Prologue has gone through massive revision, should be MUCH better.
This story is currently in the process of massive revision into the characters, dialogue, and detail. Keep this in mind if you choose to continue reading.
List of Revised Chapters:
1: Prologue
2: Chapter 1: Universal Collision
Milky Way Galaxy
Ancera System
Orbit above Vuoyama
U.S.S. Armageddon
6:56 PM
September 26th
2557 C.E.
War...
Something that has grown to be a horrific regularity in our galaxy. The pained and odious screams of agony from hardened soldiers and innocent children alike, plague the heavens with a black shadow of death. The cries of pain and sorrow from mourning widows and families, corrupt the holy pillars of creation. The destruction of worlds and civilizations, ignite the holy workings of God and Angels in a black flame of corruption and death. Demons march across the sacred plains of creation, blasting fire and pain from their cannons of unholy blight. They bring decimation and agony with every step forward, the very ground they step upon becoming malformed and petrified, turning as black as the howling endless depths of an event horizon. The march of the unholy goes unimpeded, impervious to all and everything. Could such a foe even be dreamt of being defeated? They plague the dreams of trillions, their march of death contaminating and corrupting not only our galaxy...but our minds. The idea of peace becomes laughable, a mere joke families make around the dinner table, for there is only war and only survival. Peace fades away, along with the mighty soaring eagle of hope...for all they become...is a distant memory. War rages, and it's only through war and blood that our survival is guaranteed. Endless war...endless pain...endless misery. We are all but a tiny speck in the grand majesty of the universe, and in the end...none of it matters.
It was these words, the words of a famous and influential writer that echoed throughout the mind of Johnathan Reed, his eyes locked into a trance upon the sight of the blue marble that was Vuoyama. He gazed at the ocean world from the window in his quarters, taking in the sight of its rolling blue waves flowing across the planet, making contact with the small little landmasses that scattered its surface. It was hard not to just take in the sight of the ecstatic untouched beauty...it was a miracle that Vuoyama had remained almost completely intact through all these years under Xyzox control...yet it begged the question, why? Any planet within a 40,000 light-year radius was usually stripped of all it's resources to fuel the Xyzox war machine, yet it's strange that a planet that was so deep in Xyzox space has remained almost intact.
Vuoyama, the world Johnathan was currently admiring from the sight out his quarter's window, was the homeworld of the Saqek species. The Saqek are a peaceful aquatic, yet humanoid species that had a small Republic that spanned over a 100 light-year radius...until the Xyzox began their march across the galaxy, and took that all away from them.
There was a reason why the words of that writer echoed within his mind. Vuoyama was one of the first targets to be hit and conquered by the Xyzox in the beginning of the war. At first, the war started off as nothing but a small issue that everyone believed the surrounding grand empires could easily take care of, the Xyzox were nothing but a hive mind lead by some...crazy psychopathic mushroom, right? There was no way in heaven they could match up against the might of something like the Vroesyr Imperium.
That's what everyone thought at first, but by all that's divine, how wrong they were, because within only a few months, thousands of star systems were taken and annexed by the Xyzox, destroying all other life in their path. Not even the young pre-FTL civilizations were safe from the Xyzox's wrath, as they invaded their world's, and threw every single living thing into extinction. The Xyzox were a hive mind fungoid race, that was under the complete absolute control of their queen, which explains their relentless and unmerciful brutality towards other living things.
In about 3 months' time, the Xyzox controlled over 9,000 light-years of space and had caused many species to flee their space and retreat into the space of other nations, causing all sorts of chaos and turmoil. The Xyzox at this point had already caused the extinction of many other races. They were expanding at an absolutely insane rate, and nobody even knew how they were capable of doing it, because all the people that encountered the Xyzox, never lived to tell the tale. However, at this point, a significant development was being made, for on the date of January 12th, 2436, a coalition was made by hundreds of neighboring nations that were close to Xyzox space. They had put there rivalries and differences aside in order to defeat the Xyzox, although they were never prepared for the monstrous technological advantage the Xyzox had over every single one of them.
One reason the Xyzox managed to cause a galactic war that has lasted for over a century is because of their shielding technology. Their shielding seemed almost indestructible, taking about 50,000 megatons of raw energy to disable the shield, and all their troops, fighters, ships, and the entirety of their military was equipped with this shielding. While ground troops and fighters had much weaker shields compared to the Xyzox fleet, they were still incredibly tough and difficult to get through. However, for an advanced civilization, 50,000 megatons of energy don't sound too bad...unfortunately, however, the shielding on their ships only got worse, taking about 2 teratons of energy to just disable one shield. That doesn't even account for a thing like their Neutronium hull plating, and advanced weapons that could punch through anything at the time.
It's still unknown to this day how they managed to get this technology and advance so quickly in the process, because one could say that it almost seemed as if they were in a video game, cheating in the greatest technologies and weapons in the universe. Their rapid technological progress and insane territorial gains shocked the entire galaxy to its core. In about another month, the Xyzox had successfully taken control of over 11,000 light-years, and this is the point when the galaxy realized that the Xyzox threatens every living thing in the galaxy...and perhaps even beyond. With that, the galaxy united in one enormous alliance to destroy the Xyzox. This is pretty much all the Alliance knows about the Xyzox, they're still a huge mystery that people have been wanting an answer too for generations, but no one could find a direct answer. All the Alliance knows is the Xyzox's war crimes, their leader, and where their home system is located, which is located near the very edge of the Scutum-Centaurus Arm.
For the next 30 years, it would be nothing but victory after victory for the Xyzox, which at this point now controlled over 60,000 light-years, over half the galaxy. At this point, it was strange because the Xyzox just...stopped stripping worlds of all their resources, and seemed to have taken a more careful approach to resource extraction. But, eventually, the tides of war were flipped around, when scientists made the final breakthrough with the Xyzox shielding tech, making their shielding function and act just like any other. When the Xyzox finally reached Earth in 2466, they were greeted with an unexpected surprise, when they found out that no longer were their shields protecting them with the power of gods, but were being easily penetrated. The Battle for Earth would end up resulting in a victory for the Alliance, and was unexpectedly an easy win for the Alliance...but it was celebrated much more than just a simple victory. It was the first sign in 30 years that there was still hope...and that it was actually possible to win this war. One could say they had made God bleed.
For the next 91 years, the Xyzox were finally beginning to falter and were successfully being pushed back. They had absolutely gargantuan amounts of troops and ships, which is why they were able to hold the line for so long. Eventually, they were pushed back to only two systems, the Ancera system, and their home system of Orellius, and it was only two days ago, the Battle of Vuoyama took place, which was a victory for the Alliance. The Xyzox had been pushed back to their home system, and the nightmare that had been inflicted upon the galaxy for the past 121 years, seemed to finally be nearing its end.
Although recently, a shocking revelation has been made on the battlefield. The Xyzox have begun abducting alliance soldiers and basically assimilating them into their hive mind for more manpower, which has brought high concern amongst the alliance. The way they got other species into their hive mind, reminded Johnathan highly of the Borg from the sci-fi series named Star Trek, implanting machines and a ton of different mechanisms into them.
Johnathan's mesmerized trance was broken when a beeping came from the laptop on his desk; a notification alert. Johnathan backed away from the sight of the blue marble below, and turned around to walk towards his laptop. Johnathan pulled out the chair near the desk and sat in the comfortable high tech chair, moving his finger around the touch pad and making the laptop's screen come back to life. Unlike most youth and other individuals, Johnathan was rather old fashioned, very much preferring the retro style laptops when you can actually touch and feel ACTUAL buttons over the touch screens and hardlight ones.
John positioned his hands over the keyboard, and then began typing in his username and password on the login screen at incredible speeds. With that, the laptop had given him access, but before he could even click on the notifications tab a beeping alert sound came from a small slot on his forearm.
Directing his attention away from the laptop, Johnathan lifted his arm up towards him and pressed a button on the side of his forearm, causing the slot on his forearm to open and reveal a small projector. He pressed another button on the side of his arm, causing the projector to project its H.C.P., or the Hardlight Computer Projection.
With a blue stream of solidified light now projecting from the projector, Johnathan slide his finger across the hardlight and towards the notifications. There was one notification, and it was labeled with the status of Top Priority. He was quick to press the message to open it, and it was just as he had thought.
It was time to report to the war room.
Johnathan let out a sigh of mixed feelings, immediately closing his H.C.P. and the slot on his forearm.
"Right, let's do this," Johnathan spoke to himself, making his way towards the door and grabbing his fierce and intimidating helmet on the way out.
Milky Way Galaxy/Ancera System/Orbit above Vuoyama/U.S.S. Armageddon/7:23 PM/September 26th/2557 C.E.
"From the info we're able to gather from Xyzox databanks, their capital is heavily fortified; filled to the brim with high energy plasma battery cannons." Captain Jefferson Andrews, with a voice that demanded respect and attention, laid out the plans for the assault on Xuwhypso on a holographic hardlight display of the said planet, emitting from a large, high tech circular table.
Captain Andrews waved his hand over a glowing blue sensor on the table next to him, causing the planetary view of Xuwhypso(which was surrounded by all sorts of small holographic ships and battle plans for the orbital battle) to collapse, and instead zoom in on a particular continent on the planet, where it revealed a massive sprawling metropolis with alien-like skyscrapers reaching above the clouds.
"While the Xyzox are extremely effective at keeping data on Xuwhypso heavily encrypted, we have pieced together enough data to layout a basic design of the city." Jefferson gestured towards the holographic city. "The city you're seeing here in front of you, is merely a theoretical design based on the data we've been able to retrieve about major landmarks and buildings, and the structures that surround them. The rest of it is pieced together like a crappy 50,000 piece puzzle."
The battle-worn man then looked away from the holographic display and looked at all the aliens that surrounded the table and were listening to his lecture with a strict gaze in his eyes.
"Do NOT count on this map being correct, soldiers. We don't want you landing feet first into an incineration plant, or worse, the barrel of a cannon." Captain Andrews stated his voice carrying a biting venom to it that immediately got his point across.
Captain Andrews returned his attention to the holographic display, mutters, and whispers erupting amongst the group at Jefferson's comment. "With the Xyzox fleet cleared, the assigned armadas -which you will be notified if your ship is part of- will begin a light orbital bombardment of the city." He explained as little holographic bombs and cannon rounds began impacting the city on the display, small explosions occurring in the city as a result.
"You don't need me to tell you, that you should expect resistance from the surface from those plasma cannons, and don't expect them only to come from the city, but all over the surface. I have no doubt in my mind that the Xyzox has set up a planetary wide defensive grid."
Jefferson continued. "We've all seen just how the Xyzox can turn an entire planet into a heavily armed rock of war. Which is the reason why thousands of fleets will be stationed at a lunar distance surrounding the planet, raining hell on the planet throughout the battle. It will help clear up the massive defense grid on Xuwhypso, and hopefully, limit our causalities."
Jefferson then zoomed out of the city a bit before leaving it be. "After a majority of the defense grid has been destroyed, our elite ground troops will land on the surface and storm the capital city. Priority objective, kill the queen...and then that should finally end this war...once and for all." Captain Jefferson Andrews finished explaining the battle plans to assault the Xyzox homeworld of Xuwhypso to everyone in the room, concluding it in a way that lifted up the spirits of everyone in the room, filling them with a sense of hope.
However, his lecture wasn't over yet. Jefferson looked around the holographic display table, and over towards Johnathan Reed, who stood there fully clad in his suit of advanced power armor, helmet under his arm. The power armor suit he wore was one of the Alliance's most advanced suits and was designed for the best of the best.
"Now, Commander Reed will be leading the ground assault on Xuwhypso. He'll know what to do, and he'll quickly get a layout of the city. He's one of the Alliance's best commanders, and right now we need the best man leading." Captain Andrews concluded, casting a smile filled with the sweetness of brotherhood towards the man he had come to bond with significantly over the past eleven or so years.
Johnathan returned the smile...however it slowly transformed into a rather snarky looking one.
"Excuse me, Captain?" Johnathan called out Jefferson from across the large circular table, the same small snarky smile still present on his face.
Jefferson was quick to notice this snarky smile on the Commander's face, and knowing John, he knew where this was going, not that he was frustrated over it.
"Is there a problem Commander? And you mind telling me why you have that snarky little smile?" Captain Andrews, with a raised eyebrow, asked Johnathan with that same voice that demanded authority and respect, as his comment now brought the attention of everyone in the room towards John.
The armor-clad man leaned himself onto the table. "Well, you see Captain. There's a certain word...a certain phrase that is used in most civilized conversations when you ask an individual to do your bidding. It's called, 'the magic word'." Speaking with language that could make a British lord impressed, Johnathan pointed out one of Jefferson's...glaring errors.
Johnathan's joke earned some chuckles and laughs out of the crowd that surrounded the war table and earning a rolling of eyes and smile from Jefferson. "Please?" Jefferson asked the Commander with the sweetness equivalent to a jar of fresh honey, going along with the joke.
"Like a proper gentleman, Captain. NOW I will lead the ground forces on Xuwhypso, because you asked kindly." With a soft chuckle and smile, John concluded his joke and helped lighten the mood just a little bit.
But then, everyone's attention was drawn towards the sound of the sliding doors behind Johnathan, opening, and there everyone saw Ship Master Narrise Hoymuquar entering the war room, one of the Alliance's most young yet most talented officers. Many human soldiers, officers, and history enthusiasts in the Alliance, often compared her tactical and strategic brilliance with that of Napoleón Bonaparte...minus the imperial ambitions and power lust.
"Ship Master on deck!" Johnathan shouted out to everyone else in the room, entering a far more serious attitude, and saluted the Ship Master, everyone else following along, except Jefferson, who seemed to be waiting to do so.
Narrise Hoymuquar was a female Saqek, she was responsible for creating the plans that would lead millions of starships commanded by thousands of other species to assault the Xyzox homeworld, the menace that the galaxy has suffered too much from. But of course, she didn't do it alone, she had the help from many different Commander's, Captain's, Admiral's, and General's to plan this assault to near perfection, and the plans we're certainly one hell of an achievement. Narrise walked past the saluting men and women from all different types of species with pride and a smile, as she made her way towards Jefferson. Walking past all the saluting men and women, she approached Jefferson with a smile full of a mix of many different positive emotions, but also with an underlying anxiety that only the sharpest of eyes could detect.
"Captain," Narrise announced Jefferson's rank in her soothing voice that was enough to put even the most hardened soldier at ease.
"Ship Master," Jefferson responded to Narrise, pulling up a proud salute for her.
Narrise returned Jefferson's salute before continuing. "Are you ready to bring the might of the galaxy to bear on the Xyzox?" Narrise asked Jefferson, practically beaming with confidence and a sweetness, as she then dropped her salute.
"Yes ma'am." Jefferson declared, dropping his salute and shaking Narrise's hand, which had webbed fingers due to her aquatic nature, making the handshake a little awkward.
"Then let's make sure the fleets are ready," Telling Jefferson with that same beaming confidence and almost sisterly sweetness, Narrise sent a smile filled with pride his way, before she then walked over to the front of the war table that had the holographic display of Xuwhypso floating above it.
A human female officer next to the two commanding officers turned around and began typing on a computer next to the war table, sending out a signal to the fleets and awaiting there response. Soon the holographic display of Xuwhypso was replaced with a display of the Milky Way, as many millions of yellow dots began appearing in the galaxy around the Orellius system.
"All fleets reporting in ma'am." The officer announced to Narrise.
"Open a channel to the fleets, and enable the translators...everyone must understand this message." With a calm and relaxed stature, Narrise give her order to the officer, preparing to give the fleets her speech to raise morale and prepare for the final battle.
After a couple seconds, a beep was heard as the channel had been opened. "Channels open Ship Master."
"My fellow warriors...for 121 years, our galaxy, this spiral of gas and dust that every one of us occupies, the spiral of gas and dust that keeps us sheltered from the devouring void that lies beyond, and the very spiral of gas and dust that gave birth to our home stars, our star systems, our homeworlds, and of course...all of us. For all these years, there has been a menace within it that has threatened the existence of every living thing in it, and we have battled and fought this menace for over a century with unrelenting force and energy to save ourselves; to preserve our freedoms...but not from the threats of tyranny, oppression, or persecution...but from annihilation. The Xyzox have taken our homes, almost all of our natural resources, destroyed our cities and homes, killed our loved ones, our friends, killed trillions of innocent lives, thrown many thousands of species into extinction, the list continues to go on and on. But there's something they cannot destroy, something that is unbreakable and cannot be shattered, and that unbreakable force is our unity and spirit...and because of this unity and spirit, we have persevered against all odds and our spirits and souls have emerged more powerful then we could possibly imagine. The enemy may have destroyed our civilizations and fractured our ways of life, but our spirits are more powerful and wise than ever before, and it's through this strength of the spirit that our enemy has grown in us, that we will end their reign of terror, once and for all."
"In less than an hour, millions of starships of every space-faring species in the galaxy will join together, and we'll be launching the largest space battle in galactic history. The galaxy...this place should have new meaning for all of us today, we can't be consumed by our petty differences any longer. We will be united in our common interests, and we will form one galactic superpower that no other force in the universe can oppose. The Xyzox can no longer scare us, they can no longer harm our innocent, our loved ones, and our freedom. And that's why we all stand here today, we are fighting for our freedom, our right to live, to exist. And when we win the day and awake from this eternal nightmare that has plagued all of us, September 26th will be known as the day when the galaxy declared in one voice, WE WILL NOT GO QUIETLY INTO THE NIGHT! We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on, we're going to survive, and from today onward, we will thrive!"
Immediately after she finished, everyone in the War Room erupted into applause and cheers, as well as billions of other voices on the channel. Johnathan on the other side of the room, had tears running down his face, struggling to keep a straight face, as he cheered on at Narrise's speech. "NOW LET'S GO MAKE THESE BASTARDS PAY!" Narrise shouted with a fiery determination that completely counter-acted the mood she had first set when she first entered the room, before closing the channel and turning away. As Narrise made her fiery announcment, everyone started walking out of the room and getting to there battle stations.
"Commander Reed!" Jefferson shouted at John through all the talking and mutters from the others exiting the room.
"Yes, Captain?" Johnathan also shouted through the crowd, as he stopped in place and turned to face Jefferson.
"Meet me on the bridge, I'll be a minute."
"Yes sir." Johnathan acknowledged Jefferson, as he then turned around and began making his way towards the bridge.
Soon everyone had left the War Room, leaving only Jefferson and Narrise as it's occupants. The only thing that could be heard in the room at the moment was the sound of the oxygen flowing through the room and the vents, but the silence was soon disrupted when Jefferson's footsteps echoed within the room, as he turned around and approached Narrise, who was currently looking out a large window towards Vuoyama. Jefferson now stood aside Narrise looked out the window and observed Vuoyama.
The planet was one big huge blue marble, the entire surface nearly covered in water, but there were some decent sized continents that littered the surface, the largest one being about the size of Europe on Earth, but Vuoyama was about two times more massive than Earth. But another observation about Vuoyama, was the thousands of different ships orbiting the planet, all built by different species and different designs. The scene looked like something straight out of a movie.
"Its truly a Beautiful sight...isn't it Jeff?" With the fury and power in her soul now restored back to the tranquility of a windless day, Narrise asked Jefferson with that same calm and soothing voice that immediately put him at ease, breaking the silence, as she looked straight out towards her homeworld.
"It really is Narrise...it really is. I never thought we would be able to witness a sight of Vuoyama like this. But...what's odd is that...despite all this time it's been under Xyzox control, it looks mostly...untouched? The scans can confirm that as well. They must have kept it like that for some reason." Jefferson pointed out the anomaly to Narrise, as both the Human and Saquek continued to look at the blue marble of a planet.
"I know. At this distance in Xyzox space, they've just taken control over a planet, take every important natural resource it has, and usually just leave it drained and dead, and yet they leave Vuoyama almost intact. It doesn't make sense." Narrise expressed with a puzzling confusion, turning to face Jefferson.
Jefferson pondered within his thoughts for a few moments, before speaking. "Maybe they were looking for something...? As for what such an artifact could be, that is the question."
"A question that I hope to find the answer to, once the task at hand is accomplished," As if those fiery fires within her lit up once more, Narrise made her statement with more of a stern venom. She was happy to see her homeworld intact, but what pissed her off was the possibility of the Xyzox using her world as some kind of...testing ground for things like biological or chemical weapons
The two then sat in silence for about half a minute, observing Vuoyama and the fleet in all it's beauty until Narrise broke the silence once more.
"Jeff...You know this is the first time I have ever seen my homeworld in person, correct?" Narrise pointed out towards Jefferson as she turned to face him, her beautiful dark blue eyes looking directly into Jefferson's green ones; the sight beyond the window reflecting into her eyes.
A small smile filled with the sweetness of sugar cracked upon Jefferson's lips as he laid his eyes at the...lovely sight of Narrise at the moment. Jefferson has personally known Narrise for quite a while now, about 9 years to be exact, and it certainly has been one hell of a ride, from the beginning, to now.
Jefferson remembered the day he met Narrise as if it were mere days ago. It essentially went along the lines of Jefferson and his ship having to swoop in and save her ass, her ship, and her fleet when she was ambushed by a large Xyzox assault armada. Battered, Narrise and her crew spent the next hour in the infirmary getting treated for their wounds at the nearest outpost, and afterward, Jefferson invited her to dinner with him as she waited for her ship to be repaired, as well as a token of hospitality.
Jefferson turned his gaze away from Narrise and towards the planet, so his small silence wasn't awkward. "I'm aware. Your species has been exiled from Vuoyama for 121 years, and your only 37 years old...in Earth years." Jefferson explained to Narrise. "This must be quite emotional for you."
"It is...it is." Crossing her arms, she continued. "In fact answer something for me. I've looked at other planets before, and yet when I look at Vuoyama, I feel so...different, as if it's...I don't know, calling out to me? You've looked at Earth before Jefferson, have you ever felt this, if so, then do you know why I feel this way?" Narrise asked Jefferson with a fervent curiosity comparable to that of a young child, as she turned her full attention towards him.
Jefferson let out a small amused chuckle at her question. "Narrise, I believe you're experiencing what we humans call the Overview Effect. Every human that has ever been to space for the past 600 years has experienced this effect. From the first human to have ever left Earth, Yuri Gagarin, to now, all of them have most likely felt the exact same thing you are feeling."
"Now as for why your feeling these kinds of emotions, to Vuoyama specifically, well it's quite simple, it's because Vuoyama is where your species was born. It's your birthplace, everything that's on that planet you're pretty much related to, from the trees, plants, and other living things that inhabit the planet, all of them stemmed from a tiny little cell that created every living thing for the past billions of years, including the Saqek. So I guess you say that basically Vuoyama is calling out to you, saying to "come back home" for you are part of Vuoyama...and it wants to have that missing piece back." With a poetic explaination that touched the beating heart of Narrise, Jefferson turned to face the aquatic alien with a half-smile that said it all.
"That...that was really poetic Jefferson...I.." Narrise whispered, gazing upon Vuoyama with widen eyes that were filled with awe. Then, to her surprise, Narrise felt a small tear roll down her cheek, a bit of shock recoiling through her...did she really shed a tear at that? Not that she was upset but...
Narrise whipped away the tear with her thumb, before letting out a sigh. "Dammit it Jeff, now you got me all emotional. You know poetic speeches like that make me all teary." With a feeling of frustration splashing about within her soul, she couldn't help but feel a sense of her inner self lifting up at Jefferson's little speech. It had a beauty to it, one that she was a bit embarrassed to show her reaction to, but this man was one of her closest friends, so she couldn't help but express that emotion by playfully hitting his shoulder.
"Says the one who just rallied the fleets with one of the most damn fine speeches I've ever heard. What can I say, I learn from the best." Shooting a small and playful wink Narrise's way, Jefferson couldn't help but tease the girl back by expressing a rather flattering truth that he knew would raise up a lot of emotions within her.
"Oh you- I swear." Flustered, the Ship Master felt the blood rushing to her face, as she could do nothing but let out a bunch of jibber-jabber. "Smooth move there, Andrews, but I'll have you know that I didn't make all of that up on the spot! Your over here spewing poetry like it's...air!"
"Oh, accept the compliment, Narrise. Your too selfless for your own good sometimes."
"I'm going to throw you in an ocean one day, you know that right?"
Jefferson simply rolled his eyes with an amused smile. "Okay, you fish."
"You'll be the one who's in the water, not me." Narrise, with a smirk that beamed with some rather smug deviance and other...underlaying intentions, earned a small 'hmph' from the Captain.
With that same devious smirk, Narrise walked away from the window, displaying some rather exaggerated movements. "Anyways, it's time to get to work. I have a fleet to command, and I believe you have a ship to command as well, hmm?"
"That I do, Ship Master. But-" To Narrise's sudden surprise, the man wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a hug. "Stay safe out there Narrise."
Narrise just smiled and returned the human's hug. "You too Jeff...dinner after all of this is over?"
"You bet."
The two then patted each other on their backs before breaking the hug and looking at each other with encouragement. They nodded at each other before the two then walked towards the door to exit the War Room, and when they exited the War Room, they parted ways and left to command each other's ships.
Milky Way Galaxy/Ancera System/Orbit above Vuoyama/U.S.S. Armageddon/Bridge/7:28 PM/September 26th/2557 C.E.
The doors that lead into the elevator opened up with a hiss, as Jefferson then emerged out of the elevator, and was greeted with a scene of many of the senior staff talking with each other, discussing different things of many different topics. Laughing and joking could also be heard through the conversations, and everyone on the bridge seemed almost...happy, something that Jefferson hadn't really seen in a long time. Jefferson smiled...it was nice to see this type of scene on the bridge for once, and very soon he'll be seeing it a lot more often.
Jefferson also couldn't help but take in the calming looks and colors of his bridge, the color black always brought a sense of relief and calmness into him. The bridge was almost all black, as well as the entire ship.
The Armageddon was one hell of a warship, 100 large railguns across the hall, 80 high powered Gamma-Ray Lasers, 100 superheated plasma cannons, 80 railgun based Gatling guns, 50 small railgun point-defense cannons, and 50 Torpedo Bays that can fire many different types of torpedoes. Most of the Torpedo Bays were located on the top and bottom of the saucer section facing vertically for orbital bombardment. So when the Armageddon wasn't looking down at a planet and bombing it to rubble, it had 5 forward Torpedo Bays and 5 Aft Torpedo Bays.
But the majority of these weapons were just weapons to be used in planetary bombardments. The Armageddon's main guns were two large magneto-hydrodynamic cannons on the front of the ship, in addition to two smaller turret based ones on the back of the ship. They weren't as powerful as the two fixed forward ones, but they still dealt an ungodly amount of damage to unshielded targets. To top it all off, the black painting of the ship gave it an even more threatening look. Not to mention, to make up for its huge size, it had a state of the art stealth system that was the closest it could get to an invisibility cloak on the ship. The Armageddon was originally designed to have an invisibility cloak, but it never had the time to get one installed due to being needed on the battlefield ASAP. But, this ship was given its name for a reason.
"And then-" Johnathan then quickly noticed Jefferson's presence on the bridge. "Captain on deck!" Johnathan shouted for everyone to hear, and soon the whole bridge was proudly saluting their Captain.
"At ease everyone," Jefferson announced to everyone on the bridge, as he began making his way to his chair. "Lieutenant Williams, what's our status?"
Lieutenant Maria Williams was the science officer of the Armageddon, she provided the scientific information and status on anything from the ship, to a star system. "Right now sir, we're just waiting for the Ship Master's word," Maria responded to Jefferson's question with an uptight sature, as she began typing commands onto her console.
"She'll be ready soon enough. Why don't you give me a quick run-through on all the primary systems, Lieutenant?" Jefferson asked Maria with a voice filled with beaming confidence that proved to be contagious to the crew, as he sat down in his chair; with Johnathan then sitting in the chair beside him, setting his large helmet on the ground.
"Yes, Captain!" Maria then typed a few commands into the console in front of her. "All systems of the Zero Point Energy Reactor are ready for action, shielding is at 100%, all weapons are green across the board, and hull integrity is at 100%. We're ready to grill some mushrooms, sir."
"Fantastic. Reports like that always makes me smile." With the same beaming confidence and an aura of positivity added onto it, Jefferson sent a smile laced with honey towards Maria, who simply nodded her head and cracked a quick smile.
Maria had always been an uptight and respectful soldier and officer towards her comrades and superior officers. It was the way she was brought up since the beginning, and being in a military family definitely helped to enforce a sense of discipline into her. While Captain Andrews was rather laid-back towards his senior staff compared to some other Captains she's served under, she'll definitely keep up her sense of respect and duty towards Andrews.
Suddenly everyone's attention was brought towards a beeping alarm coming from the pilot's console. The pilot named Tom Medvetz brought up the message on the screen on his console.
"Captain, it's a fleet-wide message from Ship Master Hoymuquar, she's ready to engage the assault on the Orellius System." Tom announced to Jefferson, as well as everyone else on the bridge, as he turned to face Jefferson.
"Well, after exactly 121 years of fighting...it's finally come down to this moment, the beginning of the end. Captain Andrews, you ready to send these bastards back to hell?" Johnathan announced to the crew, and then asked Jefferson, as he then turned to face him.
"I'm more than ready, John. Let's finish this. The rounds on me once this is all over everyone, we'll celebrate with a couple of drinks, permission granted to get drunk!" Jefferson announced to everyone on the bridge, as laughs could be heard from his statement on the drinks.
"Alright." Jefferson then pressed a button on the side of his chair. "Red alert, all hands to battle stations!" Jefferson announced through the intercom, his voice being heard all across the ship, as alarms and red lights began going off across the ship. "Engage!"
Tommy turned the huge ship that was the Armageddon to face the Orellius System, as the rest of the ships were waiting for the Armageddon and the Thylacine, Narrise's ship. Soon the Thylacine opened a portal to Slipspace, and the Armageddon then soon followed, activating it's Alcubierre Warp Drive, expanding space-time behind the ship, and contracting it in front of it. The Armageddon then began riding the wave of space-time, sending it flying forward at impossible speeds. The millions of other ships around Vuoyama then followed, engaging there many different types of FTL travel, sending them towards Orellius.
Milky Way Galaxy/Approaching Orellius System/Interstellar Space/U.S.S. Armageddon/Bridge/7:56 PM/September 26th/2557 C.E.
The atmosphere on the bridge at the current moment was very tense. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of the air ventilation cycling air into the bridge, and the officers typing on the consoles. Jefferson and Johnathan looked straight ahead towards the window, watching the space around them rush by at many millions of miles per second. Johnathan looked away from the window for a moment and pressed a button on his arm, a small slot of armor on his arm opening up and revealing a small holographic projector before it erupted hardlight photons from its emitter.
The Hardlight Projector basically projected a small curved screen, as John then pressed a few buttons on the projection, which sent a message to all tactical stations to prepare for battle, before shutting off the projector. With that, he went back to looking straight ahead.
"Approaching the Orellius System, Captain." The voice of Lieutenant Medvetz suddenly cut through the thick silence and tension in the atmosphere like a hot knife through butter, knocking the senior staff out of a...mental haze that had wrapped itself over their minds.
Jefferson felt a surge of anxiety after Tom made his remark, but he swiftly suppressed the nuisance and continued looking forward with a stern glare. The atmosphere of the bridge had altered itself after Lieutenant Medvetz's statement, going from being a mere annoyance, to a gaping terror that threaten to consume anyone who put too much thought into it. Everyone was ready for war.
"We're dropping out of warp in 30 seconds." Tom once again announced to the Captain, turning his glance towards his Co-pilot, Ensign Vincent Anderson, who he nodded towards.
"You ready Captain?" Blankly, the super-soldier that sat besides Jefferson asked.
Jefferson turned to face the super-soldier. "I have been all my life, John."
A weak smile graced the soldier's lips in response. "So have I Jeff...so have I." He slowly leaned back into his chair, the reality of the situation now finally coming into realization. This was the assault on the Xyzox homeworld...this was the endgame, and he has waited for this far longer than anyone on this ship.
"Dropping out of warp in 5...4...3...2...1." The rushing space that passed by the ship began slowing down.
It was time to end this.
Milky Way Galaxy/Orellius System/Space above Neyruta/7:57 PM/September 26th/2557 C.E
Neyruta, the farthest out planet in the Orellius System. Neyruta, a large green gas giant that has over 20 moons orbiting it, all of these moons having many different distinct features. Neyruta also had a small yet clearly visible ring, although its rings were not as visible as Saturn's. The view of the planet was...calming, almost serene. The moons orbiting Neyruta elegantly, the ring sitting gracefully around the gas giant in a permanent dance that has lasted for billions of years, and then there was the gorgeous green aurora that highlighted the gas giant. But this beautiful scenery was suddenly interrupted by a portal opening near the gas giant, and out came through the portal was the artificial structure that was the Thylacine.
The smooth, large, and beautifully made Saqek vessel flew gracefully out of the portal to Slipspace with a deadly beauty. A second later the large, black, deadly looking, and battle-ready warship that was the Armageddon suddenly appeared next to the Thylacine after dropping out of warp. Another second later, thousands upon thousands of starships of many different designs began coming through portals, dropping out warp, and many different FTL methods. Thousands of more ships kept appearing and coming out of portals, the stream of ships seemed almost endless, as if the stream would just never end. After about 2 minutes, the stream of many different alien starships finally stopped, as the gargantuan fleet of ships could be seen from thousands of miles away from Neyruta. The fleet now had over 1.2 million ships within it, and it was a frightening sight to behold.
On the Armageddon, Tom began getting berated with thousands of reports from all the different fleets reporting in. Prepared for this, he brought up the list swiftly.
"Pruakal Fleet reporting, Blygoss Fleet reporting, Flubla Fleet reporting." As Lieutenant Medvetz began reading down the vast log of attendance, a wave of ease and confidence could be felt flowing over the bridge like water over stone. As he continued down the list, Johnathan cracked a smile, as he and the rest of the senior staff were reminded that they weren't alone.
"Xonsirf Fleet reporting, Wuprarc Fleet reporting, Vrosyr Fleet reporting, Ruelite Fleet reporting, Phebykhine Fleet reporting, Filac Fleet reporting, Saqek Fleet reporting, Krowrurc Fleet reporting, Ziela Fleet reporting, Blygoss Fleet reporting, Human Fleet reporting, Zilphie Fleet reporting, F- You know what, you get the point." Tom casually said, proceeding to quickly read the number of fleets that needed to report in, and as expected, all of them had reported in.
"All fleets reporting in Captain. Ready to engage on Ship Master Hoymuquar command." Pulling down the list, and returning to his duties, Tom relayed his report towards the Captain.
Jefferson adverted his eyes towards Johnathan, who also turned to look at him. "Good to know no one ghosted on us." With a renewed confidence, Jefferson took in a breath of air that felt like his first one after sitting in a tank if water for 8 minutes.
Looks like he was more concentrated then he realized. Even though he knew no one would "ghost them", it was sure hell of a morale booster to hear that.
A beeping alarm from the piloting console once again rang across the bridge, and Ensign Anderson was quick to read it before Medvetz. "Sir, it's a fleet-wide hail from the Ship Master," Vincent reported to Jefferson as he turned slightly to face him.
"Open the channel," Johnathan ordered Vincent, as Vincent complied and typed in the proper commands on the console.
A beep could be heard as the channel was open."All fleets, all planets in the system are located elsewhere in their orbit, and we have a clear passageway from here to Xuwhypso, so prepare your weapons if you haven't already, and prepare to reengage your FTL drives. The second fleet under the command of Admiral Braxton will be arriving shortly, they'll launch a surprise attack while the Xyzox have their attention on us, although I highly doubt we'll need more ships, but it's best if we get this over with as soon as possible. Keep this channel open for everyone to communicate with each other. Hoymuquar out."
With that, the entire fleet fired up their FTL drives and began their short trek towards Xuwhypso, and just as quickly as they arrived, they left the green gas giant that was Neyruta in the dust. As the planet had done for billions of years, it continued its eternal dance around its mother star, completely unphased by the massive fleet that just rolled up on its shore. After all, the cosmos had no time to place its attention on the ants that occupied it and kill each other.
After speeding through space at impossible speeds, It didn't take long for the entire fleet to reach the destination of lunar distance from Xuwhypso, taking only ten seconds at most. "All fleets, disengage FTL!" Narrise's order erupted through the channel, and soon the entire fleet began dropping out of FTL, displaying a scene similar to the one that took place above Neyruta only moments ago. The last few ships dropped out of FTL, and Narrise was quick to begin issuing orders.
"Task Force Alpha and Beta, begin your approach to Xuwhypso's moon, destroy any resistance on the surface and in orbit. Once clear, begin bombardment of Xuwhypso."
"Rodger that Ship Master, Alpha is beginning our approach to the rock." The voice of the leader of Task Force Alpha, Captain Lucas Garner, acknowledged Narrise's orders, as 4,000 ships broke off from the main fleet and began making their way to the bluish-grey moon that was a good 150,000 Km away.
Not long after, another fleet of 4,000 ships broke off from the main fleet, and a strong and rough voice of a Krowrurc came through on the channel. "This is Task Force Beta, we'll give them a hell they'll never forget!" With a fiery passion in his voice, Commander Wroxel Throrruk followed behind the lead of Task Force Alpha.
With the Moon fleet on there merry way, Narrise began giving orders to the next task forces.
"Task Forces Omega and Zeta set up camp and spread out along this distance. You know the drill."
The voices of the leaders of Task Force Omega and Zeta sent out a clear acknowledgment of Narrise's orders, and 10,000 ships began spreading out in order to create a widespread barrage that could reach anywhere on the surface of Xuwhypso that faced them and the fleet.
"All remaining ships, follow my lead and get into formation!" With the announcement of her order, the Thylacine, which sat in front of the fleet, began speeding forwards towards Xuwhypso, and the remaining 1.182 million ships were following directly behind the Thylacine, spreading out and positioning themselves into proper formation. From a frontal view of the fleet, it looked as if the Thylacine was slowly spreading out its wings like a glowing phoenix after emerging from its ashes. In a symbolic way, the fleet was the phoenix of the Milky Way, beaten down and crushed to near defeat, only to emerge stronger and more powerful than ever before...and that phoenix was going to afflict its blistering wraith against those that wronged it.
Not long after beginning their voyage towards the planet, the Xyzox homeworld of Xuwhypso could now clearly be seen through the windows from the bridges of the fleet. They were currently approaching the dark side of the planet, so red lights could be seen scattered all across the surface of the planet. There were also huge bridges that lit up the oceans around them, these bridges connecting to many different continents all across the planet; these bridges even passed through huge bodies of water. The whole planet looked to be mostly urbanization.
"So, this is the Xyzox homeworld," As if an unknown force had taken the breath right out of his mouth Jefferson announced with amazement and awe through the channel in, leaning back against his chair.
"Huh, I expected to be more industrialized. At least the queen respects her birthplace." A Phebykhine Captain announced over the channel with a surprised tone.
The one million-strong fleet was now approaching dangerously close to the planet, and the Xyzox fleet was now clearly visible. Frighteningly, the fleet could now be seen beginning to alter their course and towards the fleet. Hundreds of orbital defense cannons and other orbital defense stations were also seen charging up their massive and powerful weapons.
The remains of the Xyzox fleet included over 880,000 ships, which was pretty close to the Alliance fleet in numbers, but with the Xyzox's technological edge and planetary defenses...it was an even fight. All of these remaining 880,000 ships were in orbit above Xuwhypso, and until the second strike force appeared, this battle was likely going to be bloody...
Narrise noticed the large fleet of Xyzox ships changing their course from performing their assigned duties and heading towards the Alliance fleet. She took in a sharp inhale, as fear began broiling within in, but she couldn't let her inner fears consume her now.
"This is it, everyone. Be ready on my signal, and prepare to hit these bastards with everything you've got!" Narrise announced through the channel, signaling to her tactical officer to prepare all weapons.
"You heard the lady, Lieutenant Commander!... Prepare everything the Armageddon has got." With a stern glare forwards, Jefferson ordered his Tactical Officer Queesheer Duggan, a Blygoss, to prepare every single weapon on the Armageddon, never taking his eyes off the sight of the Xyzox fleet.
"You got it, Captain. Beginning the deployment process!" Acknowledging Captain Andrews, Queesheer began typing commands into the console in front of him, cracking a small half-smile in the process. Call him a simple man, but nothing made Queesheer happier than to see the raw firepower of a starship or the sight of a beautiful rifle.
The result of the commands Queesheer typed into the console was clearly seen taking place on the hull, as hundreds of slots across the hull of the ship began opening up, and out of them came Railguns, High Powered Lasers, and Plasma Cannons. The Armageddon now looked like a complete mess of deadly weapons that littered the hull, sticking out like a sore thumb amongst the rest of the vessels that surrounded them. All of these weapons then activated, a deadly yet beautiful glow erupting on their structure.
"FIRE!" A voice filled with a torrent of passionate anger erupted through the intercoms of the fleet, as Narrise gave the order. As soon as she gave that order however...all hell broke loose.
The Alliance fleet mercilessly unleashed a torrent of godly power and brute force, billions of projectiles, lasers, missiles, and torpedos were unleashed onto the Xyzox like a shower of death. The projectiles include millions of bolts of plasma, rounds of tungsten traveling of hundreds of thousands of miles per second, magneto-dynamic beams screaming through space, and many more alien projectiles rushing towards the Xyzox fleet.
The millions of lasers had already reached their targets, weakening or even destroying the shields on the Xyzox fleet, and for the ships that weren't shielded, the powerful and blinding lasers began cutting through the halls of the Xyzox ships, some of the ships even exploding in a fiery explosion, as the lasers hit many major systems including the reactor. The many missiles and torpedoes flew through the vacuum of space and headed towards the Xyzox fleet, the armada of explosives including hundreds of thousands of antimatter torpedoes, antimatter missiles, nuclear missiles, plasma torpedoes, average explosive missiles, quantum torpedoes, quantum missiles, and much more.
The billions of projectiles, missiles, and torpedoes rushed towards the already damaged Xyzox fleet and began slamming against the hulls and shields of their ships. One of the capital ships was severely damaged by the lasers, and was slammed with dozens of railgun rounds, the rounds punching through the ship violently and quickly. There was also the many plasma projectiles burning through its hull, and exploding with blistering heat. After five seconds of bombardment, the bombing finally stopped, leaving the Xyzox ship crippled and offline, as hundreds of fires could be seen burning inside the ship, but quickly dissipating due to there being no oxygen for the fire to feast upon.
All of the lights were also off due to there being no power. Finally, antimatter torpedoes, nukes, quantum torpedoes, and plasma torpedoes slammed against the hull, finishing off the already hopeless vessel in a brilliant and blinding flash. The same process was repeated for many different Xyzox vessels, destroying thousands of ships in the heavy bombardment, as the missed projectiles and torpedoes began bombarding the surface.
Task Force Omega and Zeta were also doing their job, and hundreds of projectiles flying at insane speeds could be seen flying past both Alliance and Xyzox fleets and hitting the cities on the surface brutally. What was surely massive explosions could be seen erupting into existence as a result of these impacts. However, Task Force Alpha and Beta weren't bombarding Xuwhypso yet, too busy clearing up the Xyzox presence on and around the moon.
Within only a minute, the Xyzox were now down to about 820,000 ships, losing about 60,000 ships within only a minute. If things couldn't get worse for the Xyzox, the second strike force lead by Admiral Braxton appeared in behind them, an additional 2 million ships began unloading all hell onto the Xyzox as soon as they dropped in. It was now 2.2 million versus 820,000 ships. While it seemed the fight would be over any minute, the Xyzox Collective recovered from there shock and raised huge amounts of power towards their shields, which was a little trick that managed to make the Alliance's weapons redundant, giving them temporary invulnerability. The remaining Xyzox ships then began there counter-attack and began firing their weapons, which were heavily kinetic plasma projectiles and Quantum Torpedoes. It was the Collective's turn to bite back.
Her blood ran cold. it was easy to take notice of what the Xyzox just did, and she knew there were going to be casualties as a result of this counter-attack. Narrise took in a deep breath to get a hold of her barings and quickly refocused. "There firing back! All ships evasive maneuvers, but keep firing on them! We need to exhaust their reactors' ability to sustain their shields in that state!" Narrise shouted her order through the channel, as all the alliance ships began doing there best to evade the incoming fire from the Xyzox ships while staying in formation.
Despite doing their best to evade and fire, there was little the fleet could do to counter the incoming attack. Burning hot plasma projectiles slammed against the shields of the Alliance fleet with a terribly powerful force. It was like the might of Zeus himself was slamming against the photonic barrier that separated the vastness of space from the hull of the ship, demanding to be let in. Soon, after a barrage of these projectiles, the shields on many ships succumbed to this very demand, and the plasma projectiles began slamming their might against the heavily armored hulls of Alliance vessels. Along with the incredible kinetic energy, the superheated plasma burned and scorched the hulls with incredible power, threatening to melt and slice its way through the very molecular fibers of the hull plating. The Alliance ships that were equipped with Neutronium hull plating, however, were taking these hits quite well.
But no ship is indestructible, and with the power of a Xyzox quantum torpedo, a badly damaged Blygoss vessel was ripped apart in the resulting quantum explosion, the very fabric of space-time itself bending and twisting the metals of the ship. The reactor on the ship soon overloaded, and the entire Blygoss ship exploded in a brilliant blue flash, marking the first alliance casualties in this battle. Hundreds of massive bolts of plasma could also now be seen being shot up from the surface of Xuwhypso, as the planetary defenses did their work. All task forces were now bombarding the locations this gunfire was coming from on the surface, with Task Force Alpha and Beta now successfully defeating the Xyzox presence on the moon.
However, despite casualties beginning to be taken, the fleet fought back without mercy, firing everything they had at the Xyzox fleet, and soon the indestructible shields on some of the Xyzox ships could no longer handle the strain from the bombardment of fire and were now vulnerable once again.
However, the next thing that occurred surprised and sent fear through everyone in the fleet, as four saucer-shaped ships rose from the heavily bombarded surface of the burning planet below. While these were just ships, the status the ships of this class held in the Collective was what struck fear in everyone because they were specificity designed to protect the Xyzox Queen.
These ships were not to be underestimated, for they were very powerful offensively and defensively and had some of the most powerful and technologically advanced weapons and shields in the Xyzox Collective equipped on them.
"Aren't those the queen's bodyguard ships?" With worry plaguing the soldier's tone, Johnathan turned away from the battle in front of him and towards Jefferson.
"Make no mistake, they are, and that could only mean one thing," Jefferson answered Johnathan with a clear sound of hatred yet dread dripping from his voice like a thick venom.
Jefferson immediately pressed the button on the armrest of his chair and opened the channel to the fleet. "This is Captain Andrews of the U.S.S. Armageddon, we've spotted all of the queen's bodyguards ships raising from the surface of the planet. This could mean the queen is attempting-"
Jefferson quickly cut himself off at the sight of the queen's bodyguard ships powering up one of the most powerful weapons in the Xyzox Collective and galaxy, the Particle Lance. A huge ball of red energy began forming in front of the four ships, getting bigger and bigger the more it powered up, growing more bloated and powerful with every passing second.
The Particle Lance was infamous for cutting through about every known material with ease and destroying the best shields the alliance has ever produced in a matter of seconds. Eyes widening in horror, pupils turning to pinpricks, Jefferson immediately took action.
"THOSE SHIPS ARE POWERING UP THEIR PARTICLE LANCES! MOVE THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY!" Jefferson yelled through the channel with an intense sense of dread and horror that quickly burrowed it's way into the souls of everyone, as every surrounding ship around the Armageddon began pitching in many different directions to avoid damage.
The ships took evasive action just in time, as red beams of death began shooting out from the particle emitters. In the rush to avoid, two alliance ships collided with each other, but luckily the ships only took some damage to their shields and none to their hulls. The Armageddon while pitching to avoid the particle lance, was slightly grazed on its saucer section by the beam, the shields on the ship glowing extremely bright in response to the damage, before going back to its invisible state after a couple of seconds.
The entire ship shook, as everyone on the bridge was pushed slightly off balance by the shock wave that shook the ship. As Jefferson recovered he looked around the bridge and found nothing wrong except his officers attempting to regain their balance.
"SHIELDS!" Jefferson yelled with a thunderous shout across the bridge.
"Sir! Our shields are at 65% and holding! We can't take another hit like that!" Queesheer shouted across the bridge towards Jefferson, beginning to type in certain commands on his console.
Jefferson took a deep breath "Son of a bitch..." Exhaling, the officer adjusted himself on his seat. "Queesheer, target one of those vessels, throw everything we got at it!" Jefferson's strictly stated order earned a nod from the Blygoss.
"With pleasure sir." With that, Queesheer targeted the closest bodyguard ship and made the weapons open fire and release total armageddon on it.
"Tommy, fly us over that thing. We're going to shove some Tungsten down its throat!" Aggressively, Jefferson ordered Tommy.
"Got it Captain!"
As the battle around them raged on, the Armageddon was unloading hundreds of projectiles and torpedos onto one of the bodyguard ships, with the lasers also lowering the shields rapidly on the Xyzox ship. The Xyzox ship began targeting the rapidly approaching Armageddon with its kinetic plasma cannons, but they stood no chance against the firepower of the Armageddon, as the shields of the Xyzox ship were soon lowered and the Armageddon's weapons began tearing through the ship's hull. Soon the Armageddon began slowing down and decreasing it's firepower, as it was now directly above the ship.
"Queesheer, prepare to fire the automatic railguns!" Johnathan ordered Queesheer, as Queesheer began working on his console, typing in certain commands.
As Qeesheer finished typing in the command, four slots opened up on the bottom of the Armageddon, and out of them came four massive deadly looking railguns that looked hungry. The four massive railguns slowly turned around to face the Xyzox ship, and as it finished, it began taking aim on the ship as the magnetic coils on the guns could clearly be seen charging up. During this, the Xyzox bodyguard ship was firing it's only functioning plasma cannon at the Armageddon in a futile attempt to save its self, as the shields of the Armageddon simply absorbed it. The railguns were finished charging and were ready to fire.
"Fire!" Jefferson shouted his order, and with that Qeesheer pressed the button that would fire the cannons.
The automatic railguns than began unleashing large and dense tungsten rounds that traveled at 6,000 miles a second and one railgun alone was unleashing 100 of these rounds every second. But with the addition of three other railguns firing at the same paste, the guns all combined were unleashing 400 rounds per second. Within a couple of milliseconds, the Xyzox ship had been completely ripped to shreds, as it's hull was breached with hundreds of tungsten rounds, the rounds slamming their way through like a knife through butter. Multiple explosions could also be seen on the surface of Xuwhypso below them, as the tungsten rounds hit the oceans and landmasses below like small asteroids. The Armageddon was flying away from the vessel as it exploded in a brilliant flash, making the Armageddon leave the scene with a glowing explosion on it's tail.
"Holy shit I saw that from here! Amazing kill Armageddon!" A human captain spoke to Jefferson through the channel with an expression of shock and awe.
"Thanks for the compliment Rhode Island!" Jefferson proudly thanked the captain by naming his ship, as he saw the name of the ship contacting them on a hardlight projection of a screen above one of his armrest on his chair.
The Rhode Island could then be seen flying below the Armageddon, as it could be seen through the window on the bridge, the name "U.S.S. Rhode Island" proudly labeled on the ships hull as it flew below. The Armageddon then returned to the fight, destroying a couple of small Xyzox Cruisers in its path. But right as the Armageddon was getting back into the fight, an urgent message was sent out to the fleet.
"Everyone, this is Ship Master Hoymuquar. This is a fleet-wide alert, the queen's ship has entered the fight, I repeat, the queen has entered the fight!" Narrise announced with a held back terror over the channel.
An absolutely massive saucer with red light scattered across its surface that was about five times the size of New York City could be seen rising up slowly from the burning planet below, with its now three bodyguards guarding the gargantuan vessel. The queen's vessel dwarfed every ship that was in the battle, making them look like tiny insects below a tyrant.
Instead of being absolutely shocked at the size and appearance of the ship, a look of confusion and surprise was plastered on to Johnathan's face. "What is she thinking? The Queen knows exactly how large of a target she is at the moment, and while she may have the most advanced ship in the entire galaxy, she's facing against the wraith of two million ships. She knows it's suicidal to stick out like this, she has to be attempting an escape." Johnathan announced through the channel, calmly making a logical argument.
"That you are right Commander, the queen's ship isn't joining the fight, it's leaving the fight! And it has a course set a couple hundred thousand kilometers away. We CAN'T let her get away!" Narrise spoke with an urgency that set everyone on edge, watching as the enormous ship made it's way away from the fight.
Analyzing the entire situation in front of her, she had to make a decision fast, because the Queen was very likely going to try and warp out of the system and get as far away from here as possible, and find some kind of place to rebuild. She couldn't send an entire fleet after her, every ship was needed here at the moment, and a small fleet would likely be massacred. Just then, a terrible thought entered her mind...a single ship with the firepower of a fleet, a ship that can stay hidden in the shadows and away from sensors, one of the most powerful ships in the fleet, the Armageddon.
She needed to send the Armageddon after the Queen...
Why was this logical and best course of action terrifying to her? Her best friend was the captain of that ship, and she will be sending him to almost a certain demise. She doesn't underestimate Jefferson's strategic abilities or capability to put something like this off...but the chances of him dying were greater then ever if she sent him on this objective...
But she had to, there was no other way...
Narrise took a deep breath of great reluctance, before exhaling quickly. "Captain Andrews of the U.S.S. Armageddon...throughout the war, you've proven just how powerful your ship is, and it's probably the best chance we got at destroying that monstrosity of a ship. Captain, you have new orders...pursue the queen's ship, and destroy it! If the queen is killed, then the entire Xyzox race will probably be freed from her control, and the war will end without the extinction of the entire Xyzox race." The amount of reluctance and almost...fear was obvious to anyone who was listening to Narrise's order.
Shocked, Jefferson looked over at Johnathan in the seat beside him, who returned the same look of shock that Jefferson had. The entire bridge crew had gone silent as well, as the battle raged on outside the ship.
"Without any assistance...? Ship Master, that's a suicide mission, even for the Armageddon."
"Jefferson, listen to me." Leaning forwards in her chair as if the man himself was in front of her, Narrise paused before continuing. "I need every ship here to win this battle, and sending any other ship or fleet after the queen would surely result in death. As for Commander Reed, don't worry about it, second in command will take control. But I need a single powerful ship that can jump the queen's ship, and destroy it, and the only ship that can do that is the Armageddon. "
"We'll do everything we can to inflict as much damage on that ship as possible before it retreats, but you have to trust me Jeff...and I need you to believe in yourself."
Jefferson could do nothing but sit there in silence and ponder the entire situation that had been laid out in front of him, and the words Narrise told him. Trust her...and believe in yourself. Could he actually do something like this? The Armageddon itself stood no chance against the queen's ship and those three bodyguard ships, if he was going to do this, he needed hell to rain its fire onto those four ships. But what choice did he have? He can't risk the queen getting away...if this was going to be his last rodeo, then so be it.
"All right Narrise...I'll carry out your orders. But I'm going to need as much firepower as possible to rain down on those four ships before they escape, otherwise, there will be no hope for me or my crew." Reluctantly, Jefferson agreed to Narrise's terms, looking over to Johnathan as he did so, who looked at him with an expression devoid of emotion.
"You got it, Captain. Task Force Alpha and Beta! Target all of your weapons onto the queen's ship and her bodyguard ships! Give them hell!" A powerful fervor was present in the woman's voice, as she gave her order.
"Understood Ship Master! Alpha is retargeting our weapons now!"
"Beta will rain hell onto the queen and fracture her ship and will! May the holy ones be with you, Captain Andrews!"
"Godspeed Captain Andrews, give them hell my friend."
"Godspeed to every single one of you! We'll make it back home, I promise." Touched by the wishes of the leaders of Alpha and Beta, Jefferson, with a bit of emotion cracking through his voice, sent his regards to everyone in the fleet.
"You better Captain, you owe this girl a dinner." With what many could mistake as a threat, Narrise asserted her statement with a powerful and emotional fervor, making sure she sets the tone across that that Jefferson, her best friend, didn't have permission to die.
Johnathan could only crack a rather wide and warm smile at hearing Narrise's silly yet sweet statement towards Jefferson, as the Captain himself couldn't help but crack a smile of joy, one that was filled with love...but reluctance.
"I've never left a girl hanging at dinner, and I don't plan to start now."
"You better not...stay safe out there Captain. May the divines be with you."
"You know I will, and the same goes to you, Ship Master." With a nice heartwarming way to end things, Jefferson then proceeded to close the channel, before directing his attention towards the queen's ship. She was moving away pretty fast, and the small chat didn't help save him anytime. He needed to get moving now. "Mr. Medvetz, pursue course, engage!" Jefferson ordered Tommy, as the young pilot then typed in the proper commands to pursue the queen's ship.
"Aye, Captain!"
The Armageddon turned around to face the gargantuan vessel that was the queen's ship, which was beginning to pick up speed and ramming through many Xyzox and Alliance ships, destroying everything in its path. The alliance ships began doing there best to avoid being hit by the massive vessel that was ramming thousands of ships like nothing. Soon after many casualties on both the alliance and Xyzox sides, the queen's ship finally exited the huge cluster of ships at high speeds, with the Armageddon hot on its tail. The queen and her bodyguards seemed to be unaware of the Armageddon's presence behind them, as neither of the ships turned around to target the ship.
Jefferson could only glare with a fire in his eyes at the sight of the queen's ship after that ruthless course of action she just committed, ramming through all of the alliance ships. He could care less about the Xyzox vessels that got hit, but that just goes to show how desperate she was to get out of there. As for Johnathan, his expression was blank, but he had that same fire in his eyes as Jefferson did.
Meanwhile, as the queen's ship was speeding its way towards its destination, thousands of projectiles and armaments coming from the direction of the moon began slamming themselves into the ship and the three other bodyguard ships. All of these rounds and explosives were dealing a good number of damage against the ships, the shields on them glowing vibrantly in response to the heavy and violent bombing. The streams of projectiles just didn't seem to end, and just kept hammering the ships ruthlessly, and the shields of one of the bodyguard ships eventually succumbed to the heavy bombardment, rounds now exploding against the hull and beginning to piece the hull. Alpha and Beta were doing their job well, and already it was going to be easier to take down these ships.
Suddenly, the young pilot spoke up. "Captain, the queen's ship is slowing down, she might- wait a minute...I'm detecting Dark Matter and Quantum particles emitting from the queen's ship!" Tommy announced to Jefferson, confused, as he typed in commands on his console.
"She's creating a portal to Subspace," In the heat of the moment, Jefferson stood up from his chair and began walking up closer to Tommy to get a better look outside the window.
"A Wormhole. I thought the Xyzox didn't possess that kind of technology." Johnathan pointed out, as he too stood up to stand beside Jefferson.
"I thought so too." Jefferson, without a presence of emotion in his voice, stated, as he continued watching the queen's ship.
Soon, the space in front of the queen's ship could soon be seen rippling like water after it's been disturbed, as the space-time continuum in front of the ship was being breached. Seconds after that, a white flash appeared in front of the ship, and soon a huge wormhole was opened in front of the ship. A huge whirlwind of blue energy spun around a white hole that leads to god only knows where in the universe. The queen's ship and her bodyguards began heading into the white hole that would lead them to their destination. While still under bombardment from the two task forces, a bombardment that was picking up in speed, the four ships entered into the huge wormhole, but just before it could close, the Armageddon rushed into the wormhole in hot pursuit of the ships. As soon as the Armageddon made its quick entrance into the wormhole, the breach in the space-time continuum immediately closed behind them...and just like that the space around where the wormhole was, returned back to normal...looking like nothing ever happened.
I apologize greatly for once again taking so dang long to update this story, let alone release a remastered version of the Prologue, but what can I say, 2020 happened. It's affected me personally as well, but I'm definitely hoping to get back into the game of writing! I really hope you've enjoyed the remastered version of the Prologue! I can't wait to do the same to the other chapters! I'm also hoping to update another one of my stories after a long time, so keep an eye our for that! If you have any suggestions on how I can improve even more, don't be afraid to send a review my way! Anyways, now for some information. The Armageddon was a ship designed for massive assaults on certain Xyzox fleets and planets, although it's mostly designed to bombard Xyzox mining world's and pretty much leave nothing standing. The Armageddon entered service in the year 2551 C.E. and has caused massive devastation for the Xyzox Collective in the following 6 years of it's service. The Armageddon looks a lot like the U.S.S. Vengeance from Star Trek Into Darkness, although minus the huge gap in the saucer section and the bridge is located strategically on the bottom of the ship. BUT, I'm thinking about making an entirely new design myself of the ship, to make it more unique and practical! Besides that, keep an eye out for more chapters!