HOMEWORLD2: WRATH OF THE GODS
CHAPTER 20: CANCER
The Imperial Frontier is an invisible boundary several light years to the north of the Sarum Dust Clouds. Beyond this border lies space where no Hiigaran ship can enter and leave intact. In fact, a considerable region of space north of the Frontier is heavily fortified Imperial-Raider territory. Owing to the balance of power between Hiigaran and Imperial forces, that territory has remained static in dimension since the end of the Beast War.
At least until the End Time came. The Vaygr incursions gave the Imperials a chance to expand their territories, bringing more systems and nebulae into their sphere of influence. By the time Karan was able to beat the Vaygr back to the Eastern Fringe, Imperial territory encompassed nearly all of the Northern Galaxy.
It has been the Imperials' dream to vanquish the Hiigarans and complete the Genocide once and for all. Defeated many times before, they will not give up easily. Unless…
Onboard the Pride of Hiigara, the Southern Fringe:
Kiir Sjet awoke sleepily, finding himself in a familiar-looking place. He quickly determined he was in the infirmary yet again.
"Gee, I've got to stop being a regular customer of this place…" he uttered, as he tried to shake the grogginess out of his mind. Once he had pulled himself together, he got out of the bunk and headed for the door.
The door slid open, and he tried to get his bearings right. How could he get from here to the Research Module?
Then a bunch of engineers turned round the corner and spotted Kiir. They gasped upon seeing him, and began moving quickly towards their saviour. Kiir groaned, and took off down a different corridor.
His luck took a turn for the worst when he found himself hurtling out into the main mess hall, knocking someone over in the process. His head spinning, Kiir pulled himself to his feet, only to be swarmed by masses of newfound fans and curious scientists.
"Kiir Sjet! Is that really you?"
"You saved my life back there!"
"How did you do that?"
And the chatter went on and on. Kiir tried desperately to get himself some breathing space, but they just kept closing in. He tried to ask them to clear away, but his words were drowned out by the excited discussions and questions of the hall.
At last, he could tolerate it no more. He yelled an expletive and thrust his hands outwards, causing a telekinetic barrier to explode out and push the alarmed people away. Upon seeing the stunned looks on the people's faces, Kiir took the chance to escape through a side exit.
Kiir sighed as he ran down the endless maze of corridors. He could not stay on this ship any longer, he had to get back to the Legacy of Kharak. As if to answer his prayers, Kro Manaan stepped out of a room and signalled to him.
"Looks like you're alright now. Come with me to the strike craft hangar bays, our pulsar gunship's there."
"You mean you actually had pilot training?" Kiir was surprised by the sudden revelation.
"Not exactly. While you were out cold, Yuno told me to bring you to the Koshiir Ra. I'm pretty sure you're very excited to get on board that ship."
"Koshiir Ra? Of course, I'd give anything to study that relic!"
"So basically, Yuno will take remote control of the gunship and send us to the Koshiir Ra, no steering required."
"Okay, I get the point. Now we'd better leave before those rabid people find me again…"
Kro laughed at the thought, then beckoned to Kiir to follow him.
Onboard the Sajuuk, Bentusi Ruins:
Karan waited impatiently for the ship's energy levels to return to normal. She had put the ship through so much that it would require at least a few hours of non-stop charging to restore the Sajuuk's consecutive far jump capabilities.
All this while, she was gripped by an uneasy silence on the intra-galactic Hiigaran frequencies. It was as though there was no other Hiigaran out there.
Karan gazed sadly at the majestic ruins of the Bentus. Memories came flooding back, and she tried to shut the especially emotional ones out of her head. But those were powerful memories, almost like the ones she possessed about the Burning of Kharak. Remembering her current status as the Sajuuk-Khar, Karan quickly wiped off a tear rolling down her face.
Now she looked at the sensors view, and wondered why they had failed to notice the hyperspace gate's existence in the area. The gate was merely a few thousand kilometres from this place, and yet they had failed to detect it when they passed through the region to reclaim the Core. Was it the dust clouds, perhaps asteroids?
The Sajuuk was now hiding in a thick dust cloud several dozen kilometres below the Bentusi wreckage. No one would be able to find them here, or so Karan had hoped.
Her mind was immediately alerted to the sudden addition of new ship contacts. Quickly zooming to sensors view, Karan watched as the Nalthoran battle fleet dropped out of hyperspace on the outskirts of the debris field.
The fleet did not have battlecruiser-class vessels, but the large number of frigates, destroyers and heavy cruisers was still reason enough for worry. As the three carriers began launching their strike craft and various boarding ships, Karan knew that they were not here for a normal scientific expedition.
Silently, she sent the warning through the Sajuuk's ship network, and powered everything down to minimal power mode. Karan observed the Nalthorans' every movement, trying to understand their purpose in coming here.
When the fleet began sending probes into every dust cloud in the vicinity, Karan knew that it was time to leave. As she prepared to initiate an emergency hyperspace jump, her Unbound senses alerted her to the presence of a spy.
A cloaked T-MAT megaship within the same dust cloud was now approaching the Sajuuk with considerable speed.
Before she could react, the megaship seemed to realise what was happening. It decloaked instantly and fired off a salvo of high speed projectiles. The Sajuuk's shields sprang up a second too late – the projectiles embedded themselves deeply into the Sajuuk's hull.
The projectiles were no ordinary ammunition – they were T-MAT designed weapons designed to incapacitate Unbound victims. Moments later, the projectiles unleashed a torrent of electromagnetic energy through the Sajuuk's neural net systems.
Karan was saved only by virtue of the emergency disconnection procedures. Now she quickly descended to her feet as the anti-gravity chamber powered down. Deprived of her control, the Sajuuk now drifted like a derelict, shields offline.
The command room doors opened, and various crews rushed in to disconnect Karan from the system. As they went about detaching the wires and cables from the interfaces in her skull, Karan began giving orders to repel all boarders.
The sacrilege had begun.
Imperial Hive, Nalthoran Capital City:
"What is the status of the mothership conversion?" Queen Dosis enquired, "You understand that the matter is most pressing and crucial to our civilisation's well-being?"
"Of course, my queen," replied the official, "The Stargazer is being outfitted with fusion drives and a hyperspace module even as we speak. We expect the superstructure overhaul to be completed within the week."
"What about the evacuation fleet? How long will it take to put together a colony ship force large enough for the populace?"
"I'm afraid that will take several years. For us to build the required number of ships to carry our entire population would take too much time. According to my estimates, we can only assemble enough to take a million at most…"
"A million?" Dosis roared, bringing her fist down hard on her armrest, "I will not have this. You will find a way or I shall order the execution of your entire clan!"
"… Why, yes, my queen. I will contact the T-MAT fleet for assistance on the matter…"
"Very well then. You are dismissed."
The Nalthoran Queen waved the official off and got up from her throne. She walked towards the grand windows of the throne room, basking in the golden rays of the majestic Nalthoran sun.
Eons of history, and now they would be forced to abandon their home.
Dosis maintained a steely exterior, but wept silently inside.
Onboard the Koshiir Ra, the Southern Fringe:
Kiir stepped out of the pulsar gunship and stared in awe. Kro and himself were now among the first few Hiigarans to step into one of the greatest Progenitor artefacts of all time.
Scientists and engineers were walking around hurriedly, taking readings and studying the inner workings of the Koshiir Ra. Meanwhile, an exploration team was now touring the ship, recording the positions of the various facilities and trying to find the bridge.
Kro came out of the gunship and stared in awe for a while as well. He soon regained his composure and passed a communications strap to Kiir. No sooner had Kiir worn the device on his left wrist did Yuno's voice come through.
"Kiir Sjet, it's good to have you with us again."
"Ah, no problem. I'm pretty much honoured to be given the opportunity for such an experience."
"Alright, I'll cut to the chase. You and Kro are supposed to join Exploration Team 2 to help locate the bridge. We need to get this ship up and running as soon as we can if we are to save ourselves and this galaxy."
"Exploration Team 2?"
"Don't worry about it – Admiral Eefrit's leading the team personally. I think he's over at the west hangar wing."
"Got it, we'll go find him right now. Is there anything else, Yuno?"
"That's all. Good luck with your search. Yuno out."
Kiir began walking towards the western side, with Kro following closely behind. They soon saw Admiral Eefrit waving them over.
"Kiir Sjet, it's good to see you alive and kicking. Great job you did back on the Pride."
"It was nothing much, really," Kiir replied sheepishly, "So what do you want us to do?"
"Well, it's basically an exploration operation. We need to find the command bridge of the Koshiir Ra if we are going to understand how to work its technology."
"I see. I guess we can handle that, but I'm not exactly good with directions…"
Eefrit whipped out a small chip and plugged it into Kiir's communications strap. Instantly, the holographic interface activated and displayed the entire Koshiir Ra's ship structure. The explored areas were lit up in green, while the unknown areas were dark black. Various yellow dots could be seen moving around the ship.
"There's no getting lost with that location system. Just refer to it when in doubt. Now if you will excuse me, I have to get back to briefing my team. You could start by searching section D. We'll be in section E."
"What about Kro?" enquired Kiir, "Isn't he coming along?"
"We've just gone over Kro's research files, and they show great promise. They've prepped a state-of-the-art lab for him back on the Legacy."
Eefrit gestured to Kro, directing him towards a waiting shuttle. Kro took the hint and waved hurriedly to Kiir.
"It looks urgent. Anyway, my research would probably help us survive this disaster a bit longer."
"I understand. We'll stay in touch, alright?"
Kro nodded to agree, then quickly ran off to the shuttle. The pilot was obviously on a tight schedule, for no sooner had the airlock sealed did the shuttle blast off hastily through the atmospheric containment field. Meanwhile, Eefrit had returned to briefing his exploration team, leaving Kiir to start looking.
Kiir studied the location system for a moment, then randomly chose a corridor to enter.
Onboard the Gatekeeper of Sajuuk, the Southern Fringe:
Captain Soban was getting bored. Not that he missed the Keepers or some ancient fleet from hell, but it was starting to get to him. He didn't like the idea of being a ship under the command of some fleet – it was all so restrictive and stifling.
The repairs to the Dreadnaught were nearly done, after all those hectic encounters with enemy after enemy. Now the computer systems were almost fully operational, installed with the tightest firewalls devised by Hiigaran scientists. Much research had been done on the hacking methods of the Keepers so as to prevent a similar subversion from taking place in future.
Soban faced the screen of the newly-restored sensor system and turned it on in anticipation. The blackness flickered slightly, then shimmered to present a scene of data. He was glad it worked, for they had been working blind ever since the purposeful power diversion not so long ago.
The advanced sensors of the Progenitor ship stretched farther out into the unknown, gathering information and data on the region. It was then that Soban caught an insignificant ping from the corner of his eye. He quickly punched a few keys, trying to bring the sensors to bear on the location. Instead, he crashed the newly-resurrected computer and was greeted by blackness once more.
Soban swore and tried to get the console to work again, pressing buttons and depressing switches. When the console remained silent, he made clear his frustration with a loud resounding kick. In a surprising response, the screen lit up once more.
Moments later, he had zoomed in on the place where the sensor anomaly had originated. The sensors regarded the area for a few seconds before returning a negative result. However, they did register signs of a successful hyperspace jump.
It was a pity that their hyperspace sensors were still offline – the Gatekeeper's hyperspace tracking capability was one of its strongest points in battle. Whatever it was, Soban hoped it wasn't headed for them.
Imperial Frontier:
The main Imperial fleet hung limply in space, waiting for their scout frigates to transmit the much-needed reconnaissance data. In the centre of the waiting fleet, the Imperial flagship Merciless remained motionless as it continually scanned the surrounding regions for hostiles.
The Merciless looked primitive in comparison with the rest of the Imperial fleet, which had undergone numerous upgrades. It was based primarily on the original flagship design which Riesstiu had commanded in the Battle of Hiigara, and thus retained many of its old features.
The only difference was that the flagship's construction facilities had been overhauled to accommodate the needs of the new Imperial fleets. While battlecruiser construction remained a task for asteroid bases and orbital shipyards, the Merciless was still a versatile platform from which many a fleet and squadron had taken shape.
Onboard the mothership-class vessel, the bridge bustled with activity as sensor reports began coming in. Many were confused and some alarmed by the data which all pointed to the mysterious destruction of Hiigara. As word spread, the fleet's reactions were mixed. Some captains and commanders roared in satisfaction, celebrating Hiigara's destruction. Other officers became worried instead, wondering which atrocious force wielded such a terrible weapon.
One Taiidani remained calm and composed as he processed the data. While others joined the chaotic mix of celebration, worry and sheer confusion, Admiral Ecron continued studying the information while making plans for future moves. Now that Hiigara was no more, he considered the Hiigarans to be gone at long last. The pressing issue now was to preserve their own existence. After all, whatever the thing was, it had destroyed their enemies when they were at the peak of their power.
"Admiral, what action should we take next?" enquired one of Ecron's aides, "After all, the Hiigarans are dead now, and the Genocide is complete."
"We shall celebrate their destruction, yet maintain the highest alert throughout our space," replied Ecron, as he proceeded to a holographic projector. With a wave of his hand, the bridge darkened and became silent as everyone paid attention to the glowing projector.
The projector displayed a diagram of the Galaxy, showing Imperial space as dark blue and Hiigaran space as bright red. A small flashing dot at the heart of Hiigaran space represented the place where Hiigara used to be.
"As you can see here, Hiigara is no more," began the Admiral, causing the bridge to explode into an uproar of victory, "And yet, our data says otherwise about our current situation."
More patches began appearing on the Galactic map, coloured a deep crimson. The patches spread outwards from the flashing dot, stretching throughout Hiigaran space and beyond. A few tendrils moved dangerously close to the Imperial Frontier.
"From the data collected, I've been able to conclude that whatever destroyed Hiigara has not stopped there. The crimson area you now see have abnormally high amounts of hyperspace activity. Save for an interstellar assault fleet, no other attack group I know of has the ship numbers required for such an anomaly."
Ecron pointed to an area north of Hiigara. Immediately, the surrounding map dimmed and the brightness of the region increased as the projector zoomed into the Sarum System. As the planets and their orbits around the Sarum star were shown, various ship pictures were displayed at the same time. The other officers watched in shocked silence.
Progenitor Keepers, covered in the all-too-familiar strands and patches of red.
Ecron took a deep breath, then continued with his briefing.
"I personally doubt we can handle Progenitor ships and their capabilities, much less the addition of the Beast entity. It is therefore imperative for us to pull back from the Frontier, as well as evacuate all space within a 20 light year area of the Frontier. That said, prepare immediately for hyperspace jump."
The bridge stayed silent for a few moments before bursting into activity once more. Within moments, the order to hyperspace had been broadcasted to the entire fleet.
Admiral Ecron looked around at the surrounding region of space, admiring the beautiful view of the galactic core in the distance. Then he turned to give his orders.
Onboard the Qwaar Jet, Kadesh Nebula:
Kaark awoke to his newfound senses, and indulged in them. Now fully interfaced with the Qwaar Jet's systems, he could now see what secrets the ship had to offer. As Kaark mentally checked the databanks, he found information pertaining to the Qwaar Jet's various capabilities – the Quantum Pulse Cannon, defence systems based on ion warp turrets, extended-range short jumper hyperdrives…
At the same time, he subconsciously managed the rest of the defending fleet. Movers were mining the riches of the nebula, while Keepers and Carriers produced more frigates and Drones.
It was then that he stumbled upon something surprising. As Kaark analysed the thing by sending more control nanites to explore it, he was soon grasped by a tremendous delight. Unable to contain his emotions, he laughed.
"Looks like conquest is going to be very much easier…" Kaark noted softly.
Onboard the Sajuuk, Bentusi Ruins:
The boarders had been successfully repelled for some time, but now the T-MAT megaship was moving in to intervene. The Nalthorans, being of flesh and bone, were easy enough to dispatch with standard Marine weaponry, but what of the T-MAT and their crystalline invaders?
"Sajuuk-Khar, I must warn you that we will be unable to restore the Sajuuk's control systems before the T-MAT begins to board us. When that happens, we will be hard-pressed to guarantee your safety," a security officer spoke urgently, "I would hence like to suggest that you hide in the Core Containment Unit. After all, that place has many compartments and therefore plenty of hiding places. You would be safe there until we can call for reinforcements from the Exodus Fleet."
"I understand the situation," Karan replied with an eerie serenity, "But as the Sajuuk-Khar, I will not hide."
"But why! By the act of boarding, the Nalthorans are already showing that they no longer treat us as neutral partners!"
"It is precisely for this reason that I must go and find out what has caused their sudden shift in diplomacy," Karan commented, folding her arms in defiance, "If I were to hide as you recommended, we might be inadvertently making ourselves another enemy without understanding the true reasons behind it."
"But…" the officer stuttered, anxious for the safety of the Sajuuk-Khar.
"No buts," Karan interrupted firmly, "My mind is made up. I appreciate your concern, but this matter requires urgent attention. Open a communications channel with the Nalthoran fleet. Tell them that we will submit to a full and unconditional surrender."
"… Very well, opening communications with the Nalthoran fleet…"
Karan stepped up to the crackling transmitter unit while technicians recalibrated the device to transmit across Nalthoran frequencies. A minute later, the interference cleared as the link was established.
"Attention Nalthoran fleet, I am Karan Sjet of the Hiigaran Republic," Karan began, "I would like to request that we be given the opportunity for a full and unconditional surrender."
Karan paused for the news to sink in. When the silence continued to drag on, she spoke once more.
"If you accept our unconditional surrender, we will order our Marines to stand down at once. In the light of our past neutral relations, I would also humbly request for an audience with Queen Dosis."
There was silence yet again, only this time it was broken seconds later by the Nalthorans' reply.
"… Sajuuk-Khar, we accept your surrender. As such, we will now board your ship to take you all into captivity. Regarding your request for an audience, it will be up to our Queen herself to decide."
"Then on behalf of the Sajuuk and her crew, I thank you for your mercy, Karan out."
The transmitter resumed its crackling as the link was broken. Karan then went up to one of the technicians and whispered something to him. The technician nodded and began keying a message into the transmitter. After a bit more recalibration, he sent the phased telemetric signal in every direction.
Shudders echoed through the superstructure as boarding frigates latched on by the dozen. Karan sighed and prayed that their message would get through.