D-Day - Staging Area - Zeuxis
"Brigadier Sun, all of the Alliance forces are in place," Lt. Marv announced.
"Thank you, Lt. Marv. Open a comm to all personnel," she replied.
"This is Brigadier Sun, to all personnel. This is it: if we succeed today, this will be the final battle, the end of the Scarran War. Many of you have already engaged in smaller squirmishes en route to this region of space. You can be sure that those were minor compared to what lies before us. The key to our success is the timing: we must all strike at the same moment-not a microt earlier or later. Good luck everyone, and may your god or goddess be with you today."
~ * ~
Approaching Scarra Prime
As the combined Peacekeeper, Royal Defense Force and Nebari Expeditionary Force task force struck their primary targets, the ground assault by the calcivores began. Twenty Marauders, piloted by Delvian Peacekeepers, modified with invisibility shields reverse-engineered from T'Raltixx's device, dropped the calcivores behind enemy lines. Their target: the bunker reserved for the highest-ranking Scarran officers and government officials. The Territorial Alliance was hoping that the expression "cut off the head and the body is helpless" applied to the Scarran war effort.
PK command briefed the calcivores on the Scarran facility. The primary defense was the location itself: the Scarran homeworld, with an average daily temperature of 60 degrees Celcius, effectively barring any Sebaceans from attempting any landing. The next deterrent for other races: the Strategic Weapons Satellite system. The SWS System consisted of a network of satellites orbiting Scarra Prime with automated firing sequences triggered by any craft crossing the sensor horizon without a beacon emitting an identifier code. The codes were changed so often that any beacon captured from a Scarran ship would be out of date by the time Alliance forces discovered the beacon and figured out its true purpose.
The twenty Marauders approached the planet. "Coming within sensor range," Corporal Set said from the lead Marauder. "Activate invisibility shield and increase speed," he ordered the rest of the ships as he made the changes on his own console. "We must off-load quickly-the shield only works for a short time. Decca team, your objective is the SWS power station. Pilko team, your objective is the central computer control center for the SWS. The rest will keep the Scarrans preoccupied while you achieve your objectives."
~ * ~
Earth - Maine: The Crichton Family Vacation Home
Jessica still worried for her husband and brother, but DK managed to distract her with a new project: requesting the release of classified government documents under the Freedom of Information Act. They had turned the kitchen into a makeshift office. Jessica, after getting the run-around from yet another bureaucrat, slammed the phone down. She looked over to DK, who was sending what felt like his thousandth fax. "I can't believe you've been doing this for over a week now! How can you deal with all the red tape?"
DK shrugged his shoulders. "I just put myself in Reni's place," he began. Shortly before he left, John had asked DK to look into the matter on behalf of Officer Reni Toya, the Nebari Peacekeeper who came to Earth to help train the human Prowler pilots. "If I went to another planet, and there were wide-spread stories of a crashed alien ship and descriptions
of bodies that sounded like my species, I'd want to know, too."
~ * ~
Royal Planet - The Royal Family's Private Quarters
While Parliament debated whether or not to extend the War Powers Act to allow Katie to ascend to the throne, the would-be empress and her two guardians waited in the family quarters. Dominar Rygel XVI ate (of course), Councilor Jack Crichton paced back and forth, and Katie amused herself by playing a modified version of hopscotch on the geometric pattern tiled floor. Jack stopped, looked at his chronometer, and said, "What is taking them so long?"
Rygel ate the last morsel of Spam, smacked his lips, and sighed contentedly. "Well, it's been hardly more than an arn. Prime Minister Cintau simply adores the sound of his own voice, so must give an oratory rather than simply answer questions from the Lords and Ladies of Parliament. Minister Carzenova, in rebutting Cintau, will be more succinct, I'm sure," Rygel said reassuringly.
Katie stopped playing hopscotch and went to her grandfather. She realized that Granddad wasn't really upset by the Parliamentary debate, but was worried for his son. "Don't worry, Granddad. Daddy will be OK. He'll beat the Scarrans, then come home and you won't be sad anymore."
Jack scooped Katie into his arms. "I hope you're right, Katie."
~ * ~
Staging Area - D-Day, H-Hour - The RDF and Peacekeeper battle carriers arrived at their destinations under hetch power.
"OK, campers, this is General Crichton," he said from his Prowler. "I'm not going to bore you with a long speech: you know what we're here for, so let's get it done."
The simultaneous assault at the ten Scarran targets began as planned: The Royal Defense Force and Peacekeeper carriers arrived under hetch power, with human Prowler and Viper pilots flying the first wave of sorties. Then, after the weapons systems were disabled, the NEF pilots exited wormholes and took out the heat shields and helped destroy the weapons systems. Finally, Peacekeeper and RDF pilots joined the fight after the destruction of the heat shield was confirmed. Their main mission was to take on any Scarran fighters.
Lt. Commander Robert "Howdy" Jones, piloting one of Talyn's five Vipers, took out two Scarran pulse cannons with his bottom gun turret, and had come about to aim for the heat shield, when the Scarrans launched their fighters. Almost before he knew it, his Viper had been hit by one of the opposing fighters. Disregarding orders and his Viper's impaired capabilities, he engaged the Scarran fighters in a dogfight, but failed to hit his target in the first pass.
As Jones turned to pursue, his wingman and brother-in-law Gen. John Crichton, pointed out three more Scarran fighters behind him. "On your six, Howdy, ya got three bogies!"
"Roger that, Butch!" Howdy replied as he turned as tightly as the Viper would allow, and Jones got behind a Scarran fighter and started a duel. Jones found the necessary range, fired, and ripped into the Scarran fighter fuel tank and right wing with a barrage of fire from his two side guns.
The Scarran fighter flamed, rolled, and exploded. Above, the battle raged as fifty Scarran fighters swarmed around eighteen Prowlers. As Jones roared back up to altitude, he lost track of Crichton, but soon found six Scarran fighters.
Jones tracked the trailing fighter. Despite extensive evasive maneuvers, the Scarran fighter pilot couldn't shake Jones, who fired his belly turret gun twice. One went high, but the other hit the Scarran's missile storage. The Scarran fighter caught on fire and began to dive. As Jones followed his next victim, the other Scarran fighters gained the upper hand and fired at Jones.
From above, two NEF Phantoms spotted Jones's single Viper, obviously in serious trouble. The two Nebari pilots shot down the Scarran fighters.
~ * ~
Scarra Prime
The calcivores disembarked from the Marauders. As planned, Decca team headed for the Strategic Weapons System power station, while Pilko team went to disable the SWS computer control center fifty metras away. The majority of the calcivores, however, remained at the landing site as decoys, and to keep any Scarran troops from going after Pilko and
Decca teams.
They intentionally tripped the motion sensors to draw the Scarran patrol's attention away from the first two teams. The patrol called in for reinforcements. The nearly sixty calcivores charged the enemy full force. But they didn't know about the landmines: the Peacekeeper surviellence reports hadn't mentioned them. Many calcivores in the lead stepped on the powerful chakon oil mines and died instantly, their bodies almost obliterated by the force of the explosions. The resulting shrapnel injured even more. As the invading force neared the heavily armed patrol, they instinctively reacted to the scent of calcium. As one they simultaneously changed from their dormant state, their body spikes extending and the "lightbulbs" on their heads began to glow red. The Scarrans fired upon them, but their weapons were ineffective against the calcivores' natural body armor. The defending soldiers were shocked to see the invaders still advancing, and continued to fire. The remaining calcivores, strengthened by the promise of a calcium-rich meal, pounced on the Scarrans, unaffected by their weapons. Fighting one on one, the calcivores ripped off sections of the Scarrans' exoskeletons and began to feed. Living on a starvation diet on Karnore, and receiving barely more than subsistence rations on Moya, this was the first time in years that they could all feed to satiation.
~ * ~
1 Zeuxis
"All Prowlers have returned, Brigadier," Lt. Marv said, straining to be heard over the other voices in command. "Many are damaged, but all pilots are unharmed. And Capt. Crais reports that all Viper pilots have returned to Talyn."
"And the RDF and NEF forces - how have they fared?" she asked. "All ships have reported in, all their pilots have returned as well. And the ground assault was successful, although at a high casualty rate."
Brigadier Aeryn Sun stepped closer to the lieutenant. In a soft voice that belied her anger, she asked "And what of General Crichton? Has he decided to return from his harebrained Prowler mission, when he was supposed to be on the Zeuxis coordinating the battle with me?"
Lt. Marv swallowed, and said "Yes, Brigadier, he has re-." Before Lt. Marv could finish his answer, Gen, Lord Crichton entered command and swept Aeryn into his arms. Aeryn Sun, not accustomed to public displays of affection (especially in front of her crew), stopped her protest before she even began it when she saw the look of elation on John's face, and kissed him. They were so caught up in their kiss that they didn't even notice when all the crew on command broke into applause.
~ * ~
Royal Planet - Palace
Princess Katralla, flanked as always by her two bodyguards, Em'Lee and Ne'Ra, greeted the visitors in her royal receiving room. Dominar Rygel XVI and Councilor Crichton were also present. Minister Carzenova was smiling, and Prime Minister Citau was not, so Katie assumed that Parliament had extended the War Powers Act. Katie tried to remember all of Grandmama's advice on royal behavior, but wasn't sure what to do. She tried her best regal smile, and waited.
"Good news, highness," Dregon Carzenova said as he bowed his head slightly. "Brigadier Sun reports that the final battle is over. The Scarrans have yet to surrender, but it is only a matter of time: all their major weapons systems and communication centers and so on have been destroyed."
"Well, that is good news, Minister Carzenova," Katie said calmly, all the while thinking 'just tell me Daddy is OK, that's all I really want to know.'
"And your father is fine, he will be back at the Royal Planet early tomorrow morning," Carzenova added.
Katie couldn't help herself. When she heard the good news, she squealed in delight and danced around, until Jack Crichton picked her up and swung her around.
"Daddy's alright! I told you, Granddad, didn't I?"
"You sure did, Katie!" Jack said. He thought his son had died once before, and didn't think he could bear to loose his son a second time. "I should have listened to you, and not worried so much!"
Cintau looked at the calcivores, full of contempt for them. He looked around the spacious room, and realized he held everyone in it in contempt. The half-breed princess in her bizarre attire, her Hynerian advisor, her alien grandfather, and those barbaric bodyguards. Cintau did not want to proceed, but Carzenova was insistent.
"Your highness, it is my pleasure to inform you that Parliament had voted to extend the War Powers Act…"
"Brigadier Sun, all of the Alliance forces are in place," Lt. Marv announced.
"Thank you, Lt. Marv. Open a comm to all personnel," she replied.
"This is Brigadier Sun, to all personnel. This is it: if we succeed today, this will be the final battle, the end of the Scarran War. Many of you have already engaged in smaller squirmishes en route to this region of space. You can be sure that those were minor compared to what lies before us. The key to our success is the timing: we must all strike at the same moment-not a microt earlier or later. Good luck everyone, and may your god or goddess be with you today."
~ * ~
Approaching Scarra Prime
As the combined Peacekeeper, Royal Defense Force and Nebari Expeditionary Force task force struck their primary targets, the ground assault by the calcivores began. Twenty Marauders, piloted by Delvian Peacekeepers, modified with invisibility shields reverse-engineered from T'Raltixx's device, dropped the calcivores behind enemy lines. Their target: the bunker reserved for the highest-ranking Scarran officers and government officials. The Territorial Alliance was hoping that the expression "cut off the head and the body is helpless" applied to the Scarran war effort.
PK command briefed the calcivores on the Scarran facility. The primary defense was the location itself: the Scarran homeworld, with an average daily temperature of 60 degrees Celcius, effectively barring any Sebaceans from attempting any landing. The next deterrent for other races: the Strategic Weapons Satellite system. The SWS System consisted of a network of satellites orbiting Scarra Prime with automated firing sequences triggered by any craft crossing the sensor horizon without a beacon emitting an identifier code. The codes were changed so often that any beacon captured from a Scarran ship would be out of date by the time Alliance forces discovered the beacon and figured out its true purpose.
The twenty Marauders approached the planet. "Coming within sensor range," Corporal Set said from the lead Marauder. "Activate invisibility shield and increase speed," he ordered the rest of the ships as he made the changes on his own console. "We must off-load quickly-the shield only works for a short time. Decca team, your objective is the SWS power station. Pilko team, your objective is the central computer control center for the SWS. The rest will keep the Scarrans preoccupied while you achieve your objectives."
~ * ~
Earth - Maine: The Crichton Family Vacation Home
Jessica still worried for her husband and brother, but DK managed to distract her with a new project: requesting the release of classified government documents under the Freedom of Information Act. They had turned the kitchen into a makeshift office. Jessica, after getting the run-around from yet another bureaucrat, slammed the phone down. She looked over to DK, who was sending what felt like his thousandth fax. "I can't believe you've been doing this for over a week now! How can you deal with all the red tape?"
DK shrugged his shoulders. "I just put myself in Reni's place," he began. Shortly before he left, John had asked DK to look into the matter on behalf of Officer Reni Toya, the Nebari Peacekeeper who came to Earth to help train the human Prowler pilots. "If I went to another planet, and there were wide-spread stories of a crashed alien ship and descriptions
of bodies that sounded like my species, I'd want to know, too."
~ * ~
Royal Planet - The Royal Family's Private Quarters
While Parliament debated whether or not to extend the War Powers Act to allow Katie to ascend to the throne, the would-be empress and her two guardians waited in the family quarters. Dominar Rygel XVI ate (of course), Councilor Jack Crichton paced back and forth, and Katie amused herself by playing a modified version of hopscotch on the geometric pattern tiled floor. Jack stopped, looked at his chronometer, and said, "What is taking them so long?"
Rygel ate the last morsel of Spam, smacked his lips, and sighed contentedly. "Well, it's been hardly more than an arn. Prime Minister Cintau simply adores the sound of his own voice, so must give an oratory rather than simply answer questions from the Lords and Ladies of Parliament. Minister Carzenova, in rebutting Cintau, will be more succinct, I'm sure," Rygel said reassuringly.
Katie stopped playing hopscotch and went to her grandfather. She realized that Granddad wasn't really upset by the Parliamentary debate, but was worried for his son. "Don't worry, Granddad. Daddy will be OK. He'll beat the Scarrans, then come home and you won't be sad anymore."
Jack scooped Katie into his arms. "I hope you're right, Katie."
~ * ~
Staging Area - D-Day, H-Hour - The RDF and Peacekeeper battle carriers arrived at their destinations under hetch power.
"OK, campers, this is General Crichton," he said from his Prowler. "I'm not going to bore you with a long speech: you know what we're here for, so let's get it done."
The simultaneous assault at the ten Scarran targets began as planned: The Royal Defense Force and Peacekeeper carriers arrived under hetch power, with human Prowler and Viper pilots flying the first wave of sorties. Then, after the weapons systems were disabled, the NEF pilots exited wormholes and took out the heat shields and helped destroy the weapons systems. Finally, Peacekeeper and RDF pilots joined the fight after the destruction of the heat shield was confirmed. Their main mission was to take on any Scarran fighters.
Lt. Commander Robert "Howdy" Jones, piloting one of Talyn's five Vipers, took out two Scarran pulse cannons with his bottom gun turret, and had come about to aim for the heat shield, when the Scarrans launched their fighters. Almost before he knew it, his Viper had been hit by one of the opposing fighters. Disregarding orders and his Viper's impaired capabilities, he engaged the Scarran fighters in a dogfight, but failed to hit his target in the first pass.
As Jones turned to pursue, his wingman and brother-in-law Gen. John Crichton, pointed out three more Scarran fighters behind him. "On your six, Howdy, ya got three bogies!"
"Roger that, Butch!" Howdy replied as he turned as tightly as the Viper would allow, and Jones got behind a Scarran fighter and started a duel. Jones found the necessary range, fired, and ripped into the Scarran fighter fuel tank and right wing with a barrage of fire from his two side guns.
The Scarran fighter flamed, rolled, and exploded. Above, the battle raged as fifty Scarran fighters swarmed around eighteen Prowlers. As Jones roared back up to altitude, he lost track of Crichton, but soon found six Scarran fighters.
Jones tracked the trailing fighter. Despite extensive evasive maneuvers, the Scarran fighter pilot couldn't shake Jones, who fired his belly turret gun twice. One went high, but the other hit the Scarran's missile storage. The Scarran fighter caught on fire and began to dive. As Jones followed his next victim, the other Scarran fighters gained the upper hand and fired at Jones.
From above, two NEF Phantoms spotted Jones's single Viper, obviously in serious trouble. The two Nebari pilots shot down the Scarran fighters.
~ * ~
Scarra Prime
The calcivores disembarked from the Marauders. As planned, Decca team headed for the Strategic Weapons System power station, while Pilko team went to disable the SWS computer control center fifty metras away. The majority of the calcivores, however, remained at the landing site as decoys, and to keep any Scarran troops from going after Pilko and
Decca teams.
They intentionally tripped the motion sensors to draw the Scarran patrol's attention away from the first two teams. The patrol called in for reinforcements. The nearly sixty calcivores charged the enemy full force. But they didn't know about the landmines: the Peacekeeper surviellence reports hadn't mentioned them. Many calcivores in the lead stepped on the powerful chakon oil mines and died instantly, their bodies almost obliterated by the force of the explosions. The resulting shrapnel injured even more. As the invading force neared the heavily armed patrol, they instinctively reacted to the scent of calcium. As one they simultaneously changed from their dormant state, their body spikes extending and the "lightbulbs" on their heads began to glow red. The Scarrans fired upon them, but their weapons were ineffective against the calcivores' natural body armor. The defending soldiers were shocked to see the invaders still advancing, and continued to fire. The remaining calcivores, strengthened by the promise of a calcium-rich meal, pounced on the Scarrans, unaffected by their weapons. Fighting one on one, the calcivores ripped off sections of the Scarrans' exoskeletons and began to feed. Living on a starvation diet on Karnore, and receiving barely more than subsistence rations on Moya, this was the first time in years that they could all feed to satiation.
~ * ~
1 Zeuxis
"All Prowlers have returned, Brigadier," Lt. Marv said, straining to be heard over the other voices in command. "Many are damaged, but all pilots are unharmed. And Capt. Crais reports that all Viper pilots have returned to Talyn."
"And the RDF and NEF forces - how have they fared?" she asked. "All ships have reported in, all their pilots have returned as well. And the ground assault was successful, although at a high casualty rate."
Brigadier Aeryn Sun stepped closer to the lieutenant. In a soft voice that belied her anger, she asked "And what of General Crichton? Has he decided to return from his harebrained Prowler mission, when he was supposed to be on the Zeuxis coordinating the battle with me?"
Lt. Marv swallowed, and said "Yes, Brigadier, he has re-." Before Lt. Marv could finish his answer, Gen, Lord Crichton entered command and swept Aeryn into his arms. Aeryn Sun, not accustomed to public displays of affection (especially in front of her crew), stopped her protest before she even began it when she saw the look of elation on John's face, and kissed him. They were so caught up in their kiss that they didn't even notice when all the crew on command broke into applause.
~ * ~
Royal Planet - Palace
Princess Katralla, flanked as always by her two bodyguards, Em'Lee and Ne'Ra, greeted the visitors in her royal receiving room. Dominar Rygel XVI and Councilor Crichton were also present. Minister Carzenova was smiling, and Prime Minister Citau was not, so Katie assumed that Parliament had extended the War Powers Act. Katie tried to remember all of Grandmama's advice on royal behavior, but wasn't sure what to do. She tried her best regal smile, and waited.
"Good news, highness," Dregon Carzenova said as he bowed his head slightly. "Brigadier Sun reports that the final battle is over. The Scarrans have yet to surrender, but it is only a matter of time: all their major weapons systems and communication centers and so on have been destroyed."
"Well, that is good news, Minister Carzenova," Katie said calmly, all the while thinking 'just tell me Daddy is OK, that's all I really want to know.'
"And your father is fine, he will be back at the Royal Planet early tomorrow morning," Carzenova added.
Katie couldn't help herself. When she heard the good news, she squealed in delight and danced around, until Jack Crichton picked her up and swung her around.
"Daddy's alright! I told you, Granddad, didn't I?"
"You sure did, Katie!" Jack said. He thought his son had died once before, and didn't think he could bear to loose his son a second time. "I should have listened to you, and not worried so much!"
Cintau looked at the calcivores, full of contempt for them. He looked around the spacious room, and realized he held everyone in it in contempt. The half-breed princess in her bizarre attire, her Hynerian advisor, her alien grandfather, and those barbaric bodyguards. Cintau did not want to proceed, but Carzenova was insistent.
"Your highness, it is my pleasure to inform you that Parliament had voted to extend the War Powers Act…"
