Star People

Chapter 40

Countdown to Armageddon

Rikivak, Zedan Capital, Feb 15^th, 13 AE, 1250 hours…

In the hidden bunker of the Zedan Emperor, Zendara leaned over a large table which depicted a map of the Zedan continent. The map had several game pieces that were shaped like ships, tanks, planes, figures, and whatnot strewn over it in key locations. These pieces represented naval forces, armies and air forces. The blue pieces represented the Zedan forces, while the red represented Free Land and its allies. And much to the Emperor’s dismay, there were far more red pieces than blue.

“What is going on here?!” Zendara shouted as he slammed a fist on the table, causing some of the pieces to fall down. “Why are all of our forces being pushed back?! It hasn’t been more than a few days since the enemy landed on our shores!”

“My liege, I must admit that the nation called Free Land is quite formidable!” Major Letkins stated. He was one of the close advisors of the Emperor’s Elite Command Staff. “However, we intend to field the new Acraton tanks to push back these giant, metal soldiers!”

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In a secret room in the capital…

“The Acraton? Isn’t that the new, super-tank that we’ve been developing?” Major Vero asked as he and the other conspirators of Operation Kilgari were listening in on the conversation.

In addition to planting the bomb to kill the Emperor and all of his trusted military advisors, they had also inserted a secret listening device in the briefcase. The package had been planted just under the table where Zendara and his followers were standing beside. The timer was set to go off at 1305 hours.

“Actually, the Acraton finished with its testing phase six months ago.” General Himro stated. “I was against building such a large tank that wasted a good amount of our resources.”

“So what are its capabilities?”

“It’s frustratingly slow with a top speed of only 15 km/hr. The armor is at least twice as thick as the Xaranto, and it does field a 105mm gun with three heavy machine guns.”

“Isn’t that enough to defeat one the giant soldiers?”

Himro let off a sigh. “The Acraton is too large and slow! You might as well paint a bulls-eye on it because it’s nothing more than target practice to Free Land. I’ve read reports that the giant soldiers field large guns that fire 100mm rounds at a range of over 10 km! The Acraton guzzles up too much fuel and it took us over two months just to build a squadron of these giant wastes of time and resources!”

“And now they intend to use it to defend the capital. All those brave crews are…”

“… going to be slaughtered.” Himro said somberly. “Now it is even more imperative that we bring this war to an end before more Zedan soldiers are needlessly sacrificed!” He glanced at his watch. “The bomb is set to go off 15 minutes from now. Are all of our forces in place to take control once the Emperor… is dead?”

“All of our men are set to take over key points of the government and our military command as soon as word gets out of the Emperor’s demise. This will coincide with the arrival of the forces of Free Land and its allies.”

“All right. All we have to do now is to listen to the Emperor’s final words… before he dies.”

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Some 50 miles southeast of the Zedan capital…

Mark Delan was not happy as the Missouri, the 110^th Destroyer Flotilla and the Deriaton One made their way toward the Zedan capital. It was supposed to be a straight-forward mission. Go to the Zedan capital, display the power of the Missouri and demand for the enemy to surrender. And there was also the planned coup d’état and assassination of the Zedan emperor to consider as well. That matter by itself, could make things more complicated. However, the plan to kill the emperor seemed more trivial compared to the situation he was in now.

“The Zedan will surely surrender once they witness the full power of Deriaton One!” Captain Retora declared as she was in a three-way communications conference with the Missouri and the Johnston.

“As I recall…” Captain Vikes pointed out, “… you showed the power of Deriaton One at the beginning of Operation Sword. And the Zedan didn’t surrender then.”

“We were not using full power at the time!” The dark elf insisted.

In truth, they had used the Deriaton One’s Kraister Guns at full power, with disappointing results in comparison to the Missouri’s Pulsar Guns using low-powered, kinetic shells. However, the Kraister Guns were not her only trump card. There was another weapon at her disposal that was even more powerful, the Mana Over-Wave Cannon. One might say that it was Naran’s version of the Neo-Proton Wave Gun. It was said that at full charge, it could rain devastation upon a large island or a small country with a single shot. Although, like all the Deriaton One’s other weapons, it did have its flaws.

Like the Kraister Guns, it took a ridiculously long time to charge. In fact, the Deriaton One’s mages had been constantly chanting for the past hour. As soon as she heard about the mission to the Zedan capital, she had immediately ordered to prepare the Mana Over-Wave Cannon for deployment. Another huge drawback was that once the cannon was fired, nearly all the other weapons and defense mechanisms of the ship will be depleted of power and the ship itself will only have minimal maneuvering ability for about thirty minutes before the engines regained enough power to function normally. Firing the cannon meant that the Deriaton One would be completely helpless for half an hour. In Captain Retora’s mind, the risk was acceptable as she believed that seeing the power of the Mana Over-Wave Cannon would most certainly cow the Zedan government into submission.

“Since Naran is part of the Allied Forces, it is only fitting that the Deriaton One be present to ensure the Zedan surrender.” Retora stated. “I understand that we are to provide a show a force and demonstrate that Free Land, Atlans and Naran will no longer tolerate the acts of aggression by Zedan. Since the Atlans military lacks the sufficient firepower, it falls upon Free Land and Naran to provide the show of force needed for Zedan’s capitulation.”

At this point, Captain Delan had had enough of this idiocy. It had been bad enough that officers like Retora and Viraso had tried to grab for personal glory, but this was simply unbearable. It was obvious to everyone that Free Land was basically winning the war against Zedan on its own. Naran had been bungling each operation and needed Free Land to bail it out of trouble. Despite having lesser technology and experience, the Kingdom of Atlans had been contributing more to the war effort. If Naran did not participate in the Zedan surrender, then they would lose huge amounts of respect and political power among the other nations. So far, the magic-prominent country had done little, but be observers in this conflict. Should they miss out on this important propaganda event, then their country’s prestige would be irrevocably damaged.

After ten minutes of arguments and getting virtually nowhere with the bull-headed, dark elf captain, Mark decided there was no helping it and just let the stubborn Naran forces tag along. He reasoned after seeing the Missouri fire its anti-proton beams, Retora and her crew would finally understand the enormous technological and power gap between their ships, and that the Deriaton One’s presence was irrelevant.

“Captain, we have the Zedan capital within visual range.” Ensign Taichen announced.

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In his secret bunker, Emperor Zendara frowned as he received the reports from his aides that Free Land and its allies had been sighted, several miles from the outskirts of the city limits. His eyes widened when he was told that the enemy had arrived in flying battleships.

“What about the city’s defense forces? Surely they are fighting back against the invaders?”

One of the aides shook his head. “I am sorry, your majesty. Both the air corps and ground forces were swatted down like flies.”

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On the Missouri’s bridge, a few minutes earlier…

“Captain, we have several dozen bogeys approaching at over 600 km/hr.” Ensign Taichen announced.

“Most likely defensive fighters.” Mark commented as he turned to his First Officer.

A single glance was all she needed as Reelan gave orders to Ensign Gatsbu. “Helmsman, activate anti-fighter defenses. Shoot them all down.”

“Aye, Commander.”

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Swarms of Rakarat planes sped toward the lead flying battleship as the pilots primed their machine guns and cannons for battle. However, before they could get within range, the Missouri’s point-defense weapons opened up. The maser cannons threw out bolts of energy, while the short-range missile batteries let loose with guided projectiles. In less than 10 seconds, more than 2 dozen fighters were blown to bits. Those that tried to attack the underside of the Missouri were quickly dispatched by hidden plasma guns.

On both sides of the Missouri, a few of the destroyers from the 110^th were also picking off Zedan fighters with their point-defense weapons. On the Vanguard-class destroyer Johnston, Vikes shook his head in disgust.

“Is something the matter, Captain?” His First Officer Vers asked.

Vikes let off a sigh. “It really doesn’t set well with me that we have to shoot down these aircraft that pose virtually no threat to us.”

“They’re the ones who are attacking us. We have the right to defend ourselves. We are at war after all and the Zedan are the ones who started it.”

“Yeah, and it seems it will be Free Land’s job to finish it… again. Let’s just get this over with. Once the fighters have been dealt with, have the enemy artillery batteries defending the Zedan capital neutralized.”

“We’ve already identified all Zedan artillery positions. We’ve also identified some new kind of armored vehicles being deployed. They look like tanks.”

“Hmmm… must be that new tank-type those higher-ranked POWs were talking about… “

“So what do we do about them, Captain?”

“Wipe them out with the artillery batteries. That should drive the point home to the Zedans that all of their weapons are useless against us.”

“Aye, Captain!”

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On the Missouri…

“Captain, the Johnston and the rest of the 110^th have signaled that they are about to neutralize the Zedan artillery and armored divisions defending the capital.” Lieutenant Visera announced.

“Acknowledged.” Mark replied as the last of the Zedan fighters was shot down. “They are clear to engage and destroy.”

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On the Deriaton One’s bridge, Retora and her bridge crew watched in both disbelief and awe as the Free Land ships easily dispatched with the Zedan fighters. They had never seen so many enemies dispatched with such accuracy and efficiency. As soon as the enemy planes were detected, Retora was about to order the small compliment of Sky Blade II fighters on her ship to be launched. However, Mark Delan and Jonathan Vikes informed her not to bother.

True to their words, launching her fighters would have been a waste as the barriers of the Free Land ships easily deflected bullets and cannon fire. Furthermore, their anti-fighter defenses immediately began shooting down the enemy planes. Each shot found its mark and the guided missiles put their own Pursuer rockets to shame. In just under a minute, more than fifty fighters were reduced to flaming wreckages as they were sent plummeting towards the ground. A few pilots managed to bail out and were seen floating downwards in parachutes.

The Naran captain considered shooting down the parachuting pilots but decided not to waste precious magical energy. After all, she needed all the magical power possible for the Mana Over-Wave Cannon.

Then she and her crew saw another spectacle that made them shudder as the Free Land destroyers moved off slightly to the side. Panels at the rear of the ships opened up, and several small explosions were seen. At first, she and her bridge crew had thought some kind of accident had occurred on each destroyer, but were then amazed as trails of smoke and dots of light were seen flying upwards. The trails then arced horizontally for a brief period before diving down towards their targets on the outskirts of the Zedan capital. The landscape immediately became peppered with explosions as enemy artillery and armor were obliterated.

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On the ground, Zedan artillery crews and tankers screamed in shock, pain and despair as their positions were hit by plasma-cluster missiles. Each missile would detonate into a shower of plasma bolts above the enemy and cut through armor like hot knives through butter. Even the reinforced armor of the Acraton tanks proved to be no protection as the plasma bolts burned through and exploded. Due to the pinpoint accuracy of Free Land’s targeting systems, only the artillery and tanks were destroyed, leaving the city itself virtually untouched. The crews that were manning the artillery and tanks were mercifully vaporized along with their vehicles and equipment.

With the exception of whatever forces were still in the city, the Zedan capital was now completely defenseless against the Missouri, the 110^th Destroyer Flotilla and Deriaton One. At that point, Mark Delan signaled to all ships to hold their positions as he turned to his communications officer.

“Open hailing frequencies, all Zedan general channels.”

“Aye, Captain! Hailing frequencies open!”

Mark stood up and took a deep breath before speaking. “This is Captain Mark Delan of the Star Battleship Missouri to Emperor Zedara of the Zedan Empire! By the authority granted to me by the Council of Prime Directors and the Allied Nations, I hereby demand the complete and unconditional surrender of all Zedan forces!”

There was a long stretch of silence as everyone waited for the Emperor’s reply. Finally, there was a response from the supreme ruler, audio only.

“This is Emperor Zendara, supreme ruler of the Zedan Empire… I hereby refuse your demands!”

Well, that’s to be expected. Mark thought as he looked down at the chrono-gauge on his command seat. General Himro did say that the bomb was set to go off at 1305 hours. That’s less than 4 minutes away. We may not have to display the anti-proton beams of the Pulsar Guns if the emperor dies. Guess I’ll just stall for a bit.

“I would suggest that you reconsider, your Majesty. Your military forces have been depleted and none of your weapons can stand against us.”

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In his bunker, Emperor Zendara gripped the microphone so hard, that he almost broke it. Mark had simply stated a fact and it infuriated the emperor that Mark was correct. He reined back his rage as he spoke again.

“Though it pains me to admit it, I will say that none of our conventional weapons were effective against your Free Land forces, though we have been able to fight against those weaker nations you call allies.”

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On the bridge of Deriaton One, Retora held back a snarl. She hadn’t forgotten that debacle during Operation Sword. She silently motioned to her bridge crew to prepare to fire the Mana Over-Wave Cannon.

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The Missouri…

“If you know that your weapons are useless against us, then why do you not see reason and surrender? By continuing this war, you are only throwing away the lives of your soldiers for nothing.” The Missouri’s captain pointed out.

“I only admitted that our conventional weapons were ineffective against you!” Zendara spat back. “I’ll have you know that you have yet to experience the full power of the Zedan arsenal!”

“If you’re referring to those bigger tanks, jets and rocket weapons, we’ve already dealt with them. Even your so-called Ender Bomb. We’ve neutralized all your stockpiles of radioactive material. You really don’t have anything left to throw at us.”

At this point, Zendara smirked as he was about to tell Mark that he was in error. However, before he could…

“Enough of this nonsense!”

“And who are you?” Zendara asked. Since he could only receive audio, he could not see Retora’s face as she cut into the conversation.

“I am Captain Retora of the Naran Magical Battleship Deriaton One! We are here to receive Zedan’s complete and unconditional surrender! It should be painfully obvious that you have no hope of winning against us! However, it seems that a demonstration of power is in order! Very well, then! Behold the power of Deriaton One!” She turned to her helmsman. “Zero in target and fire Mana Over-Wave Cannon!”

“Aye, Captain!”

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The Missiouri’s bridge…

“Captain! I’m reading an incredibly huge level of psions coming from Deriaton One!” Ensign Taichen announced.

“How high is the reading?”

“Equal to over 100 gigadynes! It’s like one of our secondary pulsar guns!”

“What is that fool captain thinking?! Shields up! Red alert!”

“They’re firing!” Taichen cried out.

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At the bow of the Deriaton One, the large crystalline formation shaped like the barrel of a gun began to glow like a miniature sun. The energy condensed for a few seconds, and then was released in a huge bolt of power a tenth of mile in diameter and a mile in length. Everything in its path was scorched, reducing the landscape below the beam to a charred ruin. It was only by sheer luck that the capital city was located at a lower level of terrain. The shot just barely past over the tallest of buildings, but still caused a shockwave that shattered windows and caused lesser structures to sustain heavy damage. Even within his heavily fortified bunker, the emperor and his staff all felt the shockwave. It was if they were in the middle of a 7.1 earthquake. For a brief moment, they had thought the end of the world had come.

Then the bolt of destruction passed by the capital city and raced across the countryside before heavily detonating in a deserted area some 100 miles away. The impact area was completely demolished and leveled as if it had been hit by a 15 kiloton warhead. Then all was silent.

The Deriaton One’s ultimate weapon, the Mana Over-Wave Cannon, was not something to be scoffed at.

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A minute later…

“Damn it! You stepped out of line, Captain Retora!” Mark shouted as he chided the dark elf on the holo-viewer.

“What does it matter if Naran demonstrates its power or Free Land’s?” Retora fired back. “The result will still be the same! We have proven our superiority to the enemy and they will have no choice but to surrender!”

“That is not the issue! You’re just lucky that beam hit an uninhabited area! I would have had you arrested for a war crime if that beam struck the city! In fact, I could still have charges pressed against you for your reckless actions!”

“You wouldn’t dare!”

“Try me!”

Before the argument could escalate, a round of maniacal laughter could be heard over the audio channel. Both turned toward their communications stations and were both surprised to hear the Zedan emperor’s laughter.

“Oh how delicious this situation has become! HA-HA-HA-HA-HA! To whatever gods you pray to in this world…. HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA … they certainly have a most twisted sense of humor! To think that such incredible power is wielded by equally incredible fools! HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!”

“You dare to mock the Kingdom of Naran’s greatest weapon?!” Retora said incredulously.

“Hee-Hee-Hee… oh I’m not mocking the power of that weapon. Far from it, I am quite envious over it. I’m simply mocking the weapon’s user… namely you!”

“Why you…”

“Not that it really matters since the weapon is also irrelevant right at this point in time.”

“What do you mean, irrelevant?” Mark didn’t like where this conversation was going.

“Would it be safe for me to assume that you intended to display such overwhelming force that I would have no choice but to accept your demands for surrender?”

“We had no intention of utilizing Deriaton One’s weapon in such a manner…” Mark shot Retora an extremely annoyed glare. “… but it was planned to show just how outmatched your forces were.”

“At any other time and place, yes… I would have surrendered after seeing something like that. However, not in this case!”

“Meaning?”

Zendara chuckled again in his bunker as he held up his left arm. On his wrist was an ornate bracelet. “You were incorrect in assuming that you had neutralized all my stockpiles of Zedanium! True, I cannot make any new Ender Bombs! However, that does not mean that I cannot use the Ender weapons I already had made!”

“What are you saying?”

Zendara chuckled again as he revealed his final plan. “You should know that the Zedan Empire is one of conquerors, not conquered! We would sooner perish rather than admit to defeat! Scattered about the entire continent is a complex network of Ender Micro-Bombs! I have in my possession a device that was just developed by our scientists. It is quite marvelous! It certainly puts our vacuum tube technology to shame being so small and light! I was planning on integrating this new technology into our military.”

Hmmm, the Zedan scientists must have just developed the transistor. Still, if he’s telling the truth about having more Ender Bombs… Mark thought for a moment before continuing the conversation. “And what exactly does this… device do?”

“It actually monitors my own pulse. And should my pulse ever stop, it will send out a signal to the Micro-Bomb network, starting a ten-minute countdown. When the timer reaches zero, the bombs will detonate and rip this entire continent to pieces! Do you think you can get all of your forces and your allies off the continent before that happens, hmm?”

“Are you insane?! You’ll be killing your own people at the same time!”

“Better than living with the shame of defeat! So go ahead, Captain Delan! Use your super-weapons against me! You will only doom yourself in the process! If the explosions do not destroy you, then I will be satisfied in my demise, knowing that you and your allies will die a slow, painful death from radiation poisoning!”

Mark silently signaled to his communications officer to mute the transmission. He then turned to his First and Second Officers.

“What are the chances that Zendara is just bluffing about having this Ender Network?”

Harken shook his head sadly. “Very little chance, Captain. As soon as we were told about the existence of the network, I had Ensign Taichen do a geological scan of the continent. She found a very large number of Zedanium packets a couple hundred meters below the surface. Most of those packets are situated near the major tectonic plates of this landmass.”

“Why didn’t we detect these packets before?” Reelan asked.

The Catian third-in-command replied. “The continent is still under the influence of the distortion fields when it first appeared on this planet. The fields have greatly died down since then but they were still potent enough to fool the geological scanners until now.”

“So the threat is real.” Mark stated.

“Very much so. I suggest that we stall for time until we can determine the best course of action and…”

“Time… OH SHIT!”

Mark glanced at his chair’s chrono-gauge and his face paled as he saw the time.

Thirteen hundred hours…. four minutes… fifty-five seconds…

“RESUME COMMUNICATIONS! EMPEROR ZENDARA, GET OUT OF THERE!”

There was dull click and then….

KA-BOOM!

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Just behind the Zedan Palace, there was a large explosion that caused the ground in the area to shudder and crack. A small pillar of fire erupted upwards, signaling that a gas main had been ruptured. As the citizens nearby scattered for cover, fire alarms and emergency sirens began wailing.

On the Missouri, there was complete silence for a full ten seconds. Then someone spoke.

“Captain.”

“What is it, Lieutenant?”

“I had picked up a brief but intense, high-frequency radio signal, just after the explosion. It was transmitted in all directions.”

Reelan took on a very concerned expression as she turned to her husband.

“Does this mean…?”

Mark slowly nodded. “Emperor Zendara is dead… and it looks like the entire continent of Zedan is going to die with him.”

To be continued…

Author’s Notes

I apologize for the long hiatus. Moving to a new place takes a lot of time and I only now found some time to write. In any case, hope you enjoyed the chapter and sorry about the cliff-hanger. Next chapter will be the conclusion to the Zedan arc.