Hello all, and welcome to the next chapter of Storm Hawks: Farside Interference! I hope you are enjoying the story so far, and I apologize for the delay. Without further chatter from me, here it is.
The following weeks were a blur for what remained of the Cyclonians in the Farside. While the Skyhold traveled to the Federation's capital city of Cerona, they had began to get accustomed to their new lot in life and learning about the region they had now become a part of. The entire area of the Farside had been in a constant state of war for nearly as long as the rest of Atmos, but the battles were far different and beyond the bloodshed seen by Cyclonia or the Council's Sky Knights. There were no mountain top kingdoms separated by endless skies, no Wastelands that covered their side of the planet; just a single large sector of land with beautiful forest, lakes, rivers, and wide plains with only a few mountain regions and even fewer like the Terras they knew. This was all divided into separate kingdoms they referred to as Nation States, each with a capital, major population centers, and a vast history of military tradition and tactics that their field commanders drew upon even to this day. There were three major powers as well as moderate of minor nations among them, but they all held a treaty in one form or another.
The first was the United Federation of Species, a multi-species organization that values the people as a whole and shows very little if any favoritism to anyone. The culture itself was a mixture of the various traditions that each race brought from their ancient homelands and above all else emphasized unity among all. Their history and mannerisms speak of a people that are peaceful and content to live their lives to the fullest possible, but unafraid of war and have perfected it into an art with their military being only been defeated three times in their history. Next was the Al'Morians, the same people as Dr. Walshin. A pragmatic people, seeing little need in frivolity or decadence, and a hardy civilization that has seen the worst of all the peoples of the Farside as well as the best, and staunch allies of the Federation and many smaller nations. Their armed forces rivals the Federation's in prowess, despite their smaller size, and a technological base that surpassed all others by decades. There were even rumors of a Federation project hidden from public view to try and match Al'Morian tech, but the lack of evidence left many to believe this as simple conjecture. Finally, there were the hybrids she had seen among her rescuers' crew. They had no official name, save for their nation name as the Alliance of Clans. As in the name, the entire area is divided up into territories housing varying sizes of clans with different military quantity and quality for each. While their system would seem inefficient to her and anyone else, they had a council made of the separate leaders and universal laws that they all must abide by when it comes to dealing with their nation as a whole. One such law states that if any clan or the entire alliance is threatened by an outside force, then all must devote half of their forces to a combined army to push back the invaders, with the rest being used in a defensive capacity. This law was only enacted twice in their history, with it being only recently enacted and with their people being known for have strong and resourceful soldiers, and while they were the least technological of all three major powers, the Alliance was to be shown their due as a military power.
Now, while all of this greatly interested Cyclonis, there was something even more interesting to her. There was a book written by a brilliant military genius, whose name was lost to the passage of time, along with several other works based around tactics similar to what a Sky Knight squadron might use. This type of warfare, asymmetric warfare, was situational, and it held similar to what she would need to do if they were to return home. Whoever enacted the coup d'etat and stole her thrown would have likely seen to it that he or she would have placed their own people into key positions to maintain order and would therefore make her walking into her own palace a death sentence. They wouldn't allow her to retake power after just usurping her, and with that coming to light would bring about a severe penalty. If she was to regain her nation, Lark was going to have to do it a different way. She looked briefly at a map, newly updated with the Atmos she knew, and a plan of action started to form in her mind and grin on her visage, "There are other ways to get home. We can't get past the mines now, but there is a way to get home without even going near them. We just need the right crystals."
Terra Atmosia
"We have been searching for weeks, and have found nothing! There is no sign of any of the ships from either side, and we found nothing in the direction the Storm Hawks claimed the defenders fled in, so I must question why we are listening to children?"
By the ancestors, make him stop, were the thoughts of Starling, last of the Interceptors and a lady that was annoyed by the current speaker, Harrier, and his constant droning. He, like several of the Sky Knight squadrons, did not like Aerrow and his troop claiming the title of the Storm Hawks, even though it was his by birth-right. The lack of evidence that corroborated their transmissions of a Cyclonian vs Cyclonian battle did little to help the situation, leaving many others to be skeptical of the young group and to question if the attack actually happened. She believed them, as did the three Councilors and a few of the other squadrons, but the others were less inclined to unless something was brought to light," Harrier, we have only searched a small portion of the battle area. Battles involving small groups have been known to drift from the original engagement area, so it is entirely possible that we are looking in the wrong place entirely."
"She's not wrong," everyone turned their heads to Suzy-Lu of the Absolute Zeros, "the Battle of Cyclonia started right at their border and drifted in and out of their territory for hours, before it ended. We still have a lot of ground to cover, and then there is the escalation of attacks by Cyclonia. They have been pushing deeper into our lines than ever before and the intensity of the battles has increased with Talons acting more enraged than I have ever seen. Their entire behavior has changed and we must find a way to counter all of this or we will lose even more ground than before."
The room burst out into a low murmuring and a recess was soon called until the next day before they all left for their respective Terras. As they filed out, many missed the pensive look a particularly young Sky Knight displayed as he walked from the proceedings, but two Sky Knights did not and caught up with the teen, "Aerrow." The leader of the famous squadron turned to come face to face with Starling and Suzy-Lu, curiosity clear in the air that surrounded them, "Aerrow, what is it. You haven't said a word the entire time, even when Harrier was… speaking. What is it?"
The red head gave a frustrated sigh as he answered, "It's the new Cyclonian offensive. I was bothered by how it went from a conquering strategy to more of a slaughter. I thought that the timing of it and the attack we witnessed was a little to convenient, so I had Piper go to some experts her on Atmosia, and they all said the same thing; the attack we saw was the reason for the increased military action, and their actions is not consistent with Cyclonia in the past, leading us to the belief that there has been a major political or military shift within the Empire. What it is, we don't know yet, but we soon will. After the meeting today, we will be departing for Cyclonia and attempt to figure out what is going on."
His words stunned the senior Knights and they could not help but stare at him in disbelief, "I'll say this for you Aerrow, you have some guts to go into the lion's den," uttered the Zeros' leader.
Starling was less impressed, "Aerrow, you can't be serious! You barely made it out of there last time, what makes you think you can do it again?"
He gave one of his confident smiles as he spoke, "Because, we have done it several times, not just the once. How do you think we find out what we do besides the normal means? We mostly get what we need in small amounts and as quietly as possible, and then we go to work with wrecking Cyclonis' plans. We already have an entry and exit plan, as well as back-ups for those. We can get what we need, and we'll bring it before the council when we have it. Now, I must go prepare and brief the rest of my team. I will see you when the meeting starts again, and after we get the information."
With his piece said, the Knight turned on his heel and left the two in silence. In their minds, they thought on his words and actions and could not help but notice how far he had come in a few months since the Battle of Atmosia. He went from inexperienced and uncertain to a capable field commander, and he continued to grow with each mission he ran. In their minds, they both knew he would go far if he continued to grow as he had and couldn't wait to see what he found when he returned. His plan may have been foolish and unexpected to most, but it was also brilliant and audacious. Instead of wondering what was going on, they would find out from the source itself, and the thought of such a prospect tingled their minds with excitement as they watched him depart.
United Federation Fast Attack Warship Line of Skyhold
Within the every warship in the Federation was a single room with one or multiple consoles designed with the sole purpose of storing and retrieving information within its data drives. These stations housed trillions of gigabytes of data, and all of it was accessible at all hours of the day, but only the most studious used it to the extent of Lark Cyclonis as she had the images of maps, crystals, ships, and materials displayed around the room along with texts of weapons, supply lists, and military campaigns throughout the centuries. This was what the Captain Leftfield, Ravess, and Snipe came to when some of the crew expressed their concerns about the foreign Empress. She had been in the room for hours, compiling it all into a single portable data-slate and waited for the new occupants as she reread her findings.
An uncomfortable silence reigned over the room as they waited for her to look up from her reading and muttering to acknowledge them and when she did not, the vessel's ranking officer chose to speak, "Empress Cyclonis?"
Larks form jumped at hearing his voice disturb her musings and she turned to him with wide eyes before she calmed and recognized him, "Captain," she turned her eyes to Ravess and her brother, "General, Seargent. Come here, I have something to show you. I think I found a way to return home without us having to wait for the mines to be taken care of. I also think I found away to retake Cyclonia."
That got the attention of her third in command, "Retake Cyclonia? Master, you only need to walk back into the throne room and show the people you are alive-"
"And give those that tried to kill me a new chance to do so," Cyclonis interrupted. "I think not. No, as long as they think me dead, we have time to find out who tried to kill me and who else was involved. We also will need allies outside of the Empire for us to retake it, and the only ones we can possibly get are the rest of Atmos, and possibly our new Federation friends?" She turned to look at Leftfield as she said her final words.
The old Al'Morian sighed at her, "I can't promise that. I have no doubt the people will want to help, but I cannot speak for my government."
"That is all I ask," she smiled in return. "That only leaves getting home, and I think I found the way. There are several deposits of Warp Crystals inside of Federation territory that none have seemed to have an interest in."
Winser stepped forward and looked at her curiously, "What are Warp Crystals? This is the first I have heard of them."
"Not surprising," Revess answered. "They are extremely rare, and to find even a deposit is even rarer. They can teleport someone from one place to another instantly. The only problem is that it is a one-time use and it is almost impossible to find ones powerful enough to go farther than a dozen meters."
He nodded at her and turned back to Lark, "It seems you have everything to get back thought out, but what about when you return? How do you plan to retake your home?"
A devious smirk made its way onto Lark's lips as she turned back to the console, "I will show you how."
Hey all! I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please review.