Chapter 14 | Landing Page | Chapter 16

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The Kadeshi Crusade

A Homeworld Fanfiction

by Crobato

Originally posted May 15, 2001

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Chapter 15 – The Sin of the Father

The battered Mule and her task force hyperspaced shortly outside an Allied base. A Kushan task force awaited them, perhaps in caution and hostility at the presence of a Lord class carrier with a task force of feared Ion Array Frigates and captured Kadeshi Multibeamers. But the Kushan task force quickly deployed into a parade formation. Their weapons powered up, energy and plasma cannons shot into the empty dark spaces, creating a spectacular fireworks display. Fighters paraded, then rolled in various acrobatics.

They are being welcomed as heroes.

But Seejuk Liirhra sees no joy in the welcome. He has promised the crew, who in turn, has sworn, for the return of their popular Segura captain and princess. Without Zha, the ship and its crew would be nothing. This would be the end of an Inner House. The ship would be assimilated to the other Houses, the crew disbanded and sworn to a different allegiance. This would also be the end of this ship and its spirit, the end of a place they also call their home.

Chapter 12 | Landing Page | Chapter 14

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The Kadeshi Crusade

A Homeworld Fanfiction

by Crobato

Originally posted May 15, 2001

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Chapter 13 – The Cannon

“All battle stations!” Zha ordered. “All recon fighters regroup to the Mule at once! Maintain cloaked running for all fighters. Do no engage unless ordered.”

Everyone was focused on the screens. The Allied forces were intent in getting even, and they have sent the Kuun-Laan escorted an array of Kushan and Taiidan capital ships. Behind the great walls of capital ships were X formations of fighters and walls of corvettes. Under any other circumstance, Zha would be excited to see the Somtaaw Explorer ship, the Kuun-Laan, known throughout the Galaxy as the Beast Slayer. This was the ship that killed the Beast and with that act, avenged for her the death of her father. But other circumstances were overriding that joy.

“The Siege Cannon is powering up,” said one of the officers in the bridge. The energy signature of the Siege Cannon was like a beacon for all the energy scanners.

Chapter 11 | Landing Page | Chapter 13

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The Kadeshi Crusade

A Homeworld Fanfiction

by Crobato

Originally posted May 15, 2001

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Chapter 12 – Siren’s Song

Zha watched as the cloak and the mimic reconnaissance fighters left the Mule, heading toward the Kadeshi fleet. A strong passion burned in her to join them, to share the danger and discover the unknown, but her duty in the ship has prevented her from that, but only for the moment.

Seejuk worked on the tactical panel. The screens for the probes and the recon fighters lit up. A new officer came on the bridge, a Kushan, Zha can guess, from his height and tannish skin color.

“Captain Zha, I would like you to meet Lieutenant Ta’haar of the Kiith Manaani. He is a complement of the Black Star Intelligence. His specialty is linguistics and code breaking. He has come here to break the language and code of the Kadeshi comlink transmissions. From here, we will know what they’re talking, and what they’re next plans are.” Ta’haar bowed at her.

Chapter 10 | Landing Page | Chapter 12

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The Kadeshi Crusade

A Homeworld Fanfiction

by Crobato

Originally posted May 15, 2001

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Chapter 11 – The Revelation

All around her, there was darkness. The floor was hard and cold. Fear gripped G’yela’s young heart, and she prayed and bowed repeatedly with her head down. She did not know where she was, and all around her she could hear voices. Some voices were deep, other were high and shrill.

One voice said, “You brought this so called Kadeshi on board? She is so pathetic.”

Another said, “She has the blood of a Hiigaran.”

The first voice replied. “For a Hiigaran, she is a pitiful sight. Look at her cower and shake in fear. Where is the Hiigaran arrogance that is the hallmark of their imperial race? Look at this rodent. She is so scared that she will pee in her legs.”

A new voice said, “She has the blood of a Starfarer, the ancient Voyagers of the Stars. I can sense her abilities.”

Chapter 9 | Landing Page | Chapter 11

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The Kadeshi Crusade

A Homeworld Fanfiction

by Crobato

Originally posted May 15, 2001

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Chapter 10 – The Wheel of Fate

Zha was staring at her personal monitor. She smiled at the farewell messages the refugee children gave her as she left them in the Allied Base. The Black Star and the Sirak had made arrangements to transport them back to the nearest Raider Outpost.

“Captain, your attention is needed on the bridge,” said a message flashing in the screen. She had only her night clothes but she quickly donned a uniform and ran to the bridge.

As always, Seejuk was trim and ready. The patrol missions consisting of the new stealth and mimic fighters have been running all day and night. Seejuk had been triangulating all known appearances and contacts with the Kadeshi in the hopes of estimating where their next destination would be. The Mule and her task force had been under cloak mode too. The Multibeams keep themselves close enough to the tethered cloak generators while the Ion Array Frigates rely on their own cloak generators.

Chapter 8 | Landing Page | Chapter 10

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The Kadeshi Crusade

A Homeworld Fanfiction

by Crobato

Originally posted May 15, 2001

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Chapter 9 – The Tiamat

As the carrier left orbit around the base, Zha and Seejuk were busy with the tedious details of logging the inventory. Rows and rows of spanking “new” fighters and corvettes—mostly reconditioned surplus—have brought the Mule’s strike force complement to full strength. For Seejuk, it was surreal to view the hybrid force—-some Taiidani, some Kushan, some Turanic plus a dose of captured Kadeshi Swarmers. To be able to house the fighters, Seejuk planned to hack support units along the bottom of the Mule, based on proposals he read from the latest Hiigaran ship engineering journals.

Zha braced as she was about to hear a long lecture from Seejuk.

He began. “The problem of fighters was that lately, after the Beast Wars, they have taken the turn towards heavier armament over performance. While they have greatly improved their firepower which favors striking capital ships, there is not much improvement in their overall performance. Fighter performance is driven to outmatch the other, and when the other is concentrating attacking capital ships over pure fighter to fighter dogfights, there is not much incentive to improve overall fighter performance. That’s why the Blade Mk6, Triikor Mk2 and the the Acolyte upgraded versions are not really better performers than their predecessors. That is why us Kushans and the Taiidanis are going to pay for this mistake dearly when they face up with new upgraded Swarmers, which will fly rings around their craft. The problem is that it will take a while to develop a new superior fighter to take the Swarmers on, and by that time, they may have overrun our defenses. The short term partial solution would be to bring back the classic scouts of the Homeworld War, the Arrows and the Fiirkans, as they are the only things that can keep up against the Swarmers, which had a maximum velocity nearly twice as that of the latest interceptor. “

Chapter 7 | Landing Page | Chapter 9

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The Kadeshi Crusade

A Homeworld Fanfiction

by Crobato

Originally posted May 15, 2001

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Chapter 8 – Black Star

Lt. Commander Seejuk Liirhra sat on the stool at the bar. Nothing matches the good old ale brewed from the deserts in Kharak. He rammed the drink down to his throat. Ahhh.. Kiith Manaani had been looking in all over Hiigara for a desert to match the exact conditions found in Kharak to correctly brew the ale. They are about that close but not quite.

He should be happy for the offer the Admiral offered him. To command the first of a brand new “Marshall” class of assault carriers, the Baal-Hasim, would be a great honor. If it was any other commander, the promotion would not be an option. But those who work for the Black Star wing of Hiigaran Fleet Intelligence are not answerable to the normal military rank and ladder. Only to the leader of Black Star, a secret member of the Daiamid, can they be only accountable to. The whole Daiamid deliberately denies the existence of Black Star. Both Fleet Command and Fleet Intelligence knows about them but will never formally admit their existence either. Still, if a Black Star officer was encountered, he cannot be formally questioned about his activities, or respond to the normal rank and file. Even if the activities were deemed illegal by the Daiamid.

Chapter 6 | Landing Page | Chapter 8

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The Kadeshi Crusade

A Homeworld Fanfiction

by Crobato

Originally posted May 15, 2001

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Chapter 7 – The Proposal

“What?…” Zha’s face was livd and turning red. She started to prance around the bridge deck, hunting for an explanation.

“Are you?…are you, a spy?…” Zha started to stutter with rage.

“To be exact to the term, no. Sooner or later, I did intend to tell you, but err, the busy events in the last few weeks have totally occupied my mind,” Seejuk replied. “I am, not by the exact definition, a spy. I have never compromised you and the security of your ship. I was an engineer and scientist working with the Black Star wing of Hiigaran Intelligence. Our mission was to salvage Beast technology in the Outer Rim. Our covert operations are not formally approved by the Daiamid, so we are working under great risk, but the urgency and importance of the task means we cannot for the politics.”

“You know what?” Zha uttered, her arms crossed and mouth in a pout. “For a Kushan you spin a lot! I wonder what you have betrayed about Raider technology to your Black Star group.”

Chapter 5 | Landing Page | Chapter 7

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The Kadeshi Crusade

A Homeworld Fanfiction

by Crobato

Originally posted May 15, 2001

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Chapter 6 – Engagement

As a child she was frail, but unusual to look at. She had a metallic silvery blonde hair with cold steel eyes to match. For that other children were afraid of her, called her a freak. She never played with them either.

Inside the great Arkships of Kadesh, G’yela had only one friend. It was a creature alien to the Arkships, a Bunari, a slimy, slithering creature with two big eyes with an unusual sensitivity of its environment. No one knows how the Bunaris got to the Arkships, or what they were originally called, but that was what the Kadeshi called them. When the Kadeshi trapped and captured unsuspecting merchant ships who unexpectedly ran into the Gardens, these ships often carried all sorts of alien vermin in their holds. When the captured ships were brought to the Arkships for assimilation, these vermin escape into the slums of the Arkships, adding themselves to the ecology in the slums. Sometimes when the vermin get big enough, the people themselves will eat them.

Chapter 4 | Landing Page | Chapter 6

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The Kadeshi Crusade

A Homeworld Fanfiction

by Crobato

Originally posted May 15, 2001

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Chapter 5 – The Mule

The decks were littered with sparks as every able body tries to< repair the extensive damage on the carrier. Zha was happy she got Seejuk’s competent team of Kiith Liirhra engineers working on the Mule, even if they were Kushans. She paced all over the carrier’s decks, watching the progress of the repair. Having the Kushans were an advantage. The Turanics were never good engineers. They had mainly acquired and adapted someone else technology and braced them with their own common sense. They’re not the best when it comes to maintenance and repair either, and Raider ships were often dependent on hiring Taiidani engineers to work for them. The Imperialists were a boom for that.

In one of the decks, Seejuk Liirhra’s voice was hoarse from shouting and managing his team. When Kiith Liirhra declined in influence, many engineers were left idle and without work. That was about the time other Kiith wanted to pursue their own ship design projects and shipyards, all part of a political manipulative attempt to reduce their dependence over Liirhra. The fact that Liirhra wanted exorbitant licensing fees did not help very much. The smaller Kiith went buying to the Somtaaw or the Bentusi. Many in the Liirhra went to work for the other Kiiths, but Seejuk managed to pull a competent team that was interested with his deep space ventures.