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Chapter 24

Chapter 23

Date: December 5, 2776

Location: Epsilon Indi System, UGSM Serenity Bridge.

Admiral Scheck watched as the five hundred plus force took formation around the Serenity and her escort Frigates. They were going up against a large force of over nine hundred ships and he knew that it would be one hell of a fight. He hoped that the plan they were about to set into motion would work. It was relatively simple, the Serenity and a hundred ships would exit Jump directly in front of the enemy force and fire all ARC's and torpedoes to get their attention then lay down fire with their phasers, plasma cannons, and flak turrets. Task Force Alpha would be made out of another hundred ships that would appear to the left of the enemy force and push in on them, once again discharging ARC's and all weapons. Task Force Bravo, same compliment, would exit to the right of the enemy and do the same, followed by Task Force Charlie, same compliment as the other two, would exit directly behind the enemy armada and open fire followed by Task Force Delta and Echo to exit above and below the enemy armada with fifty ships each. During this time a team of RIG-32's, gunships capable of quick maneuverability and had both Jump and Warp abilities to them, would depart and begin to lay a sequence of anti-matter missiles around the enemy force. Once that was done they would arm the devices and give off the alert to the rest of the forces to pull back but maintain fire on the enemy ships. With luck, they'd keep the enemy force clustered together and the anti-matter missiles that would be deployed would decimate their forces leaving an easy clean up mission for them. Scheck yawned as the last few ships assumed position of his group, then looked over at Ensign Nielson and gave him the go ahead to initiate the procedure. "Let's get to it." Scheck said to himself, as with a flicker of pseudo motion, the ships in front of him began to vanish en masse and within the next few seconds, the Serenity flickered with pseudo motion and vanished.

Once they exited Jump, Scheck stared out at the massive force in front of them, and gritted his teeth as the command stations sunk into the deck and the hatches closed above them. "Tactical, begin firing sequence, all ships, open fire!" He shouted into the communications unit. The screen in front of him came to life and he saw streaks of blue white light goes towards the enemy forces who returned with their own ARC's. The ship shook violently as they took several direct hits to their shielding. "Report!" He ordered.

"Shields holding at ninety percent!" Came a female voice over the comms.

"Enemy forces are focusing on us now sir! RIG-32's are awaiting deployment!" Reported Commander Atkins.

"Task Force Alpha, begin!" He ordered through comms and he watched as the next hundred ships appeared the left of the force and began opening fire, streaks of orange and red plasma followed by blue white streaks from their ARC's and red star's shot forward towards the enemy position. The enemy ships began to divide, a part of their force turning towards the new threat. "Task Force Bravo, begin!" Scheck ordered. There were a hundred flashes of light as ships winked into existence to the right and began their barrage as well. Scheck waited, watched as the enemy forces began to correct some of their ships over to the new threat, and he hoped that they wouldn't figure out what was going on. "Task Force Charlie, begin!" He ordered. Behind the enemy forces, another hundred ships winked into existence and began to fire upon the enemy forces. The fight continued, Scheck hoped that the cruisers who had begun electronic warfare against the enemy forces could hold out. They had been tasked with sending false data to the enemy ships, make their systems believe that an FTL Jump would be impossible. However, if the ships decided to go to warp, they'd be risking slamming into the fleets surrounding them and losing multiple ships. "Task Force Delta and Echo, begin!" Ordered Scheck. There was a flicker of pseudo motion as the hundred other ships appeared above and below the enemy formation and began firing all weapons on the enemy. Several ships on the Lothian side began to buckle and blow up, explosive decompression could bee seen running up and along the spines of the ships. So far so good.

"Are the RIG-32's ready for deployment?" Scheck asked.

"Affirmative!" Reported Tactical.

"Then lets get to it." Scheck said. On the display in front of him, he could see several green box shaped objects launch on the radar and begin to vanish one by one. He could see the flickers of psuedo motion as the RIG-32's began to appear in their locations, drop their payloads, then vanish. After five minutes of continuous fighting, he got the confirmation that they were finished and he smiled. "All ships, this is Admiral Scheck. Prepare for emergency Jump! Begin countdown!" He ordered. On the display in front of him a one minute counter began. At only twenty-five seconds, all the ships under his command would Jump away from the killzone, and gather at a safe distance to watch the fireworks. The Serenity continued to shake as she took hit after hit. Shield strength for the Serenity had gone down to fifty percent before they began an emergency Jump and with a flicker of pseudo motion, the Serenity vanished along with all remaining UGSM Ships and reappeared almost a light year away from the enemy armada. The timer reaches zero, and five brilliant flashes of blue light appeared followed by a visible aura that shot outward in purple and orange light. Scheck watched through the screen as the blue light absorbed into itself and then started to expand once more, incinerating anything within its destructive range.

"Report?" Asked Scheck.

There was a moment of silence, then Commander Atkins spoke. "Sensors show approximately fifty ships remaining. They Jumped away at the last second, the biggest one is still intact."

Scheck nodded, "Order all ships to begin clean up. Destroy the remaining ships and then return to Leben."

"Aye sir." Said Atkins.

As the remaining ships under his command flickered with pseudo motion and vanished, Scheck watched the biggest ship out of the Armada begin to turn towards the Serenity. "Ensign Nielson, plot a course to intercept the biggest vessel. Tactical, report on weapons?"

"Phaser banks are down to sixty percent strength, we've exhausted almost all torpedoes and flak turrets are recharging." Reported Tactical.

That would have to do. "Target the largest vessel, begin firing once we are within range." Scheck ordered. The Serenity fired her thrusters, and they sped towards the enemy vessel. Once they were within range, the fight began once more. Both ships exchanged fire with each other, the Serenity shook with each hit and the enemy vessel's shields began to flicker. They almost had it. Suddenly, there was an explosion above Scheck and Alarms went off. "Report!"

"Shields have failed, direct hit towards the bridge! Cocoons are holding, emergency force fields should be in place soon!" Reported Tactical. "The enemy ships shields have failed as well and is sustaining damage!"

"Keep hitting them!" Scheck ordered. "Ensign Nielson, continue maneuvers to minimize damage."

"I'm trying sir." Said Ensign Nielson.

There were several more explosions and Ensign Nielson reported hull breaches on multiple decks. "Fire torpedoes!" Ordered Scheck, Tactical acknowledged but within a few minutes they were out of torpedoes. Scheck examined the space around them, the enemy ship apparently had better armaments than they were aware of, and he needed a way to even things out. Anti-Matter missiles were out of the question, with the damage the Serenity was taking and the distance between the two vessels, it would be suicidal. On the screen, two of the Serenity's frigates exploded, sections and pieces of the vessels drifted off into space as the other three took massive damage. Eventually two more lost power and drifted in space then exploded as they took several direct hits to key areas. "Order the remaining frigate to withdraw!" He ordered. "Send out a distress signal, we need backup!"

"Sir!" Said Commander Atkins, "All ships are currently engaged with other vessels, it'll be another ten to twenty minutes before the nearest ship can respond and aid us!"

Scheck cursed. He now realized the mistake he had made, realized how irrational it was for him to take on the bigger ship. Yes, both ships were relatively the same size, however he didn't account for the arsenal the enemy ship had. Then again, there wasn't much info on this enemy ship. The two ships continued to slug it out, sections and pieces from both ships began to explode and drift away. There had to be a way to change this fight! He could use the Mass Drive, however that would require putting the Serenity in a rather vulnerable position. He could also use the few mech's and fighters they had left to try and engage the enemy vessel, but that would result in high casualties. Scheck glared the screen, at the enemy ship, then closed his eyes and decided. "Commander Atkins, order the remaining fighters within the hanger to launch, danger close, and engage the enemy ship. Send out the few mech's we have as well, have them target the enemy ships engines. Ensign Nielson, angle the Serenity so that we can use the Mass Drive. Engineering divert all available power to shields and angle those shields to cover the bottom of the Serenity. Tactical, prepare Mass Drive for use. I understand that it will consume power we probably don't have, but it's our only chance to cut that other ship in half! Load all remaining torpedoes and missiles, target their bridge!" There was a set of acknowledgements. He hated himself for sacrificing those pilots, but knew that this was the only way to destroy the enemy vessel. On the screen, a small number of green triangles left the Serenity and engaged the enemy ship followed by several small green circles moving to the bow of the ship. There was several thumps as the remaining torpedoes launched and streaked towards the enemy ship hitting directly on their exposed bridge that stood on top of the ship. A design flaw that the UGSM was currently trying to avoid for their newer ships.

After another few minutes of exchanging fire, the bridge on the enemy ship exploded, and the lights on the enemy ship began to flicker out as their engines blew apart. The Serenity had angled herself correctly, and on the bottom camera's of the Serenity, Scheck saw dozens of escape craft begin to jettison out of the enemy ship. "Fire the Mass Drive now!" He ordered. The whole ship shook as the large dish under the Serenity began to spin and a small light erupted from its center, streaking towards the enemy ship and striking it. There was an explosive decompression as the light began to grow and the location the light strike began to disintegrate and cut straight through the enemy ship. There was cheering as the enemy ship began to explode and Ensign Nielson began to maneuver the Serenity away from the exploding ship. They had won, not what Admiral Harper wanted, all he wanted was for Scheck to hit the enemy forces then leave, but Scheck knew that it wouldn't have been enough, and knew they would have to destroy this force here and now, and they succeeded. "All decks, damage reports." He ordered over the communications and began to receive the damage done to the Serenity, and the casualties.

Location: Wachter, Leben, Epsilon Eridani System

Admiral Harper studied the holo-map of the Badlands, specifically the storm wall that covered several hundred miles in diameter. From what they had gathered by attempting to scan the storm wall that acted as a dome that covered the area, it was impenetrable. None of the drones, even phase-shift drones designed to phase through matter itself, couldn't get past the wall. Something kept interfering with the controls for them and sensors seemed to just ping off the wall. Whatever was going on in there, well, it wasn't good in Admiral Harper's opinion. Grand Master Ardyn stood beside him, watching as several green circles approached the storm wall and begin to skin the wall. Sensor readings began to display over the holo-table showing nothing was beyond the wall.

Admiral Harper sighed, "This makes no sense." He said. "The scans of the wall itself shows a high energy reading that seems to blanket the few hundred miles this dome, or wall, cover."

Grand Master Ardyn let off a low growl, "The Pelzigan Government has dispatched our own drones as well, we are reading a high mana concentration around the wall."

Admiral Harper nodded, "When will the courier arrive with the data on this wall that the PG has collected?" He asked Grand Master Ardyn.

Grand Master Ardyn looked up at him, and said "Last time I checked, he was thirty minutes out. That was twenty-five minutes ago. So within the next five."

Admiral Harper nodded an acknowledgement to the old hound. They continued watching as drones continued different approaches towards the wall, some even trying to get through it using experimental techniques just to vanish with all connection lost. Eventually, a young male Ferret Pelzigan came bolting into the room, a small backpack on his back. He pulled out several data-chips and handed them over to Grand Master Ardyn who gave a courteous bow towards the young man then handed the chips over to Admiral Harper.

Admiral Harper examined the chips, a habit he had formed, before placing them into the slot for the holo-table. The image of the storm wall vanished and were replaced by lines of texts and images. Admiral Harper looked at one of the images, and saw a massive Gothic like structure with a long spire going straight up towards the sky with clouds seeming to connect to it. It was dated almost eight hundred years ago. He knew, like all Humans did, that the Pelzigans were far more advanced than Humanity at one point, achieving space exploration thousands of years ahead of Humanity, but subsequently lost a lot of their technological advancements in a great war known as the Draconic Wars. It was often believed that the Lothians were connected to the Draconic Empire, possibly a subspecies of the Draconics themselves. The only issue was that a majority of the data collected on the Draconic Empire had suddenly vanished two hundred years ago. Admiral Harper hummed to himself as he read the lines of text, and after a few minutes of reading, he stared at Grand Master Ardyn in disbelief from what he had read.

"Grand Master Ardyn," Admiral Harper said, his voice stern with a hint of anger in it, "You mean to tell me that your people build this....THING!"

Grand Master Ardyn looked up at Admiral Harper and sighed, his ears lowering. "That is correct. I never truly accessed this information on the badlands until recently and I am extremely disappointed that we build this machine during our golden age." He said to Admiral Harper. Apparently, the building itself that Admiral Harper saw the image of, was that of a super weapon which was built over a millenia ago. The purpose of the weapon was basically to act as a reset switch for an entire planet using extremely difficult and confusing mathematics, attached to the Pelzigans ability to harvest and use mana, a magical substance that acted as a magnifier for the device. When the weapon was fully charged, the wall would dissipate. This was so that the weapon would no longer have to focus on maintaining a wall, and now could focus on firing. It would require the use a 'mortal' being with an 'ascended' being. Some of the information showed that the most recent picture was taken after the people of Leben united in a 'War of The Gods' event to try and stop the device from firing. They succeeded and raised the barrier back up because no one had any idea how to dismantle the damn thing. Rather sweep it under the rug and pretend it doesn't exist, is what Admiral Harper thought. Admiral Harper stared at Grand Master Ardyn for several more minutes, contemplating what to say next when one of the drone operators spoke up to the both of them.

"Admiral Harper, Grand Master Ardyn," Said the middle-aged operator, Human with tan skin and black hair wearing a tan UGSM Uniform, "There is something you should see."

"Very well." Admiral Harper said as he raised his hand towards the holo-table and gestured to minimize the lines of text and pictures, bringing the holo-map back up. He placed his right hand on a panel, and made a grabbing motion allowing him to pull up a video-feed that was originally minimalized. "What are we-" He started, but couldn't finish. On the vid-feed, he could see the storm wall starting to dissipate, flashes of green, blue, and red appearing through the breaks in the wall. "What in the hell?" He muttered to himself as the wall vanished, showing the Gothic building, styled more like a fortress with its giant spire on top. surrounding the fortress were a set Anti-Air batteries, along with several garrisons of what appeared to be Lothian forces and multiple Colossus', Lothian mech units, and Goliath's, Lothian garrison deployment mech's, and four warships with a large carrier in front of the building. Two of the warships were landed for what appeared to be unloading equipment, supplies, and the forces that were rushing into the building. "No...." He said as one of the drones skimmed the ground then went up into the air towards a balcony where it circled the balcony, keeping on the move and Admiral Harper could see Everlont along with Kai and a white haired male Wolf Pelzigan with piercing blue eyes and a long blade in its sheath on his side wearing a long black coat, armor plating on his chest with leather underneath it, and armored leggings with leather underneath them, all black. Everlont stared up at the drone and grinned.

He mouthed something towards the drone, then pointed upwards. The operator looked over at Admiral Harper who nodded, giving into curiosity. Everlont wouldn't allow a drone to get so close unless there was something going on, and sure enough there was. Clinging to the spire, seemingly appearing out of thin air, was a large dog-like dragon beast. Admiral Harper's mouth was agape with surprise. Sin was with them. "Grand Master Ardyn, I thought Sin was only known to kill and cause chaos." He said.

Grand Master Ardyn shook his head, "No, on one of the three occasions Sin has appeared, he had cooperated with a Paladonic Knight into betraying his kingdom and taking full control." He said to Admiral Harper.

Admiral Harper gritted his teeth, then pulled up his communicator. "This is Admiral Harper to all planetary forces, prepare for immediate engagement on storm wall location in the Badlands. Admiral Palio, position all ARC Stations to fire upon the location. All ships, once the barrage is over began immediate deployment into target location. Everlont and his accomplices have been located. It's time we end this." He said into it. There was a string of acknowledgement and he turned it off.

"Sir," Came the operator, "Getting a subspace transmission from the Epsilon Indi System, Admiral Scheck wants to speak with you."

Admiral Harper and the vid-feed was replaced by Scheck's face. "Report Admiral Scheck." Harper said.

Admiral Scheck took a deep breath, "Using anti-matter missiles in key positions, enemy forces were eliminated. The Serenity has sustained moderate damage and a casualty of approximately ten percent of personnel as well as our frigate escort. In total, the Armada lost approximately sixty-eight percent of it's forces however, as stated, enemy forces were fully eliminated. Nothing but debris sir."

"Well, I should be mad at the fact that you went into a full-scale engagement, but I'm glad you did your job Scheck. How soon can the Serenity return to Leben? We have a situation here. There is a weapon capable of resetting this entire planet, eliminating all current knowledge from the people here which would make everyone here susceptible to Everlont's rule as well as having the ability to outright destroy this planet."

Admiral Scheck stared in surprise, "I'm sorry, a super weapon like that? Lothian?" He asked.

Admiral Harper shook his head, "Look at our Pelzigan brothers here, they build it over a millennia ago. Now, how soon can you return?" He asked.

Admiral Scheck sighed, "Reactors sustained moderate damage, repairs are undergoing but are slow however FTL Capabilities should return within the next day sir." He said to Admiral Harper.

Admiral Harper cursed under his breath then nodded, "Get done as fast as you can Admiral, we need you and some of those ships here at Leben as soon as possible, we are preparing to engage the enemy and end this." He said.

"Understood, Admiral Scheck out." Scheck said and the communication ended.

Admiral Harper sighed deeply in frustration and then looked at Grand Master Ardyn. "Suggest you prepare all Guardians for immediate assault Grand Master. I understand that this place is key to your people, but we need every available Guardian at that location helping our forces take Everlont down."

Grand Master Ardyn nodded in agreement, "I'll notify the Guardians immediately Admiral, may the Gods be on our side." He said to Admiral Harper. With luck, they would stop that weapon from firing, and end this bloody war once and for all.