| abstract
| - Rattler pulled back on the stick, having managed to destroy another turret. A message comes through his comm: "All fighters, get clear of the Uberweapon, The Dragon Awakes!" Rattler recognizes the message, and hits the afterburners. The last of the Confed fighters clears the Uberweapon just as the TCS Kyushu fires her Phase Transit Cannon at the Uberweapon's engines. It rips an enormous hole in the Uberweapon, but to their dismay, the ship somehow began regenerating. Rattler, as well as every Confed pilot in the battle, starts throwing every swear word in the English Language out as they see their hard work repaired in minutes. "What the hell kind of ship is this thing? It even survived a frakin' PT shot!" "Cut the chatter Knight 7. I want a weapons and fuel check. If anyone's running low, gas up and load up. This is gonna be a marathon battle." Rattler says, then turns his attention to the newly arrived Mothership. The design is similar to what he saw in the simulated world, but more menacing. Getting an idea, he aims his Rapier at the Mothership. The rest of the Black Knights follow. ~~ Fleet Admiral Rajko stands on the bridge of the RTSE Zatornik, now almost in range of the massive battle unfolding around the Uberweapon. On the magnified sensor display, he can see one of the Confederation warships firing some sort of unknown weapon at the Uberweapon's engines. The effect appears marginal, as the Gatekeeper's flagship is capable of self-regeneration, but is sufficient to hinder the massive behemoth's maneuverability, even if only temporarily. As the Confederation fleet appears to make a temporary tactical retreat, the Uberweapon turning ponderously after them, attempting to keep them in the firing arc of its heaviest weapon systems, its aft section swivels almost directly in the path of the approaching Zatornik, its inactive weapons obviously causing the Uberweapon to ignore it for the moment. Rajko smiles at the opportunity, before issuing orders: "Helm officer, bring us to flank speed! Portside maneuver 65 degrees, take us broadside past the Uberweapon's engines! Shields to full! Energize reactive armor, divert extra power to the port superstructure ridgeline! Structural integrity fields to full power! Charge all turbolaser batteries, set for simultaneous firing pattern! Set all Polaron Gauss Cannons to linked fire, synchronize them to fire all at once precisely 2 seconds after the turbolaser batteries! All Power-flechette graviton torpedo launchers are to begin launching immediately, a spread pattern across the Uberweapon's aft hull, to keep it's point-defense weapons busy! Fighter squadrons, deploy immediately! Concentrate on destroying the point-defense weapons on the Uberweapon while the barrage of torpedoes keeps them busy!" The RTSE Zatornik surges forward, all of its torpedo launchers beginning to fire at once, creating a virtual sandstorm of torpedoes heading toward the Uberweapon. The behemoth's point defence weapons respond to the threat, temporarily blinded to three squadrons of Sith Fighters which converge immediately after the first salvo of torpedoes, surgically destroying the point defense weapons one at a time. "Excellent." Fleet Admiral Rajko's glacially calm voice can be heard over the battle-klaxons. "Now, let's take the heat off the Confederation fleet's tail, shall we?" Behind the fighters comes the Zatornik itself, its port broadside now facing the Uberweapon's engine section, entering the range of its main guns. The Uberweapon unleashes a barrage of heavier anti-capital weapons fire at the dreadnought, breaching through its shields and beginning to eat away at its heavy reactive armour, already compromised after the previous intense battle, but still up to the challenge. The fire is answered by a flood of pulse-charge heavy turbolaser shots from the Zatornik, weakening the Uberweapon's aft shields, followed 2 seconds later by a fusillade of ultravelocity PGC projectiles, breaking through the weakened shields, and tearing the Uberweapon's engines apart in an inferno of multiple explosions. A renewed barrage of turbolaser fire and a new volley of torpedoes finishes the job. The behemoth is dead in space, its inexorable advance after the battered Confederation fleet halted, as they move out of range of the Uberweapon's armaments, and begin to regroup. ~~ The two men charge the bridge, Ty294 quickly targets the nearest one, firing several shots into its face. One of other monsters flings a strange blade like object which Ty barely dodges. After the two beasts falls to the floor, their bodies suddenly fade away. Is that it? The Assailant thought, but before the words could leave his mouth, they appeared behind the two men, and lifted them off the floor by their necks, with in-human strength. Gasping for air, the Assailant activated his flamethrower, burning both him, and his captor. He then jumped onto the back of the alien holding Ty. ~~ Patten and his men are aboard a modified, heavily armed gunship equipped with cloaking technology. The gunship lands aboard the Mothership in a hangar, and Eagle Squad jumps out, with the gunship providing covering fire. "Go, go go! Get to cover!" Patten shouts. "Carter, flank right! Julia, flank left! Markus, suppressing fire!" Blaster rounds fly all around Patten's head as he jumps over a pair of crates and rolls to the next stack, throwing a plasma grenade in the process. The grenade lands next to a barrel that is apparently filled with some type of fuel, since it explodes, killing several creatures. The gunship is still giving support, cutting swathes through hostile troops with repeating plasma cannons. Julia, flanking left, catches a few troopers by surprise, killing them with a few shotgun blasts. Carter, flanking right, catches more hostiles without cover, mowing him down with his assault rifle. Patten charges forward, plasma swords ignited, jumps over the cover protecting the last several troopers, impales one while knocking another down with a scissor kick, rapidly spins, shooting a third in the head with his Magnum, impales the trooper on the ground, and diagonally cuts the final trooper diagonally in half, all in less than 10 seconds. "Hangar secured! Eagle Squad, move forward!" "Yes, sir!" ~~ Rattler barrel rolls to evade fire from an anti fighter turret, and opens up with his Particle Cannons, destroying said turret. The rest of the Black Knights pour fire into various points on the Mothership's hull. The Mothership takes aim at the TCS Kyushu, and fires a massive green bolt of Plasma energy. The Dreadnaught's shields flare as the Plasma blast strikes. Over allied comm channel: "TCS forces, I think you might appreciate some help," a voice says. Suddenly, a gigantic fleet of NEF vessels exit hyperspace just behind the Kyushu. The Atlantea opens fire with EPB weapons, creating massive scars on the Mothership's hull. Firestorms launch fusillades of missiles, aiming specifically for turrets. Decimators and a previously unseen type of battleship, the Devastator-class Battleship, which is normally reserved for planet defense and major offensive actions, fire their Heavy MEV cannons, trying to aid in the destruction of offensive turrets. Hundreds of Hornet-class Heavy Fighterbombers swarm around the Mothership. "Gold Flight, this is Gold Lead, arm plasma torpedoes and try to take out their heavy turrets to provide cover for the fleet!" one squadron commander orders. The battle around the Mothership has now begun in earnest. Meanwhile, Eagle Squad continues to move through the ship towards the bridge, eliminating all resistance they encounter. ~~ After a long descent, the turbolift comes to a stop. It's doors open, revealing a pair of small alien guards. Before they can even turn all the way around to face the opening turbolift door, Lord Darkon comes leaping through the widening crack in the door, his right leg lashing out in a low-sweep kick which takes the left alien off its feet, Darkon's lightsaber splitting its head in half less than a second later, before the alien had even finished it's fall. Deathstrike jumps through the still-not-fully-open door a split instant after her master, as the second guard's claws begin to reach for Lord Darkon, still withdrawing his lightsaber blade after killing the first alien. Deathstrike's lightsaber catches the second alien across its left claw, taking it cleanly off, as she traverses the lightsaber handle in a backhand grip, spinning halfway around and simultaneously ducking beneath the right claw, slashing over her head, and, still crouched, plunges the blade deep in the alien's stomach. She completes her crouching spin, tearing the lightsaber blade sideways out of the alien's body in the process, and standing up. The alien, split in two, collapses against the wall. With the fight over almost before it began, Lord Darkon and his apprentice's gazes meet, echoing the unspoken assertion that, even cut off from the Force, they remain lethal warriors. Ahead at the end of the corridor, a blast door can be seen. They run towards it, lightsabers ignited, and begin cutting through. Before the cut is finished, however, the door abruptly opens, revealing another alien. This one is larger than the others, it's skill a dark shade of red, with goldish-yellow eyes and razor-sharp, massive claws extending from its arms, seemingly tough enough to withstand lightsaber sparring damage. Beyond the alien, a signal generator console can be seen, it's display showing a layout of the Uberweapon's systems. The alien speaks in a deep, raspy voice that seems to vibrate the entire room around him: "YOU WORTHLESS, PUNY INSECTS! You have come here, only to meet your doom!" "Spare me your pitiful boasts! You shall live to regret your idiocy, abomination, as you lie dying at my feet..." Lord Darkon snarls, as he draws his lightsaber and swings it at the beast's neck. Almost before the slashing motion even began, the alien's claws were poised to parry the attack, the intense heat of Darkon's lightsaber not even singeing them as they intercept the attack. The alien kicks Lord Darkon away with incredible strength, ramming him all the way back to slam into the turbolift door at the far end of the corridor, with enough force to dent their surface, knocking the wind out of him completely. The alien than ducks forward, stabbing both of its clawed arms toward Deathstrike, intent on gutting her where she stands. She barely manages to deflect the stabbing motion with her lightsaber, causing the left claw to miss, but the right one buries itself deep in her flank. With a scream, Deathstrike kicks away at the alien with all her strength, causing the alien to stagger backward, its right claw coming out of her flank. She rolls away from it, deeper into the room, the alien coming after her with a menacing sneer on its nightmare face: "Crawl away, you pathetic worm... you won't for long!" It gloats in that horrible raspy voice, raising both sets of claws over Deathstrike's head. Suddenly, the sound of running footsteps can be heard from behind the alien, and as it spins around, claws poised in front of it, Lord Darkon's lightsaber impacts with them, supported by the full power of Darkon's charging sprint, with enough power to drive the alien to the floor. A follow up snap-kick to the alien's neck fails to crush its windpipe, but does compress it slightly. Lord Darkon roars: "YOU MISERABLE DISGUSTING ABOMINATION, you shall not kill my apprentice!!! I WILL MAKE YOU SUFFER!" Screaming incoherently, Darkon presses his relentless attack... Lord Darkon's anger is bordering on frenzy, as he begins to rain lightsaber slashes and random kicks upon the alien with such intensity, that the enormous beast barely has time to move its claws fast enough to parry them, being driven backwards towards the signal emitter console with each and every blow. Nearly to the console now, the alien finally recovers from the shock of Lord Darkon's berserk attack, using both sets of its claws to trap Darkon's lightsaber in a lock, before ripping it out of his arms with incredible strength, the handle flying to the side to clatter against the wall. Almost in the same moment, the alien attempts another one of its devastating kicks, but this time Darkon is ready for it... twisting aside almost before the alien has even moved its leg, Lord Darkon traps the extended leg, trying to dislocate the joints while simultaneously using it as a pivot, adding power to another back-snap kick, connecting with the alien's neck, and doing more damage to the already compressed windpipe. While the leg joints resist Darkon's efforts, the kick does more damage to the alien's throat, as its breathing becomes strained. It pulls back, partially out of breath, but one of its claws reflexively slashes Darkon across the stomach, leaving a deep furrow, blood streaming from it. Lord Darkon staggers, as his vision becomes blurred with billowing black nebulae... Realizing that his time is rapidly running out, he scrambles desperately for the lightsaber, still lying next to the room's wall. Breathing hard, the alien comes after him, but slower than before. ~~ Ty294 grabs one of the aliens in an arm lock, but the creature uses it's claws to shred at Ty's legs. Ty falls to to his knees with a cry of pain, as the alien spun around intent on decapitating the Merc, when a blade flew through the air and struck the alien in the chest. Ty gets to his feet as the creature pulls the blade out, and throws the blade back at the Assailant. The Assailant ducks to avoid it, but as he stands up again, the second alien punches him in the gut, sending him flying across the room. The Assailant slowly gets up, blood spilling from his mouth... ~~ Fleet Admiral Rajko is thrown hard from his command chair on the Zatornik's bridge, as sparks and flame flash across the chamber, the damage klaxons' pitch increasing in intensity. "Port ridgeline breached, Admiral! Secondary powercells hit! Portside reactive plating is buckling! Damage control teams on-route, sir." - the engineering control officer snaps. Scrambling back to his feet, Admiral Rajko responds: "Shut down life-support on all vacant decks! Divert that power to portside reactive armor! Isolate the breached section and reinforce the structural integrity of the surrounding sections. I want a full damage report, and status on the Uberweapon!" "Shields are down an all facings, sir! We have lost the portside engines, and are down to half speed on sublight. Port reactive plating has been reinforced, but it won't hold for long! Bridge deflector screen is still holding for the moment. We have lost 27 turbolaser batteries on port broadside and 3 PGC's! Portside firepower reduced to 71%! Torpedoes exhausted, Admiral. Primary fusion reactor core containment field at 58% and dropping! Overall hull integrity at 43%! Alpha and Beta fighter squadrons destroyed, Gamma squad down to 9 fighters! The Uberweapon remains immobile, sir, but only because we are keeping up the pressure on its engine section to keep it from regenerating! However, with our fighter complement down to less than 1/3rd, its aft weapons arrays are regenerating faster then we can knock them out!" The engineering control officer reports. "Acknowledged! Admiral Rajko to Gamma Squad:" "Gamma 1 reporting, sir!" "Ignore the point-defense weapons, Commander! Focus on the anti-capital batteries! We are taking heavy damage here! Every one you can disable will be one less to target the Zatornik!" "Sir! If we give the Uberweapon time to regenerate its point-defense weapons, my fighters will be finished!" "And if the Zatornik is destroyed, Commander, the Uberweapon will regenerate it's engines again, and move to assist the Mothership against the combined Confederation and NEF fleet. Carry out my orders at once!" "Yes, sir! I beg forgiveness... For Blood and Death!!!" "For Blood and Death, Commander!" - Admiral Rajko echoes the ancient Sith battle-cry. He turns back to the cracked forward bridge viewport, his expression hardening as he looks at the battered and punctured surface of his flagship, burning in more than a dozen places, and the menacing surface of the Uberweapon beyond, hammering relentlessly at it. "Lord Darkon, whatever your plan is, I do hope it will be accomplished soon. Our time here is running out... I have always known I shall die in battle, still, I would prefer if it was not today. Yet, there is no retreat, and no surrender for True Sith... I will sooner ram the Zatornik into that monstrosity before doing either!" As the NEF fighters join the fight, Rattler quickly returns to the Excalibur to refuel. The flight deck is a hive of activity as techs scramble to rearm or refuel fighters. A Hornet light fighter covered in carbon scoring and missing part of its starboard wing barely manages to land safely. "Commander!" One of the techs approaches the pilot as he waits for his Rapier. Rattler turns to face the tech. "We got a trooper transport full of marines prepping for launch. Think you can cover their approach to that monster?" "Which one? The Uberweapon or the alien ship?" "The Alien ship sir." "I'll make sure the ground pounders get to play. Besides, Sgt. Apone's got a bad case of Cabin Fever from what I heard." Rattler gets back into his F-44 Rapier II, and closes the canopy. A Confed shuttle pulls up beside him. The catapult system grabs his fighter, and shoots him out through the airlock. The shuttle follows soon after, with about as much grace as a brick with engines. After several minutes, the trooper transport lands in one of the alien ship's hangers, and Confederation Marines proceed to secure the hanger. "By the numbers ladies! Let's go! The Corps ain't payin' us by the hour!" Just as Apone and his Marines reach the door, some of the troops who had boarded the Mothership before them run into the hanger. Apone stops one of the soldiers. "I'm Sgt. Apone, Confed Marine Corps. Give me a sitrep!" "Private Jenkins, NEF. This thing's on a collision course with the Uberweapon. We gotta get out of here!" "God dang it. And we just GOT here. Load up Marines, we're bugging out!" The NEF soldiers board the Confed Shuttle, followed by Apone's Marines, and the shuttle leaves. ~~ Deathstrike watches as her Master takes a deep slash across the stomach from the alien's claws, then scrambles to retreive his lightsaber. The alien beast is moving slower, its breathing becoming more and more strained, but is still more than a match for Lord Darkon on his own. With superhuman effort, she manages to get back on her feet, ignoring the flaring pain of her wounded side, and utters a battle cry to distract the monster, raising her lightsaber and limping towards it: "For BLOOD and DEATH!!! Hey! You! Yes, you, ugly worm-ridden subcreature! Did you think you would defeat me so easily?! Come here and die, If you're brave enough!" The alien stops and turns its massive head, snarling, the raspy words coming out with great difficulty, its breathing now turning into gasping for breath: The alien screams an unearthly scream as it begins to advance on Deathstrike. "You cannot defeat a Diablok!" The creature yells as it lunges for her with its claws, but Deathstrike parries the blow, the strength of which still throws her back to the floor. "Is that the best you can do, worm?" She pushes through clenched teeth, the impact renewing the pain of her wound. As the alien is about to make another lunge at Deathstrike's prostrate figure, it sees out of the corner of its eye Lord Darkon advancing from the flank, his lightsaber back in his hands, ready to attack. It turns to parry the attack, but Darkon is faster - the saber blade slips past the hardened claws, and cuts deeply into the alien's torso. The alien reels back from the wound, growling but still very much alive. It slashes back at Darkon, who barely manages to duck the very fast blow, and the alien's follow-through attack is blocked, but throwing Darkon back against the wall. Before the alien can move attack Darkon again, Deathstrike's lightsaber catches it across its legs. One leg is severed at the ankle, and the other nicked. The alien collapses to its knees, as its left elbow snaps back, hitting Deathstrike directly in the head and knocking her out cold. It turns its attention back toward Darkon again, just in time to see a red flash of the lightsaber blade about to connect with the midpoint of its head, Lord Darkon's snarling face visible behind it. Before it can raise it's claws to block the strike, the lightsaber slashes vertically through its head, and deep into its trunk, coming to a halt in the lower part of its stomach. Without a sound, the alien giant collapses to the floor, nearly split in two, and disintegrates. "Taste the fury of the True Sith, abomination!" Darkon mutters. He runs limping to the signal emitter console, studying the accompanying sensor display. It shows the Mothership on a collision course with the Uberweapon, it's forward main weapons still active and pummeling away at the approaching Mothership. It's obvious that the Uberweapon will destroy the Mothership before it can collide with it. Behind the Uberweapon, the heavily damaged Zatornik continues to keep pressure at its engines, keeping it immobile, and taking critical damage from the Uberweapon. Lord Darkon looks up, and sees the signal antenna array extending behind and above the console, linking to a concealed transmitter on the surface. With a single slash of his lightsaber, the connections are severed, and the signal dies. Running back to his unconscious and badly wounded apprentice, Lord Darkon takes her across the shoulder and makes his way back to the turbolift. His nasty stomach wound is sapping away his remaining strength rapidly, but he doggedly keeps going. The turbolift starts it's ascent back to the surface hangar. ~~ Rattler sees the shuttle leave the hanger shortly after it arrives, and asks the pilot about it. "This thing's gonna ram the big gun thing out there sir." The Shuttle makes its way back the Excalibur. "Apone's gonna be in a bad mood for weeks now..." Rattler mutters. Just as he is about to land back in the Excalibur's hangar, the distant Uberweapon stops firing all weapons. The Mothership has a clear path to collide with it, without being destroyed by the Uberweapon's main weapons. ~~ Eagle Squad, returning to their gunship, also leave the Mothership and head back to the Leviathan, awaiting further developments. ~~ In awe, Fleet Admiral Rajko watches from his ruined bridge as the Uberweapon suddenly stops firing. Turning back to his helm officer, he exclaims: "Lord Darkon has done it! That monstrosity is disabled! We must get out of range before the Mothership collides with it! Take us to full speed!" "Impossible, sir! Port engines are destroyed, and we have no auxilliary power left for starboard engines. Main reactor core is critical, it had to be shut down, sir!" "No..." Rajko snarls, "NOT LIKE THIS!!!" "Shut down weapons, reactive plating, and life support to all decks! Even the gravity plating and environmental controls if necessary! Divert all power to the starboard engines! WE HAVE TO GET CLEAR BEFORE THEY COLLIDE!!!" "Yes, Admiral!" The burning Zatornik begins to move ponderously away as fast as the fledgling power to its starboard engines can allow it, as the Mothership angles even closer to the Uberweapon. Everyone on the bridge of the Zatornik keeps their eyes fixed on the imminent collision, as the effects of a de-activated life support systems can already be felt. With his breathing becoming more and more strained, Admiral Rajko thinks, I guess I'll soon find out how long I can hold my breath... If I should live so long. ~~ Ty294's gun runs out of ammo. Covered in blood, he charged at one of the beasts, ramming his gun into his skull. The creature grabs the gun from Ty, and kicks the Merc into the main bridge window, fracturing it. The Assailant ducked an attack from the second alien, and kicked his legs out from under him. He then drew his mandalorian wrist blade and started stabbing it into the beast on the floor. The second alien picked the Assailant up, and threw him over next to Ty. He looked at Ty, his vision blurred with blood, the Assailant was unsure whether the Merc was alive or dead. He looked up to see the alien again, looking down at him. He waited for it... He knew his life was about to end. Suddenly, the room went dark. The Assailant looked out the window to see the mothership, blocking out the sun itself, piloted by the Gatekeeper. The Assailant smiled at the sight. He then turned back to the aliens, who were standing a few feet away from the consoles, staring in confusion at the Mothership. The Assailant slid off the console into a kneeling position, facing the window. He grabbed Ty's arm, and raised his wrist launcher at the window. "To the ends of the universe..." He fired the rocket and was sucked out into space with the mercenary, right as the two ships collided, the shockwave propelled the two away from the colliding ships as everything went black... ~~ The damaged courier ship with Lord Darkon and Deathstrike was just emerging in the upper atmosphere before the shockwave from the Uberweapon's destruction washed over it. Over the hooting alarms of an imminent hull integrity breach, Lord Darkon had just enough time to don an environment helmet to himself and still-unconscious Deathstrike, and pull the cockpit-ejector lever... The Assailant opened his eyes and looked around the room. He was in a medical bay, together with Ty, Deathstrike, the Gatekeeper, and Lord Darkon. Rattler and O'Neill were standing in the room. As Deathstrike and Lord Darkon got out of their beds and moved off to the side, both still limping slightly, he sat up. Patten and the rest of Eagle Squad walk into the med bay of the Leviathan. He salutes the brave men and women who he had fought beside. "Well done, gentlemen. No other hostiles are in sensor range. It seems as if we have won... for now. We fought a good fight. It was an honor to fight by your sides. Well, it seems that the only thing left to do is search for survivors among the wreckage. You are all welcome to stay here for the moment. Contact me if you need anything." Patten walks out of the med bay, heading back to the bridge of the Leviathan. Looking out the windows he whistles and says, "Well it sure was one hell of a fight." The Gatekeeper rises and turns to the Assailant. "I have one thing to say. After all that we have been through, I don't believe you ever told us your name. If you don't mind me asking, what-" Before he can finish his sentence, he looks up. "Wait..." A grim expression appeared on his face. "...I sense Kane is still alive..." Lord Darkon looks in his direction, then remarks snidely to his apprentice: "That is certainly one dysfunctional family, my dear. Just remember," He continued as he turned back toward the Gatekeeper. "The next time you have to fight him, I will not be there to help. In any case, It looks like I am not your only problem anymore!" "True. But Kane is my problem, Sith, not yours." The Gatekeeper responds. The Assailant, ignoring them both, turned to the Mercenary and extended his hand, "It's been an honor serving with you." Ty takes the assailant's hand and grasps it firmly. "Same to you stranger. Tis' a shame I won't be collecting that quadrillion credit reward though. Ha ha!" The Gatekeeper walks out of the room. "All of this... Everything I went through for them... Not even a thank you... Still, serving with Legend was a great honor. Perhaps I can learn from this. Learn to forget what the human race has done to me... That would be nice. Perhaps Legend would be open to forging some sort of alliance. I could help his forces grow stronger, as he could help mine. I'll be sure to ask him tomorrow. In the meantime, I'd better return to the- Oh. Right. There is no Uberweapon to return to. I'll just construct a new one. Better than the others. A TRULY invincible warship! With built in defenses on the inside. Just in case... And I'll concoct a little gift for Patten. He could use a game changing warship of his own..." Lord Darkon and his apprentice exit the room likewise, heading in the direction of the flight deck. Lord Darkon opens a commlink to the Leviathan's bridge: "Whoever is in charge of communications up there, give me a channel to RTSE Zatornik." "Patching through, Sith. Go ahead." "Admiral Rajko, status report." "My lord! Whatever you did to disable the Uberweapon, was just in the nick of time. We have managed to get clear of the shockwave, and damage control teams have brought most of our systems out of critical range. We are still heavily damaged and almost immobile, but stable for the moment. We've managed to get long-range communications back on-line, and I have contacted the elements of the Prime fleet in the outer region of the system to dispatch a pair of ships to tow us back to RTSE space." "Acknowledged. Excellent work today, Admiral! Dispatch a shuttle to the Leviathan to pick us up. Out." The conversation ends just as Lord Darkon and his apprentice enter the Flight Deck. ~~ Rattler and the rest of the Confed Pilots stand at attention on the Flight Deck of the TCS Excalibur as the leaders of the various faction leaders finish their visit. Captain O'Neill shakes their hands. "It was an honor to fight by your sides," Captain O'Neill says to the gathered leaders. The Assailant nods, while Deathstrike approaches Rattler. "I still maintain that you're useless out of your cockpit, flyboy. However..." She adds, turning away slightly. "You do seem to be... adequately skilled as a pilot. For a lowly Terran..." Rattler laughs, "Maybe sometime I'll tell you about this big furball I got into in the Lylat System and Vega Sector. You'd like it, lots of nasty creatures and explosions and guns. Not to mention a blue furred fox with a staff taking on a big, nasty monster." Deathstrike blinks at the mention of a fox, then gives the Terran a feral grin, along with a piercing emerald stare. "You are correct, flyboy... I would like it. So do try to stay alive. I will not be present to save your worthless life yet again!" "Don't forget to duck," Rattler shoots back at her as she returns to her master's side. Ty294 chats briefly with Patten before sharing some laughs with Rattler and O'Neill. He moves past Darkon, who seems quite distant, thinking about the strange vision he had, in the instant before being knocked out by the shockwave from the Uberweapon. He stops in front of Deathstrike. "Nice fight back there." Ty said to her. "I suppose we'll never know who would have won." Deathstrike looks at him, annoyed, "Of course you knew. That is why you ran away, coward! We both know I would have won." "Excuses. Always excuses for you Sith. Remember, your master had to send his avatar to empower you, to save you. Let us leave it at that." Deathstrike throws him a withering glare, before following her Master to the RTSE shuttle that had just entered the hangar, which would take them back to the Zatornik. The Mercenary faces the Gatekeeper. "It's been a pleasure fighting with you friend. I've been with yah for the long haul. You pay good too. Ever need help with anything short of saving the universe again, I'll be there for yah... for a price." As they board their shuttles, the Confed crew snaps off a salute. It had been a rough fight, but the Expeditionary Fleet had survived. Now, they had to focus on finding a way back to the Milky Way Galaxy, and their own war against the Kilrathi. But that is a story, for another time. The Assailant grabs the Gatekeeper's arm, "One more thing... Where's my ship?" "I landed it in hangar bay 157. It's still there, untouched." The Gatekeeper starts to walk away, but then he turns, pulls out a comlink, and says a few words in an unknown insectoid language. He then turns back to the Assailant. "You humans are weird." he says. He then walks out of the room, and out of sight, just as his comlink crackles to life, and someone replies back in the same insectoid language. They continue to exchange words until he is out of earshot of the Assailant and the others. The Assailant stands in the doorway and watches as the unlikely heros part ways. The Assailant gives one last salute to everybody, "May our paths someday meet again." He winked at a surprised O'Neill, turned, and walked down to the hanger. He sat in the cockpit of his ship and said to himself; "Though I hope to God that they won't..." Deep in RTSE space in the Prime galaxy, on Korriban. Lord Darkon and Deathstrike are walking along a river of lava, the last of the SE, TEC, and NEF prisoners captured during the war being executed by Sith Acolytes in the open arena in the background, their corpses prepared for infusion, later being transformed into Sith Spectres. Deathstrike glances in their direction, quickly turns back, sickened by their pathetic pleading for mercy. "Master, I am curious about something...." "And what would that be, my apprentice?" "Why do our enemies display such weakness? They allowed themselves to be captured, and now cannot even die with courage and dignity! So different from the group we fought alongside to stop those alien creatures." "Unlike the True Sith, they are a very... diverse... group of people. Some of them are strong and worthy, but most are like those *points to the executions taking place in the background* - Soft and weak". They lack our strength, my Apprentice. They lack our... steel. That is why they shall ultimately fall before us, and embrace the RTSE, becoming the True Sith. It is inevitable..." Deathstrike mulls over it for a moment, then rejoins her Master. Her eyes sparkle with that manic gleam. "So, this is merely a temporary cessation of hostilities, then. Good! The war is far from over... we shall see what the future brings." Almost as an afterthought, as she continues to walk alongside her Master, she thinks to herself, smiling slightly: "Still. That... Terran pilot... Rattler, is it? He may have been stupid, clumsy and useless, but he did know how to take care of himself, for an... inferior being. And he dared to touch me! I wonder if we shall ever cross paths again..." 'THE END'
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