Xander and Doyle had called the suite of apartments to tell them they wouldn't be back until the wee hours of the morning. And by then, the two men were ready for sleep. They'd covered in as great a detail possible, the seeming timeline of fleet maneuvers, attacks, conquests and times in which the enemy recovered. Both strongly pressed for an all-out effort to take Trevor's Star immediately from both sides, and press on against Barnett's Star and Thetis while the revolution was running rampant. They gave the names of the best future enemy commanders, and some of the tactical styles employed, and even some of the designs used. Honor and the other cross-possessors were able to occasionally find echoes within themselves of the Sunnydaler knowledge, and contribute it to the discussion.
Both men entered the accommodations to find Ash talking with three new arrivals, everyone else having gone to sleep hours before.
"Hey Ash, I didn't know you knew Kevin Sorbo?"
"Yeah, what can I say?" the man smirked, "but it turns out he's really Hercules, with his friend Iolaus, and they're here with their friend Andromeda to help you when you get back to Earth."
"Really? Thanks," he told them and offered his hand to shake, "It's good to have help. Has Ash explained things at all?"
"Yeah, he has, actually," Dylan Hunt replied, "And call me Dylan. I have to say I'm amazed at all you've been through."
"You know any tech stuff?"
"Yeah, a few things, especially Harper, here, he was the ship's engineer, hopefully that'll help."
"I'm sure it will," Xander replied, yawning, "But I think we'll have to discuss it in the morning. Night all."
An hour later Xander was roused from bed by the hurried feet moving around the residence, an exhausted Doyle knocking on his door before entering.
"What now!" Xander asked as he got up and pulled out a black Jedi that matched that of Doyle. "An attack?"
"Nah, 'tis far worse for you…it looks like Dawn just went into labor, which gave the other two such a start that you're lookin' at fatherhood before ya even get home, Xan."
"You sure it's not an invasion?"
"Didn't say that, but you are the one under bloody siege from now on…daddy."
The hospital wasn't too far away, and the entire group migrated fully accoutered to the maternity section, Paul and Honor looking tired as they joined them.
"Her Majesty sends her best, Alexander," Honor smiled, "then promptly exercised her prerogative to go back to sleep and order us to assist."
"She is wise beyond her very few years," Xander smirked, his memories allowing him to appreciate the humor in the situation, "But now I guess we'll stay in-system until just before the time of the next slide."
"Well, you're welcome to stay as my guest the entire time," Honor assured him, "and since a certain thick-headed engineer finally said 'yes' tonight…"
"Good for you!" Doyle enthused, the others offering congratulations, the prospective groom smiling with embarrassment.
The hospital and Palace were attacked at an hour before dawn, local time. Forty Havenite ships of the line, mainly battleships but with a few super -dreadnoughts, entered the stellar system at high speed at the limit and immediately headed for the capital itself. Signals beamed in-system resulted in about forty men using a poor mix of weapons to strike at the Palace and a similar group for reasons then unknown, the hospital.
"Crap," Alexander, Doyle, Ash, Harper and Hercules sighed as a chorus, then smiled because of it.
Alexander took charge, "Jedi Masters, and Hercules and Andromeda with me as fire support; the others remain here. Jim, you're in charge of our people. Maggie, Joyce, no matter what protect the girls and kids. Honor, you are in charge here, and Paul…watch her six."
Alexander, Doyle, Anakin, Hercules and Rommy strode toward where the Jedi Masters could feel the approach of enemies.
The Palace suffered thirty rocket hits, the payloads being quite nasty and overwhelming the surprised front-line defenses. Fires broke out and bedlam was the norm in the exterior layers. And then the attackers, down to thirty-two due to some excellent last-ditch responses by the Royal Guard, were simply gone.
Most of the possible escape routes from the hospital had been blown up by the attackers, and thirty rockets had struck the upper levels and fire-suppression infrastructure points in an obvious hope of creating panic and possibly killing everyone in the building in the long run, if not soon enough.
Assassins moved quickly in teams, ignoring all who didn't get in their way; a particular target had been followed and would be eliminated before the hour was up and evacuation necessary.
Security guards died quickly, and the occasional surprised doctor or nurse but the black-clad commandos moved inexorably toward the maternity section deep in the complex.
Four more explosions in the distance indicated police precincts possibly eliminated.
And as fifteen killers carefully examining their surroundings made it half-way across a dark garden, from above and behind from the wall itself they heard sizzle-snaps and in turning their eyewear was briefly overwhelmed as the light sabers of three Masters swept into them, arms severed, heads lost and weapons destroyed in seconds. And then only a single survivor pinned by Hercules with a force-lance against the throat remained.
Xander raised his hand over the face of the killer, using the Force to interrogate, "Why are you attacking this hospital?"
"Distraction from target itself."
"What is the target?"
"Harrington."
"Herc?"
"Rommy and I got him, and will secure the weapons; go save the others."
Kirk, Maggie, Ash and Scotty had managed to seal off the north end of the ward and hold it as the rest held the southeast end. At least a dozen at each point were pressing hard, and many hospital staff had become casualties of one sort or another.
Phasers, and other surprises, seemed to keep their foes at bay until, all of a sudden, a trash receptacle turned into a Klingon and charged Kirk and Scott, wrestling them to the ground as all of a sudden the commandos could charge forward and did. General ? and John Connor drew projectile weapons out as they rushed up from the ward itself to give Joyce a chance to prepare, the two males from the terminator-verse taking out only two attackers and placing thee two sides only twenty feet apart.
Kirk fired his phaser into the 'Klingon' at heavy stun, and while it had an effect, causing his foe to deform briefly and scream, he also suffered the effects and fell to the ground. Scotty adjusted his to kill now that his Captain was safe, firing three short bursts instead of a single longer burst, and the Dominion Founder lost cohesion and disintegrated.
Racing over to his friend, Scotty pulled him out of possible ricochet and began using nearby supplies to patch up several deep slices in the man's chest and on his arms.
The beings known as the Senior Partners had had many offices throughout the multiverse before this last grave reversal, but they decided to get even with a certain Mr. Harris by carefully intercepting and listening in to the Powers before their subcontractor 'Skip' was reduced to oblivion, but it was enough to send a certain Warren Meers, who they'd had time to dress as Oscar St. Just, and Mr. Harris' parents as Pierre and Ransom, before using up three mages to send them to their real counterparts just before the start of the coup.
Pierre was able to save his son, by delaying two minutes, and the nascent Committee of Public Safety was able to hurriedly send out or pay for agents to carry out three attacks in hopes of disrupting Manticore plans to better exploit the turmoil. But unlike the first time, they positioned themselves to simply form camps and not carry out unnecessary bloodshed that would get them hoisted by their own if the desperate Star Kingdom Plan didn't succeed.
The entire remaining fleets based out of Duquesne, Trevor's Star, Thetis and others hurled themselves through the nexus as they broke out of hyperspace behind the forts. No quarter given or expected, as both sides sought a final outcome in this single combat as the battleships, destroyers, super-dreadnaughts, forts, couriers and cruisers exacted sometimes point-blank tolls, especially as the forts died and enemy ships began to transit successfully.
In the Manticoran capital, temporary chaos eventually led to ruthless military reaction, the desperation on both sides not a pretty situation, and the bodies began to pile up as the short but effective terror wave ebbed and collapsed. Several sections of the Palace ceased to exist, but luckily they were barracks now empty because of the troubles.
But soon enough, as ten little ones began voicing opinions at sunrise, the Manties had turned the tide against the attackers, and began, in turn, retaking the wormhole and putting an end to the Peep menace.
Alexander and his little family were exhausted as lunchtime came around, and suitably passed out as their extended family kept vigil just in case. The fighting in the city was at an end, and a semblance of normality would return the next day, when at daybreak the curfew would be lifted. Her Majesty had called her Parliament together, announced the bloody battle that was now a victory, and presented a plan for war and peace with attached budgets and measures. It was passed almost unanimously, Countess Kiev abstaining to show it was still a democracy at work and not a stampeded mob. Even Her Majesty had thanked her in front of Parliament for the gesture and explanation before leaving things in the hands of Her Government.