Novan Intelligence Dispatch: 08/03/2175 1031 NST
Earth Operational District 1-Novan Intelligence Command: MAGNUM has investigated unconfirmed reports of Terran attack plans. Source cannot definitively prove unconfirmed reports, but indications are strong in their favor. REGENT has no intelligence on reports. PALLADIN indicates unusual activity in Terran fleet stance and admiralty. Noteworthy army readiness activities have been noted. War preparations have been made to damaged ships and stations. End Dispatch.
Personal Journal: William Aucaman
08/03/2175
The EPD started to close in last night at about 9 O'clock. They sent some small surveillance drones through the area at about 8; Cynthia spotted it and we managed to get under cover before it got ID's on us, hopefully, but I think it must have found our campsite at the very least. We cleaned up as quickly as we could and started moving back towards the main road. Mom hoped that we could make it away before any SWAT forces could show up. We made it about two miles before we ran into a column of drones heading back the way we came. We dropped into the bushes and hid. It was close, I'm sure of it, but I don't think that the drones noticed us, because they kept marching. We waited about ten minutes after they had passed to move on. We went more slowly and carefully after that. The whole time we were dogged by overhead drones. I don't know how we avoided getting spotted, even in the dark. I know for a fact that those police drones have night-vision and infrared. It took us nearly an hour to reach the road, but we did make it, and we snuck past a police barricade on the other end.
Dad and Adrian picked us up in the truck about a mile down the road. Olivia Mattingly is still in a really bad way. She's extremely dehydrated, and she seems to be having hallucinations. She kept mumbling incoherently; sometimes I caught words from that alien language. Mom examined her carefully, and says she has a bunch of scars near the base of the neck and all along her stomach. Her body temperature is about 90 degrees and nothing we're doing is having any affect to bring it back up. Cynthia has been inconsolable, and I don't think she's slept since a couple of nights ago. Olivia really needs medical attention, but I'm not sure how to give it to her with the police after us.
Adrian's sticking to his suggestion to use the black ship he found. He thinks that we can fly it anywhere in the world if necessary, though he's still not sure what powers it. He says he suspects matter-antimatter reaction, but I'm fairly sure that's not a real thing, although I suppose that he'd know better than I do. For the moment, though, it might be the best plan. Cynthia won't leave her sister's side, and we know she'll be executed if caught, so we can't just drop Olivia off at a hospital and hope she'll recover for fear of risking Cynthia too. I'm sure none of us want that to happen. But if we can use the ship to get to some place else, say Russia or Africa, we could both give it to dissidents to deal with and get medical attention for Olivia. The big question is still whether or not we can fly the thing.
We're camped out by it now, and Adrian is trying to make sense of the controls. It's something of an awkward fit since we're so much shorter than the monster-or rather, Zaha-Katchem-was. It has a pretty tight interior, tall of course, but no more than a few square meters wide. I suspect that most of the space is taken up by the engines. I wonder if it has some kind of small warp drive, though I've never heard of one being fitted to a ship this small. I don't know how fast it is, but any trip in it would get cramped and uncomfortable very quickly.
I don't much like it myself. The interior and the exterior both have the same blackness as the creature from a few nights ago. It isn't just dark; it's almost as if the thing is absorbing all the light we shine on it. Even in full daylight, the shape and the edges are difficult to make out. Every once in a while, I see this shimmering motion travel across the hull. I don't know quite how to describe it; it's like when a duck shakes water off of its feathers, but this ship does it with light. I don't understand it myself, and Adrian isn't talking enough to explain whatever he's figured out. The inside is the same; black and impenetrable. There isn't even a window. The thought of spending an hour or two in there is not pleasant. I can only imagine what poor Olivia must have gone through for almost a week. Especially with what that thing must have been doing to her.
Cynthia started having dreams again while she was sleeping last night. I can only assume that Oliva did too; she was pretty restless through most of the night. I have to say, I hope it's all a coincidence; I really don't want another night running from one of those things, and I know Cynthia feels the same way. I don't see how much there is for us to do, though, other than to hope. Adrian's getting pretty close to understanding how that black probe works. Let's just hope he gets it in time.
Novan Intelligence Dispatch: 07/04/2175 1515 NST
Grushan Coordination Unit-Novan Intelligence Command: Grushan intelligence confirms increase in Terran combat readiness. Sources indicate that troop ships are being loaded on Asian continent and European continent on Earth. Grushan Intelligence estimates full combat readiness within four days. End Dispatch.
Official Transcript: Phone Call: From Elton Weidner: To Alistair Calvin: 08/04/2175 1200 Local Time
CALVIN: Hey chief. I know what you're gonna ask, but I can't give you an answer yet. We're still having limited luck out here. By aerial surveillance drones, we should have had them last night, but they had to have snuck past us somehow. There's someone else out here, we've caught sight of him at least once, but no positive ID's, and no Interlink signatures. We're still working on it. We think he's the one responsible for the vehicle sabotage we've been experiencing, but we...
WEIDNER: Forget it. Go home tonight. Pack everything up and leave. We're done with this search.
CALVIN: Sir? Didn't you hear me? We were within a mile of them. They can't have gotten far. If they'd even left the woods, aerial and satellite surveillance would have bullseyed them immediately.
WEIDNER: Did I ask if we could do it? I'm ordering you off. Pack up and come home, Officer.
CALVIN: And let known terrorists go free? Who knows what they'll attempt next! We got lucky stopping them the first time, we may not get lucky the second time.
WEIDNER: I didn't say we'd do that either, did I?
CALVIN: What are you saying, sir?
WEIDNER: I'm saying that I have a very special guest at the station here who is offering vital intelligence as to the location of these fugitives, and as such your resources are needed elsewhere.
CALVIN: But we should be apprehending the terrorists!
WEIDNER: Just follow orders, Al.
CALVIN: You're going to have to give me more than that, I'm afraid.
WEIDNER: His name is Kazek.
[Pause]
CALVIN: The Zaha-Katchem who...
WEIDNER: Yes.
[Pause]
CALVIN: I'll...see what I can do.
WEIDNER: See that you do it soon. We wouldn't want to be...inconvenienced by what may happen here.
CALVIN: Yes sir.
[End Transcript]
08/04/2175 1718 NST: Transmission Sent Novan Stellar Navy High Command: O Nova: 08/04/2175 1518 NST: Transmission Received NSN Enterprise AH01-001
Begin Transmission
NSNHC orders for Admiral Hadrian. Preparations must be made for a Terran attack on the Proxima System. FGSF authority is making its own preparations, but cannot intervene immediately. You are to make preparations for a short notice jump out of Novan space into Grushan space. It is politically necessary to preserve the Novan fleet in case of an invasion.
End Transmission
Official Transcript: Phone Call: Unregistered Caller: To David Aucaman: 08/04/2175 1301 Local Time
UNKOWN: You have to get out of that forest now.
DAVID: What? Who is this?
UNKNOWN: Someone who's been watching your back. I'm with the African dissident movement. Zimbabwe.
DAVID: I don't know anyone in the African movement. We're law abiding citizens.
UNKNOWN: I know that. My associates know that. The Zaha-Katchem have a different opinion, though. So you're going to have to decide; are you going to deal with me, or with them?
DAVID: I don't understand.
UNKNOWN: I'm near your position and I'm tracking a single Zaha-Katchem heading your direction. I'm going to engage, but your boy was lucky that he nixed his, so I don't know what I can do. Point is, be ready to move.
DAVID: Why are you African? I've asked help from the Russian movement.
UNKNOWN: The Russians aren't helping anyone right now, not even themselves. You've got my help now; this is your chance to take it. Are you going to do it?
DAVID: I'll do what I can.
UNKNOWN: Good. You probably won't hear from me again.
[End Transcript]
Personal Communication: From Praetor Almarith: To President Yan An-Sing: 08/04/2175: Translated by Zhou Hanshen-Yao
President Yan,
Many of my advisors and military commanders of the Federal Grushan Star Fleet have recently come to me with the troubling news that several preparations are being made within the Sol system and other parts of the Terran Hegemony for what appears to be war against some outside power. This galaxy only contains three powers aside from your own Hegemony; my Federation, the Novan Alliance, and the Zaha-Katchem, who make up for their lack of numbers with technological prowess unmatched in the experience of any of our histories. To my knowledge, only one of these powers has provoked you to war, and these you welcome nonetheless as friends of the Terran Hegemony.
Yet, you are marshalling your fleets against some foe among the stars. You are mustering your men at arms against some foe among your people. You are arming interspatial missiles and I can only imagine you are running tactical and strategic battle projections in the highly secretive Mainframe systems that you pride so much. My intelligence projects full Terran military readiness very soon.
When before your fleet gathered in Sol, I sent a public protest. I knew then that an invasion was unlikely. Now, you have gathered troops, and an all out Terran invasion seems more likely, so I write to you personally to urge you not to do so. Know that I do not write motivated by fear; the Terran Hegemony, though mighty, is no match for the Federal Grushan Star Fleet. Your trade is valuable, but not as valuable as the trade you receive from us. You may have struck alliance with the Zaha-Katchem; I warn you, they may prove selfish allies, and selfish allies are no allies at all.
Above my threats, though, I fear deeply for our two empires if you do go through this. We will both lose so much for so long. It may take decades, even centuries, to rebuild our empires, and our trust, if you carelessly through it away. So, in a way, I am afraid. Not of you, but of what your actions may bring upon the galaxy that we live in. Please, in the interest of peace, stop escalating the tensions between us.
Almarith, Praetor of the Grushan Federation, Chairman of the Grushan Senate, Commander of the Federal Grushan Star Fleet
Congolese Intelligence Dispatch: 08/04/2175 1945 Local Time: Translated by Ibrahim Kayode
Border Patrol-Theresa Mwangi: A single black probe made landfall near Kinshasa at exactly 1937. It was intercepted as requested. The primary hatch opened and four American youths escaped from inside. Two are badly injured and placed in intensive care. The ship itself is uninhabited. Full report to follow. End Dispatch.
Personal Journal: William Aucaman
Shalvool nos Ravanoch! Zakal-Faah Menoo!
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Hey guys! Thanks for being patient with this part, I've been sick and haven't been able to write as consistently. Be aware that the next few weeks are also going to be slow since I'm basically writing from scratch at this point, but I will do my best to publish at least once a week. Thanks to everyone who's stuck with this whole thing, especially triciabird. Thanks again, the real jonbrain.