Chapter 33: Moves of the Starlord
Xapferey was pissed, beyond pissed in fact. Taking the Sovereigns annoyed him; however taking the Phoenix had pushed him past the point of anger. Forcing Malkira to destroy them however pushed him past the fury point.
He stomped around his chambers in his Dragon form while muttering angrily to himself.
"Taking my things… when I get my claws on him I'll stick a Yamato cannon so far up his … he'll spit nuclear fireballs for the rest of his life."
"Would you CALM DOWN?" Deedlit yelled at him. "Yes you're angry, yes he took an expensive and time consuming to build ship. I know we only have 150 Phoenixes total. But we still have 150, push your rage back and think damn it. You are the Star Lord, the God of Spaceflight, Technology and Creation… focus your will and rebuild them here. This is your land, your domains; use them… Then find the UED fleet, they cannot hide from you."
"Indeed not, but Earth is a problem that we need to deal with."
"I'm not sure if I can condone the destruction of a world like that Xapferey, isn't it counter to one of your domains?"
"Yes and no, it's a loophole… Technology can be used to kill and destroy just as much as it can be used to protect and create."
"So what are you going to do about it?" Deedlit asked
"Strip Midway and Pegasus fleets then ram 300,000 ships down the throat of the UED?" Xapferey retorted.
"300,000? That's our entire reserves as well, with the tech gap… I'd say no more than 75,000 including 60 Phoenix.
"200,000, we need to make a point."
"100, we don't want to overstretch our lines."
"What is this? Haggling over magical items? We have to keep the territory secure if we take it. 175,000."
"150,000. It's a fair compromise."
"165, give them some extra wiggle room."
"I suppose," Deedlit half agreed just to end the back and forth.
"Between our assets here and Earth secure, it'll do," Xapferey grumbled. He stretched out his will into space, towards the abandoned and useless wreckage of the ships left behind by the UED; having been unable to salvage any technology thanks to the thorough job done by the Draconian self-destructs. Gathering the materials, he pulled them to Draconia, then like Abathur the gene-weaver of the Zerg, Xapferey began spinning sequences of construction.
Slowly, within the strands of magic and will the destroyed ships began to reform. As a further security measure, all ships while dry docked or constructed would have their main computers locked with fractal encryption codes. Only the Starlord himself could provide or unlock these codes, and considering the theft, it was reasonable in his mind to increase the security to this level. While he was working, Deedlit was thinking, she realized that if Xapferey turned his attention away from Kropulu, that would give Kardis and her servants more freedom to move about without Xapferey focusing on them. Realizing this, Deedlit returned to Xapferey.
"I'm not sure if going for Earth is a good idea right now, if you turn your attention away from Korpulu, then Kardis will take advantage."
"... Damn it you're right, galling though it is… we'll have to leave Earth alone, we'll repurpose this fleet to chase down DuGalle and remove a very unneeded thorn in our sides, still I'm going to show him what he's bumbled into."
"The War of the Gods?" Deedlit asked
"Among other things, I will see if we can make use of him or not… a fleet that size could be of great use to us and our Dominion friends."
"Indeed," Deedlit agreed. "Well then have your fun my love, I'll keep an eye on things while you do."
Later that night
Xapferey sent out his will through space to find the mind of the UED Admiral; finding him took a bit of time but once found, the Starlord began the show. Reaching in through the natural light mental shields that every non psionic human seemed to possess, he spoke.
"Admiral Gerald DuGalle," he called out in the human's mind.
The sudden flash of fear and surprise the Admiral immediately reacted with was no surprise to the Dragon God. "Who's there?" The Admiral called, unable to keep a slight waver out of his voice.
"You know me Admiral, you stole what belonged to me, and I am very unhappy… and in doing so made a very great mistake. Did you think I would allow something as valuable as a Phoenix Dreadnought get stolen without consequences?"
"What choice did you leave us? You threaten our lives and our worlds by your very existence. We will do what we have to in order to ensure that we can survive."
"I can forgive your actions to an extent as you've stumbled into a conflict greater than you know. One you cannot survive alone… beside how did I threaten your lives? By taking Terran Dominion territory after they lost a war they declared on me? I'm using the same logic you are here. Besides, have I made any direct aggressive moves against Earth? I have no forces anywhere near your worlds, there is nothing in that direction that would play an immediate change in my goals."
"Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. And you wield far too much of it. We know nothing of your intentions, only that you fought a war with our territories and forced them in an alliance with yourself. Can you blame us for treating you as a threat that must be destroyed by means necessary?"
"I cannot blame you for treating me as a threat… treating me as a threat that must be destroyed is… to be blunt arrogant and foolish. But power can and does corrupt if not held in check, can you not say that your own government hasn't made mistakes because of corruption? But as I said before you've stumbled into a conflict of a scope you cannot imagine. Let's begin with a bit of history, the history of my world… see it now Admiral?" Xapferey bombarded him with memories of the War of the Gods that the Starlord inherited along with the mandate of Creation.
The powers, the damage the two sides wielded, these were gods, there was no doubt of that. Nothing with that kind of power could be described as anything else. The two sides gathered all the gods of light and darkness. The two armies of gods struck out at each other; fiercely clashing, gods dying left and right under the onslaught of energies that made the very world tremble. The war continued until it finally came down to two goddesses, one of good and evil. Marfa Goddess of Creation, and Kardis Goddess of Destruction, their fierce clash that gave birth to the island continent of Lodoss. Both Kardis and Marfa slumbered due to their wounds, but one survived. Kardis Goddess of Destruction, and her powers were returning fast.
DuGalle had seen the reports from his agents that had witnessed the battle on Aiur, but what he witnessed now was on a scale he couldn't imagine. For perhaps the first time in his life, he was speechless.
"Do you see now Admiral? She's almost back, and there is only one being who has a hope to stop her right now, me. I am a god, and I have domains that allow me to counter her. Domains that you cannot hide from if you make me angry enough."
"Then it would appear to me that I am simply caught between the machinations of two angry gods who care nothing for the mere mortals who they believe are beneath them. Death would seem to be the only escape from such a lot."
"Perhaps, but you do not know what my domains are, Kardis is obviously, Zerg, Destruction and Evil. Mine are Creation, Technology and Spaceflight."
"Doesn't matter what your 'domains' are, son. A god is a god, and an angry god is no different."
"Son? I'm older than you Admiral."
"Perhaps so in body, but through your posturing and antics, I have to wonder if so in mind?"
"Fair point, I am a Dragon, and not quite an adult in their terms. But the question you need to ask yourself is which god you want the least angry? Kardis hasn't the same sway on the stars or the domains of space as I do. I'm trying to preserve life and secure it, give it room to grow and thrive. Kardis just wants to let it grow to a point before smashing it all again and again."
"I don't have a choice, do I? Do as you say and betray the oaths I swore to my commanders and leaders and still possibly be killed by an angry god, or hold true to them and be killed by you here and now."
"Oh trust me, if I wanted you dead, I'd just spawn a black hole right in the centre of your fleet. But perhaps we could instead negotiate, I'm not asking you to betray your oaths, but hold to them. Help us keep Earth safe, but work with us to do it."
"By helping you bring Earth under the command of your little alliance? I cannot be party to that. I will concentrate my immediate efforts against the Zerg, that much I can do. But I need to discuss these matters with Earth before I can commit to anything else."
"Then contact Earth, but let me warn you now, Kardis may soon turn her attentions to Earth as well, so the people who you serve may be… different. Kardis' servant Amon specializes in mental enslavement and would obviously share what he knew with her, but I want to know your response one way or another, at the very least settle for non-aggression."
"We will make our decision clear to you."
"That is all I desire, but an attack on my people or my allies will not be met favorably by me, and I will know if it is tried," with that Xapferey withdrew his mind and power.
"Interesting," Xapferey muttered to himself. Idly twirling a whisker in thought before waiting a few hours. Once he was certain the second target for conversation was awake, he made his way to Korhol personally. The Dragon smirked as he emerged from warp space in the outer system and waited for the reactions of the Korhol Defense Forces.
Seeing a god simply standing around in deep space was a unique experience, even for the battle-hardened warriors of the Dominion. Not a few Wraith pilots elected to get a closer look and the patrolling battle-cruisers cautiously eased closer as well.
'Gentlemen, I need to speak with your Emperor, if you would request that he meet me at the palace? I have important information to discuss with him,' Xapferey sent out to the minds of the various Battlecruiser captains.
Perhaps unfairly, the leader of the formation had in fact been reporting directly to General Warfield as Xapferey made his big entrance and quietly alerted Valerian to the approaching Dragon's arrival.
Flying forwards slowly, and not being stopped, Xapferey made his way to the planet and down through the atmosphere. Once on the ground, the Dragon God took human form a second after he had landed at the gates. Nodding to the slack jawed guards there, Xapferey made his way into the throne room to meet Valerian.
"Emperor Valerian," Xapferey said respectfully in greeting.
Valerian nodded his head slightly. "Emperor Xapferey. I see your delight in making an entrance hasn't waned at all."
"I received some information that I wanted to discuss with you personally. A ship was too slow for my tastes; but it's best if we speak in private along with General Warfield," Xapferey suggested.
"Of course." He glanced around. "Clear the room."
The attending advisors and guards nodded, before departing. Valerian waited until all had left. "I'm assuming there is a reason why you decided not to make a less-obvious arrival."
"I just spoke with Admiral Gerard DuGalle of the UED Expeditionary Forces, I was attempting to negotiate non-aggression if not an alliance. His numbers would be a great help in fighting the Zerg. He seems to be pointed in the Zerg's direction for the moment, but I wanted your thoughts on the matter, as you can guess what our enemy is capable of."
"You trust his words, I take it? I won't deny that having them on our side would be useful, but I'm not certain that I would ever trust him."
"No, I don't trust him, not entirely. But I do trust that he will be willing to do anything to keep Earth safe, and right now we need all we can get before Kardis unleashes the Hybrid."
"He's capable, there's no doubting that. But what would he actually be able to achieve, even with us? You're not going to upgrade his ships to the point where they could do all that much to Kardis, which means that she could swat him out of the sky with no difficulty whatsoever."
"Not against Kardis, but her forces, let's be frank. It would take my entire armada plus yours and probably the Protoss firing everything to the point of depleting all their ammo to break my or Kardis' wards. There's only two people among my forces who can properly engage Kardis herself and have a chance of winning."
He nodded. "Your wife and daughter." His voice went slightly higher at the end of his sentence.
"Just Deedlit and myself, Malkira is technically a demi-goddess. She could hurt Kardis, but win, most likely not."
"Alone, perhaps. But for all of Kardis's power, she can be outfought and out-thought, that is obvious. And we both know there are individuals capable of doing that. They might not be able to kill her outright, but they can open the door for those that can."
"True enough, but the problem is if Kardis surrounds herself with legions of Hybrid, I have some concerns about Mobius Corps as a result."
"The hybrids are a concern, there's no doubting that. Particularly with their program well advanced already." He handed over a datadisk. "I retrieved that from Doctor Narud's office before his disappearance. It's concerning to say the least."
"More concerning than you know, it's quite simple what is Narud spelled backwards?" Xapferey asked as he used his powers over technology to access and scan the information on the data disk.
"Oh, I know who he is. Why do you think I searched his belongings so quickly after Malkira's visit?"
"Fair enough, and you can see why he disappeared as well. But we need to get a handle on Mobius Corps immediately, if we let them keep going then we're going to have Hybrid crawling out of the walls in a few years."
"We don't have that long." Valerian nodded to the disk. "They used the Overmind's and Narud's death energies to empower a number of Xel'Naga artifacts and took them to their breeding facilities. They've accelerated the process substantially. If Narud's numbers are right, then hybrid are already emerging from their facilities."
"Are we certain that they are using these energies for the facilities and not to hasten Kardis' awakening? Because I shouldn't have to say that either choice isn't good."
"Very sure. I still have an agent left in Mobius and he tracked down one of the artefacts. Before his disappearance, the reports he said clearly pointed towards the hybrids being the first step, which makes a degree of sense."
"Hm, interesting… I would have thought that Kardis would have insisted on awakening first."
"Perhaps, but it's a lot easier to keep us occupied with hundreds of thousands of hybrid, than even a single fully-empowered goddess and you said yourself, she craves destruction above all else. They will do far more over a wider area than she can, and it's not as if she isn't slowly awakening anyway."
"True, I hadn't considered that. Hmm then we will need to move fast, as the information Malkira shared showed, there were several major Hybrid labs that featured in the… information we had. Obviously there are much more, but it means we need to strike hard and fast."
"And hope we aren't too late already. Fair bet that's why Kardis revealed herself on Aiur, in hindsight. We became so focussed on her, we ignored the other threats out there."
"To be fair it's hard to blame us for such an oversight, considering we are speaking of a being with the deserved title of Goddess of Destruction," Xapferey said wryly. "But yes, I will commit my forces to this endeavor; as several of these sites are within Dominion territory, I formally request permission to act against these enemy installations."
Valerian raised an eyebrow in wry amusement. "Of course, Emperor. It benefits neither of us to have these facilities operational and I am very keen to see them gone."
"Perhaps we should begin talks of a military alliance then Emperor, as we may need to act fast to secure each others' worlds and it would make things easier if such an alliance were in place."
Valerian hesitated, then nodded. "Yes, that might be wise. We do after all have some pre-existing agreements in place."
"Good, to that extent, with your permission, as while I do not trust DuGalle, I would have my niece Drisellowynn's forces come and reinforce Korhol, as it can be seen as a tempting target to our various opponents. That would add 3 Phoenixs, 20 Sovereigns and their escorts to your local security forces."
Valerian let out a whistle. "It's hard to imagine a force that could engage that effectively in this day and age."
"Sadly, I can… hence why I offer it to assist, when you've seen endless Hybrid and Zerg bear down on an ever decreasing number of Protoss in a valiant but fruitless last stand… then you can see why I would send such assets."
"Indeed. I am curious as to why you would send Malkira to reinforce us. I would have thought you would have preferred to keep her at least somewhat closer to home."
"Gods are much like people Emperor. In that we have attention spans, things we can watch for, when I cast my gaze too widely over my lands, small things can slip my notice, when I cast it too narrowly, I may miss other major events. It was why I felt I needed to be on Aiur in person, because taking the field is a risk for myself. Not to my person, but to those I protect and care for as their deity. By taking the field I limit my influence to one area of control. When Kardis departed Forceria, I could sense it even if I couldn't place it. By having Malkira here we can spread a wider network without risking our allies who cannot "see" as we do."
"I see." Valerian said, quietly nodding. "What else do you have as suggestions?"
"I would ask that your forces join with mine to strike at these various stations in our respective territories, I will be approaching Dark Prelate Zeratul and other factions of the Protoss for their assistance in locating and destroying these facilities."
Fate, and Kardis, however had other ideas. Alarms blasted out through the room and across the planet itself. As Xapferey inspected the surrounding area, he found there was an excellent reason for them.
Kardis had come to Korhol, with considerable force. Tal'darim vessels slid smoothly into battle position alongside Zerg swarms. Even the odd Terran ship supported the invading armada.
"That's not good," Xapferey turned his attention to his forces and send a rallying call to assist him. "We have two options Emperor, I stay here and bring the full force of my powers to assist you, or use them to cut down the transit time for my forces to assist."
"You didn't think I'd make it that easy for you, did you Xapferey?" Kardis's voice echoed around the room. "Good luck getting your call out past my hybrids."
Xapferey growled and unleashed his aura to blind her senses to Korhol itself.
"Well it seems, I can either go myself or assist, and I won't leave Korhol to face her alone, if she wants to play as will I," Xapferey reached into all the Korhol ships and defenses, augmenting them and temporarily changing them to match his ships of equal tonnage and size. Korhol's troops now carried Draconian weapons and armor plus the knowledge of how to use them to full extent. The Ghosts found their powers increased by Xapferey's will and presence. "Well I just gave your forces a temporary upgrade," Xapferey said to Valerian.
"We're still massively outnumbered, however. Will Kardis be able to directly take the field against us, or will she be forced to stay on the sidelines?"
"She is not awake yet, she can only send an avatar, a mortal representation, a much easier killed representation. Her full awakening would send such a pulse that no amount of hybrid could avoid us noticing."
"So, she'll likely be staying back as well. That's one piece of luck." Valerian pressed a couple of buttons on his console before nodding. "Well, she's jamming us as well, so we're cut off from the rest of the sector. But she may have made a miscalculation on this one."
"Yes, she did, consider aside from Aiur, how often have I truly cut loose with the full extent of my aura and powers? That kind of signal would roil through space in the form of exotic radiation, a radiation all Draconian sensors know how to spot and what it means."
"Not only that. She cut off UNN and all the other major media services as well. How long do you think it would take your commanders to work out the reason, especially if they're at all familiar with how the sector as a whole generally operates?"
"3 hours before major reinforcements arrive, the moment the major media is cut off, they'll be worried. The moment I unleash, they'll be on their way, brace yourself," Xapferey removed all his locks and guards, unleashing the full aura of a God. Space echoed and roiled under his power, as he glared up into space. "Silence this Kardis," he snarled as his pulse lashed out, forcing Korhol's star to unleash a coronal mass ejection at Kardis' forces.
At that moment, on Forceria
Deedlit's eyes snapped up to the stars. Alarm bells ringing in her mind as she sensed the anger and power pulsing from her husband, forcing even space to echo his alarm.
"ALERT!" Deedlit shrieked as she raced to the tactical room where various Draconian flag officers were waiting. At her call, the men and women there were looking at various screens and sending orders. "GET FORCES TO KORHOL NOW!" Deedlit yelled.
"No kidding." Jason, barging in through another door. "Korhol is completely off the grid. Whatever's going on there, it's serious."
"It'll take 3 hours My Lady," Lady Admiral Allaris Starseeker reported.
"I know, send them anyways, if something like this is forcing Xapferey to cut loose like that it can only mean one thing."
"Kardis! We have 5 Pheonixs in that region with another 25 in reserve plus escorts," Lady Starseeker replied.
"Send 25 plus escorts, I'd rather giving a formal apology to the Dominion than skimp on forces required for repelling a massive incursion," Deedlit ordered. "Lord Davis, I trust you want to lead this endeavor?" She asked Jason formally.
Jason looked at her incredulously. "You seriously imagine I wouldn't? I think there's about as much chance of me not going as either you or Malkira sitting this out as well."
"Take Malkira, did Xapferey give you the 'attention span of gods' speech? We need someone to hold the fort and make sure they don't try anything else on our territory," Deedlit said with a grumble.
"Fair enough. We'll be underway within half an hour. We're not losing this now."
Back on Korhol
"This is not looking good," Xapferey grumbled as he stared at the map and the multitude of Zerg and Tal'Darim forces interspersed with Hybrid. "How many assets can you recall?" Xapferey asked Valerian and the nearby Warfield.
"In time to assist and with a communications blackout? No one. Every force we have on the planet is already preparing for battle, there are no reserves left."
"Well they will have access to our weapons and ship abilities for the time I can give them, the question we must ask is can we hold them or at least stall them for 3 hours?" Xapferey mused out loud.
Valerian and Warfield exchanged glances and nodded. "For that long, yes. But they're going to do a lot of damage along the way. The orbital battle isn't one we can win, but we might be able to hold out if they launch a ground offensive."
"If you'll let me help, I'll do what I can to buy you as much time to brace the ground defences General, but I need room to command, will you let me?" Xapferey asked.
Valerian nodded. "Do what you need to. My authority."
"Right," with that Xapferey teleported out and onto the bridge of the flag Battlecruiser. With that he signalled the fleet. "Ladies and Gentlemen, you know me as Xapferey Manaweaver, Emperor of Draconia. I came to assist our neighbors and new trading partners against a nightmarish foe. Before you stand worshippers and servants of a being who wish to destroy all you hold dear. I ask now to join me in showing them the stalwart will of the Terran Dominion, we have to hold for three hours before we can bring reinforcements. Work with me, heed my commands and we will hold, what say you?"
Behind him, General Duke turned to face the Emperor. "Three hours? Is that all?" A feral grin crossed his face. "Consider it done."
"Right then, let's do this," Xapferey then began arranging the ships into an overlapping defence-in-depth. "Your move Kardis," Xapferey growled at the screen the moment his forces were in position.
She didn't disappoint.
A veritable swarm of scourge swarmed through space towards the defending fleet. A steadily increasing stream of contacts flooded every sensor screen, overwhelming the defender's ability to keep track of the enemy. In the midst of the attack, mutalisks and scouts took their own shots and the impacts that couldn't be tracked made it clear that there were wraiths on the field as well. With the point defense systems occupied in dealing with the scourge, an increasing number of their blasts were penetrating the defenders' shields and hulls, and yet more hostiles were still approaching.
Xapferey concentrated and shifted his will, restoring the defender's ships back to pristine conditions as he sent power to speed up the firing and targeting abilities of the point defense systems. The scourge had been simply flying as distractions so far, but they now began decisive attack runs, several successfully flying into the barrels of yamato cannons as they fired, the resulting blast wiping out several ships and their nearby fighter complements.
Xapferey growled before he amplified the power of the nuclear missiles the ships carried and had the defenders launch a full salvo. The scourge intercepted many, but the cost to them was immense, vaporising many of them and the other assorted starships within their numbers. While more poured in to fill the gap, the defenders had a moment of catch their breath and Xapferey made sure to use it well.
He spun sequences of creation, summoning a powerful minefield to block the oncoming Zerg forces and cloaked them with his powers.
"We're holding for the moment and that minefield will only buy us time before they get through it. I can't afford to spread my powers too widely," Xapferey warned General Duke.
"Then it's time to step up to the plate." Duke nodded as he crossed to the comm. "All ships, prepare a flanking assault. Troops and vehicles, stand to and prepare for vacuum combat. These guys aren't going to bother with boarding actions, so let's take the fight to them."
"No they won't bother with boarding," Xapferey agreed. "But tell me General, have you ever heard of a spell called Chain Lightning?"
Duke looked at him. "No, but I gather it's rather self-explanatory. What's your point?"
"Each of those mines are enchanted to release said spell on an outwards burst away from us. If we can lure them in thinking them standard warheads… then we can whittle them down with the spell then hit them hard with your main plan, but I would suggest a feint then a withdrawal to sell it more thoroughly."
"Agreed. That is something we can achieve. Hitting from the sides then retreating back towards the planet should pull them into the area you want."
"Hit these forces there, if we can get her to commit the hybrid, then we can remove one of her biggest weapons off the field early."
Xapferey and Duke coordinated two sizable flanking assaults, complete with more nuclear missiles blowing a hole that the flankers exploited. Driving deep into the fray, three dozen upgraded battlecruisers struck, slamming nukes right into the Hybrid and Kardis' Leviathan. While not necessarily lethal against the powerful creatures, it was painful. As such, they pursued the battlecruisers heedless of the defender's missiles. As the missiles cleared the path for the returning ships, they broke apart and flew through small gaps in the minefield that closed behind them.
The mass of swarming Zerg chasing the Terran force, if they had realised the trap awaiting them, would have been best served staying close to the defenders and engaging at point-blank range in order to evade the worst effects of the minefield, or at least ensure that the defenders were also caught by the resulting blasts.
Unfortunately for the immediate, and indeed total, future of the Zerg, they were not aware that this was their best tactic. An error that they paid for in blood.
Chain Lightning was normally a devastating spell on its own, empowered as it was by the Starlord, it became as lethal as an ion storm. Multi-pronged forks of energy lashed out it all directions, jumping from one Zerg or Hybrid to the next, flash-frying them under the relentless terawatts of spell energy.
Kardis yelled angrily at the trick, her forces had taken a sizable strike, and with her prime Avatar so close to the fray, she felt the strike as well.
"That sneaky little worm!" She snarled. "If that's how he wants to play it," Kardis turned to a nearby Hybrid. "Send in your brethren, I want to watch this miserable world and all on it burn!"
With the minefield cleared out by the swarming Zerg, albeit at tremendous cost to themselves, the Hybrids had little to stop them from making planetfall, other than the defending fleet. A fleet that was now heavily engaged by the Zerg, who were making full use of their depleted, but still massive, numerical advantage.
Even Xapferey was beginning to have some nerves about the battle ahead. Valerian's words from before came back to him. The hybrids could indeed do damage over a much wider range than he could personally cover. If the hybrids could make planetfall, then the number of fires and fronts they would open up would exceed what even he could manage, and the Dominion defenders would be all but helpless against a hybrid assault of that magnitude.
The only option was to intercept the hybrids before they made planetfall, but that was difficult to say the least with the attacking Zerg swarm. Conventional battle wisdom under these circumstances would have been to force the hybrid into a bottleneck and limit their ability to approach the planet to defined killing channels that were easy to defend.
Regrettably, such killing channels were difficult to establish in space and even more so on short notice. This left a single, unconventional option that might just have a chance of holding the enemy back long enough for the reinforcements that had to be on their way to arrive. An option dictated by a truly ancient doctrine of battle.
'When outnumbered, attack. This drives the force of the enemy back in upon itself.'
Faced with immense force against him, Xapferey chose to gamble and switch from defence to attack, using his superior firepower to attempt to trim the hostile forces before they could get within range.
That same time
Draconic response fleet
A truly massive armada had gathered, considering a single Phoenix group was a sizable armada, 25 of them seemed to fill the void with ships as far as the sensor could perceive. At the moment, Malkira was practically bouncing with nervous energy as she paced about the bridge of the Liberator as they made their way to Korhol as quickly as their Warp Drives would allow. As she passed again, Jason was buffeted once more from the air current caused by the nervous shifting of her wings.
"Will you relax? Your dad can take care of himself." A small smile crossed Jason's face. "Unless it's someone else that you're concerned about?"
"Don't you start Lord Davis," Malkira growled his title in a teasing voice. "Perhaps something could be made of that, but we'll see what the future has in store. Besides, I'm perfectly calm," she protested.
"Sure. And I'm the Queen of Sheba." Jason replied. "I think there might be a few people on Mar Sara that don't know you're nervous."
"We're running headlong into a massive invasion and knowing Kardis she'll have unleashed the Hybrid Jason, you've seen our records of those things and what they could do, one of them was enough to smack Louise around at her strongest and forced her to get help from Artanis. Can you blame me for being… Severely concerned?"
"Not at all, except you've forgotten a few things. Very important things."
"Such as?"
"They're playing on our home turf and we're forcing them to react to our tactics. We're dictating the terms of battle to them. You might have power to burn and plenty left over, but tactics is something I understand better than you. Attacking Korhol so openly is a sign of Kardis's desperation. Nothing's gone to her plan in quite a while and she's taking out her anger on the nearest convenient target. Those are her first three mistakes. Angry people never think clearly, you see. Makes them easy to out-think and when you outthink an opponent, half the battle is won."
"Right, right… guess we should count ourselves lucky it's Kardis rather than Falaris we're facing… God of Darkness he's the one who gathered all the Dark Gods to clash with the Light Gods in ancient times," Malkira clarified to Jason. "Besides, we've got a considerable firepower advantage here as well," the Half-Dragon said with a smirk thinking of the 25 Pheonixs and their many escorts flying alongside them.
Jason's smirk matched hers. "That's just gravy. The mind is the most important, valuable and dangerous weapon in any battle. All those ships out there, that's just the knock-out blow primed and ready. And in any case, the hybrids aren't that much of a threat if we face them in space. They can't bring their power to bear effectively. I'm not going to say this will be a cakewalk. But this isn't going to be as dangerous as you might think, even with Kardis against us."
"You're absolutely right, I'm a plan for the worst kinda girl when it comes to these situations," Malkira admitted.
"Nothing wrong with that. Plan for the worst and everything else is up from there."
"Agreed, so let's do this," Malkira said as she braced for the transition back to realspace.
Korhol
Xapferey's gamble was working for the moment, the Zerg, while numerous, tended to lose some direction when the unexpected happened. Namely the sudden counterattack of the beleaguered defenders.
Another swarm of missiles had created enough of a gap for the defenders to change roles. Numerous battlecruisers pushed forwards, their weapons shredding Zerg of all types as they drove onwards into the Swarm. Missiles and weapons batteries unloaded their payload at a frantic rate, continuously pounding the Zerg again and again as they attempted to stymie the oncoming horde.
Both sides continued to tear at each other with either technological or biological weapons as they strove for victory over their enemies.
Suddenly space began to glow on the flank of the Zerg attack force.
"They're bringing reinforcements," Duke growled.
"Nope," Xapferey grinned, his happiness evident as from the Warp fields came a massive Draconian armada. Their ships all began launching fighters, while the main assault came in the form of 25 Phoenix class dreadnoughts, their escorts still added a tremendous amount of firepower to the battle.
Kardis' angry shrieks were audible for lightyears around before her Leviathan and whatever hybrid could follow departed the battle, the force she brought was nowhere near enough to challenge an armada of that size.
The remaining Zerg spent themselves on the allies to give Kardis time to withdraw leaving a battered but victorious Korhol behind.
