Hello again! Good to see you back.
As you remember, in last chapter, we were witnesses of the Defeat of Task Force 03, unfortunately. But the war continues and Holy Order doesn't sleep, so they just have to move on. We also learned some information about Jessica and her connection to Kyla Dren, personal assassin of HO Supreme Leader.
What will happen next? Read to find out.
But first, reviews:
S31tora: Is that good or bad? I have nothing against new Star Wars movies. I'm easily entertained.
With that out of the way, let's get started.
Chapter 34
,,Bug war"
March 2, 2151
08:54
Solar System, Colnberg Junction Station, Earth's orbit
Following the Battle of Targon Prime, beginning of a new year and restructuring of TF01 with remaining ships of TF03, Resistance push into HO-occupied territories continued. Just a week after the battle, Marines landed and liberated Chakdria and Shakaya. There was a short crisis in the latter, when Shakayan prince decided to overthrow the Queen and take the throne for himself, but intervention by Resistance stopped him and prince was closed behind the bars to be judged once the war was over.
Meanwhile, as Resistance fleets were nearing Nashina, something that none side expected happened. Nashini resistance prepared and launched a giant, planet-wide uprising, spreading from Hef'Adra all the way to south and north poles. Unprepared Holy Order garrison put up a fight, but they were quickly overwhelmed and all hope for victory vanished, when Resistance ships appeared in planet's orbit. Nashina garrison units surrendered and planet was again in Republic's hands. At the same time, Resistance were almost nearing the gates of Terta Prime, being literally three jumps from Tertan System.
But everything had to be held in it's track, when new danger appeared. White Squadron, which officially became the searchers of Enean artifacts across the Galaxy, so HO couldn't get them, stumped across something they didn't expect. An old, Enean Cruiser, held in the orbit of uninhabited planet. On-board, they managed to collect various data, which was later given to translate and decrypt. And when it was done, the information they discovered shocked everyone, as it was finally revealed the reason, why Enean race went extinct.
Ichroids…
According to the collected data, they were a race of insectoid creatures, which turned out to be older than even Eneans themselves. Research conducted by Eneans also showed, that every fifty million years, they would appear and destroy every highly-advanced civilization in the Galaxy. And that was the worst part.
If the math was correct…the time of their return has come.
Reports of first sightings of first Ichroid vessels, which looked simply like giant, purple crystals, across the Human frontier sent panic across the Human Space. New enemy started decimating fleets and landing troops on planets, slowly taking them over, seeding them with purple crystals. By the entirety of February, Ichroids pushed forward, almost not opposed by anyone, making their way to the planet every Human held dear.
Earth.
First bunch of their ships jumped into Sol on March 1 and since then, they stayed on standby, not moving, what allowed Resistance to pull in ships to defend the system. Everyone was prepared for the worst.
Today, Colnberg Junction Station, the biggest transport hub in the orbit of Earth, was not full of civilians traveling in different directions. All non-combatants were quickly evacuated back to Earth or Moon, while station itself was filled with military personnel and equipment, constantly making way between the ground and space. If the worst came to be, station would be a fire-support platform during battle.
Ester just watched another squad of Marines quickly pass her by, going to their positions. She knew this meant not a lot, but now, everything was needed, if they had to stop Ichroids from taking Earth.
"I never thought, that I'll be fighting in Sol."Dora said.
"And even so, I expected to fight Holies, not ancient aliens horny on killing all advanced life."Ester replied."I don't even know, how they differ advanced life from primitive."
"They must be more intelligent than we expected."
"Probably."
Ester sighed.
"What's wrong?"Dora asked.
"Have you seen Jessica lately?"
"Oh…I see what you have in mind."
With Jessica's secret finally out, she told everything. About how her and admiral Frederick Richards, which is her ex-husband, had a daughter, which was diagnosed with still incurable variant of cancer. To save her, Fred contacted his friend working at Serckik Pharmaceutics, a shining star in medical business, which tried to develop a cure for that version of the sickness. However, shit hit the fan, when it was discovered, that Serckik was making experiments on children they were supposed to cure, by trying to make Human-alien hybrids. Corporations was closed and most of it's personnel put behind bars or even executed.
But not all. Some fled to secret facilities in far reaches of Human Space and in that way, Jessica and Fred's daughter disappeared. How did she landed in hands of HO, nobody knew. Only thing known, was the fact, that devastated Jessica quickly divorced Richards and the two went separate ways, although the colonel still didn't change her second name, for some reason.
"Damn, I always thought of Jess as a hard one…"Dora said."But I never saw her so under the weather."
"And how would you react, if your daughter turned out to be an assassin working for Holy Order?"
"Touche."
Right then, Ester's hand terminal made a sound. White Squadron leader took the call.
"Could you guys come to High Fly Bar?"Yuko immediately asked.
"Why?"Ester asked.
"There is something you have to know…"Japanese said cryptically.
"Okay, we're on our way."The call ended.
"What do you think she wants?"
"Let's go and find out.
The two went to the bar they were told to and upon arriving, they saw rest of their team sitting alongside members of 1st Warrior Bunnies. They quickly approached the two groups and sat with them.
"Good that you came."Delilah said.
"So, Yuko, what is this you wanted to talk about?"Ester turned to the Japanese.
"Ves?"Yuko turned to the Warrior Bunny hacker.
"Of course."Ves said."I've been surfing through the UNSA network and stumped upon a certain…information."
"What information?"Dora asked.
"Today, princess Pina is supposed to meet with General Secretary on Angier Prime. They have to talk about…"Warrior Bunny stopped.
"Continue…"Ester said.
"…about possibility of moving large amount of Human population to the Special System in case Ichroids won."
Dora and Ester held their breaths.
"So doing an Exodus?"Dora asked.
"Pretty much."Emmy summed.
"Well, I wonder how it would look."Ester said."We would need to simply kill off everyone not agreeing with us to make living in there, or even turn to Medieval living…"
"So you're saying, that you support this decision?"Ana asked.
"Of course not, but…If it really will be our only option? I mean, look. Eneans, the ones which were even more advanced than we are, couldn't handle them and went extinct. How do you think we can handle them?"
Silence fell around all of them. This might have been true. Ichroids, for now, were simply unstoppable. They simply broke through any defenses they wanted. God only knew, what they needed to stop these things.
Right then, Ester got a call. She accepted it and a face of a twenty-year-old woman appeared on her hand terminal.
"Ester."First Officer Anna Golicin, XO of RNS Hope, said.
"What is it, Anna?"Ester replied.
"There will be a briefing within next hour. Admiral Richards wants to see you on Hope as soon as possible. Both you and Warrior Bunnies."she said.
"Right on it."Ester said and disconnected."There will be a briefing soon. We better go."
Delilah drank the rest of her tea.
"Alright. Let's go."
Both Humans and Warrior Bunnies stood up and walked out of the bar.
09:11
Angier Prime, Terhis City
Princess Pina was currently driving in an armored SUV she was assigned. Streets of the city were as empty as at the time, when she was coming back to Fort Terhis after her 'adventures' on Earth. Nothing strange, when you consider, what was currently happening. Just thinking about it made her shudder.
When she was first showed a photo and hologram of Ichroid, she saw it as a creature of nightmares. She was already acquainted with insectoid aliens, such as Chakdrik, but that dead body made her sweat. From what she heard, this was a lucky thing. A squad of Marines managed to capture the creature while escaping invaded planet.
Resistance scientists described it as 'humanoid cicada', because the alien resembled that race of bugs. It's body was covered by a crust made of purple crystals, the same their ships are made of. Cracking it open was hard, this is why these creatures were hard to kill. But when scientists did it, they stated the vital points, being the armpits, lower chest and neck. This information was quickly given to all soldiers, so they would know, where to aim.
"Hamilton, when's the meeting scheduled?"Pina turned to the younger Knight.
Except of her, Hamilton and Grey were sitting in the SUV. Hamilton played the role of her assistant, while Grey was supposed to be her adviser. She also had a security in form of Bozes, Panache and Shandy in the second SUV.
"It's supposed to start within the next few minutes, colonel."Hamilton replied."I was informed, that General Secretary is already there."
"Good. This is gonna be a hard meeting."Pina stated.
"Indeed. I wonder, how are we supposed to take care of a few million people…"Grey pondered.
"Somehow, but we aren't sure, if it's needed."Hamilton said."I hope…"
"Let's stay hopeful."Pina agreed.
The ride continued for few more minutes, before two cars stopped in front of Angier Prime Colonial Administration Building. They all got out of the vehicle and were approached by a group of people in suits. Pina recognized one of them.
"Agent Sanjrani, how nice to see you."she said.
"Same."Sanjrani said."But we don't have time for talking like that. General Secretary is waiting."
"Lead then."
So they went, with Pina's bodyguards and ICTA agents surrounding them. They went up the stairs all the way to the conference room. When they entered, Pina saw the new General Secretary for the first time.
He was younger than Volgradov, but he was radiating the same leader aura. He had glasses on his head and was dressed in a dark blue suit, which contrasted with his darker skin.
When he saw them, he stood and gave his hand to her.
"Vander Orcan, General Secretary of United Nations."he introduced himself.
"Princess colonel Pina Co Lada, Rose Knights."Pina said.
The two sat down, with ICTA agents standing behind General Secretary, while Rose Knights stood behind Pina.
"As you know, princess, this isn't an official meeting. Current situation is already tense, due to the Ichroid invasion, so we can't just say, that we expect to lose unless there is a miracle."Orcan said.
"But why would you like to meet me?"Pina asked the first question that came to her mind.
"You're the only person I know can be trusted fully, coming from beyond the Gate."General Secretary replied."We hope you could do some…talking."
"If you say so…"Pina agreed."You really think you can't win?"
General Secretary sighed.
"I would want to think there is a chance, but…I saw recordings and photos of what Ichroids did on invaded planets, made by local resistance. They literally terraform them. And considering the size of their force…"He shuddered."I'm sure we could defeat Holy Order, but them…I don't even want to think, what they will do with Earth…"
Pina sighed. She didn't knew why, but somehow, instead of simple fear, she saw cowardice within the General Secretary. Something was off with him…
Sudden explosion outside interrupted her thoughts. Everyone looked in that direction.
"What was that?"Orcan asked.
"Wait…"Sanjrani pulled out his phone.
He spoke with someone for few seconds, then ended the call.
"I have really bad news…Ichroid fleet just appeared in the orbit. They started shelling. One of shells hit the Eastern District of the city."
Everyone gasped in shock. From all places they expected, Angier System was surely out of the Ichroid way of attack. Then why would they…
"Colonel…"Bozes said, looking out the window.
Pina came up to the window and looked through it.
High in the sky, she could see burning objects coming through the atmosphere. And even higher above them, she could barely make out the shapes of Ichroid crystal ships.
Streets of Terhis City would once more be filled with blood…
10:00
Solar System, RNS Hope, briefing room
Although the room's ability to hold over two hundred people, today, it was almost completely empty. Most of the pilots based on the Battleship were, unfortunately, thinned out during battles with Holy Order and Ichroids.
This is why only people inside, where just White Squadron, Warrior Bunnies, six members of ship's fighter compartment and, surprisingly, Jessica.
"Hey, Jess."Ester said from behind her.
"Hm?"Jessica replied.
"How do you feel?"
"Eh, could be better. I still feel a bit under the weather…But don't worry, I'll manage."
"I hope so…"
"Admiral!"one of ship's fighter pilots said.
The six stood up and saluted, as admiral Richards entered the briefing room. He was followed by two men in civilian clothes, with badges of United Nations R&D Department. One of them was pushing a trolley with something covered by cloth on it.
"Sit back down."admiral said to the six.
"Yes, sir!"their commander said and all sat down.
"Man, are they hard-headed."Yuko muttered to Arlette.
"Yeah, sucks."the French replied.
"So, what is the case, Fred?"Jessica asked.
Richards looked at the two men.
"As you know, our current situation is not the brightest one."he stated.
"You could say it like that…"Ana sighed.
"Shhh!"one of the six said.
Anastasia just lifted her hands in defensive gesture.
"Calm down."Richards said."No matter how we look at it, the Ichroid assault on Milky Way is still going unstopped. We got information, that their fleets just entered Nashini and Shakayan territory. For now, both are holding, but how long will it last, we don't know."
This short speech made everyone make sour faces.
"But…there is a chance for victory."he said after minute of silence.
Immediately, everyone regained their interest.
"The two here are professors Karim Olgaydu and Oleg Hansen from UN R&D Department. They will take over from now on."
A swarthy skinned man with glasses cleared his throat and stepped forward.
"I'm Karim Olgaydu, I work in R&D Department. More precisely, in it's Communication Development Branch."the Turkish explained.
"What does that have in common with current situation?"Emmy asked.
"Give me a second."
Professor came up to the podium and pressed some buttons on them. Soon, a holographic screen appeared and he activated the drawing board on it.
"So, as you probably know, Ichroids are highly advanced and ancient civilization, as far as we know, thanks to data gathered by White Squadron from old, Enean Cruiser."Here, he pointed at the said team."However, there was something, that interested us."
As he said that, he pressed more buttons and photos started appearing on the screen. They presented all currently known types of Ichroids. From left to right were: unarmored, gray skinned humanoid bug, armored and armed one and another one, with some kind of orifice on it's head.
"For now, we discovered three types of Ichroid infantry. The first is the type we called 'Drone'. As far, it was observed performing logistic duties, like building bridgeheads at their landing sites or expanding their crystal structures. Second one, called 'Warrior', is standard fighter of the Ichroid army. And finally, 'Officer', which seems to give out orders during battle."
"Yeah, we heard all of that from other briefings."Lena said.
Professor pretended not to hear that.
"However, there was something, which interested us, while doing autopsies of the dead ones. More precisely, we discovered, that, although their age, their brains are so badly developed, that they should currently know how to make sharp stones and sticks."
Everyone risen an eyebrow.
"So you're telling, that these bugs have brain capacity of cavemen?"Jessica asked.
"Pretty much yes."Karim said.
"Then how the hell can they build star fearing ships and exterminate advanced life?"Aqi asked, surprised.
"That's the point, they shouldn't."Karim agreed."However, there is another thing. Oleg."
Hansen nodded and came up to the podium. He pulled out a memory stick and placed it in one of the ports. Next, Karim pressed something else and two windows with straight lines appeared on the screen.
"What you will hear, are the sounds captured by our listening posts. First is possibly an order being given."
Professor let the tape go and everyone's ears were filled with shiver-giving sound of clicks and cracks.
"According to our linguists, this is their language. Now, you will hear the same thing, possibly, but notice something…"
Another tape was let go and they heard similar sounds, however, something seemed off. They were higher-pitched, quieter and…feminine? You probably could describe it like that, if you wanted.
"So?"Karim asked, when it ended.
"It was different."Delilah said.
"Yes."scientist agreed."This probably confirms our theory."
"What theory?"Liz asked.
Karim closed the voice windows and started drawing something on the drawing board.
"Our theory says, that Ichroids, as, let's say it out-loud, bugs, have some kind of a hive-mind, with decided society ladder. We have workers, warriors and commanders. There probably have also admirals and generals. But none of that can function without…"
He stopped, waiting for someone to answer.
"A leader."Jackie finally said.
"Bravo!"Karim clapped."Exactly! If our theory is correct, their society needs some kind of a leader, possibly King or a Queen. This is the second voice you heard. And what is the best way to destroy a hive-mind?"
"Is to destroy it's main mind."Dora said.
"Exactly! If we get rid of the Queen, we might have a chance of victory, considering how will Ichroids behave without her."
"So, we kill the Queen, get a big fly swapper and smash them all?"Jessica asked.
"Should work."Hansen finally said something.
This time, grins appeared on all faces, imagining what would happen, when they got rid of Queen.
"But wait, how can we find the Queen?"Macy asked.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure she has some bodyguards."Ves agreed.
"Oh, don't worry, we thought about it."Karim waved his hand."Hansen."
Second scientist grabbed the cloth covering the thing on the trolley and revealed what was under it. It was a big device, with many buttons, knobs and an antenna.
"What is this?"Emiko asked.
"This"Hansen said proudly"is the newest creation of our Branch."
"We called it High-Power Signal Emitter 1, or HPSE-1."Karim continued."It's equipped with super-powerful emitter, with a simple goal: to send the signal all across Human Space, with the hopes, that Queen will hear it. It uses the same frequency and signal as the one you heard. We hope that when the Queen hears it, it will think there is another Queen and will try to come and eliminate it."
"Why you think she'll try to fight the other Queen?"another of ship's pilots asked.
"We already observed some rivalry between Ichroids. So we can hope, that Queen won't like another Queen in her area."Karim replied."And when she's close, we just jettison this right into Sun, hoping she'll take the bait."
Ester nodded.
"I would probably make some remarks about how many 'we hope' is in the plan, but in our current situation…"she said.
Before she could finish, the door opened and one of the bridge crew ran inside.
"Mark, what is it?"Fred asked.
"Ichroids…"Mark breathed.
"What about them?"Ester quickly stood up.
"They just attacked Angier Prime!"Mark exclaimed.
"What?!"everyone shouted.
"When?"Jessica asked.
"Just an hour ago. News got here now, because they had comm problems. But that's not all."Mark continued."Their ships at the edge of Sol just started moving and preparing for hyperspace jump."
This literally shut everyone mouths. All eyes turned to admiral.
"Mark, tell everyone on the ship to go to battle stations."Richards ordered."All pilots, go to the hangar and prepare to launch."
"On it, sir!"White Squadron, Warrior Bunnies and ship's pilots saluted and ran out of the room.
Next, admiral turned to Jessica.
"Jess, I want your Marines to be ready for anything."he ordered.
"On it, Fred."Jessica replied and followed the pilots.
"Hansen, Olgaydu."
"Yes, admiral?"the Norwegian asked.
"Keep that thing ready."
"Of course!"Karim saluted.
Two scientists rolled the trolley out of the room. Admiral left seconds later.
Not even ten minutes after that, all ships of Task Force 01 prepared their hyperspace drives and jumped towards the closest they could get to the sun. Now, they just had to pray the plan works.
10:24
Orbit of Kallisto
Orbit around Kallisto was filled with Corvettes, Frigates and Destroyers of South American Coalition. The moon for decades was an important ship-building facility, shared between SAC and Hindu Alliance. Surface of the moon was full of various facilities and research labs, trying to find new ways of faster shipbuilding operations.
"Sir?"radar officer on Frigate SAS Sao Paulo turned to his commander.
Captain Sallo Ortiz looked back at his subordinate.
"What is it?"
"We're…detecting enemy ships coming out of hyperspace…"
Ortiz nodded.
"So it's starting."
Not long after, fleet of giant, crystal like ships jumped out of hyperspace. They aimed and opened fire on Human vessels, immediately taking out three of them. All force over the moon replied with fire as fast as they could, but their weapons seemed to don't make any impression on the giant vessels. Within few seconds, another two Destroyers were taken out, their wrecks, slowly approaching the surface of the moon they had to defend.
The wrecks, although slowly coming down, managed to inflict a lot of damage to ground forces ordered to defend it's surface. Many people were crushed by the wrecks and soon, surface of the moon was full of destroyed ships.
And it was only the beginning.
10:36
Orbit of the Sun
"Take off!"Delilah said.
Entire squadron took off from the Battleship's hangars, followed by White Squadron and ship's Morrow Team. Over twenty fighters started circling around the task force, awaiting further orders.
Heat of the star was reaching them and making them all sweat.
"Damn, who could think, that Sun is so hot from so close…"Suvi said.
"Everyone?"Yuko replied.
"Shut up."Martian shot back.
"Girls, it's not time for this…"Arlette whined.
Ester paired with Delilah.
"Del, you're sure you're ready?"she asked.
"There is no other way, especially now."Delilah replied."How do you feel?"
"Honestly?"White Squadron leader replied."I feel more stressed than before…"
"I think it's normal before battle?"
"True…But I never met something on this scale…"
"We make it. Believe in it."
Ester laughed.
"To think, that you are raising my spirit…"she said.
"Someone has to."Delilah replied.
"All units."flight controller said."Professors just activated their miracle device. It's slowly charging. Be ready for any possible enemy encounters."
"Sure thing."Ester replied."Let's get ready everyone!"
And so, they waited. One minute. Three minutes. Ten, twenty, forty and nothing. None enemy tried to enter the area, what made them hope, that they can make it.
"You think they know of our location?"Ana asked.
"Nah, they probably missed us completely."Suvi stated.
But right as she said that, all radars got information of enemy units exiting the hyperspace.
"Suvi…"Dora said through tightened teeth."Shut up next time."
"Sowwy…"Suvi replied like beaten child.
A number of fifteen space distortions appeared in front of them, soon changed into Ichroid ships. Next, these ships started releasing smaller objects.
"Everyone, we have enemy fighters!"Ester exclaimed into the radio."Get them!"
"Right!"all pilots shouted.
Soon, enemy fighters numbers increased to over one hundred fifty. But they had to just manage.
Ester was the first to get into dogfight, when she landed behind enemy fighter. She pulled the trigger and released a wave of bullets towards enemy fighter, which looked like a crystal dart. Bullets visually impacted the sheathing, but enemy didn't seem to take any damage. So instead, Ester fired a missile, which took care of the enemy.
"One down, over one hundred to go."she muttered.
Dora followed, when she fell on enemy from the top, easily dispatching it with a short salvo, which was lucky enough to penetrate the pilot cabin and kill piloting Ichroid. Fighter crashed into it's ship.
At the same time, Ichroid vessels opened fire at the fleet and fighters flying around them. Insectoid aliens sent salvo after salvo of missiles, which were fortunately taken out by Human PDCs. However, some slipped through defenses and managed to cause damage to the fleet.
Tyuule almost fell from her chair, when missile exploded literally meters from her bridge.
"Damage?"she asked the main engineer.
"None, fortunately…"main engineer replied.
"Only good news, Ivan."Warrior Bunny stated.
AA guns all across the ship's hull started opening on the nearby enemy fighters. Number of falling enemies started growing as entire fleet started targeting the Ichroid fighters, but there were still many, many more coming out of enemy ships.
"Professor, how long until that device loads?"Ester asked in radio, evading fire from Ichroid ship.
"Give it around half an hour!"Karim replied in radio.
"I just hope we won't go down earlier!"Macy exclaimed.
She made a Barrel Roll, evading the incoming enemy fire. However, there was another enemy fighter in her flight way, going on a collision course.
"Whoa!"Warrior Bunny exclaimed, quickly pulling the pilot joysticks.
Her fighter pulled up and escaped the enclosure. Two Ichroids were not fast enough and crashed into each other.
"Ha! Suckers!"Kenya said.
"Don't get too excited."Heley said."They still have number advantage."
"We know, that's why we have to quickly get rid of them."Ves said.
But this was not that easy, as everyone wanted.
11:47
Surface of Mars
Another battle was taking place in the orbit around and on the surface of Mars. Many Ichroid drop-pods managed to break through orbital defenses and land on the planet. Immediately, area around the landing zone was covered with large, purple crystals, the highest being fifty meters tall and growing. Fortunately, all of that happened in the middle of Martian outback, not near any of the bigger cities of the planet.
Major Hans Fuong of Martian Marine Corps 328th Armored Regiment 'Dark Riders' sat in the tower of his M5M2, highly Marsianized version of the popular American tank. Alongside them stood mostly home-made MAR-32 Stingray tanks with some other Earthen machines serving in Martian Army and Marine Corp, as well as Marines, using various terrain as their cover and also hastily digging trenches.
Their task was to be the first line of defense, hastily moved to the area, when first Ichroids landed. What will happen, they didn't know. But they had to at least slow Ichroids trying to spread their control zone.
"Fuong, do you see anything?"colonel Giovanni Salazar, commander of the regiment, said through the radio.
"Nothing to report yet, boss."Fuong replied, looking through his periscope."At least not yet…"
"Stay on your toes. These bugs have more wits than you might think."colonel continued.
"Sure thing."major said.
"Alright, prepare for battle."
Salazar disconnected and Fuong turned to his loader.
"Halle, load HEI."he ordered.
Woman saluted and loaded the shell into the lock.
"All done, sir."Halle replied.
"Good."Hans stated.
Tank commander opened his hatch and stood in the turret. He looked high in the sky and found what he was looking for. Explosions beyond the stratosphere of the planet were the signs of still ongoing battle between Martian Republican Navy and Ichroid ships. Suddenly, there was explosion as bright as sun.
"Man, sucks."Fuong thought."I always thought, that dying on the surface is better, than there in space."
"Boss, I think I see something."gunner suddenly said.
Fuong quickly grabbed his binoculars and looked through them. In front of them, there was a ridge, behind which was a seventy kilometer wide and long open space, where Ichroids landed. Except of the fact, that within few minutes, the crystals grew there, high as buildings in Landres Nova. But as Fuong looked at the ridge, he didn't notice…
Sudden purple glow pulled his attention. Slowly, a strange shape started appearing from behind the ridge. It looked like a giant stag beetle, with something resembling a tank gun on it's back. It was, as all Ichroid stuff, covered in purple crystals.
Hans dived down into his hatch and grabbed the periscope. More enemies started appearing. Even from this distance, he could see Ichroid infantry moving their back plates like wings. Good that they were unable to fly, otherwise they could make a bigger mess.
"Steve, aim at that stag, now."Fuong ordered.
"On it, sir."Steve replied.
Gunner took aim and pulled the trigger. Shell left the barrel and flew towards Ichroid machine. It collided with it's surface, braking off a bit of the purple crystals, and burning through some of the armor, but nothing else happened. Machine was still moving forward.
"All units!"Salazar's voice exclaimed."Fire at will!"
Soon, all Martians started firing everything their got at the approaching Ichroid units. Artillery placed behind Human lines also started firing, hitting the marching enemy line. Soldiers fired more and more bullets towards the enemy, while tanks spat shell after shell. This lifted a giant cloud of dust, covering the ridge and enemy troops, but Martians continued to fire, not stopping, unless they had to reload. Thermal TOWs flew towards their targets, exploding in the dust cloud.
"Alright, that's enough."colonel said.
Immediately, everything stopped, but weapons were still aimed in the same direction, waiting.
Fuong grabbed his periscope again and looked through it. Cloud of dust was slowly falling down, but there was still nothing to be seen.
"Hey, boss."Halle asked."You think we got them?"
"Seems like it."Hans replied."Although…"
Right as he said that, purple light appeared in the cloud. Not long after, shot of condensed energy flew out of the cloud and flew towards the Martians. It hit one of Stingrays, penetrating the armor and making the ammo explode, throwing the turret high in the air.
All who saw that, were shocked. MAR-32s were heavily armored, it was not easy to destroy them, even for energy-based weapons, against which they were created. And these things opened it like a fish can.
"Who was that?"someone in radio asked, with panic in the voice.
"That was Salazar…"someone else replied.
"Aw, fuck…"third voice said.
Dust cloud finally disappeared, revealing now not one, but ten giant stag beetles. Much to everyone's surprise, infantry ran from under them and stood where they stood before.
"Holy shit!"Steve shouted."They were able to withstand that much?!"
"Seems like it!"Halle shouted back.
Fuong kept quiet. He was was well aware, what was about to happen.
And he was right. Now, it was Ichroid turn to rain fire on the Martians. All infantry and giant 'stag tanks' opened fire, massacring Humans left, right and centers. Exploding vehicles and screams of dying and wounded were repeating minute after minute, as alien weapons fired at them. It was a massacre, nothing else could be said about it. Pieces of metal were mixed with Human parts, as the power of explosions torn them apart.
Fuong's tank was shaking with every explosion, so hard, that they were not even able to aim properly.
"Sir, what do we do?!"Halle shouted.
"I…"
Right then, one of the Ichroid shots hit the tank, making Fuong's vision go to black for few minutes.
When he finally regained his vision, he looked around the inside of his vehicle. He almost vomited, when he saw Halle, with half of her head missing and one, widened eye still looking into emptiness. Steve was no better, considering, that entire upper part of his body was gone. Hans was scared to check on the driver.
He himself seemed to be in a good shape, at least physically. Mentally, probably not as much. Just like that, these oversized bugs just decimated them. And they did nothing to them. If this is how the heroic defense of Mars had to look like, it was rather in dark colors…
Suddenly, there was a sound over his head and soon, stream of light came inside of the tank. Fuong looked up and saw one of Ichroid infantry men looking at him, tilting his head with curiosity.
"What you gonna do, stupid bug?"Fuong asked harshly."Want me to bring a bug spray?"
Insectoid alien just looked at him, before aiming down at him and pulling the trigger. After that, it jumped off the tank and joined rest of the troops marching at Martian capital city.
Back at the Sun orbit…
Another, smaller star appeared near the Sun, when one of Human Heavy Cruisers was hit in the reactor by Ichroid projectile. Crystal needle, still not classified as missile nor shell, penetrated the armor and unstopped reached the energy source.
"FUCK!"Fred shouted, slamming his fist on the armrest.
"Admiral, I wouldn't advice using such words…"Anna said.
"So how am I supposed to speak, when situation requires it?!"admiral shouted back.
"I was just saying…"the woman tried to defend herself.
Admiral sighed and activated his communicator.
"Major Barkhorn, how are you holding?"he asked.
"We're doing what we can, but there are so many of them, that we can't keep counting!"Ester shouted back.
"Just hold on for a little bit longer."
"We're try."
Ester disconnected and refocused on the battle at hand. She just noticed another enemy fighter going for an attack run, so she chased after it and landed behind it. Next, she fired her 50mm at him, breaking off parts of it's armor. Next, she pulled the trigger and bullets were able to easily get inside of the Ichroid machine, making it explode.
She was followed by Jackie, Emiko and Suvi.
"How are everyone else doing?"she asked in radio.
"This is Delilah, we're holding."Delilah replied.
"This is Marlon, same."Morrow Team leader replied.
"AHHHHHH!"sudden scream pierced everyone's radios.
Morrow 5 was suddenly engulfed in flames and crashed right into Ichroid ship.
"Owen!"Morrow 2 shouted.
"Damn it! I'm gonna kill all these bugs with my bare hands!"Morrow 3 exclaimed.
"Calm down, focus on the enemy!"Morrow 1 shouted.
Rest of the team had to get quiet and just try and do their job. The time for mourning will come later.
Heley shot down another enemy fighter, when she saw one of Ichroid vessels firing out several big objects, aimed right at the fleet.
"Hope, enemy is firing something towards you."she reported to the flagship.
"We'll check it, give us a second…"voice on the other side said.
For few seconds, there was silence, cut only by the sounds of the battle.
"Holy shit!"the same voice shouted.
"What? What is it?"Dora asked.
"These things are boarding pods! Filled with soldiers! Destroy them immediately!"
"On it!"Delilah exclaimed.
Swarm of boarding pods pas approaching the fleet, with escort in form of missiles and fighters, which additionally served for cover from enemy attacks. This way, instead of PDCs hitting the pods, fighters and enemy missiles were being destroyed, protecting the pods. Even when fighters tried to destroy it, enemy came in the way.
"Damn it! We can't get them!"Emmy shouted.
"Hope, this is Barkhorn, a number of boarding pods is coming towards you, escorted by fighters and missiles, watch out."Ester reported.
"Solid copy."flight controller replied.
Not long after, missiles and fighters stopped escorting the pods, leaving them to their own fate. Soon, they started piercing into the ships' hulls.
"What the hell?!"Fred exclaimed.
"Sir, enemy pods just collided with us."Anna replied.
Fred muttered a curse that cannot be quoted and activated his communicator again.
"Jess, you're up."he said.
"Understood, sir."Jessica replied."We're on our way."
Few minuted later, the squad of Marines was basically at one of the spots where boarding pods hit. Other teams were sent to other spots, to get rid of the bugs.
Jessica looked back at her team, consisting of Humans, Nashini and Shakayans.
"Don't let any of them get past us, people!"she ordered.
"Yes, sir!"Marines replied.
They all quickly took positions at the entrance to the corridor, hiding behind the two turns of it. Looking into the corridor, they could see Ichroid pod pierced into the ship and smoke covering the area. But still no sign of the enemy.
"Hold it…"Jessica said.
Marines looked at it with fear, but didn't say anything. Finally, they saw a movement in the smoke, as Ichroids started pouring out of the pod.
"Light 'em up!"Jessica ordered.
All riffles opened on the Ichroids, surprising the aliens. However, they were not completely affected by the attack and started shooting back, hitting some Marines. But Resistance were not going to easily give up.
"Keep them occupied!"Jessica shouted.
She aimed down her sight and pulled the trigger, hitting Ichroid right in the neck, but it needed few more shots in the other parts to take him out.
"How many of the are there?!"someone shouted.
"I have no fucking idea!"Marines colonel stated.
Currently, she managed to count at least fifty enemies. And from thirty she had, within seconds, seven were put out of the fight.
"We're falling back!"Jessica exclaimed.
Damn it. She hated the fact, that they had to do it so quickly. She hoped, that she and her troops hold for a bit longer, than few seconds.
"Grenades."Jessica said.
She and few other grabbed grenades and threw them into the corridor. As they were falling back, sound of exploding grenades was their goodbye.
12:01
Fort Terhis
Much to everyone's dismay, some Ichroid troops managed to land near the Gate and after quickly taking care of Gate's defenses, crossed it into the Special System. Some African Union troops had to pull back from their first-line defenses, when Ichroids quickly poured in. Now, the battle continued in the alleys of base.
And African Union private just leaned from behind his cover and fired at Ichroids trying to move through the narrow alley. One of them fell, but others continued to push, forcing the private to hide back.
"How many are there?"his commander asked.
"Ten, I got one."private replied.
"Any idea how to get rid of these things, sir?"corporal asked.
"Not much."commander said.
"Shit."private stated.
"Yes."commander agreed.
Private again shot at the Ichroids, while commander got a call.
"Yes?"he said.
"Major, how are you doing?"a voice on the other side asked.
"We're trying to hold them from going out of the base, but how for long, we don't know."major replied.
"We know. But we want you to fall back on the third line."
"You crazy or what?"major said."We need to stop them here. You know what will happen, if they start running around the planet?"
"Yes. But we have to, they're growing in number too fast."
"Listen, I…"
Before major could finish, Ichroid grenade landed right next to them.
"RUN!"major shouted.
The three quickly ran for it, right when grenade exploded. It had enough power to push them all back and throw them on the ground.
Private quickly turned around and saw Ichroid infantry approaching the three Africans. Two aliens came up to major and corporal and without hesitation pulled the triggers on them. Private quickly turned to his back, grabbed his handgun and pointed it at the Ichroid approaching him.
"S-Stay back…"he said.
Alien moved it's back plates like wings and continued to march.
"I said stay back!"private exclaimed and pulled the trigger.
Bullet hit the Ichroid, but in the crystal part, not making it any harm.
"Shit…"
Ichroid pointed his weapon at him and was about to pull the trigger, when a giant axe flew from nowhere and easily cut through the crystal armor, cutting the alien in half. Soon, a black-colored shape appeared and started slashing the Ichroids that came here.
"You alright?"Rory asked, looking towards the private.
"I…think…"he replied.
"Good. Go somewhere else. I'll take care of that."demi-goddess said and went on to take care of the Ichroids.
12:11
Back at the Sun's orbit
The battle slowly continued, as Ichroid vessels continued to push forward at TF01's ships.
"Holy shit, if we can't take care of these things, we're done for."Emmy said.
"We know, but these things are just ferocious!"Kenya stated.
"Just keep it up, girls, we need to withstand."Delilah said.
Emmy looked around and saw one of enemy ships firing missiles. As she suddenly noticed, while doing that, they opened special missile tubes to do that. An idea appeared in her head.
"Guys, allow me tot try something out."she said.
She turned her fighter and flew towards the Ichroid ship.
"Emmy, what the hell are you doing?"Delilah asked.
"I have an idea…"she said.
Ichroid point defense noticed her approaching and turned on her. Purple blasts were flying past her, as she evaded them all with ease. After that, she locked onto the missile tubes and smiled under her nose.
"Bye."she said.
She fired two missiles, which flew towards the tubes. Before they could be closed, missiles collided with them and blew up missile, which was being prepared to be fired. Result was immediate, as chain reaction caused by the explosion reached the missile storage in the ship, blowing a giant hole in the ship's side. Next, Warrior Bunny fired two more missiles, which flew inside of the ship and managed to reach missiles stored deeper in the hull. Explosion that followed, torn the ship apart.
"Wow…"Yuko said, surprised.
"That was awesome, not gonna lie."Dora agreed.
"Thank you a lot."Emmy said proudly.
Suddenly, voice of Karim sounded in all of their communicators:
"To all units! The device is ready!"
"Finally!"Morrow 6 exclaimed.
"Firing in three…two…one…"Hansen said.
Aboard the ship, he pressed the button and the device finally started emitting the signal. All Ichroids suddenly stopped firing their weapons and everyone stood still.
"And?"Suvi asked."Anything?"
"Not yet…"Ana said.
"All units!"radar officer of Hope exclaimed in radio."Detecting large object exiting hyperspace!"
"Well, that was quick."Macy said.
"Get ready…"Delilah said.
Not long after, giant distortion appeared and it soon changed into and enormous ship, the side of a small moon.
"Holy shit…"Lena said, impressed.
"I really hope we won't have to fight that…"Liz said.
"Jettisoning the device…now!"Karim exclaimed.
Airlock was opened and device was thrown out of the ship and started flying towards the the Sun's surface.
"Please work, please work, please work…"Ester said.
Queen's ship didn't move for few seconds, until it finally started flying in the direction of the device on full throttle. Ships that were in it's way moved away, so they wouldn't be rammed and allowed giant ship to fly past.
Everyone watched in anticipation, as Queen's ship flew after the device, waiting for what will it do next. For now, it didn't stop moving further.
Finally, device collided with Sun's surface and it's signal disappeared. However, it was too late for the ship to stop. It literally rammed into the Sun, sinking inside the start fully. Inside, large temperature simply melted it into nothingness.
"I have to admit, that was something to see."Morrow 1 said.
"And pretty easy."Morrow 2 added.
"Now, what do we do with them?"Arlette asked.
Everyone looked at now immobile fleet, ready to immediately come back to fighting. However, much to everyone's surprise, when Ichroids started moving again, they didn't fire on them…but on each other. Missiles, lasers and needles were flying left and right, easily piercing their armor and destroying the ships.
"You see what I'm seeing?"Aqi asked.
"Seems like without their Queen, they gone crazy."Heley said.
"You think it's all around?"Ves asked.
"This is Richards."Jessica said in radio."Ichroids on the ship started firing at each other. Seems like our job is done here."
"All fighters, go back to the ship."flight controller said."It's over."
"Copy that."Ester said."Let's go, everyone."
All fighters turned and started flying towards the Hope and Selene, at the same time wondering, how is situation looking elsewhere.
Terhis City
Firefight continued for some time now, as joint force of Rose Knights and ICTA agents continued to exchange fire with the Ichroids assaulting the building. They were doing their best, but the aliens were pushing further and further inside.
"Grenade out!"Sanjrani shouted.
He threw the grenade over the cover. It landed under the Ichroids' feet and exploded, killing several of them. However, more appeared in their place.
"I hate bugs."one of agents said.
"Same."Sanjrani replied."Bozes, how are you?"
Rose Knight, with bandage around her arm, looked at the agent.
"Could be worse."she replied.
"We need to come up with something on them."
"I know, but what?"
"How are the other Rose Knights?"he asked.
Bozes looked back at her troops, some wounded, some just hiding.
"Mixed."she said.
"Right, we should…"
Suddenly, Ichroids stopped shooting at them. They waited for few seconds, but nothing happened.
"I'll look out."Sanjrani said.
He leaned over the cover and saw Ichroids, just standing there. And then, before anyone could say anything, they simply jumped on each other, biting and tearing. ICTA agent was shocked to see one Ichroid literally biting off arm from another.
"What the hell?"Bozes asked, looking at this.
"I dunno…"Sanjrani replied.
"Sir…"another agent said."I just got info. All Ichroids around the city started attacking each other."
Two commanders looked at each other.
"Well…"Bozes said.
Right then, Pina and Orcan walked out of the room they were hiding in, followed by GS' assistants, Grey, Hamilton and Shandy.
"What am I looking at?"Pina asked.
Everyone just threw up their arms.
"Well. At least we know, that we're safe."Grey said.
Pina and Orcan looked at each other.
"I'm sorry, Your Highness."Orcan said.
"For what?"
"I…didn't show my best side today. But please, understand me. I was really scared, that we won't make it."
"No offense taken."former princess said."So, let's go and finish these things, shall we?"
"Of course."
And with that, they went and finished whatever Ichroids were left in the city.
All across Galaxy, Ichroid units went mad without their leader and started attacking each other. Their crystal constructions crumbled and with that, the terraforming processes were stopped. And when aliens stopped killing each other, all what remained of them was collected and simply thrown into stars, so they would burn for what they did.
All and all, losses of the so-called 'Ichroid Crisis', were not as sever as predicted. Over sixty thousand civilians and twenty thousand soldiers died. Because of that, General Secretary Orcan ordered a two weeks long, specie wide mourning. But when it ended, everybody returned to their previous goal.
After all, Holy Order would not defeat itself.
XXX
And there it is, another chapter done and the extinction of all advanced life in the Galaxy was stopped. But, as it was said, Holy Order is still standing and it won't defeat itself. With this chapter, we are halfway through the Great Galactic War Arc. Two more left and we can return to Falmart.
Until then, see you!