Chapter Fifteen
Zira's plan was, in a word, insane. Tyber even said so. But the potential benefits the Pridelander Coalition could reap in the aftermath far outweighed the risks. Tyber gave Zira a green light to proceed as she had planned. When Zira's blanket orders reached the troops, their morale soared; for better or worse, this would be not just the beginning of the legacy of Admiral Zira... but the beginning of the end. The end of a major conflict, so soon after it had begun. Speculation ran rampant over who Darth Phospho really was; some Pridelanders speculated that this was either Zira's late son, Nuka, returned from the dead, or his alternate-timeline counterpart - others put fourth the idea that a Sith was using the Force to disguise himself as the late Nuka. Either way, what everyone agreed on was that this Sith was a threat.
Defenses were shored up, the command staff briefed on the battle plan, and the Forerunner Portal was uncovered. But when it was fully uncovered, the archaeological teams made a major discovery; Acid Quartz in a chamber beneath the portal. Computer experts were able to determine that this particular Slipspace Portal, while it did lead to the Ark, had a significant departure from the one found by the UNSC; instead of a Keyship, this device was powered by Acid Quartz, which acted like a focusing crystal to open the portal and sustain it; more importantly, with the quantities of Acid Quartz discovered at the site, it was learned that the substance could be used to deadly effect in both liquid and gaseous forms. Tyber surmised Phospho knew this, and ordered countermeasures drawn up, praying they would be ready in time. Tyber also took it upon himself to teach Vitani sword dueling, should she ever need to use such a thing. Not with a Lightsaber, but with a close second - a Beam Katana. Not quite as powerful, but still just as effective.
The days ticked by, and everyone was tense; Phospho and his forces seemed to have dropped off the grid, but why? They were so adamant about taking the Slipspace Portal, using it for whatever reason - why suddenly go into hiding now? The answer, it turned out, came suddenly - and not in a manner anyone was expecting.
Night had fallen over the Pridelands. Dinner had already been consumed, and everyone was pursuing their typical nighttime activities. The only one who wasn't present at Pride Rock, in the Royal Family suites, was Zira, who had volunteered the night shift monitoring the sensor arrays and radios. So far, it had been quiet. Zira had just finished her third cup of coffee when the radio chirped, "All hands, all hands, be advised - we have an unidentified aircraft approaching from the south." Zira grumbled irritatedly, and looked to the radar screen. Sure enough, there was an unidentified aircraft approaching. She grabbed her radio and hailed the interloper:
"Unidentified aircraft, you are entering Prideland airspace - squawk-ident and proceed east out of the area." The interloper didn't respond, and continued inland. "Say again, unidentified aircraft, you are in Prideland Airspace, identify yourself at once!" Zira repeated. There was still no response. Zira suddenly became tense. That aircraft was on a direct heading for the core of the Pridelands.
"Orders, Admiral?" one of Zira's subordinates requested.
"Scramble fighters, try and get an ID on the interloper," Zira told him. It didn't take long to scramble the Sabre Interceptors, who quickly intercepted the contact. Zira watched the video feed as they came across the interloper - a drop ship whose design resembled a beetle or scarab, and colored a violet color, difficult to see against the nighttime darkness. "Unidentified aircraft, you are now under military escort. You will proceed to Pridelands Airbase Five. If you do not comply, we will use deadly force." The group turned east, and headed for Airbase Five. One of the pilots noted,
"I see ID tags on the starboard side - ID reads as 3200-Gamma."
"Run 3200-Gamma against our records," Zira told her crew. They complied, but it took several minutes to get the results.
"Admiral, it says Drop Ship 3200-Gamma was a Pelican-class Drop Ship shot down over Outlands turf six weeks ago," said the head NCO. Zira consulted the video feed. This interloper clearly wasn't a Pelican-class Drop Ship.
"That can't be right," Zira commented. "Check, recheck, and do it again, Sergeant."
"I did, ma'am," the Sergeant said, "A friend of mine was on that drop ship." It took another hour for the interloper to arrive at airbase five, where it landed without incident. Zira switched the feed to one of the airbase's, and hailed the drop ship again:
"Unidentified craft, stop your engine and have your crew step out." Nothing happened. Zira nodded to the youngster at the Comms, who ordered the strange craft surrounded. Weapons of varying kinds were trained on it. Suddenly, the sergeant piped up,
"Admiral, we're reading massive energy signatures from the unidentified craft!"
It took Zira all of two seconds to realize: The craft was a bomb! Before she could order the troops back, the ship detonated like a nuke, and took half the airbase with it. At the same time, sensors painted armored vehicles rolling into the Pridelands from the east and southern fronts. Zira ordered the alarm sounded.
They were under attack.
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Tyber didn't need Zira to tell him the Pridelands were under attack. He had sensed a disturbance in the Force long before that. The massive detonation at Airbase Five only confirmed it; Tyber could see it from Pride Rock. He immediately ordered a response. Simba, Nala, and Kiara stayed at Pride Rock to avoid the entire family risking getting killed in combat; Vitani, Kovu and Tyber headed out to assist Zira and their forces in driving out the interlopers. Fighters were scrambled, armored brigades were rolled out to engage enemy armor, and the whole of the Pridelands scrambled to respond to this sudden attack in the dead of night.
Unfortunately, there was already a snag; by the time Tyber, Vitani and Kovu, with their attendant squad assigned by Simba, got out of Pride Rock, there was a platoon of Sith Troops bearing down on Pride Rock supported by an Armored Attack Tank. The tank opened up on them with repeater cannons as the troops advanced in a rough phalanx formation, forcing Tyber and his squad to take cover.
"Damn it!" Vitani cursed. She paused to rack a round into the chamber of her rifle. "We can't go anywhere with that tank bearing down on us!"
"I don't think lightsabers are gonna do us much good with that!" Kovu shouted over the gunfire.
"Still gotta take it out!" Tyber shouted back.
"How? Instant we rise from cover, bastard's gonna blast us!" Vitani exclaimed, pausing briefly to fire a burst into a Sith trooper that wandered a bit too far from his platoon.
"I got an idea, Lord-Admiral!" One of their squadmates piped up. "I have an Anti-Armor launcher - if one of us can draw the tank's fire-"
"I'm with you - you can use the distraction to hit the tank hard!" Tyber finished. "I'll draw the tank's fire! Kovu, Vitani, weapons ready - when we pop up, those Sith bastards are gonna start shooting - beat them to the punch and drill 'em! Squad, covering fire on my mark!" Tyber put himself in a coiled crouch, ready to spring up and run in an instant. The instant he did, he shouted, "NOW!" Vitani and Kovu, along with the squad, rose from cover and fired on the Sith troopers. The troopers scattered and the tank took the bait, trying to bring weapons to bear on Tyber. The squadmate that had the missile launcher wasted no time in sending an Anti-Tank missile at the tank. The explosion, along with being barraged by automatic fire, decimated the Sith Platoon.
"Hoo-ah!" one of the squadmates shouted. Tyber rejoined the squad and they trekked for the front. It was as they were approaching it that they were nearly hit with a Plasma Mortar.
"SHIT! What the hell was that?!" Kovu shouted.
"Command to ground team," came Simba's voice, "We're getting reports of a column of Wraith Tanks in your vicinity - they're hammering our boys. Advise you take them out, ASAP."
"Copy, Command," Tyber responded. "Squad, you heard the King! We got Wraiths to nail!"
"How the hell are we supposed to take out a whole column?" one of the squadmates asked. "We don't have the munitions for it!"
"Lord-Admiral Drakona, Admiral Zira. Wraith Column has makeshift AA defenses set up around that column. Take those out, I can vector in a squadron of K-Wings to take out the column," Zira said over the radio, as though she had heard the trooper.
"Copy, Admiral - moving against enemy AA defenses," Tyber responded.
"K-Wings... never thought I'd see those flyboys in action," another trooper commented.
"Stow it, trooper," Tyber growled. "Plenty of action to go around for everyone - even the K-Wing Flyboys." It didn't take the squad long to hit the Wraith column - they were situated in a cluster facing outwards, lobbing Plasma Mortars at Prideland Forces within their range.
"I see the AA defenses," Vitani reported, pointing to the column perimeter. "Shade turrets. Should be easy to knock out."
"I wish you wouldn't say that," Tyber grumbled. The squad moved into position, and started peppering the AA defenses with Sniper fire. The SRS99-AM Anti-Material Rifles were more than enough to rip through the Shades' defenses and nail the operators within. The downside was, the contrail the 14.5x114mm rounds from those rifles left gave the Shades an indication of where the shots came from, necessitating the entire squad "shoot 'n' scoot" to avoid getting hit by the Shades that were left. Eventually, the last Shade was taken out, and Tyber signaled Zira. "Lord-Admiral Drakona to Admiral Zira - AA defenses down. Vector in the K-Wings!"
"Aye, sir - K-Wings inbound. Keep your heads down!" Zira responded. Tyber and the squad were already en route when they heard the Ion Engines of the K-Wings come screaming in. Moments later, the sound of swarm-fired air-to-ground rockets filled the area, and Tyber and Vitani looked back to see the Wraith Column get wrecked by the barrage.
"Command, Lord-Admiral Drakona - Wraith Column down," Tyber reported over the radio.
"Solid copy, Lord-Admiral," Simba responded. "Continue to mission AO."
"Roger that, Command," Tyber said. The team continued to their mission area of operation, hoping they could get there in time...
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Situation crazy, going to insane, fast. Zira had Sith forces all over the place, coming in on Drop Ships, and no clear indication where they were coming from. The Sabre Interceptors and the TIE Defenders shot one or two down now and then, but they just kept coming. That meant there was a ship - or group of ships - somewhere in the area, sending them. Zira had thought they had been after the Slipspace Portal, but so far, signs pointed to Phospho and his Sith wanting to take the Pridelands in one piece. There had to be a reason he didn't bombard them from above. Unfortunately, Zira had no idea where the ships were, leading to speculation that they had cloaking devices.
Which is why Zira was marginally relieved when one of her subordinates chimed in, "Admiral, Tachyon Sensors are online!" Tachyon Sensors were used to detect ships using cloaking devices, according to Tyber. Something about tachyon emissions in them that the sensors could detect.
"Run the scan - find out where those ships are!" Zira barked. The sensor sweep was started, and Zira watched the progress. She was shocked, then, when the scans revealed a massive concentration of tachyon emissions congregated above the Slipspace Portal - and more were moving in.
Phospho was at the Portal! Zira thought. This is what he had intended - send his forces to distract the Pridelander forces while he went in and secured the Portal! Zira remembered losing contact with the team at the portal early on in the assault. Now she knew why. "Admiral Zira to Lord-Admiral Drakona - double-time it to the Slipspace Portal! Phospho has forces securing it right now!"
"Roger that, Admiral - we're coming up on the portal now," Tyber responded.
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Having secured an M12 LRV from a vehicle depot en route to the Mission AO - the Slipspace Portal - Tyber drove the team to it, and Kovu and Vitani mowed down Sith Forces they saw on the way. Now approaching the portal, they saw a storm swirling above it - an ominous sign, if ever there was one in the Pridelands. Now Tyber knew there was a Sith Fleet above the portal - several vessels de-cloaked and started using what Tyber had assumed were tractor beams, purpose unknown, and Vitani knew - Phospho would be there. And she wanted answers. They moved across the archaeological site and on to the portal grounds itself, where they came across a sight they were expecting, but still surprised to see.
Nuka. He was standing near the site, hood down, staring at a massive crystal that was being pieced together at the center of the portal. From the looks of it, it was nearly complete. "Just in time, siblings," Nuka spoke, evidently sensing Tyber, Kovu and Vitani approach. "The device is almost ready. Soon, you will bear witness to the new age of the Sith Order!"
"Who are you, really?" Kovu asked. Nuka turned to face the team.
"Your eyes do not deceive you, brother. You stare at Nuka... what's left of him, anyway," Nuka responded. Vitani frowned in surprise and concern. This Nuka did not at all speak like the Nuka she'd known. The Nuka she'd known was arrogant, jealous, and excitable. This version of Nuka was completely alien to her - unnaturally calm, collected, and confident. "You don't believe me," Nuka spoke, evidently sensing Vitani's shock. "I can't say I blame you. I'm a far cry from the lion I once was."
"Nuka... why are you doing this?" Kovu asked. "You grew up here!"
"If by 'here' you mean the world on which we stand, regardless of which timeline, then yes - you are correct. And I saw what happened to it... what you did to it. What Kiara did to it. Simba. Vitani." Nuka shifted his gaze to Tyber. "And I knew what you would bring to it, Tyber Drakona. Lord-Admiral of the Pridelands. Just as you were in my time. Seems even you would be willing to tamper with the timeline, given the right trigger."
"Your family was here, Nuka - is here. You don't have to do this. Whatever the Sith did to you, we can fix it. It's not too late for you, Nuka," Tyber said.
"You can stop calling me Nuka. That is not who I am - not anymore. It's Phospho, now - Darth Phospho," Nuka hissed.
"What happened to you, Nuka?" Vitani asked. "How did you become this ravaging Sith Lord?"
Nuka's face contorted with anger. "So quick, you and mother were, to presume I was dead. You didn't even bother to dig me out. You just left me there. Left me for dead. By the time I regained consciousness, the logs on top of me had shifted in a way that allowed me to get free - and all of you were long gone. I don't know how long I was out - just that when I woke, I was alone. Angry. Time and time again, I had been passed over. I said it before - I was the oldest, strongest, and smartest. Yet none of that mattered. Never did." Nuka shifted his gaze to Kovu. "You were always mother's favorite, Kovu. Mommy's golden child. I was just... the simpleton. The idiot. The mistake. Every time. She never saw3 my worth. My power. My... connection, to the Force. A connection you lacked. All of you. Except you, Tyber. You alone could challenge me."
"So when you couldn't handle me in your timeline, you went back in time to kill me before I could challenge you," Tyber stated.
"Well, I didn't have to dirty my hands - you already had a nemesis eager to do the job for me," Nuka chuckled. "Enter Jeff. I took him as a... pseudo-apprentice. Trained him to kill you. Took a while. I arrived a number of years too early, and had to ask around to find you... discreetly, of course."
"So you were the one that caused Jeff to turn on me," Tyber surmised.
"The idea was to get you to die by your own hand - but we couldn't just drive you to suicide. It had to look authentic. But, time and time again, you just. Wouldn't. Die. That's when the bomb plot came in," Nuka explained. "I had places to be, and Jeff was getting tired of your resistance. But, as we now see, unbeknownst to either Jeff or myself at the time, the goody two-shoes alternate-timeline Simba rescued you after the blast. So we were forced into a series of rapid recalculations that culminated in our... present situation." Nuka cast a glance over his shoulder at the nearly-complete crystal. "Soon, I will have the Ark. I will have the means to control the galaxy - or wipe it clean. Ensure that only my empire dominates it, now and always."
"That's suicide," Tyber discounted. "You'd kill yourself as well as everyone else if you activated the Halo Array from the Ark."
"Did you not know?" Nuka countered. "The Ark lies beyond the galactic rim - well outside the array's maximum range."
"Why, Nuka?" Kovu asked. "What made you turn your back to everything you had here? Had we known you were-"
"I never had anything here!" Nuka spat. "No family! No recognition! No admiration! Everyone was so busy swooning over you and Kiara that I barely existed! Even mother treated me like an embarrassment!" Nuka paused, then spoke again, "After I got out of that rubble, I realized one thing - I was free. I no longer had to deal with you, or Vitani, or Kiara, Simba, mother - none of you knew I was alive! I wandered, desolate, for days, before a rogue Sith Lord found me, recognized the Force in me, and took me in. For once, I had someone who appreciated my talents. he cured me of many things - and helped me to sever ties to a family that never saw me as one of their own! Then he made me see the Power of the Dark Side - a power I embraced, and that's when I took on my Sith name - Phospho."
"The Dark Side has its uses, Nuka - but it does not end well for those who fully surrender to it. I know. I've seen what becomes of them," Tyber told Nuka.
"Do you think you will turn me from the Dark Side?" Nuka mocked. "I willingly embraced it - and it accepted me, when even my own family would not!"
"It's not too late to be a part of the family, again, Nuka," Vitani said softly. "Come back with us. We can fix this - what happened during the unity conflict was a long time ago. We're changed people - mother came back to us, you can, too. Come home with us, Nuka." For the longest time, Nuka just stared at Vitani, Tyber and Kovu. It was as though for once, in so many years, Nuka had felt again those family ties, and was wanting to come home.
A Sith Trooper changed that. "Lord Phospho, the device is ready!" In that instant, the veneer of Nuka vanished beneath that yellow, Sith glare of Darth Phospho. "Activate the device," he commanded, Looking at those before him, he directed his next comment at Vitani. "I am home. The Empire is my home. Your Pridelands are finished." An explosion behind the group marked the arrival of several frigates, with Magnetic Accelerator Cannons trained on Phospho's Acid Quartz Focusing Crystal.
"Or are they?" Tyber said with a grin.
"Admiral Zira reporting - ready to fire, Lord-Admiral," came Zira's voice over the radio.
"Take out the Crystal," Tyber ordered. There was a deep rumble, as the ancient Forerunner Device activated. The ground toward the center sunk, and the Crystal began to light up with a bright, white light.
"All warships and fighters - fire on the Crystal!" Zira commanded. All the frigates opened fire on the massive now-assembled crystal, and fighters and bombers laid into it. But nothing seemed to work - the crystal got brighter and brighter until it shot a beam into the sky, and a massive, blue-black portal appeared in the sky. The activation of this beam sent a shockwave that hit the ships, but didn't harm them.
"Game over, Lord-Admiral - well over," was the last thing Phospho said before vanishing in a transporter beam. It was then that multiple warships de-cloaked, and started herding through the portal. One - a Harrower-class Battlecruiser remained stationary.
"Lord-Admiral Drakona to Admiral Zira - the enemy seems to have taken your bait," Tyber said. "Evac wounded and regroup - wherever Phospho went, we-" Tyber was cut off when a trio of drop ships flew overhead toward the Harrower - and one of them dropped several canisters from the air. One of them landed not far from Kovu.
Aerosol canisters. Tyber knew that that meant."Acid Quartz! Deploy your suits!" Tyber shouted. He and Vitani were able to activate their suits - but Kovu's suffered a system failure and didn't deploy. Just before the canister popped and started spewing gas, he ran - fast enough to avoid direct exposure, but not enough to avoid getting hit with the gas. He started coughing and vomiting violently.
"Kovu!" Vitani shouted. Tyber and Vitani both rushed to Kovu's side and hefted him up, carrying him to the vehicle. Once there, Vitani held onto Kovu and Tyber floored the gas pedal and sped off to Pride Rock.
Phospho and the Sith were gone - for now - and the battle was won; but the war was only just beginning...
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There was a lot of damage done by Phospho's Sith. Numerous casualties, far more than what had been suffered at Alpha Base, but all things considered, especially given the surprise factor of this attack, it could have been a hell of a lot worse. The worst part was the gas that Phospho deployed before dashing through the portal - it was the gaseous form of Acid Quartz, that much was certain. Several of the canisters did not deploy, and were defused and taken for study. The ones that did deploy - and there were a lot deployed across the Pridelands - caused extreme casualties.
Kovu, who narrowly avoided direct exposure, lay in the hospital in a medically-induced coma. He was fortunate - what little gas he had accidentally inhaled would not cause any lasting damage. But Kiara was beside herself with grief - initially. Kovu would live, but Kiara found herself determined to live up to his image alongside him. So that's why Kiara volunteered for the Recon/Sabotage Op that Zira had put forth. No one knew what Phospho would do once he got to the Ark, though the speculation was that he would shore up defenses and wait for the Pridelander Counterattack. What Zira wanted was to sabotage as much as she could and keep Phospho from escaping the Ark. Simba was vehemently against this - but he was quickly tempered by Nala.
"... If something goes wrong, what can we do?" Simba asked.
Tyber shook his head. "Not a damn thing. If Nuka's information was accurate, the Ark lies beyond the galactic rim. Well beyond the range of our Subspace Comms. Without any kind of relay, we can't communicate with them."
"So once Kiara and her team hit the Ark, they're on their own," Vitani surmised.
"I don't like it any more than you do," Tyber said, "But Kiara can handle herself - we've seen that before. And she's determined. If she can infiltrate the Ark without the Sith knowing, she can do a lot of damage and find the Ark's Superluminal comm array - that thing can cover our whole galaxy. In effect, she can light the beacon."
"I can do it," Kiara said.
"You'll also need to hold out until we get there after you set the proverbial beacon," Tyber warned her.
"Don't worry, Lord-Admiral - between you and my husband, I've picked up a few tricks," Kiara assured him. "I'll keep them busy 'till you get there."
"Then get your team together, and pick up your new armor at the armory - a defensive measure in case you ever come across another Acid Quartz attack. We made certain they'll deploy, so you won't wind up like Kovu, and they're a Titanium-Steel Alloy, reinforced with a flexible mesh underlay and an ablative plating overlay along with personal energy shields," Tyber told her. "I'll have a Bird-of-Prey pick you up when you're ready."
"Bird-of-Prey?" Simba asked.
"B'rel-class Bird-of-Prey - Klingon design that's known for punching above their weight class and effective in groups. They also come standard with a Cloaking Device, so it should allow Kiara and her Team to slip in unnoticed," Tyber explained.
"Count us in," Timon spoke from behind. Kiara turned to see Timon and Pumba standing there.
"Timon," Kiara said with a smile, "What are you doing here?"
Timon smiled. "Kid, we've been watching out for you since you literally were a kid. You think we're gonna let you go on this mission without us?"
"We promised Simba we'd be there for you, even if he couldn't. We certainly aren't gonna stop now," Pumba added.
"For once, Uncle Pumba," Kiara chuckled, "I welcome you both to do so."
"Then we have our heading," Tyber said. "Kiara, take your team, infiltrate the Ark, sabotage whatever you can, and locate a superluminal comm array to signal us. We'll start the invasion the instant you do."
"Yes, sir!" Kiara responded, snapping off a sharp salute.
"Good luck, and may the Force be with you," Tyber stated, returning the salute.
(Apologies for the long hiatus. I have been busy. I can't promise consistent updates, but I'll update this story as time allows. -CDA)