CHAPTER XXXII: FURY UNLEASHED

In the massive automated shipyard at Evaleon, beyond the Outer Rim, 1,000,000 worker droids and mechanoids operated ultra-heavy construction equipment and powerful operating systems on board the Maxator-Class Slayer- a behemoth 10,000 foot long Mega Destroyer that served only one purpose upon completion- the total destruction of the world Elysia.

To accomplish this, the 2,00,000 ton Slayer would carry within its enormous bulging internal single bomb bay a huge 50,000 ton Rekurium bomb filled with 5,000 tons of Erratium. Once launched against Elysia, the R-Bomb named “Red Sunset” would detonate in the Elysian atmosphere and engulf the entire planet in flames, snuffing out all life and any trace that the Whills had ever existed.

The mighty ship was not externally armed; instead, it was carefully constructed of hull blocks of obsidian armor thirty-six feet thick and hyper plated for maximum protection. DD-33 Destroyer Droids ran the entire ship from a largely automated bridge that was built right into the “impregnated” wedge-shape vessel. They were there to monitor all critical systems and to guarantee that the Slayer reached its target and launched the bomb with precision over Elysia.

Inside the ship, every passageway and sector was heavily guarded by automated repulser gun systems controlled by the DD-33s which could travel at very high speeds to various sectors of the ship in Levi-trains in case of an internal emergency.  The Levi-trains ran through conduit tunnels throughout the ship.

To protect the huge R-Bomb itself, four giant walking Stiltor mechanoids called “Skeltors” patrolled the bomb bay. At twenty-four feet tall and weighing 100 tons each, the white painted Skeltors with large black roving eyes were essentially giant powered exo-skeletons that would release the giant mechanical locks on the bomb prior to launch. Due to the bomb’s incredible weight and volatile contents, field locks were out of the question- prone to system failures or power depletion. The bomb was held securely in place by four giant mechanical grapplers and an interlocking release mechanism that could only be released by manual control by the huge Skeltors.

If an enemy ever managed to infiltrate the ship and made it past the DD-33s and automated guns all the way into the bomb bay, still there would be no way to get past the Skeltors or reach the giant locks. If the main bridge was destroyed internally or if the main drive units came under attack the bomb bay had its own control sector and giant interlocking mechanically-driven blast doors. Once activated, the entire ship became sealed- even from the Sith.

The Slayer held no landing bays for any type of ship and could not be entered by any means, the outer hull sealed with blocks of hyper-plated obsidian armor thirty-six feet thick. Even Graviton bombs could not penetrate the Slayer's armor. Upon reaching Elysia, the bomb bay doors themselves were protected by four hundred integrated automated T-Packs that would commence firing before “Red Sunset” was launched. No Whill star fighter could penetrate that barrage and the Whills lacked any long-range high intensity space cannon or planetary defenses. Against the Slayer, the Whills were defenseless.

To power the mighty Slayer, four separate Rekurium reactors were located to the extreme rear of the monster ship with most of the other parts of the hull devoted to massive fuel storage units and power generators. It would be impossible for a human crew to run this ship, so droids and mechanoids were chosen instead. To conceal the ship’s construction, the Sith shipyard was built outside the Outer Rim and was supplied by a steady stream of automated ultra-heavy bulk carriers providing all the building materials for its continual construction which had taken eighteen months overall.

Only Dark Lord Kalore had been told of the secret war project and was sent by the Dark Master himself to supervise its construction timetable. Once the timetable was discovered altered, Lord Kalore had already fled the shipyard along with the suspected Dark Seer Tirahn who at one time was Tirahnna’s best Seer. She had been named for the Sith world itself but fell out of favor when the Dark Master preferred Syrenia instead. In the Dark Master’s mind he believed that this entire betrayal was out of revenge.

He could not foresee that Tirahn did not just want his life destroyed, but that he suffer ultimate humiliation from the Whills before death. Therefore, she gave the Whills a fighting chance with encoded blueprints for the Slayer safely stored on a disc inside her Kyrie suit. “Maybe” the Whills might discover a way to stop the weapon or destroy it, humiliating Lord Rexor before she and Lord Kalore killed him high above Tirahnna. Tirahn had foreseen Lord Rexor’s death and the Whills triumphant again. But she did not know by what means. She only wanted for her Master, Lord Kalore to reign over the Sith with her at his side. She had foreseen that  as well, but with great loss of Sith life. This was a mystery to her for she had only the vision that it would occur sometime after the Slayer was finally launched.

Today, the day had come. The Dark Master would not release the information of the Slayer until the ship made its way to Elysia. Lord Rexor would take his personal ship- the D.A.S. EVO-ONE out to meet it once it passed the Outer Rim Markers, but would not announce the miracle weapon until it was prepared to destroy the Whills after a journey of three days time.

In his Great Room on Hael, Lord Rexor summoned K-LOK and ordered the activation of the Slayer once again. This time the interlinked MD-13 reported that all systems were online and the ship was indeed ready for launch. Lord Rexor gave the command and K-LOK responded: IT IS DONE MASTER.

In the Evaleon shipyard the automatic grapplers retracted and released the Slayer as its four Rekurium reactors came to life with red fury. Her giant thrusters slowly inched the Slayer forward… straining to get her running for a few minutes and then her speed gradually increased as the DD-33s inside the buried bridge set a course directly for Elysia. Once activated, the Slayer had become permanently sealed and all communications were severed. Slayer’s own massive hypercom tower had auto-destructed just moments ago. This was a one-way trip and the ship could not alter course once in motion.

Back on Kytana, Dark Lord Kalore was summoned to his landed heavy cruiser Defiance and informed by his personal droid DP-3 that the Slayer has just been activated. The Dark Lord had planted burst hypercom transmitters in the grapplers that automatically transmitted a tone signal once the grappler release mechanisms were triggered. The signal was not encoded, so no one could track it back to Kytana. Lord Kalore knew it would take at least six months to finish the ship, but did not know the day or hour of its launch against the Whills.

In the Central Processing Room inside the Dark Master’s Dread Mansion on Hael, the MD-13 had detected the un-coded tone signal emanating from the Evaleon Automated Shipyard  but could not determine its destination as it was a multi-directional signal aimed out beyond the Outer Rim. The MD-13 deduced that the tone signal was an alert that the Slayer had been launched and that it was destined for Dark Lord Kalore’s missing ship Defiance. But for what purpose? The MD-13 did not have an answer… yet.

With great urgency, Lord Kalore summoned Tirahn and instructed her to meet with the Bothan’s immediately. She was to take her D.A.S. Engager and meet the Bothans just outside the Outer Rim at Kreiga where Bruxus and Boorma were waiting for delivery of the encoded disc.

Tirahn was excited because this was the beginning of their rise to power. With all speed she quickly suited up in her Kyrie combat gear, secured the encoded disc, and slid into the Engager’s cockpit in anticipation of certain victory over Lord Rexor. The Engager roared to life and lifted off as the Cimbrae marveled at the Sith “magic”. Their Shamans chanted over the ship and urged the people to bow down and worship Lord Kalore, who only stared into the sky wondering if this was a wise plan.

Tirahn had spoken of the vision many times and yet the Dark Lord was disturbed. She had foreseen his destiny as ruler over the Sith but with his rise to power a great loss of Sith life. How would that be possible? The Slayer might not be stopped by the Whills no matter what knowledge they gained from the encoded disc. We have planned to kill Lord Rexor when he celebrates his projected victory over the Whills once the mighty ship appears over Tirahnna on its way to Elysia. The Dark Lord will certainly take his great ship Evo-One out to meet it as he broadcasts its existence to the entire Sith populace. That is when we will kill him and take control of the planet… but Tirahn said there would be a great loss of life. Is her vision clouded by ambition, greed, power, or lust? I sense something is wrong… something vitally missing from her vision.