CHAPTER XX: OPEN WARFARE

The Sith waited with defiant patience as the rainbow radiance of the first Ring Ship started to breach the Dark Shadow. Max-Stranglar of Fallen Star was leading the Sith armada and ordered fellow Supreme Commanders Max-Lyar, and Max-Titor not to open fire until the absolute last second. Lyar was Night Strike’s Supreme Commander while Titor was Black Dawn‘s. All three ships were fully powered up to engage as was the entire Sith fleet. However, all the other ships were not to engage unless they were engaged first.

Three hundred Black Ravens were amassed behind the destroyers to engage the Blue Diamonds while the ninety GR-25N Gretches were to protect as many of the bulk carriers as possible until they reached Elysia’s atmosphere; from there, they had another mission to perform.

All the Kyries in the Sith carriers prepared for open warfare and their silent rage against the Whills made them eager to enter battle. The Sith officers urged careful restraint. They wanted the execution of this mission to proceed with military precision. This was the greatest Sith battle in their entire history and the fate of their race depended upon success.

So the Sith waited. They had waited almost three years now, so what was a few more minutes?

Onboard RS Majesta Captain Neuva and his crew also cautiously awaited the conflict. The Ring Ship was now penetrating the outer cloud and immediately ran into an invisible shield wall that was jolting the ship. Captain Neuva ordered the ship to increase power and ram through with all four external rings ready to fire at his command. All one hundred sixty photon discharger cannon were on stand-by with the forward ring gun trained on the center of the Dark Cloud as RS “Majesta” vibrated through the protective shield liner being generated by the ball cluster generators that were now slowly coming into view. The SEM engines  were burning white hot and near their power threshold. Massive light streams formed from the SEM thrusters

On the Sith side, RS Majesta’s giant bullet shaped nose was seen coming through the Shadow’s interior with the brilliant radiance of her Magna-flectors. Sith forward scanners failed to penetrate her wave-bender screen and Supreme Commanders Lyar and Titor were becoming nervous. All Sith destroyer guns were armed and had to be shifted over to visual tracking. Lyar and Titor frustratingly awaited Max-Stranglar’s order to fire. But Stranglar was an experienced Sith warrior not easily overtaken with emotion. He would wait until the last second before engaging the giant Ring Ship.

RS Majesta surged forward into the cloud and now the ball clusters were become sharper on the forward view port. Captain Neuva knew the Sith were waiting on the other side and were preparing to fire. He wasn’t about to take any chances and immediately ordered that the enveloped rings open fire. The first photon blasts hit the ball cluster at its core, destroying thirty units and weakening the field generation slightly. The density of the cloud then shifted automatically, adjusting to the Ring Ship’s fire. As more units were destroyed the others intensified their fields to the front of the ship keeping the Sith Death Fleet out of sight for as long as possible.

Behind RS Majesta the captains of RS Light Burst and RS Victorya now moved their ships into a single line procession behind the RS Majesta as the dark cloud dissipated while she sped ahead. Already the light emissions from her discharger fire were flashing inside the cloud. Captains Argus Theron (Light Burst) and Vanik Vimy (Victorya) tried to contact RS Majesta but the expansion cloud blocked their hypercom interlink transmissions. RS Majesta was taking all the force of the field generators while RS Light Burst and RS Victorya were shielded from it following RS Majesta’s SEM wake.

The Sith saw the Ring Ship open fire and watched as many of the ball cluster generators were being destroyed within the cloud. Lyar and Titor forcefully urged Max-Stranglar to give the order to fire… but Stranglar was immovable with strong Sith military discipline. He ordered them to wait. Silence filled the emptiness of space with all Sith guns trained and image-locked on the approaching Ring Ship.

RS Majesta was now engulfed by the remaining expansion cloud and yet could still not make out any Sith starships through the density of the remaining ball cluster generators. Captain Neuva ordered the forward and central ring guns to fire simultaneously and then the cloud was erupting with explosions that rocked the Ring Ship. All one hundred twenty discharger cannon from three ring guns were literally cutting through the cloud like a giant circular light saw and now hundreds of the generators were being destroyed. At last, the veil was lifting and from the forward view port of RS Majesta Neuva and his crew gasped at the image emerging before them- an entire Sith Fleet, with hundreds of ships massed for an invasion of Elysia… 1,093 to be exact came the response from an R2-A2 intelligence droid . Neuva kept the firing continuous but frantically ordered RS Light Burst and RS Victorya to spread out the rest of the fleet. But the hypercoms were still being blocked by the remaining ball clusters.

This was the opportunity Stranglar had waited for. The Ring Ships were drawn into the trap as all three of them were moving in a single file into an awaiting fire barrage. RS Majesta’s nose and bridge emerged from the cloud with blinding radiance and Stranglar finally gave the order to fire, “FLEET BATTERIES ENGAGE, FIRE AT WILL!”

Fallen Star, Night Strike, and Black Dawn trained all 300 guns on the Whill Ring Ship and opened up. The massive concentration of firepower struck RS Majesta on her forward hull, one hundred feet in diameter, just under the bridge. The shields collapsed under the crushing bursts while her main forward ring gun continued to fire with little effect on either Fallen Star’s or Night Strike’s hulls. The obsidian hyper-plating was holding up as all power was concentrated on RS Majesta.

Onboard, the bridge crew were blinded by the thousands of charge bursts which pounded the Ring Ship like an obsidian hammer. The main view port had to be closed, double blast doors sliding into place and interlocking. Shield strength was negligible as all power was diverted to the guns. Captain Neuva had hoped to reach the destroyers before Majesta's hull collapsed but all efforts were in vain. “Sir, shouted one of the officers, our hull is compromised and collapsing. “

Captain  Neuva tried to scream his orders over the roar of the Sith guns striking the ship, “ SWING THE SHIP HARD RIGHT, 4.47, CENTRAL RING GUNS ENGAGE!!!” But the cellular steel construction of the flexible hull was buckling under the weight of intense firepower. Section after section of the crippled ship was buckling inwards, killing hundreds of crew as critical systems began to fail.

RS Majesta’s hull was collapsing and burning, still its photon discharger cannons kept firing and this time the saw effect was being felt by Black Dawn and Night Strike as RS Majesta’s discharger cannon breached their obsidian hyper-plates and penetrated - both of the Sith ships suffering moderate damage to their hulls. Stranglar ordered them to spread out but to keep up the pressure on the lead Ring Ship which was close to destruction.

Captain Neuva knew his time was up. He was running on scanners alone and all screens were filled with red warning flashers. Alarms were sounding all over the ship and the SEM engines were starting to fail. RS Majesta slowed and then all power died aboard the collapsing ship, reducing it to a sitting target.

Under the Sith destroyers firepower RS Majesta was being blown apart. The giant rotating forward ring gun ceased firing and exploded, causing a chain reaction that split the ship down the middle as each other Ring gun exploded in a row. The main bridge was on fire now even as emergency fire systems struggled to extinguish the flames as the bridge crew burned to death. Captain Neuva felt the intense heat and became engulfed in flame as well. But he didn’t burn in agony for long as the RS Majesta was vaporized once the SEM core exploded, sending a massive shock wave crashing into both RS Light Burst and Fallen Star. Both starships survived the blast, but now the Whills knew they were caught in a massive trap. Eight hundred fifty crew had already perished.

Captain Theron of RS Light Burst gave the order to turn back, but as his Ring Ship slowly made the turn he too came under the three destroyers firepower. Theron ordered all power diverted to the starboard shields but they too were overheating and RS Light Burst glowed not with the radiance of her Magna-flectors but with molten fire that ate through the hull and triggered multiple internal fires on all levels of the ship. Internal safety shields failed to activate and hundreds of crew perished. The SEM powder core became a powder keg and Theron saw the engine warning lights come on in a split second before a blinding flash destroyed his ship too. Another eight hundred fifty crew had died in vain.

Stranglar and his Supreme Commanders Lyar, and Titor were overjoyed by the death of two Ring Ships but the third was evading, having turned back at the same time as RS Light Burst which was running interference for them by taking all the concentrated firepower from the Sith destroyers.

Captain Vimy of RS Victorya knew the trap was sprung and he wasn’t going to go down that easy. Destroying the last of the ball clusters the Dark Shadow had dissipated and now communications were fully restored. Immediately, Vimy took charge of the Whill Fleet and ordered a tactical retreat.

Back on Elysia, the first news came in to the War Room. Imperator Davon was in shocked dismay at the speed with which the Sith had destroyed two of his best Ring Ships and caused the remaining Fleet to retreat at full speed. Long range sensors and planetary defenses now could project the Sith Fleet with precision- 1,093 ships approaching of all sizes: Destroyers, fighters, attack probes, and heavy bulk carriers all heading towards the space above the Jez’aral Valley- just as Imperator Bevins had predicted.

Imperator Davon made communication with Captain Vimy and ordered him to make a stand before the Sith could land the bulk carriers. He was to try and engage the destroyers while the smaller Blue Diamond Mk.I star fighters attacked the bulk carriers in groups as best they could. The destroyers were not the priority but the carriers. If the bulk carriers land, all 700 of them, Elysia is doomed. How could we have under-estimated the Sith? How could the Seers not have foresee all of this? What future does our race have now?

The Queen contacted the Temple at once and demanded to know what the Holochron was predicting. Lady Divinia Anwar answered in a trembling voice, “My Queen, the Holochron is not functioning and the Twelve are preparing for death. They are in deep prayer right now. The Holy Journal has been placed inside the Sacred Pillar and secured. Amber Commandos are standing by… but we foresee their death as well. We cannot reveal this to them for fear of losing our only defense. We are the Journal’s guardians and we will perish to save it.”

The Queen was overcome with grief. We Whills are the Founders of Light. Shall we perish to the Darkness of the Sith? Darkness cannot overpower light unless we let it. I will not surrender to darkness.

The Queen composed herself as a true Royal would and was determined not to let the Sith first victory set the course of the battle. With regal defiance the Queen ordered Imperator Davon to stop mourning the dead and save the living. “Imperator Davon, all is NOT lost. Order your best fighter groups to infiltrate the Sith Fleet and take out as many carriers as they can. This is their primary objective. The Sith will need those carriers and each one that is destroyed will give them a strategic loss. Give the order now.” Davon complied and executed the Queen’s orders.