Post Wed Aug 10, 2005 3:48 pm

Man, my Dad passworded my computer and wouldn't let me on, so I'm just getting on now. Sorry about that, he just suddenly passworded it, no warnings, no nothing. But he let me on today, I just got on now. So the chapter's coming up!

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Chapter 9 - The Unvealing

A small wing of the five friends sped through Liberty. They quickly jumped into New York, then California. As they were flying, a question finally came up amidst the silence.

"Uh, were are we heading Ryone? Were do you keep a fleet as big as the Black Army?" Rick inquired.

"Well, obviously, we couldn't hide the army in either Liberty or the Independent systems. It's much too little space for a fleet of the Black Army's caliber and would be quite easily noticed by any passing patrols. We searched a long time for an place to hide it, and by sheer luck a jump hole materialized close to Montezuma, our base in Cortez. When we sent a search team through, we found a previously undiscovered system. After searching through it, we found it completely empty besides a small asteroid field, a medium sized cloud, and a small planet. Luckily for us, the asteriod fields is quite rich in metals and the cloud rich in the materials used to create h-fuel, so we are relatively self-efficient. We named the system Tartarus, and the planet Kronos. We built a shipyard, which we christened Oranos Shipyard, nearby the planet to build our armada. We also found a jump hole to Tau-27 in the system, which helps get even more building materials. Naturally, we have automated weapon platforms at both jump holes to remove intruders, along with regular patrols." Ryone explained.

"Yeah, we'll see how long that lasts." Seth sneered.

"You know what..." Ryone began angrily, but Matthew cut him off.

"Guys, easy!" Matthew cut in.

"My apoligies, Commander Matthew, Commander Seth. I will try to keep my temper under control." Ryone said calmly.

Seth grunted, but didn't say anything else.

After a bit, Seth asked mockingly, "So, are we almost to Tarkukus?"

"It's Tartarus," Ryone said wearily, "And yes, almost to the jump hole to Cortez."

The five of them passed through the jump hole and quickly flew towards Montezuma. After docking quickly for repairs, they launched back out and followed Ryone to the Tartarus jump hole. Ryone quickly activated the RLT (Rogue Link Technology) and they jumped into Tartarus. When they slowed to a stop, all of them except Ryone and Seth gasped.

Right in front of them loomed the mighty Black Army, right outside a small planet and a massive shipyard. The Demonlords screamed power and speed, with a powerful assortment of weapons, a sleek design, and a heavily armored hull. The army itself was quite large, consistaning of about three hundred Demonlords and ten battleships.

"Ok everyone, follow me. We are going to go talk to the Black Army Leader, Commander Tiber.

"Where would we find him?" Ikko inquired.

"He should be in the Black Army Command Building on Kronos. Let's move out!" Ryone responded.

The group flew towards Kronos and Ryone asked for docking clearence.

"Planet Kronos, this is Rogues Shadow Squadron Commander Leon Ryone. I am requestion clearence to dock for myself and four Hispanian commanders here with me." Ryone said.

"Affirmative Commander Ryone. Please enable your RLT unit and proceed through the docking ring." the automated voice replied.

The five ships then passed through the docking ring and descended into the atmosphere of Kronos.

"Why is the land black?" Ikko questioned.

"There is a strange volcano on the equator of the planet that spews ash constantly. However, there are no signs of past eruptions and the volcano read extinct." Ryone explained.

"Quite strange...." Ikko said, lost in thought.

"Is the Rogue settlement on this planet covered in ash as well?" Seth asked in a slightly hostile tone.

"We have nine major settlements on this planet, and many other smaller ones in between. And no ash ever touches any of them, as you will soon see." Ryone said.

"I had no idea the Rogues were this large a force..." Ikko said.

"Ryone, what is that up ahead?" Matthew asked.

"That, my friend, is the capital or Kronos, Titan City." Ryone said.

Titan City was encased in a giant, transparent orb made of a strange material. Anything that fell on it seemed to just slide off, into a trench built around the city. This trench also seemed to have strange vents on the side next to the city, which ash was continuely flying into.

"What is that?" Matthew said absentmindedly.

"Well, the orb is made of ashen, a kind of strong, rubbery material made almost entirely or ash. It works very well in encasing our cities. It also, when made right, ejects oxygen into the area it covers, which lets the people inside of it breathe. And since there is much ash in the area, we have ashen in abundence." Ryone explained.

"Are all your cities covered in this?" Rick asked.

"All of our nine major citys and any other ones that request it, yes. However, some towns have decided to build underground, as they believe that the ashen is unsafe." Ryone said.

"It it unsafe?" Ikko asked.

"Good God no, ashen is one-hundred percent safe. Some people are quite supersticious though." Ryone said.

"If you four are done jawing, we are almost to Titan City." Seth said.

"Alright, I'll ask for an entrance port." Ryone said. "Titan City, this is Rogues Shadow Squadron Commander Leon Ryone. I, along with four Hispanian commanders I am escorting," At this point Seth gave a small snort, "wish to speak to Commander Tiber. May we proceed into the city?"

"Affirmative Commander. You may activate your RLT unit and proceed through Entrance Port Three." the automated robot replied.

Ryone, Matthew, Rick, Seth, and Ikko linked and flew through the entrance post. They landed in the hanger nearby and got out of their ships.

"So, are you guys ready to talk to Commander Tiber about taking over New York?" Ryone asked.

"Ready." Ikko, Matthew, and Rick said.

"Whatever." Seth mumbled.

Then the five proceeded out of the hanger, and into Titan City.

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Sorry again about not posting this when I said, I hope to have the next one done soon, but with this password I have no idea when I can get it up. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!