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CHAPTER 5: Battle for Aegis

Date: November 24, 2776

Location: Facility on Aegis, Talkinshi cryo control room.

Eventually they got the door to open. Lee had worked his magic and was able to get the locking mechanisms to respond. They strode into the area which was well lit by pulsing blue lights. Grimm passed Ishimura and proceeded into the room towards a center metal table with several consoles on it. "Two hours?" Akutenshi asked. Grimm nodded.

"Two hours to get them out, or whoever is left, then, we prepare to hunt the filth and exterminate them from this planet." Grimm responded.

"Look, you've probably been asleep for the past, oh I don't know, few thousand years, the Pelzigans are no longer in their Golden Age and we were set back after the last Lothian attack. One of the reasons we talked about you as a folk lore is because we thought that you where lost. And as time progressed we thought you were just stories from the Golden Age. But like I said, we have lost a lot of technology since then, got set back so far and now we're just grabbing hold of it. And during your sleep, we have protocols we have formed, new ones that you're probably not use to." Akutenshi said.

"Those are YOURS, not mine. A Lothian presence has been reported on this planet, I am following my 'protocols' as we were designed to do which is awaken all Talkenshi within this facility and hunt down both Lothian and whichever Humans decide to get in the way." Grimm grumbled angrily.

"I understand you're mad at the Human scientists that sided with those bastards but trust me, most of the Humans that are here are innocent and the ones that are with the UGSM, as far as I can tell, are not our enemy. While yes you should awaken the rest of your kind you need to realize that you can't judge a species for the action of a few." Akutenshi responded angrily realizing that the elder Talkenshi planned to wage war on Humanity as well for the deception the scientists played.

"Would you say the same for the Lothians?" He demanded.

"Yes, I would if they had any civilians with them, if we even knew where their home world was or what system they came through, I highly doubt that all of the Lothians are against us. For all we know they could be having a civil war that is destroying their system and forcing them to invade us."

"Then why don't they simply negotiate?!" Grimm roared at him, getting more and more frustrated with the small Guardian.

"Probably because the group that we're facing is the wrong side of that civil war." Akutenshi responded cold and grim.

"How can you be certain? How do you know their entire species hasn't agreed to just take our system?! Our homes?!" Grimm responded angrily, frustrated.

"I can't, ok? I don't know any Lothian that i've called a friend, hell, like you've said, most of them have tried killing me. So as far as I can tell they all want us dead. But I know for a fact that there are Humans who are striving to keep the peace between the Pelzigans and themselves together during this time so we can fight off the Lothian threat. I know that all the Humans I've met are strongly against the "VeLothians and are fighting alongside us to get rid of them and secure both our home and theirs." Akutenshi said. "And we need to report to the Serenity, which Haki is doing now so we can receive the new orders."

"Orders." Grimm huffed angrily at him. "YOU, are a Guardian, not a foot soldier, you don't bow down to the military, UGSM, Human, or Pelzigan. YOU respond only to the council."

"Things have changed Grimm, and besides going along with the military monkey's is easier than grinding up against them and causing trouble. Granted there are times we break free of the military's control to perform our duties. We haven't thrown those out the window yet, we hold onto them and perform them even if it's against the military's wishes." He said calmed. Grimm stopped putting in commands.

"And are you sure you can trust them? Especially after what you've seen?" Grimm responded equally calm.

"Yes, at least the ones I work with, especially with the one who saved my life so long ago and took me as his own son." Grimm stared at him, both shocked at his answer and the truth, and at the way Akutenshi had responded. It was not a response Grimm was fully expecting. "Very well, We will confirm to the new ways for now, let's hope we don't have to decide to kill every Human around here." Grimm responded. "In two hours, all Talkenshi will be awoken and will prepare for battle." Akutenshi nodded. Within two hours several dozen Talkenshi had risen out of their cryo-sleep and started strapping armor and blades to themselves. Preparing for war. Akutenshi watched in amazement as they progressed forward and out of the building and into the light rain that came from the edge of the giant storm they where just under and knew, they had a new ally, and that the Lothians here probably didn't stand much of a chance now. Grimm stood in the light rain closing his eyes. "Akutenshi." He said calmly.

"What is it?" He glanced up at the giant wolf.

"There are things that we must discuss in regards to our foes that you're not even aware of. There is more to them than you know."

"Then we'll discuss it when possible." He responded.

"Agreed."

Four hours later......

Location: Serenity bridge, upper atmosphere of Aegis

The Captain walked around the circular bridge, checking up on crewman stations and getting updates on troop deployments as well as several minor ground engagements from troops finding, sometimes just blindly running into, Lothian forces. The Lothians had more forces than they had originally thought and he knew that that meant they had a ship hidden somewhere on the planet, preferably near the Temple, or Facility, because most, if not all of the engagements had been close to the surrounding area around it. Some of the reports he received indicated that most of the Lothian groups had been in a retreat and that it was both lucky and bad luck that they had found them. Already the casualties were mounting with each engagements. The Lothians had a thick scaly skin that acted as additional armor meaning that the soldiers on the planet would have to fire more rounds into the bastards to kill them. He walked over to Nielsen and stared at the NAV system the Ensign was messing around with, punching in new coordinates to direct probes that they had launched as well as making sure they remained in high orbit around the planet. He nodded his approval and proceeded back to The Captains chair and sat down and pulled up a data pad that had been placed on the arm rest and started skimming the readings that where being relayed back from the probes when Atkins walked over to him from communications. "Sir, we have confirmation of an enemy presence two light years or so from our present location. The report shows their trajectory towards the planet."

"What of the station?"

"Station Omega-2 was destroyed, only about three survivors, the rest are being accounted for and being placed into morgues. Awaiting confirmation on their identities." Atkins responded.

"It's a sad loss." The Captain said.

"I know, but they did give us a few hours advanced notice of the incoming threats. Omega fleet is preparing to intercept any contacts that come within several thousand kilometers of the planets defense grid. Charlie and Zeta have taken up defensive positions along the planets poles. I have moved half our fleet, Delta, into position around the planets moons, hopefully the radiation that's leaking from the reactor that went on the moon will cover their signatures and give them a bit of a surprise when they come here." The Captain nodded in response staring at the ship deployment charts on the pad that he had pulled up while they where talking.

"Our primary goal is to give the civilians planet side a fighting chance to escape. All other objectives are secondary." He said. "Once they are cleared out we will be permitted to engage with all forces, every available weapon, and everything else we've got up our sleeves to defend the planet. We've already lost three of the fifteen planets in this system within the last two years, we can't afford to lose this one."

"Agreed."

"Radio in Cale and let him know that his squad is to be deployed at these coordinates with a squadron of Marines." The Captain said hitting in coordinates into the PDA and handing it over to Atkins. The coordinates where approximately one hundred and fifty kilometers away from the Facility. The location was thick with jungle and had flooded in during the storm that had passed through the location.

"Understood sir." Atkins responded as he turned to leave the Captain and passed the information down to the communications officer. He stared out the view screen and took a deep breath.

"Anything on comms?" he said over to the Female white furred Rabbit who wore the same military grey uniform with black regulated military pants.

"Negative, all silent." She replied raising a paw to the holographic projection in front of her and twisted her paw counter-clock wise causing the circle in front of her to spin in the direction of her paw. He knew what to expect, in less than three hours to either get the civilians on the planet below them off world and to a safer location or get them holed up in a secure bunker. He was still troubled, not at the fact that they where going to engage in possibly one of the biggest Naval Battles in history, but at the fact that they would be receiving no more reinforcements. Almost half of the fleet with them where filled with new star ships from the Pelzigan Military that had enhanced defense systems, none as good as the Serenity, and had upgraded weapons systems. The other half or so where refitted ships, nearly fifty years old that came from both sides and a small portion were actual military ships, some refitted with newer tech, some with outdated tech, and then some of the newer ships. His main concern was whether or not the Lothians new toy would make an appearance here. If it, many of the ships here stood no chance. Within the next two hours things had gone smoothly, or as smoothly as a planetary evacuation could go. Several dozen civilian and transport ships had managed to evacuate a couple hundred thousand off world and where on their way to another location to put the civilians down on it when the call finally came.

"Sir, we have confirmed reports that the Defense Grid has engaged several dozen enemy ships, reports are coming in of heavy casualties and a few of the stations have been destroyed."

"Go to red alert." He replied, the lights dimmed and a red hugh enveloped the bridge as an alarm blared throughout the whole ship. "Have people stationed and ready to repel borders, bring shields up and prepare for engagement." He said. "Bring us about." He ordered. The screen tilted to the left and slowly a distant battle could be seen. The planets dark blue moon shown to the left of the view screen and at the center several red and orange glares appeared off and on as the stations engaged their enemy. "All ships reporting ready Captain." Atkins said, the big Tiger made his way next to the Captain and stood with his arms and paws folded back behind him.

"Patch me to all ships." He said.

"Aye Sir!" the Rabbit replied as she brought up another small square and tapped commands into it.

"All ships, this is the Serenity, enemy has made contact, prepare for engagement. We don't need any heroic deeds being done, stick to the plan. We lure them closer to the planet then the force behind the moon will then block their ships in and engage from behind. All ships on the Northern Pole of the planet are to only break off if a civilian ship and or transport come under attack and are to otherwise hold their positions and lock their ARC's onto the enemy ships. All other ships form up on the Serenity. Serenity out." The Rabbit punched the comms offline and the connection broke. The Captain made his way back to his chair and sat down. "All power to engines, shielding, and weapons."

"Time to go to war." Atkins said.

Scheck looked up at him. "Agreed. Notify all planet-side forces they'll have another fight coming down to him." and that was the truth. He knew that, despite their attempts to keep the fight of the ground, they wouldn't always succeed. A few of their dropships would slip past their defenses.

"It's time for war."

Down in the heavily forested location Cale had to stop his mech and open the hatch. The heat and humidity of the massive jungle had found ways to get through the suits air filters and conditioning units designed to keep the pilots in a comfortable temperature. Something had been messing with the mech since it first entered the jungle. He didn't know what it was or how it was affecting the mech. His squad, consisting of two Humans, one female and the other male, both Asian, were out of their mech as well panting. The other two to his left where out as well, one Rhino, big and bulky, stood out and took several deep breaths and the one next to him, Coda, the only other member that had survived the fight that had claimed the other three squad members prior to these three from joining in, was the only one he knew and treated like family. "Coda, come in." He said over the comms.

"yeah?" The muscled canine responded in a soft grunt.

"Can't believe me and you are having as much trouble as the replacements." He said smiling. "Any idea on why the Mech's can't hold a decent temperature?"

"No fucking clue." He replied. The comms staticy.

"And it's not just that, but since we entered the jungle, comms have been a little funny as well as some of the scanning equipment and gear we have. Hell, I think the guys on foot are having more trouble just trying to walk on their own two legs. Some of the Pelzigans down there have reverted to running on all fours to get past this terrain."

"Don't know, but I have a feeling, if the Facility your boyfriend found has any kind of conduits or power cables running through here, it's probably causing the interference."

"Care to enlighten the dumb Wusky on this theory?"

"Simple, that Facility houses a lot of Talkenshi and the pods that hold them in stasis seem to be older models, yet more advanced, so they could require a lot, and I mean A LOT, of power to keep them going, as well as the communications for that place could also be requiring a lot of power as, oh, I don't know, our ancestors during the golden age had advanced technology and that temple probably was a central warp hub to transport individuals across planets. So yeah, my guess, conduits or power cables transfering energy from a nearby source is causing the interference with our equipment."

"And what about the mechs?" He asked. There was a moment of silence.

"Best guess, some kind of electromagnetic field causing issues. Being emitted from the same source thats messing with our equipment."

"Oh joy, so no walk in the park?"

"Not if we need to keep stopping every two hours or so." Joy. Cale scooted back into the suit and flipped a switch above him, there was a soft, yet warm, breeze that helped cool him down a bit more as he hefted a small water bottle and sipped from it.

"Jenkins, any report from the Serenity?" He said into the comms. Jenkins being the Male Human responded rather quickly.

"Comms are messed up again, but I got a brief report stating we have contacts, several fleets, moving in towards the planet. The fleets up there are in position and waiting for their arrival."

"Means we're gonna have company down here soon enough."

"Just when we thought we had enough company down here hunting the damn things." Ashley, the Female Human pilot responded over comms."

"Alright guys, notify other patrols and let them know to get set up, we may be needed in the city sooner rather than later, and it won't be the simple 'riot' scenario that was expected." Cale said as he punched in several commands into the mech. The pod door hissed closed and several monitors linked into one in front of him and turned on revealing the forested scenery around him. He reached out with both his paws and gripped onto the mech's arm controls. The machine came to life again, mechanisms whirring to life and a low humming noise could be heard then a suddenly choke. "Come on baby, I know this environment is fucking with you but keep going for my sake." He mumbled.

"Talking to your mech again?" came Coda's voice over the comms.

"You know it, she's my darling girl."

"Ha ha, I know what you mean." He responded.

"Alright everyone, form up on me, notify the soldiers they are to get ready for incoming contacts. Ashley, I want you and Jenkins to set up an arial patrol parameter around the forces, anything comes close try to intercept it with squads delta and tango. I want two more mechs from those squad to join you. The rest will be ground side and on alert."

"Affirmative." Ashley's voice came through. There where four orange lights on the upper left hand corner of the screen that flashed green from her and Coda.

"Coda, with me. Set up a parameter ground side." His light turned green in response. "I'll notify Akutenshi of the situation." He said reaching up with his left paw and flipped a switch switching channels to Akutenshi. "We have confirmed reports that there is going to be a Naval engagement, prepare for ground forces hon."

"Affirmative." Came his voice, Cale relaxed and smiled. Time to get to work.

He paced back and forth on the bridge of the ship. Lothians hard at work punching in commands for the ship. He glanced up at the holographic display showing a fight between the Lothian forces and the UGSM over Aegis, behind that, in the far distance, was Leben. The planet a small speck off in the distance. "Report on the cloak?" He demanded in a scratchy voice.

"Operational, none of the UGSM's stations have yet to detect us." Responded a low growling response from the Lothian sitting in front of him.

"Position of the other fleets?"

"Fleets Trixon, Nieche, and Bavodo have engaged the UGSM's fleets at Aegis, our sister ship commanded by Kai is holding back for now before they deploy the weapon to cripple most of their fleets."

"Good, keep me updated and prepare to move when the signal is given." He said. The old Wolf, with his scarred eye and synthetic arm dressed in a black cloak glared at the planet. He knew his son would do what was needed at Aegis then join him, sadly, the other more than likely would either be stuck on Aegis until the fighting was over, and be too late to come to Leben, or die. Hopefully Kai didn't decide to kill him if they ever ended up fighting. "Move us into the next available position to avoid their detection."

"Yes sir." The Lothian responded. Soon, all the pieces for their plan would fall into play, and Leben would be gone, as well as the UGSM's stronghold in the Epsilon System.

Akutenshi glared up at the sky through the thick leaves of the jungle and mumbled curses under his breath, he could feel the connection with Cale and knew that he was thinking the same. "Last time I get put ground side in the damn jungle." He said aloud. Lee and Haki were behind him as they pushed their way through a thick bush and Haki grinned. "Thank you god! Home!" He laughed.

"Home?" Lee asked, the younger fox looked around and cursed as he almost fell face first into the mud. Akutenshi grinned and chuckled.

"It's his home because Tigers are use to this environment, or so he says. I think he's full of shit." Akutenshi said laughing as, finally, Lee fell into the mud for the fourth time that day.

"Kid, you are clumsy in this environment." Haki said laughing.

"No shit, not exactly use to it!" Lee snapped as he stood back up wiping mud off of his muzzle and ears.

"Didn't you get dropped into the Deria jungle back on Leben for Guardian training for a week?" Haki said.

"Yeah, but it was nothing like this place. Not as many trees and shit to stumble over."

"Ha ha! True, but this ain't to bad kid. Trust me, when me and Akutenshi here were over at Tripon chasing a few chameleon Lothians through their jungle, well, wasn't easy." Haki said.

"Yeah, mud pits, venamous reptiles, not like the Pelzigan kind mind you, those guys aren't too bad despite what people say, but the feral indigineous kind on that planet, as well as a more thick brush and a little less trees, had a hell of a time chasing them. Downside, it seemed the Lothians loved the jungle, it was their little god damn playground." Akutenshi said chiming in. He remembered that time, him and Haki where the only ones in the team by then, Maria had just transferred in and she was onboard the starship Vegas when they where deployed and was unable to join them due to certain circumstances planet-side. Happened at least four years ago.

"And that was when you met Cale, damn good of a pilot that saved our ass'." Haki said.

"Wait, you two met during a battle?" Lee asked his voice a little higher than he meant to.

"E-yup, We had to request air support from another starship, he and his team where the only ones capable of responding due to a huge atmospheric storm, AKA our certain circumstances, and they came on in, taking out a complex, during which he lost two of his friends, and after we got done with that mission, after we destroyed it, we met each other to see what the other person was alike. The one who went on the hunt, and the one who had to save the hunters' ass'" Akutenshi said.

"Nice." Lee said.

"Eh, would've preffered to meet him at a club or bar back home but hey, been a happy few years."

"Yeah, took you two years to finally ask him out, primarily because you kept on losing his damn contact information."

"Shutup!" Akutenshi said chuckling at Haki.

"Ha!" Haki said as he trudged past Akutenshi.

"So, how did you two keep bumping into each other?" Lee asked as they pushed on through the thick jungle.

"Eh, here and there, i'd save his ass, or he'd save mine, or we'd be put onto teams on a mission, Galaxy is a small place." He responded. "Eventually got his info and contacted him during a bit of a break and we started going out. The UGSM's command wasn't to happy about us going out, something about the Human deligates being homophobic or some shit like that. But luckily we fell under the Pelzigan military and as a Guardian, we don't exactly have to follow military order, but we do it because it makes situations easier, especially during combat. But there are times being a Guardian and Pelzigan are nice. Anyways, when we heard the Serenity would be basically a giant military base that would also be a staging area for the Guardians I pulled a few strings, got him onboard, and god he was pissed that I 'cheated' the system I didn't hear the end of it until we finally got onboard."

"And that's where your father is as well?" Lee asked, Maria finally catching up to the group.

"Luck had it, trust me, I wanted as far away from him as possible, besides, he isn't exactly my father. But as a Navy officer and one of the best, he had the option to Captain whichever ship he wanted, he chose the Serenity. Newest ship, and it needed a damn good Captain. So he got the job." Akutenshi said. "Don't get me wrong, I love him like a father, and i'm glad he adopted me after my parents death back on Yukin, but hey, can't argue with fate, probably a good reason he was put on that ship." He said.

Lee nodded as Maria brushed past him.

"You got the orders?" She asked.

"Yup, we're gonna advance and break off from most of the unit once they set up an FOB. Go do our own little hunting. Grimm and a pack of Talkenshi will be joining us seeing as they know this location. They think they have a good idea where the Lothians will be at." He said.

"Joy, an old werewolf joining us on our little expedition." Lee said grudgingly.

"Grimm ain't that bad." Akutenshi said. "Little out of date, but not bad." A small dropship slowly came to a stop a mile ahead in a clearing as was landing. "Looks like the other Guardians have arrived." He said. "Let's go say hi and fill them in on what to expect." He motioned for the group to follow him as he said that. They moved through the jungle, Maria and Haki with ease, Akutenshi struggling a little and Lupin almost tripping over his own feet in the dense bush of the jungle. Several dozen Pelzigan stepped out of the large dropship, all hefting different weapons. Some had larger plasma and phaser assault rifles, while some had smaller hand guns of the same variant. There where a few who had blades in paws, an old, but useful, way to combat the Lothian. There was a lone Coyote who stood out amongst the group, his grey and green fur bristled in the small breeze. "Derrah." Akutenshi called out. The Coyote, sporting a trench coat that matched his fur, black tight shirt and the same colored pair of pants twitched his ears and looked over to him.

"It is good to see you my friend." He said smiling but in a calm voice with a hint of Jamaican in it, as the Humans would say.

"Likewise." He responded as he moved over to the Coyote and hugged him. "How is it up on Serenity?"

"Busy, they are positioning anti-boarding parties at key points where the Lothians might try to latch on and board. All while arming the remaining mechs, fighters, and weapons as well as deploying the five frigates they have underneath." Akutenshi nodded, his black combat armor gleaming in the sunlight. The Coyote was special, he was older than Akutenshi and was the one who tutored him when he was in the academy. The last time they saw each other, even though a large part of the Guardians where now stationed on the Serenity, was about a month or so ago.

"Think we're ready?" He asked.

"For what? To rid this planet of filth and keep them from taking it? Yes!" He shouted with glee. Just as he said it there where several thuds that shook the ground lightly. Akutenshi smiled and turned around to see two mechs, each looking slick, slim. Both had magnetic arms that could detach from the body if need be, the chest was more rounded up to the neck joint of the mech where the head was more of a mixture of a square and a circle with three eye like objects at the center of the face. The body curved in it's circular form to a needle like shape at the groin of the mech's. The legs bore the same structure, curving nicely where a needle like blade hung at the heel of the mechs, the feet where squared out though sticking out from it. The legs where also magnetically attached and the field that held them together where built to withstand even EMP's and other attacks that would cause them to fail. In the event they did, the arms and legs had a mechanism that would kick in to attach the legiments to the body of the metal beast. Each bore scars, scratches, and dents from previous battles. A few places around the chest and left arm of the mech to left where a black scorch color. The one on the right bore the same resemblance, maybe a few less dents and scratches. The mech on the left, Cale, had gold stripes along the outside of the body and bore a standard large magnetic rifle. There where indents where his missile launchers would come out if needed as well as a small indent of a blade on the left arm, a plasma blade where the outsides would activate forming a complete blade that would flip out. The mech on the right, he guessed was Coda's, had the same equipment but had one large eye on the center of the face. It bore a large sniper rifle like weapon. While he had the same blade Cale's had, he had a few adjustments made to his. The launchers were smaller and a small camera could be seen on the shoulders allowing him to more accurately fire the missiles like sniping a target, only if the target needed to be in a huge smoldering pile of ash or a specific body part had to be blown off.

"I see you're boyfriend has decided to join us." Derrah said chuckling. Akutenshi smiled in return.

"Wouldn't miss the fun." said a loud booming voice, not Cales, more than likely the mech's onboard computer system speaking.

"So the computer has a personality ya?" Derrah said.

"Somewhat, still working on him." Cale's voice came through the loud speakers. "Has a bit of an attitude at times."

"Not funny." It replied.

"Quiet Jack."

"Fine."

"and now you've given it a name? Cute." Derrah said.

"HE chose it, didn't have an option in it." Came Cale's voice.

"I figured." Derrah responded. The other Guardians, each wearing different outfits, to the back a brown Otter wore combat fatigues with a light brown jacket to match his fur, a Leapord, white with black spots had the same kind of outfit Derrah had but was more of a leather trench coat than a cotton one and was steel white along with his matching shirt and pants. Akutenshi looked around and caught a few in different colored Combat Armor like his.

"We need to rendevouz with Grimm." Akutenshi said motioning to the South, the opposite direction Derrah was facing.

"Then what are we waiting for then?" Derrah responded. "All Guardians, form up and lets get a move on!" He shouted. They all raised a fist into the air and shouted different encouraging things as they moved as a whole unit into the jungle, the giant dropship came back to life and lifted into the air above the trees and took off. It had been two hours of trudging through the thick jungle until they came upon Grimm and a pack of Talkenshi standing near a squad of dead Lothians. Grimm's fur was coated in blood and he grinned.

"It is good to see you Guardians." He said. "Sorry, but we couldn't wait much longer and had to start the 'party' sooner than later."

"Pretty scenery." Akutenshi said looking at the strewn bodies all torn apart or with deep gashes in them.

"yes..." He said. Derrah walked up to Grimm and nodded.

"Any more?" He asked.

"Plenty."

"Then lets keep moving." Derrah stated and together, with the pack of Talkenshi they moved onwards and had found several more Lothians which they dispatched quickly, magic or no magic.

"They seem to be moving in a specific direction." Derrah said as they finished off another group. And Akutenshi nodded in agreement, they seemed to be heading further and further south, staging point? He though, FOB? Or was there something more to it. Up in the sky, past the thick branches and leaves of the jungle he could see distant explosions as ships fought each other.

"I think I know where they are going." Grimm stated.

"Where?" Akutenshi asked.

"There is another facility long since covered by this jungle, it's a Mass Cannon facility, houses one cannon and can produce more that can be attached to ships and ground units." Grimm said in a calm tone.

"Mass Cannon?" Akutenshi asked.

"Correct, if they do have control over it, then they are more than likely trying to activate it. It is important we get there before they do." Grimm replied.

"Then we need to get moving." Derrah said. "Make sure the old man in with Cale can keep up."

"Screw you." Coda replied. The Grey furred Wolf sat in his seat in the mech and sighed staring at the screens in front of him. "Not nearly as old as you or the Captain."

"True, but old none-the less for a mech pilot who's below a younger man in rank." Derrah responded.

"Ok Guardian, you wanna go rounds?"

"After we're done here sure, but minus your mech."

"Yeah...no...I don't think so." Coda said finalizing their talk.

Derrah looked at Grimm and nodded "Let's get moving, lead the way." Grimm nodded back and then lead the group through several kilometers of dense jungle until they eventually came to a clearing with a lake at the center of the clearing. At the center was a cylinder shaped structure purtruding through the ground and aimed towards the sky. Akutenshi whistled at the site. The thing itself was at least four kilometers long sticking out of the ground and at least six kilometers wide. There wasn't much else they could see other than branches and leaves along the shape going into the ground.

"The cannon itself is much longer than it appears the jungle is trying to reclaim it...in a sense." Grimm said.

"Where's the entrance?" Haki asked as he tapped a side piece on the neck of his suit, a helmet enveloped his face and muzzle and the visor turned on covering his eyes. Akutenshi, Lee, and Miranda did the same.

"More than likely burried by the jungle." Derrah said.

"Yes." Grimm responded. "Follow me." He strolled towards the edge of the lake and put his right paw up in the air at his waist and suddenly a small panel came up. "This cannon has the ability to reach across half the Epsilon System, but in order to do that it requires a massive energy build up. This panel will activate a bridge that'll take us to the cannon itself." He rested his paw on the panel and it lit up, blue lights streaking down to the ground and suddenly the area around Grimm light up, bright blue. A bright blue light bridge activated as two long prongs came from the ground in front of them and two more at the cannon. It flickered to life then hummed.

"You sure that thing is safe to even stand on?" Lee asked.

"Same as any other bridge." Derrah said in response. "Grimm." He motioned for Grimm to proceed. Him and the other Talkenshi proceeded onto the bridge calmly and walked towards the cannon itself, the rest of the Guardians proceeded with them as the two Mech's hung back.

"You guys go on ahead, me and the old man will hang back." Cale said as he chimmed in the old man remark to annoy Coda.

"Pup, don't make me hurt you." Coda said in response.

"Well gee, you think we could do a tight rope walk across that bridge in these mech's?" Cale asked sarcastically.

"You kidding me? We step on that bridge and the mech's might as well go into the water, and i'm in no mood to scrape off algae off these damn things." Coda said.

"Thought so. Akutenshi we'll set up a peremiter around this location and call some of the troops to this location to fortify it."

"Understood." Akutenshi responded as he took up the rear of the group. Within thirty minutes or so they had reached the other end of the bridge, the Mech's looking more his size than giant death machines stood on the other end scanning the horizon. He looked up and saw several bright flashes as several ships exploded, and then he saw several small dots coming closer, all of them engaged in a massive fight to either stop them from reaching the ground, or reaching it. "We need to hurry, things don't look to good." He said. Grimm nodded up front in response. He looked forward and saw a rusted door closed shut with vines and leaves covering most of it in front of Grimm.

"We must break the door down." Grimm said.

Location: Upper orbit of Aegis, on board the Serenity.

The vessel shook violently as they took a direct hit to their starboard bow, sparks flew across the bridge as several panels came loose letting the cords come down. "Status report?!" He shouted.

"Shields down to 65%! Starboard Bow has taken a direct hit! Hull integrity still at 95%!" Responded one of the officers.

"Bring us about, prepare all phasers, turrets, and torpedoes. We're going in!" He shouted. The view screen tilted to the right and the planet took up the whole screen then slowly went out of view as they turned towards their latest enemy. A smaller, more agile Lothian War Frigate angled itself to fire it's broadside cannons towards them. "All hands brace for impact!" he shouted as he watched several bright flashes exit the dozens of smaller cannons on the enemy ship. The shield in front of the view screen flashed a bright blue-green hue as the shots hit them. The ship shook even more so violently than last time. "Fire!" He shouted. Atkins gripped onto the Captains chair for support as several bright orange flashes streaked across the hull of the smaller ship, a mixture of blue and red objects shot towards it, some hitting and some missing, and there was a brilliant bright light as one of the torpedoes hit the enemy ship. Flames jetted out of the ship as air decompressed within the hull of the enemy ship. "Starboard phasers! Use them!" He shouted. The ship lurched to the starboard and on the view screen turned towards the enemy ship showing streaks of orange light slamming home and the enemy ship erupting into flames, pieces of it's hull flew outward as it split apart piece by piece. "Brace!" He shouted as some of the ships hull collided against theirs. "Report!"

"Shields are holding! Minor hull breaches starboard side!" reported the Officer.

"Captain, reading an incoming vessel, I think it's our friend from the Valkyrie!" Another officer reported.

"What's its heading?!" He demanded.

"Heading....what?" The officer asked in shock.

"Heading!!!" He shouted.

"It's heading towards the center of the fight, we're reading a large magnetic surge building up in the ship!" The officer reported.

"It's a god damn EMP!" Atkins roared over the noise.

"prepare for EMP pulse! All ships, prepare for EMP pulse!" Scheck shouted into the comms to all the other remaining ships and there were responses that where inaudible coming back through. The view screen watched as the large enemy ship, almost the size of the Serenity, taking hits left and right entered the center of the battlefield and there was a brilliant blue light, like a wave, emitted from the ship. As it hit ships their lights flickered and die, including a portion of the Lothian forces. Slowly but surely the ships that lost power start falling towards the planet, being pulled in by it's gravity and the Captain watched in horror as the pulse hit his ship. The deck shook knocking Atkins to the ground as well as a part of the bridge crew. "Everyone hold on!" He shouted as he gripped the sides of his seat and saw the monitors flicker on and off then finally went off, the whole bridge went dark as the view screen flickered off, and the only light shown was through the windows in front of them. He could see the planet slowly spiral in and out of view and could feel the gravity generators struggling to stay on as there was a loud rythmic thumming heard throughout the bridge. "Emergency power!" He screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Working on it! Engineering reported that they lost almost all power down there!" An officer responded.

He tapped the pad on his right arm and shouted, "Maria! We need power!"

The voice that responded was static and frantic, "We're working on it! Hang on!" The ship lurched forward and the rythmic thumming stopped as the planet finally came into site and he saw an orange hue enveloping the windows of the bridge.

"Captain, without power, shielding, or blast shields we won't survive this heat!" Nielson shouted.

"Maria!" He screamed louder.

"I got the blast shields!" Her voice came over the comms, several panels closed around the windows and large screen flickered to life. "All the power I can give you, Helm, i'm giving you thruster control, i'll keep working on bringing her back to life, try to stable us!" Maria said.

"You got it!"

"Angle us out!" The Captain shouted as one of the Bridge Officers screamed flying towards the windows and landed face first into them, a loud crunching noise as he hit it and then there was nothing more from the young man. Nielson worked frantically to level the ship, slowly but surely the large screen showed them leveling out, didn't help the feeling of the Captains stomach coming up through his chest. He grunted and mumbled "getting to damn old for this..." His grip tightened around the sides of chair. The hull shuddered violently and he swore he heard several sheets of metal ripping off of the ship. "Report!"

"Almost got it Captain!" Maria responded over comms. There was a sudden power surge, the screens came to life then died again.

"we've just about passed through the Ozone layer!" Nielson reported.

"Maria!" The Captain shouted.

"We got it!" The whole bridge came back to life and he could hear the ship whirring back to life.

"Stabilize the ship!" He ordered. The ship jerked violently as thrusters and engines came to life, the screen tilted upward showing the stars and orange hue still enveloping the ship. "Get us out of here!" He said. He felt the ship lurch backwards then felt it pushing back up.

"Come on baby!" Nielson shouted as he punched in more commands, slowly the white sky faded and blackness enveloped the nose of the ship as they re-entered a normal orbit around the planet.

"Report on the other ships?" He demanded.

"Our deployable frigates are drifting in space dead, crews there are working hard on restoring power to them. We've lost approximately 50% of our fleets, enemy has sustained heavy casualties as well, reading about a dozen enemy vessels compared to our 30 remaining ships."

"Order all ships that have survived to form up on us. We're going to try and stop that bastard." The Captain ordered. As he situated himself. Atkins slowly stood up and moaned and shook his head.

"Sir, all ships are forming on us, awaiting orders."

"Proceed towards the enemy ship. Let's get ready to take that ship out."

Location: Aegis Surface, Mass Cannon.

He moved through the groups of Lothian pushing some of them aside. Things where going as planned but something felt off, something felt out of place. Kai proceeded down another corridor where five Lothian soldiers, wearing their standard chest armor and their grey combat pants crouched facing the door way. "Go." He ordered. They looked up at him confused. "Go, get the Mass Cannon ready, we're going to need it up there." He knew that his ship could probably take out a vast majority of the remaining ships, but not without sustaining heavy damage. He glared at the door way and stood there, waiting. There was a low thud against the door a few hundred feet from where he stood. He took a stance and prepared for them to enter the Mass Cannon. "Time to say hello to my 'family'." He muttered to himself. Within a few minutes the thudding stopped and his ears twitched. His fur prickled, and then the door flew off it's hinges and skidded towards him. He put his foot on the edge of the door to stop it from going any further and saw a giant shadow standing in the door, eyes gleaming red. "Grimm, it's so nice to finally meet you." He said calmly.

"Filth." Grimm replied. He caught glimpses of movement behind Grimm and grinned, this was going to be an entertaining fight indeed. Grimm stood in the door way glaring at Kai, wearing his typical black cloathing, only, not as akutenshi had described it the last time they met. A black leather jacket hung around the bastard as well as a black shirt that clung to his body, revealing his muscles. The pants sagged a bit. Grimm took a step forward then stopped, feeling an energy emitting from the man. "What are you?" He demanded.

"Big guy, don't worry about who or what I am, just come and fight me." Kai responded. Grimm growled and started trudging towards Kai. He swung his paw at Kai claws drawn and Kai ducked then slammed a palm against Grimm's stomach pushing him back and making him grunt. "Brute strength won't work this time big guy." He mocked. Grimm howled and then leaped up at and at the man bringing a large claw down on him, tearing at some of his flesh, nothing major sadly, and knocked him back a few feet. Kai smirked and started to hop on his toes. "Amazing." Kai said. Grimm's eyes locked with Kai's and made another motion to go after the man when suddenly Kai's right paw glowed and fired forward a burst of energy. Grimm leaped to the side to avoid the energy burst, it struck one of the other Talkenshi that where standing in the door way knocking him back and over. Grimm howled and sprinted at Kai and landed several blows against the man sending him back even further. Grimm was expecting a grunt in pain or a loud moan or scream, instead, he received laughing. A low chuckle at first, but eventually it grew into a loud, terrifying laugh. "Come on! Hit me harder!" Kai screamed as he ran towards Grimm kicked Grimm in the side hard sending him into the wall creating cracks in the metal wall. "Try harder!" Kai screamed as brought his foot up and kicked Grimm through the wall. Kai stood there giving a quiet giggle and smiled when suddenly a smaller fist connected to his face and sent him flying back and rolling across the ground. HE finally decided to step in. Akutenshi stood where Kai was glaring at him. Kai stood back up and grinned as he eyed Akutenshi who sprinted at him, wrapping both arms around Kai and picking him up and then throwing him into the ground. Kai grunted and gasped as Akutenshi picked him up by the scruff of his head fur and dragged him up against a wall and slammed his head into it. Kai giggled as Akutenshi pulled his head away to slam it into the wall again he got a foot behind Akutenshi tripping him and then brought his foot up to stomp down. Akutenshi rolled to the side barely avoiding the curb stop. Kai's foot sank into the metal floor creating a moderate size dent. He then saw Haki running straight at him, pistol drawn, and firing. Kai maneuvered through the fire and then grabbed Haki's arms, twisted, and flung him further down the hall into an open area. "Come on guys! It's a repeat of what happened a while back!" He laughed. Miranda lunged at him and grabbed him from behind and threw him towards the entrance where he landed feet first skidding to a stop.

"Sweet heart, not even gonna ask me out to a date first?" He laughed as he ran at her and slugged her in the stomach. "I'm not even fucking trying!" He shouted as she skidded back and fell on her knees holding her stomach. He looked behind him and saw all the Guardians coming in, weapons raised and smiled, "Not a fight I can win on even grounds." He said quietly as Derrah started to give the order to fire. He raised his arms up and smiled as rounds were fired at him, and suddenly, he disappeared in a black cloud. Derrah looked over at Akutenshi who got back to his feet then to Haki who was already running back to them then to Miranda who was crouching grunting and slowly stood up. They looked around as the black smoke dissappeared and Akutenshi's fur prickled, something wasn't right. Suddenly Kai appeared next to a Chameleon Guardian and stuck a knife into the girls throat. She gagged and reached up grabbing at the knife as he yanked it free and then slammed the blade into her temple. She fell to the ground motionless as he pulled it back out, Derrah turned and fired at him and he dissappeared into the black cloud again.

"How is he doing that?!" Lee shouted glancing around nervously. Kai appeared next to a Male Lynx and kicked his knee breaking it and as the Lynx fell over screaming in pain Kai caught his head and twisted it snapping his neck.

"Derrah!" Akutenshi shouted as he saw a small shimmer of light and Kai beginning to form again. Derrah turned around and brought his gun to smash it into Kai's head just as he finished appearing knocking him down. He held the gun aiming at Kai and fired. Kai rolled to the right, phsycially getting tired. Derrah fired several more rounds following Kai as Kai dissappeared into another puff of black clouds. Akutenshi aimed his own rifle and looked side to side when Kai came back and close lined a big Polar Bear Guardian to the ground then dissappeared only to reappear further back firing a round and continuing his routine. Akutenshi shouted in anger as he fired several rounds towards Kai as he reappeared, one round piercing through Kai's shoulder and he howled in pain grabbing at the wound then dissappeared again. For a few minutes they stood there, guns in paws, glancing around the room waiting for him to reappear. He didn't. Derrah looked over at the dead Guardians and grimmaced looking at them.

"Mother fucker." He said in a low voice. "Collect their ammo, and anything else we can use, let Cale know he needs to call in a ship to come collect the bodies soon." He said to a younger Rabbit, his white and gold fur shining in the dimly light corridor and nodded in response.

"How was he able to do that?" Lee asked, without a doubt terrified.

"He's a Guardian." Akutenshi replied. "A strong one too, not many can do what he was doing." He looked over at Grimm who had stood back up holding his head with one of his paws and frowned. "We still need to move in, with any luck Kai retreated and it's only the soldiers we need to deal with now."

"Agreed." Replied Haki. "Stick together and if he comes back then we will need to fight him with everything we've got. It's apparent normal tactics, let alone fighting with just our fists, blades, and guns will work with him." Akutenshi nodded watching the remaining dozen and a half or so Guardians grunted a yes in response.

"It was apparent he was getting tired, must have been using a lot of his own energy to use his magic." Akutenshi said.

"No doubt, and now that he's wounded, he'll need to hang back and heal before he can try to come at us again." Derrah replied. They proceeded down a small hall, cautious, tense, weapons out and ready for a fight. They soon came to a large rusted door with a small holographic panel to the left of the door. Grimm proceeded up to the console and held his right paw over it and it flickered to life revealing a small holographic symbols. He motioned them into position and a clicking sound echoed throughout the hall. The doors slowly opened up, creaking, and dust fluttered to the ground. Then, all hell broke loose. Gun fire splattered out of the slowly opening door way, striking Grimm on his left shoulder as he attempted to get out of the way, a small female Skunk got hit in the chest as he did so and fell to the floor. The rest moved into cover and began to fire back. Lothians on the other side clicked and chattered and shouted out orders as the Guardians got behind several pillars that lined the hallway. Akutenshi cursed as he casted several explosive spells into the other room, screaming and thundering booms came from the other room as they hit their targets killing several of the things.

"Bastards!" Lee shouted as he left his cover and raised his paw, his markings glowing as a shield appeared in front of him. As the gun fire splattered against it pieces fluttered away like sliver dust and new pieces came in to replace those that where lost. Haki moved up behind him and swiped his right paw in an arc and immediately the ground came to life, there were several light blue beams shot from the shield Lee projected and swerved towards the enemy and hit two of the Lothians closest to the door who exploded, blood splattering against the wall and their allies near them and streaks of energy expanded through the remains of their bodies killing several more. The Lothians, knowing they where losing, fell back in a standard formation, those closest to the front unleashing everything they had to keep the attackers at bay, and those in the back attempted to run further back. Akutenshi caught a few of them in the backs with some well placed plasma rounds, their wounds cauterizing after the energy went through them.

"Proceed!" Akutenshi ordered as he pushed up firing more rounds at the enemy. He could hear them screaming as rounds pierced through them and watched as they crumbled to the ground. Within a few minutes of on going fighting, they had pushed up to the canons control room. Bodies scattered along the ground, few being Guardians, the rest being the Lothians. The room was circular, a large display with a holographic keyboard flickering to life.

"Filth." Grimm says, "They were beginning the charging sequence for the Cannon. It is hard to say how they bypassed the system, it is designed to only allow Pelzigan or Talkenshi to activate it."

"Well," Haki responded walking up next to Grimm as he punched in a few commands into the console, "It's possible that they had that asshole activate the system and hand control over to them." He said.

"Possible." Grimm said. "We must adjust the Cannon, it is currently set upon your fleet." He brought up a small rotational panel and put his large claws on it and turned it counter-clock wise. There was a loud clanking noise and the Cannon began to turn. "Readjusting angle and trajectory, targeting enemy fleet." He said.

"So, we're gonna see some nice fireworks?" Lee said smiling. Several Guardians took position near the entrance to ensure no unwelcomed guests entered the room and Akutenshi walked up behind Grimm.

"Yes, you will get to see some 'fireworks' as you put it." Grimm said.

"will we be able to actually see the beam?" Derrah asked.

"No, the cannon fires pure energy, pure mass, the beam will not be visible until it strikes it's target, then that energy will disperse in the surrounding area of it's target in an arc, energy flashes and strikes projecting from the original target and will cause a massive chain striking anything nearby." Grimm said. "It is rather mesmerizing."

"Then lets do it." Akutenshi said.

"First, transmit to your fleet, tell them to give the enemy fleet approximately ten kilometers in distance so as to avoid getting caught in the crossfire." Grimm responded. Akutenshi nodded and tapped on his comm piece.

"Serenity, this is Ishimura, tell all ships to fall back approximately ten kilometers away from the enemy fleet, we have a little present being prepped and ready for those bastards." He said.

There was static then a response from the Captain, "Understood, moving all ships away from the enemy fleet, mind telling me what you're going to be launching at them?"

"Well Captain, pure energy meant to tear through them." There was silence, Akutenshi smiled knowing what was going through the Captains head.

"Understood, Serenity out." The Captain said.

"The Mass Cannon is ready to fire." Grimm said.

"Give us two minutes to break away." The Captain said.

"You got it, firing in two." Akutenshi responded. He looked over at Grimm and they waited for the green light, and sure enough within two minutes The Captain gave the go ahead. Grimm reached to his left and punched in several more commands and the Cannon fired. There was a loud, audible thud as the Cannon fired. A screen above them flickered to life showing one of the massive Lothian War ships, nothing, then a bright flash and an arc of energy began rippling throughout the ship. Decks and hull plating blew outwards, they could see bodies being jettisoned out into space, then the arc of energy branched out, striking several dozen ships. They to began to buckle and blow. Within a matter of seconds only a few ships remained out of the few dozen that once floated there. Akutenshi smiled.

"Captain, you're free to reengage the enemy." Akutenshi said into his comm piece. There was acknowledgement then they saw the massive UGSM fleet moving back in to engage the remaining Lothian vessels. Some of the enemy ships tried to crawl away, their engines pulsing as they began to jump, only to get hit by phaser fire and explode once their damaged engines tried to Jump. The cannon had done it's job, now it was time to mop up the remaining ground forces, and locate Kai.