Chapter Sixteen
Kiara's Bird-of-Prey - the Silent Enemy - arrived in the vicinity of the Ark without any hitches. The diminutive vessel held together admirably in transit. As expected, there was no further communication from the homeland. Being so far from home, Kiara didn't expect there to be any. She had to admit, even though she was staring at it all from a view screen on the bridge of her ship, the enormity - and sheer beauty - of the Ark was astonishing. It was shaped much like a flower, surprisingly, and Kiara wondered what possible purpose that kind of shape served the Forerunners when they build this thing. She briefly thought of Zira's plans for after Phospho was defeated - and at that moment understood the value of this installation, though she still had concerns for the unpredictability of such ancient alien tech. Still, Kiara wouldn't mind, after it was all said and done, to vacation to one of the Ark's forests. Possibly with Kovu, after he recovered. Kiara felt a pang of guilt, but she still fully realized that even if she had been there, she likely couldn't have prevented what happened to him. His suit deployment failed - the error that caused it having since been corrected for Kiara's armor as well as that of her team's - and even Kiara couldn't stop that. At the very least, he survived. Many in the Pridelands were not so lucky. And that was the other reason Kiara volunteered for this op. The Pridelands were her home. And she'd be damned if she was gonna let her people fight this war without picking up a rifle, herself.
The instant the Silent Enemy was secure from Slipspace, Kiara immediately gave the command to engage the cloaking device. The vessel shimmered and vanished immediately after arriving over the Ark. "Comms, any indication the Sith Fleet spotted us before we cloaked?" Kiara asked.
The leopard at the Comms station - a friend of Kiara's, Briana - paused for a moment, then shook her head. "Negative, Princess. From what I can make out, they're laughing and drinking to what they think is their victory in the Pridelands."
"Oh yeah - they definitely took the bait. Ten to one, they'll be drinking Vodka till they drop," Timon chuckled, loading a fresh magazine into his M7 SMG.
"Which means us getting in will be a hell of a lot easier - drunk troops are content troops; content troops are comfortable troops; and comfortable troops will not be alert for any signs of danger," Kiara said. Pumba raised an eyebrow.
"That's very astute, Kiara," he commented. "And very... militaristic."
"Like I said, between Kovu and Tyber, I picked up a few things," Kiara chuckled. "Helm, engage impulse engines, and start the descent into the Ark's atmosphere; let's try and find a suitable landing zone." The Silent Enemy began its descent, and sailed effortlessly across the space in orbit of the Ark. As they descended, Kiara knew she could not collide with any of the orbiting Sith ships - not only would the Silent Enemy not survive such an impact, but even a minor scrape had the potential to alert the Sith to their presence; there was no kind of debris in orbit of the Ark that could mask such a collision, and Kiara much preferred that the Sith remained unaware of her team's - and her ship's - presence for as long as she could keep it that way. Maneuvering around most of the ships was relatively easy - the Harrower-class Battlecruisers and the Terminus-class Cruisers had arrowhead-shaped designs, and narrow profiles that allowed the Silent Enemy to pass between them relatively easily. Between that and their very loose spacing, Kiara's helmsman - a Holographic Klingon - was able to keep from colliding with them with no mishaps.
There were a number of ships, however, that did not conform to Sith designs. These ships shined like the oily sheen of a beetle's carapace and were a jumbled mess - some had an appearance of a Manta; others were hulking, bulbous behemoths. "Talk to me, Bri - who are those guys?"
"According to the comm traffic - elements of the Jiralhanae Fleet, a former-client race of something called the Covenant," Briana replied. "Apparently, this fleet wound up in our universe by accident after something they call 'the schism'."
"Gonna have to ask Tyber about that when we get home," Kiara commented. "Any indication they're looking for us at all?"
"Negative," chimed Kiara's personal AI assistant - assigned by Tyber just prior to Kiara's departure - Kelli. "From what I can tell, they're observing some form of religious sermon, and their sensors are not active."
"Never thought I'd see the day where a church sermon would be convenient," Timon chuckled.
"Who's giving the sermon?" Kiara asked out of curiosity.
"Stand by..." Kelli responded. Moments later, she materialized an alien creature Kiara hadn't seen before, with red skin and fleshy tendrils dangling from his face. "Local traffic suggests that this man - Lord Cytharat - is giving the sermon to the Jiralhanae. Indications are that this man is Darth Phospho's apprentice."
"Not pseudo-apprentice?" Kiara asked.
"I'm not sure - but records I have from Tyber indicate that Apprentices of Sith Lords are often treated with just as much authority as the Sith Lords themselves," Kelli explained. "If I am analyzing this correctly, it seems the Sith are trying to indoctrinate these Jiralhanae. There's a message that keeps repeating over and over in the comms... 'Peace is a lie, there is only passion; through passion, I gain strength; through strength, I gain power; through power, I gain victory; through victory, my chains are broken; the Force shall free me.' The Jiralhanae seem to be taking this to heart zealously."
"Well, as long as they are focused on their sermon at least until we land, I really don't care," Kiara said.
"You'd think the Sith would sense our presence," Pumba remarked.
"Hey - don't jinx us, Pumba," Timon cautioned. The Silent Enemy continued its descent, and not long after, they breached the orbital fleet and were heading down to the Ark's surface. It wasn't difficult to spot the Sith presence - they were clustered around what appeared an entrance to a Forerunner structure that led to what Kiara assumed was the Ark's control center. There was only one bridge into it, and the surrounding area between the encampment and the control center was filled with something sensors couldn't identify. Kiara didn't want to risk being spotted, so she had the Silent Enemy land some distance from there. Even cloaked, the Bird-of-Prey made a visible storm of wind and dust as it landed - Kiara hoped no one saw it, but even so, she had the team wait for some time before ordering the boarding ramp lowered. Kelli transmitted herself into Kiara's armor, and she, Timon, Pumba, and Briana crept down the ramp. To Kiara's relief, no one was in the immediate vicinity. The surrounding area was decidedly temperate, with cliffs, vegetation, trees - it almost reminded Kiara of home. But she had not time to admire this. "Weapons up - safeties off. We'll try not to fire unless we absolutely have to." The team moved through the vegetation and brush, but eventually came to the makeshift Sith Base.
"They haven't set up most of their structures - a lot of tents and mobile command base hovercraft in there," Timon said quietly.
"Ten to one, the superluminal comm array is inside the Forerunner structure," Briana commented. "And you can bet it'll be crawling with enemy personnel."
"How is it they are so unprepared?" Kiara whispered. "They can't be that arrogant, thinking they bested us, can they?"
"Remember that they're celebrating what they consider their victory in the Pridelands, and they undoubtedly think they now will control the Ark," Timon told her. "Between that and the fact that they haven't been here for all that long, I can see why they aren't as well set up as perhaps they could be."
"Timon's right," Kelli added. "I'm getting a lot of comm chatter; Sith aren't even bothering to encrypt it. They think they bloodied us good and we aren't coming after them."
Kiara scoffed. "How wrong they are," she said. "Timon, Pumba, you two flank left; hit the munitions dump, any comm arrays linking them to orbit, any target of opportunity - do whatever you can. Bri, you and I are flanking right - I want to see if we can disable some of that armor they have." She looked at her teammates. "Cloaking devices active - stay low, stay quiet. We meet up at the entrance to the Forerunner structure, then head inside and find a way to signal the fleet." The team nodded, and they all engaged their personal cloaking devices and headed into the Sith ranks. Kiara kept an eye on her motion tracker to make sure Briana was close to her as she made her way to the makeshift vehicle depot - really just a massive tent providing little more than cover for several armored tanks just in case it rained. It wasn't easy; there were several anti-gravity towers providing sentries with a good look at the surrounding area. Kiara and Briana had to maneuver between the legs of armored walkers and stacks of crates to avoid their barely-visible shimmering figures being spotted. Fortunately for Kiara, many of the sentries in the towers weren't paying attention to what was going on - some were asleep, some were playing cards, and some weren't even actively looking. Kiara and Briana moved into the vehicle depot, and after a full circuit of the area, learned no one was there. Kiara didn't know a damn thing about vehicle engines, much less tank engines, so she and Briana went about planting explosives inside the tanks and the ones that had treads had corrosive charges placed between the sprockets. That done, the two exited the depot and started for the Forerunner structure in the distance before Kiara spotted a command tent that was marked by a satellite antenna. Kiara and Briana were hiding in an alcove of stacked crates when a military commander followed by his staff left the tent. She was within earshot to hear the officer when he spoke,
"Not to worry, Colonel - it won't come to that. Lord Cytharat will prove loyal in the end. It's those damn dissenters we need to focus on - remove their voices, we remove any possibility of Cytharat turning traitor," the senior officer said to one of his comrades.
"I would agree - but I still wonder if Cytharat is already too far gone," the junior officer remarked. The two continued their conversation as they headed off deeper into the camp, and it left Kiara wondering if she could find any evidence of this supposed dissent in the ranks inside that tent. She tapped Briana and motioned for her to follow, and moved inside the tent. Inside was a computer, connected to the antenna outside, and in front of that was a table with all manner of paperwork scattered about it.
"Bri - image these papers, they might come in handy," Kiara commanded. "Kelli, can you get inside that computer?"
"I was working on that as soon as I detected it - just a few moments, and... there," the AI replied. "Downloading now... a lot of tactical data and... oh, my..."
"What is it?" Kiara asked.
"The enemy has the supposed 'dissenters' inside the Forerunner facility, three levels down in an area they've converted into a makeshift prison holding area. They're awaiting execution. There's an armory one level above. If we can free those prisoners..." Kelli left the thought open. Kiara picked up on it immediately.
"... we can arm them and do a ton of damage," Kiara surmised. "Anything else in the tactical data?"
"According to journal logs, it's no secret Phospho can't figure out how to activate the Ark. He has comms working, and has issued his ultimatum to the galaxy, but has done no more beyond that. Records also indicate that- uh-oh. Scanner contact, dead astern!" Kelli proclaimed. Kiara looked and saw it - an unknown signal was coming to the tent! She and Bri quickly ducked beneath the table and hoped the interloper wouldn't notice them. When the tent flap opened, it was the senior officer from before. He simply walked over to the computer and powered it off and then left again.
"That was a little too close," Briana remarked once she was sure the hostile was out of earshot.
"Kelli, tell me you downloaded all the data before the officer shut off the computer..." Kiara requested.
"That's affirmative - download was finished just a moment before the computer shut down," Kelli affirmed.
"Good - we can report everything to Tyber when we establish communications with home," Kiara said officiously. She and Briana exited the tent carefully, not wanting to be spotted by anyone who happened to be in the vicinity, and they trekked toward the Forerunner structure. On arrival, Kiara noticed Timon and Pumba weren't there. While waiting and remaining out of sight, she happened to cast a glance at the "moat" surrounding the Forerunner structure, and noticed it looked a lot like Acid. "Kelli, any idea what all that is?" she asked.
"Since we're this close, I can tell you it's the liquid form of Acid Quartz," the AI answered.
"So we don't want to fall into that," Kiara deduced. A subtle scuffling of boots caused Kiara and Briana to turn and raise weapons. Much to their relief, it turned out to be not Sith troops that happened across them, but the cloaked forms of Timon and Pumba. "What kept you?" Kiara asked them quietly.
"We used up all our explosives rigging everything we could to blow," Pumba answered. "Weapons, transports, communication equipment - but the High Explosives got placed on board that scarab over there." Pumba pointed to a massive, four-legged walking vehicle that seemed out-of-place compared to the walkers that Kiara had seen during her trek through the camp.
"We also learned that this isn't the only Sith Camp. There is another one, ten klicks west of here, at another entrance to the Ark's control room. Apparently, if this goes south, that's Phospho's exit - everywhere else is unexplored and the Sith won't risk tripping another security system like the one they set off when they got here," Timon added. "I'd advise we tell Tyber to hit that spot, too."
"We'll need to establish communications with him, first; let's get inside and see if we can contact Tyber - after that, we free the dissenters and arm them. By then, Pridelander forces might make it planetside, and we can assist them in securing the other Sith camp. With luck, we can keep Phospho from fleeing, corner him." Kiara looked to Timon. "When I give the word, set off all the explosives." Timon nodded, and the group moved across the bridge and into the foreboding structure. Inside, in direct contrast with the area outside, where the campfires, chattering troops, and occasional moving vehicles provided a constant flow of sound, the inside of the Forerunner structure was almost eerily quiet, with only a hollow booming to disturb the otherwise perfect silence. But this only meant that Kiara would hear her enemy approaching from a hundred yards away. The team moved through the bowels of the superstructure, following Kelli's direction, and finally came upon what she felt was the comm station. The team waited for what seemed like hours - but in reality was only a couple of minutes - for Kelli to access the comms. She immediately signaled the Pridelands, and Kiara prepared to deliver her report...
{{{{{ }}}}}
When Tyber got word that they were getting a subspace signal, he automatically knew it was Kiara. He and the family hurried to the war room, where they were greeted by Kiara on the screen. "Lord-Admiral," she greeted.
"Princess," Tyber responded. "What's the situation?" Tyber listened intently as Kiara gave him the layout. When she was finished, he knew exactly what to do. "Damn good work, Kiara. Free and arm the prisoners, and if you can turn Lord Cytharat, turn him - but do not go to the secondary camp; we'll handle that. Instead, use what resources you can to keep Sith forces from entering through your AO. We'll send reinforcements once we hit orbit."
"Roger that, Lord-Admiral," Kiara acknowledged.
Tyber turned to the family. "I don't need to tell you what we're about to embark on. We didn't start this war, but we sure as hell are gonna finish it. We all call the Pridelands home for different reasons, and we have had differences in the past, but we now fight under the same banner. We fight together, we die together."
"I'll drink to that," Simba said.
"Got a plan?" Nala asked.
"Zira, ready the fleet - I want to be underway within the hour," Tyber commanded, "Kion, you're with the ODSTs. Once we hit the Ark, take First Platoon - hard drop, secure our landing site. Vitani, you load up two flights of Pelicans and follow them in. Zira and I will deal with the fleet in orbit; once we take care of the Sith Fleet and their Jiralhanae allies, I'll bring the Iron Dragon down and provide support. Simba, Nala, I need you here to keep the portal running - we lose the portal, we lose our way home."
"Sounds good," Simba agreed. "Let's finish this." Tyber nodded to the lot, and they all leapt into action. For better or worse, this was the beginning of the end...