The Colliding of Empires: A Star Wars / Perry-Rhodan-Crossover AU

i like this if you keep it like this cause it's more personal like the first chapters of this and like the tale and the colliding... in this one you were overflowing my sensors to many new persons.....

 

Well, here is the next part.

As always special thanks to J_K_Dart for betareading.

And, as a little cookie for good readers:

http://www.fischbohne.de/

With this link you should get a few pictures of ships of the PerryRhodan-Universe. Especially the pictures number 13 - 16 . Guess trice why.

Here it is:

The Colliding of Empires

"I'm back. The "Gladors Glory" has interrupted her journey to take over some other specialists. I have worked with some of them in the past and so it was only polite to greet them aboard. Fortunately Brother Tilta had been thinking for me, too.

Brother Tilta?

For those who still don't know it (May I remind you, that Siga was settled six-hundred-and-fifty-nine years ago) Sigans of equal social standing call each other by their name or brother.

Well, where have I been? Oh yes.

The crew of "Vario" was fooled and the fleettender DINO-III was sent back into the past and to the Milkyway-Galaxy. The tender was equipped with enough "Kalups" for the "Crest III" to successfully cover the distance to Andromeda. Commander of the tender was Colonel Gerald Sniggert, his second-in-command was Major Gus Bernard.

They had successfully travelled more than fifty thousand years into the past, into a time, where the last heated battles between our Lemurian ancestors and the aggressors from Halut were fought.

And there the disaster started.

While in the realtime of the year 2.404 the responsible persons of the SolarEmpire prepared the mission of DINO-III, Perry Rhodan and the crew of the "Crest III" had tried to escape the Timeagents of the "Master of the Island", who had manipulated Lemurians and Halutans to hunt the sole ship. The "Crest III" had discovered another time-transmitter and managed to provoke a jump over five hundred years into the future.

"Crest III" and DINO-III were now separated by a gap of five hundred years. I don't want to go into the more dramatic details, but the men commanded by Gerald Sniggert managed to conserve their valuable freight and to contact the flagship long after their deaths. When the "Crest III" discovered the hidden fleet-tender, one of its corvettes and thirty-one men were missing.

According to the logs of DINO-III, Major Gus Bernard and Captain Rog Fanther had tried to cover the five hundred years by a careful calculated dilatation-flight. Flying with a speed close to lightspeed would slow down the passing of time, which would give them a chance to met with the "Crest III" five hundred years later.

They never showed up and only thirty years later, in 2.435 the miracle was solved, when "Old Man" appeared.

An accident had interrupted the dilatation-flight of Major Gus Bernard and his men. Now they were stranded in time. The man of DINO-III they had left behind was already dead, while the "Crest III" was still far away in the future (from their point of view). Its not known how, but they discovered a hidden Lemurian shipyard and although they were lost in time and would never see their home again, they were still soldiers and patriots of the empire. They knew their home was threatened by an enemy, who was superior in numbers as well as in technology and they wanted to do something to change that.

Excuse me for a moment, but this is really touching stuff."

(You can hear some sniffs and coughs).

"Alright, we can continue.

With the shipyard, their technical knowhow and their will to give their empire a chance of succeeding in one of the most bloodiest wars of all times, they conceived a plan, that resulted in the construction of the biggest carriership the universe has ever seen.

The construction of the supership and the ships it was going to carry took over forty-thousand years. Gus Bernard and his men were already dead when their work was finished, only their brains had been kept alive, after the deaths of their bodies.

Finally the work was done and ten thousand years ago "Old Man" was set into motion. Another dilatation-flight was started, which should cover the last ten thousand years. This time the flight was

 

Thx for the link i'll check it out... (nice one... 30 meters...)

 

how did they get so small?? Some kind of high gravity or something?

 

The reason, why people from Siga become smaller and smaller is still unknown, but they have learned to live with it.

People from worlds with high gravity in the PR-Universe are usually very tall and massive (in many cases the genetical engineers have helped).

So we have people from
-Epsal, like Ther Khein, who captains the "Dantes Inferno", with a gravity of 2,4 g.
People from Epsal are usually 1,60 to 1,70 meters high and broad and have a typical weight of 500 kilogramms.
-Ertrus, like Takor Kasom. Ertrus has a gravity of 3,4 g and people from Ertrus are two and a half meter high and more than two meters broad in the shoulders. Typical weight is 800 to 1000 kilograms.
-Oxtorne, like Jasmin Muamar, who we will met soon. Oxtornes gravity is 4,8 g and its people are usually 1,90 meters high and have a shoulderwidth of 1,20. So they are smaller than people from Ertrus, but weigh the same.

After this part, we will see, what has happened with Vader and his terran guests in the meantime.


The Colliding of Empires


"We are on the way. Three hours have passed since we have left our own galaxy. Our current speed is 2 Million Lightyears per hour, that's 555,56 Lightyears per second or close to 18 BILLION times the speed of light. With that speed we would need five days to reach our destination, at least in theory.

As always the reality looks different.

We will reach our goal not in five days, but in two weeks. While we have had experiences with Dimetransdrives for close to a hundred years by now, this version of this drivesystem, that allows ships to travel from galaxy to galaxy without leaving hyperspace in the core, is still very, very new. To make matters worse, an object of the size of the Supercarrier has never made such a journey before.

Because of this, we will drop out of hyperspace every ten hours, when we have travelled twenty million lightyears and take a good look at our Dimetransdrive. Every one of those inspections will take one day. We will also use the time and configurate as much of our more than fifteen-thousand ships with our new version of Dimetransdrives in the shipyards of the Supercarrier. We are optimistic to be able to make thousand ships worth for transgalactic journeys.

That said and done let me finally describe the meeting with my father.

My father, General Lemy Danger, has been a USO-Specialist for the major part of his life. Now, at the age of 428, my father has already quit the active service in the field, much to the relief of my mother, and now coordinates the missions of the Specialists from Siga. He is also responsible for the connections between the companies from Siga and their customers in the executive of the SolarEmpire, like SolarFleet, Counterintelligence, Research and various other Organisations.

Despite the fact that my father wasn't home very much in my youth, my parents managed to provide me with a home filled with love and tried to support me as best as possible. And while my mother hoped I would follow my older brother into the academic sector or into a business like two of my sisters, my father always hoped that at least one of his children would walk into his footsteps one day, secretly of course, since it would have killed my mother to have TWO of her beloved ones in a profession as dangerous as the one of a USO-Specialist.

So it came quite as a relief for my mother and as a always hidden disappointment for my father, when I declared my decision to study art and psychology at one of the best Universities of the SolarEmpire (my original intention had been archaeology, but I didn't get a place there, so I took the second best). I finished my studies ten years later with "Super cum Laude" and the right to call myself a professor.

Not that it was of much use to me. There was no need for me in a teaching position and the places on archaeological missions were occupied. So I started to earn my living as a consultant for museums, art galleries and the great auction houses, but despite the fact that I made a small fortune with that kind of wor

 

Thx for the update m8 but i can't read it now i gotta go in a sec... but i'll read it later!

edit: read it and liked it... More!

 

After this (not so) short trip to the Milkyway-Galaxy we are back, where Darth Vader is still searching for two children.

Enjoy!


The Colliding of Empires


Tibanna gas mine, Tholaris-system

/"I registered a single life-form, fifty meters in front of us." explained the tall ertruser.

"Only a single life-form? I thought we were searching for two children?" Rhodan wondered.

"It is only a single life form. And it is human." stated the USO-Specialist.

Atlan and Rhodan exchanged an alarmed look.

"Interesting." muttered Rhodan./

Kasom calibrated the sensors of his helmet. With all the energies flowing around and other disturbances created in the artificial structure of the mine, it was a wonder he had even sensed something with the scanners of his battlesuit on fifty meters distance. Another five meters and the USO-Specialist detected something else.

"The person is armed." he informed his superiors.

"Atlan, you cover Riel, I´ll take Vader." ordered Rhodan. The sensors of his battlesuit had detected the source of energy and its carrier, too. "Kasom, you'll take care of this person if he starts to attack." If the person had friendly intentions, it would have shown itself already. So Rhodan had to assume that it was hostile.

----

Darth Vader had already detected the hostile presence through the force. For a moment he wondered if they had already found the children, but then decided otherwise. The mind he sensed was filled with hatred and anger in a way no child was capable of. Besides he sensed the presence to be human.

As if developing a live of its own, his hand moved to his lightsaber, preparing to activate the weapon as soon as it became necessary.

He also noticed that Rhodan and Atlan were increasing their speed.

----

Ovil Tulara was a human from Alderaan.

Before the destruction of his homeworld by Grand Moff Tarkin and the first Death Star, he had lived an ordinary live, had been a pacifist like most of his people and would have never thought to become a rebel and terrorist.

This changed the day his entire life was destroyed.

Ovil Tulara and his wife weren't on the planet when it was destroyed. They had spent their first vacation in five years on a luxury-liner, leaving their three children behind at their grandparents. And there they had been, when the Death Star had fired its superlaser.

For Ovil's wife it had been a devastating blow, one from which she never recovered. Only two months later she committed suicide.

For Ovil there hadn't been such an easy way out. The people from Alderaan respected life and committing suicide was one of the worst possible ways to die. Even in this peaceful society, suicide had been viewed as the act of a coward, although this had changed after the planets destruction.

Ovil Tulara was much too angry to give up. His grief and his hatred had given him a new purpose, to destroy the empire and everything connected to it.

So he had joined the Rebel Alliance. He had been to old to become a regular soldier, so he had specialized in the infiltration and sabotage of imperial installations.

The mining-facility in orbit of Tholaris IV was already threatened by its star going nova. A star going nova doesn't happen over night, it builds up over the years, if not decades or centuries. The future fate of Tholaris was already known during the time of the Old Republic and the astronomical knowledge of the scientists of the Old Republic and its successor, the Empire, was sophisticated enough to allow them to determine the exact point of time when the big bang was going to happen.

Despite that, the empire had established the mining-facility in the orbit of the fourth planet of the system, since the places where the valuable ammunition for Turbolasers can be found were few and Tholaris IV had shown to be a rich source for the desired and expansive Tibanna gas. Besides that, the imperial planers had been sure to evacuate workers AND facility when necessary.

If not for Ovil Tulara all would have went well.

The rebel from Ald

 

The first decision is a rather Grim decision.. and the second one a lethal mistake. Or will he be saved from the wrath of DV by Rhodan?

 

Maybe Vader starts choking the life out of him and Rhodan intervenes.

 

Here we go.


The Colliding of Empires


Darth Vader sensed the tension coming from the hostile mind and the readiness to erupt into action at any moment. But when the explosion finally came, it was different to what he had expected.

One moment he was ready to grab his lightsaber, the next he was suddenly pushed aside by Rhodan, while Atlan threw himself on Riel Subvas, covering the small woman from Sullust with his body, while a blastershot hit the place on the ground where he had stood just a moment before.

Before Vader was able to say anything or to punish the Terran for his audacity, Perry Rhodan was on one knee. With incredible speed for a human without the Force he had drawn his weapon and was firing a series of shots into the direction where the sharpshooter was hiding.

Only now Vader registered that Takor Kasom was missing.

The tall Ertrusan was covering the more than forty meters of distance in three seconds by making jumps of eight meters each. It was now obvious that Rhodan was covering the approach of Kasom by forcing the hidden attacker into hiding.

Kasom vanished behind a wall and suddenly a cry was heard. Then silence.

Only moments later Kasom returned, carrying a humanoid form over his shoulder. In his other hand he carried the man's weapon. The barrel of the gun was bent.

While the Ertrusan took his time to get back to the group, Vader turned towards Rhodan. Glancing darkly at the tall Terran he stated.

"That wasn't necessary, Rhodan."

Rhodan just nodded his shoulders. "The deed is done. It seemed the best course of action at this time and the shot was directed at you."

"I can take care of myself." grunted Vader. "If you do that again, I ... ."

"What, Lord Vader?" asked Atlan. "What will you do, if Perry saves your live again? Perhaps say "thank you"?"

Vader was silent for a moment. How long has it been, since somebody had done something for him without being threatened or in expectation of a reward? It was also doubtful that one of his own soldiers would have tried to save him, even if it wouldn't have been necessary. Besides, he wanted those people as his allies, at least until he got their technology into his hands.

"He didn't save my live. As I already said, I can take care of myself, although your intention was benevolent. Just don't do it again."

Rhodan wanted to say something else, but in this moment Kasom was back with his burden. Before the small group he dropped the man to the ground. "I managed to take him out. It was only a light beat, so there should be no fracture of the skull. He should regain consciousness soon." he reported.

"Fine, in that case we can question him, what that was all about." stated Atlan

Vader looked over the man. A middle-aged human male. Parts of his clothing, haircut (or more the lack of) even some of his facial features were telling him enough. "An Alderaanian," he explained. "His world was a founding member of the Rebel Alliance and one of their biggest supporters."

"Was?" asked Atlan, who hadn´t failed to notice Vader speaking in past form.

"It was destroyed three years ago." stated Vader dry. "Unfortunately it didn't end the war, since the rebels managed to achieve a major victory the same day. More cynical minds have stated that the killed Alderaanians were repaid more than enough with that defeat."

Rhodan and Atlan exchanged a slightly shocked look. They had seen enough planets destroyed over the years, but the loss of a habitable world and all the life-forms of it, was always severe and an insult to the universe in their eyes. On the other hand, they didn't know enough about the incident and it wasn't their concern either, how things were done in this galaxy. But they had also recognized, that Vader had been speaking of a war now, not an uprising.

Rhodan remembered, that they were here for other things. He also noticed the pleading looks of Riel Subvas. "We can discuss this later. We still have to find those children and ...."

"We don't have to." was he interrupted by Atlan, on whose face a sm

 

Wow... i didn't c that coming! Wicked m8.. better then anything i came up with!

 

I bet Perry and co witness more unnecessary acts of cruelty and then turn against the Empire, only to be forced to ally with them when the Akons invade.


But now I guess Fteik'll change his story if that was the plan just to keep us all guessing.

Gr8 update though mate!

 

I think you're right FTeik would

 

Acts of cruelity? What acts of cruelity?

Hehehe. Before the Akons somebody else will be invading.


The Colliding of Empires



To describe Riel Subva?s current state of mind as confused would have been the euphemism of the decade.

On one side she was happy that there was no further delay, that they were finally able to search for the children she was responsible for. On the other side was a man who had died, had been killed by Darth Vader. Not only a man, but somebody from Alderaan. The spectre of the destroyed world, its innocent civilians murdered was still fresh in her mind.

Riel and her sister had demonstrated against the development inside the empire towards such atrocities, before they were banished from Sullust. Since then Riel had been to busy to stay alive and to raise her niece after her sister had died, to care about justice or the freedom of the galaxy.

With a feeling of shame Riel realized, that she had arranged herself with the current situation, that she had given up. Given up herself and any hope of change. What she had witnessed only moments before seemed only to confirm that there was no escape from the empire, that resistance was futile.

She threw a quick glance at Vader companions. Tall even for stormtroopers (and there was no such thing as a small stormtrooper), physically strong looking men (especially the one called Kasom), dressed in battlesuits she had never seen before. And the way they fought had been awe-inspiring, too. Before the incident with the poor Alderaanian Riel Subvas had thought, that they belonged to a new group of elite troopers, superior enough to boss ordinary stormtroopers around, but still belonging to the Empire and inferior to Vader.

Now she wasn?t so sure anymore.

But about one thing she was sure. As soon as she had found her niece and was far away from that blasted mining-outpost, she had to find a way to contact the Rebel Alliance. If she wanted her niece to grow up in a better world, she had to do something.

Little did she know, or even suspect, that her thoughts were an open book to one member of the rescue-party Riel was with. So confused was she that she didn?t even give the matter a thought, let alone begin to realise the danger she was in.

----

Tien Subvas and Feedo Kylar were in Tien´s favourite hiding place. The garage of one of the droids that collected the garbage on the streets and places of the station. The room hadn?t been occupied for three months now, since the droid hadn´t returned from the last maintainance-check. Rumors told it had had a little run-in with an angry Gamorrean and had been damaged bejoind repair. For Tien and her rhodian friend Feedo that wasn´t a bad thing, since they now had a place to hide, to play and to store their own few belongings.

Prior to this day, Tien and Feedo had felt comfortable and secure in the garage they had claimed for themself. But this had changed.

Children have a certain sense, if things are alright or not. When her aunt Riel had told her to get out of her way and to play with her friend, Tien had obeyed. But soon she had discovered that something was going on. People were abandoning their posts and moving towards the hangar bays. Many carried suitcases and bags with them and Tien had been able to see the fear on their faces. She and Feedo had agreed that it would be better to return home, back to the care of the adults, but unfortunately they had been forced to discover that the gate to the garage had been locked. Nobody had heard the cries of the two children or recognized their beating against the walls and the door. Finally they had given up and were now hoping that their caretakers would find them.

"Do you think they will find us?" asked Feedo with a low voice.

"They have to." answered Tien with more bravery than she actually felt. "My aunt wouldn?t leave without me."

"I envy you for your aunt." admitted Feedo with tears dropping out of her eyes. The Rhodian girl was an orphan. She was practically adopted by the small community of Rhodians who lived on the

 

More!

 

Haha!! He gave the children carrots!! Do they even have them in the GFFA?

 

If they have dogs, ducks and cacao (or the equivalents of those), why not carrots.

If we are lucky, we have an update of the "Union"-Story in a few minutes.

Until then:


The Colliding of Empires


Only a few dozen meters separated Vader, his Terran companions and Riel Subvas from the garage where the children were hidden, but the attention of the Sith Lord was concentrated on something else.

The thoughts of the woman from Sullust were easy to read for Darth Vader and it even amused him to "listen" to plans and intentions she thought to be secret. He even had to admire her. It didn?t happen often, to be serious it hadn?t happened before, that somebody had developed a backbone actually in his presence. Usually it was the other way around. His presence (and his reputation) was enough to stun most people he had to deal with, caused them to play safe and to lack initiative. It was a really a pity, he realized. Something he had to change as soon as he had overthrown Palpatine. If he managed to overthrow Palpatine.

/"Why waiting so long?"/ whispered a voice inside his head. /"Perhaps before you can do that, it has to be YOU who has to change. And that is something you don?t want to do."/

The thought was strong enough, it nearly caused him to stop. Did he want to change himself if necessary or did he want things to stay the way they were? Was it because he didn?t really believe he would be able to overthrow his Master? And if so, why continue to serve the old man?

Vader grunted, when the image of the green little troll appeared inside his head. He could already hear his words. "Do it, or do it not." Yoda had bored him to death with those platitudes during the few occasions they had talked with each other, sentence like this one were a truth to simple to be called wisdom. The funny or saddening thing was, that the majority of people were unable to follow them. Well, he had done it. He had done a lot of things. And if he had changed once, he could do it again.

It was just a question of will.

And if he failed, death would be the end. The end of his life, if his current existence could be called life. Vader admitted to himself that he wasn?t leading a life, not in his physical condition, limited to his suit and hyperbaric chambers. In a way, he was a dead man walking.

So, if he was dead since the day he had fallen into the melting pit, what did he have to lose?

Nothing.

And as terrible as this thought was, it was also quite liberating. Ever since his life as Darth Vader had started, the only being in the universe he had feared had been the emperor.

Now he feared nothing and nobody.

It was an intoxicating thought, causing Vader to feel even more powerful, able to shackle the universe in its foundations, but he suppressed that feeling. He wouldn?t allow his emotions to interfere with his mind. He had done so in the past and he had paid a high price for it. Not this time. Patience and planning were now requested.

That thought brought him back to the object at hand. What should he do with Riel Subvas? Several options were available to him. The first was to kill her. The second was, he could inform the ISB about her. In that case she was a dead person, too. Or he could put an agent on her tracks and use her to get access to the Rebel Alliance. To the Rebel Alliance and his son, although the chances of that to happen were minimal at best.

But it would be worth a try.

Grim determination filled Darth Vader. A determination and a feeling of power he hadn?t felt for a long time, enough for him, to feel twenty years younger.

Now if they would only find those children, so he could concentrate on more important things.

 

I smell a wicked battle coming between 2 force users...

 

We will see.



The Colliding of Empires


Tien nibbled slowly at the carrot Gucky had given her, while Feedo had refused to eat one of the yellow-red vegetables. It tasted strange, but not bad. Curious the two children watched how the mousebeaver gnawed at his own carrot with his big tooth, when suddenly he tensed strangely.

"Uh, oh, its time for me to go." he stated. Seeing the shocked expression on Tien's face he hurried to explain. "Now don't worry, help will be here every second. Just don't tell Perry that i was here or i´m in deep trouble." He twinkled at the Sullustan girl.

A moment later he was gone and the two children were alone again.

---

Outside the garage the small search party came to a stop.

"Here it is." stated Darth Vader, pointing at the door of the droid-garage.

"Finally." Perry Rhodan stepped forward and pulled at the door. The door stayed closed. "Looked." He looked at the opening-mechanism. "There seems to be short-cut.

Kasom."

Darth Vader was already about to draw his lightsaber, when the Ertrusan stepped forward. Taking hold of the door the muscles of the giant tensed for a moment, then he had ripped the door out of its frame.

Riel Subvas hurried to the new created opening. "Tien? Feedo? Are you there?"

"Aunty." came a cry from the inside. A small figure rushed out of the dark chamber and into the open arms of the Sullustan woman.

"Careful." was all Atlan could say, but it was to late. Only for a moment Riel Subvas stand hadn't been the best, but that moment had been enough to cause the small woman to drop to the floor, when her niece rushed into her.

"Are you alright?" asked Rhodan, when Riel tried to get back on her feet. Her niece had already stood up and had stepped back, clearly embarrassed.

"Uff, no." muttered Riel. "I think I've broke my ankle."

Vader shook his head. How stupid of that woman. Perhaps the Emperor was right and humans were truly superior to non-humans. He had never believed in that kind of propaganda, he knew that he was superior to everybody else, humans as well as non-humans, and that was enough for him.

"May I remind you, that we have only two hours left to leave this station," he grunted. "And now we are slowed down."

"Not necessarily." answered Rhodan. He lifted Riel up and put her on Takor Kasom's back. "Kasom, you take Riel." He put Feedo on Atlan's shoulders. "Atlan, you'll take this young lady." And, with an insidious smile, he put Tien Subvas on Darth Vader's shoulders. The small girl was holding herself on the polished helmet of the Dark Lord.

"Rhodan ...." shouted Darth Vader in protest.

"What, Lord Vader, if the girl is to heavy, I can take her?"

"No, she is not to heavy." came the lame answer of Darth Vader. "I just wanted to ask what you will do?"

Rhodan grinned. It was only fair that the Terrans didn't do all the work, so he had put the girl on Vader's shoulders. And since he had managed to touch Vader at his pride, the armoured figure could hardly protest.

"I'm taking the responsibility."

Turning around he barely heard Vader mutter. "I hope nobody will see me like this."

---

General Maximilian Veer's eyes nearly dropped out of their holes, when he saw the group returning into the hangar-bay. It was obvious, that they had found the missing children. But nothing could have prepared him to that sight.

Darth Vader, second-in-command of the empire, most feared man of the entire galaxy, a man capable of killing with his thoughts was carrying a child on his shoulders. And not only a child, but a non-human child, too.

"Sir?" Veers approached his superior with an inquisitive tone.

"Don't." came the short reply.

"Yes, Sir. Sir, we have evacuated the last citizens and workers with exception of one group. The Terrans have already collected their transmitters and we bring the people with shuttles and "Space-Jets" aboard our ships. We can all take of in five minutes."

"Very well." stated Vader, taking the girl from Sullust from his shoulders and putting her gently on the floor. T

 

I think someone starts channeling anakin skywalker....

 

This is getting weirder and weirder!! Darth with a sense of humour??

 

Careful. DV has overcome his fear of the emperor and feels quite relaxed. How dangerous is a man with DVs abilities and who fears nobody?

Hate to ask the question, but are there still mistakes?


Union of the Empires greatest Warriors


Less than an hour later the "Dante's Inferno", the "Executor" and her escorts left the Tholaris-System. Besides their crews they carried five million beings with them and they left a Tibanna-gas-mining-facility behind.

Another hour later the sun of the Tholaris-system went Nova.

---

Personal log Perry Rhodan:
"It is done. We've made the first contact with a civilisation in this new galaxy. And not only a mere civilisation, but the major power, an empire that consists of more than one million worlds with fifty million colonies, local governments and protectorates and that literally controls its entire galaxy. We have met powers before who were in control over their galaxies, be it the "Master of the Island" from Andromeda or the Centre-Constructors from M87.

But contrary to those contacts, the meeting with the first representatives of this "Galactic Empire" went on a friendly footing. More so, since we were able to help our hosts and save five million people. Because of that I'm optimistic that we'll make a new ally, perhaps even a friend this far away from home. It is obvious that we managed to awake the interest of the Imperials for some of our technologies and I can already hear the bargains about this and that. I'm wondering, what we could get in return, if it comes to a technology-exchange.

Five of the cruisers we carry aboard have been equipped with an inter-galactic dimetrans-drive, the engines literally filling the entire hundred meter wide hull. We will send the first of them back to report home and take back all the data we have managed to gather. At the moment we are on the way to a planet called Madrag V, where we are supposed to drop the people we evacuated from the Tholaris-system. The woman from Sullust, Riel Subvas, and her two wards will possibly leave the ship there, too. At the moment they are in the sickbay of the "Dante's Inferno", where the doctors take care of the woman's ankle."

Rhodan interrupted his speech for a moment to gather his thoughts.

"However, I'm playing with the idea to keep her aboard for a longer time, as a source of information. After we have left Madrag V we will travel to Coruscant, the capitol of this galaxy, where we will met with the leadership of the Empire, eventually emperor Palpatine himself and I'm curios to see what kind of man he is.

Those questions are bothering me. As optimistic as I may be, and I'm hoping for the best, we can't afford to be less careful. Neither I nor the SolarEmpire have become what we are today by taking un-necessary risks. History doesn't forgive mistakes and there is no place more for hazardous on the stage of the universe.

Compared to other forces we've met, this "Galactic Empire" is very young and that makes me wonder how stable it is. We already know that they have to fight a Rebellion, but we don't know what their goals are and how much of a threat they are to our hosts. I should know better than anybody else, how fragile power can be. I dared to oppose every power on our planet when I founded the "Third Force", we Terrans challenged the millennia-old empire of Arkon, we defeated the "Master of the Island" who ruled for more than twenty-thousand years with absolute power over the Andromeda-Galaxy, we defeated the Uleb, who secretly ruled the Magellan Clouds for fifty-thousand years and we witnessed the building tensions in the caste-system of M87 after seventy-thousand years of stability.

As I already said, I'm curios what kind of man Emperor Palpatine is. Like myself he replaced a dysfunctional government with something else, but on a galactic scale, while I was limited to a single planet. And contrary to this "Galactic Empire" on Terra more than twenty years passed from the founding of the "Third Force" to the establishment of a worldwide-government which developed l

 

As we indeed shall

As for errors: I can't c any but english isn't my first language and i haven't got any knowledge bout the Rhodan universe.. sorry

 

Scanning over I can't see any. BTW, I liked your Palpy/Hitler comparison!

 

Up!

And an update later this day or tomorrow.