Draco, Contrinus, Chip and Cydra are property of my co-author, Cydra.

Matt, his merc team, the NSC and related tech, the ancients/atlanteans and malefors dragon generals are mine.

CPS Chronicles

Soulless Abyss

Chapter 9: Darkest Hour pt 1

Xodrin taking command made a lot of difference towards the Heartless' battle tactics. Instead of doing sneak attacks, they were now amassing in large assault forces. His most recent target was the cheetah village Hunter called home and he seemed intent on making sure resistance was crushed quickly and efficiently.

Nearly a hundred Dark one warriors were attacking the village, ignoring everything Matt's crew could throw at them, be they armour piercing rounds or high explosives. Spyro and Matt had suffered trouble convincing them to leave...till the first dark one fighters had lit up the sky.

It was mercifully fortunate that they had been able to get the women and children away before the fighting started. However the evacuation was still not over and the Bladestorm only had so many dropships to spare. Families were being herded as fast as they could go onto a few dropships that could be spared, despite the flashes beyond the wooden walls and the constant machinegun and particle rifle fire.

"Isn't there some place the citizens could hide until more ships arrive?" asked Matt as he hurdled another plasma orb into the Heartless mass. His men were holding the gates as best they could but they only had so many positron lasers. "They cut off the waterfall caves the first chance they had." said Techo, adding "Where the hells Spyro?" A fireball shot down and hit a dark one warrior and Spyro flew overhead.

"Well, that's good, but we'll still need more firepower to get through all these things," said Techo. "We don't have it, thats the trouble." said Matt, before listening to his comm. "This is Eagle 2...coming in for the last load." said a dropship pilot. "About time...we can't hold the gates any longer." said a marine before a dark one warrior blew a hole in his chest.

Techo swore and said, "What about the blob brothers. Don't those key things cut through these things like butter?" "Numbers win every time." said Matt, before looking up to see Eagle 2's pelican dropship fly overhead. Unfortunately two dark one 'dart' fighters had also seen the dropship and fired a hail of bolts into its side. The pelican spiralled out of control to plow into a row of empty hutsd and explode. "Pull back...we can't hold the gates." said Techo as another marine was shot.

"We're losing too much ground," said Matt, "They'll have this village within an hour." "Shorter then that. We gotta go." said Techo. Spyro landed behind them. "There's more coming up the valley." he said. More fighters could also be seen in the distance, like a flock of bats.

The first warriors could be seen walking around the corner when the clouds spit and two golden orbs slammed down into them with a deafening explosion. The fighters approaching attempted to scatter as a storm of neon green beams sliced into them and a cluster of new fighters shot down to fire.

"Ok, we're not doomed," said Matt. Another hail of blasts cleared away the last of the cloud cover to reveal a combine ship hovering in place. "Can I rephase that?" said Matt weakly.

"Don't think you have to," said Techo, "Look!" He pointed at the side of the ship where a faction symbol was painted on. "The HQF...About smegging time." said Matt. Spyro looked to see several more dropships firing on the now retreating dark ones. "These are the guys Wilson called for?" he said.

Matt nodded and said, "And in the nick of time too."

The HQF troopers were quick to clear out the area and before long their leader wanted to see Matt and Chloe. "Commander Ashen. Heartless Quarantine Force." he said. The Lynches quickly noticed he was wearing a Combine naval uniform.

Matt had to remind himself that the HQF was a united force between NSC, Combine, and Splitter and he should shove down his personal feelings regarding the Combine. "Glad you could get here," said Matt.

"I'm glad to see you mercenaries could swallow your pride for once and call the professionals in for once." said Ashen, rudely. "Well, we were able to handle it before, but then the Heartless started amping up their numbers," said Matt.

"...And their firepower too from what my teams tell me." said Ashen. "I'm still going over the data but your friends should prepare for possible re-location." he added, in time for Spyro to hear as he came in.

"Wait, what do you mean re-location?" demanded Spyro. "Mr...Spyro is it? My men cannot deal with infections this big. I am not going to throw my men into a meat grinder." said Ashen, his tone growing ice cold.

Spyro glared back at him and said, "This is our home and we will fight to defend it." "Your people will be overwhelmed." said Ashen, adding "My men will re-locate you for your own good..." The tone of the last part indicated that it would be done regardless of the locals opinion on the matter.

"Hang on a minute," said Matt, "The keyhole here has been sealed. The Heartless can't completely take this place. There's a chance they don't have to move." Achen glared "The ones that escaped went somewhere." he said angrily before looking at Matt. "You're in enough trouble as it is."

Matt glared back and said, "We're not giving up yet. If you think it'll be too dangerous, fine. But it's not over until the fat lady sings." "My men have a duty to exterminate the heartless where they are found...we wouldn't have left anyway." said Achen.

Later at Warfang, the gang was not in a good mood. Not only did they have to be saved by the HQF, but Achen thoroughly chewed Matt out for 'letting this get out of hand'.

"So thats it...game over." said Techo, gloomily. He had been working on the data crystal they had recovered a week ago to try and work out what they had to do. "Its all bloody gibberish. Talking about lighting the ring of the outsiders at the ultimate price." he said annoyed. "Fat lot of help that gives us," said Chloe, "Why don't they ever speak straight?"

Matt sighed "Its probably an universal law." he said gloomily. "How are we going to stop the Heartless now?" asked Spyro, "With Xodrin probably commanding them, they're a greater threat than ever."

"Yeah..." said Techo. "Plus I don't like the sound of 'ultimate price' unless Matt has to finally pay for all the damages he's caused over the years." he added in an attempt to lighted the mood.

Matt wasn't even in good enough a mood to hit Techo. "We're royally screwed," he said, putting his head between his hands. "What about that prophecy thing? WARDEN says that whatever's appearing is a ring." said Chloe. Matt snorted and said "Great...dragons in space." sarcastically.

"Uh, wouldn't you count as dragons in space?" asked NegaMorph. Matt did blast Negamorph at this point and continued "Well...we have to at least give Ashen the data we do know...not all of it, of course but he has more experience with heartless." he said reluctantly.

"What makes you think he'll look at it?" said Contrinus. "Because despite being a smeghead, he's a professional...or at least I hope he is." said Matt. "So, in the case he isn't all professional, do we have a Plan B?" asked Chip. "We do it ourselves." said Matt.

Ashen was somewhat dubious about the contents of the data crystal, but decided it was worth investigating nonetheless. "It'll take time to translate, giving the ancient nature of these glyphs," he said.

Matt glared "We've done some of the translation." he said. Sshen waved a hand dismissively. "Yes, yes. From what you've translated it seems to say that ring station we passed on the way in is the key to this mess...and only a purple dragon can do it. My staff say it translates as 'dragon of destiny'."

"Uh, could you repeat the part about the ring station?" asked Matt. Ashen slid over a image taken from one of his fleet ships. "Its 12 miles wide from end to end. What data we managed to gather indicate its building a charge." he said before adding "Its an atlantean jump gate."

"You haven't finished translating it," said Matt. Ashen scoffed and said, "It's just some ancient mumbo jumbo, nothing worth looking at." "No, it's Ancient mumbo jumbo," pointed out Matt.

"Same thing. Have your team ready to leave. Their work is done and only bother me again if you have proper information." said Ashen, nodding to two guards.

A few seconds later, Matt was thrown out of Ashen's office. Morgan was apparently waiting to see Ashen and sidestepped Matt as he flew out. "That went well," he said sarcastically. "Eh, I've been thrown out of bigger jerk's offices," said Matt as he got back up.

"I could not help but overhear. This Ashen person is making a fatal mistake, thinking he can complete a puzzle with half the pieces." he said and stepped back from Matts glare. "Don't you start with the riddles." said Matt.

"If I were you, I'd go for the one person on this planet who'd know the most about the Ancients and their riddles," said Morgan. "And that would be?" asked Matt. "The current Chronicler," said Morgan.

Matt nodded "Worth a try...but I ought to go alone. Ashen wants me and my team out of here and if we suddenly all troops off to the middle of the ocean, he'll get suspicious." he said. "Yeah. Good point. Just cover for me, ok?" siad Matt.

Matt, in his dragon form, flew low over the ocean, the cliffs of the white isle looming ahead. He landed and counted under his breath, getting for three before four of the wyverns that the gang had met last year and helped re-locate to the white isle landed around him.

"Hold your fire, I'm here to see Ignitus," said Matt. "Oh...I remember you. The big mouthed crazy one." said one of the wyverns before leading the way. "Yes...I've been called that," said Matt, trying to retained his frazzled temper.

The wyverns led Matt to the temple that Ignitus, as the chronicler called home. "Mister Lynch. It is good to see you unharmed." he said pleasantly when matt had arrived. "I'd like to talk, but I think you know that it's no time for pleasantries," said Matt. "Indeed. Why have you come here?" asked Ignitus. Matt changed back to human and pulled out the data crystal. "Need a little help with this."

Meanwhile, Xodrin had been busy planning out a strategy to counter the new arrival of the HQF. "Darkans, This 'Quarantine Force' seems like it could be a problem...at least till the portal is opened. Our fleet should be able to handle them...but until then." he said, before saying. "I believe it is time we tested out the loyalty of our new 'help'. This 'Chronicler' could be a thorn if we don't remove him soon. Send someone to make sure he is no longer a problem." he said.

"I have the best soldier in mind for that," said Darkans. "Then do it. I have to prepare...oh and Darkans?" he said. "Yes, master?" said Darkans. Xodrin turned to glare "Don't screw up this time." he said coldly.

An hour later and Matt had a call from the gang. "Ashens finally noticed you're not here. He's gone ballistic." said Chloe. "Oh, what a shame." said Matt, sarcastically. "Better get back here anyways," said Chloe, "The Dark Ones are probably gonna try another attack soon."

"Ok...whats Ashen doing about the ring station?" said Matt. Chloe sighed "His so-called 'experts' think its a DNA lock the ancients made...and they reckon only Spyro can open or close it. Ashen didnt really give the eldars much choice, seeig as he's got a small army with him. I arranged for Techo to tag along just in case."

"Well, if Ignitus is right about that station, that's precisely what we don't want," said Matt. "I don't think Ashen'd listen if you brought him the evidence in the combine councils own writing." said Chloe before sighing. "Morgns taking some of his people up to that lunar colony we found the last time...see if he can't get some of those ships working again."

"I hope they'll get at least some of them working," said Matt, "We'll need all the help we can get." Matt suddenly heard Ignitus calling him. "I'll call back...I think we got something." he said.

"Matt, the prophecy you've managed to gleam is incomplete," said Ignitus, "There is more important things in it." Matt walked up "Tell me its good news." he said sighing.

"The prophecy you found was made by the chronicler of the time. It tells of how the dark ones would return through the device that banished them." said Ignitus grimly. Matt turned pale at those words and turned even more so as Ignitus continued "It also tells how the dragon of destiny will sacrifice himself to banish them again." Matt turned and headed for the exit.

"Where are you going?" called Ignitus. "To stop that jerk Ashen from making a terrible mistake," called Matt as he was about to open the door. However, the door was blasted off its hinges and into the opposite wall, with Matt still behind it.

Matt was thrown back and hit Ignitus hard. Three Dark one warriors marched into the room and began spraying energy bolts at Ignitus, only for him to make them stop dead in the air. "You are not welcome here." roared Ignitus.

"Ignitus, I'm hurt," said a cold voice. A second later, a dark dragoness stepped through the doorway and said, "I thought I was one of your favourites." Matt staggered up a little unsteadily as Ignitus backed up and then noticed why. It was Cynder, in her adult form. "Cynder? Why are you shooting at us? That hurt." he said.

"Oh really? It was only supposed to tickle," said Cynder sarcastically. "By the way...why are you hanging out with those guys?" he said, pointing at the warriors. It was worth noting that the explosion in Matts face meant he was a few seconds behind events. The four warriors aimed at him at that.

"These are my minions," said Cynder, "They follow all of my commands. For example: kill the biped." "Oh...well, shit." said Matt, before throwing a plasma ball at the first warrior and running down one of the book avenues with the warriors in pursuit.

Fortunately, the warriors had more sense to fire while they were in single fire, however the one in the front was taking potshots at Matt. "No shooting in the library!" shouted Matt.

He came to a stop at a dead end suddenly and turned to see the warriors aim at him. "I did say no shooting in the library." The warriors looked at each other and then aimed. Matt looked up and said "Sorry, Ignitus." and kicked one of the bookshelves, making about 500 books land on the warriors.

It should be noted that a bookshelf filled with 500 books would be enough to crush almost any creature. The warriors only barely survived, but they were completely pinned.

Matt walked by them. "Remember...libraries are dangerous places." he taunted then legged it when one of the warriors almost got free before another 20 books fell down.

Meanwhile, Cynder and Ignitus were circling each other. "Cynder, this is not the real you," said Ignitus, "Your true self is buried deep under your dark feelings and twisted memories. Look to your heart to discover your real self."

Cynder hissed and said, "I've got better things to do today than to listen to the prattlings of an old drake." Matt ran round the corner as Cynder and Ignitus lunged at each other. "Wow." he said, readying a low level plasma ball to try and stun Cynder.

Ignitus may be an old dragon, but he clearly hasn't lost any of his touch. If Cynder thought she was in for an easy victory, she was sorely disappointed. "You've improved since we last fought." she said, backing up. Matt was still trying to get a shot. "Whatever Darkans told you, its a lie. Spyro's going nuts worrying about you." he said carefully.

"Spryo?" snorted Cynder, "I'd like to show him his own lungs and I'll do so as soon as I'm done with this old codger." Matt was actually surprised at this and said "He misses you."

"And I miss him like a bad stitch in my side," said Cynder sarcastically, "Now stop your pathetic 'reasoning' and I'll get to you next." "I'm afraid the Dark Ones have too great a grip on her for words alone to overcome," said Ignitus. "Lets try plan B then." said Matt and sent a blast of plasma at her.

Cynder didn't expect the attack and was knocked onto her side. Matt looked at Ignitus. "Can you knock her out or something?" he said, using what looked like a field of plasma to hold her in place and struggling to do so.

"Indeed I can, but she won't wake for a while," said Ignitus. "Then...do it." struggled Matt before Cynder blasted the energy field holding her aside. Ignitus was about to start when Cynder spread her wings and leaped out the window.

Matt was about to change to dragon to give pursuit when the warriors from earlier came round the corner. Matt turned to glare at them, the rounds from their blasts bouncing around him and was about to use his fury when Ignitus beat him to it, sending an invisible shape at the warriors. When it hit, the warriors collapsed into dust, their armour covered in rust.

Matt paused and asked, "What did you do to them?" "The Chronicler has the ability to manipulate time," said Ignitus, "Mostly, it's for view parts of the past, present, and future to record, but it can be used offensively."

Matt picked up a twisted blaster. "I can see that." he said before remembering he had to call Ashen. However when he called, all he got was one of Ashen's fleet captains, an NSC captain called Robbins. Luckily, Robbins had obviously been born with common sense and listened. However he also had bad news...

Chloe hadn't been that successful with negotiating with Ashen. Best she could get was that Spyro would go to the ring station. on the Bladestorm. Spyro, unlike Cynder had not been into space before. Techo was checking the 'orders' they'd got. "Look. You'll be fine, mate." he said in a friendly voice. "I'll be tagging along. According to this you just gotta put your paw on the controls to turn it on and then I set it to explode."

"Are you certain that it will stop the Dark Ones?" asked Spyro. "Not at all," said Techo, "But we've got little choice in it." Chloe said "That idiot, Achen is convinced he's right...but unfortunately he's got more guns then us."

"If something bad happens to us and we somehow survive, I reserve the chance to kick his butt," said Techo. "Get in line, there's a growing list forming," said Chloe. WARDEN appeared. "We are at the location. I still feel we should relieve Ashen of his commend on the grounds that he is a moron." said the hologram in a serious voice.

"That list's bigger than I thought," commented Chloe. Spyro however was looking out the porthole. The ring itself was not technically a ring, with several spires sticking out from the main section and a small tower sticking out the top. Ashens voice came over the comm. "Miss Lynch? Is that wyrm ready to go?"

Chloe glared at the comm. and said, "Watch it, buster. It's a very bad idea to call dragons 'wyrms'." She paused and thought for a second and said, "Well, you could probably apply it Ghoulwyrm or Omnirus, but it's generally taboo."

"I don't care. Get that portal sealed now." said Ashen, before cutting the comm. Chloe looked to see several battlecruiser turning up. "Do you get the feeling that he's not confident in this plan?" she said. "He's probably less bravado that he tries to appear to be," said Techo.

WARDEN said "Stand by. The teleporter should be functional this time." Spyro and Techo exchanged a worried glance and Techo managed to say "We're happy to take the shutt..." before he and Spyro vanished.

They re-appeared in a dark room. Techo said "Are we still in one piece?" Spyro was shuddering for a second, but regained his composure. "That wasn't as bad as Volteer's teleportation spell."

"True...but you didn't see the tests earlier though." said Techo before walking over to a console and looking up and saying "Bloody hell." Spyro turned to see a large window showing the HQF fleet arrayed in front of them against the outline of the local star. "Now thats impressive." said Techo.

"Is it really that serious?" asked Spyro. "I dunno...but then again...heartless don't have armoured troopers and air fighters." said Techo, before pulling a panel off to reveal several crystals. "Lets see if e can get this turned on." he said.

Techo placed his hand on one of the crystals and it lit up, soon followed by the others.

Meanwhile, Matt had been able to convince Robbins to take him in his ship and the two of them were heading for the ring station. Robbins said "Ashen'll eat my captains license for this if you're wrong." Matt said grimly "I have this on good authority." A ensign said "We're arriving." A second later the ring blockade came into view...shortly followed by Ashens furious gaze on the comm screen.

"Robbins, what is the meaning of this?" snapped Ashen. "Captain Lynch has important informa..." began Robbins before Matt said "You can't send anyone to that ring."

"What's gonna happen? Is it going to blow up?" asked Ashen sarcastically. "Its a damn artificial Keyhole, you idiot." snapped Matt. A crewman leaned in on Ashen's end and whispered something to him. At the same time. one of Robbon's crew said "Sir...picking up an energy spike from the ring."

Techo jumped back as every crystal on the controls turned red. "Thats not good." The room began to shake as more lights lit up. "Definately not good." Repeated Techo. "You think we should leave now?" asked Spyro.

Techo reached for the return beacon, to teleport them back. However before he could reach where he had left it, a short from a power crystal cause d ashower of sparks to shoot from it. The shaking was now very violent now.

Matt watched as the ring station started to light up. "Oh, that's not good," he said. Robbins said "Commander, Ashen...do you see this?" Ashens voice said "Confirms. All fleet stand by." Chloe's voice chimed in. "We have to get out of here. 12 ships will not be enough..." before being cut off by Ashen saying "Stay off the comm." Suddenly a portal flared into life inside the ring, a multicoloured void visible beyond.

Matt turned to Robbins and said, "Which would you want to avoid least: Ashen's wrath or certain doom emerging from that portal?" "Ensign, stand by to jump to Avalar orbit on my..." he said and stopped. The same silence fell over the rest of the bridge crew as a huge ship slowly flew out of the portal. The ships design and hull made it seem worryingly organic, like it was less a ship and more a living thing. A second ship, resembling a nightmarish spider flew out and took up station beside the first...followed by another.

"Ok, I'm gonna jump the gun and assume those ships are hostile," said Matt. "Incoming comm...its fleet wide." said an ensign. A distorted voice came over the comm. "I am lord Xodrin of the Amethean Navy. You and your people have held our property for too long. You will surrender immediately or face the...brief consequences." said the voice.

Ashen's voice came back on. "I am Commander Ashen of the Heartless Quarantine Force. You are in violation of NSC territory. You will return to your dimension or face the consequences."

Xodrin's voice replied, "I believe you are confused about whose territory you're on. Allow me to enlighten you." With that, Ashen broke contact. On Ashen's ship a ensign reported "Commander? The ships are charging weapons." Ashen said "All ships: Fire at will."

At those words the entire fleet opened up with a hail of railgun rounds, missiles and the neon green beams of the present Combine ships. The weapon however all appeared to bounce off the shields of the new ships.

After a minute of this futile onslaught, the lead ships front glowed and a purple blast shot out and hit a combine ship dead center, plowing through its shields and blowing it apart. A second later a beam flared against the shields of the bladestorm and robbons's ship, the Abbadon.

Aboard Robbins ship, the overcharge caused several consoles to explode and several wall conduits to also blow apart. "I hate to be called the coward here, but I think this is a good excuse to retreat," said Matt.

"We lost the jump drive in that last hit." yelled a ensign as crew ran around attempting to put out the fires or handle the multiple damage reports coming in. Another beam sliced into a splitter consortium gunship, blowing it in half.

"Well find another way to get us out of here!" shouted Matt, "Reverse thrusters, escape pods, anything!" "Keep firing. If we don't stop them here, where will we?" yelled Robbins angrily. Another console exploded, killing the ensign at the controls.

The bladestorm was in worse shape then the Abbadon. "Get Spyro and Techo out of there, now." yelled Chloe, the bridge in chaos. WARDEN said "Teleporter array is disabled. Hull breach on Deck 15." he said in his monotone voice.

"Great, I suppose this mean we'll have to go out there and get them ourselves," said Chris. A crewmember said "Ma'am. Incoming ships." Chloe looked to see a jump point open and three ships similar to the Nighthawk appear and start firing on the four Dark one ships. Morgans holo appeared on the comm screen. "Sorry we're late. I had trouble getting some crew together and getting them to the lunar base." Chloe grinned "Better late then never."

Another HQF ship was blown up in a big explosion. "Looks like we've got our evacuation work cut out for us," said Morgan. A second beam hit one of the nighthawk ships, blowing it apart. Chloe noticed with horror that the new helps weapons were having as little effect as the HQF's.

Matt yelled over the noise at Robbins. "I'm gonna lead some starfuries...draw some fire so we can get outta here." Robbins said "Are you nuts? Starfuries'll have no effect against that."

"No, but they'll at least buy time to get us out of here," said Matt.

On the station, Techo and Spyro had been able to hack into the comm channels using the systems but could only listen. As they watched, two ships turned their cannons on the abbadon, blowing it in half.

"There's got to be something we can do to help them," said Spyro. Techo shook his head. "With what?" he said in a small voice. The dark one ships had stopped firing...no return fire was shot at them.

On the lead ship, Xodrin watched as the last HQF ship was disabled. "Hmm...see, my dear? Sometimes it pays to be on the winning team." Cynder smirked and said, "Yes, I was a fool to want to be with those fools." Cynder watched as a piece of wreckage flew by, revealing a ship with 'Bladestorm' on the side, still partially active.

Cynder opened her mouth to point out that Xodrin missed a ship, but something kept her tongue from moving. Something inside her that prevent her from speaking out against her 'enemies'.

Xodrin turned and said "Is there something?" Cynder closed her mouth for a second before saying "Its nothing...nothing at all." Xodrin smirked "Fine...it is time our race claimed a new home..."

End of pt 1

This doesn't look good. The Dark Ones are out and heading for Avalar with the intent of taking over. Is this game over for our heroes? (R&R please)

Disclaimer: The battle towards the end of this chapter was heavily inspired by the battle from the Stargate: SG1 episode 'Camelot'.