The Scalian Legacy

The holographic display on The Explorer was showing the beginnings of some maneuvering by the Scalians. Admiral Alterman was interested in how Tarza would react to this invasion, as every second counted.

“The Drake is through!” Rivas announced on the shared channel. “The Druman Four is coming through now…. The shield has closed on The Druman Four!”

“Captain Tenias, can you break free?” Admiral Alterman shifted his focus onto the distressed Druman ship. “Can we get a visual?”

The holographic display changed to show the Druman battlecruiser about halfway through the shield. But the shield had encircled it and was squeezing against the Druman ship’s force field. The Druman ship seemed to be slowly moving forward, but the shield seemed to be squeezing in tighter as well.

“We are pushing the engines as hard as we can, but our shield can’t withstand the power…”

Just then a bright explosion flashed across the screen as the shield closed in and split the Druman cruiser in two. The explosion rocked The Explorer and the surrounding ships.

“The Druman Four is gone, sir,” Rivas reported solemnly. “In total, seven battlecruisers and most of the Pendoran fighter squadron made it through. Besides The Druman Four, four other ships were left on the other side of the shield.”

“That’s enough,” the admiral said. “All, let’s make The Druman sacrifice worthwhile. Pendoran fighters, clear a path for our four front line attack ships. We need to separate The Seguura from the Redeemer. Concentrate all firepower on clearing path. Nothing else matters. Let’s go!”

“Sir,” Rivas said, “the Scalians have launched their entire fleet of fighters and seem to have moved their space forts and last battlecruiser to protect The Seguura.”

“As we expected,” the admiral replied.

The other Scalian battlecruiser had positioned itself between the oncoming enemy ships and The Seguura. Meanwhile, the Scalian space forts positioned themselves above, below, to the left and to the right of the Seguura. Leaving only the Seguura backside uncovered, but that’s where the planet Scalia was with additional smaller defense systems orbiting it. The Seguura was well protected.

Meanwhile Tarza now had two holographic displays in front of him. One was of the enemy ships as they advanced towards The Seguura, laser blasts filling the screen. The Scalian fighters outnumbered the Pendoran fighters more than four to one and thus were holding their own very well and trying to impede the progress of the enemy battlecruisers. All of the cruisers and space forts on both sides were firing all available weapons, but the shields of all ships were still at full strength and holding up. The battle would take quite a bit of time, and Tarza did not need nearly that much. He was still quite comfortable with the situation.

On the other holographic display was the section of the ship where Jack Felder had caused some damage. Jack had locked the room where he was while Scalian guards were outside trying to override the system to get in. Tarza could then see Jack lower himself to the room one level down, which was not too difficult, with the walls missing on one side of the rooms. He then locked that door as well. The Scalian guards had adjusted, and another squad had moved to the next level down. Jack appeared trapped. So the admiral was shifting his gaze back towards the approaching enemy ships when he received another disturbing announcement from Gargke.

“Sir, the Project Redemption command sequence has failed again!”

“What now?” the admiral demanded.

“The intruder again, sir,” Gargke said. “He issued the repulsion system shutdown once more from the terminal in the room below. I have locked that terminal and am overriding once more.”

The admiral turned violently towards Captain Rauug, who was still on the bridge. “You didn’t lock out the profile he was using?” The captain’s shocked expression was all Tarza needed to see to know the answer. “Whose profile is he using?” Tarza demanded while still glaring at Rauug.

“Sir, he’s using Admiral Freezer’s profile,” Gargke responded.

“Lock it out immediately,” Tarza commanded while reaching for his sidearm and still glaring at Rauug. Rauug was ready to take his punishment and die for the cause. If it was Nagaran’s will to have him punished, then so be it. However, before Tarza could complete his action, Gargke spoke again:

“Sir, that would lock out the admiral.”

“I don’t care if it locks out the emperor! Do it!” Tarza yelled as he turned to Gargke.

Determining that he wanted to know something before allowing his life to end, Rauug decided to make his exit while he still could. He turned and started for the turbo lift.

“Yes, sir,” Gargke complied with Tarza’s command. “Sir, the enemy ships!”

Tarza had been distracted from noticing that the enemy ships were still barreling towards them and not slowing down to begin standard attack formations. Tarza could immediately tell that they were planning to ram the Seguura—or more specifically the space forts and other Scalian battlecruiser protecting the Seguura—in an attempt to separate the Seguura from the Redeemer. This was an outrageously risky maneuver under normal circumstances, but in the current scenario, Tarza had to admit it was a brilliant move.

“Sir,” Rivas began. “The Scalian fighters are affecting the charging battlecruisers!”

On the holographic display, two human battlecruisers, The Drake and The Intrepid, as well as a Pendoran battlecruiser and a Druman battlecruiser were all charging full speed ahead in a collision course with the other Scalian battlecruiser protecting The Seguura. However, there were many Scalian fighters in their path. The Pendoran fighters were trying to clear a path, but they were hopelessly outnumbered.

Every time one of the four charging battlecruisers would smash into a Scalian fighter, it would be nudged off course a small amount. As they approached The Seguura’s protective brigade, the collisions began to pile up and some Scalian fighters would explode, throwing the charging battlecruisers more off course. The light show was dramatic with exploding fighters every second and the effect was beginning to worry the admiral. The Drake had drifted upwards and The Intrepid downward, while the Druman cruiser had drifted to the left and began to collide with the Pendoran cruiser.

“You’re all close to the ramming point. Straighten yourselves out!” The admiral advised. “All others, focus your fire on the Redeemer. If the shield disengages for one second, I want it blown away!”

The explosion of Scalian fighters and some Pendoran fighters continued as the four charging battlecruisers smashed into the blockade.

“Command,” Tarza addressed the other ships. “We are about to be slammed by the enemy ships. Full thrusters on my mark and brace for impact. Gargke, that means us as well.”

“Yes, sir.” Gargke nodded.

“Now!” Tarza commanded. “Full thrusters!”

All weapons continued firing as the four charging battlecruisers slammed into the protective shield of space forts and the additional Scalian battlecruiser protecting The Seguura. The shields of the colliding ships crashed into the shields around the Scalian ships, causing a blinding flash as each constricted. With their superior momentum, the invading battlecruisers pushed back the protecting Scalian vehicles and forced them in turn to crash into The Seguura. This rocked The Seguura violently as it was propelled backwards. This placed great strain on the extended shield protecting the Redeemer—it was nearing collapse. The other three invading battlecruisers that stayed back focused their fire on the Redeemer looking for the shield around it to fail as The Seguura was pushed away.

Meanwhile, the four kamikaze invading battlecruisers quickly lost control after the collision. The Drake spun over the Scalian ships, out of control, and flipped end-over-end as it headed towards the planet Scalia itself just behind them. The Druman battlecruiser turned to the side and smashed against the Pendoran battlecruiser next to it, causing the Pendoran ship to spin out of control to the side of the furthest space fort. Meanwhile, The Intrepid spun out of control, end-over-end, under the protective Scalian battlecruiser. This sent a second invading battlecruiser hurtling towards Scalia.

As the power of the surprise charge subsided, the Scalian ships returned to their original positions. The shield around the Redeemer had not collapsed! The Scalians had withstood the assault and held firm. While all of the remaining invading ships continued to fire all weapons, the four that had tried to blitz through were now out of position and even in jeopardy. The two hurling towards Scalia tried firing their thrusters to regain control, but began to encroach on Scalia’s upper atmosphere as they continued to spin end over end and out of the battle arena altogether. The other two were also now out of position and attempted to straighten themselves out as they floundered.

“Can we start the command sequence for Project Redemption now, Gargke?” the admiral asked as he regained his footing after The Seguura had been rocked. While shaken, Tarza felt he had taken the best shot that the invading coalition could give and was still standing tall. It was time to complete the mission.

“Command sequence started, sir,” Gargke said. “No errors this time.”

“Good. Nothing can stop us now.” Tarza smiled.