HOMEWORLD2: WRATH OF THE GODS

CHAPTER 29: CONFLUENCE

"We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."

Source unknown

Northern Fringe:

The tunnel ripped through time and space like a needle through cloth. As it did so, the fabric of space time bent and rippled, crumpling beyond repair in several regions.

The tunnel continued on, passing planets like a gale billowing through paper. The affected worlds were unceremoniously pulled out of orbit, sent into collision courses that would converge decades in the future.

And then the tunnel ended, throwing the sphere into normal space. This extremely efficient method of travel was not without consequence – it adversely affected areas of space the ship passed through.

But the Mythra care little for such consequences.

'Timespace Drive disengaged, penetration into galaxy achieved.'

'Acquiring targets of opportunity.'

The expedition had begun.

Onboard the Legacy of Kharak, Northern Outer Rim:

The doors to the Debrief Room slid open, and Admiral Ecron strode in with his contingent of security forces. Hiigaran security officers cocked their weapons in response, putting them down only when Yuno's hologram signalled to them to do so. Smiling, she beckoned to Ecron to take a seat. The admiral took up the offer and made himself comfortable.

"I trust the shuttle journey went well, Admiral?" Yuno began.

"The transit was smooth enough, I thank you for your concern," replied Ecron, "Now we should get to the point about this alliance."

"Very well then. With regards to the Neo-Beast, we know very little. Its origins are uncertain, but one theory is that the virus stemmed from the controlled strain the Progenitors were using as a weapon."

The room dimmed as Yuno brought up an informative hologram displaying the Hiigaran inhibitor station at Coruc-Tel. Ecron watched with interest as the Keeper entered realspace, then set off the infection that had completely erased the original Beast virus inhabiting the station.

"If we go by that theory, then that would be our first encounter with the virus. It would then appear that the Neo-Beast variant is somewhat like the final product of a Progenitor project to subdue their enemies."

"What about the Beast?"

"The Beast was an experimental strain and one of their early designs. Evidently, it was merely one of many viral variants the Progenitors designed before this final product."

"So the Progenitors were under the influence of the Neo-Beast then?"

"Not really, for during our first encounter the virus was used more like a weapon. In fact, the Progenitors appeared fully aware of their actions and appeared to be able to wield the virus without trouble. Sometime later, or so the theory goes, the virus became sentient and…"

"… The Progenitors lost control," finished Ecron, "And we are left with an enemy that is ravaging the Galaxy in ways that make the Beast pale in comparison."

"That is not all," Yuno reminded, "The Neo-Beast also have their hands on one of the Three Gods."

"Three Gods?" Ecron enquired, puzzled by Yuno's words.

"I guess I must elaborate. It turned out that Sajuuk was not the only God, but there were two others – Koshiir Ra and Qwaar Jet."

"Koshiir Ra, God of Protection, and Qwaar Jet, God of Pain and Enslavement… please don't tell me that…"

"I'm afraid the Neo-Beast has the weapon God – they have full control of the Qwaar Jet and it seems that it alone is more than a match for the Sajuuk and Koshiir Ra combined."

Admiral Ecron fell silent at the revelation, as did the officers in his security entourage. That the Hiigarans possessed two Sajuuk-class warships and still were no match for the Neo-Beast told a lot about the Qwaar Jet's power. The pieces of the puzzle surrounding Hiigara's destruction began falling into place.

"… Then what chance do we stand as a combined force against the might of… a God?" Ecro asked.

"To be frank, we're not sure either. We're not even sure if this is a war we CAN win…" Yuno trailed off as she recalled the fall of Nalthora. It had taken the combined might of two Gods and three fleets to hold off the Neo-Beast long enough to evacuate a measly number of Nalthorans.

Yuno suddenly perked up as sensors began loading information into her mind.

"Admiral Ecron, if you'll excuse me, we have a hyperspace signature incoming…"

The viewscreens flickered and focused on the area where the quantum wave effect was building. Seconds later, a brilliant blue window of quantum energy opened and slid back to reveal the smouldering body of the Horizon. Yuno was horrified by the damage on the battlecruiser.

"Yuno to all ships, assist the Horizon immediately!"

Onboard the Shipyard Naabal, Northern Outer Rim:

"Boy it feels good to be back!" Kiir exclaimed as he stepped from the airlock. The Horizon had been towed to dock at the shipyard for emergency repairs. Engineers had gawked at the damage, which would have crippled any standard battlecruiser, but the Horizon had taken it all in its stride, delivering its passengers safely.

Karan was the last to come onboard the shipyard. Almost immediately, medics rushed over to give her a medical check-up on the spot. Karan was visibly annoyed.

"I'm fine, really I am," she insisted, "Just look at Eefrit and Soban, they're all in one piece!"

"My lady, I am putting all of you under observation at the Infirmary in my capacity as Fleet Doctor," the doctor replied firmly, "One cannot shrug off the effects of such a fierce battle that easily."

"He's right you know," Eefrit acknowledged, "A little observation wouldn't hurt anyway."

"You understand we're in the middle of a war here?" Karan chided, "This is no time for us to be put under observation!"

"Well, I'm sure Yuno's got everything covered," Eefrit replied, "You should just sit back and give the doctor what he wants. Anyway, Navy Code gives the doctor the final say, even if you are the Sajuuk-Khar."

"I guess there's no arguing then," Karan sighed, "We're yours for 24 hours, and no more than that. Understood, doctor?"

"That will do nicely," the doctor replied coolly.

Onboard the Ascension, the Great Wastelands:

General Tora watched as his forces made short work of the Raider fleet before them. The Turanic Raiders stood no chance against the invisible enemy and were slowly being shredded by the mass drivers and gravity weapons.

Occasionally, the mothership-class vessel would shudder slightly as ion array frigates let loose their beams, but the fleet would quickly respond by dealing with the ships that even dared to open fire on the flagship.

It was a pity that the flagship's cloaking fields were not as efficient as those sported by the assault vessels – the sheer size of the vessel meant that the cloaking fields would fall easily to the simplest of proximity detection systems. Any attempt to cloak the flagship with anti-proximity cloaking would expend too much energy and cripple the flagship's construction capabilities.

"Damage report on the flagship?" Tora asked.

"Minor outer hull damage and a few system shorts. Otherwise, we're all right."

"Status on the enemy fleet?"

"The enemy is falling back and attempting to escape to hyperspace. However, our gravity weapons are destabilising the space time continuum enough for them to remain. Meanwhile, our cloaked fighters are closing on their command vessel."

"Commence gravity bombing as soon as they are within range."

"Affirmative."

The Lord II class attack carrier was already venting drive plasma from various breaches in its hull. What little armor it had left bore ugly gashes and craters from the Tobari barrage. Then the Tobari bombers emerged from cloak and launched their gravity bombs.

The fighters swerved away as the payload approached their target. Metallic spheres nearly a third the size of a fighter moved closer and closer. As soon as the bombs were within a few seconds of the carrier, they exploded and unleashed a massive pulse of gravity.

The gravitational shockwaves ripped through space and the carrier within. Entire stretches of hull were torn apart as the superstructure failed under the massive stress. Moments later, the carrier shattered under the combined force of a dozen gravity bombs.

The loss of the attack carrier seemed to throw the Raiders into chaos. As the organisation of the Raider fleet fell apart, the Tobari fleet moved in for the kill. Minutes later, the battle had ended.

General Tora walked away from the viewscreen as the salvaging operation began. Salvage craft would move in to extract whatever useful wreckage there was out there for processing into usable resources.

The invasion would soon continue.

Central Command Station, high orbit over New Taiidan:

The commander could not believe his eyes. His sensors officer had asked him over to see some never-before-seen sensor readings, and he too could not make sense of it.

"What in the Galaxy, some quantum signature but it's not a hyperspace signature?"

"Sir, sensors are also picking up increasing distortion to the local space time continuum. We may be feeling the effects anytime…"

Both Taiidani officers held on as the massive command station began to shake. Everyone on the bridge stared at the viewscreens as the light of New Taiidan's primary star began to waver. In fact, it was as though the light were being distorted in increasing magnitude.

Klaxons began to sound as parts of the command station succumbed to the stress. Emergency doors sealed tight as bulkheads blew apart. Still, there was no respite from the quake – in fact the vibrations were still increasing in strength.

Just when the commander thought that all was lost, a massive shockwave hit the station as a hole began appearing in the fabric of space time. Sensors struggled to compensate as the portal shimmered with all the colours in the spectrum. The portal was very large, so large it could have accommodated the station with space to spare.

The metallic sphere that shot out of the portal took everyone's breath away. The ship, or whatever it was, had a diameter equivalent to two Imperial flagships placed side by side. Its surface was covered by intricately complex circuitry, shining gently in the light.

The vibrations weakened as the portal shrunk, disappearing as quickly as it had appeared. It took the commander some time to realise that there was something big and potentially dangerous hanging smack in the middle of Imperial space. He wasted no time opening communications.

"This is the Imperial Taiidan Central Command Station calling unknown vessel. You have entered Imperial space illegally. Withdraw or be destroyed."

The commander knew it was a lie. The High Guard fleet had gone off to arrest the rogue Admiral Ecron, leaving only two carrier fleets to defend New Taiidan. That, and an extensive satellite defence system, was all they had.

"Unknown vessel, this is your final warning. Withdraw immediately or be destroyed."

Silence greeted the commander on the channel for several seconds before the thing finally responded. The voice was cold and purely mechanical.

'Targets of opportunity acquired.'

The commander stared in horror as docking bays opened and a fleet spilt forth from the sphere. He turned around and saw his crew mates already sending red alert communications down to New Taiidan. The command station's massive turrets were armed along with the satellite defence system.

The fighters were star-shaped and whirred forward with astounding speed and agility. Imperial heavy interceptors raced forward to engage them, only to have their shots evaded effortlessly. It was as though inertia never existed.

The frigates resembled oversized diamonds, or at least that was how they were shaped. They too exhibited speed and agility that no Imperial frigate could match, and unleashed torrents of energy bolts that outdamaged even the heavy destroyer.

The only comforting fact was that the heaviest ship class appeared to be of the heavy cruiser chassis. However, it too was a deadly foe. Resembling an oval-shaped opal, the mechanical thing moved forward with ease, dispatching anything in its way.

Energy bolts began pummelling the command station, and the station responded with barrages of plasma bolts. However, the plasma bolts did minimal scorching to the hulls of the alien vessels, while mass drivers bounced harmlessly off whatever armor they were using.

On the other hand, the energy they were using in their energy bolt weaponry was clearly unlike anything the Imperials had seen before. As a bolt hit its target, it splattered around like plasma, but packed the force of a wide area ion beam. Sensor scans registered "unknown energy" as more and more of the bolts tore through the station's armor effortlessly.

Smoke had already filled the bridge and the commander was barely alive from the energy overloads that had wrecked the place. He could only watch helplessly as the defence fleets exploded under the torrential rain of energy bolts, which spewed from the alien ships like rapid fire mass drivers.

How glad he was when the Sphere locked on and ended his nightmare.

Only debris remained now. There was no Imperial fleet, command station or satellite defence system.

The fleet withdrew into the Sphere, which embraced its children wholeheartedly. Tactical projections were looking very good, for no losses had been taken.

All that remained now was the disposal of the planet.

A large aperture opened on the surface of the Sphere, and the massive ship turned to face New Taiidan. Space time shimmered as a brilliant bolt of energy began building up within.

Then a blazing crimson energy bolt the size of a battlecruiser leapt forth, charging towards the planet, scorching through the atmosphere, approaching the ground…

The bolt impacted and exploded, spreading its tendrils of fire far and wide. Fire rained down on every inch of surface there was on New Taiidan.

The Sphere ripped through time and space, leaving behind a planet that blazed as bright as a star.

Onboard the Legacy of Kharak, Northern Outer Rim:

"I apologise for my absence," Yuno said as she shimmered into view before Admiral Ecron, "There were urgent matters requiring my attention."

"It is quite alright, I'd have done the same had a friendly battlecruiser showed up with such terrible wounds," Ecron responded, "Now back to our discussions."

"As I was saying, we will need to band together whatever fleets there are in this Galaxy if we are to stand a chance against the Neo-Beast fleet. Hopefully, sheer numbers can make up for the sheer lack of technology."

"I don't understand – why is the Koshiir Ra not able to protect against the Qwaar Jet? From my understanding of Koshiir Ra the God, it probably generates a shield of some sort, does it not?"

"Good guess, you're right. Koshiir Ra can protect against the Qwaar Jet's weaponry, but only to a certain extent. I'm sure you've heard of Qwaar Jet's Quantum Pulse Cannon, but that pales in comparison with its ability to generate artificial singularities – not even Koshiir Ra can withstand that."

"… Artificial singularities?" Ecron gasped, eyes wide open in shock. Such weapons had been proposed in theory by ambitious Imperial scientists, but it was just not possible with current technology. However, various damage reports had been drawn up to describe the potential of such a weapon, and it was certainly very devastating.

"We lost Nalthora to such a weapon. We couldn't do anything because Koshiir Ra was already operating at full capacity…"

"That's what you think!" Kiir's voice cut in as he showed up on another projector.

"Kiir! Aren't you in the…"

"I'm still in the Shipyard Naabal's Infirmary, but you know that is no barrier," Kiir laughed, "But anyway, I have some information regarding the Koshiir Ra that will prove useful to us all."

"Excuse me, but you are…" Ecron enquired, looking at the new hologram that had appeared so suddenly.

"He's Kiir Sjet, one of our top scientists," Yuno answered, "Now Kiir, fire away."

"Alright then. You know I was in control of the Koshiir Ra for some time, so I have a fair understanding of how its inner workings operate. For one thing, Koshiir Ra draws its power from a quantum tapper energy system, and pumps that energy directly into the distortion field generators. It's interesting to note that the field generators have no real output limit, and will generate a field whose strength varies according to the energy pumped in."

"The thing is, Koshiir Ra's quantum tappers are painfully primitive when compared to the Grand Core's power system. So basically, if we were to transfer the Grand Core over to the Koshiir Ra and plug it into the power system, we'd be able to increase Koshiir Ra's shield power manifolds."

"Even to the extent of stopping a singularity?" Yuno asked.

"I'm not sure about that. But if there's not enough energy to do so, we may as well call this war a lost cause."

"Kiir!"

"I'm serious, Yuno. You saw for yourself what the Qwaar Jet could do. I was pumping whatever the Koshiir Ra had into the shields, and it all collapsed the moment the singularity hit. If we can't find a way to stop that singularity, there's no way we could win, even if we sent a combined galactic fleet against them."

The room remained silent as Kiir's words sank in. The Grand Core combined with Koshiir Ra could well provide one last hope in this war. But if that hope was not enough, then…

"Very well then Kiir, I thank you for your information. As soon as you're out of the Infirmary you'll have free rein in transferring the Grand Core from the Legacy to the Koshiir Ra."

"No problem. Alright, I'll be going!"

As Kiir shimmered from view, Ecron looked grimly at Yuno.

"And if it doesn't work?"

"Then Kiir's right – this war is lost."