SWNOVELS Chapter 41: Stygian Complications
Meanwhile in far-off Stygia inside the Emperor’s domain, Hannibal’s operation to disable and/or destroy the Emperor’s fleet of starships that launched the same time he attacked Kartoom took a drastic turn for the worse after what appeared to be an unmitigated success. The team he sent in under the combined leadership of Marvin, Hunter, Magnus, and Corso had initially been successful in catching those guarding the fleet completely off guard. The team swarmed and took the flagship with hardly any resistance from the skeleton crew of military personnel guarding it and successfully used its weaponry to either cripple or outright destroy the other thirteen starships one at a time. However, full-scale war now raged as the Emperor’s Black Legions attacked right after Hunter and Magnus returned from Antilla with news about the operation to take down Kartoom. When they reported their initial success in taking the flagship, they heard the grave reports about the severe casualties in the Kartoom operation, including the near lethal maiming of Nathanael and Amelia and the serious injuries Hannibal took, which really alarmed Hunter. He insisted on checking up on them in person at Antilla using the portal, which Magnus begrudgingly agreed to since flagship operation had gone so well.
Once Hunter knew Hannibal, Nathanael, and Amelia were going to be okay, he returned to the flagship via the portal with Magnus just before Hannibal went to open Srandi with his new team. When Hunter and Magnus walked back on the bridge of the flagship through the Red Tower’s portal, they discovered to their utter shock and dismay to see three Black Legions had surrounded the hangar holding the flagship and were aggressively trying to retake the ship.
Fortunately, Marvin and Magnus had immediately engaged the ship’s energy shields the moment they took the bridge and engineering in the initial raid, so when Hunter and Magnus returned, the ship was still secure, but under increasingly heavy attack. They pitched in to help defend the ship with the rest of their team members.
Marvin sat in the captain’s chair looking at the view screen with a grave face as the ship shuddered from the increasingly heavy artillery barrage the Black Legions was employing to breech the ship’s shields. The hangar was slowly being demolished around them with the heavy plasma cannons of their enemies. “This isn’t looking too good, Magnus,” Marvin growled as he used the captains chair’s manual weapons control to target and destroy the Black Legion’s artillery using the ship’s ion cannon batteries. “Every artillery piece we take out is being replace by three larger ones. If this keeps up, they’ll force us out into the open where they can bring their really big guns down on us.”
“I know, Captain,” Magnus agreed. “I think Hannibal miscalculated when he told us to hold this ship against the Emperor. He didn’t realize the Emperor had ordered the entire contingents of the Black Legion to defend this fleet. We thought we caught them off their guard when we took the ship without losing a single man, seeing how few guards were present on board. However, I’m now really starting to think this was a trap all along. Why else would the Emperor have hid his Black Legions here like this when he’s in a rage to build the largest army in existence to wipe us out. By all logic, the Black Legions should have been with the main assault force in Elar. He must have known we’d go after his precious fleet.”
“I’m beginning to agree,” Marvin replied gravely. “Someone really dropped the ball on how many troops were guarding these ships.”
“Absolutely,” Hunter called out from his gunner’s station, “This really smells like a trap now. There’s no way we can hold out against three legions of the Emperor’s crack troops. We’re just a small team of a hundred men. I say we should make a strategic retreat, blowing this thing to hell just like Nathanael and Hannibal did at Kaal Bek and Acheron just to give the Emperor another big bloody nose.”
“I agree,” Corso chimed in agreement as he walked onto the bridge, hearing the exchange. “The shields aren’t going to hold forever and we do have an exit strategy since we know the Red Tower’s portal can penetrate the shield of this ship. I say blow this ship to shit, along with all those devils out there trying to kill us for taking it from them.”
“I hear you,” Magnus replied stonily, “But we have our orders. We must hold this ship as long as possible. Detonating the engines is a viable alternative, but it’s the last one and I think Hannibal should make that call.”
“I hope he makes that call soon,” Hunter said grimly, “I don’t want to think what’s going to happen if we lose the shelter of the hangar.” Just then, the screen flashed and went white while the ship shook violently, the power momentarily flickering before coming back up.
Corso staggered around, grabbing onto a control panel along the wall to stay on his feet. “What the hell was that?” he cursed. “What did they hit us with?”
“Just a moment,” Magnus replied, going to what appeared to be the helm control down in front of the captain’s chair. Sitting down at the console, he tinkered with it for a few moments, getting the view screen back online. What he saw deeply concerned him while Marvin looked on with an ashen complexion of fear for the hangar had been completely obliterated leaving the ship completely exposed to the enemy, whose vast troop numbers and heavy weaponry surrounded the ship completely for miles in all directions.
“Oh shit,” Magnus swore. “They demolished the hangar. We’re now open to full assault.” He quickly checked the displays, showing the various systems and sighed in worried relief, saying, “However, we’re okay for the moment. The shields took the brunt of the blast, though it did weaken them slightly. Even better is the ship took no damage. It’s still fully operational, but this definitely changes things. Marvin, Hunter, Corso; we may not be able to save the ship, but now that we are out in the open like this, we can unleash unrestrained hell on the Black Legions and finish destroying the rest of the fleet. Marvin, I suggest you use the ship’s main gauss cannons to target the other ships and obliterate them. Hunter, you and Corso should get on the ion cannon turrets and missile batteries and obliterate as many of the heavy artillery pieces as possible. Go scorched earth on their asses just like the Emperor wants to do to us. Let him have a taste of his own medicine. Burn them to the ground...no mercy.”
“I like the way you think,” Corso crowed, “Just point me to the trigger control. It’s time for the Emperor to feel the burn.”
“You can control them from here,” Magnus stated, rising from the helm seat. “Come here. I’ll show you how to operate it.”
“Oh yeah,” Corso chimed with menacing delight as he sat at the control. In moments, Magnus showed him how to use the ion cannon turrets, missile batteries, and directed plasma beam weapons.
“Use everything except the biological and nuclear ordinance,” Magnus ordered, “We don’t need any of those thing unleashed, especially those bio-weapons, for they are the deadliest most horrendous of the Cadre’s creations. The world does not need them unleashed under any circumstances.” He pressed several sequences on the control panel, saying, “There, I’ve locked them out of this control panel. Every other ordinance you see here you have access to and are more than welcome to use on them, especially the carite ordinance.”
“All right,” Corso beamed with insane delight. “Payback is going to be a real bitch this time.”
“It definitely will, my friend,” Magnus agreed as the main view flashed, showing a massive energy beam fired from the flagship hitting and completely wrecking a nearby starship that exploded violently, taking out a number of the attackers. “Good shot, Captain,” Magnus congratulated Marvin, “I’m going to engineering to see if I can’t help the guys down there reinforce our shields and plasma power.”
“Go on, Magnus,” Marvin replied, firing another blast that plowed through a division of the Black Legion until it ripped yet another ship in half. “Give us as much power and shielding as you can get. We’re going to need it now that they have a clear target with their really big guns.”
“I’ll get you all I can,” Magnus stated, rushing off the bridge, heading for engineering.
“All right guys, let’s make the Black Legions regret having tried to retake this ship,” Marvin ordered, continuing to fire the ship’s main guns at the nearby starships.
“I hope we can get out of this alive,” Corso said bluntly after burning half a division of troops and artillery in what appeared to be napalm-style missile attack. “I want to see Jennifer again. She’s my life.”
“You’ll see her again,” Hunter replied after blasting five artillery pieces simultaneously with the ion turrets he controlled. “You’ll see.”
“I hope so,” Corso said softly, scowling as he obliterated a large mobile artillery piece with a carite warhead that vaporized everything within a quarter mile of the strike.
“Me too,” Hunter whispered, wishing he was back in Antilla wondering if Hannibal knew what was going on. Little did he know that what he and his teammates did in the next few hours would have a dramatic effect on the direction of the war and the ultimate fate of humanity.
At the same moment looking down on Hunter, Marvin, and Corso from above as they used the insane firepower of the flagship to hold off the horde of the Black Legions, the archangels Gabriel and Michael survey the scene with a platoon of elite war angels. They all saw how badly the situation had deteriorated. With a grim look, Michael said, “It’s time Gabriel. Go prepare the saints at Tiamat for what’s to come. They must be ready for the contact and the Rising. The time is now, just as the Lord said. Go, my friend; warn Brother Paul in the name of Jesus Yashua so he may spread the word.”
“Yes, Michael,” Gabriel replied, patting Michael on the shoulder, “The time has come indeed. I will prepare them for the next phase of the war and warn them to be ready. Blessed be the Lord our God and his most holy son Jesus Yashua.” With that, Gabriel left in the blink of an eye, heading for Tiamat with a most important message warning of what’s coming next.
“Let’s get to work, my friends,” Michael ordered the platoon of war angels. “These mortals need cover until Hannibal can extract them from this peril.” With that, they went to work protecting the defenders of the pilfered flagship until help could come from Hannibal. At the same time, Michael secretly wondered how the next great battle of the War Eternal would go. Would the Light and humanity triumph over the Darkness, or would they fall never to rise again. Only the Almighty knew that answer and, for the moment, didn’t tell Michael how it would end.