungesia Prime smoldering.
From the looks of the initial first glance, a large amount of Thermo-
plasmatic weapons had been used on this world, at least six of the 
major cities were ravaged.. including the capital area.
It took a great while to reach the palace, with mostly littered 
devastation interrupting our transit. But we made it, to find the same 
majestic Palace sporting several egregious wounds, and one of it's 
massive towers, one that had stretched into the sky, felled over a two 
kilometer line spanning to our left.
It was a great amount of chaos we made out way through, but we randomly 
bumped into Tynusu as he directed several medics. He helped escort us 
to the Emperor, whom was found in the bedchambers, nursing Rosusn, with 
Risao holding a tray of medical supplies.

Tynusu announced us, myself with Igonusi and my Guardians Brentai and 
San, despite a couple of blaster burns each.
When Fenganis looked at us, then at me, I felt I was about to be blamed 
for this whole mess; with the way he looked at me. But he was more 
reserved than that, and only asked Risao to hit the GNN station.
The network announcers face, one the Misaki tiraded against when he 
interrupts their soaps, I gave a inside chuckle.. and then a thought 
that they were listening to this right now.. started giving reports of 
the massive disaster that had befallen much of this vast empire.
It was then announced that 72 planetary Systems had been viciously 
raided, and the three major Fleet docks had been attacked, in the 
Terran Pearl Harbor style; with massive casualties. Then on top of 
that, it was confirmed that the Dark Jurai were now announcing their 
active involvement, though no names were given as to the leaders of the 
DJ forces.
It was also announced that the Fungesian government, had already 
declared a empire wide emergency, and that a state of war existed with 
the Dark Jurai, and the Traquis Collective, it was also discovered that 
three minor states had suddenly declared war on the Fungesian Empire, 
collectively calling themselves the Traquis Empire, after the pirates 
of the same name.
I looked at Fenganis, and got a stiff nod, confirming all this.

Then the announcer informed that the Jurai, Kartasian, Hylian and 
Alcorian empires were declaring neutrality in the conflict. The GP had 
not yet given a statement, and many of the smaller states besides the 
Traquis 'Empire' were also abstaining from the conflict.
For once in my life, I exploded; making several servants run for cover.
I then turned to Fenganis, and demanded access to a communications 
terminal; stifling a quieting retort from Igonusi.
Fenganis then turned to Tynusu and asked him to comply with my 
'request'.
As I stormed behind Tynusu, I was dammed sure of one thing..

Fungesian blood had been spilled for the Jurai miracle..

It was time to return the favor, at the cost of friendship if needed.

Thus began the Dark Jurai War.

(End Part Thirty-Three)