Legal Disclaimer: In this chapter, characters from the Pokémon are mentioned. The Pokémon series was created by Satoshi Tajiri. I do not own the Pokémon series or any of its characters. Nintendo does.
Jeff – Chapter 5:
The UFO made its way away from the Threed Airbase and headed towards Onett at its top speed. The two of them knew that they had to reach Onett and arrive before the delegates for the peace conference arrived. With the talks beginning tomorrow, they wanted to make sure that everything was in order so that if the worst did happen, they would be ready. Jeff looked back for an instant before he saw a blinding flash of light. He soon witnessed a mushroom cloud rise from where the base had once been. Jeff looked on in sadness as the cloud rose into the air where the Threed Airbase used to be. Jeff said a silent prayer for General Scamp and for anyone else that had still been inside the base when it exploded.
It did not take long for the UFO to reach Onett. Once Jeff laid eyes on the town, he was shocked and horrified at what he saw, for Onett was practically a wasteland. There were a few buildings still standing in the center of the city, but other than that, most of Onett was decimated. The remains of what looked to have once been buildings now lined the streets of Ness's old hometown. The wreckage of tanks, cars, trucks, and even some downed aircraft also littered the streets of the small rural town. Ness would be reduced to tears if he saw this, Jeff thought. Still, there was hope in sight, for there were many houses and buildings that were currently under construction, especially up in the hills. At least the town was being rebuilt. Flint looked over to Jeff and said, "Onett was always the secondary location of the peace process should the air base be destroyed. It will take place in the town hall. Our job is to provide security and make sure that no one manages to get in and kill the delegates."
"Right," Jeff said, the shock of seeing most of Onett in such a deplorable state evidence on his face. Still, there was hope for Onett, as evidenced by the ongoing construction of houses and buildings throughout the town.
Flint gently guided the UFO towards a landing zone not too far away from the center of the town, where the town hall was located. Flint managed to land the UFO as if he had been flying such craft for years. The touch down was smooth and gentle, a far cry from Jeff's usual landings. It was at that moment that Jeff envied Flint's piloting ability the most. Had he tried to land the UFO, it would have crashed and if the two of them somehow managed to survive, the alien craft would have still been totaled.
After leaving the UFO, Flint began to make his way to the town hall, followed closely by Jeff. He looked back at Jeff and said, "Thanks for the assistance, Mister Andonuts. However, this is where we must part ways. My orders are to check things out here. You should go over to one of the hotels in the area to rest for the peace process."
Jeff replied, "Thank you, but I'd rather stay and help out here, if I can."
"With all due respect, which is a lot, there is much about this setup that you don't know and I didn't have time to brief you on. It would be best for all involved if you rested up for tomorrow. We'll need to hear your deposition. Your previous experience in fighting the Starmen will be instrumental in helping us devise strategies for fighting them in the future. And should something actually happen, you'll need to be at full strength in order to help fight off any attack or assassination attempt."
Jeff could understand Flint's position. He was kindly trying to tell him that he would more likely than not just be in the way should he be part of the security detail right now. Jeff smiled and thanked Flint before heading off to search for a hotel. Before he found a hotel, he decided that it would be a good idea to stock up on items. He was now empty except for his remaining grenade and his Baddest Beam gun. His initial inventory had been destroyed when the airbase outside of Threed had been destroyed. Fortunately, the layout of downtown Onett was still similar to its layout during the early 2000s. He first went to a department store to buy a new backpack for storing his items. After he had gotten the backpack, he went over to the Burger Shop and went inside. Inside he bought a few Double Burgers and a couple of Protein Drinks. After he was fully stocked, he made his way down to the Onett Hotel.
Once he reached the hotel, he entered and booked a single room. He then went up to the room and entered. The inside of the room was nicely furnished with a bed, table, and sofa. Jeff quickly put down his backpack, got out of his flak jacket and clothes and got into his pajamas. He then jumped into the bed and promptly went to sleep.
The next morning, he awoke at six o'clock in the morning, sharp. He was pleasantly surprised that he had managed to sleep through the night without having any nightmares disturb his sleep. He quickly got out of bed and took ate some breakfast before going to take a shower. He had to be presentable before the delegates at the peace conference. After his shower, he put on his best school uniform and proceeded to leave the hotel after paying at the reception area. The peace process began at Zero Nine Hundred hours, so Jeff still had some time to burn, since it was still eight o'clock. Outside, he could already see that the town hall had practically been transformed into a fortress. Armed military personnel, as well as a couple of tanks and APCs, were stationed outside the hall. Soon, the roar of jet engines sounded in the sky. Looking up, he found several F-28 Phantasms and a flight of two F-24 Wraiths fly over. He also saw several Nighthawks and Firefoxes fly by as well. This was unusual, but Jeff suspected that the delegates wanted to have some of their own security forces with them as well, just in case. Jeff had suspected that there were still feelings of mistrust between the various parties, but the information that he and Flint had on the PSI Aliens should help convince those who still did not trust the others that there was something greater out there, and that these petty squabbles were just that, petty by comparison, especially with the threat that the PSI Aliens posed.
Once he was outside, he began to make his way towards the town hall. As he began to approach the town hall, two military officers stopped him. They were in full battle dress uniforms and were armed with assault rifles that looked to be the replacement for the old M-16 that Jeff was familiar with. "State your identification and show us your pass," the soldiers ordered.
Jeff pulled out his identification card, which also qualified as a pass, and said, "My name is Jeffery Andonuts. I am here to make a deposition to the delegates at this conference."
One of the soldiers took his identification and examined it, closely. He then handed it back to Jeff and nodded to his comrade. They then parted and allowed him to pass and make his way to the town hall. He was stopped twice more. He passed both checkpoints without incident. Soon, he reached the town hall. Standing outside the entrance was Flint and Captain Karim. Jeff went over to the two soldiers and greeted them. Flint and Karim took him aside and asked how he was doing.
"Fine, I guess, given the circumstances," Jeff had told them. "One thing I notice is that security here is quite obvious."
"As it's intended to be," Karim stated. "That will keep people from noticing the less obvious security measures in place."
"You really think that someone is going to attack openly?" Jeff asked. "If I were an assassin, I would try to be as discrete as possible. Any frontal assault would only be a decoy."
"We know," Flint said flatly. "Still, they likely did that because they just want to make sure that someone doesn't actually think that a frontal assault would work on us."
"Still, if this Human Army Against Humanity does launch a strike, I doubt that we could defeat them all," Karim lamented. "Even with the fighters flying overhead, it would not be hard for one of them to plant a bomb, or even a nuke, and get out before it blew, assuming they could get one in the country."
"If the PSI Aliens are helping them, I wouldn't be surprised if they could," Jeff said. "Even without psychic attacks per se, I would not be surprised if the Starmen of all levels had some telepathic capabilities."
Karim smiled. "That's why Samantha and I are out here, too."
"Samantha?" Jeff inquired, wondering what Karim meant.
Karim then pointed to a blond haired woman in her mid thirties standing guard in the garden. "Samantha is like me, a telepath."
"Then you can guarantee that if the H.A.A.H. attacks, that they'll have Starman assistance."
"That's not our primary concern right now," Flint told Jeff.
"Then what is?"
Before Flint answered, Karim looked intently at Flint, as if warning him not to say what he was about to tell Jeff. "He should know," Flint told Karim sternly. "After all, it's the most likely means of attack, assuming they got them."
After a few moments, Karim nodded.
"Know what?" Jeff asked, fearing that things were about to get a little more complicated.
"Remember the bio weapons that I told you about during my talk about this war?"
"Yes," Jeff said, anticipating a small lecture coming.
"Most of these new bioweapons were genetically engineered based upon the DNA of an already existing Earth animal and a recently discovered creature we designated as Mew, due to its feline-like appearance. Mew was found in the ruins of a Mayan temple and is believed to not necessarily be unique. The Mew that we discovered had incredible psychic power, like nothing we have ever seen before. Nothing we had could contain or restrain her. During our unfortunate attempts to contain her, we discovered something amazing. Mew was fully sentient and at least as intelligent as humans. It was not long before she escaped. She had seemingly been toying with us the entire time. However she did not escape before we managed to obtain some of her DNA, a small strand of hair. We did not initially use her DNA to engineer new creatures. We used it to see just how similar it was to other creatures on Earth. We wanted to see if Mew was native to Earth. It turned out that she was. However, Eastern Coalition forces eventually got their hands on Mew's DNA and used it to bioengineer a series of creatures. However, the Eastern Coalition never got a chance to use them. The first batch of new creatures managed to escape before they could be utilized against others and they retreated to a place unknown, until recently."
"How powerful were these creatures?" Jeff asked.
"Not nearly as powerful as Mew," Karim answered for Flint. "But more powerful than normal human soldiers if they're stable. The key to their usefulness would be in using their powers effectively, which required a human to issue orders to them. If their powers are used effectively, they would be significantly stronger than the common rank and file soldier."
"Can we expect to see them here?" Jeff asked, wanting to know the potential for facing off against one of these new creatures.
"It's possible. There have been reports of several new bioengineered creatures appearing as soldiers for some gangs. Gangs wouldn't have the resources to track down and capture such creatures, though. They had to have some help. The one good thing, so to speak, is that the lifeforms that were captured were creatures who were the result of recombining the DNA of both Mew and normal animals. As a result they are only semi-sentient. They likely have a child's level of intelligence or so at most. Several of these creatures have been found allied with various gangs. And if there are any humans that would side with the PSI Aliens, it would be gangs. That's not the greatest worry, though."
"What is?" Jeff asked.
"Our greatest worry is that if the Eastern Coalition was able to engineer animals with special powers, then it is possible that the same engineering could be done to humans. Think of what would happen if some HAAH soldiers were given genetically enhanced powers like psychic power."
Jeff shuddered at the thought. He only hoped that the bioweapons or any enhanced humans were not all that powerful. There was also another problem that came to mind. He did not know what the engineered animals would look like. However, given the general description of these creatures, Jeff hoped that he would know one if he saw one, hopefully before they managed to kill him. After the briefing, Flint began to usher Jeff into the town hall while Karim remained outside to watch and scan for any suspicious activity. Before going in, though, Jeff offered a piece of advice. "Karim, if I were a HAAH or a gang member and I was going to attack and had access to psychic bioweapons or engineered some human psychics I'd use them to interfere with the powers of other psychics in order to covertly launch an attack."
Karim nodded towards Jeff. It was clear by his expression that Karim had considered this tactic, and was quite concerned about its implementation. "Be aware of your surroundings in there Mr. Andonuts," Karim warned him. "You are one of the targets that the enemy is after."
"I'll be careful, Captain," Jeff assured Karim. He then followed Flint into the town hall.
The inside of the town hall was very ornate. Various patterns graced the walls, long chandeliers hung down from the ceiling. The floor was made of marble and Jeff could see the paintings of various influential figures in Onett politics. He could even see a picture of the former Mayor of Onett, B.H. Pirkle. Pirkle may have been a camera hog, but he was not nearly as bad as some, who actually served Giygas and his allies, like Geldegarde Monotoli of Fourside. Even in Monotoli's case, he had still been influenced by the Evil Mani Mani Statue. Still, Jeff was concerned. Since corrupt humans and politicians had served Giygas before, what was to stop other politicians of today from selling their souls for a chance to survive and abandon humanity? Jeff had not taken a good look at the guest list, but he guessed that a lot of the delegates that wanted peace were likely in the military or, oddly enough, newer politicians that may have actually taken the job in order to facilitate peace. War, especially one as large as this one, was still profitable for a number of companies. Jeff soon stopped his musing and quickly went into the main chamber.
Inside the main chamber, the delegates were all seated, with a gaggle of reporters lining the wall. Jeff quickly found a seat near the back for those who would testify before the delegates. Flint found a seat next to Jeff. Jeff did not recognize these delegates, but he could tell that they were from all three of the major factions of the war, and there were a few from what Jeff guessed were South America and Africa as well. Not only that, but several of them appeared to be in the various militaries of their respective factions. Promptly at nine, the conference began.
The first half hour of the meeting was not very exciting. Still, Jeff paid attention to everything that was said by the various delegates. He found that support for the continuation of the war was quickly dwindling, even among the arms makers and suppliers. The one-point-six billion people who had already died was the main reason why people wanted this war to end and whenever someone had voiced a complaint that could set back negotiations or threatened to escalate the fighting, that number was shoved in their face. Still, there was a lot of resentment between the three main parties and several other representatives from Africa and South America. The thing that stunned Jeff was that African and South American delegates were arguing with delegates from their own continents, and sometimes even from within their own country. It was not long before the issue of the PSI Aliens, their human allies, and the destruction of the White Ship was brought before the delegates. An hour into the meeting, both Flint and Jeff were simultaneously called up to stand before the delegates to give their testimony of what happened.
They approached the podium and when they arrived, the questioning began. They both answered the questions to the best of their abilities. Jeff had made sure to include the fact that Starmen had led the HAAH soldiers during the battle and that HAAH had members from all three main factions in this war. They were grilled about their experiences in the fights against the Starmen and the UFOs, particularly about the tactics that were employed and how their craft performed in combat compared to human fighter aircraft. They answered each question honestly and did not embellish their story. Some of the delegates even smiled as they heard the kill ratios. However, Senator Richardson had been quick to inform them that the White Ship had still been destroyed, as had the Threed Airbase. Kill ratios meant nothing if the enemy still accomplished his objective. The delegates then asked Jeff about his prior experiences against the Starmen. He told them about the War Against Giygas and that Giygas may have still been alive, in one form or another.
Outside, during the deposition, the time was coming when the attack would begin in earnest. Standing on a building not too far away was a young African American, about twenty one or twenty two, though he looked noticeably younger. Standing next to a gang member with a Starman insignia scrawled across his shirt, an unknown humanoid creature with golden skin, wearing metal armor and clothing, waited for the time to be right. It's face looked almost feline-like, though it also had the attributes of other animals. "It's almost time," the gang member said. "You know what to do."
The being responded with a deep growl, nodding towards his current temporary master. With that, the creature disappeared.
However, the creature had made a grave oversight in not scanning the mind of its new trainer, for soon, the gang member pushed a button on his watch and spoke into it. "You were right, Captain Karim. They are using bioengineered psychic lifeforms to jam you guys. Chances are these lifeforms are based on alien DNA, in addition to Mew's own. Be on the lookout, though. If the attack inside is a failure, they'll still use the tried and true frontal assault."
"We'll be there to stop it," Karim's voice crackled in over the radio. "Your work there is done, get out of there now before you're discovered."
"Roger that." With that, the spy left the building to rejoin his true comrades defending the meeting.
On another building not too far away, the psychic bioengineered lifeform appeared next to two Starman Supers. Behind the Starman Supers stood a squad of eight Starmen. Behind them was a small army of gang members of various ethnicities and in various styles of dress. Some wore African tribal clothes, others wore turbans, yet others were clad in more casual American clothing. However, they all had one thing in common, the insignia of the Starmen was stamped across their clothes and was quite visible to whoever saw them. One of the Starman Supers turned to the others and said, "It's time. Begin the primary assault."
Outside the town hall, Karim and the other military security officers watched and waited. Now that he knew that he and the Samantha were being jammed, he could isolate where the jamming was coming from and help their aerial comrades to find it and destroy it. Karim psychically coordinated the defense of the conference, ordering soldiers to good choke points and setting up barricades. However, he knew that the frontal assault was only the decoy. He raised his watch, which was also a communicator, to his mouth and said, "You were right. The frontal assault is only the decoy. When you hear the explosions, be on guard."
A voice, belonging to Flint, responded quietly, "I copy that. I'll tell Jeff and the others. Out."
Karim smiled. If things went right, it would be a very bad day for the Starmen and their human allies. If things went wrong, though, it would be a very different story. He quickly found the location of the base for the invasion. He telepathically relayed this information to an F-24 and its pilot soon acted on it. The Wraith flew towards a building a few miles away, one that was condemned and scheduled for demolition, and unleashed a cruise missile. The missile was powerful enough to destroy the building with a single hit. Karim watched as the building was reduced to rubble in an instant, the top of the building immediately blown to pieces and the rest of the building soon collapsing. He telepathically scanned the area to see if the enemy had survived. He sensed that several signals had vanished before the building had been destroyed, but the vast bulk of the enemy force was now dead. Soon, he saw several missiles streak overhead and head down a street. Off in the distance, he heard several explosions, as well as the shouts of soldiers and the screeching of what sounded like animals. The battle had started. He soon he noticed movement from around the town hall. Several figures had appeared near the hall, survivors of the bombardment of a few seconds ago. A cursory scan showed that they were the Neo-Sharks, a street gang based upon an old street gang from Onett called the Sharks. Their trademark was the wearing of a shark fin on their head or helmet. However, Karim was also quickly able to identify another, and much newer, trademark of the gang: a Starman insignia.
"They're here," he whispered into his watch. "Be ready for anything."
Sure enough, the attack soon began in earnest. Four Starmen and a Starman Super led a group of human soldiers dressed in robes with a checker shaped pattern that were armed with AK-47s. Floating alongside these humans were several creatures that appeared to be from a different world than either the humans or aliens. These creatures were floating pink balls with pockmarks on their bodies. Monsters, Karim thought grimly. It was the only name he had for such creatures. Karim guessed that these were some of the bioengineered creatures that he and the others had been briefed on earlier. So far, though, no psychic creatures, psychic humans, or other psychic life forms were assaulting the outside force.
"Be ready, Flint and Mr. Andonuts," Karim warned. "It's likely that any psychic creatures that are serving the enemy are going straight for the delegates."
It was not long before the terrorists began opening fire on the security force outside the town hall. The military forces took refuge behind several barricades and statues. After a few seconds, they quickly returned fire. Two of the terrorists began to fall, as did a Neo Shark. Then, the surviving humans searched for cover from the return fire. Karim took out a grenade and pulled its pin. He then tossed the grenade behind the wreckage of one of the buildings that some of the HAAH soldiers and Neo Sharks were using for cover. The grenade exploded, spraying shrapnel all over the place. Two HAAH soldiers fell to the grenade and a Neo Shark was severely injured, shrapnel embedding itself in his legs and waist. Another volley of fire from the military forces took out even more Neo Sharks, and struck one of the pink balls. The pink ball exploded, killing another two HAAH soldiers. Things were looking grim for the assaulting force.
Back behind enemy lines, a Neo Shark gang member took stock of the situation. Turning to his leader, a big, muscular man, he said, "This is the worst attack I've ever been a part of. Where's out support, man?"
"Shut the hell up and get in there?" the leader roared in response.
"Are you freakin' kidding me?" the first gang member retorted. "Goin' out there is suicide! Why don't you tell our Starmen leaders to come and get a piece of the action too?"
"Because I give the orders around here!" the leader roared. "Get in your place and go out there, now!"
"No!"
The conversation, however, would come to an abrupt end as a grenade landed among the Neo Sharks. The Neo Sharks did not notice the grenade until it exploded in their faces, killing all of them. The Starmen then quickly went to take the offensive against the security forces. They fired green beams of energy from their arms as they targeted the soldiers hiding behind cover. Their beams were far more powerful than the stone carvings that the soldiers were hiding behind and the soldiers had to lie flat on the ground in order to avoid being hit. Several beams struck behind the soldiers and large plumes of dirt and stone were thrown into the air. Karim and the others soon targeted the Starmen and the Starman Super and returned fire. The first few bullets merely bounced off of their shields and the Starmen fired back at the soldiers; however, they were unable to fell any of the defending troops. These guys must be graduates of the Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy, Karim thought sardonically, noting their inability to hit a single defender. Karim and the others merely pumped more lead into the Starmen. Eventually, their shields reached their breaking point and collapsed. After their shields had failed, the Starmen quickly fell amid a hail of gunfire. The Starman Super was not much harder to kill. The fact that he could not raise any normal shields was a great liability in this fight, as he had no real defense against the hail of gunfire that was directed against him. The fact that he could not hit the broad side of a barn did not help things either. It was not long before he also fell to the withering defense mounted by the defending soldiers. After a few more minutes, all of the attackers outside were dead.
Karim then turned towards Samantha, the other telepath and called, "You stay on guard out here. I'm going inside to make sure that no one managed to infiltrate the building during the assault."
"Aye, sir," the woman replied as she turned her focus outward towards any more potential attackers. Meanwhile, Karim ran inside the town hall to make sure that things were okay.
Inside the town hall, during the battle, Flint and Jeff were waiting patiently for the Starmen and their allies to strike. They had heard the explosions outside and had received Karim's warning. They knew that the enemy would strike soon. The delegates were being ushered into their chambers, with several armed soldiers standing guard both inside and outside the chambers for protection.
Before the delegates could be completely evacuated, though, the enemy appeared. Suddenly, standing before the remaining delegates and security forces were four Starmen, a Starman Super, eight Neo Shark gang members, and one bioweapon soldier. Jeff could tell from their glowing eyes that it was psychic. With lightning quick reflexes, Jeff and Flint drew their Baddest Beam guns and opened fire on the Starman Super and his Starman cohorts before either they or the psychic bioweapon could raise a shield over themselves. The beams struck the Starmen and after several hits, the Starmen fell. The Starman Super, however, was still alive, though its suit had several burn marks on it. The other soldiers soon joined in on the action, but their bullets struck a shield that had been erected over the entire enemy army. It was then that Jeff realized that the bioweapon was not just there for fighting purposes, but also for support. Its glowing eyes showing that it had been the one to erect a shield over the enemy army.
The Neo Sharks and the Starman Super took advantage of their opportunity and fired into the crowd of soldiers and delegates. The Sharks were terrible shots and did not manage to hit any of the delegates. Two soldiers were struck by the bullets from their AK-47s, but the body armor that the soldiers had been wearing saved their lives. While they were knocked down by the bullets and likely had several broken ribs, they were still alive, and would remain that way. Flint and Jeff glanced towards one another and nodded. They knew that they needed more firepower, so they did the only thing they could. They each grabbed their remaining grenades and tossed them at the bioweapon. They hoped that by taking out the bioweapon the shield over the rest of the attackers would drop. The grenades landed behind the creature and detonated. Flint and Jeff had taken the shield into account with their grenade toss. The grenades exploded behind the creature and among the other soldiers. The shield absorbed most of the shrapnel, but a few shards managed to get through and strike the bioweapon. One human-shape bioweapon fell to the ground, a piece of metal protruding from his head. The bioweapon's threat was neutralized. That just left the HAAH soldiers, Neo Sharks, and the Starman Super.
Jeff quickly decided that the best chance for success would be to neutralize the two remaining bioweapons. Knowing that the bioweapons were telepathic, he had no problem verbalizing his plan. "Flint, take the remaining HAAH soldiers, I'll take on the bioweapons." Jeff had not been around when Ness defeated the first set of Sharks, though he was present at the destruction and dissolution of the second band of Sharks.
Flint gave a curt nod as he took aim at the few remaining Neo Sharks. A single blast from his Baddest Beam gun was sufficient to fell one of the Neo Sharks. The others quickly dove behind overturned chairs and behind benches while they returned fire. Flint, deftly made his way towards a bench and managed to get behind it without being hit. He quickly took shots at the Neo Sharks whenever they emerged from cover to try to fire at him. He did not notice one of the Neo Sharks joining the Starman Super.
Jeff began his assault on the Starman Super he noticed one of the Neo Sharks joining the Starman. His eyes went wide in shock when he saw the Neo Shark's eyes start to glow. Jeff gasped. "How do you like me now?" the Neo Shark asked condescendingly. "Thanks to the genetic enhancements, I'm now a psychic, and far stronger than that bioweapon that you killed."
Jeff still had a few options, though, especially if the Neo Shark was not as strong as the Starman Super. He pulled out his Baddest Beam gun and targeted the Neo Shark. The first series of beams bounced off of a shield, but Jeff continued firing, forcing the Neo Shark to pour more energy into his shield. With Flint distracting the other soldiers and the Starman Super now nowhere to be found, it was a one-on-one fight, one that Jeff was winning at the moment. The Neo Shark, seeing that he was soon going to be overwhelmed, and that the primary mission of the gang, the assassination of the delegates was going to end in failure, glanced over towards the two other remaining Neo Sharks. The Neo Sharks quickly nodded back towards the Psychic Shark. One of them pulled out a small, spherical device and pressed a button. It was a dead-man's switch. He and the Psychic Shark quickly went to rush towards the delegates, who had filed into their emergency chambers. They knew that they could not kill the delegates, but they still had a plan. The Psychic Shark quickly glanced towards Jeff and used his telekinetic abilities to yank Jeff's Baddest Beam gun out of his hands. Jeff then saw one of the other Neo Sharks rush towards the chamber. While the other remaining Neo Shark and the Psychic Shark faced off against Flint and the others, Captain Karim quickly arrived. Seeing the plan in the mind of the Neo Shark, Karim cried out, "The Shark has a time dilation device! He's going to use it on the delegates!"
It was then that Jeff leapt into action. Flint and the other soldiers quickly turned to face the lone remaining Neo Shark, but they were pulled back into the fight with the Psychic Shark and the other Neo Shark by it. However, altered gang member had not counted on Jeff being a threat to the Neo Shark without his gun. Jeff quickly grabbed a discarded knife from one of the dead Neo Sharks and managed to reach the Neo Shark before he reached the chambers of the delegates. He barreled into the Neo Shark and knocked him away from the delegates' chamber. Unfortunately for the Neo Shark, he had also lost his gun, but not the time dilation device. He quickly realized that he would never survive the fight, so he decided to commit one last act of spite against the people in the chamber. As Jeff rushed to grab the time dilation device in order to try to deactivate it, the Neo Shark dropped the device. Jeff tried to catch the device, but it hit the ground. It was then that to everyone else, the Neo Shark and Jeff froze, Jeff diving for the time dilation device while raising his knife in order to defend himself from any attack the Neo Shark made, and the Neo Shark throwing a punch that was mere inches away from striking Jeff in the face.
Flint and the others saw what had happened when Jeff and the Neo Shark froze. Flint was about to run to assist Jeff when Karim called him off. "No," he shouted. "If you go in there, you'll only be frozen in time as well. The area of effect radius is three meters from the device." He then paused for a moment then, noticing the Psychic Shark and the other surviving Neo Shark targeting Flint and the other soldiers, cried out, "Behind you!"
Flint and the other soldiers then turned and fired on the Neo Shark and the Psychic. The sheer volume of fire was more than a match for the shield that the genetically altered human had erected. The Psychic Shark and Neo Shark fell amid a hail of gunfire. After a few seconds, the threat was over, and the attack had been stopped. Flint glanced around the room, remembering the Starman Super. "Where's the Starman Super?" he called out to Karim and the others.
The group looked around. Karim's eyes glowed for a few moments before he reported back, "I'm not sensing anyone else except us Flint."
That answer gave Flint no comfort. Still, there was little he could do right now. He then informed the delegates that it was safe to return.
It was not long before the delegates came back out into the hall to resume negotiations. They saw the scene of dead Neo Sharks, the bioweapon, and Starmen on the floor, as well as Jeff and the Neo Shark, each about to strike the other while Jeff dove for the time dilation device on the ground. Karim warned the delegates against approaching them, telling them about the device. After they had taken their seats, they were about to resume negotiations when Flint rose before them. This action surprised them and one of them asked, "What is it, Lieutenant Sanders? Is there something else you wish to add to your deposition?"
"No," Flint replied. "Not to my deposition. But I do want to honor one who is lost to us, for a time. While you were filing in, Karim told me that he managed to glean the function of the time dilation device. It slows down time for whoever is in the field. According to Karim's calculations, it is likely that should Jeff quickly defeat the Neo Shark and manage to reach and deactivate the time dilation device relatively quickly, three years will have gone by. I wish for him to be known and remembered with honor, for he has fought bravely against incredible odds. He has done far more than an ordinary child ever could, and he did not whine or complain about his mission. He has done so much for us that we don't even know, and for this, he deserves our praise and honor. I request that there be a guard here for his protection. He has helped protect us from our common enemy, the PSI Aliens. It is time for us to return the favor."
It was then that the entire audience and delegation rose and broke out in applause. There they remained, applauding for almost five minutes without stopping. Flint looked at this and thought that it would have brought a tear to Jeff's eye. After the applause had died down and the delegates took their seats, the conference continued in a much more subdued fashion. The delegates and all present had seen a group of soldiers and a child fight for them…no, for the human race. It was their turn to make sure that Jeff's sacrifice was not in vain.
Back onboard his command ship, Giygas read the report that the Starman Deluxe had handed him. The delegation began negotiations anew. He grimaced. This was not what he had hoped would happen. Jeff's sacrifice had galvanized the delegates. He could tell that it was likely that Earth's third world war would end soon. The soldiers had had enough fighting, as did the politicians. Giygas considered what to do next. He could order the few remaining HAAH soldiers to attack the delegates individually, but that would be of little use now. The damage had been done. Any further attack would only galvanize the world's governments further. Now, there were few options left. One would be to cancel the invasion plan. That was out of the question, though. Even with this turn of events, humanity had still been greatly weakened by the previous war. They would be relatively easy to destroy if the fleet had been assembled. But the fleet was not here yet. Only a small task force was currently on approach towards Earth and that would not be nearly enough to take on a planet like Earth.
Another option would be to wait until later to invade. It would allow the fleet to arrive in force. However, that would also allow humanity to begin to repair and rebuild their devastated cities. And facing a united humanity with them being closer to full strength would be costly, especially if they used their psychics effectively. They would still win, but the losses would be greater. There was also the fact that the Starmen had been killed and the bioweapons that they had helped the humans engineer had been destroyed as well. This was along with the retreat of the Starman Super leading the attack. This was both good and bad. It was bad in that may well give the humans hope, so finding human traitors would be more difficult in the short term. However, in the long term, it was of little consequence. He would punish the cowardly Starman Super in due time.
The third option was to go ahead with the invasion now. The Vanguard Fleet was already beginning to arrive. Still, he had to ask what Giegue would want.
Giygas then glanced towards his communications officer, a Starman Super and ordered, "Open a channel to the Mother Ship."
"Yes, Master."
The officer opened the channel. Giygas stared down at a circular platform and a figure of his own species, shrouded by shadow sprang into existence. Giygas then spoke. "The plan to keep humanity fighting amongst itself has failed. In fact, they are even more united now than they might have been without our interference. I believe, however, that it would still be best to begin the invasion now, once the Vanguard Fleet arrives. That way, we can still catch humanity while it is still reeling from their last great war."
"I'm not so sure," the figure countered sagely. "The humans likely still have a large number of nuclear weapons at their disposal, and a noticeable number of them can both reach Earth's orbit and damage our ships once we achieve orbit. Wait for a while before launching the invasion. I suggest hiding near the moon. Send down a few agents, of course, to scout the world and give you precise primary and secondary targets, but still, wait to launch the real attack. We need to do this properly so that humanity's response won't put us in jeopardy. We are so few in number that any mistakes could doom us all."
"I understand," Giygas responded. He then gave a bow and the channel was closed, the hologram of Giegue vanished.
Giygas then turned to the Starman Deluxe, who nodded in return. "Open a broadband channel to the Vanguard Fleet," Giygas commanded.
The officer responded and soon, the channel was open. Giygas then said, "Retreat to the far side of the moon in the shadow of Earth. There, we will wait until we get the necessary information for the invasion to begin." The channel then closed. Giygas had no intention of waiting, as Giegue suggested. While it was unusual for Giegue to be the patient one, he knew why Giegue wanted to wait. He wanted to do a lot of the killing himself, not let Giygas hog all the glory. While the wait would allow humanity time to dismantle its nuclear weapons, it could also allow them to build more. And he had a feeling that humanity would likely either build more nuclear weapons, modify its current arsenal so that the nuclear weapons would be able to achieve orbit and/or even be able to escape Earth's orbit. The reason humanity was united was because it perceived a clear and present threat to the entire world, one that a human child had practically sacrificed his life to fight against. He felt it best to strike now while humanity was still wounded and vulnerable. Maybe, if a miracle occurred, there would only be a handful of human psychics still alive and he could take them out quickly, and thus, the annihilation of humanity could be averted. He did not want to plan on that being the case, though. And even if there were, he knew first hand just how powerful human psychics could become. Ness and his friends had shown him that decades ago. He thought that it would be best to have a small presence down on the Earth in order to oversee things until the rest of the fleet arrived over Earth.
Giygas's musing was interrupted when the Starman Deluxe, his executive officer, raised his arm and exclaimed, "I volunteer, Master."
"Good," Giygas said, turning to him. "I suggest you go to the Stonehenge Base in Winters that was set up by the soldiers of the Universal Cosmic Destroyer in the 1990s by Earth's reckoning. There we can have a force on the ground in a pre-fabricated base that won't be detected by the humans until it's too late."
"Yes, Master," the Starman Deluxe replied.
"One more thing," Giygas added.
"What is it?"
"I want you to also go to Onett and get the Chosen Four member Jeff Andonuts, take him to Stonehenge Base, and place him in stasis. I am expecting the rest of the Chosen Four to search for him and that will be the perfect location for us to spring our trap and get rid of them once and for all. Also, scan the human general you placed in stasis in Stonehenge Base. He was a friend of a confirmed human psychic. He may have knowledge of other human psychics. We must find them. I have a use for them."
"I understand, Master," the Starman Deluxe replied. Giygas could almost detect that the Starman was smiling beneath his helmet and visor. The Starman Deluxe then left the bridge to carry out his mission. Giygas then knew that it would not be long before it was time to begin the invasion. So much work had been done. So much planning had been put into this moment. It was finally about to come to fruition. It would not be long before the invasion of humanity in earnest had begun.
