Saemar chuckled, and gathered a giggling, laughing Hikaru into her arms and closed her eyes, holding her breath for a moment. “I couldn’t let all of that fear stop me any longer, sweetie. I had to give my heart what it needed, no matter what we face. If we all die tomorrow, having these days with my little one still would have been worth it. I would never regret that.”
Naero smiled at them both. “I feel the same way, Saemar. You don’t have to convince me.”
“If Z and Ty do have more of their kids…will they be Spacers, Driathans, part of both species, or what? How does that work?”
Naero sipped some Jett. “If you recall, Zhen already had their family embryos waiting to pop out of that little freeze case I protected for so long. They’re planning on having their kids at intervals of every two or three years, six kids in all if everything goes right. They even had the names picked out already, for a long while now. Every one of them is a Spacer just waiting to gestate and be born. Jia explained to them that the only way that one of their kids could become Driathan, would be if they conceived another child now, using the genetics of Zhen’s new body. Jia would need to assist them in that process, but Z and Ty chose not to go that way.”
“What’s going on with all of the Cosmic stuff, sweetie? Even here I’ve heard rumors about all of these new alliances, and massive fleet movements. What kind of war is coming?”
Naero sighed and gazed down at her feet with her arms draped over her knees. “Haisha, Saemar. I don’t even know where to start. We’re doing everything that we can to get ready, but it’s bad.”
29
Naero and her friends and forces did their best to help reposition the GSA fleets in record time. None of that would have been possible without the ever-expanding wyrmhole relays. Half of the navy would go to defend the Beta Quadrant, and the other half raced to protect the Delta Quadrant.
To Naero’s mind, it was akin to trying to defend two entire oceans with a few hundred fishing boats. But it was all they had. Even with the help of the expanding ranks of the Wellington Irregulars, the huge depths of space that they needed to cover were simply too immense.
The near limitless enemy forces they expected could come at them from any direction, and they would be hard pressed to stop them, or even slow them down.
Meanwhile, only twenty percent of the unaligned worlds had been frightened enough by recent events to join the Alliance and have their fleets upgraded for the impending battles ahead. Strategically, that wasn’t going to be enough, either.
Om and many others were fully aware of that fact.
Too many of those worlds and systems still hold back and stubbornly refuse to admit to and accept what is coming straight at them, even at this point, N.
What can we do? Haisha, they won’t budge.
Naero’s reps and other Intel people on the ground would keep working. Every world or system they brought on board brought them closer to parity with the G’lothc. Only the zillions of recalcitrant landers had the numbers they needed.
The GSA stood poised to bring them into the fold, for the sake of all.
The opening salvos of the galactic war finally ignited.
Fresh reports confirmed that Nahaxrathrax now operated openly within the Delta Quadrant, as well as the Gamma Quadrant.
That could not be good for anyone. He drove all opposition before him.
The GSA decided to take swift and decisive action.
Not one, but four powerful naval task forces sped that way, led by Naero and all of the assembled Alliance Champions.
Their task was to hunt, pursue, and engage him quickly, and if possible, take him down, permanently. Eliminating one of the enemy Prime Leaders would assist their cause greatly from the outset.
For too long this fiend had mocked them, evaded them, and continued to work his malicious plots with all of the considerable powers and resources at his command.
Om, his evils cannot be allowed to spread unchecked throughout the entire galaxy, quadrant after quadrant. I’m guessing he’s coordinating his actions with the other two enemy Prime Leaders. But we barely know who they are, let along what they are capable of or up to. That’s not good.
The Great Adversary is poised to invade, Naero. They swarm openly on the march nearly everywhere. The Gamma Quadrant hot zones remain engulfed in combat. Certainly the Beta Quadrant is the next to light up in a similar fashion. Probabilities and all of the signs and Intel predict it.
Naero wasn’t going to stand still and simply wait for that to happen.
As things turned out, even Naero’s hunches weren’t quick enough to go on.
“Heads up, were going to jump straight into a hot zone. Battle Stations!” Baeven yelled, calling everyone to readiness.
Naero checked the current reads. “There were no engagements anywhere near those Beta Quadrant systems before we entered the wyrmhole relay. What’s happened in the short term?”
“Well, I don’t know, N,” her uncle replied, “but there sure is plenty of activity now. Yet another enemy push, no doubt. That entire region erupted within the last two standard hours while we’ve been jumping. Tight beam intercepted relays confirm it. The enemy forces are extensive and striking very aggressively around a key colonial route.”
“Patch me into our dark lady, Kali. I want full intel, prep, and CRD up and flowing. We go in hot and ready to dance. We need to know what to focus on, uncle.”
“Combat Ready Deployment flows online, Naero. You and your tactical rep angels work your magic.”
“Done,” Naero said. “We’re up and in, teknomancing at ninety-eight percent effectiveness.”
Naero opened her third eye. “Psyonic links up and expanding. I’m already in direct coordinated mindlink with all active fleet reps. Prepare to throck, ladies!”
S’krin patched in a secure link directly from High General Jaerex Samson Sherman of the Wellington Irregulars. “I just got through the enemy jamming, Bae. Here’s Jaer.”
“Baeven! Naero! This is Jaer Sherman. Our secret spyfixer tabs say that you and some of your forces are now close at hand. I don’t know what minds you were reading, but you couldn’t have swung this way at a more opportune time. If you get this message, please send all assistance that you can to these coordinates ASAP. We really stepped into the shit storm this time!”
Baeven responded. “Jaer, this is Baeven. N is with me and we’re on our way with several entire task forces. Report, old friend. Tell us what’s going on in that new hot zone?”
“Bae, N, it all started off simple enough. Normal day. We were in the process of tracking down some more of those local pirates as part of our current contract with the natives and the colonials. We went in quiet to hit what we thought were more concealed pirate bases. Most of us thought it was just a routine security op.
“Then we stumbled into what turned out to be a nest of secret G’lothc forward bases and listening posts clustered around Haidel-3 and its moons. We weren’t prepared for any of this.”
Naero cut in. “Hey, Jaer. This is Naero. Feed us all of the deets. Where do we need to go and what needs to be done? Have you determined the enemy’s objectives?”
“They’re trying to isolate Haidel-3 and send in heavy ground forces to take the planet fast. Bodii has deployed with some of our generals, but even we can’t take this much heat. Please send my gal as much help as you can spare. We’ve got three billion locals to protect here!”
“We will, Jaer. But haisha! What the crap is so special about this one world? Why do they want it so badly? Look at all of these enemy fleets. All of this to take one planet? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“No clues to that yet. It’s a semi important colonial route, but there are plenty of others. No vital resources in great quantities. Small population. No major military bases or large starports. You are absolutely right. It makes zero sense tactically or strategically. Do they know something else that we don’t know, N? Or is this some part of a larger, unfolding campaign?”
“That’s always the case with the G’lothc, my friend. But we need to figure this out and fast. Let me know if Bodii and your guys down there uncover anything.”
“Will do. This is getting rough fast. Glad you’ll be here soon, or we’d be toast by tonight.”
“Bringing the heat, Jaer. Bringing the heat. But we still need to know how to direct it, and defeat the enemy objectives. Let’s figure it out. Fight well. We’ll be there shortly to turn things around.”
“Be glad to see that. But warn your people; the enemy is also starting to activate just a fraction of the millions of freeze troops hidden around there to take out the intruders. Bodii and Mo are good, but they can’t outlast millions. Within hours they’ll be overwhelmed. And we can’t reach her or send her and Mo any more help. I love that crazy woman, N. You know I can’t lose her.”
“We’ll reach her and the others,” Naero said. ”Don’t worry. What are we up against? More enemy mind wraith goons?”
“You called it. Mutants and second gen troops: Ejjai, Sangens, and Nexor, for the most part, with a few Xaxattaran leaders.”
“Got it, Jaer. See you all very soon.”
Baeven turned to Naero. “We’ve got something bizarre. Get this. The enemy has hundreds of thousands of mass driver batteries set up on one of the fairly uninhabited contents. They’re launching now.”
“At our incoming fleets and Jaer’s people? I’ll have them-”
“Not at all. We’ve analyzed their targeting vectors, and they’re firing at a number of G and M class stars within this local cluster. And the odd Darkforce readings are off the charts.”
“Whatever they’re doing, it must be for a very bad reason. We’ll need to take out those batteries ASAP. Just one more thing to do, it seems.”
“I agree, N.”
Guys, we’re getting other reports across the quadrants on thousands of these enemy batteries firing upon stars in isolated border regions.
“Om, why would they waste so much time and effort attacking stars like this? That’s futile. But have our people wipe them all out, just in case.”
That’s a bit late, N. They’ve already fired, or are in the process of doing so. The enemy does everything for a reason. But I’ll send word to Klyne and the High Command. According to strategic analysis, the line formed by those attacks would make perfect strategic sense if the enemy could penetrate our outer and border defenses and get in that close. The vast majority of humanity’s most populated worlds would be extremely vulnerable.
“That’s insane. They’d never get past our defenses this far in.”
Baeven shook his head. “We can’t out rule anything right now. Your reps and I will give them hell up here in the black. You know that. Take Poly and Jia with you down to the surface to tip things in our favor. S’krin and Danjen will support me up in the black. Go bail out our friends and try to get some Intel on the enemy’s intentions.”
“Sounds like a plan, uncle. I’ll do my best. Jia, Poly, let’s ride, people!” Naero shouted.
The three Champions flashed down to the planet surface, near the ever growing battle taking place.
They found things much worse than they expected.
Even from that range they could tell that the ground war was a very uneven contest, and growing more so The whumps of traded artillery impacts jarred the rocky forested hills from a distance of a several klicks off to the northwest.
That’s where the bright blasts of the energy rounds struck around both sides.
Clouds of dust and ash rocketed up into the lower atmosphere.
More incoming enemy ground force dropships already filled the sky, lined up around the numerous battles.
The Irregulars, their Iceni warriors, and generals slugged it out with the ever increasing forces of the Great Adversary. On Haidel-3, it was late spring, early summer in the northern hemisphere, and one hell of a fight continued to expand. The defending forces maneuvered like wildcats, just to keep from being trapped and destroyed outright.
“Om,” Naero commanded, “position our spyfixer clouds on wide dispersal observation coverage all around each battle zone and get at those mass driver batteries. Keep me updated on incoming enemy forces and their developing staging areas. We need to locate them and take them and their staging areas out before they can fully deploy against us down here.”
Already up and running, N. Here are the initial data flows with constant updates in real time. We can smite them and smear them across the planet’s surface and knock the others out of the sky. It might take a bit to reach those mass drivers on the adjacent continent.
She turned to Poly and Jia. “You two use your powers to blitz the enemy where our friends need help the most here on the ground. First I’ll take out their forces backed up in the sky. Then I’m going even further out to the enemy staging areas to head those waves of freeze troops off and wipe them out before their numbers can overwhelm us all around here.”
“That’s a tall order, even for three Alliance Champions,” Jia said. “Any chance of getting some further help down here?”
“Negative,” Naero said, shaking her head. “Not at this time. We are it for now. We’re just too far away from our people. These battles will all be over before anyone else can reach us. It’s all on us to win the day, so let’s get to it. You two stay safe, and watch over one another. Fight hard and smart. None of us can afford to be taken down.”
Jia and Poly dove straight into the front lines on either flank.
Explosions erupted within moments.
Naero went on the immediate hunt, first up in the sky. She and Om traced waves of enemy shock troops back to over seventeen secret freeze troop bases and staging areas.
Om calculated all of the odds and numbers.
They both saw the problem very quickly.
Even to execute the best plan right was going to cut things extremely close.
And no matter what, a large number of enemy troops would still hit the defenders at the same time that Naero actively took out all of those bases.
Nothing could stop that. She already raced to get into position.
Naero Prime couldn’t be everywhere at once.
This hellish fight would get very rough for them and the defenders, even with Poly and Jia working miracles to assist them.
Om relayed Naero’s grim reality to all concerned.
All the while she worked methodically.
First, she whipped up a few hundred Shetanna reps on gravwings to deal with those stacked up dropships.
Then she flashed from base to base, on world and then the three nearby moons. She and Om quickly surveyed the exact enemy numbers, deployment parameters, and tek.
At nearly the same time, Naero and Om stared down the timing of their dilemma and the best potential tactical solution.
Naero’s Cosmic attacks quickly followed; there was no time to waste.
She swelled up into the higher spheres where it was so much easier to channel large quantities of energy.
Cosmic blasts and hyper bombs immolated hundreds of thousands of enemy mind slave sleep troops, all at various stages of being activated and sent to the battle.
No easy or delicate ways to accomplish such feats offered themselves.
This situation required a heavy hand.
Hit hard, hit big, and move on to the next strategic target in logical order.
Naero tapped and channeled huge quantities of Cosmic energy from her regular sources as well, and from the new Red and Brown Dwarf energy spheres. She needed it all.
Her attacks vaporized entire enemy compounds in seconds.
Naero truly transformed into the Dark Angel of Death, working from one of the highest spheres where her translucent energy form towered six thousand kilometers high. She radiated golden destructive Cosmic force and power.
This level of widespread devastation could never be directly brought to bear on a ground battle such as that on Haidel-3. If she did, she would obliterate both friend a
nd foe all at once.
These types of system strikes could take out entire enemy bases with just a few hits. They could not be used surgically close up.
Only three more such enemy bases remained for Naero to eradicate.
Then they might have a chance to survive the onslaught back on the ground, after those additional forces were eliminated.
But after all that she had just accomplished, Naero required precious time to regen.
The odds grew worse for them all with each second she took to do so.
After a few minutes, she forced herself to move out again, back on the hunt.
Naero. You still need to recover more. Don’t take chances like this. If you collapse or get us killed, everyone else will die. You know that.
No, Om. We need every second. I got enough juice back for now; boost me more if you can. I’ll recover fully once we’re finished.
Courage and sacrifice are not everything–even for you, N.
Only three more bases to eradicate, Om.
She swelled up into the highest spheres once more. She badly needed their energies.
A tight ray of Darkforce energy came out nowhere and transfixed her through the left arm as she turned.
Naero screamed as her gigantic energy form arm detonated in near total destruction at the elbow, all but killing her.
At the last instant, Om’s defensive protocols had saved them both.
What the hell was that, N? I was forced to separate us from our energy form arm and flash us aside in order to avoid death. If that beam had struck our head or torso, even in this form, we’d be dead!
The pain nearly blinded her. She had great difficulty regenerating her missing arm for her energy form. She had to focus all of her remaining power and force of will on doing so, just to get it back.
It should not be that way.
Soon it grew difficult to think. Why could she not shake this? What if another attack struck them? She was somehow greatly reduced and shaken.
Haisha, Om, where did that insane ray originate from? There wasn’t any warning. I detect nothing else around us in this sphere or close at hand. Wait, we’re no longer in that sphere. We’re in between.
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