text: He heard that a bunch of United Guns trainees at Tel-Takir a few weeks ago actually got fighting the newly formed Empire right off the bat. Raw recruits! Those lucky, lucky bastards.
  
  Another alert on the Radar.
  
  "Damn you piece of squid offal! If there was a digital version of the Ploork virus i would personally ram it down your self-unprintably-satisfied network card!"
  
  Lek stumbled into the room, his eyes half closed.
  
  "kn-yaaaaawn-knock th-that off."
  
  Silph followed, eyes set in a roll, where they would remain for a few minutes at least. Harc didnt trust Silph's shifty eyes - they weren't quite human.
  
  The aforementioned eyes quickly un-rolled and Silph's face jolted backwards as if hit. Silph was surprised - that was a new one. Fully alert now, Silph hurried over to the controls of the station's scanners. He ran diagnostics. No, McAreoTrend antivirus 2500 wasn't causing it, and neither was the operating system, which had a new kernel and was supposed to be an improvement. Except for the resource drain. And the errors. Dear humanity, he was surprised the programmers hadn't been taken out into the street and shot.
  
  But no... These were legit contacts - popping into existence well inside the radar's range. Silph's face hardened. "We've got unidentified objects coming in. Something with the ability to evade our best radar set. This is for real."
  
  Radar - travelling at the speed of light - was still the choice scanner centuries after invention. Basic, reliable and fast, yet evolved to incredible capability, the radar arrays on the station could pick up anything within the Kray system given enough time to send and recieve a pulse. The holographic display showed a number of small green outlines in a black field. The station was represented by a square in the centre.
  
  Blip. After half a minute the new set of polygons jumped inward. Half a minute... That meant...
  
  "Just under nine million kays away , and... yep, heading right for us. Very precise heading."
  
  Harc looked agitated. "Silph, you're too calm to believe. They slipped past our "upgraded" radar until they got to nine million kays away! They have some hardcore gear and I don't think they're friendly. There's only one thing it could possibly be."
  
  Silph gave a rare grin. "Yeah, it'll probably be the Outsiders coming to teach us a lesson about the dangers of using robotics. Excuse me if I don't freak out at the mention of a transparent and irritating fable."
  
  "You brought it up, you smug spacehole."
  
  They heard the sound of clothing being shifted and both turned to see Lek already in his pressure suit.
  
  "If you two are going to sit around here for them to turn up, fine. I'm heading for the escape pods."
  
  "We dont have any escape pods, man!", said Silph. "OS has shut us out, and the password crank I've got working on it will take a while. We'll have to hold until then.
  
  "So we've been stuck up here surrounded by vacuum with no escape if something screws up?" Harc sputtered, face crimson.
  
  "You probably should get in your pressure suit and well, live, but maybe life's overrated to you. It's fine, either way."
  
  Lek was already at the communications blister, talking as he contacted the elevator and the ground with powerful directional radio. The station was only equipped with voice and data communications - video took more space and lagged like crazy anyway.
  
  "We've got radar-stealth contacts, coming in fast, unknown origin, probably mean business. Please send something before we get spaced and the cable gets cut."
  
  Lek's frown grew as he glanced at the radar holo. "They're getting closer. This cluster is much faster than anything we've got. No way they're going to stop in time. Must boarding pods. The slower, bigger ones are probably their carriers."
  
  Silph's face was set. "Looks like a tight cluster aimed at sector 4F. We'll just have to hold em there."
  
  A quick search of the arms locker yielded some portable metal plating, which could be assembled into a barricade, plasma pistols and rifles which shot beams with no recoil, smoke grenades and some magnesium flares. With their pressure suits and helmets on, they walked through the corridors and set up the barricade near the point of impact, with Lek checking the blips' progress on a portable holopad.
  
  "Okay, get ready guys. Brace yourselves. They're going to land in that room right in front of us." Lek talked through the radio, his voice muffled by the thick composite helmet.
  
  "Can we seal the pressure doors to buy time?", wondered Harc
  
  Silph shook his head. "Not until the hull is breached. The system has restrictions to stop us having fun. Look how the escape pods are locked down until something serious happens. Like when we're dead."
  
  Lek tried to lighten the mood. "At least these pressure suits are self contained..."
  
  Silph's eyebrow shifted again. Harc ground his teeth. They had locked the door by melting the knob mechanism to the frame, but it wouldn't hold. They braced behind a prefabricated metal barricade and waited. They were breathing heavily. They had never seen combat. They were technicians, dammit! At least Silph and Lek had done basic training with the United Guns, but Harc had nothing.
  
  Silph checked his rifle's sights and tweaked the settings for close range. His hands were shaking. These flimsy pressure suits wouldn't stop a pea-shooter. He calmed himself. They just needed to hold them off until the escape pods unlocked.
  
  Silph didn't know how to fight, he'd never even seen action. This was hopeless. He was going to die. His fingers gripped the rifle like a lifeline. Maybe fighting skill would come naturally.
  
  A thundering crash echoed through the station, followed by the shrieking of tormented metal. The impact jolted Silph off his feet. If they could have seen the inside of the room they were waiting outside, they would have seen a conical pod slide in, ripping the 10-metre thick hull clean open.
  
  The lights went off suddenly, and a warbling alarm began to blare, signalling that the station was depressurising.
  
  The whole station shook ominously. All was in darkness now, and they had no night- or infra-vision.
  
  Silph thought about reassuring the others, but then noticed his glowing holopad saying the escape pods were still locked down and and brought his palm to his forehead with a sigh.
  
  Someone lit a flare and threw it out into the floor between the barricade and the room. Amplified, echoing, clattering sounds of metal on metal numbed their brains and engaged their imaginations. But they had to hold.
  
  The sounds grew louder. Harc drew two pistols for comfort - the mature man's security blanket. The door glowed, bright in the darkness, and then crack! - the three techies were thrown to the ground. Chunks of twisted, scored and charred steel lay on the floor. As they picked themselves up, the scene gradually took hold of them.
  
  They were lined up in front of the smouldering remains of door. Mounted on caterpillar tracks, with spindly metal limbs dangling off the ground.
  
  The flare's red light washed over their shiny metal bodies. They were half Silph's size and they were shaped like cuboids, except for the occasional antenna or bulge-and-tube assembly. They looked pretty stable, wider than they were tall. Slots were opened, pointy devices produced.
  
  Silph's simian brain screamed at him and he dropped to the floor as a flight of projectiles flew over his head. His eyes followed them, and he saw several wickedly-jagged shards of metal and glass buried in the wall. He noticed Harc and Lek looking frightened out of their wits, for the first time aware that the human body was a soft bag of fluids, helpless against hard steel and silicon.
  
  Lek moved first, hefting his rifle and aiming easily at the stationary metal boxes. A tiny dart flew out of the barrel in a straight line that defied the fake gravity of the station, and behind it came the tight beam of glowing green plasma. In an instant it crossed the room and skewered a box, melting a hole and blowing whatever circuits lay within. The acrid smell of battery acid filled the air. The other metal creatures gave synthesised bleeps and bloops, then moved ominously forward. More came from within the pod.
  
  Silph got over his shock, drew his pistol and squeezed out shots as fast as the thing could fire. Beams filled the air, and several metal boxes went silent. Then, as the three desperately jammed more plasma cartridges into their weapons, yet another wave climbed over the wreckage, aided by stubby legs.
  
  They glowed red, and what looked like lightning flew through the air to hit the barricade, ionising the air and crackling as it came. But it couldn't have been lightning, because the whole structure quickly boiled into a red gas.
  
  Silph lead the way, desperation in his eyes, his heart pounding. They had never seen anything like that before. No one on Earth or Terra Proxima had. As if responding to their fear the seemingly endless swarm sped up. The clanking sound filled their beings. They ducked around a corner as a piece of wall was vapourised just behind them. Mocking, synthesised laughter filled their ears and drove them on.
  
  "The escape pods are hacked open!", yelled Silph over the sounds of clanking and zapping. "Just keep moving and we'll make it!"
  
  Their breathing came heavily, but their fear drove them on. They avoided the long corridors and kept turning corners to avoid the metal creatures' shots.
  
  Harc, bringing up the rear, was caught out in the open, when shards flew. He dived for the corner, but his leg became a pincushion leaking blood, and he fell short. Silph and Lek watched in horror as he fell to the floor and was slowly pulled out of view, his frenzied screams chilling their blood.
  
  Whatever they had done to Harc must have taken some time, because Silph and Lek, guided by the holopad, finally reached the escape pods. Not daring to relax until they were out of the nightmare, Lek punched in the launch command with trembling fingers. The two technicians gasped in relief and cheered. "We're alive!"
  
  > Diplomacy
  "One week has now passed since the capture of the Xoralundra space elevator by this... new enemy. Staging from an unknown point in the Kray system, they were able to fool our most advanced radar until they were ready to launch their attack. They are up there right now, launching pod after pod of fighting robots onto the planet surface."
  
  The speaker cleared his throat and continued. His audience consisted of delegations from all over Terra Proxima. The Taktat Empire, United Guns, The theocracy of Ka'malma and the many factions of Ka'malman insurgents were all there. Even the elusive Kharon tribe sent one of their higher-ups.
  
  "From the accounts of the crew of the station, we can tell that robots are programmed to inspire fear before actually killing their victims. The two technicians are only alive so they could spread fear among us."
  
  The speaker paused, bowing his head.
  
  "This is what we face; an enemy that can hide in empty space and from whom our soldiers will run at the first shot. We propose that the nations of Terra Proxima set aside their differences and join a grand alliance to secure the future of humanity. Our first step must be to turn back their pod-carriers in orbit."
  
  A United Guns Stratego stood. "Speaker, if they are in orbit, why not simply turn our land-based laser batteries on them?"
  
  "We have had reports of gun crews trying this, but it has had no impact. They might have better self-repairing armour than we have. No, we will have to get closer and apply more firepower. Our combined space fleets should do it."
  
  The governors of the Free City-States stood. "If we are to join this alliance we must be assured that our former enemies will not simply use our troops for suicide missions."
  
  The Taktat Empire's ambassador's face contorted into a snarl. "How dare you challenge our honour! Your puny band of whiners are useless. They would have been crushed long ago if not for your... cowardly fighting by proxy! I wouldn't let them clean out our toilets. Come out of your precious United Guns shelter, little rodents!"
  
  "ORDER! We shall have order. Calm down please. If you can admit that you have more in common with humans rather than these invaders, make your mark here. Anyone else can leave and make war elsewhere."
  
  Not wanting to be alone facing a grand alliance and the new enemy, all present signed the pact.
  
  > Forming up
  In the dark streets of the Urban Jungle, the Rats of old Xanthor, about to detonate a bomb in a municipal building, picked up their radios and cleared out. A ceasefire, they said.
  
  In Tel Ignato, the sounds of looting and laughter suddenly stopped, the reserve army of the Taktat Empire simply boarding transports and driving away through the hover-roads of the Free Zone, to the space centre at Tach.
  
  Raiders hiding out in the Ka'malman foothills emerged to greet the Taktat Empire's soldiers, palms open. The two sides met with handshakes.
  
  A Kharon lynch mob, about to eviscerate an explorer with a cruel obsidian blade, heard the whispers being passed down the human chain and stayed their hands.
  
  Captain Kiddy the lead software pirate had all his hackers stand down. The Omniweb in Tel-Astara suddenly sped up.
  
  And in the fortress city of Tel-Nadr, the brief peace between United Guns and Taktat Empire was cut short, as the burning rubble again became a battlefield when the metallic creatures rained from the sky.
  
  Above the Terra Proximan skies, an armada was slowly forming up in geosynchronous orbit. Thirty-metre long, sleek corvettes screened the perimeter with their high speed and stealthy profile. Tiny 3-metre-long starfighters zipped around the fleet like mosquitos, on patrol or training runs. 100-metre-long Mammoths cleared their decks to hold incoming starfighters. All the magnetic catapults launched test pods. Kilometre-long Cruisers tested their laser batteries, plasma cannons and chaff belchers, and the 2-kilometre-long flagship Tycho's Spear, bristling with weapons of every sort. In space, scale took on a whole new meaning.
  
  Silph and Lek rejoined the 326th squad in a massive freighter, meeting up with the reserve unit after weeks of separation in far-flung corners of the system. They would be flying starfighters along with many others.
  
  "Why can't we just use robots to fight?" asked one of the resident techies.
  
  Lek sighed. "Because, if we enable a robot to kill humans, it could go out of control. Have you heard of the Outsiders? They didn't inhibit their robots, now they're extinct."
  
  Silph noticed something and tapped Lek on the shoulder. "Hey. Ka'malmans and the Tel-Rik squadron. Not good."
  
  "Why?"
  
  "Because Ka'malma has been fought over by about 20 different groups, for 8 years straight now. Tel-Rik is full of exiles from Ka'malma.", replied Silph. "I stayed there a few months myself."
  
  "I'm just glad the guys from Tach aren't on this ship. They've pissed off even more people with their doctrine than the Ka'malmans..."
  
  They watched the tight bunches of people move as if controlled by a single mind, towards each other.
  
  "You fascist scum!"
  
  "We see you, frickin' terrorists!"
  
  From Lek's perspective it was hard to see, but yells filled the air. Now and then someone with a bloody nose would be thrown out of the melee and slink away to med bay.
  
  "This is pretty amusing. Wait here while I go get some food."
  
  Lek turned to face Silph. "You're enjoying this? But those are your countrymen there!"
  
  "Not anymore, my friend. Not anymore. Besides, I enjoy the delicious irony. The fact that they can't resolve anything, or that it won't do anyone good, means nothing to them."
  
  Silph's expression turned contemplative and he laughed as shrieks of "Infidel!" and "Idiot!" reached his ears.
  
  That was just the start. All over the fleet, the fights broke out. The sum total of Terra Proxima's culture collided, and didn't like what they saw. So they fought.
  
  The rebels brawled with the government troops. United Gunners brawled with Kharon, and the Taktat Empire brawled with everyone, especially "Those whining pussy Freezoner squidlickers."
  
  Eventually, after much wagering, the more moderate fighters pulled their friends out of it. To Silph, the immense futility of it all was too much. It had him lying on the floor, helpless as his body convulsing with endless laughter.
  
  "Listen up, people."
  
  The mass of soldiers stopped talking and turned to face the centre of the briefing room.
  
  "We're going to take the fight to those invading bastards. We don't know who they are, what they look like or if they're anything like us."
  
  "Some people, here in my place, would tell you that these invaders stand for everything we hate. I'm not here to lie to you. We're going to fight because it's our job, and we're going to do it well. We have two squads here, and we'll be flying Eagle bombers..."
  
  Silph's mind wandered.
  
  "Cynic- That's your callsign, Silph, you old vaccuum sucker - will be on Delta flight as Delta 2, with Trojan as Delta 3."
  
  We've got a mix of new and experienced pilots, so look to your wingmates. Now, let's go. We can't give the other armies any excuse to sling mud on us.
  
  > Torpedo Run
  After docking with a mammoth, the 40 pilots walked over to the fighter catapults. A combat spaceship can't afford to keep spinning all the time to maintain 'gravity', so they pulled on their pilot suits and used the magnetic boots to cling to the floor.
  
  The catapult area was a massive indoor space, with ominous hatches in the walls and fighters lined up in front of each one.
  
  Silph began to feel nervous as he walked forward. His boots made ominous clanging sounds as they hit metal. He realised that he was about to fly into combat with only a few hours simulator training. He gulped and clenched his fists, trying to control his fear.
  
  As they approached the catapult a female voice rang out. "Heeey there! I'm Dolphin, Delta 4."
  
  "And I'm Swift, Delta Lead."
  
  Lek grinned and waved. Silph sank further into a pit of doubt. How could those three be so cheerful? Did they realise what they were going into?
  
  Swift came and looked them over with a critical eye. She stared into Silph's viewports, which avoided contact.
  
  "Look at me."
  
  He forced himself to look her in the face.
  
  "You're nervous. That's normal. It will go away once you're out there. Just remember, you've got an ejector seat in there and you can call us for help."
  
  She gripped his hand."We're going to stick by you."
  
  Lek thumped him on the back. "Come on man. We burned down loads of those bots before, why should now be any different?"
  
  But Silph could only think of Harc, his death scream echoing through Silph's mind. He shuddered, then gulped, straightening up, purging it from his mind and setting his sights on the mission. Cold hatred welled up and suffused his being.
  
  A shudder ran through the ship. Everyone on deck grasped for handholds as the ship started accelerating. Everyone watched as the moving starfield out the viewports changed direction.
  
  Aboard the corvette Order Guard the massive array of scanners gave a panorama of the starscape to the last detail, including infrared and ultraviolet. Radar signals showed up on the screen as a neon-green overlay, sporadic blips over the horizon. The fleet lay spread out in perfect order, ion engine grids moving the ships slowly over the rim of the world, the continents of Terra Proxima spread beneath them.
  
  The call echoed through the catapult deck. "Ground crews, begin launching fighters. All pilots, to your stations." Swift grinned. "Well, looks like this is it. I'm glad to have you guys flying with us."
  
  A ground crew of five came over on a rolling strip of floor, stepping off with loud clunks. They examined the starfighters, going through the pre-flight tests. The foreman rechecked them himself before giving the thumbs-up.
  
  "All good to go, Delta flight. We'll load you in." Silph was confused. "What?"
  
  "Get into your ship, then we'll shove you in the cannon and fire you out to play tag with the enemy. Got it?"
  
  Nodding, Silph climbed into the waiting fighter, being careful to always hold a handgrip. As he hauled himself into the cockpit his legs trailed out behind him, before he pulled them forcefully back. He strapped himself in and put his helmet on, going over the controls in his head. Stick, Panic button, Sensors, Comms, Targeting, Lasers, Torpedoes. Got it. Silph noticed that all the weapons were recoilless, inertia being what it is.
  
  The canopy slid shut over his head. Silph gripped the stick and firing buttons. He could still hear sounds outside, but he couldn't see anything because his fighter faced away from the catapult.
  
  "Releeeeease magnetic clamps!"
  
  Silph realised that he was drifting upwards.
  
  "Loooooad craft!"
  
  Silph's view swung around as the techies underneath manoevered him into position, then gave the ship a push. He drifted gently forward, into the gaping, open maw of the catapult. The hatch behind him shut with a clang. Cold steel walls surrounded him, and a hole at the end opened to revealed the void of space. Then he was pressed back into his seat as the magnetic induction catapult spat him out. He waited a few seconds to drift clear, then switched on the rear view on his sensors. The fleet quickly grew smaller behind him, fading into infinity.
  
  "Ready to play, Cynic?"
  
  "Sure, Lead. Just send me the data."
  
  Silph's view of the fleet disappeared, to be replaced with a three-dimensional view of the combat zone. He saw a spread-out screen of fighters a few kilometres ahead. He hit the thrusters and watched as they grew larger, then took up a position slightly behind and a hundred metres to the left of Swift, cutting his speed down with a burst from his thrusters. He watched as his sensors indicated consistent speed with the rest of Delta flight.He found himself relaxing. He was in control now.
  
  Silph blinked as the sun came overhead. "Invert so you're not blinded, Cynic."
  
  "Ah." He could see the vapour from the manoevering thrusters as he gave the stick a quick burst to the right. When he was upside-down he gave the stick a burst to the left to stop turning. The thing about flying in space is that there's no air resistance to slow you down. Once you start moving you have to stop yourself manually.
  
  Then, over the horizon...
  
  "I think I see something! Do you think it's them?"
  
  "No. Check you're scopes, we're too far out to be visible", replied Swift.
  
  "Hang on..." cautioned Lek. "That's not a ship, it's moving too fast."
  
  "Plasma burst! Take evasive action!"
  
  Silph went into a continuous barrel roll, his straps holding him down as inertia shoved him to the side. A blue line cut across his sensor display, missing the blob representing him by a hair's breadth. In reality it was probably more like a metre, but the starfield was whirling crazily and he couldn't see it.
  
  Swift's voice came through his helmet. "Cynic, you'll be nearly blind if you keep rolling! Stabilise!"
  
  "Ayo!" Silph quickly re-oriented himself with Terra Proxima above the canopy.
  
  "And don't worry about being the right way up!"
  
  A new voice came through the radio. "Hey, this doesn't feel right. The