‘Our old enemies have been stirring amidst the shadows, eager to deliver a staggering blow to this empire’, a man said to his three colleagues who stood over a holographic desk.
All of them dressed in a regal fashion that reflected their high authority, that, and their clear position within the large, circular chamber. They stand in its centre-piece, surrounded by politicians of various ranks. These men and women listened to the four councilors, withheld their questions, suggestions, or any information they could gather to further their own agenda. Yet they had to wait for the chance.
Four councilors; one representing infrastructure, another for war, a third for knowledge and lastly, one for influence.
‘Indeed, my sources have investigated and discovered peculiar movements near our borders’, the man of war added.
‘Why, why now?’, the woman of knowledge asks, pinching her chin with long, thin fingers.
‘Perhaps they have got bored of killing each other’, chuckled the man of influence. Though none found it amusing.
‘We will need to fortify our defenses’
The politicians slowly rose from their seats, marvel took hold of their faces as they witnessed a black, gargantuan vessel enveloped in fire, it appeared from the upper layer of the sky. This council chamber resided at the very top of the tower it sat on, with the tower being at least seven thousand feet high. They were literally in between the clouds.
Marvel twisted into shock, then to fear and outright panic. The councilors, watched, frozen in their places as everyone else attempted to flee from the inevitable.
Like a sword through flesh, it cleaved through the tower, and shattered the supports that held it together. Everything fell, and everyone died.
__
In the last days of the year 2110 of the First Epoch, marked the fall of Amalgaton, the capital of the Unity Empire at this time. Only a few survived and those who did, explained the horrific events they had experienced. One unfortunate person was Sorak Urd.
It was just another day on the job; clock in, suit up, perform pre-flight checks, patrol the system, land, break, one last round of patrolling, land, refuel, clock out. But on that day the normal routine was thrown out the window, he’d clocked in, that was as far he got till his eyes fixated at a humongous, dark vessel above, that struck the tower in pieces. Its fall had caused ruin to the metropolis below, yet it was nothing to what the Confederacy vessel had done. Indeed, their old enemies struck a bold move, but for what purpose?
This dark battleship brought itself about, away from the shattered tower, and let loosed a flurry of fighter-class craft. They laid waste to the buildings and people below. Sirens sounded. Fear gripped the planet and it had gripped Sorak until he was called to action.
‘Fighters take flight, that is an order!’
Sorak relieved his gaze and followed the commander’s order, he headed for his ship, an FC-Haj’val MK2 model (also a fighter class, small, sleek and fast). The man opened its cover, leaped into the cockpit and shoved a helmet on. Damn the pre-flight check! Sorak yanks the gear forward, the engines fired with a raw burn. Among others, he soared high within an ordered formation, and directed their focus upon the fighter ships. His comrades engaged a flock of them whereas himself and an enemy pilot took shots at each other between skyscrapers and natural locale. Amalgaton, other than the metropolis, was a world full of nature, an amalgamation of other worlds. Specifically, the homeworlds of the races that founded the empire here on this world (prior to that it was barren, though terraformed over time). But this beauty wouldn’t last with the presence of that battleship. As Sorak and his comrades fought, it leveled sections of the city to oblivion with its hefty cannons.
Sorak dealt with his single opponent and rejoined the others.
‘Sorak, I-I think I’ve got one on my tail, I can’t shake it off’
‘Hold still Yazwae, just for a second, I got this’
Yazwae locked his sticks in a fixed position, which allowed the enemy fighter a good chance to blow him up, but it gave Sorak that opportunity to do the same. It was a risk. But Sorak was the fastest shooter and saved his friend from peril.
Various squadrons formed together and a plan to attack the battleship was communicated via audio and holographic imaging. Whilst on pursuit, the big AA guns on the ground, least, the ones that were still active, picked away at the battleship’s shields. During this mid-flight, they discovered an array of pods that were launched to deuterium factories across the city. These ground forces slaughtered any remaining workers and took control of the factories. Empire infantry forces, upon arrival, recorded the exploitation of deuterium as they saw containers being carried and delivered onto shuttles that returned to the battleship.
Eventually, two cruiser class starships of the empire warped in above the battleship, like two preying birds, they lowered themselves to engage the ship. Both sides were pelted by weapon fire and over time, its shields were devastated to the point that they were forced to power down.
In this moment it was time to strike, the squadron rushes into the battleship’s firing range…
__
Sorak diverted a portion of power from his engines to his weapon and shield subsystems which gave him extra protection and firepower for when the time came (which would be soon). The commander’s voice crackled through his helmet.
‘Jdeya, Toshuu, you’re with me, we’re going to engage the turrets in the centre line. Bosh, Hala’vey, you engage the ones on the starboard side. Yazwae and Sorak, you two focus on the port side. Understood?’
‘Aye sir’
‘Yes sir’
‘Yes sir’
‘Affirmative commander’
‘Understood’
‘Roger that’
The squadron divided and headed for their objectives. Sorak took lead and Yazwae followed. As they drew close a barrage of plasma fire flashed into their line of sight. Sorak performed a couple of hard throttle movements that forced the ship to go from side-to-side.
‘Evasive maneuvers Yazwae!’
‘I know I know!’
Target-locks appeared on Sorak’s cockpit viewscreen, which revealed the exact location of every turret on that side of the ship. When the opportunity arose, he plummeted and unleashed a flurry of plasma fire upon a turret. It was utterly blown to bits. Sorak and Yazwae did this until a new flock of enemy fighters blipped on radar, the squadron banded together and defeated them. Despite what little help they offered, it was the cruisers that dealt the most damage, enough for the commander to warn his fighters of imminent cross-fire and unpredictable explosions. Not long after that every fighters display lights up and an alarm sounded within their cockpits.
‘The ship’s going to jump!’, the commander bellowed.
‘What, within the planet!?’, Yazwae blurted.
The squadron broke off from their engagement and retreated to a safe distance. Sorak diverted all power into the engines, then he switched on a rear view camera feed and watched the battleship tore open a wormhole. Everything in the vicinity of this wormhole became exposed to its mass and whatever place lingered on the other end. Buildings were sucked in, vehicles, people and even the air. Next, came the squadron, as everyone behind Sorak was pulled into its gravity well.
‘SORAAAK!’
‘YAZWAAEE!!’, he cried in horror as the sight of his comrades being yanked away indented onto his vision, and later, his mind. Their ships drew further away in complete disarray. Sorak kept his hand on the throttle. He wanted to stop, turn back and help but it he knew it was foolhardy. The man carried on until the wormhole sealed and the cries of his comrades were finally silenced.
__
All comm channels were indisposed, he couldn’t contact HQ or any other nearby squadrons. Sorak pondered on returning to HQ, or to seek another squadron in need of assistance. Although before he could go with either of those decisions, a blinding green light burned his eyes. He placed a hand in front to cover the majority of light, looked again and saw unparalleled destruction. The source emanated from the base of the shattered tower.
BOOM!
Then the sound rammed into his ears and head, despite a helmet over his head it was loud enough to penetrate through all of that. Sorak spun the fighter away from the blast, aimed it at space and punched it.
A red light drew his immediate attention, it was the fuel gauge. It edged close to being empty. Fortunately, the fighter held reserves, but that wouldn’t get him anywhere. Not in this situation. However, it was enough to move the fighter into geosynchronous orbit over Amalgaton. Sorak turned off integral systems excluding life support of course, in order to conserve power and any remaining fuel left. He removed his helmet and stared at the crater that was once a living metropolis. The shockwave of the blast enveloped the planet and this caused it to fracture. Almagaton had fallen.
Sorak pressed a dozen or so buttons on the dashboard and initiated an encoded distress beacon. All he could do was to wait for a friendly ship to arrive. A ship did enter the system after a days time and rescued him.
__
The fighter pilot, Sorak, told his story and went on to transfer to a new squadron unit. With them, he fought across systems such as Yuroe, Vantaselei, Iryx and Haradraas. Systems that possessed some of the highest quantities of deuterium. Thus, the First Epoch concluded, this ushered in the Second Epoch. The Deuterium Wars began. Deuterium, a sole product in use to give ships warp capability, was at a low within the confines of the Confederacy; their reason for the attack on Almagaton, another was to devastate the Empire’s stability, which they had succeeded. They struck the heart (albeit a bold move) and it unsettled the Empire for years to come until a new council had been established.
To this day Almagaton remains a memorial, a monument, and some accounts from those who have ventured there have said that they heard whispers whilst alone, and seen figures that weren’t entirely there.
The bomb that obliterated the metropolis and left a crater was a TMW (Thel’s Mighty Wrath) Type 3 fusion bomb, it delivered a blast a billion fold of an atomic bomb. Another example would be the asteroid that struck Earth, millions of years ago and ended the dinosaurs reign.
Almagaton held a population of two billion people…
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