Nineteen
Starship Eternia
Eternian Star System
Lieutenant Santana got the repairs accomplished in record time so the Eternia could get back into the fight. Unfortunately, the Horde had time to redeploy to meet the renewed attack.
Their best defense was the starship's agility, which Ace exploited to the point that Captain Majourny considered it a crime. Destroyers fanned out in an attempt to drive them toward the more powerful battlecruisers and the surviving heavy corvette. Scores of fighters swarmed through space, adding their laser fire into the mix. Eternia's shields handled the fighter laser fire with no trouble. Proximity detonations from capital ship weapons, on the other hand, threatened to collapse an entire shield arc.
The Horde equivalent of Earth's torpedoes blazed through space at near light speed. Ace's maneuvers were so tight, and the starship so nimble and quick, the enemy weapons generally could not keep up. If they got within fifty-thousand kilometers, and the torpedo's machine brain recognized it could not catch the Earth ship, it detonated the warhead in an attempt at a proximity hit.
Ace's maneuvering forced the enemy into acts of desperation. Instead of showing restraint when the Eternia darted in close to a Horde ship, they kept firing instead. Scores of fighters exploded in brief fireballs before the vacuum of space snuffed them out. Capital ships took significant damage while attempting to stop the Earth ship. The end result was three destroyers and one battlecruiser lost to friendly fire.
Unfortunately for the Eternia, the Horde quickly analyzed their battle tactics and was able to begin anticipating the maneuvers. Eternia began taking more damage even as another Horde destroyer exploded due to friendly fire. The shields began to fail rapidly while the hyperdrive, dorsal gun, and railgun systems shorted out. The ventral quad guns fell silent when the power coupling fried. The shields and sub-light engines were not far behind. Etherium armor was pounded relentlessly as the surviving corvette, backed up by two battlecruisers and a destroyer, soared in for the kill.
Eternia was left with only emergency battery power when the Horde warships finally ceased firing. The ship drifted listlessly as the Horde capital ships blocked off every avenue of escape.
Commander Franik ordered a com channel opened to the Earth ship. "Your shields and weapons are gone. Your power systems are badly damaged. Surrender and I shall spare whatever lives are still left on your ship, captain."
Jo-jo opened her side of the link, allowing the Horde commander to see just a little of the bridge atmosphere. The man's face materialized in the air above the navigation and helm stations. Captain Majourny allowed him to see the damage his capital ships had done. Red emergency lights glowed dimly in the background, casting shadows everywhere. Acrid smoke drifted lazily in the air because the ventilation system was temporarily down. Until auxiliary power was restored, breathing was somewhat uncomfortable.
"I will never surrender this ship and crew to stunted slime like you," Jo-jo hissed. She was never one for diplomacy in combat situations. Colonel Markson's concept of 'aggressive negotiations' sprang to mind, however.
Franik arched an eyebrow. "Really, captain. There is no need for such hostility. I can assure you that you and your crew will be treated fairly."
Jo-jo snorted. "Yes. General Rongar showed us a small amount of Horde 'fairness' when we last met. Pass." She turned to the right-hand panel, tapped several keys. "Computer. Activate auto-destruct system."
The computer complied, requesting the necessary command codes from the captain, tactical officer, and science officer. Commander Franik watched from his command bridge as all three verbally input the commands as directed.
AWAITING FINAL COMMAND CODE FOR SIXTY-SECOND COUNTDOWN.
Glancing at the main monitor, Captain Majourny delivered the final command, "Zero-zero-zero-destruct-zero."
COMMAND ACCEPTED. BEGINNING SIXTY-SECOND COUNTDOWN.
Franik's calm demeanor slipped a little as the computer began the countdown. "You are prepared to destroy yourselves so easily and uselessly?"
"If I were you," Jo-jo warned evenly, "I'd be getting to a safe distance. We might take a few more of your ships with us when we go up."
Franik considered Jo-jo's words, came to a decision when the robot manned the sensor station shouted an alarm. On his monitor displaying the local space, the velvet backdrop of stars began shimmering above and about one-million kilometers rim-ward. A rip in hyperspace was forming practically on top of them, as spatial distances went.
Lieutenant Satori sounded the alarm as the object fired a blue-white beam at the nearest Horde warship. The energy lance pierced the starship's shields like they weren't even raised, and sliced the aft one-third of the space frame clean off. Despite the clear indication of weapons fire, Eternia's sensors could not lock onto the alien starship. The Horde appeared to be having similar difficulties.
Warship commanders ordered their crews to begin firing blindly at the Intruder, which was clearly equipped with some sort of advanced sensor cloak in addition to its hull being painted blacker than space itself. One by one, Horde ships died after a devastating strike from the Intruder starship. The heavy corvette took two sweeping laser strikes, gutting it like a fish.
The com link to Commander Franik's starship winked out abruptly, timed with the fiery demise of his vessel.
Exploding vessels lit up local space as the remaining fighters fought back. The robot pilots had to rely on their visual sensors because the Intruder's sensor cloak blinded all other systems. Horde Bat Mech fighters darted and swarmed around the black starship like annoying nats. No one could be entirely sure how it happened, but it appeared they were all blown out of the vacuum in a matter of heartbeats.
As quickly as the one-sided battle began, it was over with smoldering pieces of ship, and a veritable sea of wreckage where ten powerful warships had been.
Jo-jo squinted through the transparent canopy to get a glimpse of the Intruder starship as their sensors still could not lock onto it. The alien vessel soared gracefully up on Eternia effortlessly from above. It crossed over the Earth ship's bow, seemed to pause for a moment and then shot off into the night on mighty sub-light drives. A hyperspace window opened, and the ship was gone.
"Tell me you got that," Jo-jo hissed, breathless at the sight of their good fortune.
Novina double-checked her boards before replying, "Aye, captain. I got it. Whatever the sensors could actually see."
"Looks like Queen Elmora came through after all," Ace murmured.
"Stow it," Jo-jo commanded a little more sternly than she had intended. "We don't know that for sure."
"Captain, the auto-destruct," Lieutenant Denton reminded Jo-jo pointedly. He had to be a little more forceful as the countdown dropped below 'ten'.
Snapping out of her fog, Jo-jo ordered the computer to cancel the destruct sequence.
DOES THE TACTICAL OFFICER CONCUR?
"Yes, I do indeed concur," Harley said quickly, sweating bullets.
AUTO-DESTRUCT – CANCELLED.
Captain Majourny swiveled her chair around to face her tactical officer, a whimsical smile tugging at her lips. "A simple 'yes' would have sufficed, Harley."
Cracking a wide grin, Harley replied, "I just didn't want there to be any misunderstanding."
Shaking her head, Jo-jo called the engine room and ordered the chief engineer to get whatever power he could back on-line so they could go support their people fighting for their lives on the ground. No sooner had she issued the order than auxiliary power came back. They had minimal shields and the main drives were at a little over half power, but it would be enough. Lieutenant Santana promised to have some of their energy weapons powered up by the time they arrived at Castle Grayskull. Provided the captain did not order any power dives like the last time.
Jo-jo promised to go easier this time, and ordered Ace to get them moving.
Castle Grayskull
Teela found an abandoned windraider during her flight from the battle. Any rational being would have taken it and withdrawn back to base, but Teela did not do so. Instead, she wove her way around to the east to a vantage point where she was well out of range of any errant weapons fire. She stayed close enough to monitor the fighting with a pair of electro-binoculars someone had left in the windraider.
The opening volley of the second act was fired by the mobile artillery units. A powerful energy shield materialized over the ancient castle moments before the beams of plasma would have struck. They slammed harmlessly into the magical barrier, pulsed into it as the unit commanders threw the entire charge into the attack, and then the beams died away. The shield dropped immediately, as if to taunt the attackers.
Training the binoculars briefly on the command deck windows of the nearest mobile unit, Teela observed frantic activity there. Whatever had happened, she had the feeling it was something more than her mother erecting a shield to defend the castle.
Teela returned her attention to the castle's defenders, specifically, the north end where the Reptilons King Hiss had sent out were slowly making their way along the spine toward the unsuspecting Earthers.
The Reptilons cautiously crept along the castle's spine on guard for any surprise attack. None came as the pair neared the eastern tower where the Sorceress and her companions stood directing the defense of Castle Grayskull. King Hiss had sent the best of the few remaining Reptilons for this strike. Sidewinder and Thrasher were exactly that – the best.
Their exploits over the past ten years were the stuff of nightmares. The brutality depicted in some Earth movies was nothing compared to what Sidewinder and Thrasher had done. Or were about to do. The Earthers were so totally unaware of their presence that the snakes practically knew they were going to make short work of the enemy.
The pair paused to get their bearings, having lost sight of theirintended targets upon reaching within fifty yards of the east tower. They checked to be sure no one had seen the Reptilons approaching, did not spot anyone observing them, and returned their attention to the dome straight ahead.
There at the dome's base stood a creature unlike anything they had ever heard of, much less seen. Both serpents swore it had not been standing there moments before when they had searched for unwanted observers. But there it stood staring, waiting for them. Sidewinder and Thrasher knew instantly that the route to the defenders on the east tower went straight through this monster.
So be it.
The Reptilons split up to make it more difficult for the creature. It leapt from the ledge to meet the snakes several meters away. Sidewinder and Thrasher drew their swords from sheathes strapped to their backs, and attacked. The monster blocked the stabs, cuts, chops, swipes; everything the reptiles threw at it. They danced about the creature, dodging and weaving, taking blows in stride even as their opponent pushed them back toward the north end of the castle.
Once a safe distance away from the east tower, Adrian ratcheted the battle's intensity up a few notches. Sidewinder and Thrasher suddenly found themselves on the receiving end of what they had been dishing out to their enemies for years. No quarter given. None taken.
Ensign Wardman peeked over the edge of the tower wall, saw the intense fight, and snatched up a pulse rifle. He would have rolled over the wall, but Catherine O'Rourke yanked him back.
"Let go of me! I'm going to help him!"
"Stand down, ensign!" Catherine growled. "He's doing his job so we have to do ours. Now grab a missile and keep watching for fighters."
Reluctantly, Wardman turned away from the fierce battle taking place out on the castle's spine to search the skies for enemy craft.
Adrian hammered, kicked, clobbered, and punched the Reptilons toward the back of the castle. He moved with all the quickness and agility of a veteran fighter despite the ungainly appearance of his transformed body.
Sidewinder tumbled away from a kick to the chin which literally sent the snake flying head over heels. The brackish monster turned its attention on Thrasher, and began beating him backwards. Thrasher was hard-pressed to avoid the deadly bone claws while trying to find a weak spot in his opponent to get his sword into. Alone against the beast until his companion got back on his feet and into the fight, Thrasher vowed to do some kind of damage before the monster killed him.
Sidewinder quickly rolled to his feet, retrieved his lost sword, and turned to rejoin to fight.
Adrian dealt a powerful stroke to Thrasher's chin with his left hand, right arm already cocked back. The blow left the serpent dazed long enough to slam the bone claws on his arm into and through the creature's belly. Daze turned to shock, and then disbelief as Thrasher slowly came to realize he had just been mortally wounded. Thrasher's sword dropped to his side as all his strength poured out of him, though the weapon remained caught in a loose grip.
The brackish horror shoved Thrasher backward; the momentum of tumbling off the north edge of the castle ripped the claws from his belly. Teela shivered uncontrollably as she watched the dying Reptilon take the plunge into the bottomless gorge surrounding the castle. Reptilons were notoriously difficult to kill, and this shape-changing human had just bested one in fewer than two minutes!
What have you gotten yourself into, Mother? Teela thought furiously, as the second Reptilon stalked the changeling monster.
Sidewinder elevated the battle even further, if that was possible. He and Thrasher had been a team for countless years. Their bond was uncommon among the Snake Men where one looked after one's self and no one else. To see Thrasher defeated in only a few minutes spoke volumes about this castle's defender, and pointed out just how dangerous these outlanders really were. General Rattlor had added his warning about the human changeling, but his warning did not do the human justice.
The remaining Reptilon darted in a seemly hap-hazardous manner, but that was the ruse. Sidewinder knew what he was about, and struck like lightning. Eternian steel punctured the soft spot along the ribs on his opponent's left side, drawing blood. However, because the gap between carapace plates was so narrow, the sword tip failed to do anything more serious than enrage the creature.
Adrian lashed out with a backhand that should have ripped the snake's head off, but the serpent saw it coming and ducked under the swing. He came face-to-face with the right fist traveling low and inside, slamming Sidewinder square in the forehead. Spots exploded before the Reptilon's eyes as he staggered to get away and regroup. Adrian wasn't going to give him the chance. He realized early in the fight how much more dangerous this offshoot of the Snake Men was, that even a slight opening was enough for these creatures to capitalize on.
Thus, the conflict was as fierce and pitched as the ground battle continuing to play out south and east of the castle.
Adrian and Sidewinder pummeled each other mercilessly. Sidewinder grew increasingly frustrated with his foe's ability to block Eternian steel with his carapace armor. Sparks flew at each impact, further vexing the Snake Man. The distraction allowed Adrian to clamp both hands to the flat sides of the sword blade, trapping the weapon in a veritable vise from which Sidewinder could not withdraw. The Reptilon tried in vain to maintain control of the blade as the creature methodically twisted until he finally lost his grip. Adrian hurled the weapon away and quickly moved in for the kill. He drove the snake toward the back of the castle, hammering away with fists and bone claws.
This battle had to be terminated soon so Adrian could get back to helping his companions trying to hold off the Horde re-enforcements. The unmistakable sound of energy canons discharging blasted across the battlefield, but Adrian couldn't spare a moment to look. If he did, this snake would kill him.
However, a momentary lapse was all Sidewinder needed to slip in under Adrian's guard. The Reptilon hooked a firm grip on his monstrous foe, twisted, and threw him over the northern edge of the castle.
They're getting ready to fire again, Falcon warned the Sorceress.
"I can't maintain a complete shield over the castle with some many points of attack," Sorceress said grimly. She was trying not to think about how exhausting her battle with King Hiss had been.
"Then don't," Ensign Wardman blurted. All eyes turned upon him, and he swallowed nervously. "Umm…that is…I mean the canons are the biggest threat, right? Why not just maintain a shield in that direction while we cover the other approaches? Our re-enforcements will be here any moment to take more of the burden off us." I hope, he added silently.
The Sorceress looked at the colonel, who shrugged, saying, "I got nothing better."
"I have to admit it's a tactic I would never have considered," Sorceress admitted.
"You should read up on Sun Tsu," Colonel Markson suggested. "It makes for interesting reading."
"You mean after Adrian finally pestered you into doing so?" Sorceress replied with a slight smile.
Suddenly uncomfortable, Jon said, "No. General Hammond ordered me to read it. It's a new training plan for his commanders to study history's greatest tacticians."
I hate to break up the Great Tactical Debate, but we do have a battle to win, here, Falcon pointed out irritably. They are priming to fire.
Sorceress snapped back to the canons getting ready to fire another volley. Colonel Markson ordered O'Rourke and Wardman to look alive for fighters and anything else that might take a shot at them.
Three mobile canons discharged as one. The roar rippled across the battlefield like the sonic boom of a passing aircraft as plasma beams sped toward their intended target. The Sorceress threw up a much smaller shield this time; one covering just enough area to intercept all three beams at the far side of the chasm.
As before, the Sorceress concentrated on maintaining the shield while Falcon channeled the energy into the massive Crystal Chamber. Tendrils of plasma energy crackled down the towering line structures. The recharge lasted a bit longer this time due to the other mobile canons grinding to a halt within range, and adding their fire to the first three. Sorceress sweated profusely inside the armor as she struggled to maintain the shield wall under the stresses hammering at her.
After what seemed like an eternity, the plasma beams died away with the draining of the canon capacitors. Combat on the battlefield between the canons and Castle Grayskull renewed in earnest. Quaedians pounded away at troopers while those armed with energy weapons blasted futilely away at drones.
Railguns speared enemy troops with slugs traveling at near the speed of light with impunity. Although woefully overmatched, the felines did not break. They pressed the attack harder with each Quaedian killed or wounded. King Carnivus spurred his warriors on from the jawbridge while Kittrina rallied her troops from the enemy's left flank.
Kittrina bled profusely from a railgun round that had grazed her left thigh, and various shrapnel hits around the torso, but she hardly noticed. Quaedians were natural born hunters, trained from the time they took their first steps until adulthood. So it was only natural that a proud warrior like Kittrina did not like being shown up by outworlders with their fancy armor and strange weapons.
Unfortunately, such pride also tended to make one reckless.
Guardian Claw didn't help her state of mind any by rescuing her from a drone that had her dead in its sights. Claw sent her a lofty salute and then moved off with Guardian Hawk toward the mobile canons. Brad came up with a daring idea which Sonja approved of.
The pair slithered along the channels carved into the landscape by rivers dried up long ago. They made the perfect cover to sneak up on the enemy undetected. While the canons were overpowered for their size, they did not posses any kind of energy shields. Even if they did, the shields would not extend into the dry riverbed that several of the units were parked over on a cushion of anti-grav power. Thus, Claw and Hawk boldly walked under the massive armored hull without anyone the wiser.
Suit sensors picked out the best place to attempt breaking into the unit. Hawk used her beam spear to slice a circular piece of armor from the belly where the sensors indicated it was thinnest. Claw used his arm extensions to guide the plate safely out and discarded it. Brad's forward image shifted to starlight mode. Ghostly shapes of pipes and bulkheads materialized before his eyes. With Claw's help, Brad carefully selected a beam that would not collapse under the stress of the arm extensions, shot one into the hole, and lifted himself inside.
Once assured the compartment he was in was free of unwanted eyes, Brad shot an extension down through the hole and lift Hawk up to join him. Together, the Guardians set off in search of the canon's power core.
The expected re-enforcements from the Eternia finally arrived on the battlefield. The remaining APC was dropped off several miles north of Castle Grayskull. After releasing the armored carrier, the parent craft flew cover as the vehicle charged into battle.
Hohiro's dropship was of a different design than the others. While one had been retrofitted to carry Adrian's War Machine vehicle, and the other two had been built to the standard specifications for carrying the APCs, the last dropship in their arsenal had been built to carry troops directly into battle, like the Huey helicopters used in the Vietnam War. As they closed in on the ancient castle, the sounds of battle reached the troops through the open side hatches over the roaring rush of air.
They witnessed the first massive assault against the castle by the mobile canons. The other dropships made strafing runs against the armored behemoths, but the hull armor was too thick for their weapons to punch through. Hohiro wondered why they didn't use missiles or bombs against such massive targets until he glimpsed empty upper and lower armament racks. All those pilots had left were the twenty-millimeter guns under the ship's noses.
The private standing next to Hohiro nudged him and pointed toward the castle. "Is that who I think it is, sir?"
Squinting, the oriental stared hard at the fight starting along the castle's spine. "Yes, it's him," the captain confirmed. Getting into trouble, as usual, he thought ruefully. "Set a fire team down on the west tower to watch for fighters."
Hohiro issued orders to the remaining troops as the dropship pilot swooped in to deliver the team to the castle's west tower. Once offloaded, Hohiro was dropped off along to castle's spine so he could support Adrian, if needed. Then the pilot took off to deliver the remaining troops and badly needed munitions and weapons to the foot of the ramp leading up to the jawbridge.
Teela winced as missiles and ballistic weapons slammed into the nearest canon. Although the weapons did little damage to the machine's thick armor, the attack did draw enemy fire away from the valiant Quaedians. Ignoring the nearer conflict, the former Captain of the Royal Guard returned her attention to the castle.
The remaining Reptilon cautiously looked over the north edge where he had thrown his adversary. He found nothing, and assumed the creature had fallen into the bottomless chasm surrounding the castle. However, Sidewinder had no clue of the danger about to befall him. Teela spotted the same spider-like creature from several days ago crawling out from underneath the supported structure on the east side. This was the same beast which had given Evil-lyn such a scare.
Adrian had just managed to catch his bone claws in the ancient outer wall to swing him up underneath the castle. He stuck to the structure's belly in the Alien form, and quickly scampered toward the east side. He crested the eastern wall only thirty seconds after Sidewinder had supposedly thrown him to his death.
Sensing danger at the last possible moment, the Reptilon swung about with his sword leading the way. The Alien screamed as the Snake Man's sword hacked off the wicked point of its tail. Angrier than anything else at the loss of the twelve-inch tip, the creature whipped the abbreviated tail about like a serpent try to mesmerize its prey, and sprayed acid at the unsuspecting snake. Sidewinder threw up his arms to protect himself from what he assumed was venom.
His astonishment gave way to searing pain as the acid quickly dissolved through armor to the vulnerable flesh it protected. The Alien snapped into motion, changing shape as it moved. The stocky monster Sidewinder fought earlier slammed bodily into him before he could bring his sword into a defensible position. The Reptilon's eyes bulged when he suddenly found it impossible to breath. A brief piercing pain lanced through his chest, and was followed by a spreading numbness. The sword clanged to the stones, slipping from nerveless fingers.
Knowledge that he was dead finally dawned on Sidewinder as the creature skewering him ripped the claws from his chest. His world blackened as he tumbled off the castle into the yawning chasm below.
Explosions from impacting missiles echoed within the armored hull of the mobile canon. Hawk and Claw glanced at one another as they neared the engineering spaces of the mobile canon they had infiltrated.
Annoyed, Brad opened a channel on the Guardian Force tactical frequency. "Whoever is knocking out there cut it out. We're handling this canon. Shift your sights."
"Brad?" an unfamiliar voice responded. "Is that you?"
"No. I'm his evil twin. Yes, it's me. Now shift your targets." Brad closed the channel before the man on the other end could object.
The Guardians pressed onward into the engineering section. Robots of various types never seen before by human eyes went about their business maintaining the power needs of the canon. Despite the amount of machinery packed into the massive space, and the amount of robots moving about, the pair literally just walked in unobserved. It didn't take them long to locate the massive reactor at the center of the chamber that powered the canon.
"That is it," Hawk said in a hushed tone. "Should make a pretty explosion."
"Yeah," Claw agreed. "Shouldn't take too much to blow it sky high."
The intruders were finally noticed by a maintenance robot, who promptly sounded the alarm. Hawk and Claw literally tore into any robots and machinery between them and the fusion core. They were not going to destroy the core itself, however. The resulting immediate explosion would vaporize them despite the durability of the Etherium alloy their armor was constructed of. Instead, the Guardians targeted the control systems keeping the controlled reaction in check.
Claw used his arm extensions to keep maintenance robots at bay while Hawk drew a bead on the primary control panel with her borrowed laser rifle. Two blasts turned the panel into a smoking, sparking, charred ruin. New alarms began blaring as the fusion reactor lost containment.
Mission completed, the Guardians fought their way out of the engineering spaces and made their way back to the hole. A few troopers showed up as the pair was preparing to drop through to the ground below. Neither one bothered to return fire as their suit sensors scanned the canon's core going critical.
Explosions further aft rocked the vehicle, diverting the troopers' attention away from the Guardians. Hawk and Claw scrambled through the ancient riverbed into the daylight. As soon as they emerged, Brad began broadcasting a warning across the Guardian Force tactical net for everyone within range to get clear and take cover.
Falcon calmly informed the Sorceress of the impending blast radius and suggested absorbing as much of the power as possible with a shield. Sorceress wasn't sure she could effectively split her attention like and hold both shields intact. Falcon calmly told Sorceress to concentrate on maintaining the shields while she shunted the power into the Crystal Chamber.
There was no more time for debate as the canon's core went critical. Sorceress threw up two shields. One flared up on the far side of the chasm to block the incoming fire from the three units in range, and the second was erected in a location on the battlefield to block the explosive force away from the allies still engaged against the Horde troopers.
Teela dropped the electro-binoculars onto the seat beside her, lit off the windraider's engines, and slammed the throttles wide open. Hohiro sprinted down the castle's spine as fast as his legs would carry him. He reached Adrian as explosions began ripping the mobile canon apart. Hohiro grabbed Adrian, who had reverted to human form and sunk to his knees in exhaustion, dragged him bodily to the stones, and threw himself over the man as the fusion core exploded.
To the Sorceress' amazement, both of her magic shields held, and she found it easier to concentrate on maintaining them than she had feared. Falcon routed the massive influx of raw power into the Crystal Chamber. The tactic worked better than expected, though a large amount of energy from the explosion was lost because the shield deflected it away to the northeast.
Pieces of armor rained down all over the place as the oily fireball climbed high into the afternoon sky. Combatants on both sides dove for cover until the lethal hail subsided. Smoke from the burning remains of the mobile canon drifted across the landscape adding one more hazard to battlefield.
On the positive side, the other canon commanders paused to consider what they had just witnessed. Somehow the enemy managed to take out a unit without launching a massive assault due to the thick hull armor. And then there was the unexplained power drain every time they fired on the castle.
The commanders concluded it must be the Sorceress draining away the canon energy into the castle. But what could possibly be inside that can take and store that kind of power? More importantly, how much longer could the Sorceress continue to perform such impossible feats before her strength was drained? What she was doing had to be taking a toll on her.
Their minds were made up when the canon on the north end of their skirmish line erupted in a spectacular explosion. The recharge rate was increased to maximum to test their theory that the Sorceress could not maintain Castle Grayskull's defense for much longer.
Once more, power drained away as the Sorceress blocked their attack. When the glow of the plasma beams faded away, battle renewed all around the heavy artillery units. One of the last two machines to arrive suddenly stopped dead in its tracks when Guardian Blitzkrieg blast a plasma shot through the canon's command deck. With the control systems destroyed it became thousands of tons of jump metal.
Two tanks shot at Blitzkrieg a split second after his surprise attack on the heavy machine. The explosion rocked his world, flinging him back toward the castle. Unfortunately, he lost his grip on the plasma rifle in the process. Gatling Arm turned his guns on the tanks, making short work of the tanks in seconds while Blitzkrieg got back on is feet.
Shown the way, the newly arrived dropships targeted the command decks of the remaining canons. The other unit, slow in arriving to the scene of battle, took several direct hits from small, but powerful, plasma missiles. However, the Horde was not without another nasty surprise. Panels concealing anti-aircraft batteries slid open as the enemy ships soared away to make another run.
The quartet of dropships flew straight into the teeth of murderous laser fire and a curtain of missiles. Three of the ships broke off their run almost immediately, choosing to break off rather than risk certain destruction. One ship was an instant too slow, however. The ship that had delivered Hohiro and his troops and supplies to the castle did not turn in time. A swarm of missiles intersected the dropship well short of its lethal range, and blew it apart. Flaming pieces rained down deep in the Evergreen Forest.
"You okay?" Jake asked Jeromy as the pair fell back on the castle.
"Fine," Jeromy grumbled, still searching for the lost plasma rifle. Adrian was going to kill him, if he didn't locate it. The roar of lasers and missiles drew his attention skyward. When the dropship exploded, he added, "This is getting serious."
The Sorceress repelled the last combined blast from the mobile canons, but the strain was beginning to show. She had almost lost control of the shield that time. The next time her concentration might collapse completely. Falcon was reluctant to agree. The task of redirecting the plasma bursts into the Crystal Chamber took its toll on her circuits. After each successful attempt, circuits burned up forcing Falcon to re-route critical functions. The damage was repairable, and would be taken care of once she was able to shut down and go into regeneration mode.
"I've reached my limit," Sorceress sighed, exhausted beyond anything she had ever experienced. Slumping against the stone castellations, she added, "I can't keep the shield up. The next attack will get through."
"We've got to neutralize those canons," Colonel Markson said grimly.
"That anti-aircraft fire is too heavy for the dropships to get in close," O'Rourke reported. "Feril says there is no way they can get in close without getting blown out of the sky."
"C'mon, Jo-jo," Jon muttered. "We could really use your guns about now."
Deep in the heart of Castle Grayskull a metamorphosis of a sort was taking place. Sufficient plasma had been shunted into the towering crystalline structures that the energy began to feed upon itself and grow. The effect was not unlike the way the Guardian armor recharged when not drained below fifteen percent of their power cell capacity.
A glow slowly began filtering up from below. Platforms by the dozens started to brighten as the heart revitalized. The Spirit of Grayskull oversaw the recharge to ensure it did not get out of control and damage the crystal conduits. The Spirit kept a light touch with the Sorceress so it would know if something happened which needed its attention.
The conversation between the Sorceress and her armor was known to the Spirit. It knew she would weaken sooner or later, and had planned ahead. The power level in the Crystal Chamber continued to increase and would soon be at the required level. At that point, the Spirit of Grayskull planned to borrow a tactic from the Earth warriors.
All that was needed was a few more minutes for the castle to be capable of protecting itself for the first time since the death of King Grayskull.
Hohiro rolled off of Adrian and got to his feet while Adrian slowly rose to a kneeling position. Pieces of the exploded canon continued to fall, though none landed near the castle.
"You took long enough," Adrian chided, smiling weakly. The fight with the Reptilons had taken more out of him than he had suspected.
"Well, you know me. I like to make an entrance," the oriental replied sheepishly. "I knew you could do it," he added soberly.
Adrian did not have to ask what the captain was referring to. They had had this discussion often enough in the past. His attention was diverted by a frantically waving Ensign Wardman on the eastern tower. A small window appeared on the inner surface of his visor. At Adrian's direction, the image magnified until he could clearing see what the young man was doing. Wardman was waving and pointing at something to the north.
Adrian banished the image and whirled about. Hohiro tensed and joined him at the north edge. About five miles distant, a Horde fighter was attempting to sneak up on the defenders from behind. The reason for the ensign's frantic waving quickly became apparent.
The fighter was flying too close to the ground for anyone on either tower to get off a clean missile shot at them. By the time they did, the fighter would be upon them and blasting away with their laser canons. Somehow those fighters would have to be forced to a higher altitude where a missile could be fired into it.
Without a first thought, Adrian snatched the rifles from where they remained magnetically locked to his thighs, thumbed off the safety levers, and took aim. Hohiro darted around to Adrian's left side and mimicked his move.
Standard issue pulse rifles only had three settings; safe, semi or single shot, and burst which fired off three rounds. The Guardian Force was supplied with modified weapons having a fourth setting – full-auto. This would allow them to throw up streams of bullets to create small-arms hazards for enemy fighters.
Shooting at enemy craft was another business altogether. One could not shoot directly at the craft by virtue of it being a moving target. The idea is simple: throw up a spray of bullets and let the target craft fly into them. It wasn't nearly as easy as it sounds, as Adrian found out in the simulators, but it could be done.
Adrian aimed one rifle slightly high and the other slightly low so that whether the fighter dived or gained altitude, it would fly into ten-millimeter rounds. Jets of flame nearly six-inches long belched from the muzzles. He wouldn't have been able to hold the bucking weapons in place, however, without the help of the power armor.
Hohiro stood ready to add his fire at the right time. He was betting the robot pilots wouldn't veer to their left, which would carry them over the battlefield. Instead, they would veer to their right and gain altitude. This would present his fire team on the west tower with a belly-shot.
Sparks flew off the fighter's armor, indicating some of Adrian's rounds were hitting home. Although the armor-piercing bullets were not penetrating, they did force the robots to make the choice of whether to continue in and risk an explosive round hitting something vital, or break off.
They chose to break off less than half a mile from the castle. The fighter banked and powered up and away to the west; just as Hohiro had hoped. The oriental took aim and squeezed off a steady stream of rounds into the fighter as it continued to bank and climb. A missile roared in from the south to slam into the fighter's exposed belly. Three feet of each wingtip lazily spinning toward the ground were all that was left of the literally vaporized craft.
"Let's go see where we can cause more damage, eh?" Hohiro said, grinning broadly.
"Right," Adrian replied, not sure he wanted to know what his friend had in mind.
Two quick jumps with the armor's wings and backpack thrusters landed the pair on the east tower. War Wing shrank itself down to the combat armor mode without any prompting from Adrian, who reloaded the pulse rifles.
"Looks like you've been having fun," Hohiro commented upon seeing the battlefield clearly for the first time.
Colonel Markson made a sour look, and the Sorceress pointedly looked away. Clearly, Hohiro had struck a nerve and decided to let the matter drop.
The Sorceress slumped to the floor of the tower, completely drained. She did not know what else to do. The Quaedians were being routed back toward the castle along with the four platoons of humans. The Guardians down on the field fought a rear guard action to give the withdrawing forces time to reach safety. They had to bail Kittrina out several times when she refused to withdraw, choosing instead to attack. Jake Rockwell was a hardheaded as any Army non-com who ever served, but even he wasn't crazy enough to charge into the teeth of the strong Horde force still facing them.
The last stragglers made it across the jawbridge into the relative safety of Castle Grayskull when the surviving canons opened fire. The four beams never struck the intended target. Everyone on the tower cringed in anticipation of the end, and was surprised when they were still breathing. A cascading barrier of blue/green energy formed a dome over the entire castle along the far edge of the bottomless mote. The jawbridge had closed just in time or it would have been cut in half when the barrier went up.
Waves rippled out from the impact points as the plasma beams struggled to penetrate. The defenders stared at the sight in awe with a touch of fear. Naturally, all eyes turned to the Sorceress, who leaned heavily on Adrian's shoulders for support.
"Not my doing," she said, mystified.
I am doing it, Guardian of Grayskull, the Spirit of Grayskull answered. Thanks to you I now have the power to protect this sanctuary and its secrets once more.
The Sorceress explained what was happening and who was doing it, but since no one but herself had seen the Spirit of Grayskull, her companions were understandably skeptical.
A flurry of activity could be seen behind the command deck view ports of each mobile canon. The Sorceress surmised they were experiencing yet another power drain, and could not figure out a way to prevent it. A tight smile graced her lips at the thought.
The unit at the back of the loose formation suddenly erupted in a massive fireball, the shriek of tearing metal blasted across the landscape, and flaming shards of armor plate rained down on a heavily littered battlefield.
Twin booms preceded a massive shape streaking across the southern sky. It was lost momentarily behind the oily smoke staining the sky, reappearing suddenly, swinging around to the north. More booms rumbled the atmosphere as the starship dropped to subsonic speeds. Several surviving fighters altered course to intercept, breaking off pursuit of the Earth dropships.
The starship continued to approach, swinging around to the west, now. As the fighters drew within range, laser bolts punched holes in the air, a furious exchange ensuing. Thick bolts of coherent light lanced out from the top and bottom of the starship, quickly followed by the unmistakable sounds of quad guns. Fighters were blasted into junk without the starship's pilot slowing any more than was necessary.
Graceful as a swan coming in for a water landing, the starship Eternia soared in, clearing the treetops by less than fifty feet. The defenders of Castle Grayskull noted the many scars from the pitched space battle Eternia had managed to survive.
Captain Majourny's commanding voice cut across the tactical net as she addressed the Horde forces. "Horde commander, cease your hostilities and return to Palace Eternia. Castle Grayskull will not be yours today or any other day."
A humanoid voice responded almost immediately. "We will not allow this castle and its secrets to fall into the hands of inferior people from some backwater planet."
Normally, Jo-jo would have bristled at such an insult, but she chose a different approach this time. "You have no support coming from orbit, commander. Commander Franik is dead, and all of his warships are now drifting wreckage," she calmly informed the Horde commander.
"I don't believe you. There is no way you could have destroyed the entire task force."
"Call them," Jo-jo invited politely.
The humanoid in charge of the surviving enemy forces did just that. Several attempts to contact the orbiting warships went unanswered. The man returned his attention to small screen with the enemy commander's image on it.
"Do you believe me now?" Captain Majourny asked. "Good. Cease your attack and depart now, and I won't destroy you."
The Horde still had a numerical advantage, however, the powerful energy dome and the unexplained power drains made it virtually impossible for them to complete Commander Franik's order to destroy castle Grayskull if they could not capture it. The analysis of the attack on mobile unit five final appeared on another screen. It had been struck by a high-explosive warhead of a type he had never seen before. It wasn't a trademark plasma torpedo the Earthers were known to use, but the results had been just as lethal.
On the other hand, which the Earth ship may have expended all of its plasma weapons, it was quite clear they still had powerful weapons in their magazines. Then there was the strange energy readings coming from the castle itself. It had been dormant for many years, but now it emitted an energy signature that was literally off the scale. Something strange was going on here which Horde Prime needed to be aware of. Dying in a useless continuation of a battle that had inexplicably turned against would be a fruitless waste of resources.
So the humanoid chose to risk the wrath of both Horde Prime and King Hiss by ordering his remaining forces to stand down and withdraw.
Eternia hovered over the field of carnage, keeping a wary eye on the withdrawing Horde force until it was well out of striking range. A few of the fighters attempted suicide runs at either the starship or castle, now that the magical shield had been lowered, but all were quickly dispatched with a missile or a burst from the quad guns.
With the withdrawal of the enemy forces an eerie peace settled upon the battlefield that was somehow more unnerving than the fighting had been.