Star People

Chapter 56

Triple Threat

July 3^rd, 15 AE…

In a secret chamber in the Naran capital…

“I must admit that things did not go quite as planned.”

“I am sorry, Number One, but there were factors that we did not anticipate.” Maden said as he bowed his head in shame for a moment.

“Indeed. And I fear that the situation has gone beyond our control.”

“Perhaps we can still salvage a victory from all of this? After all, Shenshirine is dead as we planned.”

“Yes, but the original plan was to have him assassinated and place the blame on those two idiots from the Empire of Sath. Destroying the Royal Palace with most of the government and upper nobility only complicates our takeover of the nation. Perhaps the plan is beyond salvaging and must be discarded.”

“Shenshirine left no heirs, so the only person who could succeed him would be Prime Minister Haykin. He was not at the Royal Palace at the time it was destroyed.”

“Yes, I suppose that particular route is still open. However, with the appearance of three Planet Ravagers, our plans must be put on hold for now. We can only hope that Free Land will be able to deal with this situation, as they did with the previous Ravager. If they fail, then there won’t be a country left for us to conquer. In fact, there might not be a world left.”

“So putting those Mechanoid Circuits into Deriaton One and the other ships was not a wise idea?”

“Indeed. And I feel that doing the same to our Steel Soldiers may have just compounded the problem.”

----------

The Star Hawks and Byattas…

“Byatta Prime to Star Hawk Prime!”

“Go ahead Byatta Prime!”

“There are reports of two more Planet Ravagers that have appeared in the capital city of Naran!”

“I know! However, we cannot turn back to deal with them! We’re on final approach towards the Planet Ravager that used to be Deriaton One! I’ve also received word that the Lexington and its defense fleet are moving in to engage the second and third one! We’re just going to have to hope they can deal with those other two until we finish with this one!” Wittens then switched over to the general wavelengths.  “Star Hawk Prime to all Star Hawks! I’m ordering a full missile barrage from all fighters! Everyone is to expend their entire payloads!”

Miriyo nodded as she contacted the squadrons under her command. “Byatta Prime to all Byattas! You heard Captain Wittens! Everyone is to lock onto that Planet Ravager and use all of your missiles! You are to launch after the Star Hawks!”

“On my mark…” Miriyo’s spouse called out as he got a positive lock on the target. “Five… four… three… two… one… FIRE!”

James pressed the firing stud and the pods on his Star Hawk’s wings rapidly fired off all eight of his Skybolt missiles in pairs. The other Star Hawk pilots also let loose with their missiles. Four hundred of the deadly, guided projectiles streaked across the skies. Normally they would be used against enemy fighters, but this time they were programmed for larger capital ships.

“All Byattas… OPEN FIRE!” The Kyteeri commander ordered as she launched her eight proton anti-ship missiles. Her fellow pilots of the 251^st Heavy Fighter Wing did likewise. Another four hundred missiles flew across the heavens towards the mutated Cryterian doomsday device. One might think that 800 missiles would be considered excessive, but Free Land wanted to make certain that not a single shard of the world destroyer would be left to menace Istaria again.

----------

On the bridge of the Missouri…

“Captain, I’ve just picked up the launch of eight hundred missiles and they’re all heading towards Deriaton One!” Ensign Gatsbu announced.

“Stand by with Pulsar Guns at 50% power.” Mark said with determination. “Lieutenant, instruct the other ships to do the same.”

“Aye, Captain!” The communications officer said.

“That’s far more power than what we used against the Sath.” Miryo cautioned.

“When it comes to a Planet Ravager, even an inferior imitation, we shouldn’t hold back too much. The Council has forbidden me and the other captains to use our Neo-Proton Wave Guns in atmosphere unless absolutely necessary. So for now, I’m going to use every other weapon the Missouri has. If it means having to eventually fire the Pulsar Guns at full power, then so be it.”

“Incoming missiles are now approaching the target… “ Gatsbu announced. “Ten seconds to impact… nine… eight…”

“Captain! Something’s happening to Deriaton One!” Taichen cried out. “I’m picking up a huge surge of psion energy!”

Just as the missiles came over the horizon and neared the Planet Ravager, the monstrosity shimmered with a bright light, and an enormous circle with a swirling vortex appeared behind it. An instant later, the Ravager moved back and was instantly sucked into the circle and vanished. The circle closed instantly behind it.

With their target suddenly gone from their sensors, the missiles harmlessly flew on. Since there was nothing but open ocean, the Missouri remotely detonated the missiles once they flew for another mile. The entire sky above the water’s surface lit up with hundreds of balls of orange-white light and destruction. It was enough to devastate a good portion of the Vados continent. However, it was seen as a tremendous waste of ordinance.

After the last of the missiles were disposed of, Mark turned to his wife and Harken.

“Would somebody tell me what the Hell just happened to the Planet Ravager? If I didn’t know better, I’d say that abomination just escaped through a teleportation portal!”

Both the First and Second Officers shared the same expression of puzzlement.

“It did look very similar to what we have with the TPS, but I’ve never seen something that large being teleported before.” Reelan remarked.

“Not quite, Commander.” Taichen stated as she read the scanner readings. “According to our sensors, that thing didn’t relocate to another point on the planet’s surface. Our surveillance satellite and drone systems are not picking up Deriaton One anywhere on Istaria at all.”

“Is that thing hiding its core like the last time?” Harken asked.

“Also negative, Lieutenant Commander. Ever since that incident, we’ve recalibrated the sensor arrays to detect the Planet Ravager’s Core even under heavy shielding or interference. It’s just not here. Furthermore, the energy fields we detected before the Ravager disappeared did not quite match the ones we use for the TPS.”

“What do you mean?” The Missouri’s captain asked.

“The Teleportation Portal System normally works by setting up an entry and exit point and connecting the two with a pathway through subspace. That’s how we’re able to bypass the distance between the two portals. I detected an entry point where that Planet Ravager went through, but there was no exit point.”

“So where is that Planet Ravager now?”

“If I had to speculate, I’d say somewhere in subspace.”

 

 

“So in other words, we have no way of knowing where it is, nor where it will reappear.”

“I’m sorry, Captain.”

“I’m sorry as well, Captain.” Lieutenant Visera said as she turned from her station and faced her superiors. “I’ve just received word from the Lexington and the other Free Land ships in Naran. The two other Planet Ravagers have disappeared as well. And there were casualties among the Naran capital city’s populace.”

“How many?” Reelan asked with a bit of apprehension. Even though it had only been a short while since the two Planet Ravagers had been reported, she knew that a single one of them could slaughter hundreds of thousands of people in minutes. And with two of them, that meant…

“I’m afraid that over 12 percent of the city’s population had been massacred.”

“How tragic.” Harken said with solemn tone. “That city was reported to have a population of over 8 million.”

Both Reelan and her mate winced at the report. Losing nearly a million citizens in just a few minutes was no laughing matter.

“What about the other nations and their fleets?”

“Actually, many of them managed to evacuate the area in time and a few of them were able to hold their own.”

----------

Flashback…

“What the HELL are those?!” Captain Hodder cried out as he and his subordinate witnessed from the observation deck of Enterprise; twin explosions erupting from the center of the Naran capital. One eruption occurred on eastern side while the other occurred on the western side. Their eyes widened in horror as two familiar abominations emerged from the craters they had created.

Unknown to Shenshirine, Chief Magical Engineer Maden and the other Dreanat operatives in the Naran Magical Research and Development Division had secretly added Mechanoid Circuits into the two other magical battleships of the First Ones, Deriaton Two and Deriaton Three. Unlike Deriaton One, these vessels were non-operative at the time as the researchers were using them for study and spare parts. That is, until the Cryterian technology was added to them as an experiment. Much to their initial delight, both ships became operational as the alien circuitry corrected and compensated for any errors or missing components. It was the Dreanat scheme to use these ships as added firepower in their takeover of Naran.

Unfortunately, the Cryterian circuits had different ideas as soon as they received the distress signal from Deriaton One. Though they had not finished with remodeling their forms, they did have full control over the propulsion, defensive and offensive systems. Once they began drawing power from the surrounding psion fields and their PSBs, both Deriatons burst from their hidden and armored hangers and began attacking any organic life forms within their range. The Naran citizens began screaming in terror as the mutated artifacts of the First Ones began slaughtering them wholesale. Energy beams began firing on the helpless populace below, causing death and destruction on a scale comparable to that of nuclear warheads. No one, young or old, male or female, good or evil was spared.

After a minute after the Ravager appeared, the skies became filled with Starfighters and other aircraft as Free Land and its allies began to fight back.

----------

“Blue Hawk Leader to all Hawk Wings!” Major Hendrix said as he addressed all those under his command. “Our objective is clear! We have to force those Ravagers out of the city and away from all civilian areas!”

No sooner had Deriaton One been identified as a Planet Ravager, Admiral Silana had ordered her entire compliment of Star Hawks to be launched and aid those of her sister’s carrier. However, when two more Ravagers appeared, she had to make the hard decision to divert her fighters to the new targets, and hope that Tarhesse’s squadrons would be able to handle the first one.

At the same time, General Kurdo and Admiral Kajor ordered their ships to head straight for the Naran capital. They had also sent word to a few cruisers and Nebula-class battleships on standby in orbit, to begin their descent into the atmosphere. This was not just one Planet Ravager, but three of them. As a result, they would need more firepower to destroy this new threat to the world of Istaria.

“Ruby Wing Leader to all Byattas! Follow the Hawks in and give support fire!” Lieutenant Tisera ordered.

“Ruby Four to Ruby Leader!  We’ve got some reinforcements from the Batarra! It looks like they’ve sent two squadrons of Ariatols!”

“Tell them that we appreciate all the help we can get against the two Ravagers! Have them coordinate with the Hawks!”

“Roger Lieutenant! Also, the Enterprise is sending out a few of its F-86 jets to help out as well! The Sath Avenger is doing the same with its Corsair fighters!”

“As much as I appreciate their help as well, they don’t have enough firepower against a Planet Ravager. Tell them to stand by for any Mechanoids those things might produce!”

----------

As the two Cryterian monsters ravaged their way towards the coastline and their beleaguered brethren, an armada of Free Land fighters began to converge on them. Since the Ravagers were still relatively close to civilian areas, the Starfighters had to refrain from using their missiles and explosive ordinance until they were certain no innocents were in the danger zone. As a result, they could only attack using projectile and energy-based weaponry.

Hendrix led several squadrons of Star Hawks on a strafing attack on what was designated as Deriaton Two while his wife and her wingmates attacked Deriaton Three. Both Ravagers put up defensive barriers and fired back with magical bolts and Pursuer Rockets. Fortunately, the rockets were about the same level as first generation heat-seeking missiles and the veteran pilots easily evaded or shot them down. Many malfunctioned or were easily diverted by ECM waves, flares and chaff.

Unfortunately, the dwarven pilots didn’t fare as well. Despite having advanced fighter craft, courtesy of some aid from the Kyteeri, they were still new to aerial combat.

----------

Lieutenant Orkan winced as he saw several of his comrades get blown to bits as Pursuer rockets slammed into them. Behind him, his rear-gunner Corporl Mort shouted out.

“Lieutanant! We got a couple of those Naran missiles coming up on our rear!”

“I’ll try to lose ‘em. Shoot ‘em down if you can!”

Mort engaged the rear electron-pulse gun and started firing at the two Pursuer rockets that were chasing them. With the Ariatol swerving erratically and making extreme turns, the rear-gunner found it difficult to aim. By sheer luck, he managed to swat down one rocket as a stream of particle bullets hit the guided weapon’s side, causing it to explode. However, the second one continued to follow them.

At that point, Mort had to take a gamble. The only way to increase his odds of shooting the missile down was to let it get a little closer. He held his breath and fire and let the deadly projectile close the distance. Just as the missile came to within a hundred feet, he let loose with a barrage. The energy projectiles hit the rocket on its warhead. This resulted in a large, orange-red ball of fire and debris. The Ariatol shuddered violently as several impacts were felt.

“Did we get hit?!” Orkan asked as he looked back over his seat.

“Yeah… you could say that.” Mort replied sheepishly. His plan to shoot the missile had backfired as the nearby explosion had caused the fighter to be hit by a torrent of shrapnel. Fortunately, the armored cockpit protected the two of them from the fiery fragments. However, the same couldn’t be said for the rest of the fighter as it was now trailing smoke and small flames.

“Aw, slag! I got no response from the controls! The relay cables probably got cut!” Orkan announced as he pulled on what was literally a dead stick.

“We gotta punch out!” Mort shouted.

“I got it!” Orkan reached down and pulled the ejection lever.

Small runes inscribed on the sides of the cockpit lit up as the double canopies blew off. Both dwarves held onto their seats as small rocket thrusters activated. In less than a second, they were ejected out of their doomed aircraft. As their seats fell away, they activated a new device on their waists.

The levitation belt was a recent innovation. After studying Free Land’s g-force nullifier devices, the dwarves came up with a small, techno-magical version of the anti-gravity device, which used their DRCs to create a temporary field of anti-gravitons around the wearer. After a bit of fine-tuning, the user could control his direction in air for a short time period. The belt did not allow for true flight, but it was a safer alternative to the parachute, when escaping from an aircraft or surviving a fall from great height. Of course, all pilots still had a micro-chute in case the belt failed, but the belt proved to be successful enough that Free Land had also adopted it. Now all Starfighter and Battle-Mech pilots had a version of the dwarf device. Emergency workers and those who had occupations in high places, like mountaineers and construction workers, also found the belt to be quite useful.

As Mort and Orkan floated down towards the surface, their Ariatol fell past them and exploded when it hit the ground. Meanwhile, the battle against the two Planet Ravagers continued on. At that point, the Cryterian monstrosities upped the ante as they opened up several panels on their surfaces and released dozens of strangely humanoid-shaped, crystalline creatures.

This caused a stir among the Starfighter pilots.

“Oh my god! Those things are releasing Mechanoids!”

“They look like mutant Battle-Mechs!”

“Are they… Battle-Mechnoids?!”

To be continued…