Chapter 20 - Full Circle

What is vain? he thought.

This was vain...war...hope...The Emperor had become what he had wanted, a twisted immortality as of this date. He had become...power...The Prime-Minds of the Naggarok had been silenced, not destroyed, but snuffed...their voices would be heard, but more silent then the others of the cacophony that formed this feared entity.

And the Emperor appeared to be the second loudest voice. Hence...

The Emperor had transcended beyond his bound self, to become Unbound, one of the most hated and feared souls to ever grace the surface of Hiigara, would live for all eternity! His soul would live through the convoluted existence of the beast. As long as the Beast lived, somewhere so did the Emperor.

These grim thoughts took hold in his mind, carriers and heavy cruisers, the hordes of the Beast pouring forth to do battle, a black Saarkin-Cho waiting a distance from the battle. Suddenly a select few beast voices began to speak.

"We are the Elite Guard, the Alphas, The Omegas. All shall fall before the might of the Emperor, The One, True King..."

Infected Elite Guard vessels emerged from the hyper gates, wasting no time to engage with infection beams, one by one each targeted vessel executed the Naar Directive, flooding sections with drive plasma and venting into space.

The squadrons launched again, sallying against their foes, most likely for their last time.

You will not win! wailed the voices.

Your soul will become of us, we will be Bound...together, little man...you dared defy me. Soon we will be together, for all eternity! Your soul shall rot and suffer for infinity...your mind will fester and suffer…screamed the Emperor within his mind.

Squadrons began rapid-launch, the flight bay emptied in record time, the PDAs humming at overload speed, new pilots brought out of reserves and sent in, hordes of craft pouring out of the Flytrap.

Within the epic battle Qu'jet maneuvered his craft with a nimble hand, remembering and keeping within his mind that if they gave their lives in this day, all would be in vain, their flesh and machine added to the twisted circuit of the beast, only to wreak more destruction. There would be no hope. There could be no hope. The Emperor would live, they would loose.

The reassuring voice of the Bentusi entered his mind.

All that moves is easily heard in the Void. The Destroyer lives. The Unbound mobilize. Our fate is intertwined. The Kushan fleet lays burning over many hundred different worlds, the Republican fleets with them. Only you and your friends stand in the way of the Destroyer...fight well. The Unbound come.

The voice left his mind, ion beams raked across the battlefield, flying past a Beast Carrier he watched a dozen infected Kaarks launch, bringing his craft around and firing a missile at the lead craft, which exploded and spiraled away to dissipate into dust.

Flying past a DFG he notes that the enemy turns to focus, suddenly noticing a infected Kadeshi Needleship appear out of nowhere, and launch Swarmers.

Oh...no...he thought.

The infected Swarmers dog-piled into the maelstrom, firing at anything moving, Qu'jet scramming and flying towards the safety of the DFG, which began knocking the mass driver bullets out of the sky.

Turning his craft around he fired a missile at a Advanced Swarmer, which transformed into a small dust cloud.

A Skaal-Fa Mk.2 moves in on battle approaching, utilizing more advanced PDA systems and Quantum-Explosive tipped missile delivery systems. The new vessel also possessed small mass drivers and two energy PPCs.

The enemy swarmers turned to focus on the new Skaal-Fa, suddenly the missile bays warmed up, the now eight missile bays charged up and began launching volley after volley of missiles, the high-speed extra-homing warheads filling the battlefield with new obstacles.

Qu'jet brought his craft around and flew over the Skaal-Fa Mk.2, seeing a Attack Bomber squadron and following it, each one appeared to have slight modifications, each having a rear small mass driver, and carrying something on the belly.

"Bomber Squadron 14, who's your commander?"

The commander replies, his voice suddenly recognizable.

"Hey 'Jet! Glad you can join the party! Cover us! We're carrying some nice stuff to give to the beasties."

Qu'jet brought his craft into escort position, suddenly noting their target, the Attack Bombers suddenly moving from a random formation to claw. They were coming in from the stern, targeting the needleship.

Suddenly the bomber pilots let out a battle cry and moved into line formation, launching plasma bombs along the thin stem of the needleship, flak cannons going offline before responding, suddenly the bombers launching their belly weapons into the main "mushroom head", all impacting into the main structure, sending shudders through the entire craft, hull platings began breaking off as a explosion began ripping through the craft, the bow tearing apart as the bombers broke away, Qu'jet wheeling away as the explosion tore through the rest of the ship, which exploded into a cloud of nebular gas and debris, consuming a group of nearby swarmers.

The Skaal-Tels moved into small formations of 5, supported by a Kudaark spearhead, the formations then plowing straight through the beast lines, the Kudaarks four guns tracking and knocking away corvettes, plasma bombs launching ahead, and knocking away capital ships, as destroyers trained their turrets and fired, giant energy pulses slamming into beast hulls and shearing through armor plate.

The Beast Qwaar-jets began moving in, plowing through debris and other vessels, targeting quad-ion beams against the assault frigates, firing amidships and tearing them into shreds, standard Qwaar-jets moved past and returned fire, covering for numerous attack bombers that launched their deadly cargoes.

The Beast began to retreat to the 5 carriers, the Taiidan fleets closing in for the final kill. The single infected Elite Guard carrier hypered out, the other 4 suddenly opened fire, 20, 30 cruise missiles pouring out of their flight bays, more and more careening through space and proximity detonating everywhere, scattering beast microbes which began infecting hulls. Whole ships lit up and trailed plasma as huge swathes of ships were plasma incinerated and vented.

The beast continued firing and firing, the entire fleet then retreated in sections, falling back slowly.

Qu'jet flew his craft in close, followed by the giant hordes of fighters, the missile-equipped fighters suddenly engaging, firing missiles ahead as the carriers produced them. Covering for the attack bombers the fighters swarmed in, Raachok Alternates, Triikor Mk2s, Sajuuk Missile Corvettes, and standard heavies, moving in an engaging. forming into a wall formation in front of the beast vessels the Seejurs, opening fire and shredding cruise missiles into tatters.

The Flytrap then advanced, launching dozens of salvettes to pick up pilots.

The Flytrap moved in...and readied weapons, at 70 kilometers it engaged, firing modified cruise missiles, each containing high-energy plasma covered with a armored shell. Each would impact through the flight bay, bore into the vessel and detonate inside. Still more were standard conventionals packed with Quantum explosives.

Suddenly dozens of missiles poured out the Mothership class vessel.

Comm: "Missile Contact! Closing...closing...impact! Infectee 1 is taking critical damage!"

Suddenly the fleets turned around and came back, all weapons firing in all directions, torpedoes, cruise missiles and strike craft converging around the carriers, one of the carriers had been shaken badly, shuddering before finally tearing apart into 4 pieces, each twirling away into the cosmos.

One of the carriers suddenly speeds up, ramming into a unwary republican destroyer, the ship decapitated down the middle, drive plasma venting in all directions, the screams as crew die the quick gruesome death of explosive decompression, others from vacuum exposure. The screams...the cries...

I didn't work fast enough...or was it? Perhaps some things are destiny.

His Triikor suddenly buzzed past one of the infected carriers, which targeted it with the infection beam. He brought his craft into a barrel roll as the beam passed by his left wing, he pulls up and rolls right, a few stress indicator lights flicker on, and he goes to the verge of blacking out.

The craft turns around and speeds back, coming in from underneath and firing a missile into the belly, veering off as attack bombers send their ordnance into the front, the vessel shudders from its dual bombardment, the craft begins to turn away, as another missile slams into the flight bay, careening through the craft, its beacon registering as in engineering.

A few seconds later the giant craft engages quantum waveform.

The other carriers are burning and began releasing plasma, this carrier is almost gone, the blue square moving through the craft slowly.

Suddenly the engine compartment explodes; the craft is hurtled through hyperspace as the fusion cores breach.

And then silence.

One by one each craft stood down.

The silence was unbearable.

Did they win?

He listened.

Silence. The Destroyers voices did not call.

Bringing his craft around he saw the fleet, the proud yellow-red of the Imperials, the white-turquoise of the Republican ships.

Perhaps it would take war to make the politicians realize that unity was victory.

He realized, how close they had come to damnation. How…frightenly close. If they had remained subservient cows, the Naggarok would have lived. Without the force of the Imperial navy, the Beast would have survived from here. Unity would bring strength, survival.

The insane beaucracy was fighting a war that did not exist, a war in their minds, in their politics. He respected the Unbound for their ideals, transcending politics and race for their own good. An LCD lit up within his cockpit, casting a green glow over his face. The schematics of the Bentusi's rapid-fire ion pulse array were transmitted to his fighter. It looked to be generally weaker then the one utilized by super acolytes, but it had to be so, to be compatible with their more primitive fusion reactors.

Out here in the depths of space, where many would give their lives in defense of their beliefs, they were all friends, in the face of a common enemy.

The Beast was gone.

And then he heard a distant laugh...a weak, feeble, evil, laugh.

Then he realized that it never ended.