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Recognition Tomorrow VTS will finally get recognition on this forsaken planet. Although we have won many fierce battles in the field and fortuneseekers got rich by betting on our droids, we seem to be a very popular scapegoat. Just minutes ago I received an invitation from the senate itself to be present at their revealing of a new frame, a frame we all hope is going to blow our socks of and give the owners major advantages in combat. Their was only 1 problem, for security reasons there are no teleporters anywhere near the demosite and only the senate and their escorts were allowed to use the underground tunnels leading up to the highly secured area. This meant I would have to go right through the Pako desert, home of the Blackened Infectors. This corp had set up their camps around the ruined temples of what once where the Centauri research labs. Professor Zane who was lead weaponsdesigner many decades ago developed the Silverbolt ls-1 and ls-2. People said he went berserk when the senate altered his design and released an ls-10 on the public market, some even say it was Zane himself that founded the Blackened Infectors with only 1 goal left in his inferior existence, kill all that opposes and be the only corp to prevail. They never entered any arenas though, was it fear of getting arrested or maybe just the lack of teleporters, no one really knew for sure. Captain Develish asked to speak freely and I granted permission. Sir, he said, with all due respect but I think this is a setup, you should not go, defenitly not on your own, as your security officer I just can not stand by watching you get captured or even worse ... get killed. For a couple of seconds an eary silence took over the room, suddenly interrupted by major Viper, our military advisor. Come on, a trap ? The message was protected by the golden senate seal and signed by 3 of it's members, no way anyone could forge this, not even Zane! You can't be sure of anything these days, Develish replied. Remember the Senate transporters we bought recently, they vanished 2 days later, like there was a miniature teleport device installed in them. We bought them legit, with the papers and a seal from the senate. It happened before and it can happen again. Ok we messed that one up Viper replied but this invitation carries 3 digital signatures, I think we would have heard something by now if 3 senators would have gone missing, I say we go ahead on this one and as a matter of fact Captain Develish, I am calling rank on you, you are dismissed ! hmmmm, my officers squabling over a petty incident, I had to intervene. SILENCE ! The last thing we need to do is getting down on each other like this. I have decided I will be going. Captain Develish, I'm gonna need a heavy escort on this one. Get 2 squadrons of Sentinels ready and ask our brethren of the Foederati to send us some Mammoths. Major Viper, you make sure we got aircover. I will give you 8 keycards to reinforce our Blackwing fleet, make sure they're operational tomorrow at dawn, that's when we leave. Meeting adjourned ! As they were leaving the room I asked Beta to stay behind, I had a special assignment for him. I told him we now had a very heavy escort to walk us true the vast desert, a huge blackwing patrol to scout ahead of us, we were gonna show of our raw power, we only had one weakness, our back was not being watched. Beta not really being used to escort missions but more to spying would do alot better in a mixed Sentinel/Stalker team marching several clicks behind us. He accepted the mission gladly and left the room. I walked over to the window and had a glimps outside. The sun was already setting and made the desert light up in a dark golden color. JiMZz and Hugin were just getting back from a perimeter patrol, they did not report anything in so all was quiet on our borders. 5AM, the next morning. As I was overlooking the final preparations before we departed I instructed Chuckie to set up a search party if communication with us would be lost for more then 2 hours. The blackwing scouting wing had already left and was seeking out the fastest and above all safest way for us to get at our destination. I walked over to Pure, my black mammoth marked on both sides by the aquis, the symbol of what we stand for. After a standard instrumentscheck I entered in our destination coordinates, we were all ready to go. This was the biggest fieldoperation ever done by our corp, it might look like we're going to enter a full scale war, little does it look like just me going to a private reception at the senates headquarters. The journey was long and the desert certainly was no man's friend. We passed a deserted outpost that once served as a transitplace for people crossing the border here ... the border of the Pako desert. There was something creepy about it, not only because of the stories being told but the way it looked. The Pako desert was very desolate. We still had paved roads, trees, animals lurking and birds flying around, none of this was to be found here. Just hot sand and rocks. We proceeded into Pako desert not knowing what to expect. We decided to walk in 1 long row, this would hide our numbers if our sandtrail was to be spotted. Develish was our point man, he would lead us through this infernal desert, coordinated himself by Viper who was high up in the sky. From where he was looking down, we were merely some insignificant dots, small lumps advancing through this vast sea of sand. We travelled at high speed, this was because our newest member to the corp Mifune showed incredible engineering skills. He had modified my mammoths propulsion system allowing it to be twice as fast. Suddenly my radar showed some object in front of us, I immediatly did some extra scans because I could not get a visual, there was nothing to be seen, not even in the air. Viper's team had moved out several clicks ahead of us. The signals were still there and it most defenitly was not a glitch. Max informed me of 17 individual objects ahead, I did a recount and confirmed the number. I ordered an immediate stop over the comms, on a secure channel I tried contacting Beta's team to stay behind and out of sight, but it was as if he wasn't there. The same happened as I wanted to get a response from Viper's team, nothing. Internal comms to my team were fine, but I could not get anything beyond them. Sir, Sir ! Max yelled, you should see this, my thermoscans are registering an enormous energiefield rushing towards us ... ETA of impact is about, NOW !. All my systems went offline, but only for a fraction of a second. All power was immediatly restored. We now had a visual on the objects, this was not something we expected to find here. About a dozen enormous skyscrapers accompagnied by some hangers and adjecent buildings. These must have been the 17 signals we got on our radar, there was a miniature metropolis in the middle of nowhere, but howcome noone ever noticed this ? I must be the energyfield Develish replied, if this is what I think it is, then we are standing in an enormous cloackable dome right now. Somehow they expanded it until we were in it, I'm trying to get contact, but this thing seems to mess up my radio. "You are absolutly right" a loud voice trembled through the intercomms. "Please come forward, approach the green hangar marked Alhpa2 and enter it, once you are in get out of your droids." As we got closer to the skyscrapers, one could see how enormous they were. Reflecting the sunlight on the black glass walls it was very hard not to get blinded. How was this possible, I could hear myself think. These buildings look so new, none of this could have been older than 10 years , Where did all the material come from and most of all, the credits to fund such a venture. We've got problems Sir, Develish told me. Everything seems to work fine, but my weaponsystems are down, I checked with the others and right now Sir, we are sitting ducks. If they make a move, we cannot retaliate. I was the first one to enter the hangar, it was an enormous complex and on the inside it was rather empty until I noticed in the far end corner, I simply could not believe my own eyes. There they were, the 2 mammoths we had given as a payment to Zodiac in return for the whereabouts of the new weaponry. How the hell did they end up here and how does Zodiac fit in here, if he really was from the senate then this must be a hidden senate city or maybe we got fooled all along. We all came to a stop and emerged from our droids. As we trooped together a bit seeking protection close to a stalker a big door swinged open. About a dozen soldiers wearing heavy armor suits and class 5 laserrifles entered the hangar followed by an older man. He saluted me and being a man of honor I saluted back at him. He then spoke in a loud voice. "Evening all, I am Doctor in Astrophysics Zacharius Dojolev but you can call me Zane, we like to keep things informal in here." Well damn, this was about the worst that could happen to us, being captured by the most wanted man on the planet and no one knows where we are. I did not really know what to say to Zane so I replied in a calm voice: "Victurus Te Saluto". He did not seem to like this at all and we were forced to follow his guards. 1 minute later we were no longer standing next to our proud droids, we were locked up in a gray and filthy cell. Separated from the rest of the world by an invisible cloaking shield I could only hope that Viper or Beta's team did not get captured and find themselves a way of getting out us of here. Pretty soon we would have had 2 hours of radiosilence, that means that Chukie was to get active. We were going to need a true tactician on this one, and I just send my nr1 man on vacation. Written by Bart