Chapter 14: Deadly Rings

Pluto, as the ninth planet from the sun, is a very, very remote place, and cold, too. So cold, as a matter of fact, that most gasses from our planet would freeze instantly if they were there. It is easy to imagine that absolutely nothing could survive there.

Nothing, that is, except a Yakanomere.

The Yakanomere are one of the hardiest species in the universe, equally at home in Pluto's frigid wastelands as they would be on their home planet, which is the second planet from their star and very, very, hot. Pluto holds just one of their many distant outposts, established about 1,000 years ago when the Yakanomere first came to this part of the galaxy. Such outposts are used for relaying information, defending the edges of the Yakanomere Empire, and in some cases, monitoring nearby planets with sentient life forms.

They had been monitoring Earth for some time now, and many finely tuned instruments were always pointed at the blue-green planet, picking up all sorts of signals, and these same instruments were what picked up the Grail's pulse. The Yakanomere watching the instruments scratched the tentacles on his head with one of his four arms, puzzled. He turned on an intercom and started speaking into it.
"Commander." He said into it, in his species' language. "I've detected some hyperspace transmissions coming from Earth."

"Hyperspace transmissions?" The commander said through the intercom, "The humans do not have that kind of technology."
"I know. That's what concerns me."
"Stay right there, trooper. I'll be right down."

10 seconds later, Commander Ekaia walked in. He was small for a Yakanomere, but he always bristled with self confidence, occasionally, curiosity, and a mean streak that would send a hardened gangster running for his life. He strode over to the console on clawed feet and looked down at the readings.
"Curious." He said, stroking his snout. He looked at the readings for a second more, then all six of his blue eyes widened.
"I recognize those signals!" He shouted.

The trooper looked down at the readings, then recognized them too.
"The Grail? But that's impossible! I thought it was just a legend!"
"Apparently not. Those are its signals, all right. Imagine that. It has existed right under our noses for the last millennium, if not much, much longer."
He straightened up.
"Come trooper. We are going to retake the Grail for the Yakanomere Empire today. Head to the ship. I will rally the men."

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Its official classification was a Battle Coil. It had many nicknames, though. "The world crusher." or "The exterminator." were two of them. The spaceship was aptly named though. It had a minimum crew of 500, a maximum crew of over 500,000, thousands of smaller warships, particle cannons, anti-matter missiles, laser beams, tractor beams, gravitonic warheads and bombs, the works. It could easily vaporize an unprotected planet.

It was shaped, (surprise, surprise.) like a coil. The material it was made of was built to withstand hundreds of attacks at once, and could stretch, making the entire ship look like a gigantic black spring. Coiled up, it was the size of China. Uncoiled, it could reach all the way around a world. Its coils could even separate from one another and form into individual ships shaped like giant black rings.

It would be a strange sight to anyone who saw the launch happen from space. They would see a gigantic coil emerge from a hangar on Pluto, like a spring coming out of a hole in a soccer ball. It flew into space, heading for Earth at speeds terrestrial spacecraft could not hope to match in 12,000 years.

"How long will it take to get to Earth, trooper?" Commander Ekaia asked.
"Estimated time of arrival is 3 minutes."
"Good. When we get there, we'll take the Grail, have some fun, then get out."
"Have some fun?" The trooper repeated, confused.
"I've been stuck on that outpost for far too long, trooper. I'm itching for something to shoot at."
"Sir, these life forms are innocent. They have done-"
"Trooper?"
"Yes sir?"
"Shut up."
"Yes sir."

And so several hundred miles of metallic, world-crushing fury headed through the void of space. Those on board prepared for battle, polishing cannons that had not been used in ages, loading in ammunition, checking generators to make sure they worked, and many other things.

Commander Ekaia smiled to himself. His mouth was filled with hundreds of needle-like red teeth. He was amusing himself with thoughts of the coming encounter. If he needed any more justification than the Grail for what he did to Earth, he could always say that they were far more advanced than previously thought, and had put up a hard defense. His superiors would never know that the world he had invaded never stood a chance.