Chapter 9 - Dark Tidings

The super-carrier hyper jumped near the Koreth's Rift sector, close by a debris field. Their raider allies exited hyper space, along with the Somtaaw. The Somtaaw were making a fuss over...Siege Cannon!

The carrier ordered the raiders to move in and secure the cannon. Out of nowhere the Caal-Shto and a small Kiith Manaan fleet exited out of hyperspace.

They were several light years from Koreth's Rift, Somtaaw and Manaan were too far away to lend assistance to one another. The Caal-Shto's commander recoiled at the sight of the huge Taiidan Imperial mothership class vessel...it was...huge. The Caal-Shtos commander hailed the Flytrap.

"This is the Kiith Manaan carrier Caal-Shto. Enemy mother ship, stand down and prepare to be boarded."

Qu'jet was busy, adding polish to the exterior of his Triikor, when the PAs activated.

"This is the Caal-Shto. Imperial craft, surrender! Marine boarding craft are en route. You will comply!"

Admiral: "Negative Kiith Manaan. Prepare to be blasted into oblivion. All units, prepare to engage!"

Taiidan Marine units began setting up checkpoints, anticipating boarding parties. All systems powered up for the giant vessels first confrontation, one vessel against the Kiith Manaan fleet. The vessels salvaged at the Gozan IV research base had been attached to other fleets...

Admiral: "LOCK WEAPONS AND FIRE AT WILL! STRIKE CRAFT, LAUNCH! PREPARE TO ROLL A HEAVY CRUISER OFF THE PDA LINE! Get the collectors and 'trollers movin. Asteroid and dust clouds detected. Harvest. Weapon crews engage all Kushan capital ships...comm out."

Shutting down the comm he begins issuing battle orders, the Flytrap trembling as the vessel begins moving away, suddenly the weapons come to life, several ion beams raking across the Caal-Shto, which launches fighters en masse, the other Kiith Manaan vessels close in, their ranks including 2 heavy cruisers, 4 destroyers and a pair of missile destroyers. A drone frigate arrives and launches its gun-drones, which fly in and begin peppering the hull with bullet holes.

Entire squadrons, including Avatar are prepped and launched on the numerous launch rails, propelled into space and the midst of the battle, before even regaining control of their craft several multi-gun corvettes flew in looking for choicy targets, suddenly firing a massive hail of bullets at Qu'jets craft, each one suddenly exploding into dust.

Next to him a Koshiir-Ra floats around, bobbing up and down. He fires the plasma pulse cannons at one corvette and explodes, the custom Triikor suddenly darting off into the maelstrom, eventually the rest of Avatar squadron follows, the other squadrons of strike craft break off and begin coordinated assaults on the nearby heavy cruisers.

Qu'jets craft weaves back and forth, taking a moment to open fire on the Avatars ion turret, launching a light plasma bomb which slams into the top turret, overloading several systems while the Manaani begin repairs.

Out of nowhere more hypergates appear, the crews of the vessels cease fire as the hordes of the beast emerge.

Admiral: "All units cease fire, lock onto the beast and engage!"

He turns his craft around and flies off at the beast, firing all weapons at one of the beast carriers, firing a quartet of missiles into the flight bay, then sending plasma bombs into the bridge.

The carrier shudders, he brings his craft around 180, his craft still moving, crusing at ultra-high speeds, his craft rotating directionally and giving him a good shot at the engines. He doesn't hesitate and fires missiles, plasma bombs, pulse launchers; and watches with glee as something goes through the plasma thruster vents and detonates on the fusion reactor, setting off a cataclysmic reaction which consumes the entire beast vessel in a display of flame, the giant vessel now nothing, the green Manaani vessels begin engaging the Beast, the Flytrap rolls a heavy cruiser off the production line, flying past its Kushan counterparts and delivering a broadside to the beast command vessel, the grotesque Somtaaw thing returns fire with energy cannons. Moving into range of its infected counterpart the new heavy cruiser opens fire with all weapons. The Flytrap then turns about to face the beast vessel and powers up engines. Soon the craft moves into the melee with the Beast vessel.

Qu'jet, confident in his dog fighting ability, begins to have visions. He saw...things.

I'm dreaming..he thought.

Giant biological structures, edifices...he saw the Naggarok again...calling, beckoning. He could sense it, inputing mere suggestions of its thoughts and memory. He could detect its association with a Imperial.

Infection? he thought so anyways. Unless the Imperials were working with this thing, which he saw as unlikely. No idiot would sell out to this thing.
-----

Councilman Risseau's VIP quarters.

The robed figure sat in his room, the sounds of battle ringing throughout the bulkheads, the scream of fighters being launched, the dull thud of heavy guns, the characteristic sound of the ion beams.

The Somtaaw had not noticed them, being shielded by a ionic interference anomaly. The Turanics were also keeping them busy.

He opened a private channel, full encryption, to the Beast.

"Beast, I know you hear."

"Iiiii heaaar...parts....baaad....part...angry...why, attack....weee....gooodD!"

"Yes...of course."

"Other part off taaidan have weapon. Noomad Moooon...the.....ring peeeople...traderssss...baaad...trader...hellp...parts...hear...song....void....hateeeeee...."

"You would want the Bentusi destroyed, along with the Republic?"

"Peeeeerhapsss....whyyyyy asssssk? WAaaaaaant heeeeeelllllp ussssss?"

"...Yes, I will help you. In exchange for 1/2 the galaxy, one half for your-self, and 1/2 of us. There will be no 'parts', and no 'traders'. They will be destroyed or part of you."

"Deeeeeeeeeeeaaaal....ccccccepttted..."
----

Admiral: "All craft withdraw! Withdraw!"

The admiral was extremely agitated. The Beast had come, the Manaani were faring badly against the beast, and the councilman had the nerve to order retreat! Insane! What was wrong with him!

Qu'jet shuddered. He felt the beast had done something. He could feel something had changed. The beast stopped attacking the retreating Imperial vessels.

Then it struck him.

What have we done...

The Kiith Manaan fleet watched the Imperials leave, they too realized in despair, they would be destroyed.

The beast vessels charged infection beams and fired.

The Caal-Shto was the first, enough of the crew ejected into the pods, which hyper spaced onto the Angel Moon over Hiigara, close by a recovery team.

The Manaani crew carried grenades and had the dead-mans switches, and detonated themselves into ash or killed themselves, preferring to die in shreds then live with the beast, the unlucky souls screamed in eternal agony as they were bound to the beast.

The rest of the Manaani fleet retreated into hyperspace, the Beast pondering its new toy, or...toys.