HW2: Interstellar Odyssey - "M51 Revisited" (13 Nov 2008)

[atmawpn]

As you may have noticed, I left something hanging back in Wrath of the Gods.

Let the journey continue.


STORY IN PROGRESS

CHAPTERS UP:

Prologue: Wrath of the Gods - New Era
Chapter 1: Shadows of the Ancients
Chapter 2: Accelerando
Chapter 3: Dreadnaught
Chapter 4: Forced Engagement
Chapter 5: Shattered Peace
Chapter 6: Digging Deeper
Chapter 7: Sudden Assault
Chapter 8: Rapid Developments
Chapter 9: War
Chapter 10: Myth and Reality
Chapter 11: Looming Crisis
Chapter 12: Crisis Point
Chapter 13: Invasion
Chapter 14: Ancient Enemy
Chapter 15: Conflicts
Chapter 16: Defeat
Chapter 17: Encounter
Chapter 18: Gemini
Chapter 19: A God Moves
Chapter 20: Divine Intervention
Chapter 21: Omega
Interlude: The Premonition
Chapter 22: Exiled
Chapter 23: The Great Beyond
Chapter 24: Parallels
Chapter 25: Equivalent Exchange
Chapter 26: Strategy Seven
Chapter 27: Revelation
Chapter 28: The Road to M51
Chapter 29: M51 Revisited


HOMEWORLD2: INTERSTELLAR ODYSSEY

PROLOGUE: WRATH OF THE GODS – NEW ERA


Karan’s passing shook the Hiigarans down to their very cores, for she had done so much for the people she loved, the place she called home.

It had all begun with an urgent situation regarding the Mothership’s computers, whose woes were solved with Karan’s brave volunteering to become its living core. Neither she nor her people had expected a tumultuous struggle for survival to follow. The destruction of Kharak forced her to unite the Exiles’ spirits as she led them in a war across the galaxy, a war for Hiigara.

A war for their Homeworld.

Even after Hiigara was reclaimed, many troubles remained. Countless lives were lost in the subsequent Imperial invasions, a result of the galactic civil war that had fractured the old Empire. The Galaxy’s very existence was then threatened by the techno-organic virus known as the Beast.

And then the End Time arrived.

The Vaygr put all previous wars to shame as they swept across the Galaxy, invincible and unstoppable with their Third Core. Once again, Karan took up the task of uniting the Hiigaran people in an epic voyage through the most ancient and unexplored regions of the Galaxy. Her courageous leadership allowed the Hiigaran Navy to triumph both at Balcora and the final battle over Hiigara.

Yet the Eye of Aaraan, thought to be a tool of peace, turned out to be the spark in a new war that would decimate much of the known Galaxy. Nevertheless, Karan persevered, unlocking the secrets of the Three Gods and giving her all to save both the Galaxy and her people.

Karan had passed away peacefully, her final wish fulfilled. After more than a century, she had finally returned to the place of her birth, the only other place she treasured more than even Hiigara.

Kiir Sjet, another hero in the Wrath of the Gods, decided to have Karan buried in a special location in the great desert – the location of the Khar Toba and the Guidestone. That place was no more though, having been completely erased by the Taiidan bombing save for a few scraps of cracked metal.

The funeral was observed with the heaviest of hearts, with delegations from the surviving Galactic cultures paying their last respects from Kharakian orbit. There were the T-MAT, the Nalthorans, the Tobari, the Taiidan, and many more.

With the ending of the funeral, the various cultures returned to the task of rebuilding all that they had lost. Comparatively, the Hiigarans were more fortunate – at least they still had a planet to return to. The other races could not, for their homeworlds had been irreversibly altered by the now-dead Neo-Beast virus.

Still, the rebuilding was harsh and difficult even for the Hiigarans. Cities were rebuilt painstakingly from scratch, infrastructure was restored, and native wildlife carried onboard the Legacy of Kharak were released in the hope of re-establishing the ecosystem.

But the Hiigarans remained undaunted by the uphill task they faced.

Karan had left them a new home.

Now they would rebuild it.


***


Onboard Grand Shipyard Sajuuk Khar, high orbit over Hiigara:




The Grand Shipyard was probably the greatest orbital superstructure ever built in Hiigaran history. Just five years ago, the Hiigaran people were struggling in what was deemed the darkest time since the Homeworld War. Now, this pinnacle of shipbuilding technology showed what Hiigarans could do when they stood united in crisis.

Sajuuk Khar, or the Chosen of Sajuuk, was far more massive than any Mothership ever built. It was larger than even the monolithic Tanis Base, which had been restored and now served as a military base in the Tanis Ruins. Now the Hiigarans would no longer face the difficulty of building vessels larger than a shipyard class.

The mighty construction facility had been completed with much fanfare just a week ago, and now it was about to birth its maiden vessel.

Admiral Eefrit watched the decorators scurry about hurriedly as they struggled to add the finishing touches to the ambience of the viewing hall. A very special ship was going to be launched today, and to tremendous fanfare as well.


<Feeling relaxed, Eefrit?> Yuno’s voice came in as she shimmered into existence before him. The smartly-attired admiral bowed deeply in welcome.

“Of course I am. The past few years have been just awful, with so much rebuilding work and the problems regarding security,” Eefrit replied coolly, “We’ve really come a long way since then.”

<I agree wholeheartedly,> Yuno nodded, <A pity though that they still haven’t figured out a way of downloading me back into a cloned and restored body.>

“These things take time. Give them a few years, I’m sure they’ll find a way in the end,” Eefrit reassured, only to have Yuno roll her eyes sceptically.

<By the way, Eefrit, there’s been a few updates from Hiigaran Intelligence,> Yuno reported, <Remember the Plaz Nebula?>

“It’s still very clear in my mind.”

<Well, they’ve finally managed to cobble together enough resources for a proper expedition there,> Yuno said, <The problem is, they found no wreckage belonging to the Mythra whatsoever.>

“No wreckage? Who could have moved it?”

<That’s the problem,> Yuno sighed, <Their sensors picked up a trail of space time distortion linking both the Plaz Nebula and the Gate of Hara, which seems to have been repaired and reactivated as recently as last month.>

“Last month?!” Eefrit bellowed, “Now THAT’S too near for comfort.”


Yuno nodded grimly before continuing.


<Given the circumstances, Intelligence has many reasons to believe that a scout Mythra fleet must have come in via the Gate of Hara, salvaged the wreckage, and warped back out.>

“So we could be facing an invasion anytime soon?”

<An invasion is likely, though their initial experience with us will make them more careful the next time round,> Yuno commented, <So we’ll need to be ready when the time comes.>

“That’s why we’re here, remember?” Eefrit grinned as the main doors swung open. Representatives from the various Kiith, as well as distinguished military personnel, strolled in smartly in anticipation of the launch.

“Eefrit!” Soban yelled as he walked up to the Admiral. Both friends shook hands warmly, having not met once since the end of the war. Rebuilding took up too much time.

“It’s good to see you again,” Eefrit gushed, “I guess you’re enjoying your latest promotion, General Soban?”

“I always thought Captain suited me better,” Soban replied, “General sounds less glam and heroic.”


Both of them laughed heartily and went on to chat casually. Yuno’s hologram walked off, smiling at the guests waving at her.

Then the lights dimmed in the hall as the main event beckoned. Spotlights flashed onto the massive ship before them, painted in the blue Hiigaran colours and sporting the beautiful emblem of the Angel Moon on its top.


“Fellow officers,” Kiir greeted as he walked up to the main viewing panel, “I thank you all for coming to grace this event.”


Applause reverberated through the viewing hall as the crowd gave Kiir Sjet their warmest welcomes. Kiir bowed before them and went on with his speech.


“Five years ago, we were embroiled in a terrible war, a war that took many things away from us,” Kiir began, “The war took many brave Hiigarans, many ships, even our homeworld. It also took the life of our great Fleet Command, Karan Sjet, who gave her life so that we may continue to live in peace. I now implore you all to observe a minute’s silence for Karan, and for the many lives lost in that war.”


Kiir bowed down sadly, as did the rest of the crowd. Memories of the horrible war flashed before his eyes – the sacrifice of the Bentusi, the attack of the Progenitors, the rise of the Neo-Beast… All these moments, locked down for many years in the deepest recesses of his mind, rose once more to haunt him.

But then there was Karan, who braved so many dangers so that her people could live. He remembered her brave exploits with the Sajuuk, when she joined in the Alliance assault against the Qwaar Jet, her duel with the Mythra, and her graceful strikes in the Final Battle.

Kiir calmed himself, eclipsing the rest of the bad memories with the good ones, like the miracle of Hiigara’s restoration. That was one event that still brought tears to his eyes even today, where Karan used her last strength to rebuild the whole of Hiigara.

Kiir looked up as the minute ended, the audience paying close attention to him once more.


“Now, peace is upon us and the restoration of Hiigara is almost complete. This is cause for celebration, but we must remain on our guard,” Kiir emphasised, “Intelligence reports that the ancient Mythra, which we defeated in the war, may invade this Galaxy in the near future. As a sentient race of this Galaxy, we must be prepared for the worst, so that tragic sacrifices will be unnecessary.”


At this moment, the might ship powered up its engines for the first time. Gasps went through the crowd as the Sajuuk Khar released its tractor beams, and the new ship drifted away on its own power.


“Today marks the beginning of a new era, of a new Hiigaran Navy,” Kiir spoke, “Through this new Navy, we will avoid the mistakes of the past and protect this homeworld, this Galaxy, for now and forever.”


The new warship soared away at high speed, its sustained hyperspace field letting it glide through space effortlessly. The crowd broke out in tremendous applause as the new Horizon II class battlecruiser moved off to join its predecessor in the distance, the original Horizon.

As the applause reached a maximum, Kiir gazed out at the Hiigaran Navy and the Koshiir Ra gathered around the Grand Shipyard, smiling as he looked father into the distance, where the distant Kharak and Karan’s final resting place was.

And so begins another chapter, another page turned in the book of Hiigara.

The beginning of yet another journey.



==========



HOMEWORLD2: INTERSTELLAR ODYSSEY

CHAPTER 1: SHADOWS OF THE ANCIENTS


“Peace is an impressive achievement, but it is not a natural state.”


~ Source unknown


***


Onboard the Sajuuk Khar, high orbit over Hiigara:


“I don’t get it,” Kiir Sjet muttered after hearing Yuno’s report, “How in Kharak’s name did the second fleet arrive with the Gate of Hara non-functional?”

<To be honest, I have no idea,> Yuno replied <I have done some analysis on the Mythra’s Timespace Drive, and while its speed and range almost put it in the same league as the Far Jumper, there is no way they could have jumped from outside the Galaxy using such a slow faster-than-light drive.>

“We know that the first Mythra fleet was powered down just outside the Northern Galactic Outskirts, which explains why they were able to respond so quickly to the Gate’s activation,” Eefrit commented, “Perhaps the Mythra are using some sort of FTL gate or catapult to fling their ships to our Galaxy.”

“That is a possible theory. But if that were the case, why haven’t the Mythra thrown everything at us yet?” Kiir asked doubtfully, “We just fought a galaxy-wide war and are still recovering from our losses. Even a simple computer should be able to figure out that now would be the best time to strike.”

<In the light of Eefrit’s words, I think I may be able to come up with a possible explanation,> Yuno began, gesturing for the rest to listen to her. Kiir and Eefrit nodded to indicate they were paying attention.

<Thank you. Now I could venture a guess that the Mythra have a FTL system for travel between galaxies, as suggested by Eefrit, rather than my initial conjecture that they used the damaged Gate of Hara via a miracle of some sort. Perhaps it may be possible that the FTL system is inefficient in its use of energy, allowing the Mythra to send only one fleet every now and then.>

“If so, then there’d be no way for them to mount a proper offensive,” Kiir added, a hint of relief in his voice, “I hope that’s what you were trying to mean, Yuno?”

<I’m afraid not, Kiir, though I too hoped that would be the case,> Yuno replied sadly, <Remember that the Gate of Hara has been repaired and reactivated as recently as the previous month.>

“Oh crap,” Eefrit muttered as he realised what Yuno was getting at, “The Mythra sent a scout fleet in to repair the Gate of Hara and salvage the remains of their first fleet. After which, they will…”

“…Use the Gate of Hara to jump in their main forces,” Kiir finished, the relief in his voice now replaced by worry.

“Then there’s no time to lose,” Eefrit exclaimed as he got up and prepared to leave, “I will personally lead the Hiigaran Navy in to destroy the Gate of Hara immediately.”

“Perhaps that is best then,” Kiir agreed wholeheartedly, “Yuno, there are no Mythra forces in this Galaxy as of now?”

<For now, all Mythra forces have jumped back through the Gate,> Yuno reported, <But we don’t know for sure when they’ll come again.>

“Very well then. Eefrit, do what you can. May Sajuuk watch over you.”


Eefrit saluted solemnly and walked briskly out of the viewing hall, where the launch party was still taking place.


<Kiir I have to ask you something,> Yuno started upon seeing that Kiir and her were alone, <I’ve been getting rumours lately of some new project that was of you and Kro’s devising…>

“I’m afraid that’s top secret, Yuno,” Kiir replied apologetically, “All I can say is that we need to compensate for the loss of the Sajuuk.”

<Would the Horizon II class not be sufficient?>

“The Horizon II just features the new Quantum Phase reactor core as a source of power,” Kiir explained, “That along with a few improvements to the ion and pulse cannons. There’s nothing else revolutionary about it.”

<But judging from the Horizon’s performance against the Qwaar Jet…>

“The Qwaar Jet is different from the Mythra in many ways,” Kiir reminded, “Remember the time when the Horizon was used in our first encounter with the Mythra?”

<That near defeat was because the Horizon wasn’t exactly in tip-top shape…>

“Even if it were, we still need a ship that can somehow come close to substituting the Sajuuk.”

<Kiir Sjet, building such a ship will create more political tension in this Galaxy. While our relations with the other Galactic races have been cordial due to the previous war, there has been growing criticism about the Hiigaran Republic trying to act as a superpower in charge of this Galaxy.>

“Yuno, another war is coming,” Kiir explained calmly, “Surely you haven’t forgotten all the losses and casualties we suffered due to our technological inferiority?”

<But…>

“The project will go on as planned Yuno,” Kiir cut her off, “Try to remember that the Mythra are a far greater threat than Kaark and the Qwaar Jet. To depend solely on Koshiir Ra and substandard technology would be suicide.”


Yuno remained silent, but Kiir indeed had a point there. Their victory five years ago had been almost entirely a matter of luck – they had two Gods against Kaark’s God, along with the support of the entire Galaxy. While the Neo-Beast forces greatly outnumbered them, the fact that they were still largely based on current Galactic space technology made it possible to defeat them.

The Mythra would be quite a different story. Not only did they have superior technology comparable to that of the Progenitors, but they probably also had superior numbers. If it had been the Mythra they had been fighting rather than the Neo-Beast five years ago, then they would most probably have suffered a terrible defeat.


“Why aren’t you two enjoying yourselves, it’s a party for goodness’ sake!” General Soban walked up to Kiir and Yuno, “It’s a good idea to just relax while the peace lasts.”

<Quite true, Soban,> Yuno agreed brightly, <Though it will be most peculiar for you to be dancing with a hologram.>

“Who cares?” Soban replied as he proceeded to “grab” Yuno’s hand. Yuno laughed and played along, trying her best to follow Soban’s lead as they moved onto the dance floor.


Kiir watched as the crowd stopped to gawk at the sight – a General and a hologram dancing and laughing their way across the hall. He smiled and walked towards the exit.

There was much to be done if peace was to be maintained.


***


Onboard New Tanis Base, Tanis Ruins:


The engineers went about their work tirelessly. If all went well, the new ship could be launched for tests within a few days’ time. However, many of them wondered why the construction had to be done in a place as remote and isolated as Tanis. After all, there was nothing much different about this new ship, except that it was larger than a battlecruiser chassis and featured many never-before-seen devices.

Only Kro Manaan knew why the project had to be completed at Tanis. As Kiir had explained to him months ago, the other Galactic races would not take kindly to the fact that they were building a warship heavier than the awe-inspiring battlecruiser chassis.

In fact, the new Qwaar Jet Cor class, as it had been codenamed, would be the first dreadnaught class vessel to be built in the Galaxy. Its mass and capabilities would easily put it in the same league as the only other dreadnaught class vessel, the Progenitor ship Gatekeeper of Sajuuk.

While the Qwaar Jet Cor class was being built in response to the future threats of the Mythra, it was very possible that the other Galactic races would assume it to be a Hiigaran weapon for dominating the Galaxy. Therefore it was crucial that the prototype Qwaar Jet Cor class was built in absolute secrecy so as not to ruin diplomatic relations and spark off an arms race.

Kro Manaan opened the communications channel on his computer as he observed the massive ship resting in the dock. Since they were running on a tight schedule, Kiir would query him on the ship’s progress on a weekly basis.


[Kro, you there?]

“Kiir, I’m receiving you loud and clear,” Kro responded, “How’re things going back at Hiigara?”

[Sajuuk Khar just launched the first Horizon II class battlecruiser, and they’re getting ready to launch two more over the next few days,] Kiir replied, [How’s the progress with the Eidolon?]

“Eidolon will be ready for testing in about two or three days’ time,” Kro replied cheerily, “I bet you can’t wait to lay your hands on this baby.”

[I’d love to, but I’ve put someone else in charge of the Eidolon,] Kiir admitted, [General Soban will be commanding the ship.]

“Excellent choice, if I might add,” Kro praised, “He’s probably one of the craziest captains I’ve seen around. Eidolon seems to suit that ‘outgoing’ personality of his.”

[Well, since the Eidolon’s progressing so well, Soban and I’ll come over on the day after tomorrow. Will that be fine?]

“Of course, of course,” Kro replied, “It’s been a few months since we last talked face to face.”

[I’m also looking forward to catching up with you,] Kiir chuckled, [See you in two days’ time then. Kiir out.]


Kro closed the channel and returned his gaze to the monolithic Eidolon. He could almost feel sorry for any ship bold enough to stand up to the Eidolon's might.


***


Onboard the Pride of Hiigara, high orbit over Hiigara:


In the past, the original Mothership became an orbital shipyard after fulfilling its task of delivering the colonists to Hiigara. The Pride of Hiigara would have suffered a similar fate, but the construction of the Sajuuk Khar meant that it could continue to serve as a flagship and command centre of the Hiigaran Navy.

Yuno warped into the computer system after the glitzy night over at the Sajuuk Khar. She hadn’t expected Soban to be such an excellent dancer. That was probably going to be one of the more unforgettable moments in her life.

She decided to get back to her job of monitoring and processing intelligence updates from scout ships throughout Hiigaran space. Yuno opened the communications log and quickly scanned through the messages within, classifying them according to strategic importance.

Then she came to the last message, whose nature caused her jaws to drop.

It was a message from the Vaygr.

A message asking to establish diplomatic relations.

[Random Person]

w00t! First post in a fan fic! YEAH!

Sorry.


It looks like I will have to keep up with another fic.:sigh:

I was almost hoping the Hiigarans would offer to let the other races live on Hiigara as a gesture of good will and to let them have a base for rebuilding their civilisations.

[Chrome]

O_o

How the bloody hell do you do it?!

I haven't fully finished recovering from Wrath of the Gods, and I'm brain-deep in your Truth Seeker, and here you are with ANOTHER fic.

*twitch, falls over*

And now this diplomatic relations thing from the Vaygr. I thought Qwaar-Jet had wiped the lot out back over at Hiigara. Innnnnteresting.

I like how you carried things on, and picked up where you left off. I WAS wondering if you'd bring the Mythra back.

Keep up the good work, but TRY not to burn yourself out, okay? Please? O_o

[Unk]

Wrath of the Gods 2? The galaxy is going to get pwned yet again? w00t!

And I have a funny feeling about what the Hiigarans new vessel is going to look like...

[EarthBorn]

:baloons:
Nice start.

Are you going to do both the fics together.

[Chrome]

Onoes...it's the SUPER BANANASHIP!

I had to say it! I had to say it! *refuses to say it a third time*

Anyways, I kinda have this feeling it'll resemble either the Sajuuk or a gigantic banana. It's just...the way of things Hiigaran.

In hindsight, a peace gesture of letting the others--particularly the Taiidan--live on Hiigara to rebuild would've been a good idea. It certainly would've cemented their diplomatic position, and then they could easily have had everyone in on this new super-ship project to protect the Alliance, rather than turn it into another "Oh noes the Hiigys will pwn us again" yakfest.

Just a thought. Of course, it's what Karan would've done, and she's not there...certainly you could use this to set up a problem for the Hiigarans. However, a struggle like that would have everyone on the same side for a while.

[mortalis]

yay, i get to keep up with two fics!

[atmawpn]

I did consider the "live on Hiigara" idea for a bit, but thought it to be unfeasible. Let's face it - cramming several sentient races, each with different environmental needs and tolerances, onto a single Earth-sized planet would be next to impossible.

But don't worry too much about the other Galactic races - only their homeworlds were destroyed. There's still many more planets out there that they can use, except that the sentimental attachment can't be replaced.


HOMEWORLD2: INTERSTELLAR ODYSSEY

CHAPTER 2: ACCELERANDO


Onboard the Sajuuk Khar, high orbit over Hiigara:


“This had better be good Yuno,” Kiir grumbled, his eyes misty from the unceremonious wake-up call.

<Sorry for interrupting at such a time,> Yuno apologised, <But we’ve just received a message from the Vaygr.>


Kiir sat up straight on his bunk when he heard the V word, all the sleepiness gone from his eyes and mind.


“Aren’t the Seven Crusades all gone? I mean, we killed one at Gozan and the Qwaar Jet finished the rest at Hiigara.”

<Just because the Seven Crusades were destroyed doesn’t mean the Vaygr presence is completely gone,> Yuno responded, <Remember that while the Vaygy lost most of their fleets with the Crusades’ destruction, they still have many operational bases and command stations throughout the Eastern Fringe.>

“Well then, what are the odds of those bases cobbling together a viable threat in five years?”

<We may never know,> Yuno sighed, <The rest of the Galaxy, including our own forces, took heavy losses from the Neo-Beast War. Given that the Vaygr were completely untouched after their encounter at Hiigara, it may be possible that they could have the resources to mount a sizeable incursion into the Inner Rim by now. But that’s beside the point.>

“What do you mean?” Kiir asked in a puzzled voice.

<You’re not going to believe this,> Yuno muttered, <They’re asking to establish diplomatic relations.>


Kiir’s jaw dropped in disbelief. The Warriors of the Fringe asking to be friends of Hiigara? After what the Vaygr did during the End Time, even negotiating a cease fire would be difficult.


“I didn’t quite get that Yuno… perhaps the transmission got garbled or something…”

<The Vaygr are asking to establish diplomatic relations,> Yuno repeated, <You’re not hearing things.>

“Oh… wow…” Kiir managed to say after Yuno’s reassurance that there was nothing wrong with his hearing.

<There’s a catch though,> Yuno added, <They want to see someone of authority in person.>

“Well, I’m not very surprised,” Kiir replied, “I can almost guess what happens after we do send a representative over for negotiations.”

<The Vaygr will capture the representative and use the hostage to threaten us?>

“Something along those lines,” Kiir responded sceptically, “Either that or they’ll interrogate the representative half to death for vital intelligence.”

<Don’t you think you’re judging them too soon?> Yuno enquired, <I mean, what if they really mean it this time?>

“Well, it’d be good if they really mean to start diplomatic relations with us,” Kiir admitted, “But I’m inclined to think that it’s pretty much impossible.”

<So, should we take up the Vaygr offer?>


Kiir stopped to think for a moment. After what the Vaygr had done to them during the End Time, including flinging Atmosphere Deprivation Missiles at Hiigara, he wasn’t sure whether to trust them or not. On one hand, the Vaygr could really be willing to ally themselves with Hiigara and the rest of the Galaxy – a good idea in the face of the Mythra threat.

On the other hand, the Vaygr could very well just turn around and stab them in the back, using the diplomatic talks as a diversion from another invasion of the Inner Rim.


<Kiir?>

“I think I’ll take up the offer,” Kiir decided, “I’ll be Hiigara’s representative…”

<You know that being the new Sjet’sa means that you can’t just go risk your life like that,> Yuno reminded, <Besides, since you’re Karan’s successor…>

“Enough crap about the whole successor thing,” Kiir interrupted, “I don’t know why everyone thinks I’m the leader just because I was on good terms with Karan and all…”

<Even then, the rest of Hiigara still regards you as one,> Yuno finished, <We cannot risk a leader’s life like that – the consequences on troop morale would be disastrous.>

“Well then, by your logic, I’ll have to be the one going there since I’m in a real position of authority,” Kiir argued, “Besides, I’ll be safe there.”

<With Eefrit leading the bulk of our forces to the Gate of Hara? I doubt we can spare the ships for an adequate escort so deep into Vaygr territory.>

“Have a little faith,” Kiir reassured, “Nothing will go wrong.”

<Does this have anything to do with those secret project rumours I’ve been getting?> Yuno asked.

“Maybe it does,” Kiir answered mysteriously, “Well then, I’ll be off to Tanis now. Looks like we’re going to have to speed up things a little.”


With that, Kiir closed the channel and got up quickly. There was even more to be done now with this new development.


***


Onboard the Legacy of Kharak, high orbit over Hiigara:


“Kiir’s going to what?!” Eefrit shouted in disbelief.

<I tried to dissuade him, but his mind was set,> Yuno sighed in defeat, <He did acknowledge that the secret project is going to play a major project in this.>

“The secret project?” Eefrit asked incredulously, “I’ve been getting rumours on my side as well, something about a new warship of some sort…”

<Whatever the project is, I really hope it lives up to expectations,> Yuno sighed again, <By the way, good luck on the mission to the Gate.>

“We’re just going to shoot it up, nothing more,” Eefrit replied, “What else could possibly go wrong?”

<Well, if the Mythra come through…>

“If they do come through, we’ll just jump the hell outta there,” Eefrit reassured, “We’ll come back in one piece, I promise.”

<You had better keep to your word,> Yuno pretended to threaten, <May the Gods watch over you.>

“Thanks Yuno. Eefrit out.”


Eefrit leant back in his seat and watched the bulk of the Hiigaran Navy gather around the Legacy. They were really going all out with this one by sending everything but the Hiigaran Defence Fleet.


“Admiral, the fleet is ready,” reported an officer.

“Excellent. Set course for the Gate of Hara, initiate Synchronised Hyperspace Jump!” Eefrit ordered.


The Legacy of Kharak gathered itself majestically in space and was swallowed by its blue quantum wavefront, the rest of the fleet following suit.


***


Onboard the Ascension, Eastern Outer Rim:


“Long range sensors locked in,” the sensors officer reported, “We are ready to begin long range monitoring.”

“Cloak generators are at maximum power,” mentioned another.

“Good, is there anything going on there?” General Tora asked.


In recent weeks, several Tobari merchant vessels plying the routes between planets of the Eastern Outer Rim had gone missing. Tora had originally suspected the Turanic Raiders, but later ruled out the possibility after discovering the firepower involved.

Since the Turanic Raiders depended mostly on their ion array frigates and attack carriers, the ships they preyed upon usually exhibited scars resulting from ionic damage – clean cuts through the armour along with severe overload damage to internal hull circuitry.

However, the merchant ships that went missing were usually never found. When they were, there was hardly anything left of them except for a few pieces of hull plating.

It was only with the destruction of a carrier class merchant vessel that Tora finally got a vague idea of what they might be up against, for the ship’s wreckage bore signs that some massive pulses of energy had ripped completely through the hull.

It was something that only the Vaygr Trinity Cannon could accomplish, as according to Hiigaran Intelligence.


“General, we are picking up a substantial number of ships about half a light year from our current position,” the sensors officer muttered as the readings came up on his screen, “According to ship profiles from Hiigaran Intelligence, they’re Vaygr.”

“How many of them are there?” Tora asked, trying to determine his next course of action.

“It’s a basic carrier fleet with about a dozen heavy missile frigates and five assault frigates,” came the reply, “There’re also two destroyers and a battlecruiser.”

“That’s something…” Tora whistled as he rolled the numbers about in his mind. While the Tobari fleet would have no trouble dealing with a force of those numbers, the job given to him by the newly-formed Galactic Council was to monitor Vaygr movements at maximum range.

“General, there’re more ships hyperspacing in. Picking up four more battlecruisers and three carriers.”

“In the name of the Emerald Star, are they preparing for an invasion?” Tora uttered when he heard the news, “Where are they heading?”

“The fleet is heading towards the nearby star system of Roa.”

“That’s strange,” Tora muttered, “Roa has nothing of value to mine, and the planets there are completely uninhabitable. Whatever could they be up to…”

“Sir, we’ve lost sensor contact!”

“What?!” Tora exclaimed in shock, “Re-establish sensors lock immediately!”

“It’s no use sir,” replied the sensors officer, “Something in that star system is jamming our sensors.”

“What could they be up to?” Tora wondered as he studied a map of the Roa System.


***


Onboard the Horizon, high orbit over Hiigara:


“I thought we were supposed to leave tomorrow?” General Soban asked.

[Well, circumstances dictate otherwise,] Kiir commented, [My shuttle should be reaching Horizon soon.]

“So why’re we going to Tanis Base anyway?”

[Well, I’ve been overseeing the development of our first dreadnaught chassis warship.]

“A dreadnaught chassis?!” Soban exclaimed incredulously, “You mean, something on the scale of…”

[… Of the Gatekeeper of Sajuuk,] Kiir finished, [There’s no point describing it now, it’s best that you see it for yourself. Kiir out.]


As static filled the channel, Soban sat back in a daze as he watched Kiir’s shuttle swoop in over the Horizon and head for the docking bay. Gatekeeper of Sajuuk was an amazing warship that put many battlecruisers to shame, its Phased Cannon Array capable of dispatching most ships that dared to go against it. Then he had piloted the Horizon in the final battle and witnessed first-hand the remarkable Hyperphase Drive that gave it extreme speed and manoeuvrability.

With all this in mind, Soban had a feeling that this new ship was probably going to take his breath away once more.


“Shuttle dock confirmed,” the computer chirped as the hangar doors began to seal shut.

“Helm, lock in far jump coordinates for Tanis Base,” Soban ordered as he secured his seatbelt in anticipation of the jump.


As pure energy surged through the Horizon’s Far Jumper, quantum energies coalesced into a brilliant blue jump window that was far brighter than standard wavefronts. The door of hyperspace swept the entire length of the Horizon, leaving nothing behind as it closed.

[Chrome]

Why do I get the feeling that either somebody stole the Trinity Cannon...or the Vaygr are out to backstab the good guys again?

Either way, good chapter, and you've got me hanging as far as the new ship's looks and capablities. And this diplomatic relations from the Vaygr thing. I think you've been reading too much Legacies, LOL.

[EarthBorn]

Kiir= Sjet Sa?

And why isn't he travelling in the Koshiir Ra?

(Hey that rhymes!)

[Unk]

Onoes...it's the SUPER BANANASHIP!

I'm thinking of something else. And if I am right it is gonna be pretty cool. And most definately not fruit based.

[Chrome]

LOL, ok.

I'm hoping it has some resemblance to the Sajuuk, actually. It would suit their needs and situations very nicely right now.

[Unk]

Only gatekeeper size though chrome.

what I suspect the ship to be

Perhaps that Hiigaran dreadnaught from the concept art?

[omega]

maybe part of story or something look at own risk

maybe this new ship withh have a phased cannon array? if so it would be the most pimped out ride in the galaxy LOL

was wondering when a sequel would arrise

[atmawpn]

Unknown, I came really close to using the concept art Dreadnaught, but thought it looked a little too longish for my liking.


HOMEWORLD2: INTERSTELLAR ODYSSEY

CHAPTER 3: DREADNAUGHT


Onboard the Taiidan Republic Central Command Station Tempest, Northern Outer Rim:


A century ago, it was believed that there was no way for the Taiidan to band together in the form of a non-imperial government. For every group that desired a new Republic, there would be other extremists who did everything possible to restore the original Empire. The resulting civil war fractured the first Taiidan Republic, which shattered under the onslaught of the Vaygr.

But now, the Neo-Beast War solved what decades of endless fighting could not. Upon witnessing the might of the Ancients and the relative insignificance of current Galactic races, the Taiidan banded together in a rare show of solidarity, determined to leave the mistakes of the past behind them.

The New Taiidan Republic achieved what its predecessor did not – it united much of the original Empire under a new political system of democracy. At last, the Taiidan would not need to worry about the horrors of dictatorship, like the cruel reign of Emperor Riesstiu.

But apparently, the peace was shortlived, for Admiral Ecron had been called to an emergency meeting by the Republic’s top tacticians and intelligence officers.

Admiral Ecron strode smartly into the ready room, soliciting greetings and salutes of respect from everyone within.


“Is anything the matter?” Ecron asked immediately, itching for them to get to the point.

“I’m dreadfully sorry for calling you up on such short notice,” Advisor Vorshan began, “But there have been several developments that require your immediate attention.”


The ready room dimmed as the holographic projectors came online, displaying a three-dimensional map of the Galaxy.


“Our border patrols have been picking up increased activity along the Eastern Border. It seems that the Vaygr have started moving again.”

“I’m not very surprised about that,” Ecron replied, “Can you elaborate?”

“Merchant vessels are now avoiding the Eastern Trade Routes because of several unexplained ship disappearances along the border,” Vorshan added, “All efforts to locate the missing vessels have come to nought. We can’t even determine whether the ships have been destroyed.”

“You suspect it’s the Vaygr’s doing?”

“We have received similar reports from the Tobari, who have also reported merchant ship losses along the Eastern Routes,” Vorshan explained grimly, “And they have evidence that Vaygr weaponry was involved.”

“Then we have no choice but to take up arms once again,” Ecron sighed as the thought of war crept back into his mind, “Divert additional forces to patrol the Eastern Border. I want to be informed the moment the Vaygr cross that line.”

“We will do so at once Admiral,” Vorshan acknowledged, “There is also one other issue, and it is regarding the Hiigarans.”

“What about them?”

“I understand this is in direct violation of the alliance treaty we have with the Hiigaran Republic,” Vorshan admitted, “But we sent ships to spy on Hiigaran assets.”

“How dare you?!” Ecron snapped as he stood up abruptly, bringing his fists down on the table, “The Hiigarans are friends of the Republic! If it were not for their assistance in the Neo-Beast War…”

“Admiral, I understand your feelings,” Vorshan spoke calmly, “But take a look at this.”


The Galactic map shimmered away and was replaced by several long range snapshots of Tanis Base. Ecron glanced at the pictures and could not understand what his advisor was driving at.


“Take a closer look at the construction bays,” Vorshan instructed as the images were replaced by close-up shots of the Hiigaran military base. This time Ecron saw the silhouette of a massive ship. He studied it briefly and understood immediately.

“That ship is definitely of the theoretical dreadnaught class chassis,” Ecron muttered, “Why are you showing me this?”

“Isn’t it obvious, Admiral?” Vorshan spoke icily, “That ship will give the Hiigarans an unprecedented military advantage in the Galaxy. While we lack the technical details of that vessel, even the T-MAT acknowledge that it could be a threat.”

“You’ve told the T-MAT?!” Ecron couldn’t believe his ears.

“In fact, the Galactic Council is having an emergency meeting at this very moment,” Vorshan informed, “The representatives of all member races, except the Hiigarans, are discussing the next course of action to take with regards to this illegal arms build up.”


Admiral Ecron gritted his teeth when he realised the unstable political situation of the moment. What in Sajuuk’s name was Kiir thinking when he decided to go ahead with such a project, knowing full well it would violate every arms treaty that had been signed in the past five years?


“I’ll be direct Admiral, about the course of action we have decided would be best in the name of the Republic’s sovereignty.”

“And that is?” Ecron asked, afraid of the answer.

“The immediate imposition of trade sanctions on the Hiigaran Republic, along with the confiscation of half of Hiigara’s assets in accordance with the penalties as agreed upon in the arms treaties.”

“Vorshan, you know full well that ‘confiscation’ refers to takeover by force, a war in other words!” Ecron cried, horrified by his advisor’s suggestion.

“Admiral, the fact that the Hiigarans blatantly committed such an act shows that they do not respect intragalactic treaties and friendships. I don’t see why we shouldn’t make the first move.”


Ecron looked around the ready room for support, but no one looked up at him.


“Democracy, Admiral,” Vorshan reminded, “It was a unanimous decision. Your veto power is useless now.”


***


Onboard the Horizon, Tanis Ruins:


“By Sajuuk,” General Soban uttered as the Horizon steered towards Tanis Base for a closer look, “Is that the secret project you were talking about?”


Kiir smiled and nodded, causing Soban to gawk in amazement and sheer shock.

The Qwaar Jet Cor class dreadnaught, Eidolon, was a magnificent sight to behold. Its radial design reminded Soban of the awe-inspiring Somtaaw Dreadnought, except that both wings were complete semicircles. Between the rear half of the wings was the main fuselage of the Eidolon, which was a large cylinder-shaped chassis that housed a large cannon of sorts, the weapon’s line of fire passing through the gap between the wings. The main drives themselves extended some distance beyond the rear of the Eidolon, like that of the Somtaaw Deacon class destroyer. Soban could easily see the heavy armour plating that protected the powerhouse of the dreadnaught.

In all, the Eidolon resembled an oversized Archangel whose superstructure tapered down to the thinner but still massive drive section at the rear. While the ship was barely two thirds the length of a standard battlecruiser, it was quite evident that the battlecruiser would be beaten hands down in terms of mass and capabilities.


“…What does the Eidolon have?” Soban finally managed to say amid all the shock and awe.

“Being a dreadnaught chassis vessel built for war, its got many instruments of pain,” Kiir grinned as the Horizon slowly moved to dock with Tanis Base, “Eidolon’s main cannon is the one you see at the centre of the ship on the front of the central chassis. It’s a working Hiigaran version of the Phased Cannon Array.”

“The hell?” Soban exclaimed, “How’d you people reverse engineer the thing?!”

“Lots and lots of research of course,” Kiir replied, “But if you remember correctly, the Gatekeeper’s PCA consists of four Phased Cannon weapons mounted vertically in an array. Due to the complexity of such a design, we were only able to mount a single weapon on the Eidolon. In other words, it would be more accurate to call it a Phased Energy Cannon.”

“One quarter of the PCA’s power, eh?” Soban muttered, “That’s still dangerous nonetheless.”

“Of course, Eidolon has a secondary armament as well,” Kiir added, “The engineers have mounted twin battlecruiser standard ion turrets on the top and bottom of the central chassis for general coverage of the top and bottom hemispheres. Eidolon’s also the first Hiigaran vessel to use the newly developed turbopulsar.”

“Turbopulsars?”

“It’s the latest breakthrough in pulsar technology,” Kiir explained, “Each turbopulsar blast has thrice the power of a standard pulsar, and a firing range which is three quarters that of the ion cannon. Furthermore, it is capable of firing up to two shots per second, making it a worthy successor to the older pulse cannon design. Pity its power requirements mean that it can only be mounted on capital ships. I was thinking along the lines of turbopulsar gunships…”

“Amazing. How many of these ‘turbopulsars’ does the Eidolon have?”

“There’s one on the front and rear of both wings, another two on each wing side, and a dual turbopulsar full range of motion turret on the top and bottom of both wings. That makes for a total of sixteen turbopulsars.”

“That’s a lot of power,” Soban noted.

“But there was a problem with the prototype design,” Kiir admitted, “Because of the vertical thickness of the Eidolon’s wings, the dreadnaught had a weak firing arc to the direct front and rear where only up to two turbopulsars could be brought to bear. So we somehow managed to squeeze in dual fusion torpedo bays on the top and bottom of the wings, both in front of and behind the dual turbopulsar turrets. This allows Eidolon to fire up to sixteen fusion torpedoes in a single salvo.”

“I gather that these ‘fusion torpedoes’ aren’t the heavy torpedoes we have on the current destroyers?”

“Naturally so,” Kiir answered, “I mean, I don’t see why we can’t implement fusion warheads on our torpedoes when the Vaygr have been using fusion missiles all this while.”

“I noticed you didn’t add distortion cannons to this ship, or the Horizon II design,” Soban queried as the docking clamps of Tanis Base gripped the Horizon with a shudder.

“That’s because I realised that the distortion cannons had a detrimental effect on the fabric of space time,” Kiir sighed, “Remember when you used distortion cannons freely in the final battle? Well, it sort of left behind lots of quantum waveform anomalies and damaged space time in the Plaz Nebula. That place is off limits to non Far Jumpers now.”


Kiir began to walk off the bridge along with General Soban. Soban himself was in a state of amazement from all of the Eidolon’s capabilities.


“I’ll tell you more once we get on the ship,” Kiir said as he walked down the corridor towards the airlock, Soban following closely behind.

“More?” Soban uttered in sheer disbelief. What else could the Eidolon be capable of?


***


Onboard the Ascension, Eastern Outer Rim:


“General, we’re picking up a distress beacon coming from the Great Wastelands,” reported the sensors officer, “It’s a Taiidan carrier.”

“Details?” Tora asked immediately.

“There’s nothing much in the message, only that they are under massive attack by Vaygr forces,” came the reply, “Should we assist?”

“Of course!” Tora declared, “I should have known that these events must have been the Vaygr’s doing! How long will the journey take?”

“Eight minutes via hyperspace.”

“Assemble the fleet and jump at once!” Tora ordered.


The light from the constellations shimmered as the Tobari fleet assembled while in cloak. Then the shimmer became more obvious as the quantum wavefronts opened up and engulfed the cloaked vessels.


***


Onboard Taiidan Republic carrier Destiny, the Great Wastelands:


“Commander, the left frigate wing is reporting heavy losses!”

“Sir, we’ve lost our fighter escort!”

“Incoming fire, brace for impact!”


The Taiidan carrier shuddered as the Vaygr fusion missiles impacted its hull, releasing their payloads in explosive bursts of light. The Taiidan commander struggled to stand in spite of the mighty quake rocking his ship.


“Engineering! Are the hyperdrives ready yet?” the commander yelled.

[No go sir, not with all these power fluctuations in the grid!]

“Stabilise our power then!”

[We can’t do that unless you take us out of the line of fire!] returned an equally irritated voice. Then the intercom cut out abruptly as more weapons fire slammed into the capital ship’s hull.

“Commander! The Tobari fleet received our distress call!” cried an officer excitedly, “They’re coming to our aid right now, ETA eight minutes!”

“So, all we need to do now is survive for eight more darned minutes,” the commander growled.


It was then that he caught sight of an infiltrator frigate coming closer. He yelled an order for his fleet to intercept, only to realise that the carrier was the only ship left.


“All hands stand by to repel boarding parties,” the commander announced as he gripped his hand pistol tightly.


The frigate moved alongside the carrier, but it did not launch any infiltrator pods. Just as the commander began puzzling over the frigate’s behaviour, the frigate shimmered slightly as a thin metallic tube shot out and impaled the carrier. Chaos ensued almost immediately.


“Commander, something’s taking over!” an officer reported in a panic, “Logic systems being subverted!”

“Losing control of all internal systems!”

[Engineering here, we’ve been locked out of the drive systems!]


The commander glanced around the bridge in fear. It was definitely the Neo-Beast, returned to have its revenge and devour them all. He shut his eyes and awaited the inevitable…

…Only to feel the scorching burn of drive plasma surging through the bridge.


***


Onboard the Ascension, the Great Wastelands:


“Hyperspace jump successful, we have arrived at preset coordinates,” reported the helm officer.

“General, the Taiidan carrier is not here,” informed the sensors officer grimly.

“Medium range sensor sweeps, full detail,” Tora ordered promptly.


A few seconds later, the bridge dimmed as the scan results were projected via a hologram.


“Nothing, sir, except for residual quantum waveform signatures and a minor space time distortion.”

“A space time distortion, you say?” Tora asked.

“Attempting to reconfirm…” the officer muttered as he did a second scan, “No sir, it was probably a sensor ghost. Picking up no distortions in the immediate vicinity.”

“It probably dissipated,” Tora noted, “Possibly a naturally occurring anomaly. Any signs that indicate the carrier’s destruction?”

“We’re picking up frigate and destroyer debris, all Taiidan, but no carrier wreckage,” the officer replied.

“Any way for us to track down their hyperspace trajectories?”

“I’m afraid not General, the signatures have dissipated beyond the tracing threshold.”

“This is most strange indeed…” Tora muttered as he tried to comprehend the situation.


***


Onboard New Tanis Base, Tanis Ruins:


“Welcome to New Tanis, General Soban,” Kro Manaan greeted as Kiir and Soban walked into the docking hall.

“Damn, you two really kept your secrets well,” Soban commented as Kro led both of them to the linkway connecting to the Eidolon.

“Well, if you were a Galactic neighbour and heard about the ship’s capabilities, I’m sure you’d be worried too,” Kro replied.

“Worried?” Soban laughed, “I’d wet my pants if I heard my neighbour was building something like this. Anyway, Kiir, you were saying?”

“Oh yeah,” Kiir remembered, “Eidolon is using the prototype Quantum Phase Core, which is basically a series of quantum energy tappers organised as a whole reactor.”

“I was wondering how a battlecruiser fusion reactor was going to handle all those weapons…” Soban commented.

“You’ll be glad to hear this too Soban – Eidolon’s using the Hyperphase Drive as well, buth its size and mass means that it’ll be much slower and less manoeuvrable than the Horizon class. However, it’s still faster and nimbler than a standard battlecruiser,” Kro added as he keyed in a code to open the linkway doors.

“That’s to be expected from a ship this size,” Soban replied coolly, “But something tells me this isn’t the ‘more’ I was supposed to hear about.”


Kro stopped immediately and pulled a handheld computer from his pocket. He tapped a few buttons and beckoned Soban to take a look at the ship. Complying, Soban walked to the side of the linkway and gazed through the viewing panels.

His jaws dropped open when the Eidolon shimmered away from view and was replaced by a Hiigaran carrier.


“Speed, power, and stealth, all wrapped up in a neat and tidy package,” Kro mentioned casually.

[EarthBorn]

Eidolon seems magnificent.

And once again, the story starts with Hiigs vs the Rest of the galaxy + external foe.

[Chrome]

Ooooh yowch. I'd have thought Kiir was SOMTAAW for all those tricks he put into the thing with the Mimic mode ON TOP OF IT.

Great stuff...but why would he build this sucker without everyone else's support? Spin doctoring would've probably gotten everyone onboard with the whole "protect the alliance" bit. It still doesn't seem right.

At least now I have a sense of why the Vaygr might be needing Hiigaran help if the Neo-Beast took over their ships... >_> So it wouldn't really be their fault, just the Neo-Beast trying to frame them.

And you know...I've always wondered what your take on Makaan would've been.

[omega]

LOL i was right?! :gonemad: it does have PCA well a phased energy cannon and i was wondering atma did you get the name eidolon (FF9) from a certain final fantasy game or is it just me?

[EarthBorn]

I would like to ask;
For how long will these 'once a day' updates continue???

[omega]

*translates for earth* he wants another chapter! :cranky:

[mortalis]

i second the motion for another chapter

[atmawpn]

From Dictionary.com

Eidolon:
1) A phantom; an apparition.
2) An image of an ideal.

That's the main reason why I chose to name the dreadnaught as such, though the Final Fantasy reference would be a minor bonus.


HOMEWORLD2: INTERSTELLAR ODYSSEY

CHAPTER 4: FORCED ENGAGEMENT


Onboard the Legacy of Kharak, the Gate of Hara:


“Admiral, the Gate of Hara is now within effective firing range,” reported Talas Paktu, the newly-appointed sensors officer. Since there was no longer an Unbound persona managing the entire ship, various duties had to be reassigned so as to keep the Legacy functioning.

“Excellent,” Eefrit said as he opened fleet-wide communications, “Admiral Eefrit to all ships: take up positions around the Gate now.”


The order went out and the fleet responded. Battlecruisers and destroyers manoeuvred themselves towards the main circular chassis of the gate itself while the frigates headed for the control centre. Minutes later, the various captains reported that they were standing by for further orders.

Eefrit knew that the fleet was ready enough. They were certainly going all out here, for he had seven battlecruisers, twenty destroyers, and nearly a hundred frigates assigned to him – about half of the entire Hiigaran Navy.

But then the Gate of Hara itself was huge. How much firepower would it take to bring down a control station the size of Balcora Gate, and a gate structure thrice Balcora Gate’s diameter?


“Sir, the fleet is awaiting your orders,” Talas reminded politely.


Eefrit nodded and took a deep breath.


“Open fire.”


***


Onboard the Eidolon, docked with New Tanis Base:


The doors slid open silently, revealing a spacious and well-equipped bridge. To Soban’s surprise, there were already officers walking about and testing the computer systems. Kro cleared his throat loudly, and the activity stopped.

Then everyone got up to salute the Sjet’sa and General.


“Enough of the formalities,” Kiir groaned when everyone started giving him the ‘Hiigara’sa’ treatment, “I’m here to introduce General Soban, who will be assigned to the Eidolon as ship’s captain.”


A series of gasps and astonished looks went through the crew when they realised that the Soban was going to be their captain. The crew quickly subdued their excitement in respect of the important people around.


“General Soban, it is an honour to have you command this excellent vessel,” a lanky officer strode up, “Allow me to introduce myself – I’m Taruur LirrHra, First Officer.”


Taruur clasped Soban by the hand and shook it warmly. He then gestured with his other hand for the others to come forward.


“This is Sora Paktu, our helm,” Taruur began as he gestured towards a tanned officer of medium build. Sora grinned and gave Soban a quick salute.

“Aalcor Manaan is our tactical officer,” Taruur continued as the tall Aalcor stared emotionlessly at the General and bowed slightly, maintaining an air of calm about himself.

“And Eliir Sjet is in charge of sensors and communications,” Taruur finished just as the petite lady walked up and shook Soban’s hand.

“Idus Somtaaw is our Chief Engineer, but he’s away in Engineering,” Taruur explained, “You’ll get to meet him later.”


Soban nodded and signalled for the crew to return to their work. As the officers returned to their stations, Soban turned to Kiir for one final question.


“What’s the jump range of the Eidolon?”

“Ah, how could I have forgotten?” Kiir responded apologetically, “Far Jumper module, ten million times lightspeed, and a maximum duration of ten hours. Certainly an improvement over the Horizon class’ eight.”

“Well then General, or Captain, whichever you prefer,” Kro beckoned, “Why don’t you take the Eidolon for a spin?”


Soban’s eyes brightened at Kro’s offer. He looked at Kiir, who responded with a nod, before walking to the command chair and making himself comfortable.

A slight shudder ran through the ship as Kro gave the command for the docking clamps to be released. A few short beeps indicated the Eidolon was cleared for launch.


“Quarter speed I guess,” Soban suggested, “We don’t want to rip Tanis Base apart.”


Sora nodded and pressed a few buttons. With a slight shiver, the Eidolon’s main drives powered up for the first time. Everyone, even Kiir and Kro who were sitting in the back, held their breath as the massive dreadnaught inched its way out of dock. The viewscreens showed the massive construction beams and pylons of Tanis Base receding to the rear as the ship progressed on.

And then, there was just the vastness of empty space.


“We’ve cleared Tanis,” Eliir announced triumphantly, causing applause to erupt throughout the bridge. Kiir heaved a sigh of relief at the fact that nothing had gone wrong.


Soban was seated at his station and smiling at the flawless launch when the sensors station began warbling angrily. The triumph was erased from Eliir’s face as she rushed to investigate the alert.


“The long range sensors are picking up several cloaked ships,” Eliir reported, “They’re from the Taiidan Republic.”

“What in Kharak’s name,” Taruur uttered, “The alliance treaty forbids spying!”

“Eliir, what exactly are we dealing with here?” Soban asked sternly.

“There’s a carrier, two heavy destroyers, and a battlecruiser,” Eliir responded, “They’re about two light seconds away from us.”

“What do we do, Kiir?” Soban enquired, deciding to consult with higher authority first.

“Alert, the Taiidan ships have jumped to hyperspace,” Eliir announced, “Exit coordinates are directly in front of us!”

“Captain, I’d recommend that we activate shields immediately,” Aalcor advised calmly.

“I don’t see why not,” Soban agreed, “Go ahead.”

“Affirmative. Raising primary and secondary shields now.”

“What?!” Soban exclaimed, “Eidolon’s got dual shields?!”

“The primary shield is a quantum distortion field, while the secondary is a standard energy shield,” Kiir explained from the back, “It turned out that removing distortion cannons from the equation freed up enough power for dual shielding, so we managed to squeeze in an energy shield generator along with a distortion generator.”


The moment Kiir finished, the bridge lights flickered and dimmed as the computers starting beeping angrily. Soban was horrified when the emergency lights came on and the Taiidan fleet jumped out right in front of them.


“What the hell just happened?” Soban demanded.

[General Soban, it’s a pleasure to have you as Captain of the Eidolon,] the coarse voice of Idus buzzed through the intercom, [The main power conduit overloaded and burned out. I can only give you auxiliary power now.]

“How did the overload occur?” Soban questioned as the Taiidan ships moved into formation before them.

[Diagnostics indicate that activating both shields caused the surge,] Idus commented, [We’ll need to install a conduit of greater tolerance next time.]

“Damn,” Soban swore, “Status of our shields?”

“Primary shields are offline; secondary shields online at twenty percent,” Aalcor reported, “We only have enough power to use turbopulsars or standard drives, but not both.”

“Captain, the Taiidan carrier is hailing us,” Eliir announced.

“Patch them through,” Soban ordered as Kiir walked up and stood next to him.

[Attention Hiigaran warship, this is the Taiidan Republic carrier Millenium,] the Taiidan commander began, [We wish to speak with Kiir Sjet immediately.]

“I’m here,” Kiir greeted, “What are you doing with cloaked ships this deep in Hiigaran space?”

[Kiir Sjet, we came to investigate rumours that you had authorised the construction of a vessel in violation of intragalactic arms treaties,] the commander explained, [Now that we have evidence of your treaty violations, we request that you abandon the ship and scuttle it immediately.]

“Scuttle it?!” Kiir protested, “This ship was built with the sole intent of protecting this Galaxy against the Mythra!”

[Whatever the purpose of the ship, it is still in direct violation of the arms treaties,] the commander insisted, [Please abandon the vessel and scuttle it immediately.]

“Perhaps you do not understand,” Kiir retorted, “I sent the necessary evidence to the Galactic Council a month ago, evidence that points towards the Mythra targeting this Galaxy for an invasion. According to the Tenhauser Arms Treaty, such evidence allows for the construction of ships heavier than the battlecruiser chassis.”

[Kiir Sjet, the Galactic Council operates on the principles of logic and evidence. The Council received no such documents.]

“What?!” Kiir exclaimed incredulously, “For goodness’ sake it’s staring you straight in the face! Even an idiot can understand the implications of a fully repaired interstellar hyperspace gate, and the unexplained disappearance of Mythra wreckage!”

[I’m sorry Kiir, but as I said, the Council received no such information,] the commander repeated, [If you indeed have the evidence pointing to a future invasion, then you should bring the matter up at the next Council meeting. Until then, this dreadnaught class vessel cannot be allowed to exist.]

“I refuse to comply,” Kiir stated flatly.

[Kiir Sjet, we have been given authorisation by the Taiidan Parliament to destroy this ship by force if need be,] the commander warned, [We have no wish to start another war. Please comply.]

“In the name of Hiigara’s sovereignty, I’m afraid I cannot do that.”

[Very well then. We will now proceed to destroy this ship and confiscate half of Hiigara’s assets in accordance with the penalties stated in the treaty.]


The transmission ended and Soban looked worriedly at Kiir.


“Surely you could have put it across in a nicer way?” Soban asked.

“There’s something going on with the Galactic Council,” Kiir mumbled and ignoring the question, “Something’s definitely not right.”

“Captain, the Millenium is launching strike craft!” Eliir cried, “The heavy destroyers and battlecruiser are powering up main weapons!”

“Call for help from Tanis Base,” Soban ordered, “Aalcor, disable the battlecruiser first and then the destroyers.”


The Manaan nodded calmly and keyed in the necessary commands. Then the bridge shook slightly as the heavy destroyers opened fire with their mass drivers, the battlecruiser joining in shortly with all four of its ion cannons.


“Secondary shields down to seventeen percent,” Aalcor reported.

“Tanis Base is launching fighters and frigates to assist,” Eliir added, “And the Taiidan ships are flanking us!”

“Once they’ve flanked us, open fire with all broadside weapons,” Soban commanded calmly even as shot after shot slammed into the weakening energy shields.


The bridge was gripped by a quake as the Taiidan capital ships fired their energy burst cannons, raining dozens of energy beams onto the flickering shields of the Eidolon.


“Shields down to four percent,” Aalcor said as he interpreted the data, “The Taiidan capital ships have flanked us.”

“Fire turbopulsars now!”


The turbopulsars on the right wing swivelled around to target the battlecruiser which had manoeuvred there. Moments later, brilliant blue pulses of light lanced out at the Taiidan capital ship, leaving gashes in its thick armour. On the Eidolon’s left, the same was repeated with the heavy destroyers falling prey to a storm of turbopulsar fire.


“Tanis Base fighters have engaged the Taiidan strike craft,” Eliir updated as another mighty shudder reverberated through the ship.

“Secondary shields offline, we’re taking damage,” Aalcor said grimly as the Taiidan vessels’ shots now started slamming into the Eidolon’s reinforced armour.

“Status of the Taiidan vessels?”

“The battlecruiser’s energy burst cannon has been disabled while the ship itself has taken minor damage,” Eliir replied, “The heavy destroyers have lost their main cannons as well and one of them is completely crippled.”

“Aalcor, switch targets immediately,” Soban ordered, “We need to knock out their firepower ASAP.”

“Understood,” Aalcor responded as the turbopulsar turrets focused their fire on the other destroyer.

“Captain Soban, the Millenium has powered up its main drives,” Taruur pointed out, “I think they’re going to ram us.”


Soban stared ahead through the main viewscreen. Sure enough, the Taiidan carrier was now lumbering slowly towards them in a last-ditch kamikaze attempt. Soban wasted no time switching on the intercom.


“Idus, we need more power!”

[We’re doing our best down here,] came the frustrated reply, [But there’s no way we can…]

“I need you to get the Phased Energy Cannon online or we’re toast,” Soban snapped, “Do whatever it takes, even if it means cutting life support!”


Soban shut off of the intercom and stared angrily at the oncoming carrier. Here he was in command of the epitome of Hiigaran space technology, and they could barely keep the lights on.

Everyone looked up as the familiar whir of ventilation fans began to die down, the cool breezes of air ceasing to flow from the vents.


“Captain, the Phased Energy Cannon is online at the expense of life support,” Aalcor said as he tapped a few keys on his console, “There’s enough energy to use the cannon at twenty percent power.”

“What are you waiting for, fire the cannon now!” Soban ordered anxiously.


The Eidolon shivered slightly as pure energy started to build up within its primary weapon. Then a golden beam of light shot forward and impaled the carrier. The weak beam partially penetrated the carrier, causing small explosions to occur along the front of the superstructure. As the beam fizzled out, the badly damaged carrier came to a halt, the force of the beam and the moderate internal damage depriving it of all momentum.


“The carrier’s dead in space,” Eliir sighed in relief, “Tanis Base fighters have claimed space superiority, while the battlecruiser and second destroyer have lost all weapons.”

“Cease fire,” Soban ordered promptly, “We don’t want to cause any more harm than required. Damage report?”

“Minor damage to outer hull armour,” Aalcor noted, “That’s because we were able to disable their main weapons after our shields went down.”

“Good job Aalcor,” Kiir praised, “Eliir, can you open communications with the Millenium?”


Eliir nodded and tapped a few buttons. The channel opened, cluttered with pure static, but cleared up within moments.


“Attention Taiidan carrier Millenium, I must ask you to leave our space at once,” Kiir ordered calmly, “As you can see, the dreadnaught Eidolon will not be used for dominating the Galaxy, but to protect against the Mythra, otherwise we’d have destroyed your fleet entirely.”

[Kiir Sjet, our sensor scans reveal that your ship appears to have lost main power,] the commander countered, [Perhaps that is the real reason why you stopped.]

“Well, the Eidolon is more than capable of finishing your fleet even without main power,” Kiir responded, “And you’d better trust me on that.”

[…Very well Kiir Sjet. We will report your side of the story to our superiors when we get back. I thank you for sparing our lives. Millenium out.]


The channel closed as the wounded ships pulled painfully away from the virtually untouched Eidolon. Then blue windows of hyperspace opened up before them and dragged the fleet away from the Tanis Ruins.

Kiir gave a sigh of relief and turned back to Soban.


“We’d better return to New Tanis and get that conduit replaced,” Kiir advised, “I’ve got a diplomatic meeting to attend.”

“There’s always the Koshiir Ra,” Soban reminded.

“No,” Kiir shook his head, “In the light of these circumstances, I think it’d be best for Koshiir Ra to stay back and defend Hiigara.”


Soban nodded and looked at Sora Paktu, who was already steering the ship around for its return trip to home base.


***


Onboard the Tempest, Northern Outer Rim:


Admiral Ecron walked out of the ready room, completely and utterly defeated. He had no choice but to watch the Taiidan Parliament give orders for the Republic Navy to prepare for war. He felt so helpless in this so-called system of democracy.

Advisor Vorshan strode confidently out of the ready room, smiling smugly at Ecron. Ecron responded with a forced smile and watched as the officer walked down the hallway. The Admiral turned around and was about to return to his quarters when a thought hit him. Ecron turned around and stared at the advisor once again, who was shrinking with distance.


“That’s strange, since when did Vorshan stop limping?” he muttered as the advisor turned right and promptly vanished from view.

“Maybe it’s just me…” Ecron muttered as he shook his head and walked away.

[Random Person]

YAY!

Yum yum yum.

Good stuff.

[omega]

taiidani= PWNED!

[Chrome]

Heh, serves them right for that kinda paranoia. Of COURSE the Eidolon would've been built to counter the Mythra.

At least Ecron knows better because he was in the battle lines, and probably understood Kiir better than most people.

Now if we could just figure out the Vaygr...Your version of them is starting to sound like interstellar cockroaches. They just won't die.

[omega]

wouldn't being "warriors of the fringe" imply they have had to survive under harsh enviroments and conditions? Thats why they survived, its skill and instinct therefor they are survivalists.

[Chrome]

That makes a lot of sense omega...they're supposed to be tough. Now I have GOT to know why they're trying for diplomatic relations. It makes no sense against what their fleet seems to be doing...unless there are some rogues among the Vaygr who are good guys, or it's a ploy. (I'm betting it's a ploy.)

[omega]

im going 50/50 on this one maybe a ploy or they want a alliance because they saw the power of the progenitors and neo beast.

[mortalis]

vorshan without a limp....hmmm...

mortalis's guess

kaark II?

[Chrome]

I was wondering that too. >_> <_< Hmmmmmm.

[omega]

*plays cliche' plot music* DUN DUN DUN maybe or he was faking it

[atmawpn]

More answers, and more questions.

Here is the next chapter.


HOMEWORLD2: INTERSTELLAR ODYSSEY

CHAPTER 5: SHATTERED PEACE


Onboard the Ascension, hyperspace transit:


General Tora rested in his quarters, his mind working overtime to decipher the behaviour of the Vaygr and the unexplained disappearance of the Taiidan Republic carrier Destiny. The science and tactical officers onboard the Ascension were also unable to make sense of the events, suggesting that a freak quantum waveform anomaly must have occurred and swallowed both fleets.

As such, he had given orders for the Tobari fleet to continue observations at the Easter Outer Rim while the flagship returned to Tenhauser Station, heart of the new Galactic Council, to seek further advice.

It was a pity that the Bentusi were now gone. Their pacifistic and exploratory nature meant that their civilisation had trekked across the stars and unlocked many Galactic secrets, secrets that even the T-MAT had no knowledge of. Had they remained in existence, perhaps he’d be able to get answers.


[General, may I come in?] the voice of Syne Alumani buzzed through the intercom. Tora pressed a button and unlocked the door to let his trusted advisor in.

“Is anything the matter, Syne?” Tora asked.

“I have been going through the records we have in the Galactic database,” Syne began as he inserted a datadisc into Tora’s personal computer console, “It seems that something similar has happened before.”


The console’s screen lit up and displayed a list of ship log details.


“About three weeks ago, the Nalthoran Navy reported the loss of their frontier patrol fleet and its accompanying carrier, Shiba,” Syne said as he tapped away at the console, “One of our scout fleets was despatched to investigate, given their proximity to the last reported position of the Shiba.”

“I remember the details,” Tora replied, “Apart from wreckage resulting from a battle, there was no evidence of the carrier’s destruction.”


Syne nodded and tapped another button. Another series of ship logs appeared on the screen.


“I observed that more of these incidents started occurring after the Shiba’s loss, with many other Galactic fleets reporting the sudden loss of patrolling carrier fleets,” Syne continued, “The most recent one was about a week ago, when the Hiigaran carrier Veer-Rak II and its fleet were disabled by a massive electromagnetic pulse. Thankfully, Hiigaran reinforcements managed to arrive before a similar incident occurred.”

“Did they manage to get any info on the attackers?” Tora enquired.

“Nothing, I’m afraid,” Syne responded, “The EMP blast wiped out any and all sensor records on the attackers’ methods, and the assisting Hiigaran forces did not pick up anything on their sensors when they arrived.”


And then the flagship shook as though it had been buffeted by some cosmic force. The klaxons went off as the Ascension went to red alert.


[General, you’re needed at the bridge now,] reported a bridge officer, [We’ve been pulled out of hyperspace.]

“I’m on my way,” Tora replied as he and Syne ran towards the doors.


***


Onboard the Legacy of Kharak, the Gate of Hara:


“Damage report on the gate?” Eefrit asked, hoping that their weapons fire was having some effect.

“Minor damage to the outer hull layer,” Talas responded, “The Gate’s already durable Progenitor superstructure has been reinforced substantially from both the Neo-Beast nanites and the Mythra repairs.”

“How long will it take us to destroy the Gate?”

“Given that sensors have picked up at least two hulls on the Gate, we’d need to sustain fire for a few days or so.”

“Damn, that thing is tough,” Eefrit muttered as he watched his fleet fling ion beams, plasma pulses, and heavy torpedoes at the Gate of Hara. Though some portions of the Gate were now smouldering and blackened from the Hiigaran assault, the entire structure still remained largely intact. Such was the incredible durability of combined Progenitor, Neo-Beast and Mythra technology.

“Admiral, may I suggest that we focus fire on the control station?” Talas offered, “Given the difficulty of bringing down the whole gate structure, it would be wise to target the Gate’s core first to disable hyperspace transport via the Gate.”

“You’re right,” Eefrit agreed, “Eefrit to Fleet, change of plans. Destroy the Gate control centre first and then the Gate.”


The fleet responded and quickly redirected all its firepower at the massive control core. The weapons fire being thrown at it would have quickly crippled even a mothership class vessel, but the control centre absorbed the attacks as though it were nothing more than an interceptor assault.


“This is going to take a long time…” Eefrit muttered.

“Emergency alert! Sensors are picking up massive space time distortions in the vicinity!” Talas reported urgently as the Legacy began shuddering from the distortions arising from the fabric of space time, “Two Mythra Spheres on intercept course with our position, ETA ten seconds!”

“Two Spheres?!” Eefrit exclaimed in sheer shock, “I thought they were all gone from this Galaxy!”

“Looks like Intelligence was wrong,” Talas muttered as the rest of the bridge shifted to full alert, “The space time distortions are affecting our ability to hyperspace – we’ll have to stay and fight.”

“Send an emergency distress call to Hiigara and Tenhauser Station,” Eefrit ordered, “We need to inform Kiir and the Galactic Council.”

“Trans-dimensional apertures opening behind us,” Talas reported, “The Mythra have arrived.”


Eefrit stared at the viewscreen grimly as two of the huge Spheres emerged from their dimensional wormholes behind the Hiigaran fleet.


***


Onboard the Ascension, the Shining Hinterlands:


Tora and Syne rushed onto the bridge, only to see that his ship and its escort force had already engaged the enemy. The Tobari General could scarcely believe his eyes.


“Someone tell me that isn’t true,” Tora uttered.

“Unless I’m mistaken, that is the Nalthoran carrier Shiba,” Syne noted as the Nalthoran forces rushed past the Tobari defenders to flank the flagship.

“Raise cloaks and switch to evasive manoeuvres!” Tora ordered as he ran to his command chair, “Syne, I need you to do a full analysis on those ships!”

“At once sir,” Syne complied as he took his place at an unmanned station and accessed the sensors.


The Tobari flagship and its small escort of gravity destroyers and frigates vanished promptly from sensors view. The Nalthoran ships ceased their attacks momentarily as they contemplated the change in circumstances. Then they exploded as the Tobari forces returned fire behind the safety of their cloaks.


“General, sensors are not reading any life signs on the Nalthoran ships,” Syne reported as he completed his scans.

“It’s not the Neo-Beast?” Tora gave a puzzled look.

“No, not a trace,” Syne replied, “Sensor scans have also detected considerable internal damage within the Shiba. It’s almost as though drive plasma was flushed through the entire carrier.”

“You mean, they’re running on automatic?” Tora asked as the Ascension and its escort approached the Shiba under the cover of their cloaks.

“From the looks of it, yes,” Syne responded, “I’m attempting to hack through their firewalls and disable the… Wait! Picking up an energy spike from the Shiba!”

“Maximum power to drives,” Tora roared, “Full evasive!”


But it was too late. A brilliant pulse of light exploded from the Nalthoran carrier and dazzled the entire battlefield. The Tobari ships reappeared as their cloaks failed, the ships now drifting dead in space. Only the flagship had some power left, despite the loss of its cloak.


“What the hell just hit us?!” Tora demanded as the emergency lighting continued to dim.

“Sensors are offline, but I guess it was a powerful electromagnetic pulse,” Syne muttered, “Eighty percent of ship systems are now offline.”


What remained of the Ascension’s point defences continued to flail helplessly at the approaching Nalthoran ships. The Shiba now advanced on the disabled Tobari flagship, ready to finish the job.

Then the Shiba’s hull was dotted with brilliant explosions as ion beams came out of nowhere and scorched across the carrier. Nalthoran frigates became fireballs as their reactor cores exploded from the sudden and vicious attack.

All around the hapless Ascension, several T-MAT megaships emerged from cloak, their rapid fire ion cannons making short work of the rogue Nalthoran fleet. Another salvo of ion beams shattered the Shiba completely, sending the carrier’s wreckage careening through space.


“Thank the Emerald Star…” Tora sighed in relief as the megaships began launching repair craft to assist the Ascension.


***


Onboard the Eidolon, docked with Tanis Base:


The Hiigaran Qwaar Jet Cor class dreadnaught Eidolon now lay in the arms of New Tanis Base. The test launch was almost an embarrassment, with the epitome of Hiigaran space technology losing main power because of a botched attempt to raise shields. Thankfully, Kiir’s pride and the Eidolon’s reputation remained intact largely due to the fact that the dreadnaught had managed to win against two heavy destroyers and a battlecruiser despite running on auxiliary power.

Now the Eidolon was sitting back in dock awaiting the replacement of its main power conduit. Already Kro was storming through the base, reprimanding the engineers who had miscalculated the power requirements of the dreadnaught. Such errors could not be tolerated – after all, what if the Eidolon had lost main power in the middle of Hiigaran-Vaygr diplomatic discussions?

General Soban took this chance to take a proper look around the dreadnaught. It was certainly just as large, if not bigger, than his previous ship Gatekeeper of Sajuuk. The key difference was that Eidolon was specifically built to suit Hiigaran use, such as properly-built quarters that were luxurious as compared with the hastily-modified rooms on the Gatekeeper.

He approached the Engineering section of the Eidolon, where the ship’s revolutionary power core was. In the past, it had been deemed impossible to build warships bigger than a battlecruiser class due to the limitations of fusion reactor technology. It had been determined that with current fusion technology standards, any ship heavier than a battlecruiser could not power the weapons that would justify the high cost of such a chassis.

This also explained why the monolithic mothership, shipyard and command ship class vessels had somewhat low firepower for tonnage as compared with other dedicated warships in the fleet. A probable exception to this theory would be the Explorer series of command ships, where the Siege Cannon allowed them the power to go head on against enemy fleets without escorts. However, if one were to calculate the Siege Cannon’s firepower-time ratio, the Explorer would still fall far behind the battlecruiser in terms of firepower over time.

It was only with the discovery of the Grand Core and the Quantum Tapper technology that came with it that Hiigaran scientists were finally able to circumvent this obstacle.

Soban entered the massive Engineering section, which housed key components of the Eidolon’s fusion drives, the Far Jumper module, the Hyperphase Drive, and the almighty Quantum Phase reactor core.

The reactor core itself was a large spherical core suspended by a vertical column of metal. The core also had several transparent viewing panels that allowed engineers to inspect its condition. Attached to the core were eight smaller pipelines that led away to the eight corners of the cubic framework holding the reactor in place. The pipelines pulsed with the soft blue glow of quantum energy while the core itself contained a brilliant sphere of light which dazzled like a kaleidoscope of colour.

Soban shuddered to think of the consequences of a reactor failure, but as Kiir had assured him earlier on, shutting down the reactor in an emergency was ‘quite easy to accomplish.’


“General Soban, what brings you here?” Idus Somtaaw greeted as he walked over after inspecting the Quantum Phase reactor.

“Please, just keep it as Captain,” Soban requested.

“If that’s how you like it, Captain,” Idus smiled as he gestured to the reactor, “Quite an amazing baby this is, isn’t it?”

“Indeed it is,” Soban agreed, “Though I’d hate to think what would happen if the reactor blew.”

“Well, it’d be most ideal for kamikaze missions,” Idus laughed, “I’d expect it to take out a good chunk of any fleet around us.”

“So, how much longer will it be before Eidolon can launch?” Soban asked as he watched the other engineers working on the main power conduit below the reactor.

“At the rate we’re going, we can get main power back up in an hour or so,” Idus estimated, “Why? Do we have to go anywhere soon?”

“Kiir’s got a diplomatic meeting with the Vaygr,” Soban explained.

“Ah, the Vaygr,” Idus muttered, “Misled people they were. No wonder Kiir’s using the Eidolon.”

“Misled?” Soban asked, surprised that Idus had used such a mild word. Mentioning the same V-word to other Hiigarans would have solicited an impressive string of colourful and vengeful linguistic terms that even the warrior Kiith were shy to use.

“Well, they did kill many innocents across the Inner Rim, as well as fling a few atmosphere deprivation weapons at Hiigara, but that wasn’t really the Vaygr’s fault,” Idus commented, “It’s not that the Vaygr were bad, it’s just that their leaders were.”


Soban remained silent as he considered Idus’ words very carefully.


“Let’s suppose Karan, heaven forbid, had gone the way of Makaan,” Idus suggested, “You know, with the Second Core and all that Prophecy crap. If that were the case, who’s to say that Hiigara wouldn’t have gone the same route as the Vaygr?”

“But the Vaygr attacked again after the End Time, when Makaan was dead” Soban argued, “Remember that they wiped out Commander Hyll and the defence fleet after the Exodus.”

“Again, that can probably be attributed to whoever was leading them after Makaan,” Idus calmly replied, “Given that they probably have a better leader now, since they are requesting to establish diplomatic relations, we really ought to give them a chance to prove themselves otherwise.”

“That is certainly a very different viewpoint you have, Idus,” Soban admitted.

“Well, I believe that every sentient race has a good side to it deep down inside,” Idus concluded, “The Mythra included.”

“What?!” Soban exclaimed, “Idus, you must be kidding me. An ancient race that thirsts for conquest and the destruction of everything but itself? Good?”

“Again, you can’t blame the Mythra,” Idus countered, “I don’t think it’s their innate nature to do such a thing, since they’re merely executing tasks according to their programming.”

“So we blame the ‘leader’ again?” Soban asked, “This time, the one who programmed them?”

Idus shrugged and replied, “That is up to you to decide, but remember it is not the Mythra that are at fault.”


Soban fell silent as Idus walked away to continue his inspection rounds. The Mythra – good? It was too fantastic a possibility for him to conceive.


***


Onboard the Legacy of Kharak, the Gate of Hara:


Eefrit knew that the situation was not looking good. He had already lost a good third of his fleet while the Mythra had only lost a few frigates and destroyers. And that was without the Mythra using their main weapons, which Kiir had termed “Ionic Shock Cannons.”

But now, the Mythra looked like they had tired of playing with their food, and were moving to deal the decisive blow. Both Spheres had lined up in a row and were aiming the huge apertures at the desperate Hiigaran fleet. The rest of the Mythra ships moved hastily away as the crimson light began building within the cannons.

The Legacy would not be able to withstand an attack of that magnitude in its current condition. In spite of the excessive use of quantum distortion fields, enough firepower had gotten through to reduce the Legacy’s hull integrity to a shaky sixty percent. Making matters worse was that the Mythra had figured out how to disable hyperspacing in the immediate vicinity by using their own Timespace Drives to disrupt the surrounding fabric of space time sufficiently to prevent a jump.


“Talas, please tell me the distress calls got through,” Eefrit uttered as the Legacy tried to limp away from the Spheres’ firing arcs along with the rest of the damaged fleet.

“I’m afraid I cannot confirm that,” Talas conceded, “The space time disruption is causing interference to sensors. In the same way, it might have jammed our attempts at communications. The only way we’ll figure out if the calls went through is if help arrives just about now.”

“Well, it looks to me that we won’t be getting help anytime soon,” Eefrit responded as the crimson light built to a maximum within the Spheres. Then the light sprang forth as the cannons unleashed their payload, the pulses of pure energy streaking towards the trapped Hiigaran fleet.


And then a quantum wavefront opened up and swept through the Legacy, spiriting the Mothership and its fleet away from impending doom.


<Fret not, your call got through,> Yuno’s crackly voice came in over the barely-functioning communications systems, <Welcome to the Grand Core Express. Destination: Home.>


***


Onboard the Tempest, Northern Outer Rim:


“Niel, can I speak with you for a moment?” Ecron called out to his former classmate in the military academy. The Taiidani looked at Ecron nervously and nodded.


Ecron quickly walked up to him and pulled him into his quarters, locking the doors securely.


“What the hell happened back there at the ready room?” Ecron demanded, “You experienced the Neo-Beast War first hand. You saw the Hiigarans’ actions towards us during that time. What did you support the Republic war against them now?!”

“Vorshan… he had a point, you know…” Niel began stammering.

“Oh really?” Ecron asked sarcastically, “So every time the Hiigarans build a new ship it’s for the purpose of dominating the Galaxy?”

“What… what other reason could there be…” Niel responded, his voice softening to a whisper.

“Going by that logic, can you explain why the Hiigarans haven’t just done so with the Koshiir Ra?” Ecron snapped, angry that one of his closest friends should betray him in such a political debacle, “We all know that Koshiir Ra alone would allow them to just walk all over the rest of us!”


Ecron intensified his stare at the cowering Taiidani, making sure his gaze penetrated all the way to the person’s soul. Finally Niel broke under the pressure.


“I’m so sorry, Ecron…” Niel blurted uncontrollably, trying his best to keep his emotions from bringing tears to his eyes, “I had no choice…”

“No choice?” Ecron was surprised, “What do you mean? What has Vorshan got to do with all of this?”

“He… he kidnapped my entire family… threatened to give them the Qwaar Jet treatment if I didn’t comply…”

“The Qwaar Jet treatment,” Ecron uttered, “By Sajuuk…”


Ecron knew immediately what Niel was referring to. The Qwaar Jet treatment was the most unimaginable form of torture known to the Taiidan, and used only to interrogate prisoners who refused to crack in spite of all other methods. It involved the injection of specially-modified nanites that would disperse themselves throughout the body of the subject at hand. At the touch of a button, the nanites would activate and incapacitate a specific part of the subject’s anatomy by generating an intense localised electrical current that would fry the surrounding flesh and burn it slowly from inside out. Furthermore, the electrical current was specifically configured such that it would also stimulate every pain receptor there was in the area, ensuring that the maximum possible pain was achieved.

Ecron was jerked abruptly from his thoughts when a loud explosion assaulted his ears. The next moment, he saw Niel on the floor with a gaping wound through his torso. He turned to see the doors to his quarters completely blown to pieces.

And there was Vorshan, standing with a smirk on his face and arms crossed over his chest.


“Vorshan…” Ecron growled as he reached for his plasma pistol.

“Looks like you delved a little too deep into this one, Admiral,” Vorshan spoke smugly, “Now I had better finish you before Security gets here…”


With lightning-quick reflexes, Ecron whipped out his pistol and fired at the advisor, the pulse of superheated plasma hitting Vorshan squarely in the torso. Vorshan gave a surprised look as the plasma pulse exploded, the shockwave flinging Ecron backwards. Ecron coughed and tried to wave the smoke from his eyes, his hands still on his pistol and ready to fire another time.

And then, a figure stepped out from the smoke – only it wasn’t Vorshan.

It was an android, its metallic body glinting in the room’s light.

Ecron was horrified.


“Now you just had to go and interfere with my hologram,” the android muttered as it pointed a finger at Ecron. Ecron sensed the danger and jumped out of the way moments before a pulse of ionic energy crackled forward, slamming into the wall and leaving a crater in its metallic surface.


Ecron aimed his pistol and fired again, only to have the android dodge it effortlessly. The robotic creature moved quickly and pinned Ecron down before he could react. The Taiidan Admiral struggled valiantly against the android’s grip, but there was no way for years of strength training to overcome the uncanny strength of the thing.


“Good bye, Admiral,” the android whispered as it raised a metallic finger to Ecron’s head.

“Oh no you don’t,” Ecron yelled as he twiddled his pistol to overload. A massive electrical current pulsed through his body and into the android, which was flung backwards by the shock. The Admiral struggled to his feet, barely conscious from the electric shock. He vaguely heard footsteps as the security personnel swarmed in and cocked their plasma rifles at the android.


“You’re… surrounded… whatever you… you are…” Ecron managed to say as he slumped onto one of the officers for support, “Give… it… up…”


The android looked around itself briefly, then stood straight up. The voice of Vorshan was immediately replaced by something mechanical and computerised.


“The Mythra do not surrender,” the android droned before it exploded.

[omega]

I KNEW IT!

[Chrome]

Damn. O_o

The Mythra just out-did the Borg in the smartness meter. The Collective never did figure out the value of a spy. >_>

And I still wonder what is going on with the Vaygr. I liked that little "Good within them" discussion--are you building up to something there?

Either way, good way to keep up the suspense.

[omega]

The borg were pretty badass in there own right but a little dumb they picked a fight with beings from another dimention (Speices 8472) and got pistol whiped till voyager came along.

[Unk]

Oh noes! the cylons are invading!

[Chrome]

*stares at unkn0wn*

DAMN! I knew I was forgetting something when the android showed himself. And here I call myself a BSG watcher. -.-

Now this begs a question....any Mythra hiding among the Vaygr?

[omega]

good question :nod:

[atmawpn]

HOMEWORLD2: INTERSTELLAR ODYSSEY

CHAPTER 6: DIGGING DEEPER


Onboard the Sajuuk Khar, high orbit over Hiigara:


“Good heavens…” Eefrit uttered when he saw the damage from the Sajuuk Khar.


The Legacy of Kharak looked far worse than its computers had indicated. There was a gaping frigate-sized hole in the Mothership Door, along with large patches of black melted metal scattered all over the ship. Certainly the Mothership would not have survived a prolonged battle with two Mythra fleets.

The rest of the fleet looked no better, with ships that had most of their armour torn off and barely-functional engines. The super capital vessels were worst off – some had nearly been ripped in two by the aggressive Mythra attacks. Only the newer Horizon and its successor, the Horizon II class Eclipse, had managed to escape with minimal damage to their hulls, testament to the work that had gone into creating the next generation of Hiigaran warships.


<You definitely proved the point that a fleet-wide upgrade is long overdue,> Yuno commented, <Even as we speak, Sajuuk Khar’s crews are working hard to replace the fleet with the new ships based on Kiir’s reverse-engineered Progenitor tech.>

“Well, they need to work fast,” Eefrit muttered as he remembered the sudden and unexpected attack of not one, but two Mythra Spheres, “The longer that Gate remains operational, the more risk we face with a fleet that’s not up to par.”

<That is true indeed. In fact, the Explorer IV class vessels Kuun Lan II and Eheb San are en route to the Shining Hinterlands for their maiden mining mission,> Yuno explained, <All other resourcing fleets have also been despatched to gather additional materials for the construction.>

“What about the Paaura? Why hasn’t General Qwaar been despatched?”

<Paaura’s currently in dock undergoing an upgrade to the Explorer IV design. General Qwaar’s fleet will remain in defence of Hiigara.>

“I see,” Eefrit responded, “Has there been any word of the new warship Kiir’s been keeping mum about?”

<The only information I’ve received is that Kiir and Soban have taken the ship to a diplomatic meeting with the Vaygr,> Yuno replied.

“That’s insane!” Eefrit exclaimed when the odds fell into place, “And he still insists on keeping the Koshiir Ra here?!”

<Well, Kiir kept reassuring me that the Eidolon was more than capable of surviving any hostile encounter,> Yuno muttered, <That’s all that he gave out – the ship’s name.>

“Eidolon eh?” Eefrit mouthed the word slowly, “Let’s hope it lives up to its name.”


***


Onboard the Ascension, the Shining Hinterlands:


“Repairs to the hyperspace module are complete,” Syne reported, “The T-MAT repair drones have done a terrific job.”

“We can never be more grateful,” Tora admitted as he opened communications, “T-MAT fleet, I, General Tora of the Tobari forces, am most thankful for your assistance in our time of need.”

[It was only our duty in a time when Peace is threatened yet again,] the T-MAT echoed back, [We request that you transmit all information you have on the fleet that attacked your escort.]

“At once,” Tora nodded at Syne, who quickly tapped a few buttons to transmit whatever sensor data they had managed to salvage from the EMP blast. It took the T-MAT mere moments to process the information with their Unbound minds.

[Your information is most intriguing, we shall present it to the Council,] came the collective reply, [Will you require an escort to Tenhauser?]

“I think not,” Tora refused politely, “I think it would be far safer to return to the Eastern Outer Rim. The bulk of my forces remain there, and should provide adequate protection.”

[As you wish.]


The T-MAT repair drones zipped back into the repair ships, which quickly returned to dock with the larger megaships. Then the T-MAT fleet, numbering a total of seven megaships, powered up their hyperspace modules and vanished from realspace.

Tora turned to his helm officer, who nodded in response and quickly keyed in the necessary coordinates.


“General, what do you intend to do once we return to the main fleet?” Syne asked from his station.

“I guess our best bet is to find out what’s really going on around here,” Tora sighed, “I understand our cloaking technology gives us the advantage?”

“Our cloaking fields remain impenetrable by current Galactic proximity sensors, except for T-MAT and Hiigaran sensors,” Syne replied, “Why do you ask?”

“It’s time to take the initiative,” Tora declared, “We’re going to pay the Vaygr a visit and figure this out once and for all.”


***


Onboard the Eidolon, hyperspace transit:


“Holographic and sensor jamming systems are running at one hundred percent power,” Taruur announced, “Captain, I don’t see the need for us to disguise ourselves.”

“Don’t ask me, ask Kiir,” Soban shrugged as his viewscreen told him it was the Hiigaran carrier Khontala, not the dreadnaught Eidolon, which was travelling through hyperspace at the moment.

“I have my reasons for the disguise,” Kiir answered from the back, “Firstly, we need to figure out the Vaygr’s true intentions in this meeting. If they truly intend to turn around and stab us in the back, a lone carrier would be a very tempting target.”

“What if the Vaygr really mean to establish a peace this time?” Taruur asked.

“Then it’d be best that we meet them as a lightly-armed carrier,” Kiir replied, “You understand that diplomatic meetings and warships do not go along very well.”


Taruur nodded in understanding. If the Vaygr saw them coming in a heavily-armed dreadnaught class vessel, they could very well see it as a military threat and scuttle whatever peace talks there would be between the two civilisations. Furthermore, as Kiir had explained back onboard New Tanis Base, Eidolon was still supposed to remain under wraps until the Galactic situation permitted it.

However, he wasn’t sure if this disguise would help. After all, the Taiidan Republic had already sighted them. For all he knew, word about the Hiigarans’ new dreadnaught class warship could be spreading like wildfire through the Galaxy right now.


“How much more time before we reach the Roa System?” Soban asked impatiently.

“At our current hyperspace velocity, another thirty minutes or so,” Sora answered from the helm station, his attention focused on the navigational data.

“Aalcor, will we be able to raise both shields without frying the power conduit?” Soban enquired, anxious that the problem could pose unnecessary risk to their mission.

“I’ve run a few diagnostics from here. If the readings are correct, the power conduit should be more than capable of withstanding the maximum power output of the reactor core,” Aalcor reassured, “I’ve also gotten in touch with Idus, and he says the power conduit couldn’t be in better condition.”

“General, I mean, Captain,” Eliir alerted, “Long range sensors have picked up a gravity well up ahead, the jump will be interrupted in fifteen seconds.”

“I presume it’s not a natural gravwell?” Soban glanced at Sora, who confirmed Soban’s query with a nod.

“Take us into the gravwell. I think we need to see what the Vaygr are up to,” Soban ordered, “Alert all departments to stand by for jump interruption.”

“Warning, we will intercept the gravwell in three seconds,” Eliir said as the ship went to red alert, the crimson warning lights flashing through the bridge.


Had any other ship gone headfirst into a gravity well at Far Jumper velocities, the result would have been damage to hyperdrive systems as well as injuries from inertia damper failure. In the case of the Eidolon, the massive dreadnaught’s inertia dampers absorbed the blow effortlessly, giving the ship scarcely a wobble as its hyperspace module compensated and brought them back to realspace.


“Hyperspace sequence halted, all systems online,” Eliir announced.

“Alright then, time to find out what the Vaygr are up to,” Soban muttered as he drummed his fingers on his console, “Aalcor, raise shields immediately.”


Aalcor nodded and tapped a few buttons while Soban waited in anticipation. The lights on the bridge dimmed momentarily and everyone held their breath. To everyone’s relief, the lights quickly returned to their normal brightness.


“Primary and secondary shields online, all other power systems nominal,” Aalcor reported calmly.

“That’s good to hear,” Soban smiled as he turned to look at the main viewscreens, “Eliir, what sort of resistance are we…”


Soban paused mid-sentence when he saw the fleet around them on the viewscreen. Unless the Vaygr forces had undergone a massive ship redesign in the past few years, there was no way for this fleet to possibly be Vaygr.

It looked to him like a Taiidan Republic fleet, and it was substantial. There was a Republican carrier flanked by a dual ion frigate force of no fewer than twenty ships.


“What in Kharak’s name…” Soban uttered in disbelief.

“Sensors and recognition codes confirm it is the Taiidan Republic carrier Destiny and its fleet,” Eliir exclaimed in sheer shock. She too had been expecting to see a Vaygr strike fleet.

“I’m not surprised,” Kiir muttered, “The Republic probably meant it when they threatened a war.”

“Should we drop our disguise?” Taruur asked, his hand hovering over the control panel.

“Nay, keep it on,” Soban responded, “Eliir, can you hail the…”


Klaxons started wailing as the Taiidan fleet opened fire, the carrier launching its complement of the latest interceptors developed by Taiidan scientists. Soban recognised them immediately as the new Triikor X class heavy interceptors, having been briefed by Fleet Intelligence some weeks earlier. The Triikor X was basically a Triikor chassis that had been expanded by thirty percent, equipped with quadruple rapid-fire mass drivers as compared with a single weapon on the original Triikor.

The Taiidan dual ion frigates were also a new design that had been developed several months ago. After years of experimenting, Taiidan scientists had finally been able to shrink ion cannons sufficiently to fit two onto a single frigate chassis. The result was a new ion frigate that packed the punch of two.

General Soban felt thankful for the Eidolon’s primary distortion field.


“Primary shields down to ninety-six percent,” Aalcor updated after a salvo of forty high-powered ion beams sizzled into the ship’s distortion field. Soban was not surprised. After all, the Eidolon’s primary distortion field had been designed to withstand superior Mythra weaponry.

“Taruur, I presume that Khontala’s been technically destroyed?” Soban asked.

“Actually, no,” Taruur responded as he showed Soban the image of the Hiigaran carrier. Going by the hologram, their “ship,” the Khontala was now spewing drive plasma from its ruined drives as well as from the various construction subsystems across its hull, “The ionic attack was aimed at disabling us, though it could have easily vaporised the carrier in one hit.”

“So we’re dead in space?” Soban whistled.

“Right now, the Khontala would have lost all main drive power and all construction systems, as well as suffered heavy damage to the outer hull,” Taruur answered, completely awed by the power of that one salvo, “Basically, we’re screwed.”

“Kiir, I love this Mimic mode of yours,” Soban grinned. Kiir merely shrugged and pointed at the viewscreen, which showed the Destiny lumbering closer to them.

“Eliir, have you managed to establish communications?” Soban asked as the Taiidan carrier came closer and closer, its fleet of dual ion frigates making way for the super capital ship.

“They’re not responding to hails,” Eliir replied with a puzzled tone in her voice, “The strange thing is that I’m not picking up any life signs onboard those ships.”

“No life signs?” Soban’s eyes widened.

“Eliir’s right, I haven’t picked up anything telepathically so far,” Kiir muttered, his eyes closed in concentration, “At such close range, I should be picking up a few hundred minds by now.”

“The hell…” Soban uttered as the carrier continued to approach them.


The Taiidan Republic carrier Destiny approached the Khontala, which was mortally wounded and drifted helplessly in space. The carrier finally cut off its main drives, the super capital ship coming halting mere metres before contacting the invisible distortion field. Thanks to Eidolon’s superior sensor jamming suite, the Destiny detected no such field, or the massive dreadnaught hiding behind its hologram.

Then a small Taiidan boarding frigate launched itself from the Destiny’s side frigate bay. The frigate hovered in space for a moment, then aligned itself such that it was pointing towards the Khontala.


“Captain, sensors indicate that frigate is using a holographic device,” Eliir reported as she tapped furiously away at her station, “I’m attempting to confirm the vessel’s true identity, but it’s using a jamming field of extraordinary power…”

“It’s the Mythra,” Kiir stated flatly as he stood up from his seat, “I designed Eidolon such that its sensors can immediately penetrate any cloak or hologram based on current Galactic technology. There’s no doubt about it – that ship is a Mythra vessel in disguise.”

“So what steps should we take next?” Soban looked towards Kiir for advice.

“I don’t know what the Mythra are doing here with one spy frigate, and how it commandeered an entire Taiidan Republic carrier fleet,” Kiir said as he walked up beside Soban’s seat, “So we need to find out without alerting the main Mythra forces.”

“Do you think that frigate already knows who we really are?” Soban enquired.

“I doubt it,” Kiir replied, “They’d have either fled or sought to destroy us if it saw through our disguise. Perhaps Mythra frigates lack sensors powerful enough to penetrate our jamming.”

“Very well then,” Soban turned away from Kiir to give his orders, “Taruur, I want you to drop our disguise on my mark. Aalcor, once our disguise goes down, take out the frigates with the torpedoes and ion cannons. Use the turbopulsars to disable both the Destiny and the Mythra frigate.”


Aalcor and Taruur nodded as Soban turned to face his helm officer, Sora.


“Sora, power up the Far Jumper module,” Soban ordered, “Be prepared to prevent them from escaping into hyperspace.”

“Roger that Captain,” Sora answered as he keyed the necessary commands into his console.


The so-called “boarding frigate” now started moving towards the disguised dreadnaught. In order to let it get closer, Aalcor opened a small hole in the distortion field to let it through. The frigate moved for another few seconds before stopping.

Then the frigate shimmered slightly as it fired a thin metallic tube at the “Hiigaran carrier,” only to have it bounce harmlessly off the Eidolon’s secondary close-wrapping energy shields.


“Drop hologram now!” Soban exclaimed.


Within moments, the smouldering Hiigaran carrier Khontala shimmered away and changed shape to become the awe-inspiring dreadnaught Eidolon. Armour-piercing fusion torpedoes issued immediately from the launching bays, the guided bombs sailing gracefully through space before impacting their targets.

Sixteen frigates blew apart as the heavy fusion torpedoes, designed to carry twice the payload of a Vaygr heavy missile, pierced through their armour and detonated from within. The remaining four frigates exploded as the heavy ion cannons came online, the four blue beams of energy stabbing into the smaller capital ships.

As the Taiidan frigates met a spectacularly quick end, the Eidolon’s turbopulsars lanced out at both the carrier and the Mythra frigate. The Destiny attempted to escape to hyperspace, only to have its quantum wavefront forcefully closed by Eidolon’s own Far Jumper module.

The sudden and unexpected assault caused the Mythra frigate to lose its disguise, revealing the small oval-shaped vessel. Its armour provided more resistance, but Aalcor had already compensated by diverting more of Eidolon’s turbopulsars to the task. Blue pulses of light pummelled into the Mythra ship, disabling engines and weapons with several precise strikes.

Twenty seconds later, the engagement was over, the Triikor X interceptors falling easily to the fast-tracking turbopulsars. The Eidolon powered down main weapons, its task accomplished. Both the Mythra frigate and the Taiidan carrier were drifting dead in space, having lost all power and means of movement.


“Call for reinforcements from Tanis Base,” Kiir ordered, “I want a full and thorough analysis of both vessels. Meanwhile, since they’re not going anywhere, we should continue on to our diplomatic meeting.”


Soban nodded and watched his viewscreen as the Eidolon shimmered away and became the Khontala once again, the carrier now good as new. Then the ship was swallowed up by the brilliant blue screen of its quantum wavefront.


***


Onboard the Tempest, Northern Outer Rim:


Admiral Ecron opened his eyes groggily only to close them in pain as the bright ceiling lights stabbed away at his sensitive vision. He moaned slightly and waited a few seconds for his eyes to forgive him. Meanwhile, Ecron mentally checked his limbs for any problems. A sharp pain surged through his right arm as he tried to move it. Instinct told him it was broken.

The Taiidan Admiral opened his eyes slowly, allowing ample time for the pupils to adjust and constrict accordingly. Ecron quickly realised he was in the command station’s sickbay.

Suddenly his mind went into overdrive, reminding him that Vorshan was a Mythra spy, that he had ordered a Republic invasion into Hiigaran space, that the Council would soon be persuaded to take action against the Hiigarans as well. Ecron quickly sat up and tried to shake the numbness from his legs. It was then that a doctor came in and quickly walked up to his bed.


“Sir Ecron, you’ve had a minor concussion along with a broken arm,” the doctor spoke quickly as he tried to stop the Admiral from getting to his feet, “What you need now is rest, especially after that electric shock you gave yourself.”

“Doc, I have some urgent business to attend to,” Ecron protested.

“I’m afraid it’ll have to wait until tomorrow,” the doctor replied firmly, “You’re not getting out of bed today.”

“Please, this concerns the peace and security of the Galaxy!” Ecron exclaimed, “I need to inform the Parliament before it’s too late.”

“But sir…”

“Just let me do what I want for the next hour and I’ll rest up here for the following forty-eight,” Ecron offered, staring straight into the doctor’s eyes.


The doctor stared back at the Admiral for a few moments before relenting. He sighed and walked away from the bed.


“Be back in an hour, or I’ll relieve you of duty in my position as Chief Medical Officer,” the doctor warned.

“I will,” Ecron reassured as he got up and rushed out of the Infirmary with a cast on his right arm. He nearly stumbled at the doorway in his haste, but regained his footing thanks to the assistance of a passing security officer.

“You alright, Admiral?” the officer asked as he looked concernedly at the injured Admiral.

“I’m fine,” Ecron replied hurriedly before walking off briskly.


There was no time to lose. Anytime now, the Taiidan Navy would launch off into hyperspace and mount a massive assault on Hiigaran assets. Once that happened, old tempers would flare and both civilisations would plunge into unending war once more. He needed to stop the attack now.

Ecron turned a few corners and quickly reached the command bridge of the station. It was certainly helpful that the Infirmary was located so close to the main bridge. He walked through the bridge doors, and saw the Taiidan Navy assembled before the command station.


“Command to fleet, you’re clear to jump,” an officer spoke into the comlink.

[Roger Command, initiating jump procedures now…]

“Wait!” Ecron yelled as he rushed forward and grabbed the handheld comlink from the officer’s hand, “Abort the jump! Repeat, abort the jump!”

“Sir? What are you doing here?!” the officer exclaimed in an annoyed voice, “This is on Parliament’s orders! You can’t revoke it now!”

“In case you haven’t heard, Vorshan was a Mythra spy!” Ecron yelled back, “We’ve been manipulated all this while!”

[Fleet to Command, aborting jump procedures, discharging hyperspace modules now…]


At that moment, the bridge doors slid open and the various members of parliament walked in. They nodded at the officer, who bowed apologetically at Ecron.


“Admiral Ecron, a shuttle is waiting to take you onboard the Merciless II,” a senior minister informed, “Our families are safe now thanks to your discovery, but the Galaxy remains at tremendous risk.”

“I understand,” Ecron replied as he followed the other officers’ lead towards the doors, “I will meet the Council in person and explain the situation.”


As the bridge doors slid shut behind Ecron, the minister shimmered away to reveal an android. Audible gasps sounded through the bridge as security personnel quickly hoisted their weapons and fired. The shots passed through air as the android dodged the plasma pulses. The mechanical figure grinned evilly and pointed a finger at the charging officers. A blinding flash of light reduced every Taiidani officer on the bridge to dust.

The android walked slowly up to the control panel and placed its hand on the controls. The robot interfaced quickly with the main computer and did its work, bathing the bridge in the crimson glow of warning lights.


“Self-destruct initiated, station-wide lockdown in place. This station will self-destruct in five minutes.”


***


“Damn!” Ecron cursed as he banged futilely at the door controls. The doors remained shut, keeping him and the escorting officers sealed into a section of the corridor. The other officers continued to fire their plasma rifles at the sealed doors on the other side, the shots of energy slowly but steadily wearing the metal down.


“Four minutes to self-destruct,” the computer announced calmly.

“Admiral, I’ve contacted the fleet,” an officer reported, “A boarding frigate’s coming in to extract us right now.”

“I doubt there’ll be time…” Ecron muttered hopelessly as the bridge doors remained sealed tight.

“Sir, they’re using the Omega manoeuvre,” the officer added.

“By Sajuuk!” Ecron exclaimed.


The Omega manoeuvre was a tactic first used in the evacuation of the carrier Quasar. The carrier’s reactor core had been badly damaged by an asteroid impact and was on the verge of destroying the ship. All but the bridge crews had evacuated by escape pod due to a computer malfunction that locked down the bridge. The only option was to use a boarding frigate to pull the crews out manually.

However, given the limited time they had, there was no way to do a proper access, which was accomplished by slowly carving a hole in the ship’s hull and then boarding the vessel via connecting forcefields. In a last-ditch attempt to save the bridge crews, the frigate’s captain had decided to directly blast a hole in the carrier using the frigate’s mass driver cannon. Then as the crews were sucked out into space, he used forcefields to capture the lot before the atmospheric pressure dipped to dangerous levels.

Ecron had heard about the legendary manoeuvre. He just didn’t expect to be saved the same way.


“Keep to the bridge side of the corridor Admiral, I think they’re going to…”


A deafening bang shook Ecron to the core as a large metal slug pierced through the corridor and tore away much of the internal structure of the place. Ecron immediately felt himself fly towards the hull breach as the corridor’s atmosphere began blowing out into space. He soon felt his lungs expand as the air pressure plummeted drastically…

The next minute, Ecron slammed against the hard invisible wall of the forcefield bubble. He glanced around and felt his chest to make sure his lungs hadn’t exploded outwards. To his relief, there was no bloody mess where his lungs were supposed to be. The only problem was that pain was flaring up in his broken arm from the shock.

The forcefield retracted into the frigate’s airlock, pushing them all into the safety of the boarding ship. Once the forcefield had pulled completely into the airlock, the heavy doors sealed shut as the frigate soared away at maximum burn. Ecron looked through the nearest viewport and saw the same manoeuvre being repeated all over the station. However, it would only save those who were in corridors near the station’s exterior hull.

Ecron closed his eyes when he saw explosions occur along the reactor containment section of the command station. He could imagine the tendrils of superheated plasma snaking through the corridors of the station, devouring and burning any unlucky Taiidani who was trapped deep in the Tempest’s interior.

Then the boarding frigate shuddered violently as the station disappeared in a flash of vermillion flame, the shockwave reverberating through the rest of the gathered Taiidan Navy.


[Admiral Ecron, where do we go from here?] The frigate’s captain asked over the intercom.

“Take us onboard the Merciless II,” Ecron replied, “Order the fleet to regroup at the nearest space colony.”

[At once, Admiral.]


Ecron watched the shape of the new flagship Merciless II loom up before them. Saddened as he was by the loss of countless lives, the Republic had to move on, with or without its Government.

War had come once again.

[omega]

interesting....

[EarthBorn]

It seems I missed a lot. Great work.

[Archangel of Death]

Gah, I need a personal assistant to keep tabs on these things! How did I just now find this?

[omega]

use the subscribe to this thread button arch :hat:

[Archangel of Death]

I have it auto-subscribe to whenever I post . Its just this thread started on the 22nd of last month, and I didn't even notice it until now!

[omega]

omg

[Chrome]

Nice stuff so far. I like how Ecron's having to work against the Mythra for his own people's survival. Good going.

[Xero]

i have this to say... sweet!

i hunger for more!

great job as ussual. i like the way you describe the situations and the movements of people. using abstract thoughts and words is one of my favorite traits in writers.

and now we have todays random smiley: :noball:

[SP4m3d]

:wowsers: yea what he said^^

[omega]

Xero it would be even better if you had read the other story it would help fill in some of the questions you maybe asking but alas i was going to give you a link to it but i can't seem to find it now

[EarthBorn]

He Did