Star People

Chapter 63

Operation Overkill

Oct 14^th, 15 AE

A few minutes before the fake Planet Ravagers crossed the Hyper Gate, the bridge of the Missouri…

“Lieutenant Commander Harken, you are the trigger!” Mark said as he pressed an icon on his chair’s touchscreen console.

“Aye, Captain!” The Catian third-in-command stood up as the Missouri’s Neo-Proton Wave Gun console and seat rose up from the floor in front of them.

“Commander! I want full primary and secondary Pulsar Guns synced with the Neo-Proton Wave Gun!”

“Aye, Captain!” Reelan entered some commands into her own chair’s console. The front of the ship, the two main turrets and the smaller ones, swiveled about and positioned themselves to fire ahead.

At the console for the Missouri’s strongest weapon, Harken sat down and entered his identification codes as the computer instructed him.

[Confirm identity and activation code.]

“This is Lt. Commander Harken! Third-in-command of the star battleship Missiouri! Designated by Captain Mark Delan as the trigger! Activation code 001274 Beta!”

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On the bridge of the Iowa…

“Old friend, will you do me the honor of being the trigger?” Admiral Kajor asked as he activated the console to the Dual Neo-Proton Wave Gun.

“It would be my pleasure.” The veteran Catian general smiled as he walked over to the rising console and sat down.

[Confirm identity and activation code.]

“This is General Kurdo, formally retired. Designated by Admiral Kajor as the trigger! Activation code 009221 Beta!”

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On every ship that was armed with a Neo-Proton Wave Gun, their bows split open and began charge up. All vessels were positioned in an area of space pointing away from the planet. Every one of them was aiming its weapons at a spot where the Hyper Gate exit portal was going to appear. Once all three of the fake Planet Ravagers made their appearance, every ship in the armada would open fire will a full barrage of Neo-Proton Beams, Pulsar guns and every type of missiles and projectiles. Normally, such firepower wouldn’t affect a true Planet Ravager much, but these pseudo-Cryterian weapons didn’t have the same durability. As a result, the Free Land forces would be able to destroy the menaces with an all-out assault.

This was Operation Overkill. They had only used this tactic once, during their war with the Cryterians. The end result was the complete annihilation of the Cryterian Homeworld.

Just as the final ship had deployed its Wave Gun, an alert was heard throughout the fleet. The Cryterian wannabe destroyers had just been forced into the Hyper Gate entry portals and were now being teleported towards the exit portal. Deep in the void, a huge energy circle formed as the first pseudo-Planet Ravager started to come through. At that point, a series of panicked messages came streaming over the communication lines.

The Transmat Station was reporting huge strains on the emitter arrays and the entire structure itself. Soon, explosions began to occur throughout the station, causing the station’s skeleton crew to evacuate to the destroyer Johnston. What was most alarming was the fact that Chief Engineer Riken refused to abandon the station until all three Ravagers had passed through. Just as the last of the monsters appeared in space, the Transmat Station broke apart in a catastrophic explosion.

As everyone saw the demise of the station, the three pseudo-Planet Ravagers became somewhat disoriented as they found themselves floating in space and without the psion-rich atmosphere of Istaria. They immediately began focusing on their stores of magical energy within their PSBs, but the Star Alliance Fleet wasn’t going to give them the luxury of consolidating their power.

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The bridge of the Missouri…

[Target acquired.]

“Countdown on my mark, Harken!” The ship’s captain announced. “Five… four… three… two… one… FIRE!”

Lieutenant Commander Harken pulled the trigger.

“All forward guns and batteries… OPEN FIRE!” Mark’s wife cried out.

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Simultaneously, on the bridge of the Iowa…

“Countdown on my mark, General!” The Velor Admiral said. “Five… four… three… two… one… FIRE!”

With a grin, Kurdo pulled the trigger.

“All forward guns and batteries… OPEN FIRE!” Kajor’s second-in-command shouted.

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At the front of the formation, the Missouri’s Neo Proton Wave Gun let loose with a massive beam of annihilation that was two miles wide and several miles in length. Above the beam were six smaller but still highly destructive beams of energy as the forward Pulsar guns let loose at the same time as the Wave Gun. Flanked on either side were hundreds of missiles, projectiles and maser-beams as everything was thrown at the pseudo Planet Ravager in the center.

Off to the port side, the Iowa emitted twin Neo-Proton Beams of destruction, along with six Pulsar blasts and hundreds of smaller beams, missiles and projectiles. Every other ship did likewise, firing off a combined deadly barrage that would have obliterated a planet the size of Jupiter. Each ship picked its target and directed its attacks against a specific fake Planet Ravager.

All three pseudo-Ravagers raised up barriers in a futile attempt to protect themselves. However, the storm of Neo-Proton and Anti-Proton beams would not be denied. The shields instantly failed as the beams broke through and impacted heavily on each Ravager, engulfing them all in a wave of unstoppable force. Missiles found their marks, releasing their payloads and adding to symphony of destruction. Armor-piercing projectiles dug deep into the crystalline surfaces.

And the fleet kept on firing. The false Cryterian weapons soon became husks, littered with holes and gaping scars, but that was not enough for the Star Alliance. They were going to make damned certain that these menaces would never return. With one massive burst, what remained of the imitation Planet Ravagers was sent hurtling towards the Sun. Only then did they cease firing. Each Ravager hit the superheated surface and became enveloped in stellar plasma. Like the first Planet Ravager, they would eventually be torn apart into their component atomic particles and cease to exist.

It was finally over.

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Later…

“They have to find him!” Ensign Tizra said in a firm tone as she watched the Johnston deploy its Search and Rescue Units. Nearby, the Missouri did the same. They all headed toward the floating debris field that was once the Transmat Station.

Standing beside her was a dwarf co-worker who had recently been assigned to the Transmat Station before it was destroyed. His name was Zorks, and he had been one of the engravers for the Dwarf Rune Circuits or DRCs for the emitter arrays.

“I’m certain that if Chief Riken’s... uh, body is still floating out there, the search and rescue teams will find it… provided that it remained intact during the break-up.”

“The bridge was the most heavily-built area of the station. I’m certain that anything inside it would have endured the explosion.” The Kyteeri stated with certainty.

“Even so, it’s a bit… ah, unsettling that you are determined to find his corpse. Are you intending to return him to his family for a proper burial?”

“Burial?” The blue-skinned woman said in surprise. “What do you mean?”

The dwarf took on an expression of puzzlement. “What do I mean? It’s a total vacuum out there! I may be new to this space-travel stuff, but even I know that people don’t survive in the vacuum for very long. People have this habit called breathing, and you can’t do that in space!”

“True enough.” Tizra concurred. “That applies to humanoids like Terrans, Kyteeri and even Dwarves. Velor also need to breathe.”

“So why are you surprised about a burial? Isn’t Chief Riken… you know, dead?”

“He’s not dead. Not from the lack of oxygen in any case. I’m just hoping they find his body before it begins to drift towards the planet’s atmosphere and burns up in re-entry.”

“That’s what you’re worried about?! But, didn’t you just say that Velor need to breathe?”

“Yes, they do… normally.”

“Normally?”

“As you said, Zorks, you’re new to space-travel. And you don’t know about a certain aspect of Velor physiology, do you?”

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Thirty minutes later…

“I’m picking up a bio-signature!” Medic Joseph Blines announced as he read the information on his console.

“Give me the coordinates.” Ensign Nancy Rakes asked as she steered Search and Rescue Unit through the field of broken metal shards, conduits, pipes and other pieces of the Transmat Station.

“It’s really faint.” Joseph stated as he adjusted his sensor output. “It’s coming from coordinates… alpha, 42-0-4.”

“Distance?”

“Seventeen hundred meters.”

“All right, let’s go.”

Nancy made the small vessel move forward, expertly navigating through the debris field. A few minutes later, the ship came to a full stop, just in front of a large mass of twisted metal and circuitry.

“I’m getting readings from inside that hunk of debris.” Joseph stated. “Sensors indicate that the interior is hollow and there seems to be an organic mass within it. The bio-metric readings do fall within all expected levels. That’s definitely the Velor we’re looking for.”

“Do you think we can extract him from the wreckage, or should we just tow the whole thing back to the Johnston?”

“That thing won’t fit through the Johnston’s cargo bay doors. We’re going to have to cut him out of there. The structure is pretty unstable. I don’t think we should risk using the Grappler Arm plasma-cutters.”

“So we’ll have to go in, and cut him out manually.” Nancy put the Unit on standby as she got up from her pilot seat. “Contact the other Units and give them our coordinates. I’m going to need some help in pulling Chief Engineer Riken out of that pile of scrap.”

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Forty-five minutes later…

“Okay, that just about does it!” Nancy said over her suit’s communicator. Floating in the void in her spacesuit, she turned off the manual plasma-torch she was wielding. Floating nearby were other members of the Search and Rescue teams as they deactivated their cutting tools as well.

They had just finished slicing through a very thick piece of bulkhead. With a firm push, the massive chunk of machinery floated off to the side, revealing the contents within.

Chief Engineer Riken’s eyes were closed and his seemingly lifeless body floated within of the wreckage. His scales were slightly burned and took on a sickly, pale blue tint. His bodysuit was badly ripped in several places, and he sported quite a few cuts and abrasions. The tip of his tail had been torn off. To the untrained eye, he appeared to be dead. However, Joseph’s portable bio-scanner begged to differ as he floated beside Nancy.

“I’m reading one heartbeat every 20 minutes… cerebral activity is bare minimum… all vital organs have shifted to bio-preservation status… oxygen levels are being recycled inside his cells… yes, he’s basically in hibernation.”

“Hard to believe that’s considered normal for his race.”

“Well, yes… that is normal for a Velor during the Barren Time.”

“Come on; let’s get him into the Unit.”

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Twenty minutes later, on the Johnston…

“What’s the Barren Time?” Zorks asked.

Tizra nodded as she replied. “On the former homeworld of the Velor, every five years, there is a time of planetary winter and lack of vegetation. The climate changes so drastically, that it’s basically like the nuclear winter after a massive atomic explosion. Temperatures can drop to minus 400 degrees Celsius. The entire surface of the planet becomes a frozen wasteland. Usually, this climate change can last for up to several months. In order to withstand this Barren Time as they called it, the Velor had evolved the ability to go into a state of hibernation or suspended animation. This allows them to survive until this period ends. They can survive for months without food, water or even air. This allows them to even survive the vacuum of space for a long period of time.”

“So you’re saying that Chief Riken put himself into hibernation when the Transmat Station broke apart? He could actually still be alive?!”

The Kyteeri nodded as the communicator pin on her lapel went off.

“Ensign Tizra here.”

“Ensign, this is Chief Medical Officer Lorada. Chief Engineer Riken has just been admitted into the Sick Bay. You wanted to be alerted of his admission and condition, right?”

“How is he?”

“In a word… lucky! If he had been anywhere else but the station’s bridge, he might have been incinerated.”

“Is he in hibernation?”

“You know your Velor. Yes, he’s in full bio-stasis. He’s fine. We should be able to bring him out in about an hour from now.”

“Thank you, Doctor.”

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One hour later…

Riken awoke found himself lying on a large, examination bench that was adjusted for his size. He was dressed in a simple bodysuit that was also adapted for his form’s configuration. Several areas of his body were being treated for superficial damage and a sizeable length of his tail was missing. What was left was bandaged up. Looking off to the right, he noted a Nemonean standing beside him on a raised platform.

“W-Where am I?” The Velor groaned as he tried to sit up. He was gently pushed back down by a medical aide as the winged physician named Lorada greeted him.

“Good to see that you’re finally out of hibernation, Chief Engineer Riken. I’m Doctor Lorada.”

“Hibernation?”  He cocked his head and thought for a bit. “Oh, that’s right. I do remember going into hibernation, just as the station broke apart. How long was I in stasis?”

“Just under three hours or so.”

“And the Planet Ravagers?”

“Oh, they were vaporized. Just after the station broke apart, the fleet opened up with full Pulsar and Wave guns. “

“But, those weapons are almost useless against the hull of a Planet Ravager.”

“Against a true Planet Ravager, yes, that would be the case. However, these were imitation Ravagers and they weren’t as durable as the real things. They sustained a lot of damage and their remains were driven into the Sun, for good measure.”

“Ah, I see. Well, I suppose it was worth losing the Transmat Station…” He looked down at the bandaged stump. “And part of my tail.”

“Yes, well, we can always build another station.” Lorada remarked. “And your tail is already beginning its regeneration process. We don’t need to apply any of our cellular restoration equipment. I estimate that your tail should be fully re-grown in about a week or so.”

 “And what about the station’s skeleton crew?”

“They were all safely evacuated to the Johnston. In fact, two of them are very anxious to see you…”

At that moment, Ensign Tizra and Zorks entered the Sick Bay and hurried over to Riken’s bedside.

“Chief!”

“By the gods, you’re alive!”

“At ease!” Riken said with a wave of his right arm. Both visitors stopped and assumed a casual stance. He then pointed at Tizra with a stern expression. “Ensign Tizra, I should have you reprimanded for disobeying my order to evacuate!”

“But, Sir…!”

The Velor’s expression softened a bit as he smiled. “However, since you did get off the station safely, I suppose I could let this one incident pass. However, the next time I give the order to evacuate, you will follow it, understand?”

“Ah, yes Sir!”

Zorks continued to stare in amazement at his superior. He then asked, “May I speak freely?”

“Go ahead.” Riken said with a shrug.

“I cannot believe you actually survived three hours in a vacuum! Your species is quite hardy!”

Riken shrugged again. “This isn’t the first time this has occurred for my people. During the war with the Cryterians, our freighters were constantly attacked and hibernation was the only way for the survivors to withstand the void until rescue teams picked them up. The longest anyone’s survived in space was three months.”

“Sir! Your tail!” Tizra pointed to the stump.

“Not to worry!” Doctor Lorada stated. “In addition to their ability to hibernate, Velor possess extraordinary powers of regeneration. They can fully re-grow a lost limb or even a vital organ or two. Losing their tails was commonplace on their homeworld. He’ll have it back before you know it!”

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The Council of Prime Directors, three hours later…

“It’s good to hear that Chief Engineer Riken survived the Transmat Station’s destruction.” Benjamin stated.

“It’s even better news that we managed to pull off the impossible.” Nasaak said with pride. “We got rid of three Planet Ravagers, all at once!”

“They were not true Ravagers, but the accomplishment is quite substantial all the same.” Anida said.

“Now that we’ve gotten the biggest headaches out of the way, what is our next step?” Sierg asked. “Aside from clearing out the remaining Mechanoids, of course.”

Viska let off a sigh. “We have to deal with the aftermath, namely with whoever is going to succeed Emperor Shenshirine after that… incident during the Gathering.”

“Calling the complete annihilation of the Naran Royal Palace and most of the Naran Capital as an incident, is putting things rather mildly.” Nerto remarked. “Shenshirine left no apparent heirs. I would think that Prime Minister Haykin would be the logical choice as the successor.”

“I would think so too.” Ben concurred. “And there seems to be a lot of conspiracy theories and accusations being thrown around amongst the Naran nobility. Some are saying that the Dreenat were involved and the Emperor was actually assassinated.”

“Well, things are about to get more hectic.” The Kyteeri Director said as she read a new report that just came in on her console. “Prime Minister Haykin has just announced that the people who caused the events that led to Shenshirine’s untimely demise, have been found and arrested. He intends to hold a trial and have them publically executed.”

“Oh? Well that certainly throws a big… er, what was that thing you called again?” Sierg scratched his right temple for a moment. “Ah yes! You called it a monkey wrench. You haven’t forgotten about those guests that we’ve been keeping for the last couple of weeks, have you?”

“Certainly not!” The Catian Director said. “Though I imagine those guests might have a few words to say about Haykin’s claim to the throne.”

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The newly-rebuilt, Royal Palace of Naran…

“What is this?! What is going on?!” The former Emperor of the Sath shouted as he and his son were dragged into a large room. Both were in chains.

As the guards forced them to their knees in front of a large conference table; a certain somebody sat, along with several other members of the Dreenat.

“Maden! What is the meaning of this?!” Garres Locra shouted as he glared at the Naran Chief Engineer and secret Dreenat agent.

“What does it look like?” Maden asked with a false expression of innocence. “We have captured the ones who were responsible for the Metal Soldier attacks on the Naran civilians, and the assassination of Emperor Shenshirine.”

“What?! We did no such things!” Former Prince Vexor Locra shouted.

“You were the ones, who provided the Dreenat with the schematics to the Metal Soldiers, were you not? Therefore, you are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Naran civilians.”

“This was part of our plan to conquer Naran! You agreed to it!” Garres shouted.

“What plan?” Maden asked with a shrug of his shoulders. “I have no idea what you are talking about.  Since the Dreenat will be taking over the Kingdom of Naran soon, we need to put out a good image in front of the other nations, and especially towards Free Land. What better way than to arrest and execute the perpetrators of these terrible attacks against the populace and who killed Shenshirine? It would be mere child’s play to amass enough evidence, to convict the both of you.”

Empress Lexina’s father and brother snarled as they realized that the Dreenat were no longer serving under them, and that the former rulers of the Empire of Sath, were going to be used as scapegoats. The guards roughly pulled them to their feet and dragged them away as they kicked and screamed in anger and fear. Once they were gone and the doors to the room closed, Maden turned to his compatriots.

“Now that we have taken care of that minor task, we will now begin to focus on taking full control of Naran.”

“Well, that shouldn’t be much of a problem.” One of the other agents said. His number was 3521.

“Indeed.” Maden concurred. “Especially, since we shall be having our topmost Dreenat taking Shenshirine’s place.” A figure then emerged to join the conference as Maden addressed him. “Isn’t that right, Number One, or should I say, Prime Minister Haykin?”

Shenshirine’s former right hand nodded. “You will soon be addressing me as Emperor Haykin.”

To be continued…

Author’s Notes

I decided to release this early as a Thanksgiving present to my readers. These last two weeks were pretty hard especially with my uncle passing away. At the very least, he should be resting in peace and God bless him. In any case, I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving.