HOMEWORLD2: WRATH OF THE GODS
CHAPTER 18: PRELUDE TO THE INEVITABLE
"A realm of mystery, unexplored since the First Time. Not even we could reach it.
To enter in defiance is to doom oneself."
- Bentusi records
High orbit over Hiigara:
The Vaygr forces hung in high Hiigaran orbit. They were devouring the debris fields and asteroids orbiting the smouldering world, building up their fleets for a decisive assault on the Exodus Fleet.
The feast would not last for long. Long range hyperspace sensors onboard ships throughout the fleets began picking up incoming signals. Pilots scrambled to their strike craft and captains stood at the ready in anticipation of the Exodus Fleet's arrival.
Only this time, it wasn't the Hiigarans.
The Six Crusades stared in horror as the mighty Progenitor fleet exited hyperspace before them. The sheer size of the Oblivion terrified many pilots beyond measure.
The Vaygr strike craft leapt forth to swarm their targets, with the frigates following closely behind. They would never go down without a fight.
Onboard the Oblivion, high orbit over Hiigara:
"It is indeed interesting to note that the Hiigarans' home planet has been cleansed of all life. What is more interesting is that we did not need to lift a finger to do so," gloated the Leader as he admired the smoking cinder that was Hiigara, "What is this new fleet that we are engaging?"
"Your Greatness, they refer to themselves as the Vaygr, the Warriors of the Fringe. It would appear that they destroyed the guard fleets of Hiigara as an act of revenge. They were the other civilisation in pursuit of the Sajuuk's power, it seems," an officer reported.
"Excellently done, I must say. Those pitiful Hiigarans have fallen not to us, but to their other enemies. I wonder what Karan will have to say when she returns to find her home destroyed…"
"Your Greatness! One of the Keepers is reporting a massive internal malfunction! They are reporting loss of control across all systems!"
"Bother me not with such matters," dismissed the Leader, who now glanced at his armada tearing mercilessly into the retaliating Vaygr fleets, "All that matters now is that we eliminate this ridiculous force and claim Hiigara as our prize."
"Why, of course. I will inform the ship's commander that…"
It was then that screams cut into the comm channels, screams of terror and sheer agony. They reverberated across the Oblivion's bridge, shocking everyone and even the Leader himself. When the noise finally subsided, they were treated to a nightmare: infection beams firing relentlessly into ship after ship.
Now that they were being pressed on from two sides – the Vaygr were attacking from the front while the virus was infecting from the rear.
Onboard the Legacy of Kharak, hyperspace transit:
"It's amazing – energy levels from the Grand Core are going off the scale!" Yuno exclaimed as she analysed the necessary readings.
"Is it because of the gravity wells we're jumping through?" enquired Eefrit, "The Grand Core may have had to compensate as a result."
"No, it can't be the gravity wells. The energy levels are more than enough to jump us to another galaxy. In fact, the Grand Core is extending its quantum wavefield even as I speak."
"Extending?"
"The Grand Core has enveloped the fleet in a high energy quantum wavefield for the jump, but it is also generating another elliptical one that is stretching out for several light years' distance."
"Now, why would the Grand Core generate another quantum wavefield? I thought the data you inputted is only supposed to bring us into the Southern Fringe…"
"You need to remember that it doesn't resemble any standard type of coordinate data. For all you know, it was supposed to do something else. Anyway, I am unable to predict the completion of the jump, since the Grand Core is now operating on totally different hyperspace principles."
"So all we can do now is wait?" sighed Eefrit.
"Yes, I'm afraid. We can take the chance to begin repairs on the Legacy, however. The cryogenic subsections barely escaped damage in that T-MAT salvo. I shudder to think of the consequences had they managed to penetrate the subsection armor."
Onboard the Pride of Hiigara, hyperspace transit:
Kiir Sjet and Kro Manaan were hiding in the safety of the Research Module, seeking refuge in one of the unused laboratories in the module. The crews they had saved were doing a terrific job spreading the word about Hiigara's latest "saviour," and now the entire Pride of Hiigara had heard about it. It would only be a matter of time before news started spreading to the other ships in the fleet.
Kiir had taken care to lock the door with an extremely secure password; an excerpt from a sequence of characters that he had encountered in his studies of hyperspace. So complex was the sequence that it had taken him nearly a minute to key it in, and another minute for the door console to absorb and process it all.
Meanwhile, Kro had rummaged through the lab for some supplies to tide them through this "crisis." After much effort, he discovered several packets of chips and few sealed instant meals. They were just a few days away from expiration.
"We're gonna eat just that until the whole thing dies down?" Kiir muttered in slight shock. He simply could not imagine eating rubbery meats out of a plastic box for his next few meals.
"Well, if you want to, we can go out to the cafeteria. But then you'll be swarmed so badly by your fans that I doubt even your barrier can save you," Kro remarked, rolling his eyes at the thought of eating the miserable cuisines before them, "Anyway, how the hell did you acquire these abilities?"
"I'm not too sure myself. I was pretty much normal until I paid Karan Sjet a visit on the Sajuuk…"
"What!" Kro spluttered at the revelation, "You mean you actually got to see the Sajuuk Khar up close and personal?"
"Why, yes of course. But there really isn't anything particularly special about her. She's still a normal Hiigaran like everyone else."
"Kiir, it's not every day that a normal Hiigaran gets to meet the one who saved our entire existence, you know… okay, back to the point. What exactly happened on your visit?"
"Someone boarded the Sajuuk and tried to assassinate Karan. And whoever he was, he definitely wasn't normal."
"Wait, let me get this straight. Someone tried to ASSASSINATE Karan?"
"Yeah, and he was seriously abnormal. He smashed his way through the Marines and got all the way to Karan's chamber. Bullets didn't seem to slow him much, and he simply subverted any door that tried to close him in."
"Subvert?"
"I'm not very sure myself. When he came in, he took Commander Hyll down in a few seconds. By the way, Hyll was the one who escorted me on my journeys in the Great Beyond."
"I know Hyll alright. One of the best commanders Naabal has ever seen. What next?"
"Naturally, I tried to stop him. Of course, he simply threw me off and went straight for Karan. It was then that I got it."
"Your abilities?"
"I somehow managed to mind control him for a while, then he broke my control and got pretty pissed off by the whole idea. He lunged for me, and I did the barrier thing subconsciously. The rest is history."
"You definitely made history all right… Kiir, you SAVED the Sajuuk Khar!" Kro exclaimed, his eyes widened in total amazement.
"Alright, that's enough. Let's just eat and wait this out, okay?"
That said, Kiir ripped open one of the meal packets. Whatever lay within didn't look at all appetising, but it was still food all the same. Reluctantly, he picked up a plastic spoon and began eating. Kro regarded Kiir with some disgust, then opted for a packet of chips.
The duo ate their meal in silence, peering every now and then at one of the computer viewscreens they had turned on. They were still in hyperspace transit, and no details were given on a possible time of realspace reversion.
It was then that the viewscreen flickered and shut off. A voice began flowing in from one of the speakers nearby.
"Am I interrupting anything?" Yuno enquired, "Kiir, are you there?"
"Yuno?" responded Kiir cautiously. Kro was just staring at the blank viewscreen silently, slightly shaken by the suddenness of Yuno's entry.
"Kiir! I was rather alarmed when I heard about the boarding attempt. I half-thought you were gone…"
"I'm quite alright. It's gonna take more than a few crystal robots to finish me off."
"That's reassuring to hear. Now, why in the world are you and Kro hiding in the Research Module?"
"Huh? You know Kro?"
"Why not? For heaven's sake we're from the same Kiith remember?"
"Oh, it just slipped my mind. Kro, how did you meet Yuno?" Kiir now looked to Kro inquisitively.
"Well, I sort of met her a couple of days after you left for Tanis. She moved in to work on advanced mind-machine interfacing, and that's how I got to know her," commented Kro, as he remembered the sad events that had taken place not long after, "Then she collapsed a week later for no apparent reason. Doctors said it was terminal cancer, and that she wouldn't last the week."
"That's what THEY claimed," Yuno replied, "Thankfully, my research had brought up possibilities of extending lives by uploading the consciousness into a virtual medium. They needed to save my life, and I needed to test out my work, so they uploaded me."
"That was a pretty close call, it seems," commented Kiir, marvelling at the experiences Yuno had gone through, "But how was it like after that?"
"It sure took me a while to get used to the lack of a physical body. But then, the things I could do in cyberspace quickly won me over. The idea of near-instantaneous travel to nearly any part of Hiigara and the fleet was rather pleasing, to the extent that they had to install heavy encryption to keep me out of classified data," she laughed, remembering her playful exploits so many months ago, "But if there's anything I'm going to miss, it has to be the sensation of touch and smell. Of course, I do miss the exotic cuisines of the various Kiithid too!"
"You won't miss this one, I bet," Kro countered, pointing at the packet meal Kiir was eating.
"Well, then there are exceptions. Alright, I've got to go now. It seems that the Grand Core's power output is starting to waver, could mean an imminent hyperspace exit. I'll see you around later then."
Yuno's voice died away, and the viewscreen restored its images and data readouts of their hyperspace journey. Kiir took another bite, grimaced, then flung the rest of the muck into the nearest disposal chute. He glanced at the chips Kro was holding, and the packet levitated to Kiir's receiving hands.
"Hey, you aren't supposed to do that!" Kro responded with a mock scowl.
"I'm just practising," replied Kiir, munching into the chips hungrily.
Onboard the Paaura, hyperspace transit:
"General, we are picking up anomalous energy readings from the quantum waveforms, if this keeps up we could lose hyperspace stability within the next 30 seconds!"
"Stay calm people," Qwaar ordered, "Remember what Yuno said – the Grand Core operates in ways we have yet to fully understand. Do not take any sort of diagnostic action, we can ride this one out."
However, General Qwaar himself was unnerved by the readings too. He had read books on early hyperdrive tests back at Kharak, and such anomalous readings usually resulted in the ship never returning to Kharakian orbit.
As hyperspace stability was lost and the command ship began groaning loudly from the stress, Qwaar muttered a silent prayer and hoped for the best.
Onboard the Epsilon V, Bridge of Sighs:
"What pitiful idiots. They are in possession of the most powerful weapon in all history, and they use it to shatter planets…"
"Nevertheless, I must commend them for their stubborn resistance. They are bringing down the initial plan much more quickly than I could have anticipated. It seems that I will have no choice but to send everything we have at them…"
"Still, it is a great pity that they are unable to unleash the true potential of that ship. It is now time for one who is worthy to step forward…"
The persona sent an order through the neurocircuitry, and the fleet responded by leaping to hyperspace.
He no longer called himself Luca Paktu.
The Southern Fringe:
A place of mystery, for no one has set foot in it since the First Time. And yet, the shimmering windows in realspace now try to change all of that once and for all.
The rainbow screens slid backwards to pull the vessels into realspace. Five of them were monolithic in size, one of which was badly wounded.
The jump windows vanished from sight, but the journey had yet to end.
Onboard the Legacy of Kharak, the Southern Fringe:
"We have returned to normal space. Hyperspace jump… wait, jump is incomplete!" Yuno exclaimed.
"I don't understand this either… Yuno, what's causing this?"
"Unknown, Eefrit. The quantum wavefield is not collapsing as it normally should. Instead, it is still extending farther from our current position!"
"But we have reverted to realspace successfully, right?"
"Of course. However, we will be unable to initiate another far jump until the quantum wavefield shuts down completely. Not that it really matters, for we have cleared the gravity well buffer zone. We can jump on standard hyperdrives within the Southern Fringe without trouble."
"Sounds good to me, and by Kharak, this place looks completely different from everything I've seen thus far."
"What could you expect, not even telescopes could peer beyond the gravity well buffer zone. Faal Corum reports that they have begun surveying the nearby space, and will be coming up with preliminary star charts within the hour."
The space that lay behind them was black and white, with light scattered in gross and unpredictable directions by the black holes and collapsed stars. They could no longer see the Galactic Core from where they were now.
But what lay before was surprisingly different. Millions of stars gleamed with sparkling brilliance, some of which lit up the surrounding space in flares of orange and yellow. For a region near the edges of the Galaxy, there was an incredible amount of cosmic activity going on. One could have easily mistaken it for a scene from the Inner Rim.
The scene was suddenly distorted as the fabric of space time bent and crumpled. Alarms began going off as sensors began picking up major quantum waveform distortions.
"Emergency alert, hyperspatial anomalies detected! The space time continuum in the region is becoming unstable, it seems to be caused by the Grand Core's quantum wavefield!"
"Are we in any immediate danger, Yuno?"
"I can't tell for sure. Sensors are going crazy at the sudden event, I'm trying to recalibrate."
With an abrupt shockwave that reverberated mildly through the Exodus fleet, the Grand Core collapsed its quantum wavefield, having accomplished its task. Ships shuddered, planets moved, and stars shifted as the shockwave continued on through the fabric of space time.
The infected fleet dropped from hyperspace suddenly as the shockwave reached the Hiigaran System. Alarms went off and the organic ships began self-repairs on areas that had received mild damage.
T-MAT vessels converging on the gate they had been spirited from were pulled from hyperspace abruptly. They too were surprised, but quickly went about preparing to return to hyperspace. They would not let the Hiigarans off so easily.
The shockwave soon dissipated.
Onboard the Pride of Hiigara, the Southern Fringe:
"Did you feel that?"
"Sure I did, and it's not me," Kiir quickly spoke, alarmed by the sudden shudder.
"Whatever it was, it can't be good," Kro said as he turned to look at the viewscreen for clues. Instead, he found chaos. Bemoaning his lack of hyperspace knowledge, he beckoned Kiir to come over and decipher the data for him.
"It looks to me like a major imbalance just took place in the space time continuum," he muttered as he scrolled down and read all the numbers, "I didn't think the Grand Core would be capable of such power."
"What did it do? I thought the Grand Core was just an improved Far Jumper?"
"It's more than that, if you look at the data here. What it just did was collapse a rather large quantum wavefield. Why it even generated such a long range field in the first place is beyond me."
"So, what are the consequences of such a collapse?"
"There can be many consequences depending on the circumstances. For one thing, we could be looking at a major change in the nature of the space time continuum at whichever place the wavefield was targeting."
Kiir looked at the data again, and continued to sigh at the wonders of the Grand Core. There was so much more about hyperspace he had yet to learn.
Onboard the Legacy of Kharak, the Southern Fringe:
The shockwave has dissipated, surrounding realspace is returning to normality. The Grand Core has powered down completely and is recharging.
"Seems like it drained all its energy reserves. How long do we need to wait before we can use it again?" Eefrit asked.
"At its current rate of recharge, about an hour or so. That last quantum wavefield event was really something, considering that far jumping the fleet across the Galaxy barely takes1 percentof its power."
Eefrit's attention was drawn to the beeping computer next to him. It was a preliminary star chart drawn up by the Faal Corum. He quickly studied the chart and decided on a destination.
"Now, I have no idea where we should go to from here. According to the star chart, there's a planetary system about three light years from our current position. It's perfectly within reach on conventional hyperdrives. We should head there first to harvest resources and conduct proper repairs."
"Agreed. Attention fleet, stand by to synchronise hyperdrives on my mark." Yuno announced.
The various captains and commanders of the carriers and ships began reporting in, giving the green light for the jump. A minute or so later, the fleet was assembled properly for hyperspace.
"Synchronised Hyperspace Jump initiated!"
Blue windows of hyperspace opened up to engulf the Exodus fleet, but they became distorted and flickered out of existence. Yuno was alarmed by the event.
"Hyperspace jump failed!"
"And I think I know the reason why…" Eefrit was now staring in horror at all the red dots appearing rapidly on the sensors screens, "Progenitor Keepers are decloaking around us! It's a trap!"
The fleet wasted no time in bringing up quantum waveform distortions around the Legacy. The mothership was still very badly damaged from their previous T-MAT skirmish, and there was no way it would survive a Keeper encounter.
But this would be one heck of a tough fight. The Keeper force they were now facing was greater than any they had encountered so far. Over a hundred of the mechanical guardians now sought to succeed in their task of protecting their masters' legacy once and for all.
Even as the fighters scrambled to counter the drone swarms launching from the Keeper bays, there was a feeling of imminent doom spreading through the fleet. The Keepers were too close for the Somtaaw command ships to use their Siege Cannons, and they were still lacking many ships from the T-MAT battle.
Just before the Drones reached the Acolyte IIs, they collided with an invisible barrier. Upon seeing what had happened, the Acolyte fighters banked away sharply to avoid a similar fate. The Keepers moved in with their ion cannons blazing, but the beams were deflected away harmlessly as well. The Exodus Fleet was now protected by a huge quantum distortion field.
As the fleet tried to understand what was going on, a large hyperspace window began to open above the Legacy of Kharak. The window receded, revealing the outline of a large vessel. It was clearly Progenitor in origin, built on the same scale as the Sajuuk, but of a completely different design.
Yuno quickly focused all visual sensors on the ship as it exited hyperspace completely. Meanwhile, she activated the translation software onboard the Pride of Hiigara. Somehow, she got the feeling that she didn't need any further confirmation. Nonetheless, the translation of several inscriptions on the ship's hull quickly came in to erase any last doubts.
He Whose Wings Guard What Is.
Yuno could say no more.
Onboard the Oblivion, high orbit over Hiigara:
"Your Greatness, it is my pleasure to report that we have exterminated the stray infection. All infected ships have been neutralised."
"That is good to hear. What about the Vaygr forces resisting us from the front?"
"The frontal guard managed to hold them in check, giving them the illusion that they were actually winning. Now the battlecruisers are moving in to neutralise them as well."
"Very well. Keep up the assault, we must take Hiigara at all costs…"
"Emergency alert, hyperspace signatures detected at our rear!" came the frantic cry of one of the sensors officers, "Sensors are picking up a large fleet comparable in number to the Vaygr fleet!"
Sure enough, a large fleet began to shimmer into reality, poised to strike the Progenitor fleet from the rear. The Progenitor fleet had already lost a good quarter of its ships to the earlier infection, and the addition of another fleet simply did not bode well for them.
As the ships completed their hyperspace exit, a large mothership-class vessel began to return to normal space. It was the needleship that had annihilated the Kadeshi fleet, the ship that used to be an Imperial research station.
The Epsilon V's jump window closed behind it, and it immediately opened communications with the Oblivion.
"Greetings Progenitor Fleet, we have come to claim what is ours."
"Miserable scum, do you actually believe yourselves to be capable of overcoming us, your masters?" scoffed the Leader defiantly, "We have swept through anything that dared to stand against us throughout all history. You do not even possess the Sajuuk's power, so what hope do you have?"
"Such a predictable reaction, it seems that you require more convincing…"
The Epsilon V sent out a powerful pulsed signal that echoed through the metallic hulls of every ship around Hiigara. Within moments, Keepers throughout the Progenitor fleet began reporting system crashes and logic system subversion. As their containment cores overloaded and failed, the infection spread rapidly and unchecked. Soon, the Progenitor fleet had been halved from their original number.
All their Keepers were now a part of the infected fleet, their own weapons turned against them.
The Leader was horrified at the sudden turn in events.
"What do you think, Master?" asked the voice sarcastically, "Now we will consume the rest of your fleet. Rest assured, though, that we will do a good job in finishing the Hiigarans you so despise. We will also claim the Sajuuk that you pursued over many light years, and finish your quest for domination on your behalf."
"Silence, you infidels!" roared the Leader as he cut off all communications, "Target the Quantum Pulse Cannon at their mothership immediately, send the monsters to hell!"
"Affirmative!"
The monolithic Oblivion began turning around slowly to face the infected fleet. Once its cannon had achieved a lock onto the Epsilon V, the massive quantum focusing arrays spread open to lend energy to the primary focusing cannon.
Onboard the Epsilon V, high orbit over Hiigara:
There was no more Luca Paktu, only Kaark remained. The entity had searched through the mind of its host Hiigaran to find a befitting name, and discovered the Kharakian word signifying the Unknown. It had regarded the word with interest, then decided to adopt its usage.
Kaark looked at the Oblivion that was now pointed towards his ship. The massive arrays were now channelling pure quantum energy towards a single point on the frontal cannon, which was starting to glow a brilliant blue. Calmly, he sent a command through the Epsilon V's control systems.
The Epsilon V fired off all eight of its long range infection weapons at once, and the crimson beams struck the Oblivion's frontal cannon. The infection spread quickly, subverting circuitry and any unfortunate soul who happened to be onboard. However, it remained contained to the primary cannon, and did not spread to the rest of the superstructure.
As the plague progressed, the cannon's brilliant blue glow dissipated. It soon became evident that the Oblivion was not one, but two ships melded together as one large vessel. The smaller vessel to the front began to roar into life, tearing away from the metallic frames that held it in place to the rest of the Oblivion's superstructure. The Progenitor Leader could only watch in horror and anger as he realised the significance of that ship.
They had found the derelict vessel in an abandoned portion of their home galaxy during the early days of the Rebellion. Things were going badly for them, and they had little time to do an extensive analysis of the abandoned ship. The Rebellion's scientists had then built the massive Oblivion around it, using the ship's primary weapon as a focusing point for their superweapon.
They were ignorant of the fact that the derelict was a superweapon in itself.
They never had the time to confirm the ship's identity, for their defeat at Karos forced them all to go into cryo-sleep and minimal power modes to evade detection. When the Eye of Aaraan's activation had awakened them fully, they made the costly mistake of giving their all to capture the Sajuuk.
With a final roar, the last connecting beams ripped away and the cannon ship moved on its own power. It too was built on the same scale as the Sajuuk. It too was of a completely different design from the Great Maker.
The Leader stared in rage and utter disbelief as Kaark hacked through their communications systems to beam across a mocking message.
"Master, behold the Qwaar Jet."
The Qwaar Jet now pointed its frontal cannon, a sharp spike with several lesser spikes jutting out around it like petals of a flower, at the remains of the Oblivion's superstructure and its fleet. Light began refracting around the legendary ship as it began powering up its weapon at a speed never before seen by the Oblivion and its fleet.
Now various quantum arrays began spreading out from the Qwaar Jet as it bloomed like a flower in space, each passing second adding brilliance and sparkle to the sphere of quantum energies gathered at its front.
Then, the Qwaar Jet let loose the sphere of energy, which exploded into a wide-area shockwave beam that pummelled through the Progenitors, Vaygr and Hiigara itself. The Vaygr Crusades vaporised immediately while the tougher Progenitor vessels provided more resistance, disintegrating several seconds later.
Hiigara was the last left standing, but it too would not survive the blast. The quantum shockwave stripped the planet bare of its atmosphere, reverberating through the crust and into the mantle. Soon, Hiigara's core shattered and released millions of years of pressure that had been present since the planet's birth.
As the shockwave beam lost power and eventually disappeared, there was no more Hiigara or Angel Moon. Neither was there any Progenitor fleet or Warrior of the Fringe.
The Qwaar Jet retracted its quantum arrays as it powered down to normal energy levels. Kaark turned away from the beautiful scene of debris now floating around where Hiigara used to be. The next stage of the plan now fell into place, and the newly-acquired Keepers now warped into hyperspace. They would scatter outwards from this star system, bringing more ships and races to join their cause. It would only be a matter of time before the Galaxy would be enslaved.
Kaark smiled at the thought.
It was time to end the Age of Sjet.