Only a minute had eclipsed since the battle had started, and most of the Ribiyar had been destroyed, and it was then that Jack saw Blitz leap onto the top of the fighter they had traveled in, sitting in-between the top two engines and on the surface of a gun that laid between the engines. Blitz stared intently at the foe he was about to engage, the two Enforcer Pods blocking the path to the entrance of the Holding Facility.
The Pods extended their spear-like legs as they stood up, and moments later, dozens of spherical devices shot out the backs of the Pods, twisting their shapes within moments to give them a sleeker design to allow for more precise, rapid flight, and flew toward the officers on the landing pad. Before anyone could react, Jack saw Blitz crouch down, and though he knew Blitz let loose his ‘battle meow’ when he moved his mouth, he could have sworn that he had said “move” to the missiles and the Enforcer Pods, as if warning them away. Blitz deployed his cannon-like guns on his back, devices that had enough firepower to blow open a tank, and leapt into the air with the grace of a ballerina. Blitz spun sideways as he flew through the air, and fired his cannons, managing to shoot down every single missile as he flew towards the Enforcer Pods. Blitz disappeared from sight as he hit the ground and used his momentum to slide in-between the Enforcer Pods, and moments later, a blinding light flashed, and two Pods began sparking violently from the EMP grenades Blitz had deployed. The Pods collapsed, and, because of their proximity to the edge of the landing pad, they fell off, and plummeted to the ground below. And when the smoke from EMP grenades cleared, there sat Blitz, calmly surveying the landing pad with his crimson-red eyes, almost daring the Ribiyar on the pad to try and take the walkway from his rightful possession.
Jack seized the moment and pressed on with his attack while the Ribiyar were distracted by the E.V.A.N.s display of power. After a minute more of combat, the remaining Ribiyar were neutralized, and the group made their way to the small walkway that led to the entrance of the Holding Facility. Walking around Blitz, who had been calmly licking his paw as he waited, the group walked single file as they crossed the narrowing path, with Colonel Brown leading the group, and Blitz and Olo taking the rear. The group was halfway over the walkway when the path began to tremble below them as explosions destroyed the supports holding the landing pad. Apparently, the Ribiyar were still trying to keep them from entering the Holding Facility, and were willing to destroy the landing pad in order to do so.
“Let’s get a move on people!” Colonel Brown yelled as he quickly led the group forward as fast as they could, desperate to get to the entrance before the walkway collapsed beneath them. They were nearly to the end of the walkway when it began to crumble. A huge explosion ignited near the middle of the walkway, severing whatever was left of the support structure beneath the walkway, and the structure began to slowly fall to the surface. The walkway began sagging downwards as the landing pad pulled it down, and still the team continued to run across the path to get to the entrance. Colonel Brown and Major Aru reached the entrance, which fortunately had its own structure to stand on and was in no risk of plummeting below, and turned to help the rest of the group up. As more of the group moved onto the surface leading to the entrance, the walkway snapped in half, and the landing pad, and the fighters on it, began falling to the ground. The collapse of the walkway jolted Olo and Blitz, the only officers still on the structure, and they lost their footing, and began quickly slide down the remainder of the walkway.
“Olo!” Jack yelled as he jumped off the area surrounding the entrance, deployed his wings, and quickly flew after him. Flying as fast as he could, Jack intercepted Olo as he reached his hand upwards for Jack to grab onto. Just before Jack grabbed Olo’s hand, the structure dropped again a few feet lower, and Olo dropped out of his reach as he rocketed past him, and he traveled a good distance away before he could begin to turn himself around. Turning as fast he could, Jack flew back towards Olo, who had almost reached the end of the remaining walkway. As Olo was about to go over the end of the structure, Blitz jumped onto Olo’s chest and held onto him tightly, in a way that looked like the cat was hoping that he could save him from death. But as Jack neared Olo, desperately reaching for him, three sharp spikes emerged from the end of Blitz’s tail. The end of the tail shot away from Blitz, revealing a rope that connected it to the cat, and the spikes pierced into the surface of the walkway. Blitz and Olo jolted to a stop at the end of the walkway’s surface, and Olo’s legs dangling in the air. As Jack reached him and began grabbing ahold of him, the remaining supports holding the rest of the walkway to the Holding Facility gave way, and the structure began plummeting to the ground. As Jack grabbed him, Blitz’s tail detached from the walkway, and the cat jumped into Olo’s arms.
His engines straining from the extra weight of them, Jack managed to lift them back onto the area surrounding the entrance. When he was high enough, Blitz leapt onto the ground by the entrance as Lieutenant Fairchild and Rogers grabbed onto Olo’s arms and helped him onto the surface.
“Thanks for coming for me, Jack,” Olo said as Jack landed on the ground, retracting his wings and deactivating his thruster as he did so.
“Anytime, Olo. I’m glad you’re alright.”
“As sweet as this reunion is,” Victor interrupted, “I think it’s time we get back to the task at hand. You know, trying to take control of this death trap of a fortress and save our fleet?”
“Always the sentimental one,” Jack murmured as he moved past the officers, a difficult task because of the small area that had been untouched by the landing pads collapse, and reached the entrance, a triangular door, similar to the entrance that led to the bridge aboard the Defender. Jack pressed his right hand onto the computer interface that was positioned in the wall to the right of the entrance, and energy began pulsing off his hand and onto the interface, connecting him with the device. “Though it may take some time, I believe I can get through the firewall and open the door. Stand by.” And with that, Jack went silent as he focused his attention on breaking through the encryption protecting the controls for the door. With nothing else to do, the rest of the group stood silently as they waited for the door to open so they could continue their attack on the Holding Facility.
Location: Aboard the Defender, near the Ribiyar Holding Facility positioned in the Atlantic Ocean.
“Captain! The Ribiyar fighters have taken out five more of our energy cannons on our left wing, and are coming around for another attack!” Commander Hayley reported. “Your orders?”
These guys just won’t give up, Captain Rickman commented to himself. Even after the fleet had taken out dozens of fighters, and some of the outposts scattered around the island outside of the Holding Facility, the Ribiyar continued to fiercely defend their territory. And, because the Defender was a valuable asset of the fleet, it was the primary target for the Ribiyar to attack, forcing the ship to endure a large portion of the overall attack.
“Bring us hard to starboard, and lay down a heavy bombardment with the forward cannons. Modify the cannon’s energy blast for maximum detonation radius.” The eight, huge, tubular cannons that were positioned in the front of the ship fired an orb of destabilized energy. When deployed, the orb explodes in a small shockwave of energy, allowing for multiple targets to be neutralized with one shot. The Defender turned hard to the right, and fired several energy orbs into the squadrons of fighters that were attacking the ship, completely annihilating them, but the victory was short lived, as dozens of fighters remained, and continued their fearless attack on the Defender.
“Sir!” Commander Hayley reported, “Sensors are detecting five Ribiyar cruisers inbound from multiple locations, heading right for us. What are your orders?”
“Set a course to intercept the cruisers, and prepare another nuclear warhead for deployment.”
“Sir, I strongly caution you against this action,” Chief Tactical Officer Nickland protested. “While it may have been a good strategy to use the
warheads when the cruisers had been a good distance away from us earlier, this is ship-to-ship combat we’re in now. The risk of getting caught in the warhead’s blast is very high, and the Defender isn’t any more immune to the nuclear reaction than they are.”
“I am aware of that, Chief Nickland. But we can’t let that stop us from making a stand against the Ribiyar. Besides, these warheads can be modified to limit the extent of their nuclear blast. If we can work it right, we should be able to avoid the detonation. Position the ship between the fleet and the cruisers and prepare the warhead for deployment. It’s time to see what the Defender is made of.”
As the Defender raced forward in the direction of the incoming cruisers, Rick could only hope that he could fend off the approaching forces. But, ready or not, he had to take a stand against the cruisers, and hope that they would survive to continue the fight for the Holding Facility.
Chapter 24
Date: July 11, 2132.
Location: In the Ribiyar Holding Facility, positioned in the Atlantic Ocean.
The infiltration team had not been waiting long before the door began to split open, but it hadn’t been Jack, who had still been attempting to break through the encryption protecting the controls of the door. When the sections of the door receded into the entrance, several Ribiyar warriors were revealed, standing on the other side of the entrance and aiming their weapons at the officers. But, before the aliens could attack, Lieutenant Fairchild fired his machine gun, managing to mow them all down before they could attack the group. With his gun barrels still smoking, Fairchild moved through the entrance, quickly surveying the area for anymore hostiles. When the coast was clear, the rest of the team moved past the entrance, and into the interior of the Holding Facility.
“All right ladies, let make these dome-heads regret ever stepping foot on our planet!” Colonel Brown yelled as he led the group deeper into the Facility, firing his AK-47 at the Ribiyar he encountered. The corridors in the Holding Facility were similar to the ones aboard the Defender. The hallways were colored a light silver, and the upper part of the corridors were angled in the shape of an upside-down V. The light through the corridors was produced by panels built into the support beams positioned periodically throughout the hallways. One of the few differences from the Defender’s corridors was that these were built taller and wider, most likely to facilitate the travel of the fearsome Enforcer Pods.
As the group charged forward, Colonel Brown and Major Aru led the group, while the Dark Serpent and the Guardian guarded the rear against anyone who attempted to assault them from behind. Moving in a tight formation, they quickly made their way deeper into the Facility, annihilating any Ribiyar they encountered. After advancing through the Facility for several minutes, they stumbled upon a large room containing dozens of Ribiyar. Before the group could retreat, the Ribiyar spotted them and fired a heavy barrage of energy blasts. The group quickly split up and dived behind several storage containers, while the Ribiyar continued blasting at the containers, and as others began making their way around the containers to reach the team.
Activating the Phantom Blade, the Dark Serpent cut down the Ribiyar that made their way around the storage containers, while Lieutenant Commander Stone threw several EMP grenades over the containers, briefing lighting the room in bright flashes as the devices activated and disabled several of the aliens. Once Stone stopped his EMP bombardment, Olo deployed Blitz into the battlefield, and the room shook as Blitz simultaneously launched both a grenade assault and a relentless stream of machine gun fire. Not two minutes passed before Blitz had eliminated the dozens of Ribiyar in the room. The group quickly moved through the room and into the labyrinth of corridors that lay beyond it. After traveling up a walkway that led to the next level above, the team reached a three-way intersection in the hallway, but the path that led to their objective, the lift that was stationed behind the door in front of them, was sealed shut. Jack pressed his hand on the interface and attempted to take control of the lift, but the firewall prohibited him from doing so, and it would take some time before he could break through the encryption.
“We have hostiles coming in multiple directions!” Lieutenant Commander Stone announced over the team’s radio channel. From the three corridors that surrounded them, dozens of Ribiyar soldiers charged toward the team. Jumping into action, Jack activated his machine guns, and fired at the aliens. Though several of the Ribiyar managed to fire upon him before he mowed them down, their blasts only caused minor damage to his recently-repaired armor. Though he and the team were able to neutralize the Ribiyar, more and more aliens continued to charge toward them. Jack quickly moved back to the interface, pressed his hand on it and connected to it, and managed to access the door controls in the corridor. Farther down each of the three corridors, large, metal plating lowered from the ceiling and sealed off the intersection. After the group finished off the remaining Ribiyar, Jack activated his scanner, and surveyed the area around him to find a to continue forward.
“Colonel Brown, my scanners are detecting a secondary security processor in a room just beyond these two corridors. It is preventing me from taking control of the lift. We need to destroy it if we are to move forward. However, I’m detecting a large concentration of Ribiyar, likely about one-hundred-fifty or so, in the room as well.”
“And how do you recommend we do that, tin head?” Victor remarked. “Not even Ollie’s little fur ball could take out that many dome-heads.”
“Maybe he can,” Jack replied after thinking a moment. “Blitz can deploy a multitude of EMP grenades, enough to destroy all the soldiers and the security processor, while a few of us engage the Ribiyar in the room.” Loud pounding sounds, accompanied by weapons fire, echoed dimly as the Ribiyar attempted to force their way into the corridor. The door protecting the way they had come through was already beginning to falter and would not last much longer. “While they engage the Ribiyar, the rest of us will protect the lift from these Ribiyar.”
“This warp-brained idea of yours sounds risky, with a high change of us getting our brains fried by these aliens,” Colonel Brown replied, “But then again, so did this mission, and that didn’t stop us from coming. Oakland, take Blitz, Davidson, and Fairchild with you. You need to take out most, if not all, of the Ribiyar and those ball-tank things so we don’t have so many aliens shooting at us. Now, get going!” Jack opened one of the two corridors that led to the room with the security processor, and after dealing with the Ribiyar on the other side of the door, Blitz lead the group away, leaving the rest of the team to fight a relentless swarm of robotic aliens.
Five minutes later…
“Now, go Blitz! Complete your mission!” Olo whispered to the cat, who jumped to the top of a crate and disappeared into the shadows to do his task. The room was a lot bigger than the ones they had rushed through before. The ceiling was at least three stories tall, and the floor looked big enough to hold at least three Olympic swimming pools. There were several groups of crates scattered around the edges of the room, near the walls, but the rest of the room was stocked full of Ribiyar soldiers standing in formation, waiting to be sent out to combat the intruders. But worst of all, over a dozen of the feared Enforcer Pods hung from the ceiling, with several catwalks attached to the ceiling so the troops could move around, waiting to be unleashed upon their enemy. Olo and the others were currently hiding between a tall pile of crates that were out of the way of the two exits so they wouldn’t be discovered before they could make their move.
“All right boys,” Olo said as he inserted a fresh power cell into his EMP rifle, “Lets sing it loud, and sing it proud.”
“I don’t know what that means,” Victor responded as he grabbed the Phantom Blade from his waist and attached it to his tail, “but if it means we go at them guns blazing, it’s the best thing you’ve said since I first laid my eyes on you. It’s finally time for the Serpent to be unleashed.” Just as Victor finished speaking, he activated his
stealth device and vanished into thin air.
Not wanting to draw attention to himself and Fairchild by calling after Victor, though he knew it would be useless as he would certainly ignore him anyway, Olo sighed at Davidson’s recklessness, and silently climbed up the crates, getting into position to snipe down the Ribiyar.
“Lek tar k fer! Don dek fektiz! Sep un tu qwar!” One of the Ribiyar, presumably the general in charge, ordered. Olo couldn’t understand what was being said, but he assumed that another group was being sent out, and from what he could see, nearly half of the troops were being deployed this time to destroy the rest of the team. Olo knew that those troops needed to be stopped before they could exit the room.
Before Olo could give the signal of attack to Lieutenant Fairchild, who was positioned behind a crate a few feet away from Olo, Victor suddenly appeared in the middle of the Ribiyar soldiers that stood attention in the center of the room.
Galactic Defenders- Endurance Page 23