beings whom those Earthly legends would dimly recall: Flashing in and out of the Pantechnikon’s life in
Andromeda, as on Sol-3, is Wingrace the FireForce Avatar, otherwise Grace Wing Slick of the Jefferson Starship:
123 On January 28, 2016 Paul finally returned from Sol-3 to his beloved Andromeda Galaxy. May his music and magic continue!
- 148 -
Like the saga of Antony and Cleopatra, the story of Paul Kantner and Grace Slick is not a tranquil one - but
when they have created music together, such magic results!
The Jexi Order (whose film name Jedi George Lucas presumably adapted from the Jeddaks of Edgar Rice
Burroughs’ Martian novels) reflects Setian initiation: starsword blade color reflecting its level.
Lilith Aquino, as Krel, is one of those whose path through the Dark Night of the Soul is dictated both by hazard
and by her own ecstatic embrace of the divine mystery of her future.
Such women are never possessed by lovers or mates; rather they come and go as dreams, bestowing upon those
fortunate enough to glimpse them the whisper of love’s immortality. Krel lent one of her names to that great
civilization of pyramid/crystalline beings who inhabited Altair-4 ages before the events of Forbidden Planet, and
her other name to that most ancient civilization of our own planet - as addressed in Xronos.
And now, before you begin your journey, I would appreciate your giving a few moments of your time and
attention to General Raj Dakkar of the STF, who has graciously consented to summarize some of the scientific
aspects of this history. Then embark, if you will, for the Galaxy of Andromeda … a long time ago and far, far away …
and may the FireForce be with you!
- 149 -
TOP SECRET/TK/X/MJ
NORAD Intercept 1 APR 1988
Declassified HQUSSPACECOM J2/X/MJ 1 May 2016
Imperial Stormtrooper Force
MindWar Center - Hub-4
Office of the Chief of Staff
TSGD19880401
TECHNICAL NOTES: FIREFORCE
Astronomical Points of Reference
Terran students of FireForce will note that the galaxy in which these events took place is that known to
them as the Great Galaxy in Andromeda (M-31). The internal arrangement of Andromeda is coincidentally
quite similar to that of your own Milky Way Galaxy, and in fact you may find it convenient to use a map of
your galaxy to better understand the Andromedan Star Wars.
The entire galaxy is approximately one hundred thousand light-years in diameter and approximately
twenty thousand light-years in breadth. It contains approximately one hundred thousand million star
systems. At the time of the Second Star War, the Galactic Empire extended along some thirty thousand
light-years of what would correspond to the Cygnus Carina arm of the galactic spiral, with its outermost
colonies located in what would correspond to the Beta Doradus spur of that arm.
The Galactic Hub is located in Cygnus Carina in roughly the same location as the Sol star system in
your galaxy. The planet Trantine is some four thousand eight hundred light-years down the spiral arm
from the Hub, on the periphery of the arm towards the galactic nucleus. The Planet of Seth is located on the
outer periphery of the Sagittarius arm, about three thousand six hundred light-years down that arm from
a star corresponding to your Iota-1 Scorpi. [It is the only location in the Second Star War which is not
located in the Cygnus Carina arm.]
The aim of the Rebel forces in the Second Star War was not to conquer the Galactic Empire, but rather
to establish an independent territory for a new Republic. Thus they sought to isolate and control the Beta
Doradus spur. The planet of Bralane is located in the approximate position of your Beta Doradus itself -
about nine thousand six hundred light-years from the Hub, six thousand light-years from Trantine, and
eight thousand four hundred light-years from the Planet of Seth.
The diameter of the Beta Doradus spur at the point where the Rebellion sought to cut it off from the
Empire is approximately 3,600 light-years. Across a 40-light-year band that embraces some 333,000 star
the number of contested systems to some 6,660 star systems. Even so one can appreciate the magnitude of
the task the Rebellion set for itself - together with the difficulty the Empire faced in trying to anticipate and
counter its specific operations.
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Translite Velocity Flight
At the time you will be receiving this transmission, your own understanding of velocities will probably
still be based upon the misapprehension that faster-than-light travel is impossible. Many years ago one of
our own academicians, a Professor Unistone, drew the same conclusion. He said in his Special Theory of
Relativity that all velocities were relative except that of light, and it followed from this assumption that
material objects could not accelerate past that velocity and remain material.
The fallacy in Unistone’s Special Theory is that it postulates a similar characteristic (relative velocity)
for everything in the universe except one thing (light). An exception to a theory invalidates the theory as a
general law. A corrected Special Theory provides for relative velocities of all phenomena, light included.
What makes the original Special Theory acceptable and even demonstrable is that it does hold true for
evidence of actual phenomena that is conveyed by light waves or slower media. In other words, the
detectable results of experiments - including those which have supposedly validated the original Special
Theory - are conveyed to observers via sensory impressions which are functions of wave emissions or
reflections. As actual object velocities increase, our senses and those of test instruments register
distortions of mass and energy. But this is a distortion of the transmission process and not of the actual
object. In the three-dimensional space in which it exists, it undergoes no mass/energy transformation
whatever (save, of course, loss of propulsion energy).
Hence it is entirely possible for our starships to travel faster than light. Such a ship merely accelerates
past 186,000 mps (relative to its point of departure), and in the process of doing so it remains unchanged
(to itself). To an observer standing on a platform against whose motion the relative 186,000 mps is being
measured, however, certain peculiar things would seem to happen:
From the rear the ship would seem to undergo mass-conversion and then to vanish altogether upon
reaching relative light-speed, because the detectable emissions receding from it towards the observer
would arrive at a slower and slower rate of speed and finally cease to come altogether once the ship
exceeds relative light-speed. At that moment the net direction of the emissions would be away from the
observer ... in the same direction as the ship.
Seen from the side, the ship’s image would undergo other distortions stemming from the high lateral
velocity - again relative to the observer - of the emitted waves of energy. And seen from the front, the ship’s
image would also appear distorted, because the emitted waves would be approaching the observer at more
than 186,000 mps.
One of the implications of these facts is that the acceleration or deceleration of time, which follows from
the original Special Theory, is also w
rong. Time would appear to be distorted as the emissions or reflections
by which an observer on the ship or the platform measures the time of the other object became slower
(receding) or faster (approaching). But again this would be a distortion of the transmission process and
not of the objects themselves. On each object time would pass at the same rate. A spaceship traveling away
from your Sol-3 would seem to be populated by “slower” astronauts as seen through a Sol-3 telescope or
television. On its return trip it would seem to be populated by “faster” astronauts. Upon returning to Sol-3
the astronauts would be found to have aged at precisely the same rate as their terrestrial counterparts.
Assuming relative velocity for light also means that a ship would never accelerate relative to a “fixed”
light speed. Its acceleration past the speed of light could only be measured against the relative velocities of
light-emissions from other objects - stars, orbiting planets, etc. Were a starship to exceed light-velocity
traveling away from your Sol-3, it would seem to a Sol-3 based observer to vanish. To an observer on the
ship, however, Sol-3 would appear to exceed light-speed and vanish.
Once you understand the foregoing, you will also be able to resolve the apparently paradoxical
mathematics of “black holes” - which, in the Unistonian sense, do not exist. What your astronomers and
physicists have identified as “black holes” are in fact ordinary neutron stars.
The ion-engine starships used by both the Rebellion and the Empire were generally capable of cruising
velocities of 101,000 times the speed of light. Representative travel-times would thus be approximately a
month of your time between Trantine, the Planet of Seth, and the Hub [which are located in a rough
equilateral triangle]. From the Planet of Seth to Bralane takes about seven weeks, while a trip from
Trantine to Bralane takes only three weeks. Because of the curvature of the Beta Doradus spur, it took
General Terclis’ forces from four to six weeks to reach their respective initial positions in the Second Star
War. Terclis’ Kill Star reached its own initial position approximately four weeks after leaving the Hub.
[These time factors are all incorporated into the events of this history, of course.]
- 151 -
Translite Channels (TLC)
Because of a translite starship’s inability to take coherent readings of objects of mass whose relative
velocity compared to it is greater than that of light, it is essentially “blind” once it achieves translite
velocity. The risk of collision with objects of mass became a real danger to translite ships for this reason.
Despite the vastness of space, a ship traveling at several hundred thousand times the speed of light runs
the risk of encountering various particles in its path. And striking even a single small meteorite at that
relative velocity would mean instantaneous destruction for the ship and its crew.
In order to achieve safe translite travel throughout the Galactic Empire in Andromeda, therefore, we
developed a network of “Translite Channels (TLC)” - essentially long vector-paths through space that were
kept free of matter by stringent computer monitoring and destruction of objects which might intrude into
the channel. Translite travel outside of these channels was too dangerous to be practical, with the
exception of long-range probe ships equipped with AMPs.
Anti-Matter Projectors (AMP)
Anti-matter projectors (AMP) are devices designed to emit harmonious streams of positrons and
antiprotons through the bombardment of matter by proton beams energized at a level of several billion
electron-volts. When the antimatter particles are accelerated via electro-magnetic coils, they combine with
and annihilate particles of matter in their path, producing zero mass and a great deal of radiation. [The
process of annihilation releases energy many hundred times greater than that caused by a matter-fusion
bomb of similar weight - for instance, your hydrogen bombs.]
Small AMPs were therefore mounted on the noses of our explorer and courier ships to enable them to
travel at translite outside of the regular translite channels. In effect the AMP created a continuous matter-
antimatter neutralization in front of the ship, obliterating any objects with which it might collide. Due to
the potential danger to life-forms which might lie in the path of AMP-equipped ships, however, use of the
devices was kept to a necessary minimum.
The large AMP mounted on the Kill Stars operated on the same principle. The massive stream of
antimatter particles emitted from the projector simply combined with and obliterated the matter
composing the target planet or fleet of ships.
Lasers
Our large, triangular Class-13 TriDestroyers and the small twin-ion-engine (2IE) fighters are equipped
with CO2 gas-dynamic lasers, as was Jon Valo’s Nebula Eagle. Lasers are not used in space just because
they are more exotic or more colorful. [Indeed, science-fiction films notwithstanding, one cannot see
flashes of laser-light in space, as there is no reflective atmosphere for the beams to impact.] Lasers are
used for two reasons: (1) Slower weapons are virtually useless against 101,000xlite starships, and (2)
weapons with any recoil whatever are highly impractical in a zero-gravity environment.
The targeting of lasers at or from starships moving at translite velocities is extremely difficult; hence
they are used effectively only in battles where all opponents are moving at sublite velocity.
Grasers
CL-13s, Kill Stars, and major planetary defense bases are equipped with larger, more expensive, and
more cumbersome gamma-ray lasers (“grasers”). Grasers work on the same principle as lasers but
synchronize gamma rays from atomic nucleii rather than X-rays from the outside electrons. A graser-
beam is, in essence, a synchronized nuclear explosion. The range and destructive power of a graser is far
greater than that of a laser, but the massive containing and mirroring apparatus precludes the use of
grasers by individuals or indeed all but the largest of starships. Grasers are also useless for wounding or
incapacitating combat; a graser hit is invariably totally destructive.
Photon Engines
These are the most powerful engines known to our physicists. As of this writing only two starships have
been equipped with them - Lord Deth Razor’s starship and Lord Jon Valo’s Nebula Eagle II. Both ships
carry two PEX-4C photon engines, although the Eagle also carries five K-80 ion engines as well.
- 152 -
The photon is a particle of zero mass caused by the combination of atoms of matter and antimatter and
accompanied by an explosive power hundreds of times more powerful than that of hydrogen bomb fusion.
Thus the engine is a propulsion application of the AMP-principle. Whereas our IE-powered ships have an
effective cruising velocity of 101,000xlite, the two PEX-4C powered ships have a theoretical velocity of
2,000,000xlite. Such speeds are only possible via the use of bow-AMPs on both ships; otherwise even the
extremely rarified interstellar plasma would be deadly.
Tactical Considerations
Across the vast distances of space involved in the Second Star War [to say nothing of the Third], there
was no question of constructing “nets” or “barriers” of any sort. A force on either side would easily be able
to avoid conflict; in fact both sides had
to make a concentrated effort to locate one another. The expertise of
a military commander, therefore, lies in first finding and then accurately assessing the size and striking
power of an enemy force. Students of military history may compare Lark Windancer’s plan for defeating
the second Kill Star with that of Robert E. Lee on the final day of the Battle of Gettysburg [see in particular
Michael Shaara’s The Killer Angels, as well as the Cold War-era Warsaw Pact’s “breakthrough” doctrine for
the piercing of defensive lines via a phased-echelon attack.]
Release of further technical information at this time would inhibit your normal process of scientific
development.
Raj Dakkar
RAJ DAKKAR
General, STF
Chief of Staff
RD:g:m
- 153 -
A10: Setamorphosis
- by Michael A. Aquino V°
South Solstice X/1975
Setamorphosis: A TS term for the third stage of human evolution. The word is formed from Set-a or
Set-heh (“Eternal Set” or “Timeless Set”), a god-form of Set in ancient Egypt as a serpent. Serpents were
symbolic of immortality via their seeming rebirth by shedding of their skin, were sacred to Set, and as the
Uræus symbolized the divine authority of the Pharaoh. They also represented imparted knowledge of a
divine character; hence the later corruption that would appear in the “Garden of Eden” myth. The suffix
denotes a “change of form” or “transformation”. The familiar “metamorphosis” thus translates to
“super(natural) transformation”. The old term is thus refined.
“Genesis III” was an attempt to explain our present state of being in accordance with the Book of Coming
Forth by Night and common sense. It was not intended to be a “last word” but rather a working hypothesis. I am far
more comfortable with hypotheses than with “laws”, because the formulation of a law implies that all pertinent
factors have been taken into account. This in turn implies that all pertinent factors are themselves completely
understood, and thus the factors that bear upon them, ad infinitum. Historically it is borne out that human
knowledge constantly increases, and there is no reason to assume that we now know all there is to know about