Boron didn’t smile as the warship was blown to bits over a dead world.  They stopped the Psi Corrupter and re-assembled the fleet, getting ready to take on the next ship, or ships, before they could regroup.  He would need to speak to Spyek, find out what she had learned, or what went wrong on the mission.  In any case, she didn’t sound good.  He couldn’t let her go back to her ship, the Ice Storm, and she was in no condition to command her own forces, not yet, anyway.

            He took his seat in the middle of the large command center of his own ship, the Dark Omega. He didn’t look forward to reading her report, nor would he ask her for it. He arched his fingers as they flew through the debris field left by the destroyed ship.  Spyek’s transport was safely on board, and the last of the Crescent Fighters had been secured in the hangars of the carrier-class ships.  There were reported to be only five or so of the enemy left that they knew of, how many more lay beyond their sensors range was unknown and terrifying.

            “Take us out,” he commanded, “Intercept the next ship as soon as possible.”

            He watched the holo-screen as the fleet took off.  The Black Hole stayed close to the Dark Omega, and Boron knew Fzarriz would say how it would have been different with his new brand of fighters.  But right now, he didn’t care.  He was too exhausted by the emotions being transmitted from the lost squad, amplified by the Lunar Sword.  Boron felt all their deaths touch his heart and tear at his soul. How did Zijjin manage all these years without letting it show?  Boron wondered as he stared blankly.  He needed some rest.

 

            Spyek entered the medical ward almost as soon as she was taken on board. She was hurried through the long corridors of the massive ship, being cleaned off as she went by some young doctors and nurses who were very carefully monitoring her health. She was healthy, just really, really shaken up.  It was almost certain she would need therapy, but how soon said therapy would be available, was another question. What she really needed, was to cry.

            Spyek had been raised in a military family. Her father had been a foot soldier before she was born, and died shortly after she turned three in a botched military campaign on a planet that had been ravaged by war several thousands of years ago.  There was some of the civilization left, and what was left was better left untouched.  Her mother struggled to bring her up with her two younger brothers, but managed nonetheless. She was a captain of a smaller fighter craft, usually doing perimeter patrols.  Spyek learned quickly when she entered the military academy and graduated with honours.  From there she excelled and flew up the ranks of the Ice Legions. 

            Now, she lay in a bed, too terrified to move.  The doctors patched up all her wounds without any trouble; she wouldn’t even scar.  The psychic scars, however, would last a lifetime.

            Shrivala flew down the halls towards the sick bay.  Right now, more than anything, Spyek needed a friend.

 

            The fleet received a transmission from the Moons: There was a Tar’unt’Tar ship entering another populated system.  This race was feral and animal-like.  They were dawning on a new age, but were still too wrapped in their own racial wars to advance beyond feudalistic existence.

            They called themselves Felines, for their almost cat-like appearance.

            The transmission also said that they have come up with a new weapon on the Royal Moon.  Details were non-existent, but Queen Lunaria seemed optimistic.

            The fleet moved into position.  There was the ship, hanging in high orbit over the planet called Thundera.  The Gravitons began powering up the Psi Corrupter as the rest moved to engage the enemy.

            “General,” Fzarriz hailed the Dark Omega from the Darkling command ship, “Shall I ssend over a squadron of my own warriorss? If this ship is anything like the one we fought earlier, it will-”

            Boron cut him off, “General Fzarriz, you did hear what happened on the last mission, yes?”

            “Yess, but I believe my warriors can handle a handful of the Tar’unt’Tar.  It will be a short mission.  I will lead it myself.”

            Boron remembered the last time he had heard that. Now, she was in a bed, attended by nurses and the ever-present Shrivala.  And yet, something inside Boron told him to do so. 

            Or rather, something at his right hip.

            “You may go, Fzarriz.  At the first sign of trouble, I want you to pull out. Understood?”

            Fzarriz acknowledged the transmission and almost immediately a dozen or so transports were launched from the Black Hole.  Several long moments passed as they made their way to the giant battleship.  They landed, but so did another transport, launched from an unknown ship.

            Boron couldn’t help but puzzle over this other pod.   It was of Lunatak design, but darker, almost translucent, bending light around itself. 

            “Damnit.” Boron cursed.  The Shadow Warriors had trailed them the entire time.  Ugnarth was supposed to report to Boron, as the head of the Lunatak Army.  Even the ultra-secretive Shadow Warriors took orders from someone.

            And that someone was him. 

            He sank into his chair and brooded.

 

            The new Guardian Lunataks plodded through the tunnels of the Tar’unt’Tar ship.  They filled them out much better than the Graviton and Ice Warriors.  The Guardians were very broad and fairly tall, when they walked erect.  They moved with extreme silence, and silence awaited them.  The further they went into the ship, the more they suspected something was amiss.

            Had they seen what happened to the last ship?  If they had, they knew they could devastate the scattered Lunataks. Or did they fear the new breed?

            Fzarriz wore his custom-made armour, equipped with built in flame-throwers, and super-tough alloys, he was prepared to do battle with the alien menace.

            When he found them, he was somewhat disappointed.

            They were all dead. All of them.

            They lay in a large room, of what kind they couldn’t tell.  They knew nothing of the Tar’unt’Tar language system, and this room was teeming with it.

            Insane symbols were etched in the walls, and on their flesh.  Their wounds were still wet.

            Fzarriz walked tentatively into the room, flanked by a half dozen of the Guardians.  A leader of another team found a similar chamber, and was investigating the bodies, trying to figure out what killed them.  The wounds were so superficial that they couldn’t have possibly killed them.  A poison? Fzarriz wasn’t sure, and ordered two of his warriors to carry a corpse back with them.  He turned on his recorded, and took shots of the room.  If this ship was without life, as evidence suggested, then they could feasibly acquire it as their own.

            His red eyes gleamed in the darkness.  There was an audible growl from several of his men.

            In the distance, one of the Tar’unt’Tar still lived.  Fzarriz took several shots of this one, because even at this distance, he could see that it was adorned with scars similar, yet older, then the ones decorating his fallen comrades.  Fzarriz sparked his flame-thrower, casting mad shadows about the room.  He motioned for two of the Guardians to deal with the sole survivor of the ship.

            The Tar’unt’Tar raised its’ arms to the ceiling and curled them in front of itself.  It hunched over, as if in pain, and threw its’ arms up again.

            There was a flash of light, and a bolt of energy lanced towards the Guardians.  It forked, and struck them both.  Their death shouts were terrible and the remaining two who weren’t carrying the corpse backed up.  Fzarriz too, withdrew a touch.  He didn’t want to leave this dangerous foe alive on the ship, but didn’t want to get killed himself…

            From the shadowy recesses of the room, smaller, faster shapes leapt out.  Some flew, others ran, towards the startled Tar’unt’Tar.  It tried to summon whatever it was that killed the others, but didn’t have time, before the energy spears tore into its flesh and cracked bone and finally discharged their deadly power.

            The charred body fell to the floor as the Shadow Warriors loomed over it, giving it another stab or two, just to make sure it was dead.  The stunned Fzarriz walked over to them quickly, but they were already gone.

            “Damn them,” he cursed.  He looked at the newly killed Tar’unt’Tar.  It seemed older than the rest, not that age was something they had ever considered when looking at these beasts.  By the Moons, how did it use its powers with the Corrupter on-line?  He assumed a set up on Boron’s part, or perhaps Moggart. Spyek was in no condition to challenge him.  Ariella?

            “Let’s get out of here.” He said.  He signaled the others to pull out.  None of them had encountered any similar difficulties.  They left the devil ship, and returned to their own ship, only to get some very disturbing news.

 

            “After you left, we did intensive sensor sweeps of the ship, comparing it to the others we encountered.  Now, if we look here…” the Royal blooded scientist Mishquea pointed to a diagram of the Tar’unt’Tar ship, and then to another, “we see that several, er, parts, are missing.”  She looked at the assembled Generals, Fzarriz, Moggart, Ariella, and Boron.

            “The missing parts, we determined, are escape pods.”

            The Generals blanched. They never even considered that possibility.

            “In all, we estimate that there are upwards of 25,000 such escape pods flying away from here on random courses as we speak.”

            What could they do?  They discussed the possibility of tracking the pods, but without any real idea of destination, and no real way of tracking them once they disappeared from normal space, the only option was to pursue the remaining ships and tell any and all planets to be on the look out for small metallic objects bearing any resemblance to those which vanished from the dead ship.

            There was still the question of what happened on board the Tar’unt’Tar ship; Fzarriz was worried that the Tar’unt’Tar had found a way around the Psi Corrupter and could still use their powers.  Which lead to the next question as to what kind of power that was.  All the Sandwellers reported that they couldn’t use their powers during the time on board the ship, and still couldn’t with it still operating.  Was it a natural power they had never encountered before?  The Tar’unt’Tar seemed to be of some status, being heavily adorned with tattoos or something (even the Ice Warriors practiced that) indicated a hierarchy or something, an idea never explored previously.  Boron, or rather the Lunar Sword, blurted out the only really feasible answer:

            “That Tar’unt’Tar was a sorcerer.”

            Only some of the Royal Lunataks, the Queen included, ever openly practiced magic of any sort.  There were, of course, exceptions to the rule, but they seemed the most adept at it.  The next in what seemed like an endless series of questions was: where did it learn magic?  Obviously, there was more they didn’t know about the Tar’unt’Tar then they had hoped.  If they could crack their language code or anything, maybe they could figure something out.

 

            In a remote region of the galaxy, the Lunar Army was testing out a new weapon.  A small team of soldiers landed on a dead world.  Lightly equipped, save a Lunatak-sized case, they went to an open plain. They carefully put the device on the ground, and a console opened up.  They hit a few keys and a timer appeared on the display screen.

            The sent communications to their mother ship in orbit, a Leviathan class destroyer, specially equipped with the latest scanning equipment and sensory devices.

            “Proceed,” came the sickly-sweet voice of Alzorra.

            The troops obeyed instantly, and finished the sequence.  They made haste to their drop ship and took off.  After they boarded their ship, it pulled back to a safe distance.  A camera left on the surface filmed the device activate.  There was a lot of dust, and it sank into the ground almost instantly.  Debris came flying out of the crust of the planet, and in a matter of minutes, fire belched from the hole.

            But only briefly. Soon, more rips in the planets fragile crust were opened, and the world was consumed by fire.  After several minutes of a spectacular light show, the planet exploded.

            “Take us out.” Alzorra commanded.

            The Gaia Bomb was ready.

 

            They kept in orbit of Thundera, with the Psi Corrupter running still, for another day before decisive action was taken.  Here they stood on the verge of a huge scientific discovery, and couldn’t access the files without powering down the Psi Corrupter.  The ship crashed in the Nievekh Mountains was un-powered after it’s near destruction, and the crews were unwilling to attempt to bring them back online.  The consensus was reached that a team of sensitive Psi Lunataks should access the adrift ship.  Assuming the ship is controlled mentally, they should theoretically be able to glean access to the ships’ logs.  The crews were prepared and were ready to launch when Boron ordered they be delayed.

            He ordered the Psi Corrupter to be powered down now and then launch the mission.  Moggart reluctantly agreed, an ordered his ships to power down.  As soon as psionic functions resumed, the Tar’unt’Tar ship experienced a power surge.  The transports barely pulled back before the huge ship exploded, and shattered Fzarriz dreams of claiming the Empire as his own…

           

            Boron went to his briefing room, and sent an encrypted signal out to the Shadow Warriors’ ship.  He needed to know what Ugnarth and his troops had discovered while they searched the ship, what secrets had they pulled from it’s data banks (for they surely did) and if they found anything else of importance. According to Fzarriz report, they killed the Tar’unt’Tar mage with their energy lances.  Apparently, they also took the body.

            Ugnarth took his time in replying.  But instead of an actual message, he arrived on board the Dark Omega in person.  He didn’t knock, and Boron was almost certain the door never opened to his room.  But he got an unsettled feeling, like he was being watched.  The same feeling he got while in the Shadow Warrior caves.

            “Greeting, Lord Boron,” Ugnarth said, “the war effort has been kind to you.”  Ugnarth seemed even older than when Boron had last seen him.  He had acquired a new scar on his forehead, no doubt from his escapades on the Tar’unt’Tar ship.

            “Has it?” Boron said. “In this kind war, I have lost a mentor, a friend, a father.  I have lost the one woman I have truly loved, I was almost responsible for her death.  Countless warriors have fallen under my command, and you say kind?”

            Ugnarth the Master Warrior smiled, “You bear your pain well.  I know well how, too.  Zijjin was similar, you should be proud.”  He walked over to the holo-viewer and viewed the fleet.  His own ship, the Nova, was not displayed. It was a deliberate glitch put into every sensor system in the fleet. The military designed them to be invisible, even to Lunatak vessels. Ugnarth punched the keypad on the emitter’s controls, and three sleek ships appeared.  They belonged to the Shadow Warriors.

            “You know why I called you here, yes?” Boron said looking at the new craft that, if he was seeing this correctly, should be flanking the Dark Omega.

            A data pad appeared in the ancient Darklings’ hand.  “The information you requested, Lord-Commander.” He bowed and extended his hand with the information.  Boron took it, and plugged it into his computer.  Images flashed on the screen, pictures taken from the ship, of the dead Tar’unt’Tar.

            Suddenly, Boron’s mind became flooded with alien images.  He clutched it and fell to the ground.  Ugnarth stood placidly, watching Boron in his throes of agony.

            “That was information extracted from the Tar’unt’Tar ship.” Ugnarth said. “We’ve equipped one our ships to emit a psyche pulse with the information on it.  It became activated when you opened the file.”

            Boron got up, the psyche pulse over.  Sweat poured down his face and his lip curled. “That could have killed me, Ugnarth. How did you know it would be safe?”

            “Our psychics didn’t suffer any ill-effects from its usage.  We were hoping you, with help from the Sword, could decipher it.”   He took another data pad out from seemingly nowhere, and popped it into Boron’s computer.  Still images appeared, of the dead Tar’unt’Tar.

            “How do you know about the Sword?  The information is only passed from one wielder to the next...” Boron said.  Ugnarth smiled hideously.  “You… you…” Boron stammered.

            “I had the Sword, briefly.  We had certain, disagreements,” Ugnarth said, “but that is neither here nor there.”

            Boron could only stare.  Why hadn’t Zijjin told me about this? He wondered.  Were there other secrets around the Lunar Sword he should know about as well?  Clearly, Ugnarth wanted off the subject.

            Ugnarth spoke, pointing to the image currently being seen.  “This is the autopsy of the slain warrior, or sorcerer, depending on how you look at it.  We took several bodies from the ship, and others from the crash on the Ice Moon.” The image changed.  The Tar’unt’Tar, normally a mottled brownish green, was now darker, almost black.  “They have silver-oxide blood. When they are exposed to bright lights, their skin turns black as their blood, which is clear in the semi-light of their ships.  From what we can tell, they can live a very long time.  The one we killed on the last ship was over 300 years old, whereas the ones on board the crashed ship were just over 50 or 100.” The image changed again, now to the actual operation being performed.  Slabs of skin were cut away, revealing almost clear blood and strange organs.

            “We aren’t sure what most of these organs do. This picture was taken shortly after cutting it open, so that’s why the blood isn’t black yet.  If we really want to understand their physiology, we will need to have live specimens, a dozen at least, to perform… experiments on.  Of course, this will be extremely difficult, due to their psionic prowess.  We doubt even the talented Alzorra could defend himself against even the least of this species.”

            Boron nodded.  He had seen their effect on his powerful mind when they attacked the Moons. He had been reduced to a sniveling lunatic. 

            “But, if I know you as well as I think I do, you’re not going to let these experiments take place, yes?”

            “You are correct, old Master,” Boron said. “I will not risk lives to study this race. After we have won, the Queen may let you proceed.  But while you are out here, my word is final.” He handed the data pads back to Ugnarth and motioned to the door. “Now, I need to report to the Queen of our latest news. If you’ll excuse me…” Boron turned his back for a moment while he moved back behind his desk.  When he looked again, Ugnarth was gone.

 

The fleet was on course to an unexplored system, where long-range scans showed the remaining Tar’unt’Tar ships reverting back to real-space.  The system was near the center of the galaxy, a relatively unexplored area.  The Lunataks believed that races even older than their own had existed there before the gravitational influences from the numerous black holes in the region killed them all off.  Now, maybe, their stories of space daemons and ancient, forgotten races would be realized.

            A small convoy of ships was scheduled to rendezvous with the fleet to deliver supplies.  Sent with them, according to Ugnarth’s information, was a special delivery.

            So they waited. Spyek’s condition got better as Shrivala’s mental powers helped to ease her mental anguish.  She was by no means ready for active duty, but she was recovering steadily.  When she appeared on the bridge of her ship, it was a great boost to moral, which had suffered since she returned in her terrible state.  That coupled with the recent findings that the Tar’unt’Tar could wield magic had led to some discord in the ranks.  The command crew of the Ice Wing held a get well party, in which all the Generals had been invited to. It was a brief get-a-way from the war, and all that got involved seemed to love it.

            After the party, Boron held an impromptu meeting on board Spyek’s ship. 

            They (all except Spyek, who went to bed for some much needed rest) met in the briefing room and sat around a long table, with Boron at the head.  He stood up and got the meeting underway.

            “Good evening, Generals,” he said walking around the table, “I have called this brief meeting to discuss what could be the end of the war.”  Silence greeted him.  Unperturbed, he continued.  “As you all know, we have been plowing our way towards what we believe to be the Tar’unt’Tar home world.  Once we reach this destination, we will be left in the difficult position, as our ancestor did so long ago when we found the first inhabited world: do we learn to live with them, or do we blow them straight out of our galaxy?”

            “Ees that reelly a question?” Moggart said, spinning in his chair to face the young Commander.

            “I agree,” said Ariella. All the others turned to look at her. “I mean, we need to sit down and talk with this race that had been lead astray.  By what we cannot be-”

            “The question ees not to seet down weeth them and talk, eets how beeg of a smeer we want to make weeth them.”

            Fzarriz spoke up, “Generalss, we could lay ssiege to the planet. Once they’ve died off, we can move in and ssteal their technology.”

            “You savages!” Ariella nearly shouted. “You’re as evil as they are!”

            Moggart stood up now.  Boron placed his hands firmly on his shoulders and pushed him back to his seat. Moggart was too startled to say anything back.

            “We will not sink to their level of savagery.  We could leave them, crippled to start over, but we’d run the possibility that they would seek revenge down the road, which is a certainty.” Boron said, moving back to the front of the audience chamber.

            “We could use my ssoldierss in a planetary asssault.  We conquer them, as our honourable ancestorss did the infant racess they encountered, and take the sspoils of war.” Fzarriz sounded smug.  Using the past to justify his actions had always been a favored tactic.

            “The problem with that,” Boron said, “is that a full-scale planetary assault on an enemy that is physically stronger than us, and has knowledge of terrain and is native to the planet, is that the cost to us would be extraordinary.  We don’t have enough soldiers to take on an invasion of this scale.”

            They fought some more amongst themselves, Ariella vouching for a peaceful solution, everyone else screaming for blood. Boron became frustrated. It was then that Ugnarth entered the room.

            They all froze.  None of the Generals liked to acknowledge the Shadow Warriors.  The common view was that they were all merciless killers, assassins.  Truth be told, they were rarely used as assassins, really.  The government could find cheaper ways of doing it.

            “There is another way.” He said.  “We take the planet, overthrow the government.  If they don’t fall in line, we kill them.  We give them the chance for a peaceful solution.  If they refuse, they die.  And now, we have the perfect device for such a mission.”

            They all watched him slide a data card into a wall terminal.  The device, a bomb of some sort.  They watched the demo of what the Gaia Bomb could do. 

            The meeting ended abruptly.  There was an overwhelming vote to take out the government (if they had one in the traditional sense) and failing in that to have them bow to the Lunatak Empire, to destroy the planet.  It was a last resort, they knew.  Ariella was the most against the descision, and refused to have any part in it, and her soldiers would take no part in the onslaught on the planet.  She would, however, send scientists down to document the battles and to make a historic account of the campaign.  Moggart and Fzarriz scoffed the Avian for being a coward, but she did not defend herself, for fear of making things worse.

            Shrivala and Boron were left alone in the council room.  Boron didn’t want the war to come down to one giant explosion.  He, at least, still believed in personal honour in combat.  Shrivala grew up with her father, Lord-Commander Zijjin, instilling the same sense of duty and honour into her as well.  Boron wished the Queen had sent a representative of the Royal Moon… or was that supposed to be him?  He had forgotten his new rank in the Empire.  Very rarely has there ever been a Royal General, he mused. Always, has there been the Lord-Commander to fill the Royalties shoes.

            “What kind of chance to we stand?” Shrivala asked.

            “I don’t know.”

            “No miraculous insight or anything?”

            Boron wept.

 

            News of the upcoming battle traveled quickly, not only amongst the fleet, but back to the Moons as well.  With the Gaia Bomb safely onboard the Dark Omega, they were all set for the final stage in this deadly game.  They set a course for the bleak system.  As they neared the system, the received an urgent hail from the Queen herself; she would be joining them for this grand finale, as she called it.  She would arrive some minutes after they engaged the Tar’unt’Tar system, allowing them sufficient time to clear the way for the Royal Imperial Ship, the Yerah. 

            The plan was thus, the main fleet would drop out of hyperspace, and be joined seconds later by the Psi Corrupter, escorted by the Graviton and Avian fleets.  The Psi Corrupter would be brought online, and the battle would commence, with, of course, the Lunar Fleet winning.

            The ships powered weapon and shield batteries for the final conflict over their mysterious planet.  They began intensive sensor scans, searching for any ships that may be in the region.  None were detected. In the last moments in hyperspace, the entire fleet was silent.  Gunners, pilots, captains and even Generals gulped in nervousness. 

            The order was given to pull out of their faster-than-light drive.  The fleet slowed to a near halt in orbit above the home world of the Tar’unt’Tar.  Sensors detected millions of life signs on the planet, several hundred meters underground.  The surface of the giant planet was completely inhospitable, with ambient temperatures reaching an excess of 500 K.   The planet itself was huge, verging on the mass of a small gas giant, somehow intense gravitational forces managed to keep the celestial body whole.  Further scans would have to wait.

            They waited for several long, tense moments.  Nothing.

            Not even the Psi Corrupter.

            Several words came out of Boron’s mouth that he would never have said under normal circumstances.  The gist of it came out to be this:

            We fell into a bloody trap.

            “Bring us about!  Communications, open a channel to General Moggart and his fleet!  Ask for a status report, NOW!  Hail the Yerah, tell the Queen to hold back!”  Officers hit keys in a mad fury.   As the fleet brought itself to bear on their new course, sensors detected 3 of the Tar’unt’Tar ships coming out of nowhere behind them.  Fortunately, the fleet pulled out before they entered the psionic range of the Tar’unt’Tar.  They got a message back from Moggart; the Psi Corrupter was under attack.

 

            General Moggart was looking forward to the end of this war.  He needed a break from the endless meetings he was being called to. The Gaia Bomb was the best way to end it quickly and economically, he thought.  So what? We kill an alien civilization, but with no real loss to ourselves, not any more than we’ve suffered already.

            He was just about to give the order to pull out of hyperspace, when 2 of the Tar’unt’Tar ships appeared before his own fleet.  They couldn’t very well go through them, and the Psi Corrupter was being towed, and was not easily maneuvered.  He had no choice but to engage the enemy.

            “Graveety sheeps, get the Psi Corrupter online! I don’t want to geeve these dogs a chance!”

            The small gravity inducing ships zipped through the endless space and locked onto the large red crystal.  The Tar’unt’Tar ships moved in swiftly, powering their great cannons.  The other ships stood no chance against the battle cruisers, and stayed a respectable distance back, not wanting to be influenced by the daemon race.  They made a beeline towards the Corrupter, with little to nothing standing in their way.

            Nothing, except Moggart.

            He bravely commanded his ship, a heavily modified Leviathan-class cruiser, arguably one of the strongest ships in the fleet, moved to put itself in between the oncoming enemy.         

            He and his crew could feel their minds being torn at by the psionic prowess of the Tar’unt’Tar.  They received a message from the Dark Omega, Moggart’s response was fast, it had to be, for the next instant, his mind was shredded by the most horrible images even more terrible than a sane monster could conjure. 

 

            Boron’s fleet pulled out of hyperspace an instant after it entered it, and appeared amidst what could very easily turn into a blood bath.  Here were all 200 of their ships against 2… wait, 5, of theirs. Goddamn, they arrived the instant they left.  The Carrier-class destroyers launched their automated Crescent Fighters on suicide runs on the closest of the ships to the Corrupter.  Scores upon scores of the small ships slammed into the hull of the gargantuan ship.  Its hull was pockmarked with impact explosions, and was beginning to come apart.

            It sped up as a secondary explosion rocked the port side of the ship tore off a section of it.  It was copying our tactics: throw yourself at them.

            The gravity ships that weren’t already charging the Corrupter began pulling at the massive Tar’unt’Tar ships, slowing them down.  Boron gripped the Lunar Sword tightly in his hand. It hummed with the anticipation of battle, and Boron could see what was going to happen.  He wasn’t sure if he wanted to smile or cry.  The Yerah was fractions of a second away from arriving. 

            Then, even as the Royal Ship arrived, the Tar’unt’Tar sensed the Lunar Sword.

            They had felt it before, when it attacked their lost on the Ice Moon, when their brethren were attacked by the crystal before. Now, they had it.  It couldn’t flee anywhere, because it had to protect its people.   The Tar’unt’Tar had killed far more dangerous foes than one man with a puny piece of metal, and were not going to be defeated now.  They were the Tar’unt’Tar, destroyer of worlds. 

           

            “Pull out of hyperspace, captain.” Lunaria ordered.  Alzorra opted to remain on the Moons.  Even from there, he had direct psionic control over the Queen, and many others. 

            Even as the ship did, the first volleys from the Tar’unt’Tar slammed against the crystal, shattering pieces of it off. 

            “Captain, open fire.”

 

            The Yerah looked different somehow. Maybe it was because Boron was staring at it through half-crazed eyes. Even the powers of the Lunar Sword couldn’t stand up to the psionic beating that the Tar’unt’Tar were giving him.  It seemed as though someone had slapped some parts on… what were they? Boron struggled to remember.  Then, the Yerah opened fire.  Energy tails followed the missiles that sped towards attacking Tar’unt’Tar ship, and exploded with devastating fury against their shields.

            All told, if anyone had been counting, 168 plasma torpedoes had been launched.

            And that was only the first volley.

            The second seemed to aim for a specific section of the ship, the part that held the power core in its center.  They hit the glowing section of hull, and tore the ship into small pieces, comparatively.  Queen Lunaria ordered the ship to keep firing, concentrating now on the ship that was attacking the Dark Omega.

            Boron felt his ship being battered by the Tar’unt’Tar.  Sparks flew from damaged consoles, and from the flickering display of ships systems, almost all of them were in some sort of disarray.  Even as he saw this, high-powered missiles were dissecting the ship that was attacking his own.  The psionic hold over him wavered, as the Tar’unt’Tar lost their ability to affect his mind.  He shook his mind clear of the madness that had recently overtook it, and rushed to a control panel.  The Yerah was now the one taking a savage beating. 

            Boron felt his own psionic powers fading as the Psi Corrupter came online.  Two of the Tar’unt’Tar ships escaped into… whatever their ships went into. The remaining fleet swarmed the last.

            The crews of all affected ships finally came back to their senses.  The internal damage wreaked by the maddened crews was nothing too major, as most of them couldn’t even remember how to move, let alone cause any significant damage.  The shaken bridge officers onboard all the ships looked to their viewscreens; there were no enemy ships left.  They had all been driven off or destroyed.  There was a unanimous cheer of victory. Celebrations were held the instant the news reached the Moons and allied worlds.  The Queen and her crew on the Yerah were being praised as heroes.

            Now, their last obstacle was the planet itself.

 

            They pulled into a high orbit over the large, hostile planetoid.  Scans revealed very few surface structures, and most of those seemed to be launching platforms for smaller ships.  Further scans showed no sign of Tar’unt’Tar ships in the vicinity, but they did find an enormous space platform, most likely the shipyard that created the cruisers they had encountered.  The platform itself was unmanned, apparently deserted not too long ago.  The fleet ignored this scientific discovery, at least for now.  There would be plenty of time to research their technology later.

            They continued scanning the planet for any sign of activity.  They still tracked the millions living beneath the surface, but something about it seemed wrong.  Logically, a planet that size would have a gravitational pull many times that of even the Graviton Moon, yet underground in the tunnels that seemed to go on forever under the surface, the gravity seemed to be only a touch higher than that of the squat Lunataks home.  Still, further scans were being conducted, even as the Generals planned for what they hoped would be their last battle.

            Ugnarth was already sending his ships down to the surface, ignoring Boron’s order not to do so without further information. Ugnarth simply said he would get the information that Boron wanted.  The Shadow Warriors gained access through the launch pads that the Tar’unt’Tar used. 

The Guardian Lunataks, Fzarriz assured Boron, would be able to handle the stresses below the surface.  Moggart knew that the Graviton Lunataks were used to these conditions, and saw no problem in suiting his warriors up for combat.  The Ice and Darklings were frantically building gravity suits for use on the planet.  Sandwellers’ and Royal’s did the same, but were in less of a hurry. The Avians sent only a dozen top scientists to the surface.

They all converged on a landmass in the Southern Hemisphere of the planet.  The fleet moved a good distance away from the savage planet, as the gravitational forces were causing problems for the smaller ships.  The Queen chose to command the operation from the bridge of the Yerah, heeding Boron’s wishes that she not risk herself on the mission.  Alzorra, who heard all of this even while on the Royal Moon, agreed.  He didn’t want to lose his figurehead of the Empire he would soon control.

 

Boron and his team flew down the passageway that granted them access to the inside of the Tar’unt’Tar planet.  They landed in a dark corridor, along with hundreds of soldiers already waiting.  The Tar’unt’Tar were nowhere to be seen, all scans indicated they had fled this area towards a central compound, which was determined to be the command center of all the Tar’unt’Tar.  Scans could not penetrate the walls surrounding it, so they had no idea what awaited them on the inside.  It was several kilometers away, though, and the trek would be a long one, over alien terrain, under looming darkness that threatened to encompass them all.  There, they waited for the rest of their forces.  All told, there were over 50,000 troops, 1000 command officers and 100 scientists, the transports needing to make several trips each to get them all, the Graviton’s being the most prominent of them all.  Supply lines, they realized, would be easy enough to maintain.  If the fleet sends down provisions, we can pick them up in land-speeders, and have them bring it to the main force, that way the army didn’t need to carry several days worth of food and supplies.  That is, if the Tar’unt’Tar keep away.

Boron led the army through yawning corridors, without so much as a peep out of the enemy.  The Shadow Warriors had already disappeared into the murky darkness at the edge of the tunnel. They were still several days journey from the command center, and already the oppressive nature of the underground was wearing on them.  The Avian scientist, especially, were feeling the effects of the underearth, not being restless and agitated. Mishquea, the Royal scientist, was undaunted by the dreariness of her team, and kept finding things to study, briefly, until something even more interesting would catch her eye.  Moggart, armed with his power spear and flame-thrower, took step next to Boron.

“I don’t like theese tunnels, they make me nervous.  Surely, we should have found one of them by now.” He muttered.  Boron had to agree; this was too quiet.  Then again, did he really want it to be noisy?  The prospect of being caught in these passageways, with no way out, didn’t sit well in his stomach.

“We will be at the fortress in another two days, I believe,” he said, “there’s probably a launch platform leading from there, we can arrange to be picked up there.”

In the distance, there was an eerie glow.  The army readied their weapon as they made their way closer.  The Guardian Lunataks were feeling a bit restless as they approached the queer illumination, their psionic senses acting up, as the Psi Corrupter had been taken off line while they explored the caverns. 

Boron and Shrivala could feel it, too.  The Avians were being even more paranoid than usual, and said they could hear a hum coming from the tunnel ahead. Cautiously, the army made its’ way forward, into the lighted cavern.

Curiously enough, the light was natural.  A phosphorous glow emitted from the lichen on the walls, and from the yawing chasm before them.

“There’s no way around it, is there, Boron?” Shrivala asked Boron, who peered into the jagged crevice.  He stood up and shook his head no.

“Then what can we do?  There are no tunnels leading around it that we’ve been able to map.” She threw her arms up in frustration.  Fzarriz made his way to the edge and examined the ground carefully.

“There hass been ssome activity here, recently,” he said, pointing to the scuffmarks along the rim, “There had been a bridge or ssomething over it not too long ago.”

They called the Avians to the front to have a look.  They refused to go near the edge, claiming that the humming was too intense.  The Sandwellers and the Guardians could not hear it, and wondered if the Avains’ psyche was tuned differently than their own. Mishquea had a look at it, and couldn’t explain it. 

“Whatever it was, must have been dismantled.  I mean, it doesn’t take the Moons top scientist to figure it out,” she said, “they probably took it apart after crossing it.  They didn’t want us following, I’m sure.”

Moggart kicked a stone over the edge, and watched it plummet into the faint light below.  He turned away after a moment and said, “Well, wee’ll have to build a breedge then.”

 

The army camped out in the strange caverns for the night, too tired now to undergo the rigors of making a bridge to support their numbers in crossing.  They tried to put in a call for some technicians to build the bridge, but interference from the caverns distorted the signal.  They sent some men back to put in the request, and the engineers were launched, and would make it there by morning with speed lent to them by the land-speeders they would be employing.  Boron was restless, as were most psionic Lunataks.  Maybe the Avians were right, after all.  He would be glad when they got out of there.

The next morning, the engineers still had not arrived.  They didn’t want to make another call up to the fleet, but realized they had little choice.  A small team was sent to look for the lost engineers, fearing they had gotten lost en route somewhere.   The caves were also affecting scanners; they were not able to detect lifesigns beyond the chamber they were in.

Fzarriz was getting more impatient than the other officers were.  Although the Darklings had some amount of psionic abilities, they were far weaker than those of the Sandwellers and even Avians, who could mostly pick up on emotions and intent.  Fzarriz pacing was unnerving some of the warriors camped near him.  When confronted by Shrivala, he said he was nervous because the Shadow Warriors hadn’t been seen in over a day, and blamed them for the bridge’s disappearance. 

Suddenly, the cavern shook, and a loud bang was heard from further down the tunnel they had come from.  There was a rush of air some minutes later, and dust billowed into the glowing chamber.  Boron felt the Lunar Sword cry out, but cautioned him not to do anything.  The prospect of being trapped in the vast corridors of the Tar’unt’Tar terrified even the bravest warrior.  Even the Guardians felt something.

After several long hours of waiting, a lone light was seen bearing down on the encamped soldiers of the Empire.  It was one of their land-speeders, towing their equipment needed to construct the bridge. 

When it pulled into camp, a terrified Avian jumped out of the cockpit.

“The, the Shadow Warriors… they collapsed the tunnel,” he gasped. The land-speeder was dented in many places.  It looked like rocks had been falling on it.  Fortunately, all the parts required arrived safely.  The technicians, however, had not.

“Why?” Fzarriz ordered, taking the young officer by the collar, “Why did they do it?”

Moggart pulled Fzarriz off him, and stood between the two.

“To keep the monsters… to buy you time!” He went livid.  The Generals cast worried glances to each other. “For I tell you, the Tar’unt’Tar are coming, in numbers that terrified even the Shadow Warriors.”

Boron recognized the young Avian.  He was a Shadow Warrior, possibly the last one.

 

 

 

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