Verron_Birth of a Nation

by Douglas Varnell

  Just when Paul was about to begin rounding up the guests scattered out over a three mile long hanger and roaming through a ship bigger than the Pentagon, alarms began to sound, followed by an air-raid siren. In seconds Paul Verron, General Hall, General Zarman, Amber and the rest of the Dragon Guard took off running at a blistering pace toward the Air Base. Since many of the men working in the manufacturing facility were reserve pilots in the Verron Air Force, thousands of assembly line workers took off out the doors behind them. As the dignitaries looked around, the only escorts still with them were Marcus Verron, Michael Verron, Princess Renee, Yadvega and Inga Williamsson. The group of anxious visitors was soon told by a Marine messenger sent by King Verron that Molnar was being approached by large unidentified ships and Verron and her allies were going to make certain they didn’t get close enough to do any harm. Immediately General Dorsey, Admiral Sullivan, DIC Sullivan and Defense Minister Barak raced out of the hanger hoping they were not too late to join the action. They found King Paul, General Zarman, Brigadier Hall, Commander Dalhia and Colonel Amber Hall-Verron in the briefing room reviewing sensor readings and satellite images from the Marines on Molnar. Prince Hunter was on a communications link to Klelta, Tecalna and Xhondar I giving the star coordinates and estimated rendezvous time. Cali and Hon IV had already made gateways to their planets to organize their forces and Commander Dalhia stepped through a gateway right in front of the startled observers as she headed back to Xhondar I. General Kirxno of Beriya had already been contacted and was getting his troops together on Beriya-Haven.

  The satellite and sensor readings indicated the four spherical shaped objects were proceeding directly for Molnar at a speed of .8LS. Paul intended to run an intercept course and prevent them from ever reaching Molnar and the defenseless little Lyncardi. As 350 dignitaries exited the factory doors wondering how they would get back to the Klelta Palace or back to Earth for that matter, they took pause to watch thousands of ships taking off from the valley floor and speeding away toward outer space. General Zarman and his troops were getting much better at their ability to make a large fast response. Ten thousand ships took off from Verron in under 30 minutes. While they stood staring at the sky almost blacked-out by ascending spaceships, Marcus Verron and Renee pulled a Gljarne Class Destroyer out of the hanger and had them climb aboard for the trip back to their motel. Shortly after they arrived, Inga Williamsson informed them that she had made arrangements to have the battle scene projected on the giant-screen and hologram in the Klelta Executive Meeting Room. Three hundred and fifty people wasted no time heading in that direction with worried looks on their faces; some wondering if they would ever see Earth again.

  Little Chief Tu was in complete confusion when Queen Tala took off running and told him to stay with the others. He heard people talking about Molnar, but did not understand what they were talking about. As the others raced out of the factory, his little legs had trouble keeping up with the big humans. Finally Yadvega realized he was all alone and confused and she stayed by his side and explained in his own language what was happening in outer space close to Molnar. He watched the monitors more closely than anyone in the room and Yadvega made certain he had the best seat for watching; it was, after-all, his home.

  Chapter 33

  The Jhxunka are giant eusocial insectoids with superior intelligence and advanced technological capabilities. Structured or organized much like a hive colony of ants, the entire society revolves around the Queen; the others in the hive are born to meet her needs and protect her. With the Jhxunka, the Queen has the ability to communicate with millions of her followers and direct their every action and comprehend from each of her offspring’s exactly what they are doing. She contains millennia of knowledge and passes it on to those who serve her. They are not only a carnivorous species, they are herbivores as well; in fact they quite literally eat everything that can be eaten. When they inhabit a planet, they will eat everything on it, strip it of the natural resources as they make steel and produce atomic energy, and pollute the waters with chemical run-off from the waste produced during their manufacturing processes; leaving the planet dead. It is then that they will board their spaceship hives and move on to the next planet. The two mile long abandoned Jhxunka ship near Molnar was occupied by a Queen and a small portion of her colony. It was a scout ship used by her colony to find a suitable planet for the five Queens; actually four Queens and the Queen Mother. Their scout ship blew the reactors and radiation began to kill off the Queens children. They had to abandon ship before the radiation got to the Queen. When the landing ships found Molnar the signal was sent out to inform the Queen Mother and the three other Queens that a new place of residence had been found. It had been almost a thousand years and the much slower moon-sized hive ships were just now approaching what they planned to call home. The Queen Mother was concerned that she had lost her telepathic connection with her Queen daughter that had been chosen this time to find a new planet for the others and even more concerned that the remainder of her colony aboard the arriving ships had died. She knew that only one thing could cause that to happen; the Queen Jhxunka located on the new home planet was dead. The Queen Mother had everyone in the four spheres on high alert for possible hostile actions.

  When the Verron Air Force and Marines and their allies rendezvoused 500,000 miles above the planet of Molnar, it represented the largest group of allied forces ever gathered in the history of the known Universe. Ten thousand ships from Verron, including two Verron Man of War and fifteen Gljarne Class Destroyers. The rest consisted of Light Destroyers and Fighters made on Verron, plus the thousands of ships stored on Verron, formerly used by the Xhondarians. Paul left Verron in his Fighter but soon landed in the Man of War designated as the Command Ship. As he looked out the window on the bridge along with General Zarman, he was honored, amazed and somewhat shocked by what he saw. In addition to his 10,000 ships, he had 50,000 Marines; Xhondar I arrived with 2000 ships, a mix of Fighters, Light Destroyers and two Gljarne Class Destroyers and 100,000 soldiers. Two of the Man of War’s under construction were already purchased by Xhondar, but not ready for deployment. Cali arrived with 3000 ships and 80,000 Catmandoes, Prince Hon IV with 1000 ships and 40,000 Klelta soldiers and 5 Chinese. His biggest surprise was General Klrxno of Beriya with 3000 ships and 100,000 of his cyborg soldiers. No one on the command bridge had ever seen such a large gathering of fire-power, with the exception of Dalhia during the Xhondarian Civil War, 10,000 years ago. Nineteen-thousand ships and 370,000 soldiers had gathered under one command to meet an unknown enemy. Paul prayed that it would end up just being a stand-off when the approaching spheres saw such a large gathering of force.

  The allied forces moved out to meet the approaching vessels in hopes of keeping them as far from the helpless planet of Molnar as possible. Proceeding with caution and reducing their forward speed as they drew closer. The incredible size of the four spheres became obvious; not as big as Beriya-Haven, but every bit as large as Earth’s Moon. The spectators from Earth were silent as they observed the preparation for a battle in outer-space. Though the ships were made to absorb a great deal of abuse, everyone was required to suit-up in body armor/environmental suits. If the hull was breached there was no time to put one on then and no second chances. General Dorsey, the Sullivan’s and Minister Barak were impressed with the light weight and feel of strength they gained through the exoskeleton and the visual enhancements as they viewed the spheres.

  It was while viewing the approaching four balls that they knew there was going to be no turning back. No one could comprehend how anyone could build such magnificent machines, as they watched each sphere begin to rotate in opposing direction, precisely in the middle. After rotating no more than thirty degrees, just enough to disengage the two halves, all four spheres began to separate, with each half becoming a dome shaped ship. With a 180 degree rotation to level the bottom half of the sphere with the other half, they then spread out their formation to make room for double their number
s. King Verron and the Allies were now facing eight gigantic ships approaching his forces, each one 2000 miles across and 1000 miles high. General Zarman sounded the alert for the ships to prepare for battle; everyone on the Allied ships knew something was about to happen, they just weren’t certain what that would be. It didn’t take long to find out. Paul immediately raced for his Fighter to lead the attack on the approaching enemy.

  Portals suddenly opened on the eight half-spheres and millions of Fighters and boarding platforms came swarming out in every direction. No one had expected anything like this. These creatures could function in outer-space without any environmental assistance. Open cockpit Fighters by the millions and boarding sleds loaded with two dozen heavily armed Jhxunka swarmed like killer-bees toward the approaching nineteen thousand Allied ships. The Fighters of the Allied forces sprinted forward to engage the swarm of enemy ships. Verron weapons could easily shoot them down and their weapons had little effect on the superior Allied ships, but where there was a million before, there were two million now and they were still buzzing out of the hive ships. There was absolutely no way to shoot them all down. Soon the hives began to launch missiles by the hundreds of thousands. The Allied force ship-defenses were the best in the universe, but missiles still made it through. Paul thanked God for the forcefield technology as he witnessed one nuclear strike after another slamming into the hulls of the larger allied ships.

  The Jhxunka were relentless, if they couldn’t shoot a Fighter down they would simply ram their Fighter into it, sacrificing their own lives in the process and they were beginning to inflict casualties on some of the Fighters and Light Destroyers. Even though the boarding sleds were easy targets, thousands were getting past the defenses of the Fighters and ship defense systems and landing on the exterior of the Allied ships in an attempt to systematically neutralize all defensive weapons. Several of the landing sleds found open Fighter bays and flew their sleds into the belly of Gljarne Class Destroyers and the Man of War commanded by Colonel Amber Hall-Verron. They were soon inside or crawling all over the outside of the larger ships. The Marines who were already suited up in preparation for boarding enemy vessels, soon found themselves fighting to defend their own ships against seven foot tall insectoids with laser rifles and giant pinchers. They weren’t that difficult to kill, but their numbers were on the verge of being overwhelming and more continued to pour out of the hives.

  Soon there were Marines, Catmandoes, Klelta and Cyborgs fighting on the exteriors of the big ships to clear the surface of Jhxunka boarders. There were so many Jhxunka in the battle that they would leap on Fighters as they rammed them with their boarding sleds or open Fighters. Before long the allied Fighters were acting more like bumper-cars; often banging into each other to crush or disengage a clinging Jhxunka, sending them spinning helplessly off into outer-space. Soon the Verron Fighters were firing on their own ships to help clear the outer shell of the ship from crawling and walking insectoids. Many were using their flying skills to sweep along, inches from the surface of the ship, knocking over Jhxunka like bowling pins. All during the overpowering attack by the enemy, the Allied ships continued to launch sortie after sortie of missiles at the eight half spheres; blowing many holes in the half-spheres over a two miles wide, and closing off thousands of missile ports and Fighter bays, but the enemy ships were so large, a two mile hole meant very little to a ship 2000 miles wide. The word came to General Zarman that there was fighting in progress on the outside and the inside of every Destroyer, Battle Cruiser and Man of War in the fleet. The Allies were holding their own against the much larger force but the Jhxunka were still pouring out of the hive ships at an alarming rate. Paul knew that the outcome was not in his favor if they continued to fight the battle like this. They had brought the battle to him and his troops and all they could do was defend their self until they were defeated or they retreated. He knew that the Allied Fighters had lost count of the enemy Fighters they had shot down, and yet, they had been kept too busy to even get close to the enemy hives ships. Paul decided that he would take the battle directly to them. He quickly called for the Dragon Guard to retreat to the Fighter bay of the Command Ship, with the exception of Hon IV, who was commanding his army from Klelta, Cali who was in the same position with her Catmandoes and 99, who was the Commander of the Verron Fighters; they all needed to stay right where they were.

  The visiting dignitaries and many of those from Verron who heard that the King and his family members were retreating to the safety of the Man of War Command Ship thought the obvious; the King didn’t want himself or his family to be killed or injured against an overpowering enemy; even General Zarman felt a hint of disappointment about King Verron calling a retreat of the Guard; those Marines defending the ships from attack also had a brief moment of lost hope when King Verron broadcast his order. It didn’t surprise Paul, as those called to the Fighter bay climbed out of their Fighters, that they were quick to question his orders for them to leave the rest of the Fighters on their own, especially Hunter, Amber and Tala. The eight of them had to actually fight their way out of the bay and up the halls to the Command Center where General Zarman was still commanding the Allied Forces. He gave Paul a disappointed look as he and the frustrated Dragon Guard entered the room and so did the four visitors from Earth who were there as observers, that is until they realized just what King Verron had planned for himself and his own grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

  As soon as he entered the bridge, without explanation, he began, “Lucy can you give me a hologram of the ships we’re fighting. I’m mostly interested in where the reactors are or any areas that seem large enough to house a Queen; they most likely will have a large number of Jhxunka protecting it.” Soon Lucy produced a hologram. It was easy to identify the radiation signature for the dozens of huge nuclear reactors deep in the heart of each ship. Only five of the eight ships had an area that appeared heavily guarded; they also were deep inside the ship and behind layer after layer of heavy protective barriers. Paul studied the ships carefully, then turned to Hunter, Amber, Katelyn, Chase, Daniel, Camil and Tala, saying, “There are eight of us and eight ships and probably no more than a few billion Jhxunka. But they are looking for an enemy out here that’s trying to reach them. Their whole game plan is to keep us away from the hives. They could care less how many of them die in the process.” Pointing to the location of the reactors and possible Queen’s nest, he continued, “If we can blow either the reactors or take out the Queens this war will be over. You saw what happened on Molnar when we tossed a plasma grenade into the Queens chamber; all the remaining workers and warriors fell over dead. There is no way we can fight our way in against so many willing to die protecting their Queen, so the Eight of us will make an up-close-and-personal visit to the Queen or the reactors. Blow either one and we end this thing.” The Dragon Guard began to smile. They now knew that King Verron had not chickened out or tried to protect them. He was going to send them alone into the heart of the hive ships to take out the Queen. He pointed to an area about half-way between the location that probably held the Queen and the rooms that definitely housed the reactors, saying, “We make a gateway to this point; head directly to the path that seems to have the fewest obstacles.”

  He turned to General Zarman, commanding, “Have one of the Marines bring each of us at least two of the baseball sized plasma grenades. It will definitely kill a Queen and no doubt will cause a massive chain reaction if you hit just one reactor. Now listen, to me carefully; don’t waste time trying to fight off a bunch of insects. Use anything you’ve learned to kill as many as you can at once and keep moving. Don’t let yourself get bogged down. Make sure you all have your sabre. If there is a door or hatch blocking your path you can’t blast through with The Power, use your sabre. Find your target, toss your grenade and get back here before it goes off. Are there any questions?” The members of the Guard smiled and shook their heads no. Abruptly Minister Barak spoke out, asking, “Are you a fool Verron? You’re actually goin
g to send these children inside that ship; behind enemy lines. Not knowing what awaits them?” Before Paul could reply, Tala, snapped, “Duh, haven’t you been listening. Who else would he send? Are you going to volunteer?”

  One of the Marine Captains entered the Command Center and glared at the King and his special kids as he carried in a case of plasma grenades. At first he didn’t know how to react when the royals hurried forward and grabbed two grenades each and attached them to the utility belt of their body armor. They all turned to General Zarman, gave him a nod and Paul said, “It’s show time.” Almost simultaneously the eight of them disappeared through a gateway that opened over a thousand miles inside the mammoth spheres. The Marine Captain heard General Zarman lowly speak, “May God be with you all. Please come back.” The Captain asked, “Where did they go Sir?” General Z pointed to the eight big ships, thousands of miles away, yet looking so close, and said “To end a war.” The big Marine Captain almost teared-up and confessed, “I thought they were abandoning us to protect themselves.” General Z realized that everyone probably thought the same thing. He told the Captain, “Pass it along – pray for the Dragon Guard – they are right now behind enemy lines.” The word went out over the com channel almost as soon as the Captain left the bridge. Suddenly excitement was in the air. King Verron was taking the battle to the enemy. On 19,000 ships the motivation improved immediately and hundreds of thousands of prayers went out to Heaven. Cali, 99 and Hon were proud of their friends and disappointed they were not included, but were much too busy fighting these insane Jhxunka who would cling to your ship and literally try to tear it apart with their bare hands. Everyone knew from the lives already lost, that sometimes they were successful.