Chapter Eleven
Standing in the shielded observation tower of his forward Command Post, General Lando Calrissian surveyed the battle scene before him. Located just on the outskirts of Xucphra City it was the perfect place to direct his troops as the scoured the city looking for the Magog.
Most of the invasion forces combat Droids were still in operation and were having the greatest success against the enemy, the regular ground troops had not been so fortunate.
"Sir another group is returning from the city," one of his sergeants reported, "Mostly injured, but some of them were infested."
"Send them back with the others," Lando ordered, "And remind the forward commanders that they are to stay under the protection of the War Droids."
"Yes sir," he replied.
Lando went back to surveying the battle field this time concentrating on the useless heavy artillery pieces they had brought along. The Magog had no large set artillery pieces to go up against, they were an infantry force at best, but more like a ravenous horde. The fleet was keeping any remaining Swarmships out of the fight and the goal was to liberate the city not to destroy it outright.
Not that they could destroy the city, the Magog had erected some kind of dampening field around the city blocking even the deep scans from the sensors aboard the orbiting starships. Without a clear picture of how many civilians were in the city he could never order such a devastating attack.
"Sergeant," Lando began, "detail a squad to locate and destroy the dampening unit, I want to know what is going on in that city."
"Yes sir," the soldier replied.
In orbit around the planet Dylan Hunt was growing more and more uneasy as the ground battle progressed.
"You want to be down there don't you," Beka commented from the pilots station.
"In a way yes," Dylan admitted, "I don't like sitting here and watching while people are dieing."
The image of Andromeda appeared on the forward screen forestalling any reply.
"Another group of Swarmships have launched from the far side of the planet," she reported, "Eight craft are detected."
"Have the Mon Vista and the Carrion move to intercept," Dylan ordered, "and increase fighter flybys of the far side of the planet."
"Dylan, I've just received word from the Alliance Command," Trance reported, "More Leukoprene will arrive shortly."
"Excellent," Dylan replied, "It's a good thing the Galactic Alliance has such an advanced pharmaceutical capability or a lot more people would have died today."
"Yeah, well living with a brood of Magog in your gut couldn't be much better then death," Beka noted, "As I'm sure Harper can testify. If we ever see him again."
"Where there is life Beka, there is also hope," Tyr reminded her.
"Swarm destroyed Captain," Andromeda reported cutting off Beka's reply once again, "Wait another swarm has been detected."
"Take them out," Dylan ordered.
"General Calrissian," the Sergeant began, "A squad of Stormtrooper have located the dampening field in an Bacta storage facility in the Zaltin Corporate District."
"Order them to move in," Lando told him, "I want that unit destroyed immediately."
"Understood," came the reply.
A moment latter one of Lando's Lieutenant approached, "Sir, we are receiving reports from the Medical Unit. Several of the civilians we rescued are very close to their Magog births.
"Sir the Leukoprene will have no effect in these circumstances."
Lando looked on his officer with a deep sadness, the choice was clear though utterly detestable.
"Lieutenant Corwin, you know what they have to do," Lando told him, "Go see that it gets done."
"Yes sir," he replied and with reluctance turned to relay his general's orders.
Turning once more to the battle at hand Lando knew he had made the only choice available to him, and yet it made him feel somehow worse then when he had betrayed his own friend, Han Solo, to the Dark Lord of the Sith himself.
And there was no way to make this one up to anyone.
All around him the flickering sensor screens began to come to life along with the direct feed from the orbital sensors giving the General, for the first time, a clear picture of his battlefield.
Magog were everywhere.
Throughout the capital city hundreds of thousands of Magog roamed freely, far more then they had ever imagined. Only a handful of living humans remained within a hundred kilometer radius of the city beside those of the invasion force, and even less of the native Vratix.
As the resolution of the monitors cleared even further Lando began to see that the Magog were digging massive warrens through the ground directly beneath the base camp including the medical unit and his own command post.
Shock for a moment seized the General as he realized the horrible implications of what he was seeing. Sensing the return of his wits Lando prepared to give his orders.
Too late, the Magog began to burst out from the ground and began to descend upon any soldier nearby.
Screeching his orders to all the Magog around him, Death Knell lead the attack on the Alliance Command Post. Much of his force was attacking the medical area in order to protect the soon to be born progeny from the vial clutches of the Alliance's medicines.
Directing some of the few Magog armed with weapons to attack the defending battle droids the Magog were able to quickly secure the perimeter of the Command post.
Taking his time and ensuring that his own troops were following their instruction, Death Knell slowly advanced and entered the outpost. Inside he discovered that many of the personal were already dead along with several unfortunate Magog.
A dark skinned human with a flowing cape stood at the far side of the post, blaster at the ready, but turned facing a communication system.
"This is Lando Calrissian," the human called, "our position is overrun. We need evac immediately."
"There is no time for that," Death Knell called out in Basic to the human taunting him.
In response the human spun around more quickly then Knell could have imagined sending a blaster bolt into his left shoulder.
"A mistake human," Knell cried gripping his wound and in a half a moment pounced on the unprepared human being spraying him with paralytic poison, "You shall make an adequate host for my progeny."
"Have all ground forces withdraw and secure the landing zone and the forward Command Post," Dylan ordered after receiving Lando's request for reinforcements.
"More Magog are moving over land to support the first wave," Tyr reported, "Many, many more."
"Have Blue, Alpha and Sabre squadrons launch an air strike on those positions," Dylan decided.
"Dylan," Rommie began.
"What now," Dylan snapped.
"A large Swarm has just existed slipstream," she continued un-phased, "they are joining up with forces launching from the planet's surface."
"How many," Dylan asked afraid to hear the answer.
"Too many," she replied, "Several hundred at least."
"It is NEVER easy," Dylan lamented, "We are in way over our heads, prepare to evacuate the ground forces, we're leaving."
"But Dylan, most of the transports have been gathering the Bacta reserves for use offworld," Trance told him, "We'll need some time to off load the cargo and begin gathering the troops."
"Understood," Dylan replied in a mildly defeated tone, "Tell them to stop loading the Bacta and get as many troops aboard as they can.
"And tell the fleet to hold the line."
"They are not the High Guard Captain," Tyr reminded him.
"They are now," Dylan told him, "Engage the swarm."
Around the Andromeda battle raged.
Torpedoes, missiles, and energy beams filled the blackness of space above the planet Thyferra as the forces of the Galactic Alliance tried to hold back the onslaught of the Magog swarm.
Nearly two hours had past since the first wave of the Magog attack had entered the system. The Alliance forces had made a good accounting of themselves in the fight but as the first point-singularity bomb crashed through an Alliance warship it became clear that they would not win this fight.
"Do we know which Swarmship that was," Dylan demanded.
"No such luck," Beka replied, "There are to many."
"Status of the withdrawal," Dylan asked.
"We need ten more minutes," Trance replied.
"You have five."
Another ship was torn to shreds as PSBs slammed into its hull and command tower. Escape pod began to fly from the ship and its shields soon failed completely. Magog craft began angling in to board the doomed craft.
"Keep the swarm away from that Star Destroyer," Dylan ordered and defensive missiles began to fly out at the clawed spike-like craft.
"The last of the transports is secure Dylan," Trance reported.
"All craft," Dylan began, "fall back to rendezvous point. Pick up as many survivors as you can.
"Tyr, give me a target solution for Xucphra City," he continued, "Orbital bombardment."
"Dylan?" the now soft and incredulous voice of Beka Valentine called.
"Fire," was Dylan's only reply.
Below the Andromeda the Thyferran capital light up in flame as and barrage of ground attack missiles pounded into the surface. In a moment their was nothing left of the city but flame.
"Beka, take us to slipstream," Dylan ordered.
The slipstream console closed around his first officer, who still in shock grabbed hold of the control sticks and took the ship into the alternate reality of Slipstream.
In the relative calm of the rendezvous point Dylan Hunt sat quietly in his office studying the causality reports. The battle for Thyferra had cost the Galactic Alliance dearly. Nearly ten thousand dead, thousands more were made hosts for Magog progeny. Left behind on the planet were thousands more not to mention all the equipment and artillery.
The entire contingent of combat droids in an act of extreme valour chose to remind behind to continue the fight on the planet and protect those civilians who had survived.
"Dylan," Trance said as she stepped through the open door, "I thought you should know, we recovered General Calrissian. He was very badly injured Dylan but he was also infested with Magog larva.
"We did everything we could for him here, put him on a leukoprene drip and repaired most of the serious injuries, but he required Bacta treatment to survive. I had him sent over to the Mon Vista, the doctors there expect a full recovery."
"Thank you Trance," Dylan replied shortly, "Will that be all."
"You did what you thought was best Dylan," Trance told him, "You made your choice, you must live with it."
"Living with it Trance is what I'm afraid of."