HOMEWORLD2: WRATH OF THE GODS
CHAPTER 13: EXODUS
Once more, the Exiles shall face the coming darkness.
- Bentusi Prophecy
High orbit over Hiigara:
As the cryo ships containing two million lucky individuals entered high orbit, carriers and frigates swarmed all over them to keep them safe, escorting the convoy to the Second Scaffold. The Legacy of Kharak was still docked with the massive structure, but now that the Mothership Door was half complete, she was ready to relaunch.
Upon realizing that the new cryo technologies allowed an incredibly space efficient arrangement, Karan had made new plans to take advantage of this. The two million colonists would be stored onboard the Legacy of Kharak, since it still possessed the original cryogenic subsections built in Kharakian orbit. The Kuun Lan and Faal Corum would be used primarily for resourcing, since their harvesting systems were the most efficient in the Hiigaran Navy.
The Legacy of Kharak, primarily a colonist vessel, would be defended with the fleet led by the Pride of Hiigara, which would oversee all the operations of the Exodus Fleet in place of the Legacy. As for the Somtaaw mining fleets, the Paaura would be in charge of their security, as well as serve as a forward offensive flagship for the Hiigaran Navy.
The rest of Hiigara, regretfully, would have to live it out in the various shelters found throughout the planet, covered by the rest of the Hiigaran Navy. Karan was not confident that the Six Fleets could protect Hiigara from the combined Vaygr assault, but she hoped for the best nonetheless. To deal with the Progenitors, she would have no choice but to undertake an extremely risky plan.
Onboard the Legacy of Kharak, docked with the Second Scaffold:
"What? Karan, you have to be kidding me."
"If I don't do this, then there will be no way for us to escape the Progenitor attack."
"But if anything happens to you…"
"Remember that the ability to far jump is an exclusive right of the Sajuuk, and your mothership."
"Far jump? Karan, there's no way this mothership can far jump on this hyperspace module…"
"Yuno, what I mean to say is that I have given orders for the Grand Core to be installed in the Legacy of Kharak. I believed it wise to equip the main colony ship with this powerful Core so that it could move on in case our plans go awry."
"The Grand Core? That is just amazing… But still, using the Sajuuk as bait is pure madness!"
"The Progenitors are after this ship and the Three Cores. If I send the Sajuuk away, I will buy Hiigara some time for it to handle the Vaygr invasion. When the Vaygr are repelled, we can then mount a coordinated attack to stop the Progenitors, if we can."
"If so, how will you remotely control the Pride?"
"You see, remote control was never the proper option. I will still oversee the operations on the Pride so long as I remain in control range, but the limit is somewhere in the region of a hundred light years. When I get too far, it will be up to you to find a way."
"But, how? There is no way for me to control two motherships, I lack your skills…"
"No one, not even me, has the power to control and process data from two motherships simultaneously. What you need to do is to find a suitable candidate to head the Pride of Hiigara."
"A suitable candidate?"
"Yes, one who is well trained and versed in this field of study. I regret I can't give you more details, in the light of the recent Sajuuk incident…"
"Oh, don't worry about it Karan. All that matters is that you're safe. I won't let Hiigara down."
"May the gods of Kharak bless you, Yuno. Karan out."
As Yuno ended the conversation, Admiral Eefrit stepped onto the bridge. The officers all stood up and saluted smartly to welcome his return. Eefrit returned the salute and turned to Yuno's hologram.
"So, what's the new plan now?"
"Scaffold Control reports that the Mothership Door is fifty percent complete. We can complete the rest of the restoration ourselves, so I shall initiate launch procedures to free up docking space for the Pride of Hiigara."
"Very well then. All crews, stand by for launch!"
Onboard the Gatekeeper of Sajuuk, docked with the Second Scaffold:
"And that's about it. We shall take our leave now."
"Very well then, I won't see you out."
Captain Soban saluted as the scientists and engineers returned to the Second Scaffold. At last, they were done with their scientific business on the Gatekeeper. This time, he was actually grateful for their work.
At long last, the tech teams had found the Progenitor systems responsible for the phase out sequence. After many repairs to the various circuitry and conduits in the system, they believed the phasing systems to be finally working at last. Now the only thing left was to test it and see what it did to the Dreadnaught and the crews onboard.
Soban toyed around with the idea of phasing out while remaining docked with the Second Scaffold, but dismissed it quickly. They still had no idea how to return from phase, and anyway that would cause a massive airlock breach in the Second Scaffold. Not a nice thing to do.
The Gatekeeper and Second Scaffold vibrated slightly as the Legacy of Kharak left the docks. The repaired mothership now moved free of the massive structure in space into the welcoming hands of the waiting cryo ship fleet. The colonist transfer was started as the ships began docking with the Legacy one by one.
Meanwhile, Karan took remote control of the Pride of Hiigara and moved it in to dock with the Second Scaffold for refit and repair. The Dreadnaught and scaffolding shuddered slightly as the release crews activated the grapplers to grab the incoming mothership. Within seconds, the Pride of Hiigara had come to a complete stop. Repairs and retrofitting could begin now.
"Captain, release crews report that they are ready to handle our launch."
"Roger that. Ask them to release the grapplers. Helm, stand by to engage main drives."
With a loud clang, the grapplers detached from the hull of the Dreadnaught, causing the ship to drift away into space. Moments later, the great drive of the Gatekeeper roared into life and sent the ship moving away from the Second Scaffold.
"We are away, captain."
"Got it. Move into low orbit, we're going to visit Captain Elohim while we still can."
Captain Soban looked at the chrono piece on his hand. They only had forty hours left before the Progenitors came. Would they be able to load all the colonists and complete the Pride's repairs in time?
Onboard the Sajuuk, high orbit over Hiigara:
Karan Sjet watched from her command cubicle via a camera as the medics and doctors tried to figure out what was wrong with Kiir. Kiir Sjet was lying on the bed, eyes closed and barely breathing. Tubes trailed from his eyes and mouth and electrodes were attached to his limbs, chest and head.
"Doctor, what is wrong with Kiir?"
"Well, it's difficult to say, Sajuuk-Khar. What we're looking at is something similar to what happens in a severe concussion – little or no neuron activity throughout his central nervous system. Yet we can detect no physical damage in his cellular structure."
"How long will it take for him to awaken?"
"From a deep coma like this? There's no way to tell. It could be anytime between twelve hours and twelve years."
"I see. Notify me immediately if the situation changes. Meanwhile, in the light of the Sajuuk's coming mission, I think it would be best if you could move Kiir to the Legacy of Kharak instead."
"Very well then, we shall carry out your orders promptly. Infirmary out."
Karan closed her eyes and focused on the ship's sensors. They were getting closer, perhaps as close as the Shining Hinterlands already…
Coruc-Tel System:
The infected frigates drifted aimlessly away from where the inhibitor station had been. All of unknown design and configuration, they now moved into formation as they prepared to make a hyperspace jump.
Just then, a micro hyperspace window opened up and slid silently to reveal the chassis of an Acolyte II fighter. No sooner had the strike craft returned completely to normal space did it start moving towards the fleet of infected frigates.
The frigates did not fire on the fighter, sensing that it was being controlled by one of their own. Instead, they parted to create a path for the fighter to glide through. Suddenly, the Acolyte II halted with a quick burst of thruster power.
The frigates opened up their communications channels as the fighter started beaming data to the fleet. Several seconds later, it was done. With the Sync Jump Algorithm in their databanks, the frigates synchronized their hyperdrives to pull the fighter and themselves into hyperspace.
Eastern Outer Rim:
The sensor outpost drifted on its preset course through space, continuously taking readings and measurements of the energy levels of its surroundings. Except for the hyperspace trajectories of the Vaygr fleet retreating from Hiigara, it had picked up nothing else in these few days.
As if to answer the outpost's desire for something to happen, multiple ships began emerging from hyperspace. The outpost quickly focused all its sensors on the exiting ships, and promptly sent an emergency distress signal to Hiigara.
Moments later, the outpost was vaporized by the combined firepower of the Vaygr's Seven Crusades.
Onboard the Legacy of Kharak, high orbit over Hiigara:
"Alright Yuno. The engineers are done with installing the Grand Core."
"Got it, communicating with the Grand Core for the first time…"
Yuno vanished from her bridge hologram and started racing through the circuits of the Legacy towards the Grand Core. She soon arrived at the gateway between the Mothership's electronics and the Progenitor's hardware. Taking a deep breath in cyberspace, she crossed over to the Grand Core.
What lay beyond was simply astounding. Streams of data flooded past her, each of them detailing the projected jump ranges and power outputs of the Grand Core. She was astonished when she accessed one of the data streams, revealing a successful experiment in which the Grand Core jumped the testing fleet across an entire galactic cluster.
It was then that she came across a locked box of data deep within the databanks of the Grand Core. She tried to access the box, but the encryption proved too complex. Unsure of what to do with it, Yuno decided to haul it into the Mothership's databanks for further analysis.
When Yuno returned to her bridge hologram, only three seconds had passed since her departure.
"Found lots of data regarding the capabilities of the Grand Core. It turns out that jumping from one end of the Galaxy to the other is nothing for this artefact to accomplish."
"I would have guessed as much. What did it say the maximum range was?"
"I didn't quite figure that one out, but one of its test jumps managed to cross the local galactic cluster without a hitch."
"Wow. Sounds good. What else did you find?"
"There was also this locked section of data that is protected by a very secure form of encryption. I copied it to the Mothership's databanks to ease our analysis of it. I will contact Karan about this data immediately."
"Oh well. By the way, it looks like we'll be loading the colonists completely ahead of schedule."
"That's good to hear. Opening a channel with Karan Sjet now…"
Yuno went silent as she activated the Legacy's communications systems and requested a link to Karan. Moments later, Karan established the connection.
"This is Karan. What is it, Yuno?"
"Sorry to bother you yet again, but I just undertook an exploration of the Grand Core's databanks."
"I see. I was about to ask you to do that anyway… so what did you find?"
"The technical details are unimportant. However, I would like to request free access to the Sajuuk's databanks."
"Why so?"
"I found a heavily encrypted piece of data, and I hope to unlock it quickly. Hopefully, Sajuuk will hold the key just like it did to the Eye of Aaraan."
"Very well then. However, we're running on a tight schedule here. Would five minutes be sufficient?"
"More than adequate, Karan. Thanks a lot!"
Yuno was quick to make the jump from the Mothership to the sacred databanks of the Sajuuk itself. Within the Sajuuk held data streams and answers to some of the most ancient questions of the Galaxy's civilisations, but she resisted the temptation and focused on the matter at hand. Surprisingly, she found a match! Wasting no time, she loaded the necessary data back into the Mothership and the locked data revealed its secrets without hesitation.
Unfortunately, most of the data was corrupted and damaged. Yuno returned to her bridge hologram and sighed.
"So, did you find what you were looking for?"
"Yes I did, Karan. There's still work to be done, though. The data is all corrupted."
"I see. Try to decode it, it may be of significance. But I must remind you to keep your priorities on the matters at hand."
"Why, of course. Yuno out."
After closing the connection, Yuno returned her attention to managing matters on the Legacy. She did so just in time, for there was a shuttle moving in to dock with the Mothership. It carried the comatose body of Kiir Sjet. Quickly, Yuno assigned several crews to the hangar bays to facilitate the transfer of Kiir to the infirmary.
Kiir Sjet was trapped in a nightmare he could not escape from. He was flying freely through the cosmos, watching the events of history unfold before him. He watched the bombing of Hiigara as the Taiidani vanquished the remnants of the Kushan empire, sending the survivors to exile. He saw Kharak burn under the merciless assault of the Taiidani frontier fleet. He saw Tanis base being destroyed by the Vaygr strike force.
He was about to be pushed beyond his emotional and psychological thresholds when suddenly, everything went black. Now Hiigara faded into view, and he saw the great fleets of the Hiigaran Navy before him. The Pride of Hiigara was docked with the Second Scaffold, while the Legacy of Kharak was loading her important cargo of colonists. Overhead, the Six Fleets, Paaura, Kuun Lan, Faal Corum and the great Sajuuk watched over the motherships.
Now he seemed to zoom out as Hiigara shrank with distance. He raced through the Hiigaran System, passing other planets, asteroids and occasional dust clouds. Now he was at the Bridge of Sighs on the outskirts of the Hiigaran System. Here, he saw the Progenitors, Kadeshi, infected Bentusi, all racing through hyperspace to the one place he called home.
He screamed to let Karan know, but no words came out of his mouth. He was all alone in this endless void.
Onboard the Sajuuk, high orbit over Hiigara:
Karan awoke from her ship diagnostics abruptly, alarming the biotech crews that surrounded her cubicle.
"Sajuuk Khar, is anything the matter?"
"I am fine. Please prepare for all emergency procedures – The Progenitors are here!"
The Hiigaran fleet leapt into action as the combat vessels all moved to the battlefront. Any time now, the Progenitors would be exiting hyperspace with their Kadeshi and infected minions.
Yuno had asked the cryo ships and their crews to load the colonists more quickly. Only two more ships were left in the line, and the rest of the colonists were already sleeping in the cryogenic subsystems onboard the Mothership.
Meanwhile, the repair crews stepped into high gear to complete the last bits of construction on the Pride of Hiigara's Mothership Door. Within the Pride itself, engineers now raced to complete the last adjustments to her essential systems. Already, the rest of the Second Scaffold's crew were being evacuated to bomb shelters on Hiigara.
As the last bolt fell into place, purple indicators popped up on the sensors screens of every ship in the fleet.
All of Hiigara watched tensely as the invaders warped into normal space. Nothing could have prepared the people from seeing the colossal Oblivion emerge from hyperspace. Dwarfing even the Foundry Ship, it made the gathered Hiigaran Navy look puny relative to it.
Leading the Hiigaran formation was the great Sajuuk itself. Its prowess uncanny, it too seemed inferior to the military might they were facing up against. Would the Great Maker be able to avert this calamity?
Onboard the Sajuuk, high orbit over Hiigara:
The battleship was now at maximum alert. Crews were running to their battlestations in preparation for the coming engagement. The ship's intercoms buzzed busily as the last bits of Karan's plan fell into place.
Karan, meanwhile, was making the final adjustments to both the Sajuuk and the Pride of Hiigara via remote control. This would be an incredible feat, even for her, to control two mothership-class vessels until a suitable Unbound person could be found to head the Pride. She maximised her mental defences, and began transmitting to the enemy fleet.
"This is Karan Sjet, and I speak on behalf of the Hiigaran people and the worlds of the Galactic Rim. We have been duly informed of your… quest to acquire the Three Cores. As the Sajuuk Khar and Custodian of the Three, I must say that I cannot grant you your request."
There was a silence on the frequencies, before a deep sinister voice reminiscent of Makaan responded.
"So you are the astonishing Karan was has braved the attacks of our psychics and lived to tell the tale. Allow me to introduce myself. I represent the Progenitor faction that fell so many millennia ago. It pains me to see someone as great as you promoting naïve ideals such as peace."
"This Galaxy has been at war for ages, and it was only through these Cores that we were able to finally stop the fighting and unite the Rim Worlds in harmony. We have come a long way to accomplish this, and so we cannot give you the Cores."
"If that is all that you desire, then let us take the Cores by force and let your pitiful souls rest in eternal peace."
"I guessed as much that would happen. Technologically and numerically, we are no match for you. But the Sajuuk is, and you will have to capture us to claim your prize!"
With that, the core containment section of the Sajuuk lit up in a brilliant yellow as the ship powered up to make an emergency hyperspace jump. The Progenitors and Kadeshi quickly brought their inhibitors to bear on the legendary ship, but what could stop a ship with the power to jump through galactic cores? The yellow hyperspace window sprang open and consumed the vessel, leaving nothing it its wake.
The voice scowled and mumbled an order. Within moments, the Progenitors disappeared from realspace into hyperspace, leaving behind a few battlecruisers, the Kadeshi and the infected ships. The infected Bentusi tradeships launched their Super Acolytes to support the Kadeshi Advanced Swarmers. The strike craft closed in on the Hiigaran Fleet, which now gathered into a defensive sphere.
Onboard the Exile, high orbit over Hiigara:
Commander Hyll saw the invasion coming and leapt into action as the acting leader of the Hiigaran Navy.
"Commander Hyll to all ships in the Six Fleets, repel the attackers immediately! Concentrate all fire on the Progenitor battlecruisers and don't let them get near the motherships! We need to buy them some time!"
The fleet responded with a flurry of firepower, cutting into the advancing ships with devastating force. Upon seeing their Bentusi and Kadeshi comrades getting slaughtered in the shower, the battlecruisers calmly activated their shields and pummelled through at high speed, phased cannon turrets blazing.
Hyll saw the phased cannon beams tear into the frigate screens, ripping through the Hiigaran ships in a matter of moments. The beams were nowhere near as powerful as those from the Phased Cannon Array, but they surely beat ion cannons hands down.
"Damn those turrets. Sensors, do we have a lock on their shield frequencies?"
"No way to track them, their shield frequencies are shifting randomly, we can't get a lock!"
"Then we'll have to do it the old fashioned way then. All ships in range, focus fire on the nearest Progenitor battlecruiser!"
The Hiigaran battlecruisers swept in and let loose their ion beams on the incoming Progenitor ship. The blue beams were absorbed silently by the orange energy shields, as was the firepower of the other Hiigaran ships. Frigate after frigate fell, and a destroyer blew up under the assault of three Kadeshi multibeam frigates. While the Kadeshi were taking heavy losses, the five battlecruisers were still wholly intact.
As the primary frigate screen became debris, the secondary screen moved in to provide cover. Hyll knew that the outcome was decided.
"Get a message through to the Second Scaffold and the Legacy of Kharak. The fleet needs to go now!"
Onboard the Legacy of Kharak, high orbit over Hiigara:
"This is Yuno of the Mothership."
"Yuno, this is Hyll. You need to get the colonists out of here immediately. The Progenitors are showing no sign of letting up, so there's no way we can hold them indefinitely!"
"But we can't jump as long as those Kadeshi inhibitors are up. If we were to use the Grand Core now we would alert the Progenitors to its existence!"
"I've dispatched bombers to disable the needleship inhibitors temporarily. It should give you a ten minute jump window. I trust that will be sufficient?"
"More than enough. We'll jump on standard hyperdrives the moment the fields go down."
"That's all I guess. We'll defend Hiigara with our lives. May Sajuuk protect you."
"And you too. Yuno out."
Yuno quickly set to work, ordering Scaffold Control to launch the Pride of Hiigara immediately. Seconds later, the Second Scaffold grapplers released their mechanical hold on the mothership. Instantly, the automatic drive algorithm took over, and the mothership moved free of the Second Scaffold.
Now the Pride of Hiigara, Paaura, Kuun Lan, Faal Corum and their escort fleets moved into formation around the Legacy of Kharak. The gathered Exodus Fleet stood by for the inhibitor fields to deactivate. Meanwhile, the bombers swept through the Kadeshi formation, laying waste to any inhibitor generator in sight. They were about to descend on the final needleship when squadrons of swarmers soared in suddenly, forcing the pilots to disengage.
"Yuno, the bomber attack failed – the last inhibitor is still standing! From the looks of it, the Six Fleets aren't going to hold the battlecruisers back any longer!" Eefrit was now trying to push her to use their trump card.
"But we can't take the risk of jumping with the Grand Core!"
As if on cue, a bright yellow lance of light leapt through space, impaling the needleship and sending it to hell. Yuno tracked the source of the beam and saw the Gatekeeper of Sajuuk moving in from behind the Second Scaffold.
"Looks like we came just in time."
"Captain Soban! Where were you?"
"Yeah, you sure took your time!" Eefrit complained.
"We just dropped by the Shipyard Naabal for a quick call on Elohim. He transferred some of the shipyard's engineers over to lend their expertise. It seems that the Six Fleets could use the additional firepower."
"No doubt about it, but take care not to put the Dreadnaught through too much. We need your ship's assistance for the Exodus."
"Just take care, old friend."
"Don't worry bout us. Soban out."
Eefrit and Yuno watched as the Gatekeeper moved in to join the main battle.
Onboard the Gatekeeper of Sajuuk, high orbit over Hiigara:
"Captain, the battlecruisers have spotted us. They are breaking off their attack and are moving to engage us!"
"I see. Engineering, shields at maximum. Weapons control, begin charging the Phased Cannon Array. All crews, full combat alert!"
The Gatekeeper turned to bring its cannon to bear on the approaching battlecruiser. The Hiigaran Navy was still firing on the ship, but it seemed to have little effect on the vessel's shields. The Dreadnaught shuddered as the Progenitor ship opened fire with its phased cannon turrets.
"Damage report!" Soban yelled as the lights on the bridge flickered slightly.
"This is Engineering, shields at seventy percent and falling fast. We need to deal with them quickly!"
"Alright, fire the cannon when ready!"
With that, the Gatekeeper fired its main cannon. The shields of the battlecruiser resisted the Phased Cannon Array for a full second before they gave and surrendered the chassis to the yellow beams. The battlecruiser erupted in a ball of light.
But the battle was still not over. The other four battlecruisers had come within range of the Dreadnaught, letting loose their turrets on the Gatekeeper. The ship shuddered violently and the lights went out. Moments later, auxiliary power kicked in, bathing the bridge in a dim orange glow.
"Are we okay?"
"That last salvo took our shields out. Shield generation's down, and we have moderate outer hull damage across all sections."
"Those phased cannon turrets really are something… We've had enough for now, activate Phasing sequence!"
"But it's completely untested…"
"If we don't phase out now there'll be nothing left of us to phase with!"
"… Very well. Activating phasing systems now!"
The battlecruisers powered up their turrets and fired their second salvo. Just before the beams hit the Gatekeeper, the Dreadnaught vanished in a flash of yellow light.
Onboard the Exile:
When Commander Hyll saw the Gatekeeper phase out, he knew what he must do.
"All ships, run Quantum Distortion Algorithms now! Focus all distortion fields on the battlecruisers now that they're distracted!"
In response, all the ships in the Six Fleets lent power from their hyperdrives to generate localised quantum waveform distortions around the four battlecruisers. The ships were instantly frozen in space, their shields straining against the disruption of space time. Now the Hiigaran Navy retuned their weapons to the exact frequency of the quantum distortion, and fired.
The Progenitor shields, however mighty they were, crumpled under the additional stress of firepower. As the battlecruisers began taking direct damage, they tried to retaliate by firing their weapons. However, the distortion fields disrupted the course of their beams, which fired into empty space.
As the battlecruisers took increasing amounts of damage from the Hiigaran Navy, the Gatekeeper emerged from hyperspace some distance behind the gathered Exodus Fleet. It was smouldering from a few areas, but was thankfully spared from severe damage. Hyll was relieved at the sight.
"Commander Hyll to Yuno of the Mothership, we've got the situation under control now. Recommend you take this chance to jump while the Kadeshi are still repairing their inhibitors!"
"Very well then, Commander. We are powering up hyperdrives in preparation for a synchronised jump to the Karos Graveyard. We shall far jump with the Grand Core from there. Hopefully, the debris fields will hide the energy signature of the Grand Core."
"Excellent. On behalf of all Hiigara, I now bid you farewell."
"Till we meet again, Hyll. Yuno out."
Commander Hyll watched silently as the Exodus Fleet entered hyperspace along with the Dreadnaught. The fate of Hiigara now lay in his hands.