posted December 28, 2000 11:37 AM ��� � �� ��

Order Imposed

The man strode purposefully down the marble corridor. Through the windows could be seen
lush green pastures stretching to a magnificent oak forest. Behind the forest rose the peaks of a continent spanning mountain range. The high tops were still covered in snow this late in spring. The man had no time or inclination to enjoy the view. He was a large man, some might say fat, though not to his face. This was not however the soft and rolling fat of a lazy
man, rather the man gave the impression of solidity in his bull like appearance. The face was handsome in a way although darkened with anger at the moment. His beard, flecked with gray, added a touch of distinction to his features. The face was fairly normal except for the eyes, some people say that the eyes are a window into the soul, in this case anyone looking at this man would be left in no doubt that here was someone who had sold his soul to the Devil. The eyes were deep pits which seemed to spew forth dark flames of utter evil.

Reaching the end of the corridor he flung open the large double doors and entered the room beyond. This room, opulently decorated, with fine Chippendale furniture, rococo style plaster work was filled with a number of people all dressed in various colourful uniforms. Behind them was a heavy gold throne set on a raised dias and, glimpsed through an open side door you could see a room full of military personnel hunched over various monitors.

�FOOL�s� shouted the man as his made his way to the throne and threw himself down on it,
�Three divisions lost, three of them, Heads will role for this I swear it. And now another of those blasted domes has appeared on the French coast. You� he yelled at a junior officer, �get General Conan-Powel back here immediately, I�ll find out why his troops still haven�t taken that pathetic backwater�

�Excuse me sir� said a nervous voice from the floor before the throne

�Yes Major Gore, what is it� snapped the large man irritably

�Sir� said Major Gore handing over a small palm computer �this report has just been received from the Truth Seekers office in Algiers. It appears that our 3rd Carrier fleet has just mutinied and gone over to the enemy�

With a shudder of suppressed rage the large man turned to the now terrified Major Gore, �I will no longer tolerate such inefficiency� He moved his hands and Major Gore screamed in agony. The others in the room looked on with mild amusement and some boredom, after all they had seen their Lord Protector punish incompetence like this before. Eventually Gores screams faded and his empty husk of a body fell lifeless to the floor.
�Send for Admiral McCarthy� said the Lord Protector �he will answer for the desertion of half of his Mediterranean fleet.
Now to business, Gentlemen please be seated and give in your reports�

The costumed figures sat at the round table before the Throne after a few moments one rose to begin the report.

�Sir� said the Grey Dragon, �I am pleased to report that revenue from the contributions of the authorised airlines has increased by 20%. There was an attempt to start up an unlicensed operation in India, but two attack squadrons of fire breathing Starhaven Wyrmms soon put paid to that. Unfortunately I lost three Wyrmms in the attack but a shipment of breeding Wyrmms is due from Starhaven soon, then I shall be able to replace the losses without buying
new stock from the pens on Starhaven.
Damage to the Indian province was negligible only a few thousand killed and the city will
need to be rebuilt but I am sure a new Urban Renovation Task force and tax should ensure
that they are soon back on their knees again. Revenue should also increase next month once the final part of the orbital defence system is put in place. This should ensure we receive no unwelcome visits from some of our stellar neighbours�

�Excellent Grey Dragon, excellent� said the large man �Now I am sure my security officer
will want to investigate that city to make sure that the people remain safe from agitators in the future. Is that not so my Lord Flagellator�, he said turning to a small young looking man dressed in black leather and carrying a large cat o� nine tails.

�Oh yes my Lord� said the Flagellator smiling �not only have I despatched two battalions of civil protection troops to the city I have taken it on myself to also send a small team of truth seekers to try to scrub clean the city of all its filth and hunt out the traitors�

�Ah very good most trusted friend� said the lord protector. �Now shall we continue our
reports? Shark will you report next�

�Sir� said the Shark standing. �I am sorry to state that production from the seas is still somewhat down on target. The Atlantians are still somehow sabotaging the equipment despite all our powers of ah em �persuasion�� said the Shark �however� he continued ignoring the smirk on Grey Dragons face �I am sure we can increase productivity soon�

�What�s this I hear about some Atlantian rebels being led by a half breed who claims to be their rightful King?� Asked the Flagellator who was not the Lord Protectors master of intelligence for nothing.

The Shark gulped, he would not want to be in the hands of the Flagellators truth seekers. �It is all a lie� he stammered �the Atlantian Royal Family is no more, I devoured the last one some months ago. These rebels are being sheltered by that terrorist state and have found
refuge under their dome in the waters around the island. They strike like cowards and then
scurry back to their stinking holes, they are nothing but a minor nuisance I assure you�

�Let us hope so Shark, let us hope so� said the Lord Protector �remember, you are only King of the seas for as long as you maintain law, order and prosperity in your Kingdom. Now shall we continue with our reports, Cobalt Emperor may we have your figures for Eurasia?�

However before the handsome figure of Cobalt could reply the double doors swung open and
in walked the Loser Lord, with a short, brown haired, nondescript, bookish looking man.

�My lord� called Loser Lord �forgive the intrusion but I bring good news. Our newest
supplicant has proven his worth and will I believe make an excellent member of our
consortium. It is by the efforts of Faraway Man that I can tell you that the Switz.
Confederation have finally petitioned for membership of the Protection Syndicate. Yesterday I signed a provisional agreement giving them associate status pending ratification by the full management committee of the Syndicate. We can negotiate entry fees, annual subscription,
productivity targets etc. next week�

�This is good news indeed� said the Lord Protector �explain how Faraway Man achieved his task�

�Well� said the Loser smiling at the memory � I had tried all our usual negotiating tactics, telling them how we have prevented crime, and how we have ensured that all citizens of the
syndicate share equally in the spoils of the earth all to no avail. I then gave the delegates a demonstration of my power, making the President of the Confederation loose control of his bowel functions and the chief delegate unfortunately seemed to loose his mind. I do believe he is still looking for it. Still the delegates held out for more favourable terms. Faraway Man
sent a few of the delegates limbs faraway, but what really clinched the deal was when he sent the entire city of Zurich faraway. In fact he sent the city all the way to the Sea of Tranquillity on the moon. The video images of the effects of that particular relocation package was enough to make the delegates petition for admission� laughed the Loser Lord�

�This is good news indeed Loser, I think you are right, Faraway Man will be a valued
addition to the management board. Take a seat Faraway Man, Loser perhaps you would be so kind as to introduce us all to the Faraway Man and explain a little of our history to him so he is fully aware of the glorious history and traditions of the Protection Syndicate of Message Board Posters�

posted December 29, 2000 06:25 AM ��� � �� ��

Introductions

As the Loser Lord rose to speak Faraway Man held out his hand and gently motioned him to
stop.
�My Lords� he said �let me properly introduce myself, and explain my powers. I first discovered my powers as a young teenager. It started with small inanimate objects, keys, books, my glasses and such like, disappearing and turning up in another room or even out in the back garden. As I grew older I found that I could make insects and small animals also go �faraway�. As I developed my powers I discovered that I could use my power to keep food just faraway enough away from a rat so that no matter how hard he tried he could never get near
enough to eat it. Then came that momentous day. I remember it well, I was practising
moving a cow when a dog I had sent away the week before suddenly turned up again, I was
shocked and my concentration wavered, and then I found I had sent half of the cow and half of the dog faraway. This was very exciting, not to say a little messy, and I was soon happily practising away with this new power. When I felt ready, I decided to use my new powers for the good of all decent people in society and rid my home city of undesirable elements. I was happily removing drunks, tramps and others, when the Loser Lord recruited me�

�A noble story and I applaud your dedication to decency � said the Flagellator �but your
destruction of Zurich interests me, can you do that again to another city?�

�Alas my Lord I fear the Loser Lord exaggerated a little, it was only the centre of the city, some 2 square miles, I removed. I also fear that it will be impossible for me to repeat even that. I have found that consumption of magical objects increases my powers, in order for me
to relocate Zurich I was forced to consume all the magical objects in my possession, the Orbs of the Carnatic, the Shield of Perseus and the Mask of Isis were all used up in the Zurich incident. The only magical items left with enough power to allow me to repeat that exercise are the sword Excaliber and the Spear of Destiny, both held, I believe, by the rebels.�

�Then� said the Flagellator with a smile �you are of no more use to us� With that his hands moved almost too fast to see and three poisoned darts were flying towards the Faraway Man.
As they reached him there was a hint of a flash and they vanished, only to re appear a few nano seconds later as they drove deep into the body of a guard standing by the Throne. As the guard felt writhing in agony to the floor, Faraway Man flung back his cloak and raised his hand, pointing towards the Flagellator who started to gasp and wheeze.
�Do you really think I would leave my self so defenceless?� asked Faraway Man. �My
powers are always set on self defence, anything harmful is automatically sent faraway enough away so that it is no longer a threat. Oh dear� asked a mock concerned Faraway �what�s the matter my Lord Flagellator, cant breath? That�s because my powers are sending the oxygen your body needs faraway before it hits your lungs, you can suck in as much air as you like you know it cant reach your lungs� he smiled

�ENOUGH� cried the Lord Protector �Faraway Man release him I still have need of an
intelligence director�

�As you wish my Lord� and with a dismissive flick of the wrist Faraway did just that.
Collapsing onto his chair the Flagellator gasped and spluttered as life giving oxygen flooded back into his lungs

�Now before we have any more little dramatic interludes let us continue with the
introductions, I think Faraway Man has demonstrated his usefulness to us don�t you?� said the Lord Protector.

Unfortunately at that point there was a loud crash and one of the large windows collapsed
inwards in a shower of glass and wood splinters. As the debris s and smoke subsided a figure was seen crouched on the floor. Slowly he stood up and with shaking unsteady footsteps approached the seated board members. He was a large man, once powerfully muscled but now those muscles were shrivelled and wasted. He face was unshaven and the eyes were red rimmed and bloodshot. He looked like he had not slept for a week.

�Where is it you creep, I need my stuff, its gone past the time, you got to give it to me now I�m desperate.� said the shambling shadow of a man

�Ah Dev Em� said the Lord Protector � you are here for your anti lead serum I believe.
Flagellator please give him his medication�

The Flagellator passed Dev Em a small vial which the newcomer snatched eagerly from his
hands. Breaking it open he greedely snapped it open, and drank it down quickly. Almost
instantly a look of bovine contentment passed across his face, he smiled and his legs gently bucked under him as he slowly slid down the wall and fell asleep.

�Loser will you please continue with your introductions, and will someone clean up that
mess� said the Lord Protector gesturing at both the broken glass and the dead guard.

The Loser Lord stood up and cleared his throat.
�Faraway Man let me formally welcome you to the central management committee of the
Protection Syndicate of Message Board Posters. As you know under the chairmanship of our most noble Lord Protector the Protection Syndicate has grown from humble beginnings to control of the entire world. We have brought peace and freedom to the peoples of the world. They do as we say, when we say, so they no longer have to worry about making any decisions. This committee makes all decision, so let me introduce them to you.

On your left is the Grey Dragon. As you can see from his leathery wings he is not from
Earth. He is from a planet near the galactic core called Starhaven. He came to Earth with a flock of 12 foot long, fire breathing, flying creatures we now call Wyrmms. He is our Director of Aviation. Nothing flies without his approval. He also collects the global flight tax which is used to ensure clean air. Well, clean for us anyway� and the assembled men laughed in agreement.

�Next to Grey Dragon is the Shark. As you can see the Shark is the result of a scientists genetic tampering. He is responsible for the control of the seas and rules the Atlantian civilization. He helped the down trodden serfs of Atlantis overthrow the oppressive and tyrannical regime of the kings and replaced that archaic and feudalistic form of government with a more democratically accountable regime.�
�Oh� asked Faraway Man � who can vote?�
�Well, to be honest, only this management committee� laughed the Loser Lord.

�Next we have the Cobalt Emperor. He has the power of super magnetism and is in control of the Eurasia land mass. To be honest� said the Loser in a conspiratorial whisper �he also has a very high sex drive. We have to keep shipping in new girls to his harem every month, turnover is quite high there, I do hear that he has some �interesting� habits�

�Now on your right, myself and the Flagellator you have already met. You know I have the power to make people lose things and the Flagellator is an expert in all edged weapons. He is also responsible for syndicate security and runs the Truth Seeker offices.

Next to him is Bellbookcandle King. He has the power to triplicate his body into Pestilence, Famine and Intolerance. He was one of the last to manifest himself, on the south coast of England I do believe. We finally tracked him down but only after he had wiped out some 300.000 people. We have to keep him fed, but there are so many people in China and India that that is not really a problem. Bellbookcandle was very useful in subduing Eastern America, it is amazing what pestilence and famine can do in such an overcrowded urban area.
Quite effective�

Finally let me formally introduce the CEO of our Syndicate and Lord Protector of the Earth, Darth Larder, know to all as the Lardinator. He has access to the Lard Force the most powerful force on the planet.

�But how did the Syndicate get to the position of power wealth and prestige it now occupies� asked Faraway Man

posted December 29, 2000 07:11 AM ��� � �� ��

The Creation of the New Order

�It all began� started the Lardinator �some fifteen years ago when Dev Em arrived. He had been sent to our world from his home planet of Daxam as a missionary for the white triangle order which had recently taken control of his home planet. His task was to use the Superpowers which exposure to our yellow sun would give him to cleanse this planet of deviants and undesirable elements and to gather the elect to places of safety. Then, once his task was complete, Earth would take its rightful place in the Brotherhood of the Triangle.
Unfortunately for him the government of Daxam had not realised that common or garden
Lead was fatally poisonous to Daxamites. When his space ship crash landed on Earth it did so through the roof of an old church, the lead roof.
When he was later rescued by the founder of the Protection Syndicate, Engine Joe Brande,
Dev Em was already fatally poisoned. Engine Joe was a good scientist and managed, to be
honest by sheer luck I think, to devise a serum which countered the effect of the lead
poisoning. But he was clever enough to dilute the serum just enough to keep Dev Em in a weakened state. Still superhumanly strong true enough, but nowhere near full strength. With the muscle of Dev Em behind him Engine Joe recruited a number of people, I was one of the first, and set out building a better society for us. We started by taking over certain �interests� in gambling establishments and the like. As we built up an organization we started to recruit
others who were special like us.
In a number of years we had grown to be a truly international organization. We had earned Government gratitude by eliminating the Mafia and the Triads. It was simplicity itself to take over their operations later for ourselves. Later we started to move into Government itself.
Dev Em is still useful to us if we need some muscle, but as you have seen, an unfortunate side effect of the anti lead serum is it�s addictive qualities.

About eight years ago we had gown as large as we could as a business. Engine Joe was
blocking our obvious next task which was to move into Government itself. I needed to
ah....emmm �remove him from office� at which point, with the devoted help of my two dear
friends the Flagellator and Loser Lord we moved forward to this period of world peace we have now�

�Well not quite total world peace is it� asked Faraway Man. �What about Great Britain?�

�Bah, that pathetic island will soon fall before our armed might. We have moved both the American and Russian Navy into the waters of the Atlantic, our armies are poised in Northern France to take back ground lost to the rebel forces. We will soon grind these fools beneath our heel� snarled the Lardinator

�But you can not break through that force shield dome they have erected. And I understand that every time they invade and conquer new territory new domes are created� said Faraway Man.

�Have no fear we now have a patriot working for us inside the rebel capital, he is close to the King himself and will, when the time is right, allow us to bring freedom and prosperity to the deluded fools of England� said the Lardinator.

At this Bellbookcandle King smiled at the
prospect of returning to his home land and feeding.

posted January 05, 2001 04:44 AM ��� � �� ��

Victoria looked out over the cliff tops towards the distant horizon. She
could just make out, far out to sea, the faint shimmer that marked the edge of
the shield wall and through it the clouds and storm lashed waves of the cold North Sea. . She leaned heavily on the large simple old-fashioned spear she carried. It had been a strange quirk of fate that had led her to be here. Somehow, she still wasn�t clear in her own mind about why or how, this spear had chosen her. Some six years ago as the armed forces of the
Syndicate had appeared poised ready to invade England, The �spear of destiny� as
Sam called it, had sought her out. It had bonded with her and using its magical powers
together they had been instrumental in defeating the invading Syndicate army. �Victorix Imperitrix the press had called her following this victory, a name she hated but one which stuck a cord with the beleaguered inhabitants of this small island.

As Victoria stared out to sea, she saw part of the shield wall turn black.

�Something is coming through,� she thought to her self. As she watched a large Royal Navy ship fell through the wall, hurled by the force of the storm raging outside the wall. Gasping Victoria reached for the binoculars in the pouch on her belt. As she raised them to her eyes she frantically thumbed the controls. The image of the ship sprang into focus as the binoculars processor identified the distance from shore etc. The small computer in the �bins�
also locked on to the ships transponder and flashed up information in the left hand corner of the image.

�My god�, whispered Victoria �that�s the Northumberland, a dreadnought class ship".

The dreadnought was burning from at least three fires, her 7 inch gun was on its side almost hanging in the water, and there was nothing but an ominous space where the Harrier hanger used to be.

"They must have really ganged upon her to do that much damage. I hope she makes it to port ok�

As she spoke she saw the rescue boats leave the harbour, a mile down the cliffs, they would rescue as many of the crew as possible and, if they could tow the dreadnought back to harbour.

Victoria turned and gave a shiver, which had as much to do with the sight of that ship, as it had to do with the cold. She headed toward the low nondescript building some 200 yards from the cliff edge. As she reached
the door she spoke into the intercom and pressed her thumb into the receptor.

�Voice and Thumb print accepted� said a masculine computer voice �please proceed�

Inside the building was empty save for a small chair in the middle of the room. Without pausing she walked to the chair and sat down. �Laboratory A, Level Four, code Blue alpha 2� she said, to no one in particular. At that the chair started to descend, it was a simple lift.

Meanwhile

Out at sea a shape detached itself from the underside of the stricken ships hull just as the rescue vessels arrived. Swimming silently and swiftly towards the shore the Shark laughed to himself.

�Well old boy your in. That was a good plan of Loser Lord to cause so much damage to
one of those blasted dreadnoughts that they would have to do an emergency opening of
the Shield Wall to rescue the poor fools. So without the normal booms and tracking
devices in place I was able to slip inside. This compassion for their fellow humans will be the end of them. They should be strong like we are, I mean it cost us 4 Kirov, 3 Perry and 2 Kittyhawk class ships to do that much damage to one dreadnought and will we be picking up any of the survivors I
think not. The strong prey on the weak, use them for our own needs that is the natural order of things�

The Shark swam on un noticed towards his appointment.

Back inside the underground Laboratory complex Victoria was entering Lab A.

�Morning Sam� she called.

The man at the desk turned �Morning Victoria, did you hear what the Syndicate
have called me now?�

�No� said Victoria �what?�

�Well, it appears that they have found out about my experiments genetically modifying crops and foodstuffs. They finally know they are not going to be able to starve us into submission� Said Sam

�Yes Sam, only your new vegetables and growing methods have kept the people of
this Island fed. But what name have they called you?� asked a new voice from
the door.

Turning Victoria saw Tsarin Kid. Tsarin was the only extra terrestrial she had ever seen and it had taken her time to get used to his crystalline body. But now they were firm friends

�Hullo Tsarin� she said, �well come on Sam spit it out what have they called you?� she
gave Sam a huge grin

�Your aint going to believe this, but there calling me A Salad Tosser Lord.�
Sam burst out laughing.

�Hey� said Tsarin �you ought to use that, throw it back in their faces�

Victoria smiled. She knew that here were two of the three reasons that England had not yet fallen. Tsarin Kid was a genius and it was his inventions that had enabled England to manufacture all it needed to prosecute the war. The newly named Salad Tosser Lord was the one man responsible for feeding the people. What Victoria didn�t realise was that to most other people she was the fourth reason, in her persona as Victorix Imperitrix she stood for the
fighting sprit of the nation.

�I thought I might find you kids in here,� said a kindly female voice.

It belonged to Shadowplay in Candlelight lass the fourth member of the British Experimental Force or BEF. Shadowplay had somehow linked into a supernatural moral
boosting force. Everywhere she went she was able to make poeple feel good about
themselves and what it was they were doing, to help raise spirits, and encourage the beleaguered nation to make just one more effort. Shadowplay spent most of her time away from the complex. Her powers were in constant demand, and she spent much of her time with the King visiting Cities and
factories ensuring that the struggle continued.

�I have some news: the King and the Prime minister will be visiting tomorrow, I think they have something that they want to discuss with you�.

posted January 05, 2001 06:38 AM ��� � �� ��

Gathering Storm Clouds (Part one)

The rain was beating down heavily on the temporary dome covering the French city of Caen.
Following two weeks of fierce fighting this had been the last prize to fall following the
invasion of Northern France. Now the citizens were working furiously to repair the damage and help the British forces prepare for the next stage.

In the British Army�s command HQ, Field Marshal Swan was preparing plans for the next
attacks. There was a knock on the door and, after his curt �come in� the door was opened and in walked a woman in battle fatigues.

�Ah Colonel Ward, delighted to see you� said the Field Marshal. �Come in sit down� he
motioned to a comfortable soft padded chair next to the open log fire.

�Thank you Field Marshal, I am a little tired after that business with the T74's�

The business she had referred to had been a turning point in the battle for Caen. Colonel Wards Regiment, The Durham Light Infantry, had been caught by a column of Syndicate tanks, they held ground for six hours despite being officially unsuited for the task until tank destroyers could be released from other hot spots. As a light infantry regiment they had been hopelessly out gunned and all agreed that the tremendous fighting spirt of the troops had
stemmed from Colonel Wards leadership. Unfortunately the DLI had suffered massive
casualties and was now back in the UK resting and being brought back up to strength.

�Colonel I need you to undertake a special mission for me, it will be dangerous and, to be honest it is a decoy for the main thrust against Brussels. I need you to lead a Chindit Force against an enemy strong point here� and the Field Marshal pointed at a small village some 30 miles south of Caen. �You will have command of Rogers Rangers, a platoon of the SAS and three troops of the 17/21st Lancers air
attack helicopters. You task is to get in quick, destroy everything and get as many out as you can. Hopefully that will draw in enough of their forces to lets us take Brussels. Once we have that we can set up a full size national dome. Northern Europe will be ours and the Chanel and a large portion of the North Sea will in effect become an inland waterway. Will you do it?� The last was a question.

�Yes sir� Said Colonel Ward.

�Very well, Keller has all the details liaise with him. That is all� and the Marshal turned back to his plans.

Syndicate Headquarters

�Faraway Man good news�, cried The Flagellator �we have cracked him, the prisoner has talked. We have enough information to move against all of the terrorist groups here in the America�s. As we speak, our troops are attacking the Rebel formations known as Easy Company, Tomahawks Rangers and the Boston Patriots. Soon there will be no armed resistance left. I look forward to getting to �meet� Tomahawk, I am sure our �conversation� will be most edifying".

�Tell me�, said Faraway Man �how did you finally manage to get that Terrorist Clinton to talk?�

�Well, as you know he was surprisingly resistant to our �persuasion� we may never have made him talk if not for a wonderful piece of luck. One of our meta human patrols had picked up a small gang in a bar who were showing meta radiation. As we were screening them, and as an aside there are one or two with good potential in this group, we, as always, found a few �norms� in the bag. As you know we normally just remove them but one turned out to be
exceptionally useful to us. It was Chelsea his daughter� The Flagellator laughed.

�You mean you caught the most wanted terrorist in the whole of Syndicate history by pure chance?� asked Faraway man

�Yes� replied the Flagellator � it is the most wonderful irony. We caught the killer of Dev�s little pet, Fangball, the assassin of Hardshell the Turtle, Newcruelty and Therod the Impaler, purely by accident. That woman and her little terrorist cell have cost us dear, remember the
bomb at that weapons plant? It cost us England we couldn�t make up the losses in that Battle of Britain without it.

�So� continued The Syndicates chief inquisitor �we took darling little Chelsea down to see Daddy. Then I personally explained in very graphic detail just what I would do to her in front of his eyes unless he co operated�

�And did he� asked Faraway man.

�Oh did he indeed, once he started we couldn�t stop him� laughed the Flagellator, �it was like music to my ears. And once he stopped singing and we had confirmed what he said, I went back to his guest room and told him we had done it to Chelsea anyway. Then I carried out the lawful sentence of death�

�And the girl� smiled Faraway Man �did you kill her?�

�Oh no� smiled the flagellator � I have a much worse fate for her, I have put her into the Harem of Cobalt�

posted January 10, 2001 09:33 AM ��� � �� ��

Gathering Storm Clouds (part two)

�Come on honey, wake up� said a female voice.

Chelsea Clinton struggled to open her eye�s, just what had those �truth seekers� drugged her with she wondered. As she slowly rose to her feet she saw an attractive young woman in front of her.

�Thank you, but who are you where am I....�

�Easy one question at a time� replied the woman. � I am called Prudence Goodwyfe but you can call me Pru�

�Ha� said an embittered voice from the shadows behind Pru � why don�t you tell her by what other names we are called now�

Chelsea looked around. She was in a sumptiously decorated room, outside the sky was dark with storm clouds and the rain was falling heavily. As she turned to once more to face Pru she heard a crash of thunder and a flash of lightning illuminated the room for a brief second. In that second Chelsea saw tears glistening on an angry red wheal across the other womans beautiful face.

�What does she mean� demanded Chelsea.

�Well� said Pru �you are now one of his most exalted majesty the Cobalt Emperors favoured
wives. We are in his field headquarters as he plans the final attack on the British rebels. Cobalt likes to rename his wives, I am Hummer Lass, that one over there is Space Tart. We need to get out of here, Cobalt talks in his sleep and we now know how the Syndicate plans to get inside the British Dome.�

�Dressed like this� said Chelsea �pointing the out the clothing, or lack of it, covering the three girls �we�ll freeze out in this weather�

�Better to Freeze than spend another night with the emperor� said Space Tart �anyway, we
know who you are and want you to come with us, we figure you can help us get behind
British Lines�

Chelsea considered this, was it a trap, was she about to be shot �whilst trying to escape� could she trust Hummer Lass and Space Tart.

On a hill overlooking a French chateau Colonel Ward was consulting her watch. Right on time the first attack took place, as the sounds of battle grew, she noticed with grim satisfaction that her troops were doing a good job of drawing in the defending Syndicate forces. At t minus 10 she rose to her feet, �ok boys lets hit the chateau, remember gather as much info as you can� and with that she ran down the hill.

�That�s not thunder, that�s gunfire� said Chelsea, �come on lets see if we can use this to get out�.

Running out into the hall the girls found their way blocked by a large guard, Chelsea spun quickly, thrust out her foot and the guard fell to the ground his neck broken.
�Quick this way� shouted Pru and led the way down the corridor to the main doors.

Colonel Ward was standing in a syndicate computer room. �Get as much as you can from the computers before the fail safe kicks in�

As her troops got to work she looked around at the bodies on the floor. Truth seekers, she thought, this means this is a more important target than Field Marshal Swan knew or let on. I wonder who they were guarding?

�Sir� said a Sargent at the door, �we�ve found these prisoners� and he issued in the three women.

�You�ve got to help us� cried Space Tart, we must escape don�t you know who she is� the last pointing at Chelsea.

� I know who she is, I don�t know who you are or what to do with you�

�I do� said a chilling voice at the door.

As they turn they saw the Cobalt Emperor himself. Bullets were bouncing off him as he used his power of magnetism to shield himself. Almost casually he reached out an arm and a large metal machine fell on three soldiers.

�Out of here now� shouted Colonel Ward, as they started to run, she felt a strange burning sensation in her entire body. Slowly she stoped running and found herself being pulled backwards by some force.

�Do you think I would let my wives escape.� said Cobalt �I have magnetised the iron in your very blood to hold you.� Cobalt smiled, and the sight made Colonels Wards blood run cold.

� I do think� continued Cobalt �that an example needs to be made� He reached out towards Hummer Lass and squeezed. Hummer screamed and dropped to the floor,
�dead I think� smiled Cobalt.

You Bastard� cried Spacey

Cobalt moved towards her, taking her in his arms he said �don�t worry my dear, you will be joining her soon� and he bent to kiss her. As he did so Colonel Ward felt Cobalts powers weaken and his hold on her end.
Tensing to jump on Cobalt she was surprised to see him stiffen and step back from the crying Space Tart.

� Well my dear� said Cobalt �I really didn�t think you had it in you�
and Cobalt fell backwards, a wooden stake through his heart.

�I knew he would always detect any metal weapons so I decided to make this as a last resort� said Space Tart in a small voice.

For a few seconds the small group looked at the dead body of a leading member of the
syndicate.

Then, �come on lets get out of here� said Colonel Ward, �Spacey, Chelsea I think the
authorities in England would be interested in talking to you�

posted January 15, 2001 09:01 AM ��� � �� ��

Denouncement

Victorix Imperitrix tugged at the collar of her dress uniform, even though she had been
wearing it more often these days she was never truly comfortable in it. Grasping the Spear of Destiny firmly in her hand she quickly glanced across at Chelsea and Space Tart. They both gave her a quick smile.

Thanks to Shadowplay in Candlelight the searing agony of their memories had started to heal, they would never forget but Shady had told Victoria that they were over the worst.

�Ready� asked Salad Tosser Lord next to her

�Yes, lets go in�

As they entered the large underground Laboratory Victoria could see on the banks of monitor screens the hurried activity of the troops on the ground 100 feet above them. They were digging in in preparation for a major attack.

�Come in, come in, his majesty is waiting for you� said a cultured pleasing voice. Victoria saw N.T. Ritess the kings aide du camp beckoning them forward. N T was the second son of the Duke of Albermarle and had seen his mother and brothers killed in the first wave of Syndicate attacks. His father was nearly 90 and very ill. He had a reputation as a very dangerous man to make an enemy of.

As they approached the small room of to the left of the Lab, Victoria saw Tsarin and
Shadowplay already seated, they all rose as the group entered the room. At the head of the table Victoria saw King William, tired and drawn looking but still determined not to
surrender.

�Excellent, as all the BEF are now here perhaps we could begin� Said King William

Tsarin stood up �first let me recap the situation. As Chelsea and Space Tart have infomed us the Syndicate are planning a major attack on this facility, we don�t know when or how they believe they will get through the Shield dome. However, as you can see on the surface, we are taking no chances.

You know that I am not of this planet, and many of you have, I think, assumed that the technology� and he indicated the mark one ionic polarised disruptors of the guards,
�I have produced for you is from my home planet. It is not, I have been salvaging
such devices from a far more alien source. What we face now however is a final throw of
the dice. If the Syndicate breaks through the dome then by shear weight of numbers they will over run our positions. Unless my latest discoveries can even up the odds we may loose everything this time�.

Tsarin then led the group out into another laboratory.

� is that......� whispered Chelsea as she pointed to a crystalline structure coruscating with all the colours of the rainbow in the centre of the room.

�Yes�, said Tsarin �it is the dome generator. The shield of this nation.�

�Where did it come from� asked NT Ritess �it isn�t human�.

Tsarin replied �a number of years ago a small space ship crashed here in the North East Inside was a small humanoid child, dead unfortunately. The computer had almost survived the crash, from it we were able to find out the child�s home planet, Krypton, and that he was or would have been called kallel or something like that. Almost immediately I was able to utilise the ships shielding to create this dome and after some research was able to copy its power pack and weaponry for our use. Yet there was much more information, which after we had buried the poor child, I spent much of my time trying to decode.

�Everyone keep still I�ve heard quite enough� said a commanding voice from behind them.

A disruptors beam flared over their heads into the dome generator, causing it to splutter and smoke, black shards flowed across it surface. On the surface above them, a monitor showed, the Shield Dome turned black, it had been breached. Worse still, through that breach came hundreds of small assault helicopter. Led by perhaps the most fearsome sight of all. Flying
in very fast to attack was Dev Em. Closely followed by Bellbookcandle King and Grey
Dragon with all of his wyrmms.

posted January 16, 2001 09:33 AM ��� � �� ��

NIGHTFALL

�Why you� asked Victoria?

N T Ritess looked at her, �because I want to stop the suffering. I want to stop the pain felt by the people of this island every day when they receive notice that a loved one, a parent, husband or wife is not coming home. I want to ........hold it right there.�

This last to Salad Tosser Lord and Tsarin who had been moving apart, bracketing NT Ritess

�This miasma gun will kill even you Tsarin�

�But why betray us to the syndicate� asked Shadowplay

�The Lardinator himself has promised me there will be no rapine or pillaging, Great Britain under its new king will not be part of the Syndicate but an independent state in association with the Syndicate. There will only be a few Truth seekers, not many, and I can neutralise them�

�Hold on. A new king� asked Victoria?

� yes, my family is in line of succession you know. Once I have executed the traitor William I will be installed as King�

In her hands Victoria could feel the Spear of Destiny vibrating with energy. It could sense the conflict going on above their heads and was anxious to join the battle

�And now� NT was saying �we must say good bye to the house of Windsor�

�Now� shouted Salad Tosser Lord.

Almost in slow motion, Victoria felt the spear pull her in front of the King, she winced in pain as the miasma guns deadly energy beam hit her, but the spear seemed to be absorbing it and at least she and the king were still alive. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Tsarin using his transmutation powers on the gun, encasing it in impenetrable crystal. Salad Tosser
Lord had reached into his belt and pulled out a small green wrinkled nut like object and a phial of green liquid, breaking the phial over the nut Sam tossed it at NT Ritess. As it hit the ground almost instantly it grew into a dense interlocking cage made up of what looked like branches. NT was trapped. At that moment the spear of destiny decided to release the energy it had been storing and fired it straight back at N T Ritess. Without a sound the traitor vanished as if he had never been there.

�Ok� said Salad Tosser �we need to get the king out of here and we need to get the shield wall working AND get rid of those soldiers and syndicate members up there, any
suggestions�

�Yes� said a cold voice �surrender�

Turning Victoria, now fully transformed into the armoured heroine, Victorix Imperatrix,
raised her arm to throw the spear into the shape of the Lardinator himself.

�No� said Shadowplay �that�s not really him, I can sense he�s not here�

�Quite right, I am a mere holographic projection, effective is it not. My slave NT Ritess placed a number of hologram projectors around you base prior to this attack. It was very useful to learn of your plans as you made them. Now Shadowplay, I have a proposal for you. If you would first of all turn to the monitors and look at how the battle is progressing.�

All of them did so. It was a horrible sight. Against human soldiers the defending troops were holding position, but as soon as a Syndicate member approached they were decimated.
Chelsea and Space Tart watched in tears as the monitors showed Grey Dragons wyrmms
rending, tearing and feeding on the troopers. Bellbookcandle king had split into his three bodies and the BEF watched as hyper accelerated famine, killed soldiers in minutes, Intolerance was causing ancient hatreds to flare up and they saw an Gurkha unit attacked by white troops of the syndicate, Pestilence was seen laughing as he inflicted Ebola and bubonic plague on the defenders.

�Now� said the Lardinator, �I will call off the attack on the same terms as before.
Shadowplay in Candlelight, I offer this bargain to you, You can save this land and its inhabitants if you kneel before me�

"Never" shouted Victorix, you must know the love of the British for their land and their works is deeper than the deeps of the sea. Yet we will cast it all away rather than submit to you.

� I do not ask you child. I offer Shadowplay the chance to heal the land, to protect her charges and help them to grow again. All she needs to do is rule as my viceroy�

�This is a terrible temptation you place before me Darth Lardinator� said Shadowplay
slowly. �You offer to allow me to use my power to protect that which I love. In place of a dark lord you will set up a queen. And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the morning and the night! Fair as the sea and the sun and the snow upon the mountain! Dreadful as the storm and the lightening! Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair!

No. No I shall pass this test. I will diminish and go into the West and Remain Shadowplay in Candlelight�.

�Very well fool� said Darth Larder �you have sealed you own fate� and with that the
holographic image faded.

�Well� said Salad Tosser with a wry smile, �we fight on. Shadowplay, you must get the King out of here, if by some miracle we win this battle you and he must be able to lead the resistance. Go, don�t argue, take the King and use the Submarine escape pods�

Nodding slowly, realising that this might be the last time she saw any of her friends,
Shadowplay turned to face the king. �Come my Lord� she said to the King �we must leave
now�

As the couple reached the door Shadowplay turned one last time, raising her arms she filled the room with a maximum burst of her moral boosting powers.

�May your God walk with you� she said then turning swiftly on her heel she left.

Our only hope now�, said Salad Tosser, � lies in Lab D. We have some new, well battle
armour, I suppose you would call it, based on Kryptonian technology. Chelsea, Spacy and I will wear these. Victorix you will fight better as you are. Besides there are only three operational units. Tsarin, you will stay here, see if you can get that dome generator working again.

After the three, had pulled on the cumbersome armour Chelsea turned to Salad Tosser

�Are we going to die today?� She asked

Salad Tosser looked at her, �I don�t know,� he answered, �if we had had time to produce
more of this armour I might have been optimistic, they have some protection against all known syndicate members powers. But........� He thought about saying something comforting and decided that honesty would be best. �To be honest, the armour is untried and even if it works perfectly to specification it was not designed to take on more that one
Syndicate member at a time. As Tsarin would say, we all have to die sometime, today is as
good as any day.�

Chelsea smiled at him, �thanks for being so honest� she reached out with a heavily gauntleted hand and laid it on his shoulder. � ok lets go and see what we can do�

With that the three armoured figures and Victorix powered upwards, flying out of a rapid deployment tube into the midst of the battle.

�Good luck my friends� said Tsarin as he watched them depart on the monitor. �I hope by the end of the day someone remains who will remember your sacrifice�