...Chaos -- Chapter 22

1. Mother was drifting near a star inside Andromedea and intercepted a familiar psionic chaos emanating from the third body in an obscure 10-planet system.   

2. "Identify," Mother commanded a minion subcomponent.  "There's an Elliptical note from Conscious regarding this star formation," the subcomponent responded.  "And a quarantine from the God of Chaos," Mother acknowledged, "Look, but don't touch." 

3.  "You can do whatever you like," the subcomponent asserted.  "Population," Mother querried.  "Eight Billion sentient biologicals," the subcomponent answered.   "Cartography?" Mother asked.  "This system was not mapped in detail," the subcomponent answered. 

3. The ambient data smog provided sufficient keys to filter the word, "Earth."  The central star is, "Sol," which orbits binary stars, "Alpha Centauri A and B and a dwarf star, Proxima."   

4. "Plot a course and engage," Mother commanded.  Kor's armadas destroyed any world inhabited by Vejhonian seedlings to prevent them from rising up to take back Vejhon.  His policies encouraged neighboring worlds to think twice before assimilating shellan expatriates into their culture.  Recent disasters like M'tro-1 compelled all Cardships to respond to all distress calls.                 

5. "The Thites have navigation beacons in the system," the subcomponent reported, "There are objects of unknown origin and artifacts that appear to originate from a machine world more advanced than ours."  "Display," Mother commanded.  The Light Race was sometimes mistaken for advanced machines because Segment 10 machines can manipulate photonic matter.  Light machines were often called Angels by biologicals.  The display presented an array of advanced photonic machines.  "The Light Race is here," Mother confirmed.  There was evidence that intelligence from all over the Universe trafficked this particular system.

6.  Using the Thite navigation beacons, she piggybacked on their ribbon of eternity to expedite their arrival.           

8. In theory, 'Acceleration' spins a reverse timewave around a target object; the object is suspended, and motion outside the target envelope is invisible.  That enables a large scale intervention to occur without the indigenous knowing anything about it.  The misnomer, "Acceleration," stuck because it was accurate from the target's point of view.   "Can we isolate specific objects?" Mother asked.

9.  "To reverse a timewave's effect, an object must synchronize it's harmonic to a resonance outside the affected area," the subcomponent answered.  There is also a quantum recoil that occurs when a decelerated area 'catches up' to its natural time afterward.  Those quantum singularities are investigated and repaired by Corlos.     

11. The Theotian ribbon of eternity ended near their beacon inside of Mercury's orbit.  Mercury was nowhere around, but the beacon was right where the Theites left it.  With the remaining momentum, Mother attentuated the acceleration wave according to Earth's gravity, density and mass.   

12.  "Projectile analysis," she asked.  "Chemically-propelled projectiles in mid trajectory around Earth's low orbit," the subcomponent answered.  Mother transmitted the reverse timewave as soon as she reached high orbit above Earth, and scrambled the first wave of Atgravs.  

13.  If the debris clearing went according to plan -- the indigenous would never know what happened.   If an Earth sensor did pick up a large 1 x 5 x 15-mile object -- it would register for about one second and blip out of existance when the timewave stopped; a ghost in the machine.  Earth's defense force was trained to repel an extraterrestrial invasion, but would pose no defense at all against an internal attack staged by a more advanced civiilization.       

14.  "Report," Mother commanded.  "The missiles were on a failsafe grid; stored in vacuum silos and made 'future-detection' proof," the subcomponent reported.   

15.  The situation reminded her of the Cyberwars in Section 3 of the Ellipsis.  "What's this?" she asked.  "A Vejhonian," the subcomponent answered.  "Analysis?" she requested.  "The Vejhonian's genome matches the registered occupants aboard," the subcomponent answered, "The indiginous genome contains 20,000 less instruction codes."  "The indigionous are apsionic," Mother observed, "Isolate the singularity."  "Unable," the subcomponent responded, "the singularity is suspended."

18.  For in-flight transparency, Cardship hulls had trillions of optic condits that made the ship appear invisible.  The conduits also conducted cruder signal types right through the ship.  The naked eye, however, could discern a rectangular displacement amid a starry backdrop.    

19. The moon stabilized the planet's weather and massaged the ocean currents; the winds would exceed 200 mph otherwise.  Weights and measures are based on silica-sand, dihydrogen oxide's boiling and freezing point; a base-10 numeric, and navigation based on 36.  Machine worlds venerate the number "10" because the sacred Ellipsis symbol is a wheel or ring with 10 spokes.  Chronograph:  365.25 revolutions per orbit around their primary star.     

20. "This world is based on deception," Mother noted, "Psionic development is squashed by the commercial conglomerates."  "There are bona fide psionists," the subcomponent injected, "but they are killed when discovered, so they keep their abilities to themselves."      

21. Earth's terraforming was relatively new.  Several systems wanted control, but The One quarantined this world, "Look, but don't touch," she noted again.        

22. "This planet had a watershell that collapsed approximately 7,800 cycles ago," Mother said, "Flight Log:  Earth's watershell did not fail due to faulty architecture.  The architects, the Humans or an aggressive species collapsed the shell to drown the population."

23. Three quarters of the planet's surface was underwater and there was evidence of ancient civilizations along the pre-collapsed shorelines.  Mother mapped those shorelines.  The weight of the water radically altered the planet's teutonic displacement.  

24. If the planet was machined into a perfectly round marble, the land would be under 5,500 feet of water.  "Flight Log," Mother entered: "Model for case study of watershell collapse.  Save for the return to Vejhon."  Vejhon's watershell had never collapsed but Earth would make a great model for future study.   

27. Vejhon's circumference was 3,000 miles greater than Earths, which gave Earth a minus-point-one gravity.   "Biologicals won't notice the difference," Mother said.

ABOARD DAL EL's DESTROYER

28. Dal El was enjoying another day as #2 in the Elite food chain, in contrast to the industrious hustle and bustle of everyone around him.    

29. A yeoman approached Dal El with a tablet and reported excitedly, "We think we found a Cardship streaking towards a 10-planet system!"

30. Dal El had no idea which 10-planet system he was talking about, "Did we indeed?" he intoned earnestly.  He took the tablet and examined the Cardship's bee-line path.  That was unusual -- a Cardship would not deliberately risk exposure unless it was a dire emergency.  Are we attacking something there? Dal El wondered.   

30. "I thought the 10-planet system was new?" Dal El inquired, "...no sustainable environments?"  His comment was a complete gamble at stellar awareness -- there were thousands of 10-planet systems and very few possessed an inhabitable shell.      

31. "The Cardship risked coming out of hiding, to get there in a big hurry," The yeoman replied, "It would make a fine trophy for The Master."  A textbook mission statement, goal and outcome.       

THEOS MILITARY HEADQUARTERS

33. "Commander Usalah," a lieutenant in the formation reported, "Look at this."  13 saucers were in a triangular spearhead formation with Usalah's saucer at the tip.  The lieutenant's saucer was tagged on Usalah's formation monitor and two lines stretched through two galaxies.  "It was the red one that caught my attention," the lieutenant explained, "then the blue one showed up." 

34.  Theos' fame did not end with terraforming technology and faster-than-light saucers -- their astral-navigation net was another component that had no real accountability by design.  The red line was an Elite destroyer for certain.  "Is that blue one what I think it is?" Usalah asked, "clear in A'zoth over there?" "I believe so," the lieutenant replied.            

35.  "We have a beacon there," the lieutenant advised.  "Let's get into pick-up," Usalah ordered.  "What's that system clock at?" Usalah asked.  "About 1 million upc around that one," his own navigator replied.  He pointed at Sol's orbit around Alpha Centuri; although their cartography gave both different names.  The saucers rearranged into an umbrella formation for long range detection and aimed toward the distant flight paths.  Usalah's saucer remained in the center.  The computational capacity of a single saucer multiplied exponentially as additional saucers lined in.  

36.  "The next question," Usalah posed, "is 'why' would a destroyer and a Cardship come out of hiding?"  It wasn't unnatural for a destroyer, but unheard of for a Cardship.        

37.  "I think a beacon picked up a planetary disturbance and the Cardship responded," the lieutenant said.  Usalah continued, "And the destroyer discovered the Cardship and gave chase."  "That would make sense," the lieutenant agreed.  "Is it really that simple?" his tactical officer asked.  "Usually," Usalah replied.      

38.  Saucers were a strategic trademark of Theos, tried and proven true since the invention of artificial gravity.  Theite tacticians believed that smaller ships possessed the agility to defeat larger vessles, and all throughout Theotian history, the tactic always worked. 

39.  "Send this to Ops," Usalah ordered, "and try to tap the grid over there -- I'd like to know more."  "Aye, Sir," the lieutenant replied.     

40.  Theites were famous for inventing on-the-fly attack styles.  There was no field manual to intercept and disect.  From an enemy perspective, attacking a saucer formation was like trying to shoot a specific fish in an ocean on another planet with an arrow made out of foam.   

41.  "Ops has more," the lieutanant said, "They're dispatching more B'lines to join us."  "Guess we're engaging," Usalah replied, satisfied.    

42.  So far, the Theites had never captured an Elite destroyer because capturing a destroyer was not a high priority mission.  The Senate mainly wanted the spaceforce to keep Kor on his toes; "No unnecessary engagements..."  SpaceCom, however, was drifting away from the pacifistic attitude of the Senate.   

43.  "Just exactly how far away is that?" Usalah asked. 

44.  "It's over past Andromeda," the lieutanant replied.  Usalah laughed, "Andromeda!  What a waste of space!  Is there anything even there?"  

45.  "It sounds like a Mother's MO," the lieutenant suggested, "with the way their colonies keep getting blown up."  "I hear that," Usalah conceded.    

46.  "How did we pick it up anyway?" Usalah asked, "The odds of our formation being aimed right at it, three systems away, at this point in time and space... is about..."  "One in a goggle-plex," his weapon's officer answered for him.   

47.  "The beacon grid over there went into cue," the lieutenant replied.  That meant that a discrepancy went onto a list of other discrepancies to investigate.  "The spear must have captured it on a sweep," the lieutenant answered.  A spearpoint would pick up a beacon on the sensor grid.  "There's a list of discrepancies," navigation reported, "None marked urgent."   Enough discrepancies could cause a nuisance alarm. 

48.  "Have we heard from Ops yet?" Usalah asked impatiently, "Steady, until we know what they want."   

49.  The Theite grid passed a microdirectional signal through a series of precision relays spaced at 800,000-mile intervals between a known formation and Operations.  It was impossible to intercept the signal unless a wandering ship transversed the signal's path.  Even with a decryption key, packet-encryption required a biosynaptic packet-receiver to decode.  "We stick those damn things everywhere," Usalah complained, "which obligates us to patrol the whole frackin' Universe."  It was a rhetorical opinion shared by every SJ.  "Not the ones put in museums," his wingman WO said in jest.  That was true -- virtually every civilization had at least one Theite beacon on display in a cultural museum somewhere.  

50.  "I hear the Cacci Dai send our beacons to other dimensions just to mess with us," his TO added.  "I wouldn't doubt it one bit," Usalah replied, "Machine humor."  Normally, he would laugh, but his mind was on interdicting the Elite destroyer.       

51.  Light takes 4.3 seconds to pass from one beacon to the next which is why navigators refer to them as 'ribbons of eternity.'  Theites prefer other species to stay off the road until they learn how to drive.  Mother computers excepted of course.       

53.   The Cardship, with it's optic conduit disguise, wasn't as easy to see, but it's rectangular displacement amid the stars was obvious enough. 

54.  More data poured in regarding the system itself; images of the major planets, the primary star, and the best route to take.  The archaic tags were replaced by updated nomenclature and local transliterations.           

55.  With the mission data received, Usalah's tactical monitor flashed, "INTERCEPT AND ENGAGE."

56.  He forwarded his display to every monitor in the formation, "Let's get 'em boys!" he said.  "Anyone not on a mission, is part of ours now!  We're takin' that fat bastard down!"  Everybody cheered!  "It's about frackin' time!" a junior officer yelled.  They were a highly motivated bunch.           

BACK ON EARTH

ABOARD THE CARDSHIP

71.  Mother positioned herself in a geosynchronous orbit above Barbados and descended below stasis to shorten the distance for the Atgravs to travel.  

72.  Kennedy III was an island surrounded by manmade islands that outlined the ancient coast of Florida. 

73.  The previous two Canaverals did not fare so well in severe weather.  Mother was not dangerously below stasis and could easily reestablish orbital stability.  Her plan was to egress the system once the clearing operation ended.   "Status?" Mother inquired.

75. "Standby for transport," Xanax advised Dayton. 

76. Dayton was distracted by the jelly-like distortions that the Atgravs made in the air.  He wasn't really paying attention, “Standby for whaaa...” the energy-matter  transport began and he was a long ways from Earth by the time he finished his question.   

77. The photonic matter in biologicals is not hard-wired to its mass.  A transportee must consciously keep his mind with his matter to properly reassemble.  Corlos discovered through trial and error that the greater ones intelligence -- the greater ones success with matter-energy transport.  However barbaric the postulate, Corlos also believed those who did not survive the simulator were of insufficient intellect to be an operative.  It was The One's way of approving or declining a candidate.          

78. As soon as Dayton rematerialized on the simulator floor, Alma said, "You need to wait here -- I'll be right back."  The ability to pause and resume playback on cue almost made existance seem unreal.  Choices, however, are very real...   

ON EARTH

81. Ireana observed the suspended motion of everything around her, "I feel nauseated."  She massaged her tummy.  From her point of view, the shell had just gone into suspended annimation.    

82. "There's a Cardship in orbit conducting nuclear-clearing operations," Onimex reported.

83. "Nuclear?" Ireana mumbled, "A bit crude for Kor, isn't it?" 

84. "I don't think it's Kor," Onimex replied, "We have a convergence of unnatural waves at this point in space.  Xanax saw the acceleration wave coming and decelerated Dayton before it hit.  I was on 'International Island' observing a top secret conference or I would have decelerated you sooner."  International Island was a 13-mile diameter floating disk at sea.  Although the world was technically consolidated, whichever head-of-State was on the Island at the time, was presumed to be in charge of the Island, and asked to make CEO-level decisions while they were there.

85. "As soon as he's off the simulator floor -- we're probably next," Ireana said.  For that matter, moving all four of them at once would not have been that big of a deal, except that Dayton was not supposed to know who his rating official was.  "Did you learn anything at the Island?" she asked.  She thought the Atgrav cavitation effect in the air was interesting.  She had already figured out the dynamics.  

86. "It may not be possible to retrieve us right now," Onimex said, "Corlos tried to get a signal lock, but there's multiple layers of interference and more interference coming." 

87. "If Corlos is having a problem," Ireana said, "then there really is a problem."  Her face became a touch more pensive.   

88.  "I thought this was just a training op for Dayton?" she commented.

89. "It was," Onimex confirmed, "but Corlos wanted him to assess the quantum anomalies first hand."  The covert aspect of their agenda had turned out rather bland.   

90.  "And they lost the signal on us," she repeated.  "I don't remember getting briefed on the quantum interference.  Weren't you supposed to be looking in on 'secret combinations'?" she asked. 

91. "B'jhon told me to assist you if necessary," Onimex replied, "he wanted you to stay focused on Dayton."  Ireana smirked because Dayton was the most gorgeous shellan she had ever laid eyes on, so keeping her focus on him wasn't a problem.  "And you went all over the shell in the process?" she surmised.  "Yep," he said.    

92.  Ireana escorted Onimex outside, taking a special interest in two parked state utility vehicles.  

93.  "Can you... 'accelerate' one of these?" she asked.  She did not accept the etymological contradiction, "They call it 'acceleration' when the reverse is true?"  "It's from the environment's perspective," Onimex answered, "We are accelerated -- the vehicles aren't.  I can 'decelerate' the nav system once we're inside."  Ireana was over-thinking the misnomer, "Technically, if the vehicles are suspended, and you bring them to our... never mind," she said.  "You might fry something," Onimex observed.  "That's supposed to be my line," she replied. 

94. "If I understood you correctly -- a single Cardship decelerated this entire shell?" Ireana surmised.  "I can provide more thematic details if you like," Onimex offered.  He caught the innuendo.  Ireana was attempting to compute the energy requirements and Onimex knew it, "You really are trying to figure this out, aren't you?" he said facetiously.  "I figured them out for you," she rationalized.  "Mother established a statically-powered amplifier net," Onimex clarified.  She understood.

95.  "We need to get to orbit," Ireana said, opening the vehicle's gull wing door, "and you can tell me about the amplifiers on the way up." 

ABOARD DAL ELL's ELITE DESTROYER

96. Dal El watched from his royal dias as the teutonic integrity of the 3rd body was analyzed on the deck below.   Since the shell was doomed anyway, it was illogical to study the indigenous culture or glean vital statistics. 

97. The invisible Cardship was marked by an electronic silhouette.  The destroyer was testing a stealth technology of its own. "Can they see us?" Dal El asked the commander.  "No, Vice Elite," the commander answered, "we are invisible to them."  "Touché!" Dal El said in Theotian, which was an easily understood word.      

98.  "How about the communications block?" Dal El asked.  "The barricade is up and running," the commander reported.  The Elite was more interested in the acceleration wave than the planet.  "Imagine The Master's reaction if we capture that technology?" the commander suggested.  "I don't even think the Sky Spirits know about it," Dal El bemused, "Commander," he said assertively, "I want you to do whatever it takes to get that technology."   "Aye, Sir," the commander replied.  "I'll advise the Captain that you're on a special mission," Dal El assured him.   That was the only license the commander needed, and of course the Captain would agree.

99. Like a python in pitch black darkness, the destroyer slithered into position and froze, unnoticed.      

100. Most of the Atgravs had completed the debris clearing and were back aboard the Cardship.  Mother did not see the approaching danger.  She would ordinarily be more vigilant in long range detection, but forwent that protocol to expedite the rescue effort.          

ON EARTH

102. "I could get used to this," Ireana praised the design of their borrowed spacecraft.  "I'm doing most of the driving," Onimex retorted. 

103. "It's just as well," she said, "this atmosphere would drive me nuts."  "It'll clear up once were out of it," Onimex assured her.  

104. They slipped through the last pocktes of atmosphere and broke into free space, which felt felt like an extraction from quicksand and glue.        

105. The rectangular dark spot displayed stars from it's opposite side.  The light refracted like it does in water, and those refractions were noticable.  One could trace the distortions along the edges of the ship because the reverse-side projections did not match unobstructed space.                        

106. "I'm registered," Ireana whispered, "I can board those."  She said it with reverent delight.  "That might blow your cover," Onimex said gently, "You don't exist any more, remember?"  He hated to say it and she knew that he didn't mean it in a mean spirited way. 

107. "What's this other thing way out there?" she asked, pointing to a marker on the proximity monitor.  The Earth ship was crude, but not archaic.  "No idea," Onimex replied.  He didn't want to validate his most fearful speculation first.        

108. She watched the last two Atgravs speed toward the Cardship and disappear inside a hanger.  The Atgravs were beyond visual range, but the ship's monitor magnified their flight path just fine.    

109. "They're getting ready to decelerate," Onimex advised.   Ireana shook her head and succinctly articulated, "They are not ... accelerated!"

110.  Then she whispered more politely, "Please synchronize."  She wanted to avert the transitional queasiness that she suffered the first time.   

111. The acceleration field deactivated, and life on Earth resumed where it left off.  The missles blipped out of existance as if the entire affair had been a video game.  Everyone concerned would say, "It was a ghost in the machine," and spend 30 years studying the anomaly.   Since most of Earth's population didn't actually see anything, it would be easy to blame a remote sensor for malfunctioning.  Nothing happened -- there was nothing to report.  Life goes on.   

112. "I like this speed better," Ireana sighed, "I'll be fine if I never go through... 'acceleration' again."  She still hated the misnomer.   

113.  It didn't take an astute student to understand why the technology was invented, but Mother didn't leave, and that defeated the purpose.  "You don't supposed Earth's detection systems will miss something that large?" Ireana asked facetiously.  Onimex didn't know what to say.  He thought he had Mother's MO figured out too, but her lagging behind was a true mystery.  Each second felt like a year where escape and evasion was concerned.  "What the hell is she waiting for?" was their next mutual question.  "I'll get out and push if I have too," she offered, "Something has to be wrong."      

114. The ship in the far distance fired upon the Cardship.  Personnel transports from the distant ship disembarked and approched the Cardship.  "Is that a..." Ireana started.  "...destroyer?" Onimex finished.  "Yes," Onimex answered, "One of the new ones... and it's cloaked."  The utility vehicle did not recognize either of the foreign vessles and tagged them both as 'unidentified' on the monitor.   The cloak had been good enough to fool Onimex from a distance, but not anymore.

115. "The Cardship has lost it's stability," Onimex reported.  "I believe the destroyer intended to disable the Cardship, probably to steal the technology.  They didn't compensate for the shell's gravity."

116. "To achieve orbital stasis, they need to be going about 10,000 i.u.'s faster," Ireana calculated in her head, "and they're way too low..." 

117. "...and way to slow," Onimex finished.   So far, the Cardship was not responding to it's loss of stability -- it's mass was too great.

118.  Ordinarily, Mother's technique to shorten the distance for the Atgravs to travel would not have been risky.  She could achieve escape velocity or rise to a stable orbit at will.  This situation was not ordinary.           

119.  A 75 square-mile object does not stop on a dime or fall from the sky in a hurry.  "It has no choice but to descend within the next 20 minutes," Onimex reported.  Her personal stake in the survival of the Cardship had a direct impact on her nerves.  "Can't they stabilize or escape?" she whispered.  M'tro-1 did not own a tiny fraction of a Cardship's assets; the idea of a Cardship crash landing was devastating.  "She can't survive a crash," Ireana said, "Even if she sets one end down -- the other end would stretch 20 miles into the sky."   "I know Mother's doing everything she can," Onimex consoled.    

120.  "Are there survivable alternatives?" they questioned together.       

121.  "The ship has the mass of two mountain ranges -- where will they hide it?"  The oceans seemed logical but the natives would certainly notice.  

122.  It was just now becomming obvious that the Cardship was foundering.  Ireana could only watch in disbelief, remembering M'trol-1 as if it was only yesterday.  That ship contained the compliment of 10,000 M'tro-1's.  "There's nothing I can do," she resigned sadly, "The Cacci Dai had no way of planning for this."  

122.  The Cardship's descent began to accelerate.  The hull might get a little warm, but she won't burn up.  Already there was atmospheric resistance.  Inertial buffers would make the impact survivable but structural integrity would be compromised.  The Cardship would literally add to the shell's mass.  Clearly, 27th century Earth was watching this!

123. Ireana's grief and frustration leaked through her eyes, like watching a train drive off a damaged bridge in slow motion with your loved ones aboard.  

124. She was trying to imagine what Mother was doing to counteract Earth's gravity.  If the redundant systems were operational, she could soften the landing a little.   

125. The passive psionic shield permitted leakage where the superstructure was ruptured.  Mother wanted to keep her children as calm as possible. 

126. Onimex transferred a message to the monitor in front of Ireana.

127. “The Cardship is under it's own power.”

128.  She patted his upper surface affectionately.  There was still hope. 

129. "The Cardship is going to attempt a crash landing," Onimex said out loud.

130.  "She's rerouted everything to create a buffer," he added.        

131.  Ireana draped her fingers over her mouth and rubbed her lips, like waiting for a verdict in court.   

134. Trillions of light conduits made the Cardship blend into the ground as it descended into the upper atmosphere.   

135. Two personnel transports broke pursuit and headed back toward the destroyer.   "They were going to board?" Ireana commented sarcastically, "Mother would have never allowed it!  She would have imploded the ship before allowing them to board."  Ireana was pleased that Mother had avoided that threat.  

136. The Cardship disappeared.  She was there one moment.  Now she was gone.  Ireana squinted her eyes and leaned forward.  She wasn't shocked by the idea, she was shocked at how quickly her hope was restored, as if given a shot of adrenaline.     

137. "I can tell you with certainty," Onimex commented, “that I picked up an index-protocol when the Cardship disappeared.”

138.  Ireana smacked him and screamed with delight.  "That doesn't mean they're safe -- it only means they escaped the destroyer," he clarified.  That was good enough for her.  She heard, "...they escaped..."        

139. She leaned back in the driver's seat and stared indifferently at the approaching destroyer. "Elite prisoners don't fare well," she said.   She returned her gaze to the Cardship's last known location, "Where did she go?"  Only Onimex could figure that out.  She looked again at destoryer.

140. "Think we can out run 'em?" she mused.  Onimex never responded to her bad jokes unless he could think of a better comeback.  

141.  Suddenly, he had one:  "There are 19,986 B'lines due to arrive in 8 seconds."

142.  Ireana busted up laughing!  "Hi!  My name's Kor, and I'll be blowing your shell all to hell today," she added comically.   

143. "All those chances I had to start drinking," she sighed.  "And I never once let my hair down just to live a little.  Not once!" 

144.  Ireana was dazzled by Onimex's improvisational creativity.  His had developed his personality all on his own. 

147. Swarms of Theite saucers began to blur space in every direction as if the curtain had drawn back on a giant war epic!  The sight was breathtaking!  

148. Ireana's despairing smirk bloomed into radiant delight!  "You weren't kidding?" she shrieked.  All she needed was popcorn and a soda to make the movie a perfect date.  

149. The saucers swarmed like piranha in a feeding frenzy, against a single Elite destroyer and two transport carriers that had not yet landed.   

150. "I have to say, no-contest, my round, fat friend," she teased overjoyed.   

151. The destroyer was comprehensively immobilized, like when a dung beetle wanders over a fire ant hill.  There was simply no contest, bordering pitiful.  

152. "Surrender?" Ireana asked excitedly.

153. "I'm certain of it," Onimex answered, "I think we also attracted someone's attention."

154. "Onimex, fade out, now!"  she rushed him.   She had that solution memorized, just in case. 

155.  Onimex faded out of existence.  He was there, but invisible, shifted slightly out of phase with the solar system. 

156.  Two Theite saucers appeared on either side of Ireana's utility craft. Her vessel was unarmed, so it was not engaged.  Ireana wanted to be happy, but she knew they weren't there to welcome her.     

157.  "I'm very grateful we didn't have weapons," she mumbled under her breath. 

158.  The saucers scanned her and discovered that she was a Vejhonian piloting an Earth vehicle.  Everyone aboard the destroyer was Vejhonian too.  That made her one of them.   

159.  Her controls were locked out and her borrowed craft towed to a docking bay aboard the Elite destroyer.

161.  Once the Elite destroyer was under Theite control, Ireana was placed under arrest and taken prisoner.