by Z H Brown
After broadcasting his message to the loyal troops no doubt waiting to join him in bringing final justice to the tyrant prince of the Imperium, Xandarius narrowed in on the Golden ships waiting not far from his position. With a burst of power, he rocketed toward them, his aura streaking out behind him like the tail of a comet.
He was going to incinerate the head of the enemy with their own divine power. The irony of that made his coming triumph all the sweeter.
Ansaria watched from the bridge of the Throneship as the tiny, flickering figure in the distance took off like a shot toward the Golden fleet. The ships were already beginning to scramble, no doubt noticing their old enemy coming straight for them. At their current speed, Ansaria’s forces would be within medium-weapon range in a few minutes.
The question: could the Golden ships hold on that long?
Using the long-range cameras, Ansaria was able to see with perfect clarity just how dangerous Xandarius had become. The instant he was amid the Imperium’s ships, he unleashed streams of golden fire from both hands, pouring out intense energy that was only momentarily held back by the notoriously weak shields of the Golden warships.
Unfortunately, the onslaught was overwhelming. The shields flared, and then vanished in a burst of energy. With nothing holding him back, Xandarius dived even closer, continuing his assault. The ship’s short-range defenses tried to track the mad emperor, but he moved in a random pattern, preventing the weapons from getting a lock on him; those that could get a hit in found their attacks harmlessly deflected by Xandarius’ blazing aura.
The emperor circled the beleaguered vessel in an indiscriminate pattern, releasing searing strikes that penetrated the armor and burned deep into the ship. Explosions began to blossom along the gashes, until a larger one erupted near the stern of the ship, which quickly consumed it as something critical was destroyed and the ship disappeared in a blinding ball of light. Before the blast could even fade or dissipate, Xandarius came rocketing out unharmed, already zeroing in on his next victim.
Weapon systems from every ship near the attacker unleashed yellow, orange and golden energy beams in a withering crossfire, not aiming for the small target himself, but rather trying to fill his path with dangerous obstacles as he raced forward in a seemingly blind bloodlust. Xandarius dodged dozens of energy beams with presumable ease until being blindsided by an orange plasma stream; this sent him spinning wildly through space, enabling the Imperium ships to now get a clearer shot at their old enemy.
The Throneship raced toward the battle, Ansaria feeling useless as she stood in the center of the bridge, while all around her the crew shouted status reports to her and each other.
Alvara waited silently at the Lancer controls. Ansaria chewed the inside of her cheek in nervous uncertainty, wishing she could do more to help.
Some welcome good news came from Diamond.
~I’ve received an all-clear from the Ebon fleet; additionally, they have dispatched seven ships under the prince to aid us.~
Ansaria breathed a sigh of relief, which was quickly replaced by a new wave of fear at Eberius being anywhere near Xandarius right now; still, she knew that there was nothing she could do to stop him, and truthfully, she felt a little bit better knowing Eberius would be fighting beside her.
“Roger that, Diamond; keep the Ebon ships in the loop, and keep me informed of any pertinent information from them.”
~Of course, captain,~ he was silent for a moment before speaking again. ~Incoming message from Prince Gamesh-Gil’s ship; patching it through.~
“Captain Dormus! I hope you have another plan in mind, because at this rate, my people won’t last much longer!”
Ansaria rubbed the back of her neck guiltily before answering.
“Not so much a plan as an objective: knock Xandarius out of whatever madness that has overtaken him and confine him until we can get him back to Xenlong and find some way to separate him from that damn Flame. Is there any chance you can get away, Your Highness?”
Ansaria could hear the prince shouting instructions to his soldiers before addressing her.
“Those of us not under attack can put enough distance between us and him to escape, but I will not leave my people here to die by the Fire that is rightfully theirs; I will stay until Xandarius is captured, killed, or my own fleet turned to cinder and ash. Gamesh-Gil, out.”
The line went dead, and Ansaria was forced to watch the silent footage of the carnage on the screen. Xandarius had recovered from his stunned state, creating a large spherical shield around him that kept the energy blasts from a half-dozen ships at bay. He kept the protective sphere in place even as he lunged at the ships nearest him.
As the Golden ships continued to try and slow the emperor down with a barrage of energy blasts, they also began unleashing waves of missiles. Dozens of varying-yield explosives raced toward the large, glowing target, their internal computers avoiding the energy beams of their own ships, heading directly toward Xandarius.
As multiple missiles struck him, Xandarius' progression was brought to a stop. His protective shield disappeared under a multitude of explosions of differing sizes, which also gave the ships a chance to properly lock on with their weapons. All ships within range let loose a withering stream of intense energy at the hated, halted monarch.
The barrage continued for several seconds before the ships broke off their attack to view the extent of their efforts. As the afterglow of explosions and plasma discharge faded, the golden orb containing Xandarius became visible. The Emperor was curled into a near ball, his arms crossed in front of him; to Ansaria, it looked like holding off the assault had been a taxing effort. A new spark of hope came to life inside of her; it seemed like with enough force, they could temporarily overwhelm him- and hopefully at that point they'd have a way to keep him still long enough to get him into some kind of stasis.
Before the Imperium could resume their assault, Xandarius recovered enough to go on the offensive. He suddenly flared his body outward, and from his sphere emerged three spears of energy that lanced toward the three ships nearest him. The golden beams struck the shields of the vessels, which flared to life has they struggled to hold them back. Xandarius redoubled his efforts and a burst of energy surged through the visceral rays and slammed into his enemies' beleaguered defenses. The ships' shields disappeared one by one, swiftly followed by the ships themselves, which were impaled upon the spikes of golden fire through-and-through before erupting in an all-consuming explosion.
Whoever was commanding the Golden fleet was not sitting idle during this; the three ships spared the onslaught were quickly redeploying, spreading out in an attempt to surround Xandarius from multiple angles. Additionally, they deployed a new tactic: starfighters. Three-dozen small attack craft, comprised of Venomous and Manticor fighters, swarmed their target.
The Manticors unleashed their sustained energy projectors, emitting piercing beams of searing, golden energy that traced patterns across Xandarius’ shield as they flew rings around him from the maximum distance their weapons would allow. The Venomous fighters meanwhile dived nimbly through the gauntlet of glowing, golden beams. They let loose a storm of rapid-fire yellow blasts, pelting the Emperor with a hailstorm of projectiles.
To Ansaria, this approach was the answer she had been looking for.
Critter.
Ansaria turned to address Tantius.
“Weapon’s Chief, what do we have on board that could subdue Xandarius?” Tantius pondered the question for a few moments before answering.
“We do have a full-body stun-lock suit on board; it’s meant for specifically restraining Xenlongians, since it can detect when its wearer is trying to break out telekinetically, and delivers a shock to prevent them from concentrating enough to do so. Of course, who even knows if the same principle will apply with that infernal Flame; there’s no guarantee that it will be able to stop him at all.”
“If we can drain enough energy to get him to power down, that restraint might be enough to keep him
from taping into that power again once it recharges. Besides, once we have him under control, we’ll find a way to more permanently keep him pacified until we get back to Xenlong.” Then, she addressed the Comm. Officer. “Diamond, contact ship’s security and have them get that stun suit to Corporal Critter, triple time! As soon as you are done, inform the combat air group that I want every pilot that willingly volunteers to scramble their fighters and prepare to join the battle.”
As Diamond hastened to carry out her orders, she contacted her smallest squad mate. “Critter, I hope you got your new toy all fixed up, ‘cause I’ve got a job for you.”
A rage unlike any Xandarius had felt before burned inside him, connected to, but very much still independent of the other burning power that coursed through him.
Traitors! He was surrounded by traitors!
I am the Golden Emperor! The Flame Imperishable! The Golden Fire of Life, Death, Conquest and Creation! Those treasonous worms should have executed that worthless whelp the instant they gazed upon my glory, and submitted themselves to my divine ruling once more!
To Xandarius, these confusing thoughts only added to his anger. On top of focusing his efforts to hold back enough firepower to render a planet devoid of life, he was constantly being distracted by memories, feelings and thoughts that were not his own since his victorious return to Xenlong. They had since become increasingly noticeable, but this entire incident had opened up a floodgate of alien recollections which were making it difficult to concentrate on the battle at hand.
Ignoring the raging echoes in the back of his mind, Xandarius expanded his sphere to an incredible diameter. This forced the Venomous fighters to quickly retreat lest they be swallowed by the deadly field of fire. With one set of adversaries temporarily at bay, Xandarius put on a burst of speed, heading toward the largest concentration of Manticor fighters. They too scrambled to avoid him, but he let loose a series of intense energy blasts; two fighters were razed, and the force and momentum of the attacks sent them spinning off into space, damaged and seemingly out of control. Two other pilots were not so fortunate, as they were struck full-on by the attack and vanished in a pair of explosions.
Both types of fighters now redoubled their attack, coming at him from all sides and firing everything they had. Xandarius, protected by his golden orb, ricocheted through the empty vacuum, trying to escape the kill zone while retaliating every now and then when an opportunity presented itself; three more ships fell to golden flame as the Emperor of Xenlong began to whittle down his attackers.
However, Xandarius’ jumbled mental state and focus on the fighters had kept him from remembering the three remaining cruisers that orbited the close-quarters fighting. The Imperium had not forgotten, though, as one of the warship’s targeting computers detected a positive firing solution and unleashed a volley of golden and orange plasma.
The attack struck Xandarius like a building collapsing on him, and for an instant, his shield flickered and nearly failed as he struggled to regain his bearings. The attack knocked him away from the assaulting fighters, giving Xandarius some breathing room in which to recover. Reorienting himself, he determined which ship had fired upon him before racing forward to engage it with an enraged snarl.
The Imperium fighters raced to intercept him, but he let loose a wave of golden fire in front of him that cleared a path toward his impudent target. The starfighters quickly followed in his wake, some of them opening fire as the pilots pushed their vessels to catch up with him.
Xandarius was laser-focused, however. As he closed the gap, he formed a boiling ball of fire between his hands, which he made larger and denser as he got within attack range.
At last, he was close enough to hurl the small sphere at the large vessel, which rocketed toward it like a wayward meteor.
The projectile struck the ship with enough force to only knock it off course, but once Xandarius was close enough, he unleashed a stream of fiery energy at the still off-kilter Imperium craft.
As he flew in an evasive pattern to prevent the ship’s point-defense weapons from getting a lock on him, he saw something in the star-filled void rapidly approaching the battlefield: the Throneship.
His Throneship.
Xandarius felt some sense of peace return to his still fractured mind. His loyal soldiers had undoubtedly apprehended or eliminated the rebel scum, and Ranyor had no doubt dispatched the rest of the fleet to destroy that traitorous witch’s pet prince while bringing his flagship here to aid him. He would reward him well when Xandarius ruled all the worlds of the three empires.
As soon as the ship was within range, Xandarius would order them to handle the remaining cruisers and fighters, while he went to deal with that spineless brat himself.
He should have been drowned at birth! I should have incinerated him and his weak-willed mother while he was still in her blighted womb!
Xandarius snarled at the distraction, even if he did agree with the sentiment. It was one of his adversary’s mistakes he would be happy to rectify
Ansaria’s grip tightened and loosened on the hilt of her sword continuously as they came within attack range. From this distance, they could use their conventional forward weapons, but she held back giving the order; their tiny target was simply too close to the Imperium ship, and a stray shot could spell disaster for the already-battered vessel.
Instead, she gave the order that she desperately hoped was the right one. “Launch all fighters.”
Along the length of the Royal Flagship of the Xenlongian Imperial Fleet, a half-dozen hangars opened, from which came a swarm of a hundred and twenty starfighters, battle suits and robotic attack craft; the majority piloted, the rest drones or remotely controlled. Compared to the scarce variety of design amongst the Golden Imperium, a plethora of ships came rocketing toward the battle; mostly the trusty Dragon Claws and Dragon Fangs, but also snarling Wolf Head fighters and Blockbuster battle-suits, which were heavily-armored torsos with an ion-propulsion disk where its legs would be; Mandorian Sidearms, which could dish out incredible punishment with four, rapid-fire energy canons while also being fast and nimble, and even more designs beyond.
Critter’s battle-suit, repaired, and fully decked-out, with their best hope for a good outcome affixed to the back of it, was flanked by Tread’s two remaining drones, as they lingered at the back of the attack group; they had their mission, and that meant waiting for the right opportunity to strike.
The rest of the Imperial pilots were free to engage, and engage they did. As they converged on the lone figure, another downpour of energy weapons was unleashed upon him. Xandarius threw up another shield to protect himself, though this one was noticeably smaller than the last one; he also broke off his attack on the Imperium ship and rapidly retreated from the oncoming attackers.
The ships put on a new burst of speed to catch up with Xandarius and the swarm dispersed so as to attack the emperor from as many angles as possible. Critter and Tread’s drones again held back by the rescued Golden ship, waiting for their moment…
TRAITORS!
ALL OF THEM – TRAITORS!!!
If Xandarius had been angered by the betrayal of his supposedly-loyal subordinates before, it was nothing compared to the fury that he was feeling now. He burned with a fire that felt like a mixture of his own wrath, the still-simmering emotions of the other one, and the incredible power of the Flame that he rightfully wielded.
For a fleeting moment, Xandarius considered simply disabling the insignificant ships around him and then collecting them later, to punish the truly unrepentant and see who had made a momentary lapse in judgment. However, whatever mercy he might have had in him for these worms was burned away by the inferno that raged through his mind, body and soul.
Xandarius concentrated on the boldest of the traitors as they came forward to attack the emperor that they had sworn to serve and obey even unto death. His shield was suddenly battered by the next wave of the attack, the ships unloading their full arsenals as their target sat th
ere unmoving.
Xandarius waited for them to get just a little closer before he unleashed his rage. A translucent wave of energy erupted in a rapidly expanding sphere around the Emperor, which swallowed up those ships that couldn’t pull away from it in time. The searing golden energy burned slowly through the metal of the ships, but the heat was so intense that the pilots only suffered for a moment before their fuel and ammunition overheated and burst, taking out a handful of ships, suits and drones.
Now the Imperials were the ones scrambling for distance. Some of the attackers lunched a few long-range blasts or missiles, but most were looking for a new window of attack while they kept their distance.
Xandarius' reprieve was brief, though, as the familiar piercing beams of Manticor craft struck his shield once more. Before he could get a bead on the attackers, the area around him became a thunderstorm of energy as massive bolts of plasma raced around him and occasionally collided with him. The Imperium was once again on the offensive. The Imperials quickly capitalized on this opening, once again opening up with their own weapons. Two bipedal suits danced through the storm of energy attacks masterfully, until they each fired a massive missile each from a shoulder mounted launcher before beating a hasty retreat.
The two nukes struck the Emperor’s shield with such force that Xandarius was sent hurtling away from the battle, his orb gone, and only the ever-present aura of fire protecting him from the vacuum of space.
Critter, sensing an opportunity, raced after the seemingly-stunned monarch, Tread’s drones trailing after him. The two mech suits that had fired the devastating weapons also closed in on Xandarius’ inert form as the energy barrage ceased, and the unheard battle was silenced. Critter watched as the two each took one of Xandarius’ arms in a firm grip, before slowly altering course toward the corporal.
They didn’t get more than a few yards before Xandarius either awoke, or decided he had played dead long enough. His aura flared like a freshly-fed fire, and the mechanical arms holding their captive melted into slag which trailed behind them in rivulets of liquid-metal droplets; as soon as he was free, Xandarius psionically pushed the two away before firing a pair of golden energy blasts, one from each hand. The attack struck true, both suits detonating a short distance from the Emperor.