The following was recovered by Itani forces. A small team led by Lieutenant Ghost of Skygge Vakter infiltrated Sol II and gained posession of the Serco Energy Focus Prototype. Upon attempting to escape Serco space, following a heated chaise through the asteroid fields of Dantia, Ghost's Valkyrie was destroyed. This is the last log of his attempt to return the spike to Itan.

<_Ghost_> For Itan.
[Sol II J-13] <Jan Rhapsody> please tell me your route so i may follow you
[11/20/05 21:00:20] You are entering Sol II O-14
[11/20/05 21:00:26] (group) [Sol II O-14] <_Ghost_> Incomming. Watch your six.
<_Ghost_> For Itan.
[11/20/05 21:00:40](group) [Sol II O-14] <Jan Rhapsody> i'll engage
[11/20/05 21:00:40] (group) [Dantia B-5] <Pilot 13> kites
[11/20/05 21:00:42] <Jan Rhapsody> faceless
[11/20/05 21:00:42] (group) [Dantia B-5] <Pilot 13> soul
[11/20/05 21:00:44] <Jan Rhapsody> at last, a real fight
[11/20/05 21:00:48] (group) [Dantia B-5] <Pilot 13> dr here!!!!
[11/20/05 21:00:51] (group) [Sol II O-14] <_Ghost_> affirmative, dont get yourself killed
[11/20/05 21:01:04](group) [Sol II O-14] <_Ghost_> i just need time
[11/20/05 21:01:04] You are entering Dantia B-5
[11/20/05 21:01:25](group) [Sol II O-14] <Jan Rhapsody> pismo has been neutrawlized
[11/20/05 21:01:37][100]<Faceless> Itani target is moving
[11/20/05 21:01:41](group) [Rhamus O-5] <Onina Tola> you go
[11/20/05 21:01:57] You are entering Dantia O-2
[11/20/05 21:01:59] (group) [Dantia O-2] <_Ghost_> taking fire
[11/20/05 21:02:04](group) [Dantia O-2] <Jan Rhapsody> get out of there
[11/20/05 21:02:05] (group) [Rhamus M-4] <Onina Tola> just shedu at initros gate
[11/20/05 21:02:06] (group) [Dantia A-11] <Yasumoto> omw
[11/20/05 21:02:18](group) [Dantia B-5] <Pilot 13> critical damage!
[11/20/05 21:02:31] Jan Rhapsody warped to Pyronis System, Sector B-11
[11/20/05 21:02:35] (group) [Dantia O-2] <Jan Rhapsody> following
[11/20/05 21:02:41] (group) [Dantia O-2] <_Ghost_> i cant get through
[11/20/05 21:02:43] (group) [Dantia O-2] <_Ghost_> need assistance
[11/20/05 21:02:54] (group) [Rhamus M-4] <Onina Tola> coming
[11/20/05 21:03:00] (group) [Dantia O-2] <Yasumoto> omw
[11/20/05 21:03:31] (group) [Pyronis B-11] <Jan Rhapsody> strike force
[11/20/05 21:04:11] (group) [Deneb O-3] <Jan Rhapsody> ghost
[11/20/05 21:04:15] (group) [Deneb O-3] <Jan Rhapsody> i know you want to make it
[11/20/05 21:04:20] (group) [Deneb O-3] <Jan Rhapsody> find an empty sector
[11/20/05 21:04:24] (group) [Deneb O-3] <Jan Rhapsody> and wait for me to find you
[11/20/05 21:04:26] (guild) [Dantia O-13] <Onina Tola> right after i bumped faction
[11/20/05 21:04:44] (group) [Deneb B-12] <Jan Rhapsody> do you copy?
[11/20/05 21:04:52] (group) [Dantia O-2] <_Ghost_> im making the run to pyronis, i have an opening
[11/20/05 21:04:58] (group) [Geira Rutilus O-4] <Jan Rhapsody> DO NOT RUN REPEAT
[11/20/05 21:05:05] (group) [Dantia O-2] <_Ghost_> there's an opening. I can make it. I can-
[11/20/05 21:05:11] Dr. Lecter destroyed _Ghost_

ST6 has confirmed the capture of Lieutenant Ghost. A statement has not been issued at this time. The following message was encoded in Ghost's pilot logs:

"I have failed in my task. The SEFP remains in Serco hands. I have dishonored myself, my nation and my friends. I regret that my best efforts were not enough to return the spike to Itan."

A spokesman for the Serco Nation has announced that a statement will be made in time as to the Itani P.O.W. Ghost.

End Transmission.

You shall be repatriated and avenged. And this mechanical psychic monster of the NSI & SEFP will be destroyed.

FINALLY SOMEONE LISTENS AND WANTS TO DESTROY THE DAMN THING!

And when my current crisis passes, the Spike and SEFP will be destroyed and Ghost returned. I am here to help.

While it is in Serco hands, you will not succeed in destroying the Spike and SEFP...

Rock On,Doctor Lecter, Rock On.

Hell, keep the SEFP. Enjoy it, i don't care. As far as I'm concerned the Itani deserve to get royally screwed by that just for creating the Spike. So if I do get in the station, the SEFP will still be there when I leave. >=)

hahah....HAHAHHAAH..HAHAHAHA...hahaha

Kill him, ST6. Kill all those who would still oppose us. So will it be for all the cowards who think only of themselves.

We do not plan to kill him yet, he is more valuable alive then dead :)

Lecter: Things that have Happened in my Absence:

Terminated: _Ghost_, Jan Rapsody.
Recovered: SEFP
Transported safely: NSI

***************************

"It is not a field of a few acres of ground, but a cause, that we are defending, and whether we defeat the enemy in one battle, or by degrees, the consequences will be the same."
~ Thomas Paine

Agreed, your Itan forces may have won the day, had they had forces to win it.

I believe we had over 12 Serco on hand ready to help in any way they could, even had one show up in a wraith with stingrays. Say what you want about the Sercs but when it gets down to it they are there when the rubber meets the road, er um nose cone meets the space debris.

As I sit in my cell, the chase replays over and over in my mind. I had it. I had the energy focus in my possesion and I failed to return it to the Itani.

I replay the events again. My valk skirting through the asteroids leading the Serco Strike Forces and ST6 on a chase through the roid field. They were all behind me. I thought I had an opening, a convoy comming through. With Kites near 800m behind me I made a run for the wormhole. I arrived with some room to spare. Just as I engaged the wormhole sequence, my stomach sank. Out from behind one of the behemoths in the convoy came Dr. Lecter, weapons flaring. I immediately began taking hits from behind as Kites had closed the distance surprisingly quickly. In roughly two seconds my ship was disabled.

I had made a reckless decision and paid for it. There was only one thing left to do. I had to destroy it. I initiated the self destruct system on my ship just as ST6 pilot Kites boarded. With quick, decisive actions he promptly cut a hole in my cargo hold and removed the energy focus prototype. He then floated around to the cockpit and did the same, grabbing me by the collar of my flight suit and yanking me out of the craft. Lecter's hog picked us up as my valkyrie exploded.

So here I sit. Wallowing in my dishonor. They ask me questions but I don't hear them. They try interrogation techniques, but I disappear into my meditation, my focus, my shame. I have failed the Itani nation.

If I ever make it out of here, I know what I must do. Using any means necessary, I will find the energy focus. I will search for as long as it takes and I will not stop, ever, until I can return to Itan, my honor intact. This kind of power must not be allowed to fall into the Serco hands. Perhaps it should not be in Itani hands either...

I have been beaten, but I am not defeated.

Whomever posseses the energy focus will have Ghost close behind.

AFAIK, Ghost was never plugged into the Spike. The scientist, "Dr. Girlfriend", me, Smittens, and some other higher-up [IA] members are the only ones left with a residual psychic imprint. If you've never been "attuned" to the impulses, your mind is a brick wall to the Neural Spike Implant. (Although the Void has apparently touched other folks, like Borb, Lecter, Joyce, maybe even Monk.)

Even the Itani needed serco-like mechanical technology to attempt to achieve the nirvana of the "Singularity" that the spike would have brought them, and certainly the rest of the galaxy. Leave it to the Serco to hoard the technology and attempt to clumsily and inelegantly use it for military gain.

I think the only two reasons my experiment with Joyce was successful were that:

1. I had an image of Deep Blue, Spike software included, and

2. I had no concern over the well-being of my subjects, and thus allowed my techies to come uop with rather original and creative solutions for every stumbling block we came across. Joyce was not the first test subject, just the only successful one. The others... were deadbeats, anyway.

Dont spike him until you are sure he can be contained in a blastproof underground shelter, and have a way to kill him instantly if anything goes wrong. My advice is to have a couple of neutron turrents pointed directly at whatever chair you put him in to insert the spike, and vaporize him and the spike if he so much as twitches funny.

The last thing we want is for him to walk out with the damn thing in his skull, that'd just be embarassing.

The thing is... does the spike have to go in his skull?

/me envisions Lecter accidentally driving the Spike thru his thumb...

I have a copy of the software. I've had it ever since that raid on the Itani. (Log entry soemthing or another) No way I would let it be used on my self with out knowing what it does.

What if you ransom him off, i will start the bidding at 1 credit!

Hrm. Or someone could rescue him as he is moved to grayspace...