The Tales Of Zaleth 2

Chapter 5: Saving Zaleth

~Celestial, hanger~

Tony's ship was low on fuel because of the jump he made. His ship was in flames and had very little maneuverability. Tony was trying to steer his ship carefully in hopes he didn't crash into Planetary Alliance property. "You are an unauthorized ship, please state your name and business here or be destroyed." A Celestial staff member says. "My name is Tony Kendrick, I have came from Zaleth with grave news." Tony says about to crash into the hanger bay. "What news is that?" The worker asks. "The Hive have returned." Tony says as he crashes into the hanger and destroys all the starships inside that hanger. The worker rushes to William's room. He boards the monorail and it quickly brings him there. The worker knocks and William opens the door. "What is it?" William asks holding his retirement papers. "Tony Kendrick, he's in the hanger bay, and the Hive have attacked Zaleth." The worker explains. William nods, drops his papers, contacts the other leaders, and heads to the hanger.

"Well, if it isn't Tony Kendrick." William says as he and the other leaders, Samantha, Phillip, Lucine, and Hilsk come in with him. "I need you to direct the laser at the... thing... blocking Zaleth's sun's heat from reaching Zaleth." Tony begs as his crew crawls out of the ship. Lucine looks at Skyler and Ben and gives them a smile. Skyler and Ben give her a thumbs up. "Is it Hive?" William asks. "It is, please, we need you to save Zaleth." Tony says. The leaders talk amongst themselves.

"We should help Zaleth, if Robert and Gillian sent Tony and his crew instead of coming themselves then Zaleth is in trouble. Better yet, if the rumors of the Hive attacking are true then we have to help." Samantha says. "I back Samantha. The base of the Alliance is to beat the Hive." Hilsk says. "If we don't fire the laser then I'll send my fleets to help them." Lucine says. "Agreed." Hilsk and Samantha say backing Lucine. Phillip and William both think they shouldn't trust Tony. "It's a three to two vote." Lucine points out. "Two of us aren't here, Lucine." Phillip says hoping to prevent the laser from firing.

~Reth, the plains outside the gate~

The Reston army to find tons of camps set up inside the rubble of the spaceship. Robert had all his soldiers that weren't at Reth return to the capital. The capital is swarmed with refugee citizens from all across Reth's territory. Soldiers flooded the market, church, and capitol building to help any injured citizens. Jessica had already left in search of Sam. The Reston soldiers were led by Dakota and Jerald. "What happened?" Dakota asks Robert as they approach each other at the gate. "The Hive attacked, I believe some escape though." Robert says. "What about that ship? It's architecture doesn't match anything in the Planetary Alliance's arsenal." Jerald asks pointing at the ship. "It was a Hive ship, Tony shot it down." Robert answers. "Where's Jessica?" Jerald asks. "Jessica reminded me of an old friend. Sam Trute. She went missing, we don't know why or how we all forgot her. Jessica has reason to believe Sam is on Zaleth somewhere." Robert explains. "Shoot, you're right. How did we forget her?" Jerald asks remembering her.

~The Starmind~

"They're remembering." A Command-Mind says to the Starmind. "It seems our memory wipe didn't last forever. No matter, Sam is no longer powerful enough to defeat us." The Starmind says.

~Celestial~

"We're firing the laser." Lucine says. Skyler and Ben are happy to hear that. John, Jasmine, and Jacob cheer with joy. William and Phillip still don't trust Tony after the part he played in Ray Rodger's escape. Lucine takes Tony, Hilsk, and Samantha to the laser's control room. Compared to the size of the laser, the controls are much smaller than it. "Hilsk, what's the power? Samantha, is everything hooked up correctly?" Lucine asked about to hit the button to activate the laser. Samantha and Hilsk say everything's good. Lucine presses the button. The laser travels through space quickly. The Starmind didn't see it coming to begin with. A large hole, about an eighth of the entire Starmind, is made. "We've made this laser more powerful since it fired upon Earth last year. Let's hope we killed that thing." Lucine says as the laser hits. The Starmind screams and everyone on Zaleth's ears start to bleed. The snow on Zaleth begins to die down as heat begins to reach the planet once more. "Attack Celestial, now!" The Starmind says warping to Celestial's location.

"Hello, humans." The Starmind says as it grabs Celestial with one of its tentacles and the rest of the Hive force arrives. "This is going to be a hard battle, isn't it?" Hilsk asks rhetorically. Hive stalkers, fast moving grunts that have high agility and can stick to walls, crawl into the control room through the ventilation system. Everyone in the room begins to fire upon the Hive stalkers as they're slowly forced into a corner.