Twenty-eight
Castle Mystacor
Planet Eternia
6 September 2017
Sorceress awoke finding herself laying on her right side up against War Wing's left foot. The fire had burned itself down to ashes, and at some point someone had poured water liberally on the ashes to extinguish any embers buried within. Yawning and stretching, she shoved herself to a sitting position. After a brief scan of the area, Sorceress found him standing about twenty yards away looking eastward. Predawn light was breaking over the forest. She understood what he was doing; she had often done that herself. In the time after the Great Unrest and the rise of Skeletor, Sorceress would often go up to the top of the right tower where her private quarters were located and watch the sunrise. There was something about greeting the new day that always brightened her mood. She few things more lovely than Nature's beauty, regardless of where it was found.
Silently, Sorceress got to her feet, wrapping the blanket around her to ward off the chill, and walked over to stand beside Adrian and watch the dawn.
"They say love is strange," Captain Majourny observed from the Eternia's forward ramp.
"If you know what you're doing," Colonel Markson said.
The pair had been conversing about the upcoming video conference they were due to have with Commander Mundu when Jo-jo spied Adrian picking out a spot to watch the dawn. And then the Sorceress joining him.
"Think those two will ever come to their senses?" Markson asked.
Jo-jo shrugged absently. "Might have to hit them on the head a few times with a 2x4."
Grinning, the colonel declared, "I can arrange that."
"You and Jake would enjoy that too much."
Jon turned to look her straight in the eye. "And you wouldn't?" When she didn't answer, he added, "That's what I thought."
The pair entered the starship, making their way to the briefing room where the battleplan would be finalized to finally complete the mission that had brought them to Etheria. Jon had no idea how Commander Mundo was going to react to what Adrian had told him the previous evening. Jon could scarcely believe it himself.
Only Adrian would come up with something so radical, Jon thought, settling himself in a seat. Jo-jo settled into her seat at the head of the oval table, Jon to her right. Major Oran arrived a minute later, escorted by one of the guards that had been posted at the boarding ramp.
When the major was settled, the screens set in the table lit up. A comm connection was established with the orbiting battlestar and the face of Commander Mundu filled the screen.
"Well, I suppose this is it. Most objectives have been accomplished, except the main one," the commander said, opening the discussion.
"No more Horde warships to attack?" Jo-jo asked innocently.
Mundu's lips twisted into a ghost of a smile. "Well, we couldn't very well just sit up here orbiting the planet while you had all the fun down there."
Jon thought briefly of the people they had lost so far on this mission. It wasn't what he would call 'fun' by any stretch of the imagination. But then, the Val-kyrie were a strange lot. Their doctrine for battle reminded him of the Klingons from Star Trek. If Gene Roddenberry had only known.
"We will have to pull out all the stops on this one," Captain Majourny said. "Our dropships will get our remaining equipment and personnel to the site of battle. Eternia will fly cover along with whatever Bladewings you can spare to engage the Batmeks sent out to fight us."
"I understand you plan to draw out Hordak. The plan could work, but-" Mundu pointed out "-only if he is so engaged that he doesn't realize what you intend until it's too late to respond."
The major spoke up. "After discussing the plan at length with Colonel Markson, we have decided that I will lead the penetration team while he commands the overall operation."
Unlike other Val-kyrie warriors, Mundu and her crew, like that of the Battlestar Logoss, did not suffer from the inherited prejudice against males in combat. Oh, they still had their moments. Who wouldn't? But they were part of the growing movement to embrace a more open-minded philosophy regarding other races in the galaxy. They would need allies if they had any hope of ending the reign of Horde Prime's empire once and for all. And they would remain staunch allies of the new Guardian Force, the rise of whom they had been waiting for almost a thousand years.
Jon was unsure about his next reveal, mainly because he did not believe it himself, but pressed on. "Adrian has promised us some backup."
Mundu raised an inquiring eyebrow. "Indeed?"
Jon explained what had happened with the first missile War Wing fired off after – whatever had happened to both AI and operator when the group of civilians had been vaporized by the Monstroid. War Wing had received a confirmation signal the previous evening. So, unexpected backup would be available when called upon. Jo-jo appeared just as surprised and Jon had been. The commander, however, was not.
A moment of silence passed before Mundu spoke. "Commander Harana will be pleased to hear that the virus works under real-world conditions. It will only last until the Monstroid main computer eradicates it from its memory. Until then, you will indeed have some powerful backup. Hordak might even show an emotion or two!"
It was no secret that Hordak had rarely shown any emotions since being remade with nanotechnology. Some said all emotion had been eliminated from his mind. Whatever the case, he and his followers were sure to get a shock.
The major, however, was not so easily impressed. "Is he crazy?"
"The jury is still debating that one," Jo-jo deadpanned.
"Does anyone ever answer 'yes' to that question?" the colonel asked, totally serious.
The finer details and potential timing were discussed for another thirty minutes before the meeting broke up. Like most battles, this one would be very fluid. It hinged on stopping the command tank the Defiant had spotted heading for the eastern border of the Fright Zone. Hordak and Shadow Weaver would be riding that beast. Stopping it would be the priority, since it contained enough firepower to level Castle Mystacor all by itself.
Bringing the tank to a halt would be a tall order. While the tank did not have a great deal of speed, it made up for it in armor. Bladewings could not penetrate that armor with the heaviest internal weapons they could carry in atmosphere. For some reason Val-kyrie scientists had yet to discover, external ordnance pylons placed too much stress on the airframe. Thus, the torpedoes used against capital ships could not be carried into the atmosphere to fire at the tank.
What the Bladewing squadrons would do is use their most powerful missiles against the armor plates protecting the track assemblies the war machine rode on. Mundu's crew had projected the likeliest path Hordak would take. Mines designed to be set off only by heavy vehicles were already being emplaced by a group of sappers sent out just before dawn by Major Oran. The hope was for the sappers to complete their mission before the Horde realized what was happing and altered course.
A sizeable force of tanks, hunter/killer machines, a few anti-aircraft tanks to counter the Bladewings, and scores of troopers and drones, marched or rode on troop carriers toward the impending battlefield.
That force would be reaching the eastern edge of the Fright Zone in about four to five hours; everything had to be in place and ready for what Colonel Markson hoped would be final battle for this mission.
Before signing off, Commander Mundu wished them luck: "Good hunting!"
Considering what they were going to face off against, the hunting would be good, indeed.
Fright Zone
Eastern Border
Modulok's latest achievement slowly trundled along on a direct heading towards the only major pass through the mountain range that formed the eastern border of the Fright zone, located at the southern end the Mystacor forest. The border was capped at the southern end by Talon Mountain and on the northern end by Scorpion Hill, home of Scorpia.
Officially, it was called a mobile command center. Unofficially, it was a more of a massive tank over a hundred yards long and thirty yards wide. It rode on four massive track assemblies protected by armor plate. Anti-aircraft batteries protected all approaches. A primary plasma energy cannon was mounted on top facing forward, capable of hurling a blast at fortifications well over a kilometer away. Smaller laser mounts protected against enemy soldiers and vehicles. The bow of the beast was a departure from the usual practice of putting Hordak's face on the front of vehicles; it was all angles to deflect incoming energy beams, blunt explosions from missiles and laugh off most ballistic weaponry.
The tank was supported by a small fleet of troop transports, mobile anti-aircraft guns, tanks, autonomous anti-personnel batteries and missile carriers. Total number of vehicles, not including the command tank, numbered at just over one hundred. The ground force was backed up by a fleet of fifty Batmech fighters. A formidable force, to be sure.
Hordak stared impassively out the viewport at the barren landscape slowly rolling by. He was not concerned about the coming battle. The enemy had limited resources with which to throw into the fight. The orbiting battlestar did not worry him, either. The Val-kyrie could be ruthless in battle, but they would not execute an orbital bombardment with noncombatants in the line of fire. That hadn't been true back in the old days of the Great War. Even when they took out Boss Navarro, it had been an incredible act of impressive skill and restraint executed with surgical precision. No. They would not launch an orbital attack upon him even with only military targets present. In his opinion, they had gone soft over the years. The Horde would never be so weak. He would show these outlanders what real warfare was all about.
Shadow Weaver monitored two sensor boards, looking for something specific. She refused to explain further to the troopers manning the consoles, demanding only that they inform her the instant they sighted the Guardian battlesuit called Falcon. She had provided all the information Modulok had dug up the day before.
The Earth forces were spread out on either side of the pass, anxiously awaiting the moment the Horde force would surge within sight. Hawk and Blitzkrieg were deployed, to the north and south respectively, among jumbles of boulders large enough to conceal the fifteen-foot battle mode forms. Being a close-range combat suit, Hawk was not armed with any ranged weaponry. So Jeromy had loaned her one of his laser rifles. The job for Hawk and Blitz was to take out the mobile anti-air guns so the Val-kyrie pilots could make strafing runs at the Horde formation lumbering toward the pass.
Once the mobile gun had been taken out, they were to maintain a low profile until the command unit was disabled; then they were to rejoin the other Guardians in the pass. The plan was to engage the robot troops and destroy as much of the army as possible before they had to break up to engage their assigned targets. Adrian would take on Hordak. Falcon would occupy Shadow Weaver. At Adrian's order, Hawk would disengage from the fighting to join up with Major Oran's strike team and penetrate the Fright Zone's main complex to recover the Power Swords. The timing was deliberately fluid, but no plan ever survived first contact with the enemy.
Adrian watched the approaching formation with trepidation. Sensors scattered around the boulder fields gave a clearer picture of what was heading toward them. Colonel Markson was adjusting the overall strategy while Adrian concerned himself with his part of the battleplan.
Adrian and Jake were seated in the war machine nestled in a rock formation just off the direct line of march of Hordak's command tank. The trepidation came from the amount of firepower rumbling along to the south of the massive tank. If any of them spotted them, the game would be up. On a secondary screen, he called up a map of the allied force deployment. Hawk and Blitz were in position and the first wave of Bladewing fighters flew a holding pattern a hundred miles out, awaiting word to begin their attack run.
Keying open the preset channel to Blitz and Hawk he ordered, "Jeromy. Sonya. Weapons free. Fire on the targets as they come to bear. Remember, Sonya, move after each shot to make it harder for the Horde to zero in on you."
The pair acknowledged the orders. Moments later, the mobile anti-aircraft guns began dying. Spectacularly, in some cases. Units began scattering to put distance between themselves, trying to limit exploding vehicles taking out others around them.
Gun ports opened on the sides of the massive command tank. Tracking systems tried to zero in on the attackers, but they moved too quickly for each weapon's computer to lock on. The primary computer took over and began laying down a barrage of laser fire meant to try and contain the two Guardians.
Red energy bolts stabbed into the rocky desert terrain. Explosions blew geysers of debris into the air in an impressive display of computer control. However, the battlesuit AIs were much faster. They were also capable of anticipating the volleys, to a certain extent. The result was a pretty fireworks display, but none of the enemy fire got anywhere close to hitting the mark.
The Horde army rumbled on undeterred.
Once the demise of all the specialized anti-air guns was confirmed, the call went out to the orbiting Bladewing squadron. Fighters broke formation and turned westward. The craft tore across the sky like a flurry of arrows all pointed straight at the Horde army. Anti-aircraft fire blazed into the sky to throw up a curtain of energy and metal for the enemy fighters to fly into. However, Horde computers were not well suited for multitasking of this type. Computers designed and programmed for the sole purpose of fighter suppression were deadly. Main computers like the one running the command tank could vomit an impressive amount of fire into the sky while shooting at ground targets and navigating all on the fly, but the offensive and defensive fire suffered because the computer had a finite amount of resources to devote to all the operations. Forcing the tank to divide its concentration turned out to be the best way in which to attack it.
Captain Sithas' plan was simple: Attack from several points at once so that the tank's computer did not know the true attack from the diversionary ones. She directed the attack from the battlestar now in stationary orbit over the Fright Zone. Clouds of smoke still poured out of the hole in the ground that used to be the planetary cannon. That smoke partially obscured the battlefield, but the warship's sensors could peer through them without difficulty.
The first squadron roared straight in from the east. Missiles dropped from internal weapons bays and darted away, leaving smoke trails miles long. Once the weapons reached two miles away from the launching craft, their internal guidance took over, directing them the rest of the way to target.
Explosions rippled across the formations north of the command tank. While the missiles were powerful enough to take down aircraft with limited armor, the air-to-ground ordnance could only pack so much explosive; heavily armored vehicles like the mobile cannons and the heavier 100-ton tanks shrugged off the assault. Light tanks, hunter/killer anti-personnel guns and armor personnel carriers all died or were gravely damaged by the missile strikes. The strike was followed up by one strafing pass using railguns, plasma blasters and immobilizing ion blaster bolts finished off already savaged units and damaging more.
Another orbiting squadron roared across the battlefield out of the northeast, almost precisely two minutes later, executing a missile strike before breaking away to the west. The two squadrons met up and charged toward the massive formation of Batmeks moving in to take on the Val-kyrie craft. With the two strikes coming in swiftly from lower altitudes, the Batmeks flying high cover for the massive ground force had had no chance to dive on the enemy in time.
Bladewings were not equipped with sensor cloaks; the equipment was too bulky to fit into the airframe and still have room for working weapons. Speed was their advantage. In an aerial dogfight, speed, or energy, was life.
A third wave, Sithas' real attack, approached from the southeast. Guardian blitzkrieg had switched from the mobile anti-aircraft guns to any unit Jeromy identified as posing a threat to either the Bladewings or the war machine.
Adrian and Jake could feel the rumbling vibrations of the approaching command tank through the floor of their vehicle. As it neared, the pair could hear the chattering of the massive track links churning across the sandy ground. On a secondary screen, Adrian watched the enemy formations gradually close in on a red shaded area -the field mined by Val-kyrie sappers earlier. It measured a hundred yards across and almost a mile wide. The mines were set to explode only when a certain weight passed over them -mainly, all the units weighing in at twenty tons or more. The war machine was parked in a craggy crevasse east of the danger zone, running roughly southwest to northeast. It was the perfect place from which to launch their attack.
The goal of the approaching third wave of fighters and the war machine's coming strike was to breach the thick armor protecting the tank tread assembly on the machine's starboard side, disabling it.
A volley of over two dozen missiles soared over the landscape, leaving an intricate design of smoke trails in the air. These missiles were homing in on a specific spot, illuminated by a brave pair of Major Oran's soldiers using portable laser targeting equipment to guide the weapons in a precision strike.
The law of averages dictated that some of the missiles would miss the target. Plasma blasts peppered the armored hull. Most struck the bands protecting the track assemblies. Six slammed into the hull itself. Two took out two batteries; one laser mount and one anti-air gun. The forward controller team stuck their heads up and used electro-binoculars to survey the damage.
Just then the army rolled into the mine field. Sharp cracks punctuated the air. Geysers of sands rippled across the mine field as the formation of tanks, carriers and other vehicles rolled onward. Secondary explosions followed on the heels of the initial blasts from compromised ammunition bunkers and engine cores.
The team focused their attention on the command tank's track assembly. The range was long, but they could still see the affected area. They reported a possible warp in the armor up toward the front.
Jake locked the location into the fire control computer. Adrian ordered the team to find a deep hole, jump in and pull the earth in after them. Powering up the war machine, Adrian waited tensely as the command tank lumbered past the crevasse. Both men stared up through the top of the canopy as the massive product of Horde science rumbled by.
"Oh, my…" Jake whispered.
"Yeah," Adrian added.
"And we are going to disable that?"
"We do have help," Adrian said, throttling up the fusion core. The target area rolled past their location. "Time to go to work. Grab your ass!"
Jake had just enough time to clench up before Adrian threw the vehicle into motion. Twin rooster tails spewed behind them as the rear tires fought for traction. They burned through the loose upper layer of sand to the harder stuff inches below the surface and dug in. The war machine shot forward; going from zero to almost sixty mph in a matter of seconds.
Hordak twisted to observe the secondary screen where sensors displayed the new target, even as a fourth wave of Bladewings lined up for an attack run. The enemy's plan was now clear. Their goal was to disable the command tank by whatever means necessary. The mines had done nothing to the armored beast's belly or the tracks, which were massive armor plates themselves. The thick armored hull shrugged off the insult from the wave of missiles. The armor box protecting the track assemblies was not nearly as thick and was therefore vulnerable.
He did not concern himself with the other units disabled or destroyed in the mine field. They could be replaced. His concern was for getting through to the enemy formation at the pass and obliterating them before moving on to Castle Mystacor. But first, he had to get past these annoying bugs from a backwater world.
"Target sighted, Milord," a trooper reported. The robot was already in the process of getting a target lock.
"Destroy it," Hordak answered absently. He saw the little machine tearing across the landscape alongside the tank. It put on some impressive speed and zoomed away.
Laser fire lashed out at the flying machine. Several shots were on target but were deflected away by an angular bubble of armor plates materializing around the vehicle. Missiles could not penetrate the shield while plasma and laser bolts deflected away harmlessly. An impressive system, to be sure, but hardly a threat to the massive Horde tank.
War machine sped away from the target, gaining distance for the rocket and missiles to get a proper lock on the target area. A sand dune loomed ahead of the speeding machine, and Adrian headed straight for it.
"Adrian, no!" Jake cried. Normally, he was the one clamoring for action. But only when he was the one in control.
Five seconds out from the dune, Adrian ordered the computer, "Shield down!"
The armored dome rapidly disappeared, section by section, leaving the war machine open to attack. Adrian hit the dune at almost eighty miles-per-hour. War machine launched into the sky, trailing a tail of sand and dust just ahead of a flight of four missiles. The missiles exploded the dune under the hurtling machine, the force of the detonations adding to the vehicle's inertia. Gabe's team had made sure the vehicle was perfectly balanced for making short jumps; the added inertia from the exploding missiles almost upset that balance. For a sickening split second, Adrian feared they were going to go tumbling nose over ass end. The vehicle balanced out at the last moment before coming down. Hard.
After bouncing along several times and then settling out, Jake growled, "Where the hell did you learn to drive?"
"Richard Petty Driving Experience," Adrian growled back.
"Should have gone with Stevie Wonder. Or maybe Ray Charles."
"Or maybe I should get a new front-seater," Adrian suggested, grinning. He turned hard to the right, skidding through the maneuver, and wove his way through the startled Horde forces. "Maybe the Sorceress would be willing to fill in until I find a permanent replacement."
"Now you're just being nasty," Jake said, snapping off missiles and rockets at enemy units too slow to get out of the way.
Adrian skidded to a halt, threw the driver lever in reverse and slammed the throttle lever full forward. The war machine leapt as he struggled to keep the nose pointed at the oncoming tank; Jake needed a clear line of sight for a full alpha strike. By skill or just good fortune, Adrian found that sweet spot where the Horde gunners could not get a lock on the war machine, which gave Jake extra time to line up the strike.
"Any time, Rockwell," Adrian advised him.
Jake ignored the urging. If there was one thing his fellows respected, it was Jake's sense of timing. His accuracy on the firing range with the machine's weapons was unmatched. Jake had a feel for when to fire. He would not be rushed. The angle Jake was waiting for appeared and he smoothly, calmly pulled the trigger on the right-hand yoke.
Plasma-tipped hellfire missile ripple-fired from the rails. The fabrication system activated automatically to replace the expended ordinance. An agonizing ten seconds later, a fresh set of missiles was ready to launch. Because Jake still held down the trigger, the weapons ripple-fired at the eleventh second.
Plasma bloomed against the warped armor protecting the tracks as it continued to distort under the unrelenting assault. After the third wave of missiles, the armor plate could take no more abuse. Missile number twelve caused secondary detonations that blasted huge chunks of armor away from the assembly. The track was now dangerously exposed.
Hordak did not rant and rave any more when he grew angry. Instead, his voice dropped several octaves. That was when he was at his most dangerous. And his minions had to tread carefully or else possibly end up dead. With frightening calm, he ordered the troopers repeatedly to destroy the enemy machine before they disabled the mammoth command tank.
It was all for naught.
Jake released the right trigger and mashed the trigger on the left control yoke. This one was set to ripple-fire the 2.75-inch rockets in the drums mounted below the hellfire missile mounts. These were not the normal weapons held there; however, Jake and Adrian had figured that the track and wheel assemblies would be just as hard to damage or destroy as it would be to breach the protective armor to begin with. They'd decided to dispense with the normal warhead and create what was essentially a solid steel shaft with a motor on the back. One standard missile would hardly do a lick of damage to the beastly tank. Twenty-four steel shafts per pod, with two full pods, ripple-firing, replenishing and launching again, however, were sure to do considerable damage.
Like jamming up the wheels.
It took two volleys with a lot of unguided rocket shafts literally bouncing off the tank's armored hide, but enough got through the breach to cause havoc. Heavy alloy wheels suddenly locked up. The tread links jammed and snapped instantly. The command tank continued travelling straight for another few seconds before running off the end link and digging into the desert floor. Adrian continued backing away from the monster machine as it veered to the starboard side. It ground to a halt at an angle to the pass just a few miles away.
Watching from his APC, Colonel Markson breathed a sigh of relief. It had taken a lot of effort to stop that beast of a tank. He knew the tank alone carried a sizeable armored robot force inside. The other carriers were already disgorging their robot troops, the line starting to reform for a renewed march toward the pass. A ramp dropped from the front of the tank and lines of drones, troopers, and the newer mark four trooper exited the vehicle.
Hordak still had a powerful force despite having lost a little over twenty percent of his battle strength. The real battle was about to begin.
Adrian slowed the war machine to a halt, facing the huge tank. The silence that followed shutting down the reactor was almost smothering. It was as if someone had hit the 'pause' button to create a lull in the battle.
"Now what?" Jake asked, breathing hard. Both had an adrenaline rush from the fierce, almost desperate, action to stop the massive tank.
"Take a deep breath, let it out and calmly exit the vehicle."
Jake frowned. "We're not using the war machine?"
"Her job is finished. Time to show Hordak what we can really do," Adrian answered. He reached down, flicked the release and swung the side door up.
Both men climbed out, fully conscious of the massive Horde army a scant quarter mile away. Doors closed, War Wing accessed the remote-control system, started the fusion reactor and sent the war machine speeding off to the rear area.
Helmets enclosed their heads. Gloves slide out of the gauntlets to protect exposed hands. The pair separated by a dozen paces before transforming their respective suits to full battle mode. Once done, they waited for the Horde to make the next move.
Adrian's idea in standing out here like this was to challenge to Hordak to come down from on high and engage them directly. He had admitted to not being sure the creature would take the bait, but he was betting on a certain honorable streak in Hordak that would prevent him from turning down a challenge to single combat. The old Hordak, the one She-ra and her allies had been used to confronting, would have cut and run to save his own skin when expedient. The new Hordak, post failed confrontation with Horde Prime, lacked nearly all emotions and was more ruthless than ever before, but he did engage beings in single combat even though the outcome – his victory – was always assured. At those times, the enemy won a grudging respect from Hordak, though the foe was usually dead and thus beyond knowing about it.
Robots had been disgorging from the massive command tank for several minutes, including a squad of ten Monstroids, but there was no sign of Hordak or Shadow Weaver. Adrian was sure they were on the tank's command deck but had no incentive to come out and play.
Adrian played the next card that was almost guaranteed the bring the pair out. Opening a channel to the other five battlesuits, Adrian issued to command they had been waiting for.
"Guardians, assemble."
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