Earth-717: Fantastic Four Vol 2
Chapter 10: The Battle of Xandar
Susan, Johnny and Ben all watched in awe as they approached Xandar. Rhomann was still flying the Skrull transport ship, and Anelle was in the passenger seat. While both the Xandarian and the Skrull Princess had seen Xandar before, it was a new sight for the humans, and it was one of most majestic views in the galaxy.
What made it even more astounding was that the planet was almost completely encased within a xanthous energy field. The field appeared to be a sphere, but was actually composed of an interlocking pattern of enormous triangles, with the vertices being formed by a grid of defense nodes. The only break in the field was a gigantic gold and blue space station that was in orbit around the planet.
However, everyone quickly realized something was wrong when they saw a large dreadnought ship parked next to the space station. It was five hundred metres in length, larger than even the heavy cruisers of the Nova Corps. It was a black and dark blue ship, and gave off an aura of malice just from the sight of it.
The dreadnought ship was at the centre of a space battle, with dozens of heavy Nova cruisers and Skrull support ships engaged in active combat around it. Fighter squadrons from both factions could be seen swarming in and around the larger ships, firing lasers and missiles at each other to try and whittle down the enemy forces.
"That thing don't look like it's the girl scouts," said Ben.
"Not any Skrull ship I've ever seen," said Rhomann.
"I know that ship," said Anelle.
Rhomann looked over at Anelle.
"You do?"
"That's the Dark Revenant," answered Anelle. "A dreadnought used as a base of operations by a ruthless gang of space pirates, led by Nebula."
"Nebula?" asked Rhomann. "The Nebula?"
"Yes."
"I suppose this Nebula person is bad news?" asked Susan.
"She's the most notorious outlaw in the galaxy," answered Anelle. "Daughter of an insane warlord, she's a mass murderer, a pirate and a terrorist. I can't believe it, but . . . . Veranke must have hired her to help her conquer Xandar."
Rhomann frowned upon seeing that the golden defensive barrier around Xandar had a hole in the area that was connected to the space station, near where the dreadnought was parked.
"No. No!"
"What?" asked Susan. "What is it?"
Rhomann pointed at the hole.
"You see there? Where the defensive matrix is broken? The Skrulls might have gotten ships through. Or Pariahs. This is bad."
"How bad?" asked Johnny. "Like, are we talking my hair on Sunday morning bad, or Ben's complexion bad?"
"Matchstick!"
"The defensive matrix is impenetrable. Nothing can get through it. It's powered by a shield generator on the planet's surface. The only possible weak point is that space station, the Senatorium, where the Galactic Senate meets. But it has some of the strongest armour plating in the galaxy. The only way a hole could be created is if one of the supplementary generators inside the Senatorium itself were to be compromised."
"And that happened," said Susan.
"Must have. Normally I'd say the defenders on the ground could take care of it, but . . . . if they got a Pariah through, and it gets to the shield generator? Then this is all over."
"Then we don't have any time to lose," said Susan.
Rhomann flew straight towards the battle, taking care to avoid becoming trapped by the crossfire between the various vessels. He headed straight for the hole in the defensive matrix. Once he was inside the barrier, everyone on the ship could see the massive beam of golden energy that connected the planet's surface to the defensive matrix. At the end of this beam was the shield generator, at the heart of Xandar's capital.
Rhomann tapped a few more buttons on his wrist gauntlet as he continued to fly the ship towards the surface. After a moment, audio started filtering in from his gauntlet.
"Rhomann?!"
"Camaria, it's me! Are you okay? What's going on down there?"
"Rhomann? I thought you were . . . . we heard about Rigellia. We thought you were dead!"
"Luckily not. I just got here. Is Duranna . . . .?"
Susan frowned upon hearing a baby crying in the background. Rhomann sighed with relief once he heard his daughter wailing.
"The whole city's evacuating," said Camaria. "Something about a Skrull invasion. Rhomann, I don't know . . . ."
"Just do what they tell you. Get out of the city. Go to your sister's house if you can, okay?"
"Okay, I just, I just . . . ."
"Hey. Everything's gonna be fine. I'm here now, and I'm gonna do my job, right?"
There was a distinct pause before Camaria responded.
"Right."
"Okay," said Rhomann. "I love you."
The call ended, and Rhomann took several heavy breaths. Susan placed her hand on his shoulder, and he nodded at her in response. As the transport drew closer, the people inside finally got a good look at the battle on the ground.
It was worse than they feared.
The capital was under siege, not from one, but from two Pariahs. Both of the gargantuan death machines were lumbering through the outskirts of the city, clearly heading straight for the shield generator at the centre of a group of defense towers. There were also thousands upon thousands of ground troops on both sides trading fire, and a multitude of Nova starfighters that were desperately trying to maintain control of the skies.
Anelle cringed as she watched a Pariah laser slice down an entire building its path. Ben then scratched the side of his head as everyone seemed transfixed on the battle below.
"Hey, far be it from me to like, interrupt, but ain't there the off chance we might get shot at in a ship like this? I mean, it did belong to the bad guys."
"Yeah," said Johnny. "Good point. That'd really suck, wouldn't it?"
"Not exactly how I was picturing I was going to die," said Anelle.
"Any suggestions?" asked Rhomann.
"Just one," said Susan. "You got good aim with this thing?"
Rhomann shrugged.
"Doesn't really have any weapons that could do real damage."
"Not what I meant."
"Take the pressure off those barriers!"
Standing in the command room of the defensive tower complex surrounding the shield generator, Centurion Malik Tarcel was not having a good day. A Shi'ar member of the Nova Corps, he was the man in charge of organizing the ground defense of Xandar. Originally, he had been upset when the war had broken out and he was assigned to Xandar, having wanted to serve on the front lines with the fleet against Veranke's forces.
Now he realized the folly of his earlier wish, because now Xandar was the front line, and despite his best efforts, he was starting to lose.
The defense cannons closest to his position aimed down at the ground forces, firing several blasts at the front of the Skrull ranks. The Nova troops had deployed hundreds of small barriers to use as cover to halt the Skrull advance, but the sheer number of troops and the Mekkan support they had was starting to become too much.
If the Skrull ground forces overwhelmed the Nova defenders, the command position could be overrun. But for every cannon that focused on helping the ground forces, that was a cannon that wasn't focused on taking down the incoming Pariahs.
It was a deadly game of odds, and a wrong move on Tarcel's part could mean the end of the Nova Corps.
"Centurion, sir! Look!"
Tarcel looked to where one of his Krylorian subordinates was pointing. Tarcel watched with amazement as a Skrull transport ship fell out of the sky, as if it was not even being flown. The transport plummeted directly towards one of the Pariahs, crashing into the top of it. The explosion did not crack the outer shell of the machine, but it did cause the main section to lower, and for the Pariah to take a couple steps back.
Morrat was knocked out of his chair by the force of the Skrull transport's impact, but he quickly stood back up.
"WHAT WAS THAT?!"
"It appears to have been the impact of a ship," said the Mekkan officer.
"I figured that part out for myself, you deficient dolt! What ship was it?!"
"Unknown, General. It does not appear that the Nova fighters are performing suicide runs. The ship's trajectory seems to have been . . . ."
"Bah!"
Morrat smacked the Mekkan officer in the head with the back of his metallic hand.
"Never mind," said Morrat. "Just get us back on course!"
The Mekkan officer lowered his head slightly.
"At once, General."
Morrat sat back in his command chair. He started to furiously click his metallic fingers against the end of the arm rest. He growled under his breath as he watched the Nova defenders continue to put up their fight through his view screen, all of them huddled around the shield generator. The Mekkan officer then perked up his head again upon seeing a notification on his terminal.
"General, I have an incoming call from the Queen."
"Put it through."
The view screen morphed into a video call, with Veranke on the other end.
"My Queen," said Morrat.
"General. I'm on my way to Earth right now. I trust your assault is going as planned?"
"Mostly. I must admit, I'm surprised that you trusted Nebula, but your pirate friend came through. We're advancing on the capital now. The Nova Corps are putting up quite the fight. Understandable, given our target, but . . . . they'll be crushed soon enough."
"See to it, General."
"So glad I didn't have to ride with the peanut gallery, ha ha!"
Johnny performed a couple of aerial somersaults in his flame form. Susan had formed a force field sphere around herself, Ben, Rhomann and Anelle to carry the four of them out of the Skrull transport after Rhomann had set it on a collision course for one of the Pariahs.
Ben scoffed and pointed at Johnny.
"Kid, you ARE the peanut gallery!"
Susan groaned.
"Knock it off! This isn't the time!"
Susan glided over the group of defense towers, per Rhomann's instructions. Johnny followed closely behind. Landing on one of the empty balconies, Susan let go of the sphere, depositing herself and her passengers. Johnny landed and reverted to his regular form. Within seconds, they were set upon by a squad of Nova troopers, but Rhomann talked them down and requested that they be brought before the commanding officer of the defense.
After a couple minutes, the heroes were all standing in the command room along with Tarcel and over twenty other Nova officers, and Rhomann explained who they were and where they had come from. Tarcel shook his head at the end of Rhomann's story.
"I had no idea I'd be harbouring unknown aliens and a Skrull princess today, but I guess this isn't really the time to be choosy. You three say you can fight?"
"Ready and willing," said Susan.
"Hell yeah," said Johnny.
"Always up for a good brawl," said Ben.
"I guess that's good enough," replied Tarcel, before looking at Anelle. "And you . . . . you really think you can stop all this?"
"Veranke keeps her people placated through fear and talk of destiny," said Anelle. "If she dies, then all this comes to an end. I take back the throne, and this war will be over."
Tarcel sighed and looked out the window for a couple moments before nodding.
"Alright," he said, before turning back to face the front window. "I guess stranger things have been going on lately. Hell, this whole mess happened because the Senate and the Kree were discussing a peace treaty, so why not add a Skrull princess to our list of allies?"
"Wait, what?!" exclaimed Rhomann. "The Senate and . . . . and the Kree?"
"Heh, yeah," said Tarcel. "It's been a bit of a crazy day. Look, I can't exactly get into it right now, but everything's coming apart, everything we thought we knew. It's everyone versus Veranke, far as I've been told. But none of it will matter if those Pariahs get to the shield generator. So you wanna help? Then help me take those things out."
"Do you have any spare fighters?" asked Rhomann.
"A couple," replied Tarcel. "Get down to the hangar on D-Deck."
Rhomann turned and sprinted out of the room. Tarcel then looked at Susan.
"What about you guys?"
Susan smirked.
"Well, I can fly. So can my brother. And Ben?"
Ben punched his fists together.
"Ben will just do what he does best," said Susan.
"IT'S CLOBBERIN' TIME!"
Ben leaped over one of the deployed Nova barriers and broke into the Skrull infantry ranks, wildly attacking all of the enemies in the vicinity. While at first the Nova troopers were perplexed by their newfound ally, they quickly realized that he was helping them gain ground, emboldening the troops to start pushing the Skrulls and Mekkans back.
Fighting alongside the Nova forces, Ben repeatedly slammed his fists down on the enemy soldiers. The Nova troops used his body as cover, due to all of the incoming fire bouncing off of him. A couple of larger Mekkan units launched rockets at him, but one of the Nova troops reacted by tossing up a deployable barrier, absorbing the blasts.
Pulling out energy daggers, a handful of Skrull soldiers all pounced towards Ben at once, trying to slash their way through his skin.
"Damn jokers don't play fair! One at a time, ladies!"
Wrestling with five soldiers at once, Ben managed to beat them all away before grabbing one of them and flinging him back at his friends, knocking down over a dozen troops with one attack. Charging up a haymaker, Ben then rushed forward and threw it right into a Mekkan's face, breaking the trooper apart into a thousand pieces from the force of the blow.
As the ground battle continued to rage, a full squadron of Nova fighters flew overhead, flanked by Susan on a force field disc and Johnny in his flame form. Rhomann was now inside a fighter, serving as a member of the squadron. The fighters opened fire on the closest Pariah, aiming for the central cannon. The Pariah fired its laser in return, but most of the squadron managed to evade the attack. Two of the fighters were blasted out of the sky.
Susan flew over to the limbs of the Pariah, forming force field discs that she then used to try and slice at the Pariah's joints. While she could partially damage the mechanics, the Pariah's plating was far too strong for her to cut through with this method. The Pariah turned and tried to shoot her down with its laser, but she turned herself invisible, causing the Pariah to shift its focus back to the other Nova forces attacking it.
Dozens of additional Nova fighters joined the battle, launching missiles and firing lasers at the Pariahs as they marched. While they were bombarded by hundreds of shots, nothing appeared to do more than slow them down. Even attack runs from behind seemed to do little but scratch their apparently impenetrable armour plating.
The only thing that seemed capable of causing any real damage to the Pariahs were the defense cannons atop the towers, but their slow volleys and low numbers meant that even their capabilities were limited. Johnny tried to sear the Pariah's legs with heat blasts, but even his most powerful attacks were incapable of burning their way through the armour.
One of the Pariahs looked down and fired a single sustained laser that swiped vertically along the ground, vaporizing almost fifty Nova troopers in one go. Seeing this senseless slaughter, Rhomann closed his eyes and shook his head.
"We need a new tactic! Nothing we're doing is getting through that armour!"
"Looks like the only weak point is the central cannon," said Susan, her earpiece having been connected to the Nova communication frequency. "But we attack there . . . ."
"And we're just asking for it, I know," said Rhomann. "Practically suicide, but if we don't do something soon, then we're all screwed."
Susan thought for a moment before speaking up again.
"Tarcel, can you hear me?"
"I'm here," said Tarcel.
"I think I've got an idea for how to take down one of those monsters. Tell your cannons to aim at the Pariah on the right side, but don't fire! Just get all of them in position and wait for my signal."
"What? You're crazy! I need those cannons firing at all times! I can't just divert them on your say so. I don't even know you!"
"I vouch for her, Centurion," said Rhomann. "And do you have a better strategy? Because right now, we're getting torn apart out here!"
"I divert those cannons, and we might lose everything!"
Susan furrowed her brow.
"You don't divert those cannons, and you will lose everything!"
Both Susan and Rhomann heard Tarcel sigh over the com link.
"Okay. I pray you're right. All cannons! Cease fire and aim at the right side Pariah, but hold fire until my command!"
Susan soared around the battlefield on her force field disc, heading for the Pariah. All of the defense cannons turned and took aim at their target, holding fire as instructed. Flying downwards, Susan used her arm to beckon many of the Nova fighters to follow after her. At the front of a long line of fighters, Susan flew straight for the Pariah's front end.
Tarcel blinked and shook his head upon seeing what she was doing.
"She's headed right for it! It'll have a clear line of sight!"
Still, Susan maintained her course. Looking down, the Pariah saw that the line of incoming attackers were perfectly positioned, so that they would all be destroyed by a single vertical laser sweep. The opportunity too good to pass up, the Pariah charged its laser. Upon seeing this, Susan made a hand signal for the fighters to head upwards.
The Pariah fired, and Susan and all of the fighters rocketed into the sky. As the Pariah followed after them with its laser, its cannon became completely exposed.
"NOW!" shouted Susan.
All of the defense cannons fired at the same time. The Pariah's laser turned off and it started to move back down, but it was too late. Several heavy laser cannon blasts all struck the Pariah's main firing chamber at the same time, and the compounding attacks caused the front end of the war machine to explode.
Susan threw up her hands in triumph as the Pariah struggled to stay up. Johnny pumped his fists, and Ben clapped.
"YEAH! GO SIS!"
"Hell of a ploy, Suzie!"
Within moments, the Pariah collapsed, its main section breaking apart and its legs snapping at the joints. While the Nova Corps were all happy that they had managed to destroy one of Veranke's monstrous weapons, they didn't realize what they had just done. With the cannons all focused on his ally, Morrat chuckled to himself inside of his own Pariah.
Marching forward, Morrat aimed his laser at the defense cannon on the left side, before firing it in a horizontal sweep. In one attack, he managed to slice off the cannons atop six of the seven defense towers. Hundreds of Nova troops screamed as they were crushed under the collapsing weight of the cannons falling apart. Morrat wildly cackled as his Pariah took another step closer, mere moments away from destroying the shield generator.
Susan gasped in horror. She had gambled everything to destroy one Pariah, but now, there was nothing left to stop the second from reaching its goal.