Chapter 12:
Samus's ship reverted back to normal space about ten thousand kilometers away from the opposing battle fleets that were squaring off in the orbit of Earth. Immediately upon emerging from subspace, her gunship's sensors immediately detected the presence of the two fleets, that she believed at first were still one, and the defenses of Earth. She soon detected, though, that several ships were opening fire on each other. She soon saw the lights of starfigher engines flitting about the massive fleets, along with scarlet and sapphire lights erupting from the starfighters as they engaged in dogfights with each other. She then saw several lances erupt from one of the defense platforms that was surrounding the blue jewel of Earth. The lances tore apart a Federation Olympus-class battleship in a single volley, though it was unclear if the ship or its shields had suffered earlier damage. She wondered what was going on that was causing Federation starships and platforms to open fire on each other. Samus then told Adam, "Adam, scan the fleets and the planet, as well as its comms. I want to know why Earth's Defense Grid is opening fire on the Earth." Had Elric started an invasion of Earth already? she wondered.
Adam performed the scan and after a couple of seconds, answered, "Comm signals indicate that Elric has started an invasion of the Earth. His primary targets appear to be Washington D.C. and the Radio Tower in New York City. So far, Elric's fleet has not opened fire on the surface of the planet, for I am detecting no damage to its surface. However, I am detecting a gap in the Earth's planetary shields."
"Where?" the hunter blurted.
"In Shield Grid One, right over Washington D.C.," Adam responded. "So far, there has been no surface fire from the planet in response, though that is likely due to the fact that the planetary shields are still up in most other sectors. However, Elric's fleet seems to focusing almost exclusively on the fallen shield grid sector.
Samus did not like the sound of that. She had dreaded that Elric might have learned of the information that she possessed, but she did not expect him to launch a full-scale invasion of the planet. "Can you identify which ships are Earth or allied with Earth and which ships are Elric's?" the bounty hunter asked.
"Yes, lady," Adam answered. Samus then focused on the HUD and soon, the ships and fighter blips changed color to correspond to whether or not they were friend or foe. The white dots on the HUD indicated friendlies, along with a green outline on the window screen, and the black dots represented enemies, depicted with a shade of red over the starships and fighters on the window screen. Blue flashes of light immediately flashed past the cockpit and Samus looked out the window. Three Stiletto-class starfighters were closing in on her. She believed that they were Elric's forces, but even so, she did not wish to fight them if she could avoid it. She raised her ship's shields, charged its energy weapons, and opened a channel to the fighters, crying, "Hold your fire! I'm not an enemy! My name is Samus Aran. I'm a bounty hunter in the employ of the Galactic Federation. I have come to Earth carrying important information, not just for the planet, but for the entire Federation."
Another shot flashed past her cockpit. "You will power down your engines and arrest your momentum immediately," a voice sounded over the speakers. The voice sounded reptilian so Samus immediately ruled out the voice belonging to an Earth fighter. "Lower your shields and power down your weapons now or we will destroy you."
A cursory scan of the fighters indicated that their weapons were hot and they were locking onto her ship. Despite the fact that she suspected that a fight would be unavoidable, she at least partially obeyed the pilot's order and powered down her weapons to standby mode rather than have them be at full charge. Still, in standby mode, she could quickly charge them should the Federation, if they were Federation, fighters decide to fire on her and engage her in battle. She had no intentions of lowering her shields, though. "Lower your shields and surrender yourself or be destroyed," the voice came in over the comm, more forcefully this time.
"Only if you put your own weapons into standby mode," she countered.
"Final warning, lower your shields or we will open fire!" the pilot growled.
"Why? What crime have I committed?" Samus demanded.
"You are in possession of illegal information. You will surrender now or die. We have been authorized by Chairman Elric to kill you if you give us no other choice," the pilot warned.
Samus grimaced. Elric knew the information that she had obtained. That meant that he must have had a spy in Admiral Dane's ranks. "I cannot," Samus answered calmly. "The information that I carry with me is vital to the security of the Galactic Federation. I cannot surrender to you or to anyone else, for that matter."
"Then you leave us with little choice," the pilot finished as several bursts of energy flashed by Samus's cockpit.
Samus immediately performed evasive maneuvers and attempted to evade the enemy fire. Several more pulses of energy zoomed by the ship before she felt a slight shudder throughout the ship. She checked her readouts and found that her shields were now at ninety-five percent. This puzzled Samus since she remembered the Stilettos having far more powerful energy cannons. Perhaps these were of an older model, for she quickly remembered that the Stilettos were gradually being phased out by the newer and superior Katana-class starfighter in some fleets. So far, her scans showed no Katanas coming her way, though she detected quite a few of them near the mass of starships holding position near the hole in the planetary shields.
Another shudder reverberated throughout the cabin. Checking her ship's status, she found that her shields were down to eighty-seven percent. This last blast had been more powerful. Another hit, and she soon saw that the shields on her ship were at fifty percent. Darn, she grimaced. That was a missile hit. She could not take too many more of those. Knowing that a Striker-class gunship was mainly designed for use by more than one person, she told Adam, "Adam, link yourself with the weapons system of the ship. I'll fly the ship and maintain control of the primary forward cannons. You take control of the retractable turrets. If you can, try to target shields and weapons only. If reasonably possible without endangering us too greatly, avoid destroying the pursuing fighters, but do your best to neutralize their threat. If that means destroying them, don't hesitate to do so."
"Understood, Samus," came Adam's response.
The gunship's turrets then deployed. A pair of linked energy cannons rose from the dorsal and ventral surfaces of Samus's gunship. The cannons swiveled back towards the three Stilettos that were chasing Samus as she accelerated towards the fleets, and the Earth's atmosphere. The pilots of the Stilettos apparently had not been briefed on the modifications that the bounty hunter had made to her gunship, for they seemed to be surprised and were slow to react when Adam fired a single volley of energy blasts towards the lead fighter. Being careful to target one of the engine pods of the fighter, rather than the fuel tank or the main hull, the scarlet energy bolts unleashed by Samus's gunship merely burned a series of holes into the engine pod located on the wing of the starfighter. The shields of the Stiletto flared with the first two hits, but the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth hits managed to score direct hits on the engine pod unimpeded. The damaged pod began to spark and soon there was an explosion, which sent the fighter careening into a second Stiletto. The two fighters collided, causing the shields of the second fighter to flare for a brief second before being overwhelmed by the momentum of the other fighter. Soon, both fighters were careening out of control through space. Samus noticed two new readings as the pilots of both fighters managed to eject from their doomed craft. Samus said a silent prayer of thanks that the pilots were alive, and would likely remain that way. That just left one more Stiletto to deal with.
The third and final Stiletto would not let the downing of his two wingmen go unavenged, though. The third fighter came at Samus with a renewed determination and viciousness. Blue pulses of energy lashed out towards Samus's gunship as the final fighter fired on her with reckless abandon. Samus almost smirked. This pilot was letting his emotions get the better of him. And this was something that Samus would eagerly take advantage of. She performed a series of complex evasive maneuvers, putting all of her training both as a member of the Galactic Federation military and police force, as well as being a bounty hunter, to good use, avoiding each and every one of the energy bolts that the pursuing fighter was unleashing upon her. She watched as the fighter was accelerating in order to close the gap, coming in at blistering speed. She then used the enemy's speed to her advantage as she abruptly decelerated her own gunship. The enemy pilot was not expecting that maneuver, for he did nothing to slow down. As a result, the Stiletto zoomed past Samus's gunship and using her superior reflexes, Samus opened fire with the primary forward heavy laser cannons the instant the fighter was in the gun sights. Two scarlet energy pulses lanced out towards the Stiletto and scored two direct hits on the starboard engine pod of the fighter. The first laser blast collapsed the shields of the Stiletto while the second burned a hole straight through the pod. The pod immediately began to spark and the fighter listed to the right before stabilizing itself. However, the fighter was no longer able to maneuver properly, for several of the starboard maneuvering thrusters had been damaged by the energy blasts and the sparking of the engine pod. As it was, the Stiletto was now out of the fight and Samus could concentrate on the capital ships that were between her and the planet.
She then focused once more on her journey to Earth. After Adam proclaimed, "All clear, lady. I'm detecting no more enemy fighters in your flight path," she flew straight towards Earth. She checked her sensors and found signs of fighting near the Capitol Building in Washington D.C., not far from where the Space Pirate frigate had appeared. She then opened a channel to Earth, stating, "This is Samus Aran calling Earth, do you copy?" she spoke into her comm transmitter. She then anxiously waited for a response. Eventually, it came.
"Samus Aran?" a voice exclaimed. She recognized the voice as belonging to Councilman Colin Williams. "You've come. I'm sorry for the hot reception, but we are having issues with Elric up in orbit."
"I understand," Samus responded in a calm tone. "I have the information I obtained on Space Lab Moreau. It is of grave importance to the Galactic Federation that must be transmitted to all worlds simultaneously."
"What does the information contain?" a second male voice asked. Samus knew the voice as having belonged to President Richardson of Earth.
"I don't want to say over an open line, especially with Elric's forces so close to the planet," the bounty hunter answered. "Will you grant me clearance to land on world?"
"It's that sensitive?" Richardson commented. After a few seconds, he spoke again, "Alright Samus. Clearance granted. But be warned, we have a force of transports and starfighters headed our way launched by Elric's fleet. They appear to be headed towards the Radio Tower with a few of them headed towards us as well."
"I copy," Samus replied. She then cut the comm line and proceeded to fly her gunship towards the planet. She then scanned for the transports. She quickly found them, having already entered the atmosphere of the planet. She quickly noticed the debris of starships drifting all around the opening of the planetary shields as Elric's fleet exchanged fire with the Planetary Defense Grid and the Earth defense fleet. So far, one defense platform had suffered damage with two of its forward weapons down, but the others continuing to unleash torrents of energy fire upon the invading ships. She also saw the debris of several automated defense turrets and transports, as well as the wreckage of no less than a dozen capital ships. She figured that the ships had been shields for the transports until they reached the atmosphere, when the danger posed by unleashing powerful weapons fire like that of the platforms became too dangerous for the planet to risk.
Red alert klaxons went off throughout her cockpit cabin. Several of Elric's fighters had turned around and were quickly closing in on her position, rocketing through the atmosphere in order to meet her. The bounty hunter quickly switched to her ship's cluster seeker missiles and proceeded to lock onto all twelve of Elric's Stiletto-class starfighters once they were within range of the missiles. A single joystick with a red button on top and a trigger button on its front emerged from the piloting console and Samus grabbed hold of it. As the stick rose, the weapons bay of the gunship opened and prepared to release two cluster seeker missiles from the bay. Once they were within one hundred kilometers, she pushed the top button twice, and unleashed two cluster seeker missiles. The missiles rocketed from Samus's gunship and streaked towards the dozen Stilettos that were closing in on her. When the missiles were within a few kilometers of the fighters, each missile promptly split off into six smaller missiles. Each of the six smaller missiles then homed in on its own target, a single enemy starfighter. The starfighters immediately performed evasive maneuvers, attempting to avoid the incoming missiles, for each mini-missile still had enough power to destroy a Stiletto-class starfighter without a problem. Despite the juking and jiving of the Federation starfighters, the missiles were easily able to match their maneuvers and quickly close the distance with the fighters. The missiles flew right up the fighter's tailpipes and detonated, blowing apart the starfighter. She did, however, manage to catch a glimpse of a pod rocketing away from the starfighter immediately upon its destruction, indicating that the pilot had managed to eject safely. One by one, each starfighter exploded in a magnificent display of fireworks and metal. Within ten seconds, the entirety of the enemy fighter squadron had been destroyed.
After their destruction, Samus continued her trek towards Earth. With Elric's forces occupied fighting Earth's defenses, she managed to make her way past the warring fleets uncontested. A few stray blue energy bolts flashed past her cockpit, but they were not close enough to cause her any real worry. She was still careful to not let a stray energy bolt strike her starship and end her mission prematurely, though. She glanced out the cockpit and watched as Elric's forces unleashed torrents of energy fire upon the defense platforms and starships sealing the breach in the planetary shield. Red and blue energy bolts and lances were hurled at the platforms and opposing ships. The defending ships and platforms countered with red beams and pulses of energy, and they were by far getting the better part of the exchange. Despite Elric and a group of transports and fighters managing to breach the shield and preparing to land on the planet, none of the other transports that had launched from Elric's fleet had managed to breach the defenses and assist the first force of invaders. Any transport that had tried to fly past the defenses had been instantly vaporized by the incoming fire of the defenders. The same fate came to any enemy starfighter that attempted to go down and cover Elric's landing.
Samus, however, had no problems flying past the defenses of Earth. If anything, the defenses provided covering fire for her, for any missiles that were unleashed by enemy Stilettos that came towards her were immediately shot down. In addition, any enemy fighters, transports, and capital ships that tried to come after her also met the same fate. Within seconds, Samus had entered the Earth's atmosphere.
As Samus's ship entered the atmosphere, she decelerated her ship so as to control her descent. Her shields then flared due to the friction between her starship and the air of the planet. Within ten seconds, Samus broke through the cloud layer and immediately banked her starship so that she would be headed towards Washington D.C. While the information that she held against Elric was vital to the Federation, and Earth, she suspected that there was an important meeting going on in Washington if both President Richardson and Colin Williams had been present in the Capitol Building. Samus took sensor readings of the city and found that there was still fighting going on inside the city, as well as on its outskirts.
Samus glanced down at Adam and told him, "Adam, scan the transports. I want to know if they're carrying any tanks or other armor support for Elric's forces. Also, scan the fighting forces so we can identify who is a foe from who is friendly."
"Yes lady," Adam quipped as he began his scan. While he was scanning the ships, Samus switched to her gunship's air-to-surface missiles in order to take out any enemy tanks that may have been deployed. After a few seconds, Adam reported back to Samus, saying, "Samus, I have finished my scans. The IFF systems on your HUD have been adjusted accordingly. In addition, those transports are delivering armor to the battlefield. Given the number of ground troops present in this wave, if the transports are allowed to deliver their cargo, then they will manage to take the Capitol Building."
"Thanks Adam," she said. She then began targeting the transports with her air-to-surface missiles, feeling that she would need them in order to quickly penetrate the shields of the transports. After a second or so, her ship's targeting computer had locked onto four of the transports. Once the tone became solid, she pushed down on the firing button on her ship's control stick once. Her internal weapons bay opened and four missiles leapt from the underside of her ship. Despite being designed as air-to-surface missiles, they were still able to target slow moving, or large, aircraft such as the transports. The missiles did not have to perform any intricate maneuvers in order to strike the four transports. The missile struck the engine pods of the transports and detonated. Smoke emerged from the new holes that had been punched into the engine pods and the hulls of the transports. The transports began to list downward as their engines and repulsors began to lose power and give out, no longer able to keep the craft aloft. The ships fell towards the ground, with the crews frantically pushing every ounce of energy into the ventral shields, hoping that the shields would be able to absorb some of the impact and keep the transports from breaking apart upon impact. They would soon find out whether their shields would be sufficient to save the crews of the transports when the ships struck the earth. Dirt and debris were thrown into the air upon the ships' impact with the ground. The shields of each ship flared for an instant before giving out on two of the ships. On the ships whose shields failed almost instantly, the hull bent and warped upon making contact with the ground. The ship's skin began to crack and even break apart. If any of the transport crews managed to survive, the equipment inside was likely not so lucky.
As for the other two transports, they fared a little better. Their shields had managed to hold out longer and collapsed after they had already absorbed most of the shock. As a result, those two ships managed to land on the ground much more softly than the other two. As a result, the ships suffered minimal damage to their hulls and the equipment that they carried and while they were no longer able to fly, they could still deploy their cargo to the battlefield.
Samus, seeing that two of the transports were still intact, relatively speaking, then banked her ship back towards the battlefield and began to assault the ground forces that were emerging from the transports, particularly the two Landmaster tanks that were now headed towards the front lines to support the others. Landmasters? In Elric's army? she thought when she caught sight of the tanks. She had heard that the Landmaster tank was a mainstay of the Cornerian Army, not the Federation military forces. "Adam, scan those Landmasters," Samus directed. "I want to know what variant of tank they are."
"I'm on it," the computerized voice of Adam Malkovich answered. As he was performing his scan, Samus moved a little closer to the tanks. Apparently, this caught their attention, for the two Landmasters immediately swiveled their turrets towards her gunship. Once they had drawn a bead on her, the tanks opened fire. However, Samus was already in the process of performing evasive maneuvers, so when the tanks opened fire, she managed to avoid taking a hit. It took a second or two for the cannons on the Landmasters to charge so they could fire a second shot. That was when Adam made his report, "Scan complete, Samus. Those tanks are enhanced Landmaster tanks with enhanced shielding. They are identical in design to the variants used by the Star Fox Team. These versions were particularly designed for use as anti-aircraft tanks. They can't charge a homing laser or use Smart or Nova Bombs, but their main cannon is stronger than it was on previous models. They can also hover, and perform a barrel roll in order to generate a shield that deflects energy weapons."
"I got it," Samus confirmed as her ship danced away from another two energy blasts. She checked her weapons loadout and saw that she still had four remaining air-to-surface missiles, and four air-to-air cluster seeker missiles. She wanted to save the air-to-air missiles for dealing with the Stilettos that were undoubtedly going to be attacking the other Earth forces. However, she knew that four missiles might only be enough for dealing with one of the tanks. The other, she would have to take out using her energy cannons. She proceeded to deploy said cannons and had them target the nearest of the tanks. She needed to make sure that these reinforcements did not reach the front lines, but she also did not want to have to kill Federation soldiers. Even though these soldiers were likely Watchmen, it pained her to open fire on the tanks. Four missiles erupted from her weapons bay, along with a volley of energy bolts being fired from her main energy cannons. The missiles rocketed towards the farther Landmaster and converged on it, detonating upon impact. A massive cloud of smoke and flame obscured the Landmaster as the missiles detonated and Samus lost the tank inside the cloud. She checked her targeting sensors and found the red blip disappear from her sensors, indicating that it was either destroyed, or so severely damaged that it was mission-killed. Samus's focus then shifted to the remaining Landmaster.
Her ship continued to launch a barrage of energy fire upon the second Landmaster, inflicting severe damage to the tank's shields. The tank desperately performed a series of barrel rolls that generated a shield that deflected some of the beams away from the tank, and sometimes into a line of Watchmen soldiers. The tank also took the opportunity to fire on Samus's gunship, but it was unable to score a hit, Samus using her ship's speed and maneuverability to great effect. After several passes, the tank's shields were gone and the bounty hunter knew that she had the tank right where she wanted it. One final volley of scarlet energy fire was all it took to destroy the tank. Her energy bolts burned their way through the hull of the tank, tearing hole after hole inside the tank until it practically fell apart. Samus did not stop to admire the scene, though. She merely continued to turn her attention towards the squadrons of Stilettos that were coming to try to attain air superiority over the battlefield once more.
She performed an Immelmann turn and plotted an intercept course of the incoming flight group of Stilettos, numbering over thirty-six aircraft. Samus switched to her air-to-air cluster seeker missiles and programmed the missiles to target twenty-four Stilettos, one for each missile of her four remaining cluster seeker missiles. Once the data was entered into the targeting computer, Samus let fly with her remaining ordnance. Her weapons bay opened and disgorged four cluster seeker missiles. The missiles, still attached to the main missiles, flew straight towards their targets, which were still ten kilometers away. Once they were within a kilometer or so, though, each of the missiles separated into six smaller missiles and streaked towards their designated Stiletto. As with the previous squadron of Stilettos, each of the smaller missiles was still capable of taking down a Stiletto on its own. The pilots of these Stilettos, however, were far more alert, and as such, they began to perform evasive maneuvers much sooner than the previous squadron had. Still, it would do them little good, for the missiles had been designed to take out fast, maneuverable targets, even other missiles, themselves. As such, the evasive maneuvers merely prolonged the dogfight for a few more seconds, the time it took for each missile to catch up with their target and detonate. The shields of the targeted Stilettos were instantly overwhelmed and direct damage was done to the hulls of the fighters, often directly in the engine pods. As such, each of the twenty-four targeted fighters went down, smoke trailing them as they crashed into the ground. Fortunately, though, most, if not all, of the pilots had managed to eject from their doomed craft and parachute to the ground safely. Samus made no effort to finish off the surviving pilots, leaving their fates in the hands of the Earth and Federation military forces. Killing such pilots as they were falling from the sky would be tantamount to murder in her book, though she would not have hesitated to kill them had they been Space Pirates.
Samus soon turned her ship towards the remaining twelve Stilettos. As she went to engage them, though, she her sensors displayed the arrival of a squadron of Katana-class starfighters. These fighters would prove to be more than a match for the Stilettos, so Samus decided that her skills would be needed far more on the front lines than back here. She then proceeded to fly straight towards the front lines, where the remnants of the initial attack wave was fighting a losing battle against the Earth and Federation military forces. Still, there had to have been some reinforcements, for a couple of tanks were driving towards the Capitol Building, blasting at anything that got in their way. The Federation tanks were holding their own, but Samus noticed that some of them had already lost their main weapons or were immobilized due to enemy fire. Since the tanks that Elric was using were merely Federation main battle tanks, she knew that the cannons of her gunship would be more than sufficient to take down the Watchman tanks. She zeroed in on one of the tanks and promptly opened fire, raking it with energy bolts. The bolts sliced through the armor of the tanks like a hot knife through soft butter. One of the bolts happened to puncture the tank's fuel tank, for the vehicle immediately went up in a geyser of smoke and fire. The bounty hunter then turned her attention to the other tank and unleashed a stream of energy pulses against it as well. Just as with the previous tank, this tank was also taken out of the fight. However, Samus's blasts had not punctured this tank, so instead of exploding in a magnificent display of fireworks, this one was merely reduced to a metal box with numerous holes in it.
What Samus did not immediately notice, though, was the fact that the driver of the tank was not killed in its destruction. Despite the wound in his stomach that the Nalar driver had suffered, he still found the strength to lift a sniper rifle known as a Demon Sniper Rifle. The Demon Sniper Rifle, however, was no ordinary sniper rifle. It was a weapon utilized by the Star Fox Team on occasion and a number of them had been acquired through secret deals, as well as having been bought from the Star Fox Team directly. With all of his remaining strength, he leveled his Demon Sniper Rifle towards Samus's gunship, which was headed to the Capitol Building. His peripheral vision showed that most of the fighting had died down and that his comrades were all either dead or had surrendered to the Earth forces. He would never surrender, though. He knew that Samus could not be allowed to divulge the information she had obtained, whatever it was, to Earth or the rest of the Federation. To that end, he lined up a shot with Samus's gunship and fired, a single blue lance of energy erupting from the barrel of the rifle. The beam streaked at close to the speed of light towards Samus's ship. The last thing the Nalar saw was the beam piercing Samus's gunship amidships, for the rest of the Earth and Federation tanks opened fire on him, annihilating him, the remains of his tank, and his Demon Sniper Rifle.
The cabin of Samus's gunship shook violently from the Demon Sniper Rifle's hit as sparks erupted from the pilot's console. Only Samus's suit protected her from being killed by the explosion. Adam's voice soon sounded over the din, yelling, "Damage to the main fuselage! We've lost engine power, repulsors are at ten percent! We're going down!"
Samus then gripped the control stick and input a series of commands on what was left of the pilot's console. The landing gear deployed out the bottom of the ship, three wheeled struts lowering much like it would on an old Earth airplane. "Samus, what are you doing?" Adam blared. "The landing gear disrupts the aerodynamics of the ship."
"I know," Samus responded loudly. While it made her ship drop that much faster, it also would allow her ship to come to a rolling halt, rather than losing the landing pads of normal gunships or scrape off the ventral outer hull of the ship.
Her ship quickly descended to the ground, moving farther and farther away from the frigate. Samus's damaged sensors were unable to pick up two blips headed her way as the ship was falling from the sky. Her ship eventually touched down on an unoccupied road. Smoke rose from the ground as the wheels on the bottom of her gunship touched down. The tires managed to absorb most of the impact so the ship suffered little damage upon landing. The ship continued to roll as the small road ended and a dirt path began. The ride over the dirt path was noticeably bumpier than the rolling on the road, but the dirt did more to arrest the gunship's momentum and eventually, the damaged gunship came to a halt.
As soon as the ship ceased its momentum, Adam came in over the speakers once more and reported, "Power supply down to less than ten percent. Weapons are down and shields are gone. Engines have suffered catastrophic damage."
"What about the disk with the data on Elric?" Samus asked.
"It's fine," Adam replied.
Samus then leaned down and pressed a green button on her damaged console near the disk drive. The round disk was immediately ejected from the drive and Samus stuck the disk inside a small pouch that she stuck to the hip of her suit. Adam then told Samus, "Samus, I'm downloading myself to a small floating drive and projector. It should fit on your free arm. With it, you can integrate me into your suit should you need to."
"Okay," Samus responded. Adam then proceeded to download himself into the mobile drive and Samus attached him to her arm. Once that was finished, Samus opened the top hatch on her gunship. Samus then jumped out the hatch and onto the top of the gunship.
Meanwhile, near a tall, thin metal tower in New York City, Elric and the rest of the Watchmen disembarked from their transports and made their way towards the Radio Tower. The security officers standing on the perimeter of the grounds of the Radio Tower held their hands outwards and called, "Halt. Identify yourselves!"
Elric stepped forward, removing the helmet from his suit of armor, and proclaimed, "I am Elric, Chairman of the Galactic Federation. I have need of the Radio Tower at once. Stand aside and allow me to use it."
"Earth does not recognize your authority Elric," the lead security officer replied after holding up a small square sensor and scanned the Chairman. "We are under strict orders to not allow anyone access to the Radio Tower without proper authorization and a predetermined password."
A dozen Watchmen then stepped forward and leveled their assault rifles at the security officer. "Here's my authorization," Elric declared haughtily. The dozen Watchmen then opened fire on the security officer and his comrades. Energy sheathed bullets tore through the light uniforms, and the flesh, of the security officers and the officers quickly fell to the floor, numerous bullet holes marking their bodies. "And my password," Elric stated mockingly at the dead officers. While the faces of the Watchmen were hidden from view, the Watchmen were clearly smiling and even laughing at the events that had transpired. Disguised as armored Watchmen, Aglara and Aramon watched the events and grinned. They had not realized that the Watchmen were so ruthless and capable of evil. They merely thought them to be mindless servants of Elric who served whoever was in charge. These events may have proved otherwise. With that, Elric and his small army proceeded to march towards the Radio Tower. Little did he know, though, the true purpose of the help the Magic Lords were providing. They merely grinned as they were now one step closer to accomplishing their goals. Once they were finished, the heroes of Earth would be dead, even the strongest of them, along with the rest of humanity and the Pokémon of Earth. And should the Chosen Four reappear on Earth, then they would be trapped on a dead world.
On the other side of the planet, Cyrus's helicopter flew towards the Spear Pillar, on the top of Mount Coronet. Onboard the helicopter, Cyrus went over his final plans for releasing the Pokémon that he knew as Dark Arceus. As he was reading some of the layouts and plans of the Hall of Origin, the pilot began to look as if he was concentrating on something other than flying. Cyrus looked over to him and asked, "What is it?"
"Sir, I'm receiving a report from Elric. His fleet has arrived over Earth, though Earth's defenses are currently fighting off his forces. Elric, himself, though, has breached the shield and has entered the atmosphere."
"Is he coming our way?"
The pilot shook his head. "No sir. He's headed towards the Radio Tower."
Cyrus put his fingers to his chin and stroked it. Why would Elric be going to the Radio Tower? There's nothing there for him, Cyrus thought. He then asked, "Are any of his forces headed our way?"
The pilot shook his head. "No sir. The ships that were not headed towards the Radio Tower were headed to Washington to reinforce his decimated Watchman assault forces from their initial attack on the Capitol Building." The pilot was about to refocus his attention on getting to the Spear Pillar when he heard another message coming through over his headphones. Once the message was finished, he informed Cyrus, "Sir, Chairman Elric's forces in Washington D.C. have been annihilated and he's requesting reinforcements to help deal with the defenses of the city. In addition, he's ordering us to Washington D.C. at once. What should we do?"
"Continue on towards the Spear Pillar," Cyrus answered curtly. "I couldn't care less about Elric and his wish to conquer the galaxy if I tried. It won't even matter once we are finished at the Spear Pillar." That's because there won't be a galaxy left to live in, Cyrus thought darkly. The pilot then resumed paying attention to the scene ahead as he approached the Spear Pillar.