Dark Hunter, Dark Saviour

Chapter 13: Dissention and final stage.

6th May 2900, late night.

Alpha Centuari, Pandora, St. Augustine

5 minutes since the Aree'lathor had fled, since the missile strike that claimed Alex and the Leg'hrul commander in the blast.

In the wake of the respite, Lexa had radioed the comms network of the former KI forces, confirming that the missiles were an alliance strike. Aang, using his earth and metal bending, made short work of the sealed doors. Ripping them apart, the way was clear on the other side, the dead slave units, Mir'minsk included, having reached the UIP holding point by now.

Back, the others recovered. Shockwave surveyed with his one red optic the damage his armour had taken, noting the scratches and dents all over. At one point the massive, 50 foot tall and 130 foot long beast had bitten his gun arm, and luckily, the weapon was relatively unharmed. Still, the mech was careful not to risk using it until a diagnostic of its status was finished.

Sokka's left arm was still in considerable pain, the quick replacement of the joint meant he would have full use of it within a month. Suki's wrist was now strapped to her side with a makeshift arm brace, and would be easily healed. Both were sitting with each other, holding each other close, husband and wife, offering relief.

Katara and Quirinth had taken beatings, mainly from fragments thrown up from the Aree'lathor's rampage. Cuts and bruises, other than that, they were fine. One of Quirinth's mandibles had been fractured slightly, though she bore the pain reasonably. Sru'sky had been winded when the beast had whirled around, the tail, thankfully the blunt end, smacking her into the ground a considerable distance away. She was bruised, but otherwise fine.

Firi'sry's cuts on her arms and leg were healing with the medical gel, and had it not been for Aang's intervention, she, Sokka and Suki would have likely suffered from the impact of the debris.

Firi'sry looked up at the blasted chunk of stadium roof. Before the missiles detonated, Firi'sry had been gripped by panic and fear, and had found herself screaming in disbelief as the missiles impacted. She had seen Alex's, and the Leg'hrul's fear, and had seen them turn tail and run, with Alex actually helping the Leg'hrul. It was one thing hearing about the things that one's child was involved in with combat, but seeing her adopted son be consumed by such an explosion in person, was different.

Footsteps, and Sru'sky walked up beside her mother. The two women, normally standing with their 10 feet of height in a proud, regal manner, were slumped visibly in exhaustion and shock. Firi'sry stated sadly: "He tried to help us."

Agreeing somewhat, Sru'sky noted: "He wronged us. But now I see we wronged him originally. He was trying to make things right today, and now this." She gestured at the stadium roof. It was then that Quirinth came up to them, and commented softly: "I was terrible to him. I killed him, I spoke to him with nothing but contempt today, after he helped us, after everything the Alliance forced him to do, after he had one of his, my friends, who stayed loyal to him, die in front of him, in his arms."

Lexa saw this conversation, and walked over, her footsteps cracking on the broken concrete alerting them to her presence. As they saw her, they were interested in what Alex's ally was coming to talk to them about. Sru'sky was alert and on guard, but they all knew this was simply due to their past encounter, where Lexa attacked Sru'sky on orders with Xale against Trion.

Lexa spoke: "I got to know Alex in the brief time I served with him. I know about what he thought of all of you. In your case Quirinth, he constantly said he was driven by a urge to, as he put it, 'rob you of the months you stole from me'." She quoted with her fingers. At Quirinth's morbid expression, Lexa tried to consolidate: "He was ordered to kill you actually, since you were snooping around the KI operations history and plans. He saved you, he said that you were tortured, but at least you lived He did say that he never intended to kill you. I myself saw your comatose form once or twice myself. He was careful to keep you alive. In fact, he traded your body for his old body because he wanted to keep his old body as a memorial to what he's sacrificed for his beliefs, and to return you to your friends as a gesture of good will. He was resurrected among people who wanted to use him, he wanted you to wake up among people who cared about you."

At this, Quirinth was truly humbled. Although she could never completely forgive Alex for the actual torture she was put through by him, she understood his reasons, twisted by madness as they were. His sparing of her life, albeit at the cost of months of comatose time, and the fact that he had apparently handled her inflicted 'condition' with such care showed he was not completely turned. Sru'sky laid a large hand on Quirinth's armoured shoulder, a tear going down her blue cheek as she recalled the memories of the day of Quirinth's return. Firi'sry asked carefully: "Why though? Why did he do what he did, in front of me, to Eywa, to my mate?"

At the sight of Firi'sry, Lexa began to see flashes of distant memories, some slightly fuzzy, but still accurate. These were not memories of her own though.

When Lexa and Xale were conceived, the memories of Alex up to his death were implanted into their minds. Memories, not personalities. Like accurate dreams, much of the knowledge of the world outside was in the twins' grasp before they were released. They learnt from Alex's collective knowledge he accumulated. That included personal memories. The memories of H'nuptec came to Lexa.

She answered honestly: "In the case of Eywa, as we said before, he was ordered to send the electrical shock through as a way to test for what the Alliance ultimately wanted to do today. They wanted to transmit a frequency to convert all animals and Na'vi on Pandora to Alliance servitude, like the slave units you saw before, although they would be just as mortal as anyone else. Alex was sent to test the theory of transmission. The reason he did it was since he felt disheartened by Eywa when he was growing up, deeply disconnected, and never able to be a part of it like the others in his tribe. The myths he heard growing up that seemed to exclude his kind, combined with his madness then, made him resent Eywa, hate her."

Unfortunately, both Sru'sky and Firi'sry knew this was somewhat true. Alex had displayed contempt of some kind when Eywa was mentioned, as if it were something off limits to him. Combined with growing up thinking he was weak, and his isolation for 10 years, and things began to add up, the madness catalyst only worsening it.

With this, Firi'sry was beginning to see the reasoning as to why Alex committed himself to killing H'nuptec. Firi'sry spoke aloud, sadness clear in her voice: "I see now why Alex may have killed H'nuptec."

"Before you explain-" Interrupted Lexa: "Alex was ordered to drop off Quirinth's body, and perform the electrical tests on Eywa, nothing more. His murder of your mate was entirely his own choice. His own, mad, twisted illogical choice."

Firi'sry was now in tears again, and she had expected this. H'nuptec was of no strategic concern to Alex, unlike Quirinth had been to the KI for snooping around. She realized: "H'nuptec was not the perfect mate, I can see this. I suppose he was slightly disappointed that Alex was human, he knew well of their history initially with our race, and he always held a slight prejudice for them, though not too much. He seemed to favour Sru'sky, and that, and the fact he was viewed by others and himself as weak, drove him to gain strength. He must have remembered everything that H'nuptec may have wronged him by, and snapped. Everything he said afterwards, before he left, was true."

Now Firi'sry was morbid. Sru'sky understood the pain, and now all three of Alex's friends and family were much more enlightened with their human ally. He had been wronged, he had blindly pursued vengeance, and he had tried to run when things got out of hand. Then, he did what he needed to do, and sacrificed himself to destroy the KI fleet, and now he had led an invasion army to save Pandora and Cybertron.

And now he was gone, probably dead from the blast or the impact.

Lexa called aloud to Shockwave: "Hey. I'm going to lead the others to the safe zone. Alex is still alive, but I can't get a fix on his signal, too much interference! Watch out for that monster and the Leg'hrul, if he's still kicking!"

"Understood, I shall locate the human. He owes me finding Kal'sik." Transforming, Shockwave rocketed into the air, his purple and dark silver attack craft gaining height fast. As Lexa turned back, she explained to the astonished faces of all present: "What? Me and Shockwave have beacons on everyone. If Alex was dead, I'd know. He's alive, I just can't find him. Besides, I need to get you to the UIP safe zone, just another 2 miles."

As they set off, the pace at the slowest person's, conversation was less morbid in the knowledge that Alex was still kicking. Quirinth, feeling less hostile now towards Alex, commented aloud: "You have to admit, that kid just refuses to die easily. I can never forgive myself for what I did to him Iegris, but I'm jus saying."

Lexa laughed heartily, ignoring the brief memory flashes of the collapsing building, mutilating the shoulder when he still thought he could escape. She said: "I was there when he took out the KI fleet and himself. You killed him by trapping him on a collapsing building he did himself. Do you know what he did to earn him his second death?"

"What did he do?" asked Sru'sky, as she helped her mother walk. Shaking her head, Lexa finished: "He blew the core of that dreadnought, the Emancipator, the one that was at Mars once. The whole ship blew up, all of it. In seconds the entire KI fleet was gone, literally obliterated. Nothing was left. Of course, Alex had his mind transferred out moments before that happened. He was transferred into a body he'd made ready long before, after only a week, much to short for any kind of madness to set in."

"Wow, and I thought Sokka had a flair for dramatics." Commented Katara.

"Hey, no fair, you can't poke fun at the cripple!"

Dust, soot, and smoke.

These odours filtered through his mask's olfactory filters. Testing his mechanical arms and legs, he found no faults. All systems seemed fine, armour was quite dented though, the dark matter 'cushion' had saved him.

"I'm beginning to see a pattern here. I try to help a group to freedom, I get shot. It's like the Fire rebel HQ prison all over again." Said Alex grumpily to himself, as he hoisted himself up. "Now where the hell am I?"

Alex had landed in a ruined section of underground corridors, an underground service section for visitors to stadium events, exposed by the craters and debris fall. Holes in the roof exposed the clearing, lighting night sky, and shop stalls and services of the stadium were all around. Advertisements were all around, shops lay in ruins, and surprisingly little blood was about.

His metallic footsteps echoing, Alex stepped lightly, knowing Kirth was likely here, alive. A dark matter user stood much less chance of dying from a fall like that, after already surviving a missile strike.

Then, as Alex stepped forwards, he saw, and heard, two different things. He saw a wing, light blue and white, with red tips, sticking out, slumped over a rubble pile. From above and behind, Alex heard a low, rumbling growl, something breathing slowly, and very heavily.

Turning very slowly, Alex barely glimpsed the massive creature's head as it swatted him aside with the side of its skull, not hard enough to break bones, but hard enough to send him into a nearby wall. Winded, again, Alex keeled over, and watched as the absolutely enormous creature dipped its head further into the opening, its front paws and talons digging itself further in, with surprising delicacy.

In front of him, Zirleth, the female Aree'lathor, a 50 foot tall and 130 foot long monster of reptilian and mammalian characteristics, gently dug out the Leg'hrul with the edges of its mouth. Snorting gently, the creature nudged the bipedal avian gently. A groan, and Kirth's eyes opened.

He recoiled in shock at the sight of Zirleth, but soon became relieved. He pulled himself up, and laid a thankful hand on the creature's massive snout. He became concerned at the bloody mess of one of Zirleth's four eyes, and muttered aloud: "Girl, those people did bad damage to you. You need to be more careful."

The creature snorted gently, nudging the avian with gentle affection, the force not harming the Leg'hrul at all. The creature noticed Alex off to the side, and growled slowly. Seeing this, Alex declared aloud, in panic: "Hey! I just woke up literally seconds ago, alright!"

"Zirleth. Leave him, for now." Ordered Kirth. The Aree'lathor was apparently grumpy at this, and opted to climb back up the hole she had dug, to stay on the ground surrounding the crater and revealed shop tunnel.

"Well trained, she is." Commented Alex. Kirth was still mildly shocked, and muttered aloud: "Those missiles were alliance. Why would they fire when I was so close by? I'm the second in command!"

Shaking his head, Alex said: "They wanted me. They fired those missiles at me mainly, but they used your coordinates, knowing you were in close combat with me. They used your mission requirements as a way to get to me. You were bait, I was the prey."

"Those bastards! No, only one of them, Kal'sik! Only he would be ruthless enough to sacrifice his XO to get something, or get rid of something! Model Alliance leader, my ass!" Yelled Kirth. Alex pointed out: "Your not the only one who's been used by the Aliiance then. You know enough about me to know I was effectively corrupted to serve the alliance under false belief. You originally served the Alliance before this newer, less tolerant leadership branch came into being. And now you are being victimized to help their goals. Not much for respect for accomplished individuals huh?"

Alex's words hit home. Kirth was at a loss. He had lost his elite squad, though that was Alex's doing in self defence, not treachery at all. He had been almost killed not by Alex, but by his very commander, Kal'sik. The there was the slave horde testing part of this entire invasion plan, and then the plan to attempt to seize a form of slave control of the Pandoran and Cybetronain lifeforms by exploiting their closely interlinked ecosystems. These atrocities were not what the greatness of the Leg'hrul/Kro'nogir alliance had been originally established for 20 years ago. Something had gone wrong when the new leadership council emerged.

"I want the Alliance to be strong, but I do not want them tarnished in reputation by this operation. From how I see it now, this is a losing battle for us, except that Kal'sik is too stubborn to quit. I concede defeat, so I say this, I shall return, and I shall attempt to stop the assault."

Now Alex was stunned. He asked: "Hang on. You're pulling out? No tricks, no backstabbings?"

Shaking his head, Kirth replied respectfully: "I know when we are beaten. I was forced to work under the command of one less skilled then me, who underestimated his opponents. I shall therefore try and make this into something you tried to make today too, as little a massacre as possible."

Standing up, Alex said: "I need to get back into the Varya-6 station anyway. I'm not asking you to switch sides, but I need to get my men out of there, killing as few Alliance as possible to avoid attention. If you help me get them out, to safety, I shall order my forces to hold back, and only, only, shoot in self defence. In exchange, you try to convince Kal'sik to withdraw."

Reaching out a hand, or clawed mechanical hand, Alex signalled for a handshake, a sign of agreement. Kirth recognized the human signal of trust, and slowly extended his own, three fingered hand. After briefly shaking, they released, mutually respectful of the other, sharing in sentiments and goals, though on different sides.

Alex climbed out of the hole, with Kirth close behind. Zirleth towered nearby, growling lowly at the human, though more as a warning, not outright aggression. It seemed animal and master shared opinions in this case. Kirth slowly approached Zirleth, and leapt up onto the massive beast. On command, the Aree'lathor turned around and ran off, back towards the distant space bridge.

Overhead, a purple and silver attack craft came to a landing, transforming to a tall cycloptic robot as it landed. Seeing the retreating Leg'hrul and Aree'lathor, Shockwave asked: "Why are they not attacking?"

"We have an agreement. Kirth is a wise leader, he knows that the Alliance can't win without unacceptable casualties, even by their standards. He's going to help make it easier for us to get back into the station space bridge somehow, to let us get Raxler, Norstith and Ja'hail to safety." Explained Alex. Shockwave saw a flaw though:

"What of Kal'sik?" Shaking his head, Alex finished: "Truthfully, Kirth there isn't a big fan of Kal'sik. He used Kirth's signal to lock onto my location, he didn't care about killing his own XO just to get to me."

Realizing with interest, Shockwave commented in an amused tone: "It would seem probable that Kirth will not display much resistance to killing Kal'sik, and not many others, if we can." As Shockwave transformed, Alex climbed onto his wings, leaping into the cockpit, commenting: "No, I don't think Kirth will be a problem any longer. In fact, I think we might have a case of mutiny coming up."

"Kal'sik has made 3 mortal enemies within a week. Not that wise." Rumbled Shockwave, taking off at full speed, using his scramblers to hide all signals and emissions from himself, only being visible to eyesight. They would use the orbiting space bridge, the ground level one too small to go though unnoticed.

Within 20 minutes, the Cybertronian and human were immersed in the thick of the battle. In the hail of lasers and missile fire, the attack craft weaved about, avoid wayward shots, none locking onto their signal themselves.

Up ahead, the space bridge, shining blue, hung in space. By now, the alliance had sent through the majority of their immediate reinforcements, with gaps in reinforcements due to having to wait for them to jump to the station before entering the space bridge.

As such, as Shockwave approached the Space bridge, the way was clear.

Looking out the display consoles, a 360 degree view of the battlefield by cameras, Alex saw the damage his fleet's hit and run tactics had done. His fleet had suffered damage already. The destroyer had suffered extensive damage to the port armour, and the Liberator was tasked with acting as a port side shield, using its greater firepower to protect the craft, even while both were cloaked. The Liberator had taken hits, but the shields and armour had held. In fact, the most major damage appeared to a large chunk of armour missing from the nose, likely from a collision.

Only one ship had been lost here, one of the two corvettes. Alex had a policy with the corvettes, as they were relatively easy to replace. If one was heavily damaged enough to be a write off, protocol would turn it into a kamikaze ship. As had occurred, when 30 minutes ago, the corvette had ploughed right into the exposed reactor core armour of an Alliance carrier, though with no antimatter canister weapons on it, the vessel was now merely a crippled hulk, a useless, abandoned ship.

Now, Shockwave hit the space bridge, and the familiar bright light shone.

Milliseconds, and thousands of light years later, the attack craft shot out of the space bridge, coming quickly up to the Varya-6 station. Its daunting size was less impressive though, as the damage the slaves inside, and a few hit and run strikes by the Liberator and now moderately damaged Relentless had taken their toll on the upper starboard sections.

Shockwave fired a burst of ion thrusters, shooting him towards the hull of the station, and also to avoid an Alliance frigate heading through the Space bridge to Pandora. Inside, Alex placed the call to Norstith.

"Norstith. Status report." Alex's voice rang out in the AI core. Norstith was relieved to hear Alex's voice, and answered quickly: "Norstith here. The slaves on board the station are fighting, but it is a stalemate. The upper levels and the ground space bridge levels are ours. Unless the garrison inside gets it back, no more Alliance reinforcements directly to ground level."

"Good. Me and Shockwave are inbound, we'll find a way in. We've come to get you out, and possibly find Kal'sik."

"Location of Operations Leader Kal'sik is not aboard the Varya-6 station. He fled the station soon after the slave network was seized control of. He is aboard the Alliance battleship Miraanas, currently en route to jump to supralight speed."

"Damn! Shockwave and I wanted to get him! Never mind, additionally, we made a neutral contact among the Alliance leaders. The Alliance Operations XO, Kirth, he is to unharmed by the slave units, and allowed free passage through the space bridge to this station. In exchange he will make it easier for us to get to safety through the space bridge. Finally, Raxler, I shall oversee the safe retreat of Norstith and Ja'hail. I need you to order the slaves to continue their current orders until freed. Then I need you to go through the space bridge to oversee and command the forces on Pandora. Use the Space based space bridge, the ground bridge is too dangerous on the other side."

"Acknowledged. Transmitting final orders."

"Right. Ja'hail, Norstith, I'll meet you in the hanger we entered originally, hanger 17. Hold the AI core until Raxler is gone."

"Don't take too long. Norstith out." Declared Norstith.

Hanging up, Alex remembered the data mining Raxler would do as he transmitted final orders. Alex could use this data to see about any final orders the Alliance had issued, or any future plans, unique intel.

"Data mine analysis complete. Final orders transmitted through control network." Recited Raxler, as he stood up from the AI core interface port.

"What were the final orders?" Asked Norstith.

"All remaining slaves are ordered to retreat through the space bridges to safety on either Pandora or Cybertron. Along their path maximum damage to Alliance military hardware, and minimal damage to personnel, is to be inflicted. As few deaths as possible, resort to no more than temporary incapacitation as a constant unless necessary to kill."

"So now you're off to Pandora through the orbital bridge? I guess you can skydive from orbit. Beats coming through into a firefight, you lucky robotic bastard." Commented Ja'hail, annoyed that he and Norstith were subjected to a robot's retreat. Usually it was the other way round in his case.

"The organic insult you designated to us is illogical. I am not spawned from non-ceremonially bonded parents, so I am not a bastard." Replied Raxler, who was unaware that he had just utterly rebuffed Ja'hail's partially insulting and joking comment. Ignoring the exchange, Norstith readied his rifle, sword and dark matter 'skin'. Beneath his stolen armour, the dark matter seeped out of the spaces by the removed helmet, ready for use. The middle aged Leg'hrul pointed at the door:

"Get going. The sooner you're through the bridge, the sooner we can leave too."

"Acknowledged. For morale's sake, know that survival odds are currently 40% for both of you, a percentage you would deem to be moderate." With that, the robot sprinted down the corridor, not bothering to cloak himself in dark matter. His speed was enough, and his firepower if he was cornered.

"40%. Not too bad I guess." Said Ja'hail, shaking his head ruefully.

With Alex's sealed armour having been compromised by the slave implants, Shockwave had flown into the hanger before transforming, as Alex still needed air to breath. Inside, they made very short work of the 4 or so drone guards who tried to fire on them. The 2 Leg'hrul soldiers fled after some 'coaxing' from Shockwave's heavy right arm cannon powering up.

Now, the two stood idle, guarding the hanger, waiting for Norstith and Ja;hail to meet them in the hanger, warding off any nearby guards rather easily. Unfortunately, Alex, and even more so in Shockwave's case, they were enraged that Kal'sik had fled the battle, and yet also puzzled.

"Why would Kal'sik abandon the station, even at such an early stage? He would have at least used his vessel to bombard the station." Commented Shockwave, his red optic shrunken in deep thought. Alex shrugged, and leaned back against an overturned, thankfully empty fuel canister: "Dunno. Maybe he got cowardly, got wise to the fact that he's lost. Cause let's face it, here, New Cybertron, Pandora, we on a clear path to victory."

"True, but the fact that he fled so early is still illogical."

"C'mon, its not like he can do anything more here can he?"

Alarms blared in one of the station's corridors, an observation corridor running along the exterior hull. A massive hole had been blasted, and the security automation had sealed off the section with shutter doors.

In the vacuum of space, rocketing away from the metal and glass shrapnel of his escape, Raxler sped towards the Pandoran space bridge. The robot was fully armoured and armed, ready for the descent into the atmosphere.

Hitting the space bridge at roughly 100 miles an hour, a flash of blue light occurred as the being was transported thousands of light years across space in an instant.

Inside, Kirth and Zirleth had safely boarded the station via the ground based bridge, only to find that Kal'sik had fled for some reason. As Zirleth sniffed the ground absentmindedly, her massive nostrils flaring as she did so, Kirth had received last orders from Kal'sik, which were also sent to the other commanding officers below Kal'sik.

The contents of the message sent Kirth, and subsequently Zirleth, into a frenzy. The Leg'hrul and gargantuan animal rushed towards a larger cargo shuttle, while at that moment, the station-wide alert sounded. The station had been set to self destruct, to allow the sudden cut off of the space bridges to cause untold mass effect damage by their sudden ripping. The whole city of St. Augustine, and an entire fifth of New Tyber, would be ripped apart and crushed by the uncontrolled mass effects generated by the Space Bridge crashing.

The heavy cargo shuttle's bay doors closed, and inside, as the craft flew out of the hanger, Kirth was floored by this turn of events: "I knew he was ruthless, and unwilling to admit defeat. But this? He was crazy."

In the corridors leading away from the AI core, Ja'hail and Norstith ran at full speed, having encountered only automated turrets as their opponents so far. Then, the alarms blared:

"ALERT. STATION SELF DESTRUCT PROTOCOL INITIATED. EVACUATE STATION WITHIN 15 MINUTES."

"WHAT!" Exclaimed Ja'hail. Now, both of them, and the human and mech who waited for them, were in serious trouble, as was the space bridge destinations.

"Does life always piss on my success, or is it me!" Exclaimed Alex. Shockwave ignored this outburst, and analysed the situation: "The space bridges are still active. Any slave units shall retreat through them, and also some alliance personnel shall likely use them to flee to safety. However, if the space bridges are still active at this station's demise, then the feedback flow from suddenly severing the bridge could start a chain of uncontrolled mass distortions. Much of New Tyber and all of St. Augustine shall be destroyed."

Alex thought for a moment, and asked: "What if we destroy the generator? The one only for the space bridges, since I was planning on destroying this station anyway if I could." Shockwave brought up displays of station blueprints: "The space bridge linked generator is located near the base of the station. A massive amount of kinetic impact force shall be needed to sufficiently damage it to render it inoperable."

"What do you suggest? We have no ships or arms to deal out enough punishment to take it down." Questioned Alex, as he noted the fleeing patrol of Alliance soldiers who completely ignored them in the hanger bay. Shockwave suggested: "Ram the station with a large vessel."

At this, Alex remembered the Relentless nearby. The damage it had sustained would likely render it a write off anyway, so why not use it to its full potential even with its destruction? Deciding, Alex placed the call into a secure channel:

"Relentless control VI, this is Alex. Ship is unrecoverable, I am calling in a suicide run. Use the destroyer to ram the lower power generator of the Varya-6 station."

"Order approved, commencing course change for suicide run." Responded the Destroyer's VI. As it spoke, the destroyer stealthily turned away its original course, heading back towards the distant station.

Alex then called a certain pair of his allies, while Shockwave waited as a sentry, gunning down anyone who looked like they could kill us.

"Norstith, this is Alex. Me and Shockwave are in the hanger, and funnily enough, we're still here. WHERE ARE YOU?" Bellowed Alex's voice through Norstith's comm channel.

"We are about 5 minutes away, at running pace." Replied Norstith.

"So we'd batter start sprinting then!" Yelled Ja'hail.

"Ja'hail's got the right idea! Also, I've ordered the Relentless to ram the lower power generator of the station, to shut down the space bridges 5 minutes before the station blows, about 8 minutes from now!" Replied Alex.

"Why'd you call that?" Asked Ja'hail.

"If the space bridges are still active when this place blows, everything in a 15 mile radius effectively be warped by a miniature collapse of space wherever the space bridges were! Now don't argue, get here now! Shockwave's attack craft mode will get us out! We can't use the bridges to get into UIP space, there's no time! We'll have to jump into Alliance space!"

"Fine, we'll get there!" Yelled Ja'hail.

All over the station, escape pods were blasted out into space, far from the doomed station. Every vessel not already through the space bridges had begun to flee, and any near the space bridges on the other side had begun to flee the vicinity of the bridges.

In orbit over Pandora, a humanoid armoured figure descended into low orbit, already well clear of the warp radius of the space bridge. Gauging its trajectory, it altered its course with bursts of ion rocket thrust, sending it into a rapid descent.

5 minutes left to detonation. Ja'hail and Norstith had encountered no resistance, and now only a few hundred of the hundreds of thousands aboard the station were left.

The purple and silver cybertronian attack craft powered up, its dual fusion and plasma rockets flaring to life, launching it at full speed from the hanger.

As predicted, the Relentless crashing disabled the space bridges before they could use them. At the station's base, the 1500m long destroyer smashed nose first into the exposed generator section. Millions of tonnes of metal smashed into the generator, against which the shields and armour stood no chance. In a blast of light and debris, the generator was ripped and detonated as the ship crashed, tearing off a good section of the station. Further up, the massive space bridge portals flashed, and then quickly disappeared, no adverse effects occurring by the sudden disappearance of two holes in space and time. The destroyer and the debris would be consumed in the upcoming blast.

One minute to detonation, the attack craft was now many dozens of kilometres form the station. With a charge of its FTL drive, and a brief shimmer of warped space, the craft jumped out of sight.

Zero. Explosions rocked the station, exploding in a domino manner, not consuming the station in a fireball, rather, ripping it apart into many small sections, each one broken into even smaller fragments. By the end, only shells of the main hull were left, the rest of the station now a cloud of fragments, metal and ruined vehicles.

It was over. The Varya-6 station was gone.

Aboard the Alliance battleship, Kal'sik was seething. He had been beaten, his work for the past 2 years gone. The KI remnants would be no more, and Norstith would suffer by the death of his last family, a final punishment for his treachery.

On an outbound Alliance cargo craft, Zirleth laid down sleeping, as Kirht pondered his next move. It was apparent that he had gone onto the station undetected, as Shockwave and Alex had boarded ahead, and had some form of help in the chaos aboard the station. Kal'sik assumed that Kirth was likely dead by the missile strike, a low handed tactic, using his second in command as bait, and then trying to kill the prey and the bait for good measure.

Despicable. Something had to be done about Kal'sik, about the Alliance militia.

Now 20 light years form the station, Shockwave hovered in deep space.

Inside, the mech and three crew were unsure of what to feel. Sure they had won, but Kal'sik had gotten away, and now they were stranded, too far from the UIP or Solaris for Shockwave to reach there on his energon reserves within an acceptable timeframe.

Although, Alex found a disturbing piece of info in Raxler's data mining of the station, a last minute order to an assassin group. In particular, it greatly affected Norstith.

"Hey Norstith. I think you need to hear about this." Stated Alex, shaking his head in exasperation.

We just thwarted a major Alliance invasion, and we already need to do something else. Can I ever get a break?