Big thanks to appleduck and The messenger for the great comments. Believe me when I say we are just getting started with this story, took me a while to revise it, but here is chapter 4!
There are others, others Numbah 362 doesn't even know about- Numbah 274, Chad
KND Moonbase: Bridge [Operation Commencement]
Nigel and Rachel rushed onto the bridge, the rest of sector V as well as Numbahs 86, 141 were already there when they arrived. "Whats the situation, are we under attack?" asked Rachel as she jumped into her command seat. As Nigel stood next to Rachel he noticed an above average amount of operatives on the bridge, many of which he didn't recognize. Puzzled, he turned back to the action at hand.
"Sir, I don't really know whats going on" replied Numbah 321, a very confused expression on his face. "I was just reading some comics when the long range sensors picked up another anomaly moving into the solar system, then the sensors on every ship in the fleet went haywire and started sounding all kinds of alerts and alarms for no reason."He turned around in his seat, looking extremely confounded, "I just don't know what to make of it." Rachel turned to Numbah 141, who Nigel noticed, looked awfully uncomfortable for some reason. "Well Numbah 141, your operatives designed a good deal of the new systems in the fleet, what do you think?" The admiral shrugged and said, "could be a glitch, I can't say anything for sure until we get some techs to check out the sensor systems."
As he finished, one of the unknown operatives walked up to him and whispered something in his ear, the admiral instantly went pale and turned on Numbah 362, "its probably an issue with the new upgrades we installed, nothing to worry about, I'll order the defenses to stand down." His tone was stricken, Nigel noticed, he looked like he was under a lot of stress, nothing like the composed and totally in control commander who had spoken to him in the med bay. Rachel noticed it too, "something wrong Numbah 141?" She sounded suspicious, the admiral just shook his head in a noncommittal way, "no! Nothing at all. The alert just has me a little on edge, I'll go take care of that right now." He made to leave, but the other operatives on the bridge blocked his path. He glared at them, "out of my, I have business to attend to!"
The operative in charge of the group shook his head, "sorry sir, commander's orders." Schmitt glared at the operatives as Rachel gave them a nod of appreciation from her command throne. She slowly stood up out of her chair and stared hard at the admiral, "Jaque, what's going on here?" Nigel noticed the admiral's jaw clench at the use of his first name, Rachel noticed that as well and her stare turned into a fierce glare, "Numbah 141, as your Supreme Leader, I order you to tell me what is going on!"
The admiral sighed and hung his head, the operative who had spoken to him before walked up and said, "times up sir, we have our orders." Rachel cocked her head at the group of operatives, "actually, I don't remember giving you guys any orders..." The operative chuckled as did the rest of his comrades, "sorry ma'am, but you're not our commander." Nigel saw it too late, he was already moving as the operative raised his S.C.A.M.P.P. and fired a laser burst straight into his chest.
The impact knocked Nigel across the room, where he crashed into a row of control consoles before slumping to the ground. The other operatives around the room were already moving before Nigel even hit the floor. Numbah 35 ran forward and yelled, "Kids Next Door BATTLESTATI..WHOA!" he hadn't even finished his battle cry before a dozen more S.C.A.M.P.P. blasts flew from the line of operatives behind the admiral, several kids went down instantly and a few tried to return fire, but the ex-operatives were crack shots and before long every single one of the bridge crew besides Numbahs 362 and 86 were down for the count.
All the while the admiral had been yelling, "CEASE FIRE! CEASE FIRE", now he turned on the line of operatives, "I gave you men a direct order", he yelled in a furious voice. The leader of the operatives shrugged and said, "sorry sir, like I said, commanders orders, all personnel are to be neutralized before operations commence." An irritated look flashed across the admirals face as he said, "fine, half of you go man those stations, prepare for phase 2 and order all the Moonbase defenses to shut down, use Numbah 35's command codes, the rest of you keep your weapons on those operatives." The troops snapped to obey his orders, as the admiral turned back to the beaten operatives he said, "one more thing, camos off, no need to keep this charade up any longer." Instantly each of the operatives assisting the admiral were encased in a small aurora of light, which quickly dissipated, revealing a whole new picture all together.
Where two dozen KND operatives had once stood, now stood a line of stout and serious looking soldiers, wearing what looked like military grade combat armor, with some serious looking hardware hanging off their combat belts. The admiral himself had also changed, his uniform became more pristine and professional, all gold thread and straight white fabric, with flat epaulets on his shoulders and black, shiny boots. His new look, coupled with the new aurora of command authority that seemed to radiate from his figure, gave him an extremely professional and military like appearance. He crossed the room with fast, determined steps, moving towards the holo-projector that held a constant 3D image of the Earth. Rachel was trying to help Nigel up and sector V had expressions on their faces that ranged from confusion to shock.
Only Numbah 86 stood her ground, blocking Schmitt's path. She had her M.U.S.K.E.T. out and aimed squarely at the admiral's chest, "I always knew there was something fishy about you", she said, her bearing spoke of determination and the admiral stopped to consider her. "I don't want to fight you Fanny", he said, a hint of regret in his voice, "this can all go peacefully if you just put the gun down and get out of my way." Numbah 86 scoffed, "fat chance traitor, the only place you're going is the decommissioning chamber", she said it with a lot of arrogance for a sole operative facing down a line of trained riflemen. The admiral narrowed his eyes, "is that so?" He flung out his hand and to everyone's amazement, Fanny's M.U.S.K.E.T. flew out of her hands and right into Schmitt's.
He smirked, "well I think you'll want a new sidearm before you do anything like that." Numbah 86 could only stare, dumbfounded at him as the admiral walked right past her. Rachel had gotten Nigel on his feet by then and they to watched the unbelievable scene, since when can he use the force thought Nigel. The admiral was at the comms station now, he pushed Numbah 35's unconscious body out of the way before grabbing the broadcast mike, "this is Grand Admiral Schmitt to all USF forces, phase 1 complete, commence phase 2." Outside the Moonbase, small flickers of light appeared as hundreds of ships jumped into the system at faster than light speeds, the admiral stared out the window, hands behind his back as a massive armada began forming up around the Moon. He frowned suddenly, and a look crossed his face as if he had forgotten something, meanwhile Nigel, with Rachel supporting him, limped over to stand beside him and upon seeing the massive fleet, they gaped in dumbstruck awe.
"Wh.. wha... what is that?" Nigel blurted out, surprisingly the admiral turned to him and replied in a confused voice, "thats what I want to know." Going over to the center of the bridge, he grabbed an orb from his belt and pressed a button on it, tossing it to the floor. Seconds later, the orb burst to life and a life sized holographic image of another kid formed around it. The admiral immediately started barking at the hologram, "Arthurs what the hell is going on here, I thought your force was going to be jumping in on the far side of the planet, why are you surrounding the Moonbase? This fleet is three times the force you said you'd be bringing, and where did you get all these old ships from?" The holographic kid, crossed his arms and stared at the admiral.
He wore a uniform similar to Schmitt's but with green and red colors instead of white and gold. The general, Arthurs, replied smoothly, "the plans have changed admiral, we had to 'reconsider' our approach vector, I'm sorry you weren't informed." Schmitt crossed his arms, "that still doesn't explain where you got the ships from, Grand General or not if I find out you went behind my back and pillaged from the reserve flotillas, I'm going to be very displeased." Arthurs scoffed at the admiral, "and what are you going to do about it... wait, is that what I think it is?" A secondary display winked into existence on the hologram, displaying the KND fleet coming into range of the Moonbase. Arthurs' eyes narrowed, "well Schmitt you have been busy, hardly enough to stand a chance against us, but this still reeks of treachery. When the High Council hears about this they'll..." He stopped, he'd noticed Nigel and the others lined up on the far side of the bridge.
Arthurs smirked and looked over at Numbah 1, he walked forwards and the hologram mimicked his action, crossing the bridge toward the group. Arthurs stared at Nigel for a moment, then said, "so this is where you ended up, for our top agent you sure don't know how to plan an escape. I'm surprised you evaded capture for as long as you did, but you see", he said, gesturing out the window, "despite your meddling the invasion force is still here and your efforts have been in vain." "What the hell are you talking about Arthurs, your agent? He was a Confederate agent." Arthurs looked back at the admiral and grinned, "come now admiral, it wouldn't take a genius to figure out whats going on here." The admiral thought it over for a second and then disbelievingly stammered out the only answer, "you.. you're a Confederate agent!?" "BINGO" said Arthurs, Schmitt still didn't seem able to comprehend what was happening, "but.. you've been a general for years! You fought for the Federation in the Great War! Why would you betray us now?!" "There's a reason they call it a deep cover agent", replied Arthurs nonchalantly, "but we can't have you knowing about that can we."
He raised his arm and the line of soldiers shifted their aim to point at the admiral as well, Schmitt stared in disbelief before turning back to Arthurs, "well I guess I wasn't the only one playing the long game then, I'm surprised you got this many agents inside the Federation." "Agents", scoffed Arthurs, "who said anything about agents, these are 100% pure Confederate soldiers, hell this isn't even a Federation fleet, though we did acquire a sweet amount of tech from them, courtesy of my efforts." Arthurs focused his attention on Schmitt now, narrowing his eyes as he said, "you've come full circle now, haven't you Schmitt, but this time I'll be sure to finish what we started."
"Could someone please tell me what the heck is going on around here," demanded Nigel, neither the admiral nor the general took any notice, Schmitt had his eyes narrowed and he growled out every word as he said, "I will not allow this Arthurs, there's a reason why we never came back, not that I expect a post born like yourself to understand!" Arthurs seethed, "you damned veterans and your pious bullshit, I've had it up to here with you old fossils beating us over the head with your grand reasoning for giving up and running away! The only reason we never returned is because you never had the stomach to finish the adults when we had the chance!"
The general flourished his arms indicating the surrounding area, "I won't make that mistake, today will forever be known as X-day, the day of our great invasion, the day we finally wipe those arrogant adult nations out of existence and subjugate old Earth once and for all!" Arthurs walked over to window as he continued, "history, both Federation and Confederacy, will always remember me as the commander who finally brought about the end of the adult menace!" "All this just to kill some worthless adults", spat Schmitt, "you're nothing but a deluded fool!" Arthurs laughed, "oh thats where your wrong admiral, so very wrong. That line of thinking is what lost you the war in the first place! We're not here to just kill adults, we're going to bring them to heel, finally subjugate them under our rule, as it was always meant to be!"
Meanwhile outside the Moonbase, the KND fleet was beginning to respond to the Confederate invasion force, small specks of light flashed from their guns, lasers and missiles leapt out of their weapon ports towards the larger Confederate ships. A voice Arthurs gave an order off screen, "open fire on the fleet", "WHAT", screamed Schmitt, "DAMN IT ARTHURS, DON'T YOU DARE!" Outside the Confederate ships turned their guns on the small KND fleet and opened up, a barrage of hyper-accelerated torpedoes, high yield laser fire and rail gun slugs hammered into the fleet. A dozen different voices sounded over the still active comm system as the fleet was torn apart, "WE'RE GETTING RIPPED APART UP HERE! DAMN IT KEEP FIRING, KEEP FIRING! THERE'S TOO MANY, WE CAN'T EVEN DENT THEM! THE BRIDGE IS BREACHED, REPEAT WE HAVE A BREA..AAAAHHHHH. WE NEED BACK UP, BACK UP GODDAMNIT! WHY IS NOBODY RESPONDING?! THE CAPTAIN'S DOWN, ENGINES DEAD, ABANDON SHIP, ABANDON SH-
As the sounds of the dying fleet blasted through the comms system, the admiral stared at Arthurs with a look of pure hatred. Without taking his eyes off the general, he grabbed a nearby comm mike and screamed into it, "ALL SHIPS, THIS IS THE ADMIRAL, BREAK OFF, REPEAT BREAK OFF! ALL SHIPS FALL BACK TO SECONDARY EARTH POSITIONS!" Outside a few ships escaped the carnage and flew as fast as they could back to the Earth, the rest were simply annihilated by the shear amount of fire pouring into them. Arthurs watched the carnage unfold with an indifferent look, while the KND operatives on the bridge, some of which had just woken up could only stare in horror as hundreds of dead bodies floated out of the new expanding debris field around the base. The admiral had his fists clenched at his sides, his eyes glued to the smug officer opposite him, "you will pay dearly for that Arthurs", his voice shaking with rage.
Arthurs shrugged and replied, "war always has casualties admiral. The KND made their choice when they refused to subjugate the adults themselves, you yourself had ample time to change this, yet you squandered it as well. You are all guilty of the same crime." Arthurs turned to the line of Confederate soldiers and gave sharp orders, "execute the admiral and the rest of the bridge staff, I will be on the Moonbase shortly to commence phase 3." "Yes Sir", acknowledged the soldiers. The holo orb went dead and clattered to the deck, and the soldiers leveled their weapons at the operatives and the admiral, "READY" shouted the sergeant.
Nigel's practiced tactical mind studied the situation, under normal circumstances, with preparation and proper armament, there may have been time for a climatic final battle. An epic last stand that would live forever in the KND archives for future generations of operatives to study, maybe even a miraculous and glorious victory. Instead, three dozen of the KND's finest were about to be cut down, battered and defenseless, at point blank range. The electronic whine of a dozen laser rifles being switched from stun to kill only solidified the futility of their situation.
"Well Nigel, it looks like this is it", whispered Rachel, who had come to the same conclusion. He reached for her hand, but she grabbed his first, "up for one last defiant charge soldier?" Nigel smiled sadly, "you know me too well." Oh save it you two", cut in Schmitt, rolling his eyes as he whipped out the sword and pistol he had on his belt, "we're not dying just yet." With that, he lunged at the line of soldiers, "FIRE" yelled the sergeant and the soldiers opened up with a line of automatic laser fire at the admiral.
But he wasn't there, he had vaulted into the air, over the soldiers and as he touched the ground he lashed out with his sword and slashed a troopers rifle in half before smashing him in the face with the butt of his pistol, then he pivoted and brought his sword across his chest in a sweeping motion, slashing through another troopers armor before burying his pistol in the gap and pulling the trigger. The other soldiers tried to stop him but he was too quick and their armor was far too bulky at close range. He dodged and weaved, slashed and back handed, cutting a swathe through the thin firing line. In only a few seconds the admiral stood alone, without a scratch on him, amidst a pile of very dead Confederate soldiers.
He gestured towards the horrified operatives and said, "well are you coming or not?" The operatives young brains took a few seconds to realize that they were being given an escape route, but when they did they bolted for the exit, with the admiral in the lead. Sector V followed, helping along a still shocked Numbah 86. Numbah 1 and Numbah 362 were the last to leave to the bridge. They looked back at the bridge and the dead bodies piled at the doorway, "we're at war", breathed Rachel, shocked "we're actually at war." "Don't think about it right now", urged Nigel, "we need to leave, come on!" He grabbed her arm and they raced down the corridor in pursuit of the others. Outside, the Confederate fleet spread out and began advancing on the Earth.
Phew, that was a lot to write, I actually had to rewrite this two times before I got it the way I wanted it. Don't worry, I'm not going to be putting any more Star Wars references into this story, and he can't use the force, its just something else. For now, lets just say its a little related to how Father can use his powers. Also, for anyone who hasn't figured it out yet, GA in those earlier conversations was Jack and GG was Arthurs. Chapter 5 will be coming out soon, but I'm going away for the weekend and I won't have a chance to write any so except it sometime next week. Until then, ADIOS! and keep reviewing!