The Tales Of Zaleth 2

Chapter 19: One Last Push

~April 3rd, 7:03 am, 2089, outside of Morganite's atmosphere~

Everyone followed Quar's plan to the letter. The Starmind wasn't taking much damage. However, It has lost some of its armor. "This hole isn't getting much bigger." Jessica said over a holocall with the other fleet commanders. "That's because your firepower is weak." Quar said as she had her flagship double the hole's size by two in one shot. "Why didn't you make the hole bigger than?!" Jessica protested. "The better firepower should be focused on the weak points. As a general, you should know this." Quar retorted. Jessica ignored her and continued firing on the hole. The Starmind swung a tentacle at Lewal's fleet, taking out almost 100 ships. "You need an assist, Lewal?" Jessica asked. Lewal looked conflicted. He didn't ask for help. "You good?" Jessica asked. "He's alright." Photon said as he lost a few ships to a tentacle. Photon was able to destroy one of the five planet sized tentacles. "One down, four to go. Jessica, assist Photon!" Quar ordered. Jessica reluctantly agreed. With their combined firepower, they took out another tentacle. Lewal stopped firing. "Lewal, start firing, now!" Quar ordered. She fired a barrage at the The Hive City which destroyed almost all of it. The Starmind was flaming. 

"We've got this thing!" Jessica said happily. The core had no more hiding places inside the Hive City. "We've got this thing cornered!" Quar said happily. The Starmind couldn't do anything. It was cornered. Photon, Jessica, and Quar were firing on its last few tentacles. Things were looking up, but then Jessica's flagship's engines were fired upon, Quar's engines were fired upon and Photon's engines were fired upon. Lewal betrayed them. "In the name of the Victorian! All Victorian ships kill the Alliance and Wul!" Lewal ordered as he ended the holocall. The attack was so swift and sudden. No one expected Lewal to betray. Power was still out in Jessica's ship. The Victorian ships blew up the generators in Photon and Quar's ships. The remaining fleets engaged the Victorian. The Starmind watched. "Long live the Victorian!" Lewal yelled as Ray and Brandon walked into the bridge. "You did great, admiral." Ray said congratulating him. "I can't believe they thought we'd miss this." Brandon said grinning. "Let's just kill them and leave them for the Starmind." Ray said. "Wouldn't it just infect us in the long run?" Lewal asked confused. "Of course it would, but we would've taken the Alliance and this new faction with us. Find the location of that planet, Wul. I want to gain its resources." Ray ordered. Lewal nodded and had one of his men attempt to track down Wul's location. 

Quar dispatched Alpha team to deal with Lewal's command ship. They flew through all the commotion and landed on the bottom. They activated their mag boots and drilled a hole into the generator room. "That son of a bitch blew our power up, I say we should do the same to him." Eliza said grinning and placing Hultas all over the room. "This is going to be a good entrance." Ota said. Martin, Gorf and Gus agreed with Ota. Martin kicked down the door. Gorf, Gus, Ora, and Eliza started gunning down Victorian soldiers. Eliza walked out right after Martin and blew up the generator room. Alpha squad's entrance was ruined by the force of the explosions pushing them into the next room. All of them got up and watched as a few thousand Victorian soldiers were launched out of the hole that was made. "How are we alive?" Ota asked sarcastically. "I can't believe these guys don't have the technology to prevent this kind of thing." Gorf said laughing. "They don't have Gorth like us. Don't make fun of them." Martin said. Everyone nodded as they got up.

~Jessica's flagship, hanger~

Jessica, Mr. George, Sam, the Stream-Head crew,  Tony and his crew, James and his crew, and Robert were in the hanger of Jessica's flagship helping everyone evacuate. The ship was unstable and could blow at any moment. "You're going with everyone else, alright?" Sam said as she helped Jacob onto a ship. "Where's my staff?" Jacob asked? "Right here." Sam said as she handed him The Staff. She had The Mask on her back with The Necklace and The Bracelet attached. "You're not coming, aren't you?" Jacob asked. "No, I'm not." Sam said regretfully and closing the ship's door. Sam ran into McClain, who was being loaded onto the Stream-Head via wheelchair. "I need you to hand over The Mask. You can keep the other two." McClain said. Sam complied and handed The Mask over and held The Necklace and The Bracelet in her hands. "When you're better, captain, you and I are having a rematch." Sam said smiling. McClain smiled, chuckled, and shook his head as she walked away. "That's everyone." Robert said as the second to last evacuation ship left. "We need a new plan." Mr. George said. "We need to get the Victorian to retreat, and kill that Starmind. Tony, James, get out of here." Jessica said. "What?!" James asked in shock. "We're going to need you two and your crews to prepare an army of soldiers more elite than the Hivekillers and the Peacekeepers." Jessica said. "Why?!" Tony asked not wanting to abandon his friends. "I can't say we're going to survive. In fact, the odds are against us." Jessica answered looking down. "Get everyone to evacuate. Mr. George, Jessica, Sam, John, Jasmine, and I will kill that thing." Robert ordered. "What?!" John and Jasmine asked scared. "You want to put my kids on the front lines?!" Jessica asked in shock. "All of them are fugitives, except Skyler and Ben, but the rest are. They broke Ray out last year. I know you allow them to stay at your house either way. Which makes you an accomplice. I will convince everyone, yes even William and Phillip, to pardon all of you." Robert explained. Jessica and her kids nodded in understanding. Gillian flew into the hanger with another ship. "Alright, guys, lets get out of here!" Gillian yells. Tony, Ben, and Skyler run onto Tony's ship and James, Michelle, and Elias run onto James' ship. "No one?" Gillian asked disappointed. "Can you take us to the Starmind?" Robert asked as the heroes of Zaleth were getting ready to abandon the ship. "Sadly, yes." Gillian said as the Zaleth heroes boarded his ship. "We appreciate this, but we had an evacuation ship left over." Robert said laughing. Gillian blasted it and took off. James and Tony flew through the portal and returned to Gile like the rest of the evacuation ships. Photon and Quar also followed suite in Jessica's evacuation and retreat. 

~Lewal's flagship~

Lewal noticed all the evacuation ships and battle cruisers leaving the battle. "Ray, they're leaving." Lewal said getting Ray's attention. "Then follow them! That portal goes to our capital! They're not going to survive this!" Ray ordered loudly. "We can't." Lewal said as the backup generators exploded and more Victorian soldiers were flung out. The power went out. Ray, Lewal, Brandon, and all the Victorian soldiers turned on their flashlights and rushed to the escape pods. Before Lewal left he saw five people with blue force fields around them fly towards the portal. "Good, they left." Lewal said as he followed. The Starmind noticed how all ships were either gone or unmanned, so he started infecting them. "Today marks the end of the Alliance." The Starmind said as it gained a new fleet of 25 ships.

~The Gilt system~

"If only it did." The Architect said as she grinned and observed the battle.

~The Starmind~

Gillian dropped off the Zaleth heroes. "You guys sure you want to kill this thing by yourselves?" Gillian asked. Robert nodded. "I can't be coming back. You know that." Gillian said. "We do." Robert said. Gillian nodded and stealthily flew through the new Hive fleet and back to Gile. Like everyone else, Gillian warped away the second he came through the portal. Sam handed Jessica The Bracelet. John and Jasmine had two Quell battle suits. Robert had a Class-AA Plasma Rifle, a neutron bomb, a weapon of his own invention called 'Incursion'. Incursion makes a sudden and brief explosion capable of wiping out entire ships at once. "We're not getting out of here." Robert said. "Then there's no need for a pardon." John said jokingly. Jessica and Sam put on their artifacts giving them the blue and green auras. "Save the universe? I'm in." Jessica said smiling. "See you all on the other side." Jasmine said. A Hive spaceship saw them and the entire fleet faced the group. "It all comes down to this. Everything we've done to prepare. It's time." Robert said aiming Incursion at the fleet. "What's that?" Jasmine asked. "It's my pet project. Incursion, it can wipe out a ship with one shot." Robert explained. Everyone looked at Robert in awe and then back at the fleet. "Just a fair warning. I've never tested this." Robert said as the group began fighting the Hive fleet.