Chapter Two – "Battle Over Primus"
"Another daring rescue."
He-Man smirked and leaned back. "It's what I'm good at. But let's not forget that we were able to talk them into leaving us alone and letting us go. Sometimes words are more effective than fighting."
"Breaking orbit," reported Hydron.
The Starship Eternia shifted and the engines exploded with energy, blasting them out of orbit and pushing towards the exterior of the solar system. He-Man settled in his chair, preparing for a calm ride home. Hydron and Flipshot work various navigational controls while Spinwit and Kayo sat and chatted.
He-Man had grown up quite a bit since his arrival here over five years ago. Friendships had grown into bonds of fraternity. Even though he still missed Eternia, Primus had become his new home. His heart still longed for his parents, his sister, Cringer, Duncan, Orko, and Teela . . . but he had made new friends and found a new family here on Primus.
As He-Man got comfortable, he found he felt something amiss. As though something was wrong with these new people. Something seemed to loom nearby, like a storm about to break.
"Hey Spinwit," Flipshot called out as they left the solar system and kicked into Trans-Hyperspace. His voice was calm, but there was a note of curiosity in it. A worried curiosity.
"Yeah?" asked Spinwit, sitting up from a game of cards with Kayo. Kayo looked up and for some reason, the tension level seemed to rise just a little on the bridge of the Starship Eternia.
"I'm having trouble getting a clear comm-line to Primus. As soon as I get one established, it gets booted off. Would you mind checking it out at the comm-station?" asked Flipshot.
"Sure thing," Spinwit responded. He sat down at computer station on down the lower level of the bridge. His fingers pressed a few keys, activating the station and ran through all sorts of channels.
"Huh."
He-Man got up. "What is it?"
Spinwit looked up from the series of monitors. "A lot of clutter. There's a ton of comm-activity in the Tri-Solar System. And I mean a ton. I've never seen so much. We're talking ground to space, ground to air, ship to . . ." And that's when it dawned on Spinwit. He turned to He-Man and saw the look of shock and worry on He-Man's face.
"Flipshot! Hydron! Increase speed!"
The Starship Eternia shuddered as the engines roared up silently to full capacity.
"We're pushing maximum levels, He-Man," Hydron called out, but with no sign of concern. The ship could fall apart for all he cared. "Spinwit, isolate some of frequencies. See if you can give us an idea as to what the status is."
"I'm already on it," Spinwit replied, fingers hard at work on the computer pads.
He-Man! shouted Master Sebrian loudly into He-Man's mind.
"Sebrian?" asked He-Man.
"You got him?" asked Kayo.
"Shhh!"
We are being attacked! 1,400 vessels from Denebria and Nekron! Sebrian continued, but he kept fading in and out. The connection was weak.
"We'll be there as soon as we can," He-Man said aloud to the silent but listening bridge.
No! Go to Nekron and meet with Mara and the Mites! They must help us!
"I understand."
The connection broke immediately.
"New course, Hydron," He-Man commanded. "Take us to Nekron. We're going to be leading in the reinforcements."
XXXX
Skeletor walked the corridors of the Mothership and paused briefly to look out a massive window. They had entered in Primus space, and already Terror Pods and Deadwings were engaged with Astrosubs. Silent explosions flashed above Primus as the battle went on and on.
"Where are you going?" asked Flogg all of a sudden, just as Skeletor started to walk away.
"I need a Terror Pod."
"And just why is that? What do you have planned, Skeletor?"
Skeletor spun around and faced Flogg. "Oh, you'll find out, Floggy."
"I suppose I shall. But let's say I'm tired of your mysteries. Since you got here, you've been telling me to continue the war, to push harder and harder against Primus. And yet, here, at the final battle, you are heading off to take part in some sort of secret mission all your own."
"If you don't want He-Man to be a problem, then trust me to do what I need to do."
"If He-Man's going to be here at all, then why are we here?"
Skeletor clamped his mouth shut for a few seconds, preventing himself from saying what he truly wanted to say. He instead walked up to Flogg, coming only a few inches from his face.
"Trust me to take care of He-Man. Your main concern is only that you succeed in this battle and take the major population under you control."
"You say that like it's an easy thing to do," Flogg retorted. "It's not."
"We've done it before, we can do it again."
"You don't think they've learned from the last time?"
Skeletor spun around. "Those people down there are fools, Flogg. We can overtake them."
With that, Skeletor departed from Flogg. He marched down the corridor and into the hanger bay. There, a Terror Pod was waiting for him.
He got in, activated the controls and fired out from the Mothership. As he headed into the battle, he whispered a spell of invisibility. A field of energy shrouded his ship and kept him hidden as he piloted through the battle and aimed for Primus.
Thousands of years ago, before the great war that devastated Primus, the moon of Nordor was blasted off from Primus. It took with it a portion of an ancient, magic-based city. When Primus went through its civil war, the city was either destroyed of buried. It was through the ruins on Nordor that Skeletor learned of this ancient city's existence and its great power.
His destiny sat in the ruins of Primus' past.
XXXX
The Starship Eternia sat down on the landing platform on Nekron. As soon as it cooled off and exhaust was released, Mara came running out to meet with her old friends. She had been made queen on Nekron, serving in an honorary role to the Mites. The Mites themselves were small and wide creatures, only coming up to ones hips in terms of height, but humanoid otherwise.
The gangway on the Starship Eternia opened.
"We detected the battle and were prepared to launch, but I figured we'd wait for you," she said, skipping over any sort of greeting.
"You saw us coming?" asked He-Man, feeling a little awkward around her.
"Yeah." She paused.
"It's good to see you again."
She hugged He-Man. "You too," she replied. Mara then turned to Hydron, Flipshot, Spinwit, and Kayo. "All of you."
They replied in much the same way.
"We need to get to Primus," He-Man said, pulling them quickly back to business.
"Agreed. You said the fleet is ready to launch?"
"400 ships, armed and ready."
He-Man nodded. "Then let's do it."
XXXX
The Starship Colossus shuddered with a laser impact, but Nocturna kept control. "Shields are down to 43!" Gleep shouted. U-R beeped loudly, trying work the controls.
"Keep the energy fire on the strongest part of our shields!" Nocturna commanded, a blast of sparks spraying forth from a nearby computer panel. "I want all weapons firing! Maintain attacks on the main war cruisers! We've taken down one of them, but there are still four more we need to contend with!"
U-R small robotic finger ran along the weapons controls faster than any human. Missiles coupled with lasers barreled out of the Colossus and slammed into a war cruiser. Silent explosions roared into the coldness of space. The Colossus turned away from the war cruiser and let loose on some in-coming Terror Pods, which exploded upon weapons impact.
Three Terror Pods screeched without noise towards the Colossus then, weapons blazing. Shields took damage.
"The port shields are down to 13!" yelped Gleep.
"Shut up!" Nocturna retorted and shifted the ship down. Gleep fired weapons, but they missed. The trio of Terror Pods were in hot pursuit. Weapons fire grazed the shields, igniting them briefly in darkness of space. Two more Terror Pods joined the trio and all five engaged the Colossus.
"They are swarming us!" Gleep exclaimed, huge sparks flying all across the bridge.
"Just maintain weapons control and we'll be fine!" Nocturna commanded harshly. He kept his cool as he best he could and was grateful for having the cold logic of two robots rather than irrational humans.
Colossus looked to the large window and watched as two of the fire Terror Pods roared right towards, weapons locked. He braced for impact . . . then released when watched them both explode. A smile crossed his face when his eyes fell to the sensor screen.
"Starship Eternia and Mite vessels have arrived!" shouted Gleep.
"Open a channel to the Starship Eternia," Nocturna commanded U-R.
An image of He-Man and Hydron appeared before them. "Good to see you join the fight," Nocturna greeted.
"The same here. What's the status?"
"They've broken through the perimeter and at least four Troop Transports have made it onto Primus. We've been able to keep tabs on the bulk of the fleet, but ships keep getting through." The Colossus shuddered again with weapons impact, but U-R retaliated quickly, destroying the final offending Terror Pod . . . not that there weren't scores more to deal with.
"Vice President Eton can coordinate the Mites attack with the Primians forces. I strongly suggest you all try and regroup, pull together, and charge forward," He-Man stated.
"Agreed."
"We're heading to the surface. It's where we can do the most good with those Troop Transports."
"Understood. Colossus out."
XXXX
The Starship Eternia tore forward, weapons energized and firing. A war cruiser exploded from their impact, which had seemed to what settle directly above the Oasis Hole. He-Man braced the railing before him as Terror Pods started to converge against them.
"Looks like they're trying to keep us off the surface," Kayo grunted as the entire bridge shook and rumbled with impact.
"We're not going to let them," Hydron retorted. "Flipshot, keep them off of our tail."
"Yeah, I'm trying, but there's too many of them."
There was a sudden small explosion from one of the lower command modules. "Damn it!" roared Hydron. "That was our automated weapons system! We'll have to switch to manual! Mara, can you take the controls?"
Mara nodded and rushed down to the weapons controls. "I'm on it. Locking onto Terror Pods."
"Fire," Hydron ordered.
Her fingers pressed the buttons and missiles went spiraling out of the Starship Eternia as it approached the threshold of the Oasis Hole. Terror Pods exploded, but the others still retained their fire. Shields were collapsing and small explosions crossed a portion of the hull.
"Engines are giving me trouble," Flipshot reported.
"Secure the power levels best you can. It's now or never."
Seven more Terror Pods converged on their location, weapons blazing. The shields collapsed and each laser impact was felt hard.
"WEAPONS ARE OFF-LINE!" yelled out Mara as smoke filled the bridge.
"Don't worry about it because I can barely keep us flying!" Flipshot retorted, fingers hitting as many controls as possible.
"I'm reading five more Terror Pods moving on us!" roared Spinwit.
"We can't sustain too much more damage!" Hydron shouted. "Flipshot, try and keep us steady! Coordinate with Spinwit at the sensors!"
"We just lost sensors!" Spinwit exclaimed at that moment after another explosions from somewhere in the ship.
"We've ripe for a hull breach!" Kayo called out.
Mara looked over at He-Man, fear pouring from her eyes. "He-Man . . ." she whispered, grasping his hand desperately.
Suddenly, tearing out from the Oasis hole came twenty Astrosubs, lasers and missiles at work, hitting the Terror Pods.
"Figured you could use a hand up here!" came the voice of Tuskador over the comm-line.
"Thank the Ancients," He-Man breathed.
"These guys will take care of your little followers and I'll escort you to the surface," Tuskador assured them.
"Tuskador, I've never been happier to see you, buddy!" Kayo yelled into the comm-line.
"Same here."
The Starship Eternia came through the Hole with the Astrosub by its side. Huge billows of smoke poured from the Starship Eternia as entered into the atmosphere.
"Connect us with Onnar headquarters, Spinwit," He-Man ordered, wiping sweat from his brow.
A moment later, the voice of Vizar filled the bridge. "Leviton has fallen, most of the defenses knocked out. A Troop Transport is currently pouring in Mutants Troopers under the command Hoove and Staghorn in the southwest quarter. Mutant fighters have penetrated the Guardian Sea and on their way to attack Serus."
He-Man looked to Hydron, whose face was one of worry. Serus was his home city and his sister Aquatta still lived there. "The Oasis is reporting Mutants and Gleanons have landed, but the militia and Nathan's villagers have been keeping them at bay for now," Vizar continued. "We've also got a Troop Transport sitting near us here at Onnar. We're about to be invaded."
He-Man looked to the others. "Okay. We've got an Astrosub here. I'd like to have Spinwit and Kayo get to Leviton and help out there. Where's Artilla and Sagitar?"
"Both are with me," Vizar answered.
"How about we send Sagitar to Serus to maintain the defenses? I'll have Tuskador join him. Artilla should join with the Oasis struggle, backing them up with his firepower. Mara, Hydron, Flipshot and myself will come to Onnar and help take out that Troop Transport."
"Sounds like a plan, then," Vizar responded. "And welcome home."
He-Man smiled and nodded, but was still in an alert mode. But little did he realize that in the chaos of the battle, his greatest nemesis was busy plotting something so very unexpected.