HOMEWORLD2: WRATH OF THE GODS
CHAPTER 30: THE BEGINNING OF THE END
"Conquest."
Mythra central programming
Onboard the Merciless, Northern Outer Rim:
Admiral Ecron stepped out of the shuttle, fatigued and longing for some rest. He had not slept in the past 30 hours, and the exhaustion was starting to take its toll.
The diplomatic discussions with Yuno had gone well, with the Hiigarans and the T-MAT becoming new allies. Yuno had expressed gratitude at Ecron's decision, suggesting that the fleets move off in search of other potential allies. Ecron had agreed to do so once the Imperial fleets were fully repaired and serviced.
The Imperial Admiral was giving his last orders for the day when his wrist communicator crackled into life.
"Admiral Ecron, this is the bridge. We need you to get up here right away!"
"What is the matter?"
"It's… it's New Taiidan sir… the planet's just been…"
He was already sprinting for the turbolift.
Onboard the Shipyard Naabal, Northern Outer Rim:
"I can understand why you want us under observation, but confined to bed!" Karan had exclaimed incredulously when the doctor had firmly gestured for her to lie down and rest.
"How else can observations be done?" the doctor had sighed in reply, "The whole point of the observation idea is for the patients to get some rest while the doctors monitor the situation…"
Karan then had a good mind to invoke her position as Sajuuk-Khar and supreme leader of Hiigara to override the doctor's orders, but Kiir had winked at her to just go along. Fuming mad, she had then allowed herself to be helped into bed by a medical officer.
"I can't believe this. Here we are in the middle of a galactic war and they confine key personnel to bed…" Karan muttered, her arms folded across her chest as she lay on the bed, "Have they no idea about the significance of this war's outcome?"
"You know, Karan, the doc's right," Kiir replied, "I mean, if you did get hurt in that battle, it wouldn't be good for you to lead a fleet against the Neo-Beast. The last thing we need is for you to pass out while in command of the Sajuuk…"
"Kiir has a good point," came the voice of Admiral Eefrit from another bed, "Even if there's nothing wrong with you, I don't see any harm in letting the doctors confirm your condition."
"But every second we spend like this is a second wasted," Karan argued, "And time isn't exactly on our side right now. Besides, there is also that battlefield we saw, along with all those alien derelicts…"
"Like I said, Karan, that race is probably as dead as the Progenitors," Kiir reassured, "It's been thousands of years, and we see no sign of them but their debris and derelicts."
Karan remained silent as she fell into deep thought. Kiir's reasoning was logical enough, but it did little to remove the feeling of unease she had been feeling inside her. Her intuition had been sharpened tremendously thanks to her prolonged exposure to the Cores, and it had never been proven wrong.
There was also another ominous feeling within her, an unease that stemmed from her hyperspace senses. The only other time she had encountered this was when Makaan used the Third Core to Far Jump for the first time, confirming her suspicions of trouble brewing in the East.
Karan could not understand what she was feeling. Either there was a Fourth Core, or some other hyperspatial event was occurring…
Outskirts of Balcora:
The massive derelict remained silent, its mechanisms unmoving. Conduits were utterly devoid of the quantum energy they were designed to contain and transfer.
A fleet approached from afar, as if it were expecting the ancient system to suddenly roar into life in a show of welcome. Still, the derelict structure continued its slumber, for it would only answer to Sajuuk.
The Eye of Aaraan was truly an amazing intra-galactic transport system. Gates were located extensively throughout the known Galaxy, each pair linking sectors separated by vast expanses of space. In fact, the careful and strategic positions of each gate and its sister gate made it possible for any ship to connect any two locations with a maximum of four short jumps.
But the Eye itself is a different story. Only the Eye and the central Eye alone has the power to send a ship to any gate that has ever existed in the gate network. If reconfigured for complete access, it allows every gate the capacity to link with every other gate but the Eye itself.
Only the Sajuuk has the privilege of using these features.
When Karan had unlocked the secrets of the Eye of Aaraan, she could have configured it such that the network was in "complete access" mode, whereby any ship could simply enter any gate and jump to the gate of its choice. However, security concerns for Hiigara made Karan leave the system in "limited access" mode. This would force any ship wishing to bypass Hiigara's inhibitor network to use the entry gate on the edge of the Hiigaran control zone. Of course, that gate was heavily guarded by Hiigaran forces, for its exit gate was mere light minutes away from Hiigara itself. Other gates in the network also behaved similarly, linking to only one other exit gate.
But now, the Eye of Aaraan is about to answer to a ship that is not Sajuuk.
The Qwaar Jet, along with every other infection-capable ship in the fleet, fired upon the Eye of Aaraan. Crimson beams of the plague ripped into the ancient system, the nanites burrowing deep under the surface, rewriting software and rerouting hardware…
Onboard the Qwaar Jet, Eye of Aaraan perimeter:
Kaark felt his power increasing as more of the Eye fell under his control. There had, surprisingly, been some resistance to the takeover due to the Eye's built in repair nanite system. As a result, the infection process was slowed, delaying complete subversion of the Eye.
"No matter, it will soon fall, and with it, the rest of the Galaxy," muttered Kaark as he watched the organic layering spread across the derelict, "But first I must deal with the wretched Hiigarans."
He had been surprised at how quickly the Hiigarans had negotiated alliances with the Nalthorans and the T-MAT. Now that his forces had been completely withdrawn from the North, he expected the Imperial Taiidan to join the alliance as well. If that were the case, his forces would probably be slightly outnumbered by the Alliance fleet.
Of course, he would still win the war. The Qwaar Jet had already demonstrated clearly that Sajuuk and Koshiir Ra were powerless to stop it, even though both were in the Hiigarans' possession. But such a victory would cost him dearly, perhaps nearly his entire fleet.
He needed more power, more power than he had ever wielded, and the Eye was the first step. The next step would be to use the Eye as a superhighway to every homeworld of every sentient space-faring race there was. He would move in, subvert their forces, and add their ships to his fleet. Only when his fleet was large enough to guarantee a crushing victory would he then make the final assault against the pitiful Alliance.
Kaark opened his eyes as he felt the last remnants of the Eye fall under his control. He gazed at the massive structure in awe, and stared at the huge circular ring in the centre, the Eye itself.
A single thought sent ripples of quantum energy pulsing through the derelict. The conduits glowed and the Eye began to turn, the space within it rippling like a pool of crystal clear water. When the rippling space roared open into a brilliant portal of blue, the Keepers rushed forth, jumping through the portal to every gate within range of a homeworld…
Onboard the Legacy of Kharak, Northern Outer Rim:
Yuno could scarcely believe her eyes as the first images came trickling in from the Merciless. Ecron's recon squadron had arrived at New Taiidan, only to discover the calamity that had just taken place.
The entire planet was aflame with infernos that towered several hundred metres. There was nothing left on the surface, no building, road or any other sign of civilisation. Even the debris had been melted down to molten metal.
The atmosphere was slowly but steadily burning away into space. The magnitude of destruction was clearly beyond the reach of any atmosphere deprivation weapon. It would have taken tremendous firepower to create a blaze which burned down entire mountain ranges.
"… I'm sorry Admiral Ecron. On behalf of the Hiigaran people, I would like to express my…"
"There is no need for apologies, Yuno," Admiral Ecron replied, fighting back tears as he watched the blaze continue unabated, "You were not the ones responsible for this… atrocity."
"Rest assured, Ecron, the Alliance will do everything in its power to track down the ones responsible and bring them to justice," Yuno declared, "Now I must enquire with you about the enemies the Imperials have made in their dealings."
"Enemies? We have plenty of that, but none with the technology to pull something like this off. Even without the High Guard, the satellite defences can handle anything smaller than a Mothership assault force."
"Could it have been the Neo-Beast?"
"Not possible. Long range sensors situated throughout Imperial space all picked up the Neo-Beast hyperspace signatures. They were leaving, not invading."
"Every last one of them?"
"Yes. Perhaps we could enquire with that battlecruiser crew of yours for details, but the Neo-Beast is definitely not responsible."
"True indeed, the Qwaar Jet would have simply blown up the entire planet."
"Well, if you will excuse me, I have to see to the memorial services…"
"Why of course, Admiral. Once again, I am very sorry for what has happened."
"Thank you, Yuno. Ecron out."
As Yuno closed the channel, her mind was wracked with worry. Not only was there a virus with Progenitor technology invading the Galaxy, but now there was this unknown enemy running around and burning planets. They needed to move now.
"Yuno to Shipyard Naabal, Captain Elohim do you read?"
"Captain Elohim here, what do you want?"
"What is the status on the Horizon's repairs?"
"Well, the Horizon was pretty badly beaten up, but the structural technologies are quite amazing. There is a lot of Progenitor influence in the design, all of which is making the repair job much easier."
"How long before the Horizon is ready for battle?"
"At our current rate of repair, a little over six hours."
"What about Karan and the rest of the crew? Are they still under observation?"
"From what I heard, I think so. They still have another 18 hours to go…"
"Tell the doctor to cut that to six, we have another emergency on our hands and we need everyone to be ready for this."
"But Yuno, Navy Code says…"
"… The doctor has the final say? Well, tell that to this!" Yuno cried as she flung the video into the shipyard's computers. Elohim took one glance and gawked in horror.
"… Oh well, I'll see to it right away. By Sajuuk…" Elohim muttered as he closed the channel in shock.
Onboard the Shipyard Naabal, Northern Outer Rim:
"So we just stick around for six more hours? Now that's what I've been waiting to hear," exclaimed Kiir, "What about the bad news?"
"The bad news is, something happened to New Taiidan," Elohim replied grimly, showing everyone the video of the burning planet. Karan gasped when she saw the sight.
"By Sajuuk, what being in the right mind could have done this?" Karan uttered, "And you say it wasn't the Neo-Beast?"
"According to Yuno's data report, it wasn't their doing."
"Now this is getting creepy," Captain Soban spoke, "Was the enemy anywhere near when the recon squad got there?"
"The recon squad didn't pick up any ships other than their own. They did pick up several disturbances to the space time continuum in the area, though."
"Wait, did you say disturbances to…" Karan asked, her eyes widening in shock.
"Yeah, it was as though something ripped open the very dimensions themselves and just waltzed right in. No sign of any known hyperspace technology…"
Captain Elohim was rudely interrupted when the shipyard plunged suddenly and the alarms went off. Holding onto a bed for support, Elohim yelled into his wrist communicator as the shipyard continued to roll and shudder.
"Elohim to bridge, what's going on?"
Realspace anomaly, the entire fleet's feeling the effects. Gyros are trying to compensate, but…
"Realspace anomaly!"
That's what our sensors are telling us… wait, we have a portal open! Something's coming through!
Northern Outer Rim:
The dimensional shockwaves dissipated as the portal closed swiftly, having deposited its cargo back in realspace. The Sphere now regarded its new enemies with interest.
'Acquiring targets of opportunity… detecting Enemy technologies.'
It had spied the Progenitor ships drifting in the ships' midst.
'Targets of opportunity acquired. Commencing destruction of Enemy.'
Onboard the Legacy of Kharak:
"Unidentified fleet, we mean you no harm! Please respond!" Yuno tried her best to establish communications with the Sphere and the fleet it was spewing, but to no avail.
"It is of no use. We sense no emotions coming from the fleet," came the voice of the T-MAT, "The entity appears to be completely computerised."
"So this is the thing that burned New Taiidan?" Ecron asked, his voice seething with rage.
"It would definitely have the capacity to…" Yuno replied as the alarms went off, "All ships go to maximum alert, we have enemy ships on incoming vectors!"
The order went out, and the Hiigaran fleet responded. Carriers wasted no time moving to the rear while frigates and super capital ships rushed forward with their strike craft cover. Repaired Imperial Taiidan ships also moved to join the Hiigarans while the T-MAT remained behind to cover the rest of the still-disabled Imperial fleets.
The Legacy itself began moving into formation with the Sajuuk and Koshiir Ra, proceeding to cover both ships with a minimal distortion field.
When the Hiigaran ships began firing upon the enemy vessels, Yuno was surprised to see that their weapons were doing minimal damage to their ship hulls. Energy weapon blasts had much of their destructive energy conducted harmlessly away, while mass drivers bounced off the armor, leaving nothing but a few light scorches and cracks.
Strangely enough, the enemy vessels did not return fire. They merely swept through the attacking Hiigaran forces as though they were moving through a weak sandstorm. Battlecruiser salvos were ignored completely as the simply-shaped capital ships advanced without difficulty.
The star-shaped fighters came within range of the Legacy and suffered the wrath of the Mothership's pulsar defences. The pulsars barely scratched the fighters, bringing down one or two with concentrated fire. Still, the fighters swept on.
It was then that the fighters reached the Sajuuk and Koshiir Ra, proceeding to unleash all their firepower upon the two Progenitor ships. The distortion field blocked most of the shots, but some of the energy bolts managed to slip through loopholes and slam into the ships' hulls.
Yuno knew immediately that things were not looking good, especially with the Sajuuk and Koshiir Ra without any form of conscious control. She watched as part of the fighters broke off to engage the Gatekeeper of Sajuuk in the rear, hoping for some miracle to happen.
The T-MAT fleet flared up in a brilliant display of ionic energy. Aqua ion beams lashed through the fighter clouds, slicing dozens of the star fighters to pieces. Megaships began manoeuvring to the front of the two Progenitor Gods as the enemy capital ships came within range. Seconds later, the enemy capital ships opened fire, letting loose a barrage of energy bolts that rained down on the Gods. This time round, the shots were completely blocked either by the distortion field or the megaships in front of the vessels.
Smouldering from the awesome power of the energy bolts, the megaships returned fire and sent ion beams blazing into the enemy capital ships. The ion beams contained so much raw energy that the armor could not dissipate it all in time, melting away and exposing the vulnerable interior.
"Divert your resources to energy weapons. The enemy's armor can only dissipate so much energy." advised the T-MAT.
"Got it. Yuno to fleet, divert all power to energy weapons and focus fire on a single spot in their armor."
A sensor update caught Yuno's attention. Confirming the update, she was shocked to see the Horizon launching from the Shipyard Naabal.
"Yuno to Horizon, your repairs aren't done yet! Kiir, what in Kharak's name are you doing!"
"Correction, this is Eefrit. I'm bringing Karan and Kiir to the Sajuuk and Koshiir Ra right now."
"Eefrit, the situation is too dangerous for a ship as damaged as the Horizon! Withdraw immediately!"
"No worries, the shield'll protect us from harm."
"But…"
"Yuno, just watch. Eefrit out."
Yuno nearly screamed in anger. Why did everyone have to get reckless in a battle like this?
Onboard the Horizon, Northern Outer Rim:
Kiir watched Eefrit command the bridge effortlessly. Eefrit could not control the Horizon via the neurohelmet like Kiir did, so he had to do it the old-fashioned way.
"I can see that the Horizon is in good hands, Eefrit," Kiir commented.
"Well, no matter how advanced your designs can get, some things just stay unchanged," Eefrit replied, "All right, full throttle and all power to distortion field, we've got to get to the Koshiir Ra ASAP!"
The bridge officers responded with clockwork efficiency, and the Horizon lunged forward in inertialess mode. It was soon in the firestorm of energy that the enemy was throwing at the Koshiir Ra, but the distortion field deflected all the shots admirably.
"Kiir, these ships and the derelicts we saw back there, they are the same!" Karan said.
"I'll have to agree with you on that. Didn't expect these things to be… alive after so long," Kiir replied, looking grimly at the battle outside.
The Horizon swerved and danced around the flurry of energy, each step bringing it closer to the besieged Koshiir Ra. Any energy bolts that it didn't manage to dodge were harmlessly deflected by the quantum distortion field.
It was then that the enemy seemed to realise what they were trying to do. Moments later, an oval-shaped heavy cruiser swept in to block the Horizon's advance. Eefrit swore in defiance and ordered the helm officer to evade the ship, but the heavy cruiser matched their swerve effortlessly and brought itself directly in front of them once more.
Admiral Eefrit decided he had had enough.
"Damned ship, fire all weapons!"
The Horizon opened fire with its pulse cannons and ion point defences, the pulses and beams of energy slamming into the heavy cruiser with overwhelming force. The heavy cruiser reeled for a moment, then countered with its own armament of bolt cannons, sending wave after wave of energy bolts slamming into the Horizon's distortion field. Most of the bolts swerved away in the curved space time, but a few slipped through and impacted the outer hull, rocking the battlecruiser violently.
"Damage report!" yelled Eefrit.
"Admiral, we have outer hull breach on deck 7 and minor stress damage to the inner hull."
"This is probably going to keep happening for a while," Eefrit muttered, "Issue lockdown order! I want every bulkhead on this ship completely sealed in three minutes!"
Turning to Karan and Kiir, Eefrit gestured for them to get to the link section before the lockdown started. Kiir nodded and grabbed Karan's hand, leading her away from the bridge. Eefrit returned to the matters at hand.
"Are those distortion cannons online?" Eefrit asked.
"We have power to the topside turret. The bottom turret's repairs are incomplete," replied an officer.
"Good. Fire distortion cannon!"
The top turret turned to face the heavy cruiser and glowed with increasing brilliance. Then the oscillating blue ray of quantum energy blasted away and slammed into the heavy cruiser. Immediately, the armor began to vibrate furiously before ripping away into shreds as the beam sank deeper into the heavy cruiser. The AI onboard the heavy cruiser tried to save itself by moving the ship out of the line of fire, but it was too late. The superstructure failed and the heavy cruiser crumbled in a ball of fire.
Eefrit yelled in delight as he tasted the sweet victory. It was then that the sensors began warbling angrily, warning of an imminent catastrophe. Eefrit had scarcely enough time to interpret the data when a large red energy bolt released itself from the Sphere. The bolt sliced through space and slammed into the distortion field around Koshiir Ra. The entire region of space seemed to light up as the shockwave spread outwards, grabbing the Horizon and flinging it away like a leaf in a tornado.
Onboard the Legacy of Kharak:
The Legacy swept away from the Koshiir Ra, unceremoniously shoved away by the sheer might of the shockwave. Alarms were going off across all decks as Yuno attempted to figure out what was wrong. To her horror, the distortion field she had put up around the Koshiir Ra and Sajuuk was gone!
The energy bolt was so powerful it had caused some massive energy feedback in the Legacy's power systems. The Grand Core had escaped damage, but the Mothership itself had more than half of its systems taken offline. Had the blast been stronger, the resulting feedback would have most probably erased the computer core along with her consciousness.
Yuno to fleet, the Legacy has taken critical internal damage. We require immediate repair assistance. Also, reroute all command functions through the Pride of Hiigara, the Legacy's too beaten up to serve as flagship right now.
The distress call sent, Yuno set to work diverting all remaining power to life support and the cryogenic subsections. So many circuits had blown that the Mothership could only muster 15 percentpower.
The Legacy of Kharak was out of action.
Onboard the Merciless, Northern Outer Rim:
"Status report on the Legacy!" Admiral Ecron yelled as the flagship stabilised itself from the violent shockwave.
"The Legacy's out of action, sir. That last hit took out the distortion field and caused severe feedback damage."
"But the Legacy was using the Grand Core to power that field!"
"Sir, you must remember Yuno's data report, that the Grand Core was not designed as a shield generator. It can provide tremendous power and project distortion fields, but ultimately it is just a jump drive!"
"Damn it! Do they require assistance?"
"The Hiigaran repair squads are working on it, we should concentrate on this battle."
"Very well. Order all ships to focus fire on that Sphere!"
Onboard the Horizon:
"Stabiliser control!" Eefrit yelled as the Horizon continued to tumble through space. In response, the helm officer bashed on some buttons on his console.
The Hyperphase Drive whined loudly as it strained to bring the Horizon to a stop. The battlecruiser's superstructure groaned and creaked under the stress, and Eefrit prayed that it would all hold together.
Thankfully, it did, and the ship began to right itself.
"Sir, the Imperial Fleet is advancing on the Sphere. They are coming under heavy fire. Furthermore, the Legacy has suffered critical internal damage and is withdrawing from battle."
"Great. Now retreat isn't even an option if we can't use the Grand Core…"
The battlecruiser shook as it came under enemy fire once more, reminding Eefrit of their predicament and their mission.
"We'll just have to do this again. Full throttle, head for the Koshiir Ra!"
Kiir and Karan lay down in the link section, waiting for the moment when the Horizon docked with the Koshiir Ra. The eerie darkness of the place was only briefly illuminated by the occasional flash of a warning light.
They had taken a few tumbles when the shockwave had hit the ship, but no injuries were sustained.
"The battle must be pretty fierce for a battlecruiser-class ship to be tossed around like that," Karan commented, "I certainly hope your ship can take the beating."
"Don't worry, if we could survive the Qwaar Jet, this is nothing," beamed Kiir, "Anyway, Eefrit's a damned good captain – he'll get us to the Koshiir Ra in no time."
Another shudder reverberated through the Horizon's hull as an energy bolt made its way through the shields. A distant explosion made Kiir slightly worried. If Eefrit couldn't get them there in time…
He placed his hand on the bulkhead door controls, as a precaution…
"We're nearly there!" the helm officer yelled over the din of alarms and klaxons baring non-stop.
"Good work everyone," praised Eefrit, "Now, let's push through!"
"Sir, sensors are reading another energy spike coming from the Sphere, they are going to fire the main cannon again!"
The viewscreen flickered to show the images of the Sphere powering up, the brilliant red light slowly building in the aperture of its main cannon. Eefrit could only stare in dismay.
If the Koshiir Ra took a direct hit without the protection of a distortion field…
Horizon continued on despite smouldering from many breaches in its outer hull. The battlecruiser's distortion field was almost gone, and only a flicker remained to provide minimal protection. Still, the Hyperphase Drive pushed the ship forward…
A blinding red light emanated from the Sphere as it released the gathered energies in a single blast. Hiigaran, Imperial and T-MAT ships moved out of the way as the blast shot forward towards the Koshiir Ra. Undaunted, Eefrit went on with the docking procedure.
At last, the Horizon's docking corridor met the Koshiir Ra airlock with a clang.
And everything turned white as the blast hit.
Tanis wastelands:
The shimmering gate lay before them, the portal lit up in a multitude of colours. The gate contained so much energy, enough to send entire fleets to another galaxy.
The Stargazer hesitated, along with the rest of the fleet behind it.
This gate was a doorway to a new land where their civilisation could be preserved.
They would leave behind this Galaxy, all the conflicts and wars taking place within it…
But how could they abandon those who had protected them?