Alright, and here's the next chapter. So, just to recap, the Storm Hawks are leading the combined forces of the Sky Knights against Cyclonis and the First Order, who are currently holed up in some ancient ruins and activating the powerful technology within.
And with Laccabeus' forces on route as well, this is almost certainly going to end violently. Who will emerge victorious? You'll have to read on to find out. But enough of my rambling, onto the next chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own any franchise within this story.
The Intention's Eye flew through the strange skies of the Far Side, its forces either securing key areas or being extracted back as the carrier flew past. Onboard the vessel's bridge, Laccabeus looked over the data readings.
The news was fairly encouraging: the First Order's hold on the Far Side had been all but broken, having fallen before the Shipmaster's army. The Cyclonians had attempted to aid their erstwhile allies, but all they really accomplished was providing the Covenant with more targets.
That's not to say that the aliens had made it through unscathed, however. Casualties among his own troops were higher than the Shipmaster would've liked, and a lot of armor and equipment had been lost during the fighting.
Nevertheless, they had succeeded, and all that remained now was to track down the last holdout of the First Order and burn it to glass. Laccabeus was pulled from his musings when the sensor operator called out.
"Shipmaster, we're detecting a spike of extradimensional energy."
"Is it the First Order? Have they retreated like the cowards they are?"
"Negative, the power source is far too strong to be the Star Destroyer." There was a brief pause. "In fact, some of these readings seem like they come from the crystals of this world."
"Shipmaster." The comm operator spoke up. "Recon elements report that the First Order leadership has been spotted in that area."
"They're not trying to flee?" Makterbus' confused voice muttered. "Why would they stay behind?"
"Either they can't leave..." Laccabeus paused. "Or they may have found something worthwhile here. What's our time to that location?"
"Roughly five minutes." The navigator replied. "But that'll mean abandoning most of our soldiers and military equipment."
"Very well." Laccabeus stood up. "Prepare my Lich and load up four flights of Phantoms. The Eye will continue on schedule and extract our soldiers."
"Understood, Shipmaster."
At the ruins themselves, the Storm Hawks and Republic agents along with their Far Side guide Kara had encountered I.J. Domiwick in the catacombs they were using to infiltrate the facility. Now, everyone had their weapons out and pointed at the explorer, who was rather unconcerned about the hostile individuals in front of him.
"Please, if I meant you any harm, I could've done so by now."
"Forgive us if we don't trust your word." Piper said sarcastically, hovering in the air as a blue aura surrounded her. "You've only ever looked out for yourself. So why would you help us now?"
"Because Cyclonis betrayed me!" The explorer shouted, either missing or ignoring Finn muttering "Big shocker." as he ranted. "I did exactly as she asked and this is the thanks I get?! Getting tossed out like some unwanted garbage?"
"You've betrayed Atmos time and time again." Kara said. "And now you've led the Cyclonians to the most powerful beings ever known to have existed on out world. Why exactly should we care?"
"Because I can help you get up there." The explorer replied. "Cyclonis doesn't know I've survived, which means I can lead you back up to the main control room."
The Storm Hawks all looked at each other, undecided about this. On one hand, if they were going to get the Sky Knights in here and stop Cyclonis' plan in time, they may need some help.
On the other hand, they all knew how untrustworthy the explorer actually was, so he could just be leading them into a trap. In the end, Aerrow decided to take him along, figuring that it would be better to keep him close if he tried to betray them, rather than getting stabbed in the back.
After explaining his thought process to the rest of the Storm Hawks and Kara, they reluctantly agreed, though it was stipulated that Domiwick would be surrounded at all times to keep him from trying anything underhanded.
As they began following Domiwick's path, Aerrow realized that Hunter and MK had been rather quiet, having not said a single word during the argument. Looking back, he noticed that they seemed to be scanning the design on the walls, for whatever reason.
...
Hunter stared at a statue representation of what the Ancient Ones supposedly looked like. It was very, very familiar. MK noticed it as well, surreptitiously glancing in her partner's direction before putting their focus back on the Storm Hawks and Domiwick.
"Looks familiar, doesn't it?" MK's voice came over their private comms. "I think we can all guess who made this place."
"It can't be, it's probably just a coincidence." Hunter's half-hearted denial was hollow. Honestly, he couldn't even pretend to convince himself of that. "Oh, who am I kidding, we can tell exactly who this belonged to."
"Looks like Atmos has far more than we realized." Jarvis said.
The Republic agents refocused on the conversation the others were having. It seemed Domiwick was getting a little big headed (though that wasn't exactly new), while everyone else was trying to rein him in. It was clear that none of them had any actual clue as to who created this place.
"These ruins now belong to us." Domiwick was saying. "The Ancient Ones have left them for us."
"Just like every other place you've discovered?" Piper snarked.
"This place belongs to the Ancient Ones." Their guide said, glaring sternly at Domiwick. "Some of the older cultures even considered them to be gods, but that's a matter for another time."
"And that time is now." Domiwick said, turning to Piper. "They were the first of the Crystal Mages, they understood the crystals better than anyone. It's how Cyclonis is working with this place so well."
"I hate to correct you on what you think you know." Hunter entered the conversation. "But you're all wrong."
"What?"
"Huh?"
"Excuse me?"
"This place belonged to the Chozo." Hunter explained. "They were an alien race with some gifted with the ability to see the future. But they were never gods, and they'll be the first to admit that."
"How can you tell that?" Domiwick pompously asked.
"The writing's on the wall." MK replied, gesturing to one of the strange flaming panels that had been seen elsewhere by Domiwick. "Quite literally in fact."
"What, the paintings?" Kara asked. "We've seen similar works elsewhere, but no one in the Far Side has ever been able to understand the meanings of these glyphs."
"Because they're not paintings, they're data logs." MK said, as her partner began scanning the nearest wall. "The Chozo had a tendency to encode their data logs on walls like this."
"So, why were they here?" Piper asked, still finding this hard to accept. "What would these Ancients want with us?"
"The Ancients were curious about this world." Hunter explained. "The Chozo in particular were interested to learn how so many different sapient species could evolve on one planet like this. So, they came down here, abandoning their own technology and simply using what the land had available."
"Of course, considering your world is filled with magical crystals, and considering the Chozo had experience with magic, they could do quite a lot." MK finished. "It's not unprecedented for them to abandon much of their higher technology and embrace the tools of the planet they're on."
Obviously, the native inhabitants were floored upon hearing this. The very idea that their world had been host to an alien species thousands of years ago, a species that made the Covenant look like barbarians, was rather hard to comprehend.
Kara, Piper and Domiwick found it especially difficult to believe, as this new information drew all their previous studies and research into question. The fact that Hunter and MK were so calm wasn't lost on them, having no doubt seen this reaction before. Quickly, Aerrow recovered from his shock and spoke up, to get everyone's focus to the task at hand.
"Alright, we can discuss all this later." He said. "We've still got a job to do. Now, we need someone to scout ahead."
"We can do that." Hunter interjected but his partner cut him off.
"No you need to stay here in case someone activates a Chozo trap." MK said, looking pointedly at Junko and Finn. "I'll go scout ahead."
"I'm coming too." Piper interjected. "You said this place responds to a Crystal Mage, right?"
"Yeah, but-"
"So, I'm going with you." The crystal mage crossed her arms. "I have a cloaking crystal, so you don't need to worry about that."
"Then it's settled." Aerrow stepped in before anyone could argue. "Piper, MK, go check out the ruins. See if you can find a way for us to sneak everyone in."
The two females of the group nodded and vanished, MK with a thought and Piper after pulling out a cloaking crystal. The two of them made their way deeper into the catacombs, leaving the rest alone. Once he was sure they were gone, the pompous explorer spoke up.
"They're not going to find anything." Domiwick said smugly. "I went through all the ruins, and didn't find squat."
"Well you don't know the Chozo at all." Hunter replied. "They loved to build pretty much everything with hidden pathways and secret rooms. Lord knows you've probably missed a hell of a lot."
...
As Piper and MK discovered, the Cyclonians had indeed missed out on a number of secret passages. Some of them needed the power of a Crystal Mage to access, but others were as easy as locating a hidden switch.
With the secret passages and their cloaking, the two of them moved through the ruins unseen, scouting out and marking the locations with heavy concentrations of enemies. Idly, MK noted that the First Order wasn't very entrenched, no doubt due to having only arrived a very short time ago. It would give them an advantage when the time came to fight.
"So, can we take anything that could help us?" Piper whispered abruptly, gesturing to one of the Chozo statues, which was holding a small cylinder. "If these Chozo are as powerful as you claim, couldn't we use more of their own tech against the Cyclonians?"
"I'm not sure that's wise." MK murmured. "For all their faults, the Chozo had some fairly effective protection for most of their important stuff. Unless your name is Samus Aran, the ruins probably won't let you take anything from them, at least not without setting off some sort of alarm."
Almost as if on cue, Piper, who was merely approaching the statue to get a closer look, took a step back as the statue began moving. MK's powers flared, but the carving merely put its hand out, offering the cylinder to Piper.
"... And now I stand corrected." MK said, surprised at the assistance of the crystal powered Chozo statue. "I guess Crystal Mages do have the magic touch here."
Piper put her hand on the cylinder, which suddenly displayed a hologram of some sort of machine, and a control room, which matched the description of what Domiwick had been talking about earlier.
The device was powered by three Infinity stones and a Helix crystal. MK had a brief worried reaction at the mention of the former for some reason, but she quickly relaxed, so Piper didn't dwell on it, too focused on studying the machine.
"Ok, I'll be honest." She said after a moment. "I've got no clue what I'm looking at here."
"It looks like a portal device of some sort." MK said, stepping closer to the hologram. "Definitely Chozo designed, but I can't say more for sure until we've examined it in full. Suffice to say, though, this is the main thing this facility was built for, and why it has those crystals. It would need a lot of energy to use Atmos' tech base to open a rift."
"Well at least we can confirm what Cyclonis has planned." Piper put the cylinder back, letting the hologram disperse. "I guess we should keep searching."
The two cloaked females kept up their search, eventually finding what they were looking for. Unfortunately, they had an issue with where it exited and when they decloaked back with the group, Aerrow was quick to pick up on it.
"Piper, MK, what did you find?"
"Well, the good news is we've found a way to get all the Sky Knights into the ruins." Piper said. "There's a hidden passage that'll get them into the facility."
"And the bad news?" Finn deadpanned.
"It's located right on top of a First Order checkpoint." MK replied. "There isn't really any way to get them through quietly."
"So, we're going to need a distraction." Junko guessed.
"Well we won't have to wait long for that." Jarvis' hologram appeared in the palm of Hunter's hand. Upon the questioning looks he got, the AI clarified. "The Covenant are going to do that job for us."
Banshee airstrikes signaled the arrival of the Covenant, as a dozen Phantoms and a single Lich flew towards the complex, no doubt due to Laccabeus looking to capture this place rather than destroy it.
The First Order's hastily set up defenses were ill-equipped to prevent the aliens from landing, and it didn't take long for a significant ground conflict to get into place. A pair of Wraiths shelled the doors, dispatching four AT-KTs before they could inflict any damage on the infantry.
"Onward my brothers!" Laccabeus raised his hammer like a banner. "We will burn the First Order out of these ruins and take them ourselves!"
The First Order and Cyclonian forces were so distracted by the arrival of the Covenant that none of them noticed Hunter and MK sneaking into one of their positions to get the passage open for the Sky Knights.
Of course, they finally took notice once Skimmer and Heliscooter engine noises emerged from the tunnel, but by then, the Storm Hawks were already helping the Republic agents and by the time the rest of the Sky Knights had gathered, their enemies in the room were either unconscious or dead.
"You've all been busy." Starling noted, while everyone else was looking around, some of the Sky Knights gaping in awe at the facility.
"So this is the complex of the Ancient Ones." One of the Far Side warriors murmured, his tone slightly reverent. "To be in such glory..."
The Storm Hawks considered explaining the truth about the ruins, but the sound of explosions coming from elsewhere drew everyone's attention to the battle raging outside. Then a group of Shadow Troopers led by a Phase Zero Dark trooper emerged into the room, pausing in confusion at the unexpected intruders.
"So much for stealth." Hunter's arms were suddenly wrapped in electricity, as the battle began in earnest.
All throughout the complex, pandemonium reigned. The Cyclonians and Sky Knights were dueling on the ground, a rather difficult situation for them in these enclosed quarters. Meanwhile, the First Order and Covenant had much more training in this regard, and were putting it to use against the other side, willing to destroy each other no matter the cost.
And in the center of it all, barely paying attention from behind the nigh-invulnerable (to ground fire anyway) Chozo shield was Master Cyclonis, who was manipulating the controls of the portal device.
The Sky Knights and Covenant were trying to break through the barriers, albeit for different reasons, but the First Order and Cyclonians refused to let their patron/leader be harmed at this stage, and worked to repel the attackers however they could.
Hunter and MK were doing their part, freezing and electrocuting any enemy in their path, be it Cyclonian, Covenant or First Order. All the while, Jarvis was scanning the complex to find a weakness in the shield, but when he reported back, that wasn't the news he had brought.
...
To the organics in the room, the battle was moving at a rather chaotic speed, but for an AI like Jarvis, it was a fairly leisurely time. Oh, he still had to coordinate a lot while doing his duties to his charges, but wasn't as stressful for him as it was for them.
In addition to coordinating the Shadow and his agents as well as supplying them with information, the AI was currently scanning the portal device, while also looking for a weakness in the shield itself.
At that moment, he noticed a strange signal hidden near the control panel that Cyclonis was operating, which was abruptly cut off when he tried to take a comprehensive scan. Digitally frowning, Jarvis played the recorded part of his memory to try and determine what the signal was. It was rather familiar, but not a normal Chozo code-
Abruptly, he recognized the markers in the signal and closed himself off from everything, running a million diagnostics in his code within a second to ensure he hadn't been corrupted. Fortunately, he was unaffected, but it was clear that this warranted attention.
Jarvis then noticed his scanning subsystems had determined where the portal was going to lead. Combined with what he had just noticed, and it was rather clear what had caused Cyclonis to choose those particular coordinates. Hunter and MK needed to be informed immediately.
...
"Sir, we have a huge problem." Hunter cocked his head at the sound of Jarvis' voice. It wasn't his normal British deadpan. In fact, the AI sounded rather panicked.
"What is it, Jarvis?"
"The portal Cyclonis is forming." The AI quickly said. "I know where it's going to end up."
MK and Hunter listened to the explanation, then both of them paled behind their helmets. Turning to the Storm Hawks, Hunter quickly ran over to Aerrow, electrocuting several enemies that were trying to attack him from behind.
"Thanks for the help."
"Don't thank me yet." Hunter said rapidly. "We need to shut down the portal right now."
"That's what we're trying to do." Piper exasperatedly said, firing a blast of energy that sent several Night Crawlers flying. "We've still got a whole lot of enemies to go through."
"Well, we need to change that and fast." MK said. "We know where the portal will open." She quickly filled them in and once she was done, the Storm Hawks were understandably terrified.
"Is she crazy?!" Finn shrieked.
"Why would Cyclonis do something like this?" Piper asked.
"I'm honestly not sure she realizes the truth." Hunter replied. "For that matter, neither do the First Order, or they sure as hell wouldn't be going along with this."
"Change of plans then." Aerrow said, raising his voice and activating his comm so that the rest of the Sky Knights could hear him. "Guys, look for any way to shut that thing down as fast as possible! We can't let Cyclonis open a gateway."
"Shut the portal down, no matter the cost!" MK shouted, echoing Aerrow's statement. "We can't let Cyclonis open the breach!"
"That's what we're trying to do." Dove said, narrowly avoiding a blaster bolt. "It's not exactly easy."
"Forget the battle!" The electrokinetic replied, launching himself into the air. "Just focus on turning off Cyclonis' machine."
"Wait, where is Hunter going?" Starling asked, seeing that the Republic agent was heading towards the battle that was raging between the Covenant and the First Order.
"He's going to get the Covenant and First Order to help us." That drew several incredulous looks from the Sky Knights.
"He can't possibly expect them to listen to him!" Harrier protested.
"Oh, they will." MK stated grimly. "Otherwise they'll die too."
...
Hunter leapt into the middle of the largest firefight, with Snoke in his Dark Trooper suit bearing down on Laccabeus and his own forces. Vestara was also present among the First Order, with Halmat on the Covenant side.
"Attention, all First Order and Covenant forces!"
Hunter's voice echoed through the battlenet on both sides, thanks in no small part due to Jarvis' work. Unfortunately (but also unsurpringly), neither side bothered to listen to his voice. He sighed in frustration, already knowing that he'd need a different approach.
Tossing a few luma grenades, the fighting briefly paused as a bright flash of light blinded them for a moment. Hunter's visor had polarized to protect him from the worst of the light, and when it vanished, the few fighters who still had their sight turned to look at him, with more regaining their vision and doing the same.
"Do I have your attention now?" Arcs of electricity danced around his body, his voice echoing from every comm system. "You all need to turn your attention to Cyclonis' portal. We need your help to shut it down."
In response, several blaster bolts impacted him, his shields absorbing the impact before he ducked down behind cover. The energy barrage stopped quickly when they had to refocus their attention on the Covenant. Even still, Snoke took the time to reply.
"Do you really expect us to betray Cyclonis?"
"Oh don't pretend you have any loyalty to her." He snarked. "She's the means to an end to you."
"An end that will be crushed." A massive chunk of debris followed Laccabeus' voice, narrowly missing the Republic agent. "As will the rest of you."
Snarling, Hunter unleashed a massive electrical wave into the fray, the damage dispersed but still managing to be annoying enough to get the attention of many of the combatants, including the leaders.
"Listen to me!" Hunter roared. "Cyclonis is opening a portal into Flood territory!"
To the confusion and terror of the free Atmos forces (with the exception of the Storm Hawks), the First Order and Covenant actually stopped firing at each other, something everyone else had actually never seen before. Now, most of them couldn't read alien body language very well, but the stances of the First Order soldiers and the expression of Vestara indicated that both sides were terrified.
"You don't believe me?" Hunter said rhetorically, and gestured to Vestara. "Ask her!"
With the looks being directed at her, Vestara didn't waste any time, reaching out with the Force, sending her awareness through the still developing breach. To her fear, she felt the familiar yawning hunger that threatened to swallow up every fiber of her being, a feeling that she personally had not had the displeasure of experiencing since the Gravemind had corrupted the Force during the Great Flood War.
"It's them." She murmured in terror. "And they're getting closer."
There was a moment of silence as the rival armies digested this truth, then a single voice roared over the Covenant battlenet.
"All units, focus fire on the generator!" Laccabeus ordered. "Shut it down, now!"
"Destroy the generator!" Snoke echoed on his own comms, turning around and pointing his own weapons at the Chozo device. "Do not let the Flood through!"
Blaster bolts, plasma fire, missiles, fuel rods, needles, plasma mortars and more filled the air, all being directed towards the generator Cyclonis was manipulating. But the shields held against the onslaught, the Chozo crafted device weathering the storm with ease. Having noticed the barrage, Cyclonis angrily unleashed a shockwave through the shield, scattering those around like leaves on the wind.
"Traitors!" Cyclonis snarled. "You dare attack me, Snoke? And you, Vestara?" The young Sith Lord rose to her feet, trying to get through to the younger dictator.
"Cyclonis, you have to stop this!" The Sith shouted. "You're dealing with powers you have no hope to control!"
"There is nothing, I cannot bind, to my will!" Cyclonis shouted. "I will have power beyond what even your pitiful Force can possess!"
"The Flood are deceiving you." Snoke shouted. "Whatever power you think you've seen, they're just manipulating you!"
"If you do this, you'll release a plague like nothing you've ever seen on Atmos!" Hunter joined in. "All life will be consumed, including you!" Cyclonis ignored their warnings, instead concentrating on getting the portal open.
"She's being controlled." MK said. "Most likely through some form of the logic plague."
"We have to stop her before-" A beam of white light and a rumble in the sky interrupted Aerrow as a rift opened up into space itself. "... she does that..."
Millions of stars could be seen through the portal, but what could also be seen was a mass of dark spots, that quickly emerged from nowhere, resolving themselves into unfamiliar (to the Atmosians) squid-like shapes.
"What are those things?" Dove asked, ducking as a crystal blast barely missed her head.
"Flood-controlled Reapers." It was Snoke who answered, his voice tight with fear. He turned to the Republic agents. "You need to do something!"
"We don't have to." Hunter said, pointing to the rift. "Our benefactors will."
...
The Flood weren't alone for long; about ten seconds after they arrived, more ships appeared behind them and immediately opened fire, burning the Parasite vessels out of the sky. The Republic and Separatists had immediately given chase, both from their own detection of the Parasite, and Jarvis' report.
The two superpowers started decimating the Flood, the Parasite force present at a disadvantage in a noticeable lack of advanced vessels from its losses during the Great Flood War. That wasn't to say it was easy, however, as the Flood didn't need to win, merely get through the portal and invade Atmos.
Which was why the Covenant, First Order, and Sky Knights were now working together to break the shield around the generator, firing artillery and infantry scale weapons alike to try and pierce the barrier, but to little luck.
"Keep firing!" Aerrow shouted. "No matter what, we've got to take that thing out."
Fortunately, opportunity emerged when Piper unleashed all of her Binding power into the shield. It had a noticeable effect, with Cyclonis breaking from her concentration as she found the barrier falling.
"Don't let up!" Piper shouted to everyone else. "She's weakening!"
At her words, more weapons fire was poured into the spot Piper had hit, which was clearly fluctuating from the strain. Cyclonis tried to halt it with her own energy, but Piper empowered Aerrow and herself before the two lovers unleashed the power again.
"STOP THIS!" Cyclonis screamed. "I WILL NOT BE DENIED!"
The shield generator overloaded, causing a feedback loop of energy that struck the portal device and the control platform, with Cyclonis still standing on it. There was a flash of bright light and everyone could hear the young dictator scream before the light disappeared, leaving a shattered platform with no Cyclonis in sight.
No one could tell if the Master had been disintegrated or transported elsewhere, but that wasn't important right now. What was important was that the forming portal was starting to collapse, slowly shrinking and shifting as soon as the energy sent to it had been cut off.
The Flood, seeing that their window was closing, had several ships break off from the battle and made a beeline for the rapidly dissolving breach. Several Republic and Separatist vessels, having stayed away in anticipation of something like this, immediately targeted the fleeing ships, blasting them out of the sky. But so many were trying to break free, and the sniping vessels were being hard-pressed.
From the Atmos side, Hunter and MK watched with increasing worry as several Flood ships approached the breach. Fortunately, the portal had nearly closed, and soon they would be unable to break through.
The Storm Hawks and gathered Atmosians cheered, as the closest vessel to the breach, a Reaper destroyer, was hit by an energy beam that had pierced the core of a Reaper capital ship, just as the portal closed with a brief flash.
The cheering halted when they saw that a flaming destroyer had made it through. Several of it's legs were missing or falling off, the top of its 'head' was all but gone, and debris trailed from the crashing wreck. But that was more than enough Flood to bring Atmos to its end.
"No." Hunter's voice didn't rise above a whisper, but the horror was clearly present.
...
From his position on the Condor, Stork watched as the ship fell to the ground. It had emerged from the portal, belching fire and smoke, but it still had patches of green on it, similar to the holograms Hunter and MK showed him. He had said it many times before but it felt much more fitting this time around.
"We're doomed."
Perhaps you are, Stork.
So yeah, the Flood have now arrived on Atmos... suffice to say, the odds of their world not getting glassed again just dropped into the negative digits. Anyway, there are only two more chapters after this and the story will be finished, so look forward to that.
With all that said, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and reviews are always welcome.