The Historian : History of the New DDS (6) : The downfall of Rotarios

The Historian casts his eyes back over the rich history of the DDS Universe.

Rotarios tightened his grip on the New DDS but he remained tantalizingly short of total power because of his failure to deal with Windscorpion. Rotarios' ego drove him to think he could control The Apogee of Man however Windy was waiting for his moment to bring down Rotarios, a man he loathed and despised beyond all others.

The moment came when the Utrek, with their Zone allies, launched an attack on the DDS (Second Utrek War). While the rest of the DDS held the line in Remedian space with Dino help Windy was sent to crush the Zones and knock them out once and for all. Windy's fleet engaged with the Zones and crushed them, the DDS then launched a nuclear strike on Zoneland itself.

Vodaphone followed in the Hoods' own ship to launch a second strike on Zoneland with Cobalt-60 warheads to render Zoneland uninhabitable. This is when Windy made his play. Vodaphone and the Hood ship was destroyed by Windy's flag. Windy then returned to GHQ via New Jakarta where the Hood training camp was destroyed from orbit.

Rotarios and the Hoods were unsure what was going on, there were rumours however that Windy was coming to destroy the New DDS. With the Hoods beginning to panic Rotarios made a challenge to Windy to face him in the Hall of Heroes at GHQ for the final battle. Rotarios vowed to crush Windscorpion and finally complete the New DDS Project.

Windy agreed, but of course Rotarios never had any intention facing Windy alone. He assembled every last Hood remaining at GHQ and stormed the Hall. Windy was waiting for them... in an exo-war suit. Windy mowed down Hoods by the score. The rest fled, to be hunted down and killed by Windy's supporters (though a fair few escaped). As for Rotarios well Windy pounded him into a small dense pile of scrap iron.

The New DDS Project had been aborted. Windy was proclaimed the DDS Commander. The Hoods and the old regime were consigned to the dustbin of history. Or were they...

The Historian : History of the New DDS (5) : Bringing Windy into the fold

The Historian casts his eyes back over the rich history of the DDS Universe.

Rotarios was now the DDS Commander and began a series of measures to facilitate the New DDS Project. Under Vodaphone's guidance (usually buried in baffling jargon and buzzwords) and threat from AP's Hoods the DDS was reborn as the "New DDS". However soon there was a cloud on the horizon.

Windy was approaching full health and began to venture outside on Rathun's World (now Liberation). He was soon picked up by CCTV and word got to Rotarios that his Nemesis was still alive. AP was despatched with a legion of Hoods and DDS special forces to kill Windy.

As Windy and Salamander evaded the DDS net Rotarios had a change of mind and ordered Windy be captured instead. He saw that Windy could be a potent asset if he could be controlled and he had a sufficiently massive ego to persuade him to try where all else have failed. Windy was thus bought into the New DDS under strict control though this was eased when Windy was duped into revealing the location of his fan club the Windy Massive. They were massacred by the Hoods.

The Rotarios-Windy relationship was troubled to say the least with Rotarios continually thwarted and fooled by The Apogee Of Man. Windy quietly began restoring his power base, recruiting a new generation of the Windy Massive. When the DDS went to war with the Utrek Windy saw his chance to bring down the New DDS Project...

The Historian : History of the new DDS (4) : Taking Power

The Historian casts his eyes back over the rich history of the DDS Universe.

Windy was assumed dead, The Shiner's grip on power was unravelling by the day. Now the final part of taking over the DDS : getting Rotarios in as DDS Commander.

The Shiner had to be removed first and as Hood attacks at GHQ stepped up he finally stepped down. Vodaphone now had to get his man in in place. Back in 2103 the election rules were different to as they are today, instead of a wide vote across the whole DDS the Commander was decided by the DDS Council.

When the debate began to decide on the new commander Vodaphone stepped in immediately suggesting Rotarios much to the disgust of Sea Urchin, however the vote went ahead "so we could move onto more sensible suggestions". To Sea Urchin's shock Rotarios was voted for by Vodaphone, Lord Argox, The Shiner and... S101!

Before the election Vodaphone had been busy securing the votes he needed. Sea Urchin, Horsehead and The Orchid would never vote for Rotarios he knew (though The Orchid later became a loyalist of the regime). But he could do without those as long as he got the other 4 votes on offer. The Shiner was threatened by The Hoods and Lord Argox was bribed by AP. S101's vote was the clincher and again Rotarios' hold over him again came in use. S101 was threatened with his role in Windy's death being made public if he didn't vote for Rotarios. S101 almost abstained but in the end went through with it.

Rotarios was now the DDS Commander.

The Historian : History of the New DDS (3) : Killing Windscorpion

The Historian casts his eyes back over the rich history of the DDS Universe.

To secure the New DDS and to get Rotarios in as the new commander Vodaphone needed to bring down the Shiner regime. However Windscorpion loomed large over the DDS as a colossus and he would have to be disposed of too...

That is easier said than done of course, many have tried to kill the Apogee Of Man but nearly all have failed. Rotarios of course did kill the original Windy but he had the resources of the HCS behind him that time. However an opportunity did arise to kill Windy thanks to a strange chain of events on Starbot.

Its a little known fact but the K-series of Starbotian have a design flaw in their brains. This flaw only manifests itself in later life and can cause feelings of anxiety and depression if not detected and treated. K-1, the eternal companion of S101 and B-B, had this flaw unknown to everyone including himself. It finally came to the fore when a Starbotian ship he and B-B were on was attacked and destroyed by the Rectoids. K-1 panicked and used the only escape pod seemingly dooming B-B to death. K-1 was later rescued and felt ashamed by what he had done but everyone just assumed B-B had been caught in the initial explosion. K-1 played along with this.

B-B however had survived. The Rectoids beamed him off the ship before it was destroyed and sent him to a prison planet. Later he was found by Windy, S101 and the Triad who also ended up Rectoid prisoners and were sent to the same prison. After they escaped and returned to Starbot B-B told the truth of K-1's betrayal and he was banished from Starbot.

Later on the K-series Head K-2 approached S101 and told him of K-1's mental illness and how it probably caused his actions. S101 and B-B headed off to find K-1... Unfortunately by now K-1's condition had deteriorated and he had ended up in the hands of hackers who wanted to use him for their crimes. They removed his moral safeguard circuits to turn him into a killing machine. The first thing K-1 did was kill the hackers and then began a rampage across a little known planet beyond Eritran space.

S101 found K-1 but was forced to fight the deranged K-1. When S101 subdued K-1 it was found his brain had been badly damaged by the hackers and the illness and he was literally hours from death... unfortunately Starbot was weeks away. A ship with a worm drive was needed, back in those days (2102) they were few and far between though S101 knew Professor Piss had one. S101 was forced into a deal with the Devil in order for Piss to take K-1 back to Starbot where he was saved by medical personnel there. The price for S101 was to give Rotarios the command codes to Windy's ship...

Not long after the DDS was preparing the first battle in a short war with Porquat 640. During the battle Rotarios used the command code information to turn off the shields of the Pulsar resulting in its destruction. Windy was badly injured. Knowing that Rotarios was involved Firefly encouraged Windy to fake his death and he remained hidden on Rathun's World until he was strong enough.

Rotarios now had a clear run at becoming commander however there was still work to do...

The Historian : History of the New DDS (2) : The Rise Of The Hoods

The Historian casts his eyes back over the rich history of the DDS Universe.

Vodaphone had bought in AP to help him bring about the DDS regime change he wanted but he needed some foot soldiers. AP bought in a couple of thugs into the circle to assist with the destabilisation of The Shiner's regime Vodaphone needed.

AP got the thugs (whose identity has never been disclosed) to disguise their appearance with white robes, its not known if AP intended to copy the KKK robes or just that he had some white sheets handy but the appearance of the Hoods (as they became known) quickly became a key part of the New DDS image and indeed was reflected in the new logo which came about later. AP and his acolytes began a series of random beatings of DDS personnel across DDS GHQ.

The attacks did weaken The Shiner's regime but not to the extent Vodaphone needed. AP bought in more Hoods despite Vodaphone's misgivings about the dangers to secrecy. A training camp for Hoods was also set up on New Jakarta. The attacks increased in frequency and The Shiner's regime began to crumble, The Shiner himself finally was subject to a Hood beating and it has been reported in Tsunami's memoirs ("Diary of a Yes Man") that this is when The Shiner first considered stepping down as DDS Commander.

There was one final hurdle for Vodaphone and his plans to bring in Rotarios however : Windscorpion. There would be no way Windy would allow Rotarios to be commander so Vodaphone had to devise a way to get rid of The Apogee Of Man. Help came from an unexpected source...

The Historian : History of the New DDS (1) : Origins

The Historian casts his eyes back over the rich history of the DDS Universe.

The death of AP and the rise of Firefly to become DDS Commander finally bought to an end the New DDS era, the attempt at rebirth and rebranding of the DDS first under the leadership of Rotarios from 2103 and latterly under AP. But what was the New DDS and how did it come about? In this multi-part series i will examine the rise and fall of the New DDS and the personnel involved in this mysterious and often bloody epoch in DDS history.

History of the New DDS (1) : Origins

Although Rotarios was the DDS Commander who bought about the New DDS the architect behind the scenes was Vodaphone. Quite why he set about creating the New DDS Project can never fully be revealed as he did not write anything down on these topics and of course took his secrets to his (nuclear explosion assisted) grave...

However we can find hints here and there and one big "hint" was the state of the DDS at the end of the Clone Wars. The DDS at the start of the 2100s was in turmoil. The disastrous end of the 2nd Clone War and the death of Windscorpion sent the DDS into a tailspin with the HCS running rampant across the galaxy. The return of Windy and the successful ending of the Clone Wars did help restore the DDS to an even keel but the damage was done. Vodaphone began to openly criticise The Shiner's leadership of the DDS. He made no secret of the fact he didn't like how the DDS was being run. Vodaphone in later years also openly displayed his hatred for Windy and his dislike for Windyism.

Therefore we can infer that Vodaphone feared The Shiner's weak leadership of the DDS was crumbling and that Windy would take over, a situation he considered unthinkable. For whatever reason we know for sure that Vodaphone went along the path of regime change and sought a new leader.

But why Rotarios, again this is unclear but Vodaphone recruited the ex-HCS general sometime in early 2103 (or late 2102). Vodaphone may have considered himself to lead the New DDS but as an intelligent man no doubt realised his profile was too low to have a realistic chance against established warriors like Windy and Sea Urchin and perhaps Vodaphone did not want the top job anyway. Rotarios is a man with a proven track record of command, a man of great charisma, a man also possessing great cruelty and megalomania (though obviously Vodaphone didn't think these latter flaws a problem...)

Once Rotarios was secured as the potential new leader Vodaphone then needed an ally, and he found this in AP. AP was a DDS journeyman who was considered a rather grey but competent administrator (he was City Commander at the time) who thirsted for a more active role in the DDS operationally. He was frustrated in his attempts (and often humiliated by the likes of Sea Urchin). Vodaphone found turning AP fairly easy, although AP at first was aghast at the thought of Rotarios in charge of the DDS he was quickly seduced by the thought of the likes of Sea Urchin having to call him sir. AP was a rather venal man, accomplished and intelligent but also very insecure. AP was thus easy to buy off with the concept of power.

With an ally and a leader-in-waiting Vodaphone now needed to destabilise the existing regime in order to bring about the new. To do this they needed an army... they needed the Hoods.

Next : The rise of the Hoods